Team Battle Champion Reward. Each member of the champion team may choose three SSS skills from the Skill Library and gains 200 free attribute points.
Her wish list appeared again, a clean sweep of SSS skills.
Last time she had chosen Absurd Story, Bedtime Story, and Sin of Arrogance.
There were so many she had been dying to pick, but the team battle had already been hard enough.
In the solo bracket she would likely face Mistblade and Maple Syrup at the same time. Unless she was wrong, they had formally joined forces.
Worse, the six points of Luck she had burned using No Logic twice during the Fun Match needed seven natural days to recover, and the solo match landed exactly on the seventh day.
After using The End of the Story, she had also drawn a new curse. Physical damage dealt minus twenty percent.
The solo bracket would be even harsher than the Fun Match.
After thinking it through, she chose these three skills. Midnight Exile, Unchanged Fate, The Mysterious One.
Satisfied, she sat at her desk and reached for snow to mold the perfect little snowman. Her hands paused. She scowled.
"How can you just walk into my room like that. I have privacy too."
Lightchaser stared at her with bright interest, as though meeting her student for the first time. Had the kid always been this bold to talk back to her?
Was this the youth phase Wail had complained about?
She would never admit that when Wail first explained the concept, the complaint had been about her.
Lightchaser fell silent.
Sensing danger thickening in the air, Rita flickered forward with Flash Step. She tilted her head up, beaming like the sweetest child. "Teacher."
Lightchaser understood. That was not the youth phase. The youth phase cares about saving face. This was just suddenly having guts.
She must have been too lenient lately.
Seeing the elf's gaze grow more dangerous, Rita hesitated half a second, then quickly dug into her pockets and produced every last coin she had. One hundred two thousand seven hundred fifteen gold. She pushed the pouch to Lightchaser. "Teacher, tuition."
Lightchaser weighed the purse in her palm for a breath, then tossed it back. "Make me more Scratch Cards."
"How many do you want?"
Lightchaser hooked a chair closer with a long leg and sat. She tossed a few cooldown reduction rings and trinkets onto the table. "As many as you can in one night. Your tuition will be deducted from them. Ten gold per card."
Rita pressed her lips together, said nothing, and got to work.
Plenty of truths went unspoken while both understood.
For example, if she did open GodDraw77, would she leave.
If Arisentna was a Divine Game within a Divine Game, what grand finale was worthy enough to end it.
It would have to be GodDraw77.
That was why she had handed over every coin she had.
That was why Lightchaser made an excuse to linger.
She could not bear to let her student go.
Well, yes, she also wanted to stockpile Scratch Cards.
"If I really open GodDraw77, will you refuse to let me go"
"So you went through all that to find me, just to watch me win and then leave"
Silence stretched. Rita's nose stung. Then she heard Lightchaser grumble, annoyed.
"How was I supposed to know back then"
Silence again, several long minutes.
"That one hit kill skill. Any price to use it" Lightchaser asked.
Rita set down a finished card and answered honestly. "You get a random curse."
"I see. Do you feel confident about the solo match"
Rita slowly turned and stared at Lightchaser like she might be an imposter.
"You are talking like a parent who desperately wants to bond with their kid but has no idea what to say, so you are just making small talk," Rita said.
"Do you need a tune up"
Rita spun back and worked faster, muttering something under her breath that Lightchaser pretended not to hear.
Quiet returned to the room.
When Rita was deep in the rhythm of scratching and inking, she heard Lightchaser say, "If you do not get GodDraw77, you can come treasure hunting with me. In a few years we can go back to Moonlight Marsh and teach."
A beat. Then, softer. "Of course, getting GodDraw77 is also good."
Rita ducked lower over the desk and made a hurried noise of agreement.
Lightchaser kept her eyes on the endless dunes outside the window and pretended she had not heard the sniffle.
She watched the Endless Desert and wondered why the older her student got, the more easily she cried.
With a spread of top tier cooldown reducers and School Rule No. 801, Rita worked through the night and handed Lightchaser eight thousand Scratch Cards by dawn.
She had even napped via Waste Guide, so she was not sleepy. The mindless repetition had quieted her thoughts.
At seven in the morning, just as she sent Lightchaser off, GodDraw77 arrived.
Rita did not need to ask why.
Or rather, even if the original intention had been different, the goal had certainly changed now.
As Lightchaser left down the corridor, GodDraw77 approached from the other end, and her gaze glued itself to the thick brick of Scratch Cards in Lightchaser's arms.
Rita planted herself in the doorway like a barricade. "Do you two know I have college entrance exams the day after tomorrow. I mean, the solo bracket"
GodDraw77 lifted a hand. Several premium lunch boxes hung from her fingers, all stamped with the Oasis Restaurant crest, the most expensive place to eat in the Endless Desert. She was smiling, gentle and radiant. "Of course we know."
Rita melted a little and stepped back.
By dusk, the door swung open and GodDraw77 walked out hugging a stack of Scratch Cards as thick as a dictionary.
Rita glared at her teacher's back from the threshold, cheeks puffed with anger. She swore that tomorrow, no matter who came knocking, she would use Absolute Freedom and vanish.
She was just about to shut the door when the one across the hall opened. Mistblade.
She had timed it perfectly.
Rita reached to slam the door. Mistblade spoke first. "You know that now your wings are gone, Maple Syrup will never show you mercy again."
"I know." Rita left a sliver of space.
Just like she had said. If you break, then break clean. No sticky strings attached.
Mistblade laughed softly. "You are more decisive than the rest of us."
She wept harder than anyone when it hurt, but when it was time to cut, she cut cleanly.
"Really. I did not see you being indecisive either." Endless Autumn On the Chessboard had been used with ease. The door opened fully. Rita stuck out a hand. "Give me back my console."
Mistblade froze. So shameless. You used the fox fang she gave you, and now the console she bought you has to be returned.
Moonlight Marsh's seventh year head girl suddenly went very solemn, as if recalling something urgent. It made Rita tense up in spite of herself. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝓷𝓮𝓽
Mistblade stepped back, swung the door shut, and locked it.
Rita stared at the wood.
She was absolutely certain the console was still in Mistblade's room, and Mistblade was not the type to keep a souvenir after a falling out.
Besides, it was just a normal BlueStar handheld.
Which left only one explanation. The console had mutated.
And it had become something good enough that she could not bear to give it back.
"Open up and we will talk"
"Mistblade, are you there. Mistblade, I know you are in your room"
"Let me see the console. I swear I will only look. I will not make you return it"
"Mistblade, open up, Mistblade"