Rita rembered how she and Nivalis had once traveled to the world of Marmang specifically to gather cross-world ga info—just in case they ever ran into a ga like Crazy Kart, where lack of preparation ant instant disadvantage.
But things had gotten too hectic since then. Every ti she returned from Divine Ga, there was no downti—no chance to visit other worlds just to waste ti.
Besides, Eclipse Vanguard didn't have enough loose change lately to hire her for cross-world shopping. She wasn't about to take commissions for free, so she decided to put it off until they had the money to spare.
She flipped through the listings rapidly. There were 37 pages of nine-piece Block item sets, each page with nine entries. That wasn't a small number by any ans.
But with hundreds of thousands of players in this ga, only a few hundred nine-piece sets in circulation was almost laughably rare.
The item Wrathful Moon being a nine-piece had surprised her—though honestly, it felt a bit fake. That lantern contained a huge stash of moon sand. Without it, and without Wrathful Moon being an upgradeable item, it definitely wouldn't qualify as a nine-piece.
As for Ga Machine That Loves Gas, she'd already seen three fragnts of it. The first ti she saw it listed, the price was 500gBlock.
If fragnts of the sa item showed up too often, it usually ant one of three things:
The original owner was weak.
The owner didn't understand this round of Divine Ga.
Or... they were the seller.
So players would list fragnts at outrageous prices just to avoid losing them during gaplay. But Rita doubted Divine Ga had such a loophole.
Yes, prices in the trading system could be steep—but they were never unrealistically high.
Still suspicious, Rita dismantled one of her [Betrayal] Blocks and tried listing it in the market.
A warning popped up instantly:
Warning! Player BS-Rita is attempting to list a Block that originally belonged to them. Once listed, this action cannot be undone. If the Block fails to sell, it will be reclaid by Divine Ga.
She imdiately withdrew the Block.
So no, there was no loophole.
Players could sell their stuff to gain Blocks, but the system wouldn't babysit your gear for you.
Rita stood by the vending machine until all seven of her listed item fragnts were sold, netting her a modest 160gBlock.
Those two Ga Machine That Loves Gas fragnts were still there. Actually, there were other nine-piece sets with multiple fragnts on sale, but this one just kept catching her eye.
She thought back to the near-miss trade deal with Eclipse Vanguard right before the ga started—such a fleeting mont of opportunity.
She stopped hesitating.
And began dismantling herself.
…
Nivalis peeked over, but a long line in front of a nearby food truck blocked her view.
"Why's she still not back?"
B8017913 was fiddling with its assembled dagger. Since partial equipnt had no wear requirents—but ca with incomplete stats and skills—it just stuck the blade horizontally on top of its arm. Swinging its arm beca a full-on attack. Who needs hands?
It replied:
"Probably selling off Blocks to buy sothing good."
Then added,
"Definitely not just any item. It must be sothing expensive."
"Impossible." Nivalis said confidently.
"Blocks represent attributes. Losing too many ordinary Blocks raises the chance of her losing item fragnts. She wouldn't take that risk."
B8017913 gave a low snort.
"Sister, your understanding of her is outdated."
Nivalis: "…"
She hadn't felt it while being the crazy one herself—but now, watching soone else spiral? Major secondhand embarrassnt.
Her silence was too telling. If she'd played along, maybe it would've passed. But she didn't.
When even the dumbest one falls silent, you know it's bad.
And that's when Rita returned—right into this awkward silence.
"What are you two doing?"
Both Nivalis and B8017913 visibly relaxed at her voice.
Then froze.
Because Rita… looked almost exactly like she had when first entering the amusent park a few hours ago—tiny.
Now she was barely taller than B8017913, maybe 22 centiters. If Nivalis stood up, she'd tower over her.
She had a hand Block stuck to her chest, a potion bottle perched on one shoulder, and seven or eight odd-shaped Blocks balanced on the other. One side of her face wore a fraless lens, the other a thick black-rimd fra, and a small antenna poked from her head.
In her hands, she was fiddling with sothing unidentifiable.
This look? Weirdly balanced.
Compared to her previous form—half a ter tall with a tiny cube of a head—it was downright harmonious. Nivalis had endured that nightmare shape for far too long. Only Rita herself had found it funny.
Nivalis: "You bought sothing?"
Rita handed over what she was holding.
"Yeah. This."
It was a rectangular object.
The centerpiece was a mismatched rectangular Block—eye-catching because of how utterly out-of-place it looked.
Every Block on it was a different size, color, and even thickness. Running a hand along the back, you could feel uneven bumps — a Frankenstein's patchwork of whatever Blocks she could scrape together.
But on either side were two matching ga controller-style Blocks — one red, one blue. Both had plus signs and directional buttons. A bit scuffed, a bit incomplete — but they were clearly original parts, still in one piece.
Looking at the whole thing, Nivalis had one concern:
Would Divine Ga be getting sued soon?
[Ga Machine That Loves Gas · Incomplete] (2/9):
Skill 1 — Ga Into Reality:
Allows scanning and input of any ga. When in-ga ti reaches ??? hours, the player may randomly receive a skill or...
Nivalis read the description and shot to her feet in excitent.
"How much?! I want one too!!"
Rita held out her arms to show her current form.
"Sold everything I could. Barely got two fragnts."
Before visiting the marketplace, Rita had 256 Blocks — not counting her original gear, items, or oddities. Of those, 8 were item fragnts from the claw machine.
Those 8 fragnts sold for 160gBlock.
But to buy just two Ga Machine That Loves Gas fragnts, she still needed another 810gBlock.
For reference, a mid-sized standard Block was only worth 5g…
Rita didn't want to dip into her core starter Blocks. She refused to sell her potion bottle. But she did want to complete this machine — to see if it was worth it.
Wanting everything at once ant one thing: she sold off nearly everything else.
Right now, not counting her personal gear and weapons brought into Divine Ga, she only had 69 Blocks left. And over 20 of those were already assembled into her new gadgets — including Don't Ask What a Potion Is and this new ga machine.
Nivalis sat back down.
"…Actually, I don't want it that much."
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