At first, Rita had tried to tidy up after herself and Nivalis, but gradually, she let go. Life on Dragon Island was just too fun. Every day, they either found treasures or watched epic battles between the Ying Long and the Shen Long.
The treasures they found were amazing, and Rita and Nivalis excitedly discussed how much they could sell them for, splitting the profits. The dragon battles were equally thrilling; they would debate which dragon was stronger, only to get so caught up in it that they forgot about everything else.
In the end, it was North Year who stepped in. After each of their wild adventures, whenever Nivalis and Rita ca back exhausted, North Year would toss water balloons at them from afar. Nivalis found this fun, dodging the waterballs like they were training with Rita. But as ti went on, North Year's waterballs kept getting bigger, evolving into full-blown water cannons.
By the 27th, Nivalis and Rita decided it was ti to head back. They had explored nearly all of the treasure-rich spots on the island. Nivalis was eager to find the Dragon Ancestor's reverse scale to exchange for the 7-Tong, so Holy Cup and North Year sped up their departure, sending Nivalis and Rita off even faster than they had brought them to the island a few days before.
Before leaving, Nivalis stuffed a bunch of Dragon Island fruits into Rita's bag—so for detoxing, others to restore health, and even more to cure various debuffs. She also grabbed North Year's wing and wouldn't leave until she got another dragon scale from him.
Rita had previously told Nivalis about the situation with Mistblade and how the dragon scent had been detected, which led her to have custom perfu made. Naturally, now that they were at the Dragon Nest, it only made sense for Nivalis to collect a few more dragon scales from North Year.
North Year was helpless: "Didn't you already pick up a bunch of scales these last few days?"
Nivalis answered without hesitation: "Just three broken ones. The others were sold by Snow Pile. Give us another scale and we can swap them out."
From the awkwardness they'd experienced at the beginning to now being used to it, Rita remained calm as she looked up at the sky, pretending she was just an innocent bystander in this ridiculous situation. She even silently cheered Nivalis on: Go for it! Go for it! Go for it!
Rita had fully embraced her role as the parasite living off Nivalis's generosity.
In the end, North Year handed over a dragon scale that had fallen off long ago, and Holy Cup was also roped into giving up a small ice sculpture of Nivalis. The ice sculpture, though tiny—roughly the size of Rita's eye—allowed Nivalis to change her shape and information. Though not as powerful as Rita's disguise skills, the sculpture could still shield her from S-level skills and was undetectable by anyone below S-level, enabling Nivalis to use her Divine Gift ability while in disguise.
After handing over the ice sculpture, Holy Cup suddenly said, "Don't burden your soul too much."
Rita was confused. Was he referring to the equipnt binding stones?
Still unsure, Rita bade farewell to Holy Cup and North Year, but no sooner had they flown a hundred ters than Nivalis couldn't contain her excitent any longer. She gleefully shouted, "Great! Now I can finally go out with you and cause trouble!!!"
Rita responded dryly: ".....I think you just want us both to get killed."
Sure enough, right after Nivalis spoke, a snowball and a glowing sphere ca flying toward them, aid at Nivalis's backside. Rita imdiately activated [No Ball], using [Lightning Cage] to create two overlapping electric nets to block the incoming attacks. Experience new tales on My Virtual Library Empire
This was a technique she'd picked up from watching the large dragons fight over the last few days. It took about 3 seconds for her to create a full 3m x 3m x 3m cube cage, weaving six electric nets. However, creating a single 3x3 net only took 0.5 seconds and could be used offensively, defensively, or to control the situation. The electric nets she deployed at that mont were destroyed by North Year and Holy Cup's attacks in less than half a second, but the delay gave Nivalis just enough ti to avoid the attacks.
Quickly, Rita climbed onto Nivalis's head and covered her mouth. "Run, run, run!"
Nivalis, still fuming and wanting to retaliate, was prevented from doing so by Rita's quick thinking. She snorted in frustration and glared at North Year and Holy Cup, before taking off with Rita on her back.
Back on Blue Star, Rita wasted no ti and imdiately began investigating the White Family's history. Instead of rushing to buy information from outsiders, she started with the local news and ga forums, searching for any gossip that might lead to answers.
Although much of this gossip was sensationalized or fabricated for attention, sotis real insider information could be hidden in these wild stories—stories that seed so absurd that no one would believe them.
Many rich families aren't well-known nationwide unless they make it onto the rich lists, but so, with their broad industry reach and nurous local jobs, are known within their communities. The White Family and the Lopez Family were two such examples.
Many businesspeople in S City knew that the White Family's ancestors had made their fortune selling seafood. But the generation that founded the White Family was led by soone nad Jason, whose life story was anything but glamorous—he had lived in poverty until his fifties, when he suddenly beca wealthy and rose to prominence without looking back.
It was unclear whether the White Family kept fishing boats to honor Jason or simply out of tradition, but they had continued to fish and hold family gatherings on the water every month, even after the ga invasion. However, with tensions rising and uncertainty about underwater dungeons, they no longer ventured far from the coastline.
Rita had once thought Jason was Sanchez's great-grandfather, but after researching further, she realized she had misunderstood. Jason was actually Ariana's great-grandfather, making him Sanchez's great-great-grandfather. Sanchez's great-grandfather was soone Rita had once impersonated—Greyson.
To spark player discussions, Rita re-listed the statue and anonymously posted a thread in the ga forum titled "How Did Jason Beco Rich?"
Nivalis also created a new account, attempting to gather information about Jason. However, such gossip was lost on the younger generation, who weren't interested in the stories of their elders. Most of the ga forum users were far more concerned with the latest trends than digging up tales from centuries ago.
Rita then asked Nivalis, "What's the use of the Dragon Ancestor's corpse?"
Nivalis replied, "It contains the remnants of the Dragon Ancestor's primal power. If we interact with it long enough, it'll purify our own powers and elevate our life level. It's useless to other races, but we can borrow a little of its power."
"Life level?" Rita pondered these words. The Dragon Race was already incredibly powerful. Could their life level evolve further? If so, would it result in terrifying attributes far beyond Blue Star players?
What about humans? Could they evolve, too?
Was Black Jade's obsession with becoming a dragon part of this evolutionary path he was seeking?
User Comments
0 comments from readers