Rita walked all the way back to the stands under Maple Syrup’s glare.
She was not worried Maple Syrup would go off the deep end. The oak owl’s moral baseline had no room left to fall.
She was not worried Maple Syrup would beco discouraged either. That was not her concern.
She was even less worried that Maple Syrup would hold a grudge over this loss and refuse to help with the cookie experint plan to save the Starsea. It had nothing to do with kindness. Maple Syrup simply took her own words seriously.
Thinking it through, Rita suddenly understood why Mistblade could calmly endure Maple Syrup’s death stare. There were no real consequences to worry about.
She walked over and stood beside Mistblade, trying to redirect Maple Syrup’s hostility. It worked. When two potential cookie candidates stood together, Maple Syrup clearly had trouble deciding.
But since the oak owl was standing closer to Rita, she still took the brunt of it. When one of Mistblade’s tails drifted near her ear, Rita grabbed it and used the black tail tip to cover her face.
That imdiately annoyed its owner. The tail snapped away, then whipped back and smacked the back of her head.
The matches continued.
By now, everyone had gained at least a partial understanding of each other’s divine talent words.
So were tied closely to a player’s past. Others seed completely unrelated.
As Deceitful Bloom had once said, it was "a summary or definition of oneself that causes a strong reaction in the soul fire." Since every soul fire was different, what each person cared about did not always align with common standards.
The strength of divine talent words also varied greatly.
In theory, with enough skill, they could counter each other in battle. There was no absolute strongest divine talent word, only the strongest player. So abilities only seed weak because their understanding had not progressed far enough.
But all of that was just self-comfort.
So abilities were so overwhelming that everyone could imdiately see how powerful they were and how high their potential ceiling was.
At first, many players had been satisfied with their own divine talent words.
But after witnessing the terrifying abilities of players like BS Rita, Isolated Isle Lightchaser, Snowland Mistblade, and Forest Sea Maple Syrup, aside from a few like Dawn Cicada and Nuclear Flash NightFury who had strong confidence in their own growth, more and more players began considering changing theirs.
Every single attempt failed.
Just as Nuclear Flash NightFury had said, there was no turning back.
Except for one person.
Isolated Isle Lightchaser.
Throughout the matches, players kept approaching her to ask how she had changed her divine talent word.
The elf might have a bad temper, but she was not rude. She answered plainly.
"Because I firmly believed the previous one did not deserve , so it went out."
"And even then, it was difficult. I am certain that if its progress had exceeded ten percent, the spark could not have been extinguished."
A simple and clear answer.
And precisely because of that, it was sothing most people could not do.
If a word could ignite the soul fire, it ant the player deeply identified with it. How could soone overturn such a core belief about themselves? Especially without already having a new word capable of igniting their soul fire.
Unless a certain domineering figure was willing to help.
For a mont, every player whose divine talent progress was still under ten percent looked at Lightchaser with burning interest.
She was soone who could use her divine talent to command her apprentice to find the strongest divine talent word.
Lightchaser did not show any rejection. At this level, no player was naive. Anyone who wanted her help would have to offer a proper price.
There was no rush. They could discuss it after the ga ended, perhaps with her apprentice’s ship involved.
Lightchaser glanced at Cinders beside her.
"Do you want to change yours?"
"I am fine with this one," Cinders replied, shaking her head. Her tone was gentle as she explained, "The strongest is not necessarily the one that resonates with most. I might not be able to see it through."
Her words slightly cald the restless atmosphere.
But a few players still seed distracted, such as Queque and Prayer.
Rita guessed why.
Both of them had nearly lost to Maple Syrup.
Their matches had lasted over fifty minutes, and they had only won with single-digit health remaining.
Was the gap in skill that large? No. In terms of combat technique, both Queque and Prayer were superior. Their ability to assemble skills was on par as well.
And yet they had almost lost.
Simply because Maple Syrup’s divine talent word was stronger.
After so many continuous matches, everyone was growing numb. Unless soone unlocked a new ability, most players in the stands had begun to drift off ntally.
Even Rita found her thoughts wandering.
She was already planning what to do after the match. Ask Lightchaser to help find the most brilliant tiline. Bring Maple Syrup into the cookie experint to see if it could break the world’s capacity limit and let creatures escape the bell’s toll.
Then suddenly, a familiar bell rang across the arena.
It was the sa sound that preceded the pendulum’s strike.
Every player jolted, snapping back to attention.
Before anyone could start cursing the Disorderly Starsea, a list slowly appeared in the air.
First place BS Rita, wins 32
Second place Isolated Isle Lightchaser, wins 30
Third place BS Mistblade, wins 29
...
...
The matches were over.
From above the Starsea, 32 glowing gift boxes descended, each landing precisely in a player’s hands. These were the additional rewards for this competition.
Just as everyone expected to be sent back to their worlds, their vision blurred.
They found themselves back on the divine instructor’s island.
A notification from Divine Ga sounded.
There are 2 hours and 21 minutes remaining before this Divine Ga ends. Players will be returned to their worlds when the ti expires.
Rita stood at the workshop entrance, staring blankly. Normally, once results were out, players were imdiately kicked out. Why were they being sent back to school this ti?
Nivalis and B80 imdiately jumped out and perched on her shoulders. They had been sealed in the pet space during the matches. Rita had occasionally updated them ntally, but they had not dared to ask too much, worried about distracting her.
Now that they were out, they imdiately began chattering, asking about everything that had happened over the past few days. Their eyes quickly locked onto the glowing gift box in Rita’s hands.
Match Reward. A gift from a mysterious individual who wishes to remain anonymous.
Rita opened the pale pink box, so light it was almost white.
Inside lay a revolver she knew all too well. Beside it was a pocket watch.
What was this?
A sound ca from behind. Rita turned and t Foolishness’s gaze.
Because of the Disorderly Starsea’s sudden actions, Foolishness had rushed back from the tavern before even finishing her drink. She looked over the line of apprentices in front of the palace, her gaze sweeping across their faces before settling on the revolver.
BS Rita gave her a particularly irritating smile, raised the gun, and said, "Divine Ga gave it to . Said it was from a mysterious individual who does not want to be nad."
Foolishness, whose na might as well have been engraved on the gun, fell silent.
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