As Rita canceled her **Animagus** transformation, she swiftly activated **Disguise!**, changing her appearance to that of a goblin. She also cloaked herself in **Phantom Cloak**. The whole transformation took only an instant, and one of the players below barely caught a glimpse of a shadow disappearing into the trees.
First, she launched an **Ice Flower Seal** at the player in the back, freezing them in place. Then, she drew her bow and fired, using **Push Shot**, which sent a wave of force that pushed the five players toward the spiders while stunning them for three seconds. In those three seconds, the spiders' legs skewered two of the stunned players.
Rita summoned her shadow clone, which leaped into the fray and grappled two of the remaining players. By the time they shook off their stun, it was too late.
With perfect coordination between Rita and the spiders, the entire squad was wiped out in no time. As the poisonous spiders began feasting on their fresh kills, Rita didn't intervene. She was close to the treehouse base, only five minutes away.
She withdrew her shadow, transformed into a bird, and flew to another tree, where she turned into a small spider and hid within a crack in the bark—a perfect blind spot.
Now, she just had to wait.
A short while later, a new team of players arrived, making quick work of the feasting spiders. Checking her watch, Rita noted that it took only seven minutes for the backup to arrive after the previous team had been wiped out.
The group inspected the area around the bodies. One of them scanned in four directions and said, "No one's here."
A woman with long hair knelt by the bodies and inspected the wounds. "Looks like a mistake," she said, touching the blood and closing her eyes, clearly using a skill.
From her hiding spot, Rita squinted, considering several possibilities. What if this skill could reveal the identity of the attacker? What if it showed the moments leading up to the player's death? What if it extracted the victim's memories?
Rita didn't feel she had done anything wrong, but she couldn't gauge the official team's stance on player conflict. The world hadn't descended into chaos yet, so the officials might not enforce draconian measures. What was their real attitude toward these kinds of clashes between players? Hard to say.
After using her skill on each of the bodies, the woman shook her head. "There was an energy shock from that direction that stunned them for a few seconds. She was frozen by a skill before she died, and these two were held down by a shadow figure."
The buzz-cut man turned to the one who had declared the area clear. "You checked, and there was no one here when we arrived, right?"
"Yeah, I used my skill before the spiders finished killing them. Didn't detect any other players."
The group chatted a bit more, recorded details of the skills used in the fight, and then left.
Rita stayed put, waiting another thirty minutes in complete stillness. The official team returned twice during that time, but she remained hidden. Finally, tired of watching, she transformed into a bird and flew off.
She was confident that there were no tracking marks left on her. After years of running, she was well-versed in the various tracking methods out there—perhaps not a complete expert, but certainly more knowledgeable than most. Besides, she had a habit of checking herself every day.
So how did the officials know these players had died?
**Divine Gift**, maybe?
Then, Rita remembered the water orbs handed out at the base. The officials had said that if players got lost, they could crush the orb, and someone would come to guide them back to base. She had thrown hers away the day after receiving it, annoyed that it took up valuable inventory space.
It seemed likely that those orbs were the reason the officials knew.
But Rita wasn't planning on stopping.
Using **Phantom Cloak**, she searched through the forest until she found another group of players. This time, she opted for a different approach: she pulled out three grenades she'd collected earlier and threw them directly at the group.
The explosion filled Rita with satisfaction, her heart now free of the simmering anger from earlier.
This group was the very one filled with those disgusting men who had joked about "taking turns" with her.
Now, two squads were down. Rita was ready for lunch.
After cleaning herself up with a quick **Cleanse**, changing clothes, and crafting today's gold coins, she headed to the nearest base. She had just finished her meal when the same official team she had seen earlier walked in. Rita curiously glanced at them before continuing her meal.
When she finished, she strolled over to their table, squatted down, and asked, "Do you guys buy gear?"
The group wasn't surprised. They had heard of Rita, the famous actress with a luck stat of 10. As official personnel, they knew even more, having used her **Another Happy Day** skill crystal themselves.
The long-haired woman asked, intrigued, "What kind of gear?"
Rita pulled out a rare pair of boots she had gotten from a **Living Dead** drop.
**Shadow Boots** (Rare)
- **Attributes:** +8 Intelligence | +4 Constitution
- **Magical Properties:** +2% magic damage | +1% crit damage
- **Requirements:** Intelligence ≥ 19 | Agility > 12
Gear above rare quality typically had two requirements: one for level and another for attributes. Occasionally, both would be attribute-based, which could be considered a hidden level requirement, as the highest starting attribute for most people was around 10–12. With 5 attribute points gained per level, anyone meeting these requirements would likely be at least level 3.
However, if other gear added to the required attributes, one could potentially equip powerful items early. As a result, gear that only required attributes, not levels, generally sold for 20–30% more than normal.
This was gear Rita intended to sell. Despite her recent focus on training, she still planned to follow the path of an archer, prioritizing agility over intelligence.
The group straightened up, clearly interested. Despite the high attribute requirements, they weren't disappointed.
They had been around long enough to reach level 2, and though they were still far from level 3, it was just a matter of one or two months.
Rita couldn't sell it at a higher price than at the auction house. She wasn't looking for gold anyway. "I want to trade for skill crystals."
The long-haired woman raised an eyebrow. "Empty ones? You can just trade at the exchange for those, right?"
Rita explained, "They only accept my **Divine Gift** skill crystals for empty ones. I figure I can get a better deal trading with you guys."
The group exchanged glances. It wasn't against the rules; nothing prohibited them from trading their empty skill crystals for player gear.
The buzz-cut man asked, "How many are you looking to trade for?"
"Fifty empty skill crystals."
The group immediately stood up.
"Forty!" Rita called after them.
The group began loudly discussing lunch: "What should we eat?" "Didn't we just eat?" "Oh yeah, what did we have?" "How could you forget?" "The price shocked me."
Rita sighed, exasperated. "Fine! Let's talk. I'm serious! Whoever isn't serious is a dog!"
The group turned around in unison.
Rita clutched the boots, feeling like she should've found a less cunning group to negotiate with.
No matter how rare, this was still low-level gear, worth no more than three gold in the auction house. What Rita really wanted was information. Independent players like her often lacked the insider knowledge and connections that official personnel enjoyed. They got discounts at official bases, so they rarely traded with lone wolves like her.