I placed my hand on the kiosk, and the familiar transportation magic sent me to this trial. I wondered a bit how Xin had managed to set this up, but considering how long she had been in here, she had plenty of time to figure it out. It seemed like an ability I might be able to replicate if I increased my level in Dungeon Master a bit.

Looking around the familiar room, I walked up to the trial, reading the familiar text. This was the 4th trial I had managed so far. Even knowing it was just a time-waster, I needed better equipment if I wanted to make it in this dungeon. I had only been in this dungeon a few days in dungeon time. I still had three months to go. Perhaps, it was rushing things that had led to me losing Carmine and my army so quickly in the first place.

Patience is a virtue.

That was all this trial said. I stepped through the door and ended up in an empty room not completely unlike the room where I had fought the gladiator-like fight last time. In that competition, the goal was to wait out the clock, surviving as a monster attacked you. I had a feeling that, considering this trial talked about patience, it was a similar one where you had to wait out the clock.

I walked to the door at the end of the room, and there was a predictable door on the other side of the room, but it was closed. I tried to open it, but the door didn’t open. With a sigh, I sat down and waited.

Two hours later, I had enough of waiting. I went back to the door again, but it was still locked. I frowned, wondering if there was something else to the trial I was missing. Then, I remembered what Xin had said. These trials were meant to waste people’s time! If she wanted to slow someone down, creating a patience trial where you had to wait would be the best way to do it. I had thought that she had put more thought into it than that, but perhaps it was as simple as wait until the door opens.

“So lazy!” I said out loud bitterly, but there was no one in the trial to hear me.

More hours passed, and I was starting to pace back and forth recklessly. Perhaps, aiming to complete these trials was not the best use of my time. I had been thinking most of them would be quick things like the first two I did. Then again, those might have been much longer trials had I not had cheats to get through them. Perhaps the creature in the dark was some kind of temptation creature, not there to make you feel fear, but made to make you freeze up and be unable to leave for a while. Who but Xin knew?

Looking at the Map, it showed this room instead of the world. That made me think that these rooms also had another use. They couldn’t be seen by the dungeon. Just like I couldn’t find Carmine’s point, and only had a vague awareness of the direction she was in, the dungeon couldn’t pinpoint me while I was in this subspace. I wasn’t sure how to use that information, but it had to be helpful somehow. It was easy coming up with theories like this since all I had was time to think.

Time continued to pass, and I even went to sleep and woke up. At this point, I had been in this trial much longer than all of the other trials combined. I guess patience wasn’t my virtue.