The black panther leapt lightly into a tree, claws scraping bark as she reached into a hollow and gave the hiding student a tap. "You didn’t scrub the scent properly."
She dove into the lake, poking a rmaid hiding in the weeds. A flurry of bubbles followed. "Your tail makes too much noise."
"Good disguise skill, but you look way too tense."
"Maangmaangs don’t show up in bushes."
"Rock mantises don’t screech that off-key."
"You made eye contact and bolted. Automatic fail."
"Nice stealth, but you didn’t flatten the grass under your feet."
It didn’t even take ten minutes for GodDraw77 to tag over a hundred students.
And she was holding back. No skills. Stuck to panther form the whole ti.
The scent in the air changed again.
Nine o’clock. Only one student left.
That shiny little owlet.
GodDraw77 split off a shadow clone, sending it back to handle the rest of the class while she focused entirely on finding that smug brat.
Just like the placent system, Moonlight Marsh and its instructors unapologetically poured their energy into the top-performing students.
Even so, she couldn’t track that cub down. The scent was gone, the green sprout gone, all traces erased.
She ran through every zone of the ga field again. Still nothing out of place.
This wasn’t the first ti Rita had landed in her class, but it was only the second ti playing this kind of pursuit.
She rembered last lesson’s post-ga huddle—students discussing how they got caught, and one fluffy little eavesdropper soaking it all in with her ears perked up.
The panther paused beneath a tree, closed her eyes, and focused. Her wet nose twitched as she filtered through dozens of overlapping scents in the air.
A few minutes later, she stood at the base of a tree.
The cub had been here. She was sure of it.
She asked aloud, "My student passed through here, didn’t she?"
A squirrel munching on a gummy under the tree didn’t even glance up. "Who’s the teacher here, you or us?"
GodDraw77’s gaze shifted to the paw-shaped liqueur-filled candy in the squirrel’s claws. "...Where’d you get that? Isn’t that a limited edition from the Rockin’ Locust Candy Shop in the West District?"
She scanned the area. The chirpy ballbird on the branch above was standing on a similar candy. Behind it, half of a white orb peeked out—those two beady black eyes belonged to a juvenile ballbird, perfectly round when viewed head-on.
GodDraw77 let out a long sigh. "She bribed you, didn’t she?"
The squirrel’s ears twitched indignantly. It yanked its teeth out of the candy and huffed, "Excuse ? It’s called feeding, not bribing."
The ballbird chirped, "Yeah! You can’t even find your student and you’re gonna judge us? What do you know?"
GodDraw77: ...
Fine. She wasn’t gonna argue with school property.
...
Eleven o’clock.
GodDraw77 ran through every ga zone again.
Word had gotten out to her colleagues. Every ti she passed by, they made sure to heckle.
"Need help finding your student?"
"This is outrageous. That little cub’s just bullying her teacher!"
"Just use a skill already. I promise not to tell—well, except the entire staff forum."
"I’m Bug Gall. I vote GodDraw77 gets to use a tracking skill on an 11-year-old."
GodDraw77: ...Screw all of you.
She pulled out so candy herself, ready to bribe school property for intel.
Back at the blue-fruited tree, the two ballbirds were gone, but the squirrel was still there, surrounded by a pile of wrappers, tearing open another piece of candy.
She padded over and tapped a few wrappers with her paw.
"How many did she give you?" she asked. "I’ll give you ten tis that if you tell what she did here."
The squirrel held out a paw. "She gave twenty different kinds. You first."
GodDraw77 tossed down a full candy gift box. "Two hundred pieces inside."
The squirrel pointed. "You can go talk to the rock mantis with the new violin."
GodDraw77 narrowed her eyes. "You’re not playing word gas with , are you? Did she beco the mantis, or the violin? I asked what she did here."
The squirrel shrugged. "Want to just fetch her for you?"
GodDraw77: ...
Forget it. No point getting mad.
That squirrel had been around since her student days. It was probably older than she was.
She followed the direction the squirrel pointed.
Bribery worked. After half an hour, she found the rock mantis with the shiny new violin.
Once told why she was there, the mantis willingly handed over the instrunt. Nothing happened.
Not the mantis. Not the violin.
Ballbird?
That tiny baby ballbird?
GodDraw77 bolted off. She still rembered the scent.
But even when she caught up with the two ballbirds, nothing looked wrong. The little one was snacking on termites like it was the most natural thing in the world.
If the cub was willing to stoop to that level just for an S-rank skill... well, she almost respected it.
At noon, drumbeats rang out across the forest—the Rockin’ Locusts playing the lunch bell.
Back in her class zone, GodDraw77 addressed the 49 remaining students.
"Class dismissed."
"You didn’t catch Rita?"
"Does that an she gets the S-rank skill?!"
"Are you really going to give her a ranged skill like she asked?"
"Four hours, wow! That’s insane!"
"Did you even try, Teacher?"
Each comnt stabbed deeper than the last.
GodDraw77: "...Leave."
She flopped down, sprawled on the ground, resigned to waiting for the little pest to show herself.
A mont later, two perfectly round ballbirds ca floating in. The smaller one dropped a fat white termite on the grass and nudged it forward.
In the blink of an eye, the termite shimred and vanished. A pair of glowing wings unfurled.
Rita threw her arms wide. "Ta-da!"
GodDraw77: ...
The cub handed a bulging candy pouch to the baby ballbird. "Pleasure doing business."
The bird pecked her finger gently in reply, then flew off with its partner, the larger ballbird already gripping the bag in its claws.
GodDraw77 said, "You weren’t afraid it might eat you?"
She’d taken a good look earlier. That white termite hadn’t used any skill.
Rita replied, "Nope. If students aren’t allowed to harm the school’s creatures, then I figure it works both ways."
The first part was public info at Moonlight Marsh. But the second half? Not so much. In fact, so zones were explicitly off-limits to underclassn.
"You sure about that?" GodDraw77 asked. "Your dorm adviser didn’t ntion that so creatures here are dangerous? That certain areas are restricted for a reason?"
Rita nodded. "I don’t think danger necessarily ans hostility. Maybe it just ans we’re not yet strong enough to handle their aura or presence. Otherwise, why only restrict students below third year?"
GodDraw77 didn’t correct her reasoning. She fell silent for a few seconds, then asked out of nowhere, "Is Lightchaser good to you?"
Rita thought about the endless debt, the sharp tongue, and the candy she’d received a few weeks ago.
"Yeah," she said. "She is."
The black panther flicked her tail once, then dropped the subject.
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