“Even so…” I responded stubbornly. “If we can get past Aberon, we can use the exit to leave, right? So, let’s beat the boss and leave the dungeon.”

“I’ve tried this before…”

“Before, this dungeon was disconnected from our world. He said that it exists in a subspace bubble. There is no entrance. That’s why I can’t use a Portal to get out of here.”

“You can’t use Portals to leave dungeons anyway!”

“I ca-could…” I changed what I was going to say, remembering that once again this was a result of one of my blessings.

I still didn’t believe that the blessings I had earned were bad. Xin had to be mistaken about that. Solving the lore and completing the story wasn’t inherently bad just because the curses were bad!

She shook her head and sighed. “I have defeated this dungeon before, at least I understand now why I didn’t return home. After defeating the boss, the dungeon core never presented itself, and I never got a chance to go home. The cycle just reset itself again.”

“The cycle… how long do they last?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “Time seems to just pass here, and I don’t think it matches with the world outside. I can say that since I was tossed into this dungeon, I’ve lived through these events about a thousand times!”

“A thousand times!” I let out a cry. “Wait… if every day is a month, that means that this takes over half a year every cycle.”

“What? How long has it been out there?”

I looked down as she glared at me with a piercing gaze. “It’s been over twenty years.”

She shook for a second but then gave a nod. “I suppose, it would have had to be. Where has the time gone… How many more cycles before I can escape?”

“You have a rare opportunity now!” I responded. “The gladiators are part of a match. A portal is open between this world and our own. If we can get to the castle and past him, we can take the portal.”

“He’s thought of something!” She waved her hand dismissively.

“Does that mean we should just give up!” I shot back. “We have to take any opportunity we can get!”

“You’d be walking right into Aberis’s trap.” She snorted, disregarding my words.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I hadn’t expected Xin to be so obstinate and dismissive. Considering the memories, I had of her following Elaya, she was always demure as a cat. I wasn’t sure if that was a lesson about never meeting your heroes, or a statement on power dynamics, or what.

“What about the lore of this dungeon? What do you know about it?” I asked.

She glanced me up and down, and then sighed. “For respect of my Elaya, I brought you to safety. I’ve answered enough of your foolish questions. If you wish to survive until the end of this cycle, you must find some way to expel that karma, otherwise, you’ll become part of the dungeon and you won’t even know it. You’ll become a pawn of the dungeon’s lore and nothing more. I will start my work again. Next cycle, I hope things will be better.”

“H-hey! Wait!” I realized as she was talking, she had ended up next to the kiosk.

She touched it, and before I could get another word in, she disappeared. Like that, I was alone in the safe room.