"Foolishness: She’s with ."
"Deceitful Bloom: Who asked you?"
"Drumr: Foolishness hasn’t even said who ’she’ is yet."
"Deceitful Bloom: Hm? Isn’t it Cicada?"
"Foolishness: Yes. It’s Cicada."
"Captain: Who’s Maple Syrup with?"
"Foolishness: Also with ."
"Crispfang: Damn it!"
"Graffiti: Where’s Fury Prayer?"
"Foolishness: With as well."
"Boiling Orange: Then who is BS Rita with?"
No one answered that question. The chat remained chaotic, full of people discussing where their preferred players had gone.
Foolishness did not rush. She closed the group chat, took her book, returned to the long table, and got straight to the point without any small talk.
"First lesson. Sensing skill runes. When you use a skill, its rune pattern appears in your consciousness. I want each of you to choose one skill, sense its rune, and draw it. The skill must be at least A rank. It cannot be a skill learned through rune studies. It must be a reward from the ga or sothing you comprehended by chance."
Paper and pens appeared in front of everyone.
After saying that, she lay back on a chaise at the head of the table and began reading the book she had just chosen.
"You have eight hours. If you cannot draw it before Starsea reverses, it ans your intelligence is insufficient for this class. I will apply to have you transferred."
Another warning about switching classes.
The five students did not dare speak and imdiately began selecting skills to sense their runes.
Skill runes only appeared while the skill was active. Rita chose a skill with a three minute duration.
Temporary Reallocation.
An A rank skill, exactly at the minimum requirent Foolishness had set.
Compared to being a top student, finishing the task and keeping her place mattered more.
Before she could activate it, the god on the chaise spoke again.
"The one sitting in the middle. You have four hours. The skill must be at least S rank."
Everything that happened in Quiet Mountain was known to her. teorological resonance usually took half a month to learn by standard asures, yet BS Rita had grasped it in a few hours. Her comprehension was far beyond what most people expected.
That had already been apparent back in Moonlight Marsh. BS Rita had always learned quickly and well. Gaining Moon Courier was not just about finding the best teacher in Binast. Her own talent played a major role.
As for effort and resilience, those ca second. Of course they mattered, but fate was cruel. Any player who reached Binast’s Divine Ga was both hardworking and resilient.
After that rule was announced, sounding like it targeted soone in particular, all five players froze for a mont. Then, without discussion, they sped up, their expressions turning grave and focused.
Maple Syrup, Cicada, and the others did not know about this god’s personal history with BS Rita. As everyone knew, the one with real grudges was not this one.
Their thinking was simple. Special rules made for one player ant special treatnt. Did that an that in this god’s eyes, BS Rita only needed half the ti they did?
How could they accept that?
As for Rita, she could not tell whether Foolishness was targeting her or holding her to higher standards out of confidence.
Since the rules could not be changed, she focused entirely on solving the problem.
She quickly switched skills. A magic circle appeared beneath her feet.
S rank skill.
Mischief Kitchen.
Duration six hours.
...
Deceitful Bloom sat on a chaise by the garden, fingers tapping the armrest in a steady rhythm.
Mistblade, Ash Cinders, Crab, JE, and NightFury were scattered across different areas of the garden, each following the instructions she had given them to sense and explore the secrets hidden in the flowers.
Unfortunately, Lightchaser was not there. She had been sent to a burial ground by Uncharted Star Sea. It cherished every player who had fought for it and did not wish Lightchaser to beco anyone’s student. Even though, strictly speaking, she and the forr one were two different individuals.
Pushing Uncharted Star Sea aside, Deceitful Bloom opened the group chat and scanned it, then scrolled upward. She still did not find the answer she wanted.
People were still asking about which player was assigned to which god. That topic would likely continue for a while.
What was strange was that Boiling Orange had only asked once at the beginning. No one answered him, yet he did not press further. That did not match his personality at all.
Not just Boiling Orange. Ashveil, Stonefang, Ironclaw, the Captain, the Drumr. Gods who usually paid as much attention to BS Rita as she did had not asked anything either.
Sothing was off.
Deceitful Bloom frowned and shifted position. The vine pinned under her elbow struggled to save itself. Its tip pressed against her elbow and nudged her to the side.
The gods who held tokens linked to BS Rita were only the Captain, Boiling Orange, and Foolishness. As long as her answers did not clash badly with their styles, she would be assigned to one of those three.
Looking back at the chat logs, the answer was obvious.
BS Rita was not only with Foolishness. She had clearly told them not to ask about it in the group.
Tch. Foolishness was really childish.
Deceitful Bloom stood and walked into the garden. Her deep wine red robe dragged along the ground as she made a slow circuit, finally stopping in front of Mistblade.
To keep her tails from touching the soil, Mistblade had raised all nine high. She was carefully controlling the magic overflowing from the flowers, following Deceitful Bloom’s instructions.
Seeing the god stop before her, Mistblade politely halted and looked up. Like most players, she knew who this god was. She even possessed a divine token from Deceitful Bloom.
She asked gently, "Is there sothing you need, teacher?"
Deceitful Bloom crossed her arms and turned slightly. In a certain direction, the sea of flowers parted like waters before Moses, opening a path that led beyond the cloud island.
"Do you see that island?"
Mistblade looked toward the end of the floral path. Floating in Starsea was an island filled with a fabric like aesthetic. From afar, it looked stitched together from patches of different colors. On closer inspection, each patch was a workshop with its own style.
She withdrew her gaze and looked back at Deceitful Bloom, waiting.
Deceitful Bloom’s right hand, resting on her left arm, moved slightly. Vines instantly wrapped around Mistblade’s feet. A translucent red petal drifted before her.
"I want you to go to that island and deliver a ssage for ," Deceitful Bloom said. "You must control the vines on your feet to walk. I want you back within two hours."
Although it was an errand, it did not delay her lessons. It might even help her improve faster than others. Mistblade agreed readily.
She caught the petal, stored it carefully, and began trying to lift her legs by controlling the vines.
Just as she shakily raised a foot, Deceitful Bloom spoke again.
"Oh, right. When you see the god on that island, tell her this for . Tell her she is really childish."
Mistblade fell silent.
If you want dead, you could just say so.
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