I looked ahead with shock as I realised that there were no stones on the way.
I didn't say anything about it but we just kept walking forward.
Some meters forward and another member of the team soon realised it aswell.
But he seemed a little skeptical to tell about it since lucian looked like he knew the path.
Some of the members weren't even paying attention to the rock as they were dealing with the hot weather and trusted us enough.
Lucian kept walking forward looking forward at the team that was ahead of us.
The team ahead also seemed to be having the same problem of not finding a rock on the sand.
But soon my worries were gone.
Lucian and I immediately noticed the black rock on the sand.
I tried to calculate how far we had reached and but the sudden dissapernece of the rocks was definitely something to be worried about.
(The distance to which we walked to get to the 11th rock was definitely alot longer)
(About the same time we needed to take to reach the 10 rock from the first rock)
(So the distance has increased my 10 times)
I looked at all of my teammates and saw a bigger problem.
(Stamina)
(My teammates were sweating while the teams ahead of us are weren't sweating)
(My team doesn't have that many people with good stamina that would be a huge problem in the future)
The hot air going through my nose was burning hot and I could feel that everyone was feeling sluggish because of the hot air.
I turned my eyes to the side of the sand to see if danger was coming.
I couldn't find anything so I looked forward again.
But I suddenly heard a small noise.
Swirl.
I immediately turned my eyes to that deriction.
I looked closely but I couldn't find anything.
(Am I imagining things?)
I then looked forward again.
After a few seconds .
(12)
(If I am correct this should be the 300 meters we have crossed and I don't know for sure but I feel like at 1km distance something special or bad will happen.)
I looked above to the sky that was beautiful but bright as well.
I didn't pay much attention to it and kept walking.
(13)
(14)
(..)
Nothing really caught my eyes when we walking for some hundred meters till we were finally about to reach the 1km mark.
Although my teammates were all sweating they followed Lucin's command of not talking or using Mouth to breath which helped them sustain their breathing.
As we kept walking we something unexpected.
People were stopping on there tracks to not cross the 1km mark.
I could see atleast 3 groups waiting behind.
But something unexpected as well.
Water.
I could see a small pipe that was on the sand giving off some water supply and the groups of people were waiting in there lines to fill their Watar bottle.
Although judging by the water pressure it would take 100 seconds to fill the one litre bottle.
(It seems they want to make the most of the water supply while they can even if they have to wait another 10 minutes or even an hour based on the water they have drunk)
Lucian didn't say anything and only kept walking by them.
(I can see the disappointment in my teammates eyes as they wanted to drink water as we but Lucian was not willing to stop here)
(I can guess he probably he doesn't want to break the flow of our walk and stop abruptly.)
(If I were to say than it was more efficient than waiting in the desert for others to fill their water bottles for an hour.)
As soon as we crossed the 1km mark.
(20) I counted In my head.
[DING EXHAUSTION CURSE HAS BEEN INCREASED TO "EXHAUSTION 1" CURSE]
[DING YOU WILL NOW LOSE 2 STAMINA PER HOUR]
(Oh oh now this has become a problem)
(I don't know others full stats but considering they haven't reached the second stage in the stats and they have equally disturbed their stats they will not be able to walk on this heat for more than 3 hours at most)
(But if they are like me and likes to put stats points on one stat then they are going not even last 1 or 2 hours).
(They will need more water and food more often than we have right now)
(Although I was sweating aswell not because I was tried or anything but because I was feeling hot so people around me were thinking I was also on my limits when I could easily walk for more than 10 hours without being tired.)
(While I could easily just speedrun through this by running at high speed I don't actually know what I need to do to win.)
(There must be a reason why the system told us to be atleast 5 people on the same team).
I looked ahead again realising something important.
(We still haven't reached the 21stone even though we just completed a 100 meter)
(Could it be? No this trail wouldn't be that hard)
(No way they make it 1km per rock now)
(If they do this then if we even moved 1 inch to the wrong deriction and we would keep on moving towards the wrong deriction )
Everyone had already noticed the sudden dissapernece of the stones but they kept walking.
I looked forward to seeing noone in the distance.
(Are we too slow?why can't I see the other teams ahead of us)
(We definitely were one of them lasts to start so even if we minus the 3 teams we crossed and the other 2 teams that was behind us from the start there should be atleast 10 teams ahead of us)
As we kept walking at the far side of the sand a person was being strangeled to death.
While there were 3 others who had died already and were almost fully inside of the sand.
Hiss.
A sinister sound came from that place as the almost invisible snake looked at us .
It went inside the sand in an instant while taking the dead body's with it.
I felt my danger senses go off so looked immediately.
This time aswell I couldn't find anything.
(Am I paranoid or something?I should just ignore the sudden uncomfortable feeling Instead of wasting energy turning my head back and forth)
I turned my head towards sky and the sun was farther away from where it originally was and I calculated how much time had passed.
It should be around 2pm on or less guessing by the sun's deriction.
I don't really know what time we started at and how much time has it been since we have been walking.
After some time
Lucian finally talked.
We will be taking a 1 minutes break.
when everyone heard it they were confused on if they should be happy that they are getting a break or they should be sad that they are getting only 1 minute break.
but noone said anything as they immediately falled down on the floor.
FUUFUUUFFUU
{everyone sighed with relief except Lucian}
He stopped on his tracks as he raised his hand on the air .
A light coloured barrier started to form around us.
[DING YOUR TEAM LEADER HAS FORMED A TEMPORARY SKILL BARRIER]
[INSIDE THIS BARRIER YOUR STAMINA WILL RECOVER QUICKLY AND ANY BAD EFFECTS WILL BE NULLIFIED]
[YOUR STAMINA WILL NOT DECREASE IN THIS BARRIER]
My body immediately felt the chill air that it needed.
ugh this feeling I can't believe being in normal temperatures were so priceless.
A boy said with happiness on his face.
You are right if I went back to earth I would definitely enjoy the fresh air there.
All of our sweats disappeared and our stinky smells were gone.
Take out one slice of bread and drink it with 100ml watar.And don't go over that we must save it for now.
All of them understood that what Lucian was ordering was for there sake so they didn't try to disobey him but slowly but surely people were getting dissatisfied with not getting to rest for an hour in that heat and only allowed to eat and drink so little.
(Although if I remember I have way more than 1000kg meat which I can cook anywhere but I don't want others to get suspicious of me)
(I still don't know how much stuff others actually have and if outside food like the one I got in the convenience store is allowed here)
(I should probably try to find some ways to help the team)
(But the problem is that if the gods are watching us or not)
(Cause if they are than they would immediately see the irregularity in the amount of bread I have)
I watched as all of them are eating there bread and water.
Only 2 people were not eating there bread and water.
Me and Lucian.
Lucian was a bit surprised by my actions as I wasn't using my chance to eat food and water.
He came closer to me without his emotions changing.
I watched in confusion as he sitted next to me.
So why are you not eating your slice of bread?
He asked me calmly.
Although I was a little shaken by his approach I still answered him.
I want to save my food as much as I can if emergency were to occur.
{My voice was a bit higher than usual but I could handle this many people around me.}
And what about you?I asked him the same question.
He put his head on the barrier as he replied.
Saving it for my marriage.
Huh?I got confused by the answer.
It's a joke.he said with a little angry face while looking up.
Of course I am saving it for emergency why else would I save it for.
well I should say sorry for not understanding your " joke ".
I said as I took out a slice of bread from my inventory.
Here take it.
He looked at me not understanding why I was giving it to him.
I thought you were saving it for emergency. why are you giving it to me?
Well if our leader were to get sick because of not getting enough food than it would be way worse than it already is. i don't want you to get irrational because of getting Hungry.
I stood and got ready to walk.
I trust you with it okay? don't break my trust.
I said with a little more comfortable voice.
He looked at me with a dumbfounded face.
You know this has been the first time someone has ever showed trust to me by giving a piece of bread.
Well there is a first time on everything I guess.i said as i smiled slowly.
He looked at me disbelief.
Pfft
Huhuhu
I looked back to see a face i have never seen Lucian was chuckling.
Aria from a distance immediately saw the face lucian was making and was shocked but she also felt happy seeing Lucian chuckling and laughing by someone.
Although she was confused by it aswell.
I looked at him laughing with a change of mind.
(He is different than i thought he was going to be.i thought he was going to be an angry musclehead that hates everyone but he was completely opposite)
(He has good leadershipness with responsibility and is trustworthy so maybe i misjudged him a little too much)
He stopped laughing as he looked at me.
PFFT he still laughed but harder this time.
Huh why is he laughing more harder?
Pfft
I heard a laugh from behind as well.
I looked behind to see aria trying to hold back her laugh while others watch in confusion but a little amusement in their face.
I put my hand on my forehead and immediately realised why they were laughing.
I looked back at him
"INTIMIDATION "
lucian immediately felt a chill on his spine.
EEK
hoi Hoi hoi i am sorry
I immediately came Infront of him and used my leg to kick him.
swish!
He dodged immediately with a surprised face.
Aria was still laughing and smiling.
While lucian kept dodging.
How dare you put bread on my head ??!??
I said as i kept kicking and punching him while he dodged.
okay okay i am sorry man i am sorry.
He said as he kept dodging my attacks.
I stopped after some time and went towards the barrier.
Fuuu fuuu he sighed in relief.
Pfft i stopped my laughter with my hand.
Lucian didn't understand why i laughed but when he saw aria pointing at his head he immediately realised something.
You f**Ker you wouldn't have.
Ugham ugham
i tried to handle my laugh with a caugh.
I guess being in desert has its own problems like having bread in your head.