"Precious things? Who's that?"
Lidian: "..."
Rita frowned, pondering for a while before quietly replying, "No idea, but we can rule out Lidian."
Lidian: "..."
That did it—completely lost her composure!
The red dragon let out a sky-shaking roar and lunged at Rita and Nivalis. "I'm done with you two!"
Rita and Nivalis turned tail and fled, the trio darting through the sky in a chaotic chase.
Even amidst the chaos, Rita couldn't keep her mouth shut.
"I went through all that trouble to bring you Pine Bloom's feathers, and not only do you refuse to buy them, you want to beat up!"
"Do you even know how special these feathers are? They're the ones closest to Pine Bloom's heart—"
After a few scorching blasts to their rears, Rita and Nivalis bolted straight to Holy Cup's lair.
Lidian burst in after them, only to hear Nivalis tattling, "Holy Cup! Lidian still has feelings for Pine Bloom!"
Lidian: !!!
She skidded to a halt mid-air, shouting, "I told you, I want to avenge her myself! Stop trying to make reconcile! Holy Cup, you need to rein in Nivalis and BS-Rita! These two are hopeless!"
Nivalis & Rita: "......"
Nivalis bared her teeth, letting out a low growl from her throat.
Poor kid was fuming!
Now it was Nivalis chasing Lidian, snapping at her heels.
After a round of chaos, they returned to the cloud sea's edge, much to Holy Cup's exasperation.
Lidian cautiously glanced around to ensure no familiar dragons were nearby before whispering to Rita, "I need to inspect the goods first."
Rita wasn't worried about Lidian running off—Nivalis was still baring her teeth at her. She handed over the two feathers. "Here."
Lidian held them up to the sunlight, then confidently stated, "One's for tracking, the other's a remnant from the expired Ballroom Formalwear."
Rita: "Yep."
Lidian carefully stored the feathers, her expression serious. "I won't forget Pine Bloom's betrayal. I bought these to remind myself. What do you want in exchange?"
Rita rubbed her ears, ignoring the first part. "What do you have? Preferably sothing related to that place."
Lidian, though eager for the feathers, wasn't about to part with an SSS-level skill or a top-tier artifact. But she knew she couldn't offer just anything.
Not only was BS-Rita not easily fooled, but she also couldn't bring herself to shortchange Nivalis—after all, the little dragon was family.
As for BS-Rita defeating Pine Bloom, Lidian wasn't truly upset. In the world battlefield, it was kill or be killed. Maple Syrup, Pine Bloom, and Peach Crown had all taken each other down before.
After so thought, she said, "I have an SS-level skill called Super Filtration. When used, any lost dragon scales, blood, or horns won't contain a trace of our essence. Even if we're skinned or bled, it won't affect us. Plus, unless we willingly give them, anyone who takes our flesh will be cursed.
"But I won't strip the skill's experience to give it to you. I can only teach you the magical principles—you'll have to grasp it yourself. Interested?"
Rita answered for Nivalis without hesitation. "That's the one! She'll learn it!"
Nivalis shot Rita a glance, clearly pleased. Lidian gave Nivalis a peculiar look, studying her for a few seconds.
Since teaching magical principles would take at least a day or two, Rita left Nivalis on Dragon Island and returned to BS to oversee the nearly completed engineering workshop.
Before leaving, she couldn't help but ask, "Did you develop Super Filtration yourself, or did Pine Bloom find it for you?"
Lidian looked up at Rita and replied, "Pine Bloom."
Rita smiled and flew off.
Lidian watched her depart in silence for a mont before turning to Nivalis. "Why were you so happy earlier? Just because she helped you get a skill?"
"You don't get it," Nivalis shook her head, her cheerful deanor softening. "If it were before, she'd have respected enough to ask if I wanted it. But today, she just agreed on my behalf! She sees as one of her own—that's why."
Lidian tried to process this logic, then fell silent.
She felt like she was seeing a younger version of herself. For a mont, she understood why Holy Cup and the others looked at her the way they did.
The tiny ice dragon plopped down beside the fire dragon's head and began recounting her experiences with Rita.
Of course, she omitted Rita's secrets and various artifacts and items. She only spoke of daily life, even tweaking specific tis, places, and events.
Lidian thoughtfully shrank to Nivalis's size. Moonlight bathed the two little dragon blobs as their shadows stretched from 6 o'clock to 9, then to 12, until Nivalis finally finished her tales about Rita.
She concluded, "I know she still doesn't fully trust .
"Even though I spent so ti in the pet space, I asked B8017913 about what happened while I was gone.
"This ga was dangerous—we could've lost everything. But when she considered what she'd rely on to start over, she thought of alchemy and even cooking, but not .
"We got the Unregrettable Oath scroll. She'd rather give a core skill than another one because if I had that skill and ever betrayed her, she'd struggle to defeat ."
After saying this, Nivalis fell silent for a long ti.
How could it not hurt?
Lidian softly said, "But."
It was like flipping a switch, reconnecting a broken circuit.
Nivalis picked up where Lidian left off. "But! That just makes even more reluctant to leave her. I can't explain this foolish feeling."
Lidian: "Do you bla or resent her for not trusting you?"
Nivalis: "No."
Lidian: "Then do you think I'm foolish for still not completely hating Pine Bloom?"
Nivalis: "Yes."
Lidian burst into unrestrained laughter. "You accept that your friend may never fully trust you, and I accept that Pine Bloom will always choose the better option when faced with choices. Their flaws are infuriating, yet so coldly dazzling.
"Nivalis, we're not so different.
"We both despise flawless perfection and prefer sharp imperfections."
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