Mira and Maria went back to their rooms and fell asleep. Ever since they came to the forest, they have barely had any real rest. Even after they stopped at the bandit camp, they both spent a lot of time preparing for the training of the women that were there. After they both reached their rooms, they both instantly fell into a deep sleep. This sleep was more for the mind rather than the body as these past few years have been almost non-stop.
They both stayed asleep for almost an entire week. It was actually impressive that they could sleep for a whole week without waking up. After Maria woke up, she went straight to Mira's room. She peeked in to see if she was still asleep and saw that she was also awake. Maria walked into the room.
"Hi, Mira! Did you have a good rest? I was coming in to see if you wanted to eat with me?!" Maria asked.
"Sure. Come in." Mira surprisingly agreed. Maria smiled brightly and walked in.
They both started taking out their rations and eating them. Maria then began to share all of her experiences in the trial. About how easy the Labyrinth is, the time she spent in the elemental stages, how she used poison as a drink and dip, her deeper understanding into her Unfettered Light Dao, how she fought using her bare hands(she was just telling her story and forgot that Mira would be training her on this), how her endless battle went, and how she came to terms with killing people even though she doesn't want to. She shared everything she could think of.
"I see. You got lucky with that Labyrinth Stage. I mapped out that entire fucking labyrinth before I found the exit. I had to fight waves of magical beasts and solve that stupid puzzle from the tutorial every time I found a chest. Well, from your stories it might not just be luck that got you through that stage easily. I feel like you might have some really good instincts or something. I don't exactly know, but it seems that you passing every stage was more than just luck. Anyways, that was my least favorite stage, Stage 1. Looking at the same bricks for hours and hours and running into every dead end while finding shit loot. My favorite stage was the Lightning Stage as I feel that one brought the most benefits. The endless battlefield stage was useful too, but I don't think it was as beneficial to me as the lightning stage was." Mira said.
"Instincts? I guess. There were a lot of times where I would just feel danger or feel that something is right or wrong. I'll be sure to note that down. And I hated all of the stages! They all tried to constantly kill or torture me! But if I had to pick a favorite, it would either be the Shadow Fight Stage or the Unarmed Combat Stage. Those were the most fun, even if I suck at unarmed combat. My least favorite was the Lightning Stage because I literally died in that one and it also didn't bring me as many benefits as it did for you!" Maria said. Then Mira turned a bit more serious and grabbed Maria's shoulders. Maria was about to question her when Mira spoke up.
"Listen, Maria. Trust your instincts. This doesn't just go for you, but I'm saying this to you because your instincts might be better than others. If you feel a situation doesn't feel right or you instinctively don't like someone, trust that thought. Don't brush it off as you would probably do. You never know when someone might try to kill you or capture you for some reason. This could save not only your life but the lives around you." Mira said sternly to Maria as the latter just nodded her head. Maria didn't expect Mira to be this serious about something, but no matter what she had to heed this advice.
"Anyway, what would you like to do now? We can either head to the Core Region of the Forest, which is right next to us or we can go back to the bandit camp where all of those women are and check on them. I personally don't care where we go as I don't have anywhere to be. We are also strong enough to deal with most magical beasts as well. Unless there are Rank 4 Magical Beasts here in the Forest, which I suspect there might only be only a couple that resides in the Core Region, we should be fine. We won't have a goal for going to the Core Region though. It'll mostly just be to explore the rest of the forest before we go back. You pick." Mira asked Maria.
"Hmm. I do want to go back and check on those women and see my parents, but we are also almost done exploring the whole forest. But I don't really feel like running into any Rank 4 Magical Beasts and since the Core Region is smaller than the Inner Region, then there is a higher chance of running into them. I'm also tired and just want to go back to the city. We can always come back to the Core Region later if the need arises, but since we don't have a need let's not do it. I say we go back to that Bandit Camp to check on the women!" Maria decided and Mira just nodded. Mira didn't really want to go to a city, but she should have the strength to deal with a lot of the people in the city. She should be able to defeat anyone under the Foundation Realm. Once she reaches the Foundation Realm though, her strength should skyrocket. She isn't far from reaching that point either. The Spirit Stones she got as a reward for the Trial should be able to bring her close to the Peak of Qi Condensation and once she reaches the Peak she can just take that Rank 3 Energy Gathering Pill to Breakthrough.
"What do you think, Maria? Do you think those girls were all able to get to Qi Condensation during these last 2 years without anyone dying or will I have to go on a killing spree?" Mira suddenly asked with a smirk.
"Would you really kill them all if one of them died? I feel like that's not right. They've probably lived a hard past 2 years." Maria asked back instead of answering.
"Of course I will! That was my only rule. Do you think I said that just to scare them? They will value their lives more when all of them are on the line. If I just said that I will come back later and take whoever's left, then I bet a lot of them would've died. This would've been because of their own carelessness and weak will to live. They are supposed to be a unified force. A force that has absolute trust in their companions. What better way to instill this other than the fear of death that lingers over them. You can be sure that I will follow through with my punishment if I see they broke my only rule." Mira said with resolution. It almost seemed like she didn't care about them at all. Maria just sighed.
"I think they will all be alive in the Qi Condensation Realm, but I bet they weren't able to progress that far in the Qi Condensation Realm." Maria said and Mira nodded her head as well. This is what she thought too.
,m "We should go ask the Caretaker if another 500 women or so can stop by and try the trial. He might need to do some preparation. Hehe." Mira said with a devilish look on her face. Maria nodded as well as she was just thinking about telling them about this place.
Soon they got up to go find the Caretaker. It didn't take long before they found him wandering around the area.
"How can I help you?" The Caretaker asked.
"We have a group of acquaintances outside of the ruins here and were wondering if we could tell them about this place? They number around 500 or so. They should all be in the Qi Condensation Realm and are all under 40. Actually, I don't remember anyone even over 35 there." Mira asked the Caretaker.
"500 huh. Well, this place was meant for the future generation. Nobody above the Foundation Realm can enter this place and only those under 40 may enter as well. That may sound old compared to you two, but what my Masters didn't want were extremely powerful people that came here to reap the benefits of this place and take all of the treasures. 40 years old is very young for a cultivator. For someone in the Qi Condensation Realm, it's like being 20 years old rather than 50. Sure, send them this way. The resources and treasures here are much more than you can even comprehend." The Caretaker said and Mira just nodded.
"We will be heading out soon. Thanks for everything, Caretaker!" Maria exclaimed and the Caretaker just nodded.
Mira and Maria went back to their rooms to rest for another night before they head out the next morning. Mira didn't feel like sleeping, so she spent the whole night having the Lightning Beast Egg absorb her Qi and Blue Lightning. She then took a small nap after she was done.
Both Mira and Maria woke up and made sure they had everything with them. They were both wearing the space rings that were given to them at the halfway point of the trial and those had all of their rewards along with what they were carrying with them beforehand. Mira was wearing a black Daoist robe with red lining and also put on her black mask. Maria was wearing a golden Daoist with white lining.
"Bye Bye Caretaker! Hopefully, we can send those 500 people over in the next few months or so! Thank you for everything!" Maria yelled and waved. Mira just nodded at it. The caretaker did a slight bow and nodded.
"Let's go, Mira!" Maria said as they started walking towards the exit of the 'ruins'. They soon made it to that small tunnel and reached made it back to the forest.
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