"When does the vote on the maze update end? Who hasn't voted yet?!"
"If we don't change the rules now, she'll be selling grilled at all the way to the end of the Divine Ga."
"Still waiting on two sleeping demons. The captain said Maangmaang's already gone to wake them."
"Huh? Maangmaang's actually taking initiative?"
"Maybe because BS-Rita used sothing they said—'Six is a magic number'—as her grilled at slogan."
"Uh, so how did Maangmaang vote?"
"...Neutral. For changing the rules, but with so compensation for her."
"What, they like BS-Rita that much?"
"Ahem. Not necessarily. Everyone's just being... fair."
"Even the Captain and Deceitful Bloom voted neutral."
"Honestly, we don't even need those last two. The vote result's basically final already..."
…
Rita had just handed over another bundle of Attribute Blocks to B8017913 when the bot gave her so good news:
"I just got a prompt—I've completed the hidden achievent 'Sigh, Capitalism!'"
She glanced at the now 2.3-ter-tall B8017913. By the look of it, it was holding well over 5,000 Blocks. Even though so smart players who joined the maze later brought their own food, demand far outstripped supply. Grilled at practically sold itself.
Even with her "one-per-player" rule, many players simply changed identities to buy a second helping.
She asked, "Are the rewards still the sa? The 80% discount coupon, forced recall, or It's Ti?"
B8017913: "Yep."
Rita: "Go with the discount coupon. You keep it for now."
B8017913 made the selection and tucked away the "80% Discount Coupon" Block with care.
It was worth noting that during this round of deliveries, Rita had finally bought back the [Plush Collar] fragnt from Verdant Whisper · Windrush—at the steep cost of two full orders of grilled at.
No choice. The mont she tried to buy it back, she exposed how important it was to her. If she didn't offer that price, Verdant Whisper · Windrush wouldn't have sold it at all.
Even if Windrush wanted to buy at from her, they could easily disguise themselves and do it anonymously.
Her [Chavez Pocket Watch] was no longer sufficient when dealing with high-tier Abyss players.
As she encountered more of them, Rita found herself questioning even her most reliable tools.
She couldn't even fully trust the weaknesses revealed by [Fishing Master] anymore—if she could spoof data, why couldn't they?
While reflecting on all the ga rewards piling up, Rita pulled out her final-use trial of [Double Recall].
But instead of recalling the [Plush Collar], she chose to recall sothing else—[Sleeping Dragon Horn Fragnt].
Ever since that fragnt landed on the World Battlefield, she hadn't been able to sense Whitebone Black Jade anymore.
She still wasn't sure if "recall" sent items back to their original locations, but it was worth testing.
As the horn fragnt vanished, Rita closed her eyes and focused.
Monts later, she felt Whitebone Black Jade's presence again.
They were still running dungeons. She "saw" the teammates around them glance over, clearly reacting in surprise.
Their mouths moved, but Rita didn't know lip reading. She didn't care what they were saying—as long as she could sense Whitebone Black Jade, that was enough.
Feeling relieved, she opened her eyes just as B8017913 handed her an owl fragnt.
"One of the arcade machine pieces went up for sale," the bot reported, "but it's marked 'only accepts Blocks from the October The Park.'"
That was a dead end. Even if Rita had been outside, she couldn't have bought it. She took the owl fragnt and said,
"No problem. Keep an eye on it. If you can grab it, do. If not, leave it. Also, no more grilled at runs."
B8017913: "Switching to sothing else?"
Rita: "Nope. I'm done. No more sales."
She grabbed five servings of grilled at and the owl fragnt, then, after cloaking the helm with Teletubby Blocks, rotated the helm to return to the maze.
The mont she landed, before she could even pull out her ride, a skill slamd into her, shaving off 0.004% of her health.
Rita didn't even bother dodging—this was just routine by now.
If players could snatch the at, they wouldn't bother buying.
Every player who saw her had to try. Only after realizing she couldn't be killed and the at couldn't be stolen would they settle down and buy properly.
After sending off her latest custor, Rita turned her attention to the owl.
With the fifth piece now in hand, the owl unlocked its third skill:
[Skill 3] The Owl Got Caught
Select a target and transfer the cooldown of one of your own skills to them. The recipient skill is randomly chosen from any skill the target has used in the past 12 hours.
Each skill may only be transferred once per Starsea day.
Costs 1000 Mana.
Cooldown: 1 hour (this cooldown is absolute and cannot be reduced by any ans).
While flying past a battlefield, Rita decided to test it before selling more grilled at.
First, she tried targeting [I Could Just Steal It]—a skill that could only be used once in a lifeti.
When the transfer failed, she reluctantly selected [Phoenix Seat] instead and dumped the cooldown onto a random player.
After pulling her little stunt, she raised her at packets high.
"Anyone hungry for grilled—"
Before she could even finish her sales pitch, the system's voice echoed across the maze.
[An instability has been detected. All Month The Park maze gas are now being rebalanced.]
[New Rule 1: Every kill inside the maze restores 5 stamina points.]
[New Rule 2: Holding map fragnts will restore 1 stamina per piece per minute.]
Every player who had paused mid-fight turned at once to stare at the so-called instability.
Instability · Rita: …
At the sa ti, a few private prompts popped up in her mind:
[Due to the mid-ga rule change and its impact on gaplay, Player BS-Rita may choose one of the following compensations:]
- Block Exchange
- Block Duplication
- Universal Fragnt
[Achievent Unlocked: This Can't Go On]
[This Can't Go On: Trigger a divine rule change mid-ga without exploiting any actual bugs.]
[Reward: Choose one skill or item—its cost will be permanently halved.]
Rita cast a glance, both regretful and indignant, at the Abyss players around her, then turned and flew off in a huff.
But deep down? She wasn't angry at all. In fact, she was relieved—and thrilled about the reward.
The announcent couldn't have co at a better ti.
She'd already told B8017913 to stop the grilled at deliveries.
Honestly, the rewards she'd raked in from this maze had already surpassed what she was prepared to handle.
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