I spoke to Muninn’s egg while I waited inside the elevator. I just told it fun folktales like the story about the tortoise and the hare and the three little piglets. I knew it would hatch soon since it periodically shook.

Ding— [You have arrived on the 2nd floor.]

The elevator stopped exactly 4 hours later. I wore my mask and hood and checked the Desert Eagle. It took 0.5 seconds to load and 1.5 seconds to transform with aether.

Shooong—

The elevator opened with a futuristic sound and a vast forest appeared. Warm sunlight shone and the air felt hot. I stepped onto the grass and surveyed around with my thousand-mile eyes. Thankfully, Luke wasn’t too far away. The second wave of players still seemed to be in their waiting rooms judging from the empty plaza.

First, I climbed a tree. Then I jumped from one to the next for a place to view the entire plaza.

“Hmm.”

I finally found a spot with a full view by a cliff with little chance of getting ambushed. Then I sat on a branch and waited for Jin Sahyuk.

Time passed from 10 minutes to 30, 90, then 3 hours.

“I can wait. I like staying hidden. It’s fun. It feels great.”

I self-hypnotized myself with the [Lv.6 Demon’s Cunning Speech] and no longer felt bored or tired. It worked extremely well and I could even wait 6 more hours, or 12, or 24. The extreme heat turned into extreme cold as day turned to night.

Finally, the players appeared in the plaza. Close to 2000 instantaneously arrived with a burst of light that almost blinded me.

— W-Where are...