Snow swirled through the maze, drifting down in heavy flurries. The flakes clustered midair, forming the number 10.
A countdown.
Ten seconds until the ga began.
Around Rita, a dozen of her Blocks had transford into snow cubes—double the entry fee, triggered by the 6:00 PM ga session.
Several players glanced at one another, assessing the competition, before their gazes unanimously landed on her.
Demon Lords and Overlords had battled here for years. Though rankings fluctuated, most top-tier players were familiar with one another. But this new face? Completely unknown. Either using a disguise skill, or a visitor from a different Month The Park.
As the countdown vanished, Rita bolted into the maze, ignoring the attacks hurled at her.
[Mysterious Power] was already active. Dodging wasn’t necessary.
Even with future-Rita’s warning, she wasn’t going to deviate from her own plan. If anything, sticking to her course would lead her to the mont where she’d need [Wrathful Moon] to rewind ti.
Her goal was simple: find Sakura· Orange White, get the final [Dull Ga] shard, then return to the 15th Month The Park and ride out the rest of the Divine Ga in peace.
She didn’t care if the gods and devils found that boring. If they wanted more content, let another player drag her back in with a Forced Invite card.
She couldn’t match the Demon Lords and Overlords in raw speed, but her "defense" was deceptive.
Multiple players launched attacks at her—dozens of skills unleashed in rapid succession—but she didn’t even flinch. She tanked the hits directly, her Blocks only slightly scorched.
It gave the illusion she was a tank build—soone who’d sacrificed speed for near-invincible defense.
The players who had spawned from the sa entrance as her quickly gave up and turned to fight each other instead.
Only after they scattered did Rita duck into a corner and pull out [Cat’s Ideal] and one of her [Where’s the Owl Already] cards. She used [Owl Got Lost] to transfer the cooldown from [Waste Guide], then activated ti-stop.
Buffs were secondary. First, she needed to explore and locate Sakura· Orange White.
With only one shard, [Dull Ga] was unusable. That ant she couldn’t use [The Free Stuff Always Costs the Most] to trade for it—because the skill only worked on items the other player had used.
That was the second limitation of that skill.
So she had two options:
Option one—disguise herself as a Fat Duck and challenge Sakura to a gacha duel.
Option two—use [I Just Want to Improve So Badly] to steal it.
She was going to try option one first.
Ti-stop engaged.
Rita first organized her second gacha machine, loading it with capsules filled with assorted Blocks.
Once secured to her back, she pulled out a duck feather and activated [Away from Ho, Identity is Self-Assigned], transforming herself into a Fat Duck.
Success.
Her entire body of Blocks converted into feathers. She could still feel which feather represented which Block.
Her first gacha machine, however, appeared by her feet. It couldn’t be transford.
She shrunk it down to its smallest size, tied its strap to the second gacha machine, and slipped it underneath her duckwing.
If she kept the second gacha machine on, even raising her wing wouldn’t reveal the hidden first one—neatly tucked beneath the strap and feathers.
Retrieving items was simple, too. She placed [Cat’s Guide] into a capsule, then fed it into the hidden machine. With a single touch, it vanished into storage.
Next, she pulled out fragnts from the 13th Month’s [It’s Not the Craft That Sucks], patched them onto her body, and watched as they transford into feathers too.
These were her sacrificial tokens—sothing to lose during the 5-minute punishnt tir if she didn’t manage a kill.
Once everything was secured, she began sprinting through the maze.
Even if she found Sakura· Orange White, she still needed to learn the map.
In case her first attempt failed, she wanted to be able to teleport across the maze using [Absolute Freedom] or phantom mobility skills.
She kept [Dull Ga] in hand the entire ti, using the [Blocks Tracker] arrow embedded on it to confirm the identity of each player she passed—just in case Sakura had also used a disguise.
After four hours of nonstop sprinting, she’d mapped the entire labyrinth.
There were 491 players.
No one capable of resisting ti-stop appeared—her earlier concern—but the sheer number of participants was much higher than she expected.
She honored her future self’s warning: don’t approach the maze’s 3 o’clock entrance.
Still, after checking every path, the arrow on [Dull Ga] led her to a corner near that very entrance.
Why was she supposed to intercept Sakura· Orange White here?
Would [Dull Ga] be stolen shortly after the ga started?
Or would soone interfere with the trade midway?
Rita crouched down in an egg-hatching position, closed her eyes, and rested—letting the remaining ti waste away.
Since [Waste Guide] was still active, she figured she might as well rack up a few extra buffs.
...
When ti resud, Rita’s "waste index" on her duck paw had passed 15,000.
Roughly 2,000 ca from her previous session in [It’s Not the Craft That Sucks], but most were earned from her intense study sessions with Deceitful Bloom and Drumr.
Over the 30 Star-Sea years, even though studying in ti-stop deducted from her waste score, there were still plenty of breaks—short, well-earned naps that added up over ti.
So by now, she still had a considerable surplus.
Her core stats—attack, defense, speed, crit rate, accuracy, health and mana regen, magic resistance—had all increased by at least 9x.
She stood still, waiting quietly.
Monts later, her expression twisted slightly.
Why did she tell Sakura· Orange White that [Dull Ga] was special? Why say outright she ca for it?
Then ca her own voice, echoing through the maze.
She was hearing herself pitch the trade.
So this was what it felt like... hearing your own manipulation from the outside.
Listening closely, she double-checked her status.
Good. [Absolute Clarity] was still active. That was one of her initial loadout skills.
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