"What are you afraid of?
Afraid you are... or afraid you’re not?"
Rita realized—
She was afraid she wasn’t.
Lightchaser had affected her too deeply—too strongly.
She was powerful, dangerous, fearless, and absolutely free.
Every day of her life was different.
She knew all sorts of beings but wasn’t bound by any of them.
She didn’t sulk at ho or complain like Scarlett or Samuel. Anything that annoyed her—she just crushed it.
She was always calm, never flustered.
No person or event could make her waver.
Lightchaser was a being untouched by chains.
And cubs... they express their admiration by imitating, by chasing after what they admire.
With the full power of her dramatic little heart blazing in her chest, Rita clenched her fists and silently scread:
Co on, wicked divine gift! I’m ready!
The mont she swallowed the berry, a strange voice echoed in her head:
[Congratulations, ■■Rita login successful.]
There was a suspicious pause where sothing had clearly been censored.
Before Rita could overthink it, she felt a strange energy stir inside her—
Sothing she could summon at will.
Was this... magic?
Then a glowing full moon appeared in her mind—its edges hung with sparkling stars.
[Congratulations, player has awakened S-rank Divine Gift: "Sumr Snowman"]
[Congratulations, player has obtained skill: "I Just Want to Improve So Badly"]
[Congratulations, player has obtained skill: "Mont Reversal"]
[Congratulations, player has obtained skill: "Mysterious Power"]
Alongside the voice, a ga-like interface appeared in her vision.
Her first instinct was to close the screen and check if anyone else saw it—was she the only one?
But no one else reacted.
All the other cubs who had eaten the berry were staring up into the sky, lost in their own visions.
So... they probably all saw it too.
Relieved—or maybe disappointed—Rita re-opened the interface.
Physique: 8
Strength: 11
Agility: 13
Intelligence: 11
Luck: 10
Charm: 10
Skimming past her stats, she focused on her Divine Gift.
[Sumr Snowman] (S-Rank)
"I’m lting slowly... in the wrong season."
Skill 1: Spring Pumpkin
Crafts a pumpkin hat for a target. While worn, it restores 1% HP per second.
You can only have as many pumpkin hats active as your INT stat.
Each cast consus one non-skill-generated pumpkin.
Cooldown: 1 minute.
Skill 2: Sumr Snowman
Creates a miniature snowman resembling the target.
When activated, the snowman reverts the target’s state to 1 minute ago.
The more detailed the snowman, the more tis it can be used (min 1, max 10 uses).
Each target can only carry one snowman at a ti.
Each cast consus a small amount of non-skill-generated winter snow.
Cooldown: 1 hour.
Skill 3: Endless Autumn
Restores 90% HP instantly.
Then restores 50% HP per minute for 3 minutes.
Has a 10% chance to fully cure the target—including curses, control effects, disease, and deformities.
Each cast consus one real autumn leaf.
Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Skill 4: Brief Hibernation
Puts a target into a sleep state.
While hibernating, they can’t act or be hard.
Duration is based on INT stat, min 5 seconds, max 5 minutes.
Using a spring flower guarantees 3 minutes of sleep.
Consus 5% mana.
Cooldown: 30 minutes.
Skill 5: Wrong Season
Combines seasonal ingredients to brew a magical wine.
Max 3 brews per Starsea day.
...A heavenly gift.
A healing and ti-manipulating gift that was definitely not wicked.
A divine gift for angels.
Rita felt like collapsing.
She had just been assigned to Lightchaser’s enemy faction.
What now? Would she get chased out of Trash Street next ti?
Did she and her teacher just beco opponents?
Rita crouched down and hugged her head.
Mistblade, who had been watching her intently from afar, ran out of line without hesitation. She squatted beside Rita and patted her, mouthing silently:
"What happened?"
Rita rubbed her face. She didn’t even feel like checking her remaining three skills—they weren’t listed on the main interface, and she didn’t know where to look.
She shook her head and got up, following Mistblade toward the teachers handling registrations.
The direction they were going made it clear to Mistblade—Rita had passed.
She was staying.
Her tail wagged excitedly as she traced an S on Rita’s palm, then tapped it once.
Rita responded with her own S.
They smiled at each other.
Mistblade’s tail was now thumping against Rita’s side non-stop. That only happened when she was too happy to contain it.
Rita had already worked through the pros and cons.
Just like Lightchaser had taught her: set emotion aside during key monts. Focus on the facts.
If Lightchaser didn’t care whether Rita had a wicked divine gift, then staying at Moonlight Marsh was always part of the plan.
She gave her the money, trained her to hold back her strength—this path had always been open.
But if Lightchaser truly hated her divine gift, then Rita needed to stay here more than ever.
Mistblade led her to a massive three-ter-tall elk. The elk gently tapped Rita with its antlers before stepping aside to let her pass.
Only then did Rita have ti to review her skillset again.
The abilities didn’t consu much mana—so didn’t require mana at all. That was their biggest upside.
But the materials required were another story...
Pumpkins
Winter snow
Autumn leaves
Spring flowers
Seasonal ingredients for brewing
She could already see it—her dorm room packed full of seasonal stockpiles.
There were lots of pumpkins on the market right now.
Asaein’s sumr must be pumpkin season.
But where was she going to store all this stuff?
...Could Moonlight Marsh let her grow pumpkins herself?
Most of the cubs were lost in similar thought spirals.
Even Mistblade, after bringing her friend back, had zoned out.
The entire awakening process took five hours.
All the cubs with below-A-rank divine gifts were sent away.
Rita glanced around.
Out of tens of thousands, only about a hundred remained.
At so point, they ran into Maple Syrup again.
She had changed—quieter now—but Mistblade still excitedly pulled her into their little group.
Finally, when all the unqualified cubs were gone, a kangaroo stepped out.
It unzipped its pouch—
and began collecting tuition fees from every single student.
Rita had been waiting to hand over this money since the mont she arrived.
When she finally placed it into the kangaroo’s pouch, it felt like she had just completed one of life’s biggest milestones.
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