Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

The door opened.

Zach looked at the open door for a moment. Sarah also did so. She looked at her hand before turning to Zach. However, she only glanced at him before her attention was snagged by a blue rectangle in front of her face.

"Requirements met…Be the first to touch this door…" Sarah muttered the message loud enough for Zach to hear, and his expression stiffened. She turned to him.

"Sorry. It says there's only room for one person in this shelter," she awkwardly apologized before entering and closing the door behind her.

Zach didn't even bother knocking or getting her to open again. His soul had already left his body.

The first door he found he needed to be the second to touch, and the second door he found, he needed to be the first to touch. He couldn't believe it.

Zach quickly inhaled the soul that was escaping toward the sky and glared at the door for a moment before continuing his search. He didn't like the situation, but it was better to continue looking for a door that would let him open it than sit around and mope about it.

Eventually, he found another door. Just like the previous two, it didn't have a handle. But it did have a keyhole. Since Zach didn't have a key, he didn't stick around. It was another small, one-person shack. Even if he waited, he wouldn't get anything.

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Zach did leave a couple of notes indicating where the door with a keyhole was in case anyone had found the key. But he hadn't brought much paper with him, so he didn't do that much.

Zach felt lonelier than he was as he wandered the deserted city.

The next door Zach found had a handle. It was also the door to a larger house that should have easily fit three or more people inside. But he didn't meet the requirements. At least it told him why he wasn't allowed inside.

But he felt that it was unfair since he couldn't do anything about being born a boy. It did give him hope, though.

If there were safe houses for women, there should be safe houses for men. He didn't find any of those, though.

The hours ticked down, and Zach was starting to feel more and more stressed.

He was honestly amazed at how many safe houses he found. At the same time, he was enraged at how he couldn't enter either of them.

There had to be something wrong with the trial. Or him.

Given his history, Zach was inclined to believe that the fault lay with him.

But that didn't stop him from looking and wandering. He even found his way back to the plaza. But after waiting for half an hour, no one showed up, so he started his search again.

The next thing he found wasn't a safe house. It was a tiny square hidden behind a dead end. It was a small, secluded courtyard without any buildings.

Instead, there were five pedestals–one in each corner and one in the center. A glance was all it took for him to figure out that five people were needed to activate whatever trickery it was that would defend them when the dome collapsed.

Zach could have asked Yanael or Alzara to cause a ruckus and try and get four more people. But with how many safe houses he had found, most people should have already found their own. It wasn't likely to succeed. And that was if there weren't any additional requirements that Zach didn't meet, which was more likely.

Zach didn't want to waste time, but he left another note in the middle of a larger road he was sure was connected to the plaza, even if he couldn't find the plaza.

If he didn't find anything else, he could come back and hopefully find four others waiting for him.

While writing that note, Zach temporarily forgot that he wouldn't be able to find his way back. That wasn't how he worked.

Zach walked along the streets, dragging his hand along a stone wall. He didn't have many hours left.

He looked at Yanael and Alzara.

They nodded.

It was fine to talk without worrying about being overheard.

"These stones are pretty tough, right?"

"I've seen tougher, Master." Alzara shrugged lightly as she answered. Yanael, on the other hand, walked up to the wall as well and also touched the stones with the tips of her fingers.

"Thanks to the mountain essence from the Giupusta Locale, I can probably cut through them, Master." Yanael looked like she was ready to try.

"Good to know. But that wasn't exactly what I was thinking. What if, since I can't find shelter, we make one instead?"

"You want to move these stone blocks around and build a house, Master? I'm not sure that will be enough." Yanael was doubtful for multiple reasons but didn't outright call out Zach's idea for being stupid.

"No, if Master uses Material Extraction, it could work. Cause that was the plan, right, Master?" Alzara asked after correcting Yanael.

Zach smiled stiffly.

"...Yes. That was my plan. Using Material Extraction. Yes. So, just so that we're on the same side, please share with us how you thought I would use Material Extraction. Just to make it easier to cooperate, of course." Zach's lips widened in a grimace that was supposed to be a smile.

"...Of course." Alzara returned Zach's smile with one of her own. The only difference was that her smile was beautiful. Then, she gestured at the stones.

"As I said, I've seen tougher. These stones aren't bad, but they can be better. So…" She pointed at Zach. "If you use your skill to extract the best of the best from the stones, we can use that to build a shelter that's good enough to defend against the water when the dome collapses." Alzara's idea was simple in theory.

Zach nodded. It sounded feasible.

"There's just one problem."

"What?"

"I only know how to make floppy worms."

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