Aside from those two who were sworn enemies, plenty of other students also had their eyes locked onto Crab.
Sure, most magical items and relics had their own distinctive sounds or visuals when activated. But some of them—some of them were simply on a different level.
Like NightFury’s bone wind chime. In the past, it was only considered unusual, something special because its sound changed depending on who NightFury was fighting and what kind of environment she was in. But the fact that it had instantly recognized Crab as its new master after NightFury’s death, the fact that Crab had dropped out of school right after obtaining it, and the fact that NightFury had quit attending classes entirely just to camp outside Twilight Library waiting for Crab—those things together amplified its aura into something extraordinary.
Or like Rita’s relics. That lantern which, whenever used, plunged the entire world into darkness leaving only one light shining. Or that ship’s helm that appeared with the roar of ocean waves every time it showed up.
Rita could feel it—many eyes were secretly measuring her. Not just strangers. Even her four teammates were giving her those kinds of glances.
Down below, Crab was scrambling forward with his claws, shouting loudly: "You’ve got a god’s relic too, haven’t you?"
Rita: "......" Was this crab actually talking to her?
Crab shouted again: "You’ve got one too, right? Why don’t we team up?"
Rita suddenly suspected that Crab and Mojie might actually be blood relatives.
"Ohhh, so that’s what they’re called—god’s relics!"
"What tier is yours?"
"Come on, don’t be stingy! Tell us more! If you’re gonna brag, then brag properly, I’ll allow it!"
All the students in front slowed their steps in unison, practically drifting closer, gathering around Crab and Rita as if gravity pulled them in.
The audience stands—packed with tens of millions—also went dead silent in an instant.
Rita said nothing. She buried her head and sprinted forward as fast as she could.
But Crab still wouldn’t give up, calling after her in his raspy voice: "Things are already , why bother hiding it? Better to just show it off openly!"
Mojie was nodding along solemnly, as if endorsing his every word.
Pomango, who was running diagonally behind Crab, tilted her head back and shouted at Rita: "Right now, you’re definitely the person in the whole world who understands me the most!"
Rita wanted to scream back: She didn’t want to understand at all!
She dashed forward like she was escaping death, and finally flung herself into the glowing blue gate.
[Fun Match Game—Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division]
[Game Duration: 6 hours]
[Rules: Inside the library, you will encounter various number-based elements. Collect them. After 5 hours, the final target number will be revealed. At the end of the 6-hour game, scoring begins. You must use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—each operation used an equal number of times—to calculate as close as possible to the final number. The player closest to the target, with the highest number of collected numerical elements, wins.]
[The Librarians will hunt down the closest intruder within their line of sight.]
[Damaging more than 3 library objects will forcefully eject the player, triggering the mid-game penalty.]
Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division? This was the most basic math even in Arisentna.
The battlefield was a massive ring-shaped library.
Rows upon rows of towering bookshelves lined up neatly, each spaced far apart. The walkways between the shelves and the wide central rotunda were large enough for creatures of all shapes and sizes to move through freely.
From the central island, Rita could see partial glimpses of the floors above and below. On the opposite sides of the rotunda, two wooden spiral staircases twisted upward.
At the base of each staircase stood two human-shaped creatures dressed in black suits—identical pairs. The left stair was guarded by two women, the right by two men. Each of them held a whip coiled in their hands.
These must be the Librarians of this floor.
Rita avoided the stream of students pouring into the hall and tried to head up the stairs. But a pale blue barrier blocked her way. A notification appeared, saying a ticket had to be paid in the form of a number. The required number hadn’t been revealed yet.
So she backed off and began combing the entire library carefully, checking shelves, decorations, furniture, and facilities.
Looking up and down through the open rotunda, the design of each level looked nearly identical. Six floors in total. And she could see other players on the upper and lower floors doing the same thing—scanning.
She tested her limits by flying upward. She could indeed fly freely inside the central area, but invisible barriers blocked her from moving up or down to other floors.
There were over ten thousand participants, scattered across the six levels. But even divided like that, the number of players per floor was overwhelming.
At this density, once the game began, the sound of so many players scrambling to collect numbers would almost certainly alert the Librarians immediately.
This wasn’t just a math game. It was hide-and-seek. It was a survival game.
Another unique feature on this floor was the vending machines scattered here and there.
They were stocked with odd items—flashlights, horns, headphones, speakers, pens, stationery. Junk that looked designed to scam people. Rita tried pressing buttons, but none responded. No prices, no explanations. Just quietly waiting.
She ran every corner of the library once, anchoring safe points where she could teleport instantly with Absolute Freedom if needed.
Then she withdrew behind a lamp post.
Once the game officially began and skills were unlocked, she would switch into Hunter Form.
The reason it was called Hunter Form was because of this exact ability: while in it, her character data would vanish temporarily. Investigation and probe skills couldn’t detect her. Just like how probes couldn’t lock onto ordinary animals.
She would be able to hide herself by relying on this form.
She was still analyzing the décor, thinking which pink or white props she could use for cover, when a voice whispered next to her:
Rita turned—and saw Crab.
"Small world." echoed NightFury, queued up right behind him. She was tiny, carrying a battle axe bigger than herself. The haft of it jutted thirty centimeters above her head. Rita couldn’t imagine how she planned to swing it. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢·𝔫𝔢𝔱
"Small," came the gruff voice of Frenzied Shark. He crouched low, trying to make his massive frame less conspicuous. He hugged his thick gray hair against his chest like he was hiding a curtain. Even hunched like that, he was still half a head taller than NightFury.
Though their gazes were locked on Crab, Rita could feel it—they were all stealing glances at her. Clearly, if they couldn’t get back the bone wind chime, their backup plan was to rob her of her relics.
Every nerve in her body screamed danger. These three might as well have had giant glowing words above their heads: Stay Close, Become Unlucky.
But it was already too late to change position.
The countdown ticked to zero.
Rita had no intention of revealing her Hunter Form in front of this bunch.
The moment her skills unlocked, she erased her presence.
A quick glance over her shoulder showed Crab shrinking to fingernail size, skittering up a chandelier. NightFury vanished completely. Frenzied Shark cloaked himself.
A heartbeat ago, the library had been buzzing with chaos like a classroom full of rowdy kids.
Now, it was as silent as if no one had ever set foot inside.