I had finally reached the end of my rope. I tried to break down the door. It had been over a day since I had been in this room. Carmine was captured, and who knew what was happening as Bernard took control of those armies. I couldnt depend on Xin to help, so I needed to work myself to get all of this resolved. I tried attacking the door with many different spells, but the door remained intact.

I had feared that it might penalize me for attacking it, perhaps by making me wait even longer, but I couldnt help it. I used fire, water, earth, and wind and it didnt matter what element I used; I was unable to get through the door. Finally, I looked at the door carefully. It was made out of some kind of sturdy alloy that had to have some kind of magical property. Other than little scorch marks from my attempts to destroy it, it didnt have a single dent on it. As I looked closer, I noticed just a bit of light coming from the other side. The keyhole showed the other side.

Kneeling, I peeked through the keyhole, and just as expected, I could see the other room. It had a familiar treasure chest that likely had some kind of star item inside it. However, more importantly, now that I had a visual in the room, I could access it on my Map. I created a Portal to that room. I didnt know what the effect of this would be, but I didnt have any choice. It said patience was a virtue, it didnt say that failing to be patient would cause failure.

I took a step through, not willing to stay in that room any longer. If this stupid trial ended up killing me for it, Id likely end up tied to the dungeon. Id use my cursed life to purposefully give Xin a hard time. I decided that is what I would do if I failed here.

Yet, despite all my fears, I stepped into the room without a problem. Looking around suspiciously, I could see the door behind me was still closed, but I was definitely in the room with the treasure chest and the kiosk. I opened the chest after checking for traps, and all I found in it was a boot. It was a Star boot. Not two of them, just one. What could I do with one boot! I cursed Xin some more in my mind. Her damn trial was lazy and broken, and even her reward was broken! Now, I could understand why she was so dismissive of it. Yet, as dismissive as she was, it wasnt like she set up a method for me to circumvent this room.

I still had one thing to test. I touched the kiosk, but there was a familiar glow and I was back in the safe room. At this point, my eyebrows were twitching though. After letting my aggravation diminish a bit, I used the kiosk to transfer back to the fort that had been destroyed yesterday. I had expected it not to work, so I was surprised when I appeared in the safe room. I slowly opened the door, only to see a crater with ruins all around. It looked like the safe room had survived a nuclear explosion. I guess I couldnt underestimate it as a source of safety. Even Meteor wouldnt take out a safe room.

Of course, with the place turning to rubble, there were no demons nearby. It was surrounded by rubble. It was time to start rebuilding.

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