The mont the Bell rang across Starsea, a progress bar ford in the sky above every world.
At the far left of the bar hung a small clock connected to a pendulum. The pendulum swung back and forth, striking the bar. With each strike, the small clock moved slightly to the right along the Starsea progress bar.
One five-star world skill, Doomsday Party. Two four-star world skills, Eternal Winter and Death’s Judgnt.
Compared to most worlds, this was already an extrely luxurious combination. Yet for BS, Lania Kaia, and Dawn, the rate at which their world health decreased was far from slow. Occasionally, it would drop sharply, making hearts jump.
At the mont the Bell rang, several questions surfaced in every player’s mind.
Could this combination of world skills still protect BS during the next Bell?
By the fifth Bell, how many worlds would remain in Starsea?
Dawn Cicada and Lania Kaia·Wither each had their own thoughts.
For Dawn Cicada, it was relief. She had made the right bet.
During this Bell, her three-star world skill was already ineffective. There had been no ti left to upgrade it. She also couldn’t guarantee that any future bargaining chips would keep Dawn within BS Rita’s long-term plan. Even if BS Rita was willing, the other worlds in that plan might not agree.
Abandoning Dawn entirely and boarding BS’s ship had been the best possible choice.
For Lania Kaia·Wither, however, the mood was heavy. He was thinking about Lania Kaia’s future.
At the fourth Bell, BS Rita would undoubtedly activate her coalition plan, gathering worlds with world skills together. Even though sharing world skills reduced their effectiveness, when the number of worlds was limited and multiple skills stacked together, sharing was still better than standing alone.
With what he had contributed, the strength of his four-star world skill, and the presence of the moon foxes and oak-owls, there was a chance that during the next Bell, BS Rita would still choose to anchor BS and other cooperating worlds at Lania Kaia.
But what about the fifth Bell?
The most pressing issue before him was clear. Before the fifth Bell, he had to either upgrade his world skill or find an escape route for Lania Kaia’s population.
And then ca sothing even more alarming.
Around ten seconds after the Bell began, a number appeared at the end of the progress bar—457.
The mont it appeared, it began to decrease.
At first, players might not have understood what the number represented. But as soon as it started dropping, everyone realized: this was the number of remaining worlds.
After the second Bell, Unordered Starsea had 622 worlds left.
But in the days since, wars had been constant. Worlds shattered daily, as players sought world fragnts—not only those ford after destruction, but also those held by other leaders.
The number 457 was the result of that continuous conflict.
And now, it was still decreasing.
Everyone stared at that number in silence. No one knew what others were thinking.
Were they mourning the fallen worlds?
Or regretting the loss of the world fragnts destroyed by the pendulum?
Or perhaps wondering how many of those worlds had died due to severing?
There were far fewer world skills in Starsea than Rita had originally imagined.
Not long ago, when she had entered that mysterious space and spoken with Starsea, she had asked:
Could she collect the world fragnts scattered across Starsea after worlds were destroyed?
The answer had been no.
Unless those fragnts happened to land within another world, allowing them to persist long enough to be found, they would eventually fall into Starsea and be reclaid.
"The energy ford by reclaid fragnts is Starsea’s first line of defense. Without it, during the first Bell, all worlds would have shattered imdiately."
"The world skills and Starsea skills you gain through writing World Sigh are different. Those are gifts from worlds, fragnts of will that I cannot reclaim."
"I know what you are about to ask—why so beings can still gather fragnts to rebuild worlds."
"When a world is destroyed, if a Divine Ga player who fought for it has an exceptionally strong desire to restore it, then as its fragnts fall into Starsea, they may be gently redirected into other worlds."
"Any player who persistently seeks to rebuild a world is a treasure that worlds long for."
The Bell ended.
BS was left with 30% health. Dawn and Lania Kaia were in similar condition.
It wasn’t exactly close, but thinking about the next Bell, no one could rest easy.
The progress bar and the clock vanished, leaving only the number lingering high in the sky—279.
[Congratulations, players. Current surviving worlds: 279]
[Respected Divine Ga players, in preparation for the fourth Pendulum impact, the invasion sequence has been updated. Once invasion progress exceeds 5%, final descent may begin.]
[Unordered Starsea’s tiline has been further calibrated. Players can no longer return to the past or travel to the future. Redundant tilines created by ti-based skills are being pruned, leaving only the most Brilliant Starsea tiline. Current pruning progress: 70%.]
[Reminder: The fourth Pendulum impact is expected after the next Divine Ga ends.]
Rita was the first to break the silence.
"I’m going to recover World Graveyard."
In recent days, even while busy making cookies, she hadn’t abandoned her earlier plan of sheltering other races. Whenever she read a World Sigh, she would prioritize bringing back so wandering players from that world into BS.
No one monitored her. This was simply her way of repaying the gifts those worlds had given her.
While taking in these wandering players, she also accepted so races from worlds that had not yet been destroyed at the ti.
Nivalis carried her onto the ship in the sky. The cats standing on the deck looked listless, so Rita took the helm herself and steered the ship onto the River of Ti.
The calico cat wearing an apron suddenly spoke:
"You don’t need to feel guilt or self-bla. You ca too late. Even gods who have fully detached from divine gifts can’t change this, let alone you."
Rita frowned slightly as she turned the helm, looking at the calico in confusion.
"I don’t feel guilty or bla myself."
Calico: ???
Rita said matter-of-factly, "If I had to feel guilty, how would the rest of the players even go on?"
Calico: "..."
Nivalis: "Exactly!"
At that mont, B80, who had been called onto the ship to help collect World Graveyard, hadn’t heard the earlier conversation. But if BS Rita’s top supporter Nivalis said so, then agreeing was definitely the right move.
"Exactly!"
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