Scaling the tower was surprisingly easy, thanks to her improved attributes. It was one part of the System that she had to admit she enjoyed. Her body responded to her commands with a level of precision that she still found shocking, and her muscles were stronger than she’d ever dreamed possible. Supporting the weight of her body with a single hand was almost effortless, and her coordination had improved to the point where she wasn’t worried about losing her balance or her grip.
Free climbing from one carving to the next, she found herself in front of the window five minutes later. As she had suspected, the opening appeared to lead into the tower rather than being some form of ornamentation. She was careful not to touch it or put any part of her body past the threshold, lest the System count it as entering the spire and trap her on the other side.
If there are more of these hidden entrances, there might be enough for everyone after all. We need to hurry and map them out before the next global event forces anyone inside. While less people are entering the tower with the guards standing outside, there are big gaps in their perimeter. We can’t count on our luck holding out for much longer.
She still had plenty of time before noon, so Sophia decided to uncover as many entrances as she could, then report her findings to the people in charge of door distribution so they could update the assignments. With any luck, there would wind up being enough for everyone after all, preventing a needless tragedy from unfolding.
The reveal would also be a powerful piece of evidence to undercut Jim’s position, hopefully to the extent that he would lose his authority. To let everyone reorganize based on maximizing their odds of survival. But she could ponder that when she met back up with Nick and the team. For now, all she had to worry about was completing her survey as efficiently as possible.
Sophia found two more window entrances as she made her way back toward camp, and spotted another pair of doors that were placed behind some of the larger statues, where you could only see them once you were standing behind the carvings.
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She was about to head back and report what she’d found, eager to help more people make it inside, when she spotted what appeared to be the corner of a doorframe jutting up from the earth.
Taking a quick look around to make sure that no one was nearby, Sophia removed the shovel from her pack and started to dig. After removing several inches of topsoil, the blade broke into open air, revealing a pocket that extended below the surface.
Nice work Soph, she grinned to herself, suspecting that she’d just found a hidden entrance. Sure enough, when she widened the hole and stuck her head in, she found another door awaiting her perusal.
Something about this hidden door was different from the rest. She had a sense that it might lead to a unique portion of the tower or offer some sort of reward. In a situation like this, Sophia had no qualms about keeping the entrance to herself.
She had found it after all. It was only right that whatever opportunities lay on the far side went to her team. She carefully covered the hole with sticks and branches, then spent a good ten minutes memorizing its location, so that she would be able to find it quickly the next time that she looked for it.
When she was done, Sophia made her way back to the central area. She reported her findings to the person in charge of assigning doors. She left out the buried entrance that she’d found, although she mentioned that there might be some hidden below ground.
The woman was grateful for the information. Wasting no time, she assigned a team to check out Sophia’s findings and search for more entrances, flag each with a scrap of cloth, then assign the new doors to teams who didn’t have one yet.
With a spring in her step, Sophia made her way back to camp. She arrived a few minutes later, glad to have created new opportunities for team Earth and ready to confront Jim head on.
Just as she sat down to wait for her party, a System message appeared in front of her face, heralding the start of the next global event.
Sophia frowned as she read the words, then began to curse. It was bad news, worse than any that had come before. She picked up her gear and got ready for battle, certain that her day was about to become a whole lot less relaxing.