Only the Hunter Form remained. Extre battle intent and killing intent were things Rita had in abundance, honed long ago in the arena and the Star Glacier.
The runes glowed for a long ti. GodDraw77 chanted without pause. But just as she had warned before, even getting this far didn’t guarantee success.
"Not everyone can find the form that fits them best. It’s not just about mindset. It has to align with your combat style too. Do you favor speed kills, explosive bursts, or stealthy ambushes? Everyone’s fighting style and personality are different."
"But when I was practicing Nature Form, a unicorn just popped into my head and then I beca one. I wasn’t thinking about anything."
"That’s because Wrong Answer left the deepest impression on you. In your heart, unicorns an healing and purity."
"So for Hunter Form, I need to find the creature I imagine best suits it. And it has to match my combat style?"
"More or less."
"Does it have to be an animal? What if I turned into, I don’t know, an elf?"
"Creative thought, but no." GodDraw77 shut that down. "Each druid form can tap nature’s power to restore itself. That ans it has to be an animal acknowledged by nature, one that hunts through its body’s design, not through tools or weapons. Those are the creatures nature favors, not humanoids."
This ti, Rita mulled it over for days before finally saying, "Teacher, I have an idea. Can I try again?"
It was the last potion. GodDraw77 didn’t interfere. The odds of mastering Hunter Form were higher than forcing another attempt at Savage Form.
Half a month later, with GodDraw77’s gentle chanting drifting across the boat, a white-and-pale-pink Orchid Mantis, no more than five centiters long, appeared on the deck.
She sprang about with impossible speed—one mont on the bow, the next perched on Moonbear’s head.
No skills used. Just her normal movent speed, and she wasn’t even going full tilt.
...
"Mutual devotion."
"Confird: pink-simp energy."
"Foolishness is secretly thrilled."
"Once is chance, twice is fate!"
"What’s the cooking teacher say to this?"
"Cooking teacher has to clap back now."
Foolishness held it in, but finally blurted, "I’m not secretly thrilled."
"Spread the word! Foolishness didn’t deny the mutual devotion!"
"Deceitful Bloom, my heart aches for you."
"I don’t get it..."
"Wait, hold on, her explanation..."
"Kind of makes sense."
"Make up already, Deceitful Bloom! You’re destiny. Foolishness is just a bonus."
...
Lightchaser still didn’t understand. Why, whether child or adult, did she always end up linked to Orchid Mantis? Was it really that special?
Rita explained, "Because White Bear is really, really strong. And nice to —well, okay, except that ti he tried to fish up during the tournant. Anyway, he’s strong. And that Orchid Mantis that’s always with him must be impressive too.
"If a form was chosen by a strong one, it has to be special."
And she hadn’t chosen wrong.
The Orchid Mantis’s tiny, slender fra was perfect for mimicry and stealth. Guerrilla tactics, ambushes—it could do both. A natural-born assassin.
Her dynamic vision skyrocketed too. She could even track Lightchaser’s tiniest expressions and the flow of her muscles.
Before, after training against the Chenor Worms, she could only guess which direction Lightchaser would move. Now, in Orchid Mantis form, she could outright anticipate so of her attack paths.
Her forelimbs were versatile scythes, good for strikes from any angle, or grappling and locking down. Flexible, lethal weapons.
Against big targets, she could even crawl through ear canals or mouths and wreck them from the inside.
The only drawback was the lack of flight. But her real body could fly. And if stealth made switching forms inconvenient, her petal-shaped legs let her glide down from heights, controlling her landing precisely. A partial fix to the weakness.
All in all, she was thrilled with this form.
She zipped to hover above Lightchaser’s head, raising her scythe-arms high. "Yo~hoo~"
Lightchaser’s face stayed cold as she cast a string of buffs, then snatched the mantis in a blur.
Rita: "..."
Lightchaser pinched the mantis between two fingers, holding her up to GodDraw77. "I’m planning to crush her. Do you have any last words for her?"
GodDraw77 plucked the mantis away from Lightchaser’s grip. "Can you stop bullying her? She’s your apprentice. Anyone else with that kind of grudge would’ve stopped bothering with you long ago."
Every sentence ca with an emphatic nod from the mantis in her hand.
Yes! Exactly!
"And you," GodDraw77 added, now turning to the mantis. "Can you not deliberately provoke Lightchaser?"
Rita nodded just as hard.
Thankfully, GodDraw77 wasn’t one for wasting ti with nagging. After a few words, she set the Orchid Mantis down. "Let’s continue. Now I’ll teach you combat techniques unique to all three forms."
"Three?" Rita asked. "But I can’t do Savage Form."
"My formal apprentice can. You’ll et her one day. When you do, pass these techniques on for . You’ll know her when you see her—she’ll be easy to recognize."
Even if she’s recognizable, why as the ssenger?
A shadow flickered across Rita’s eyes. Sothing about this felt off.
But she didn’t press. If GodDraw77 could say more, she would. Her face made it clear she didn’t want Rita asking further.
So Rita only nodded. "I’ll rember. I’ll tell her."
With seven months and change left before reaching Arisentna, GodDraw77 and Lightchaser took turns teaching her.
After discovering she had [Optimal·Orpha] from a past Divine Ga, they even gave her one S-rank-or-below item each week to absorb its magic attributes, helping her catch up on the three years she had lost.
Maybe it was the boredom of the River of Ti, or maybe the fact that [Optimal·Orpha]’s description already revealed too much. Either way, between lessons the two teachers sotis spoke of their generation.
"Just as you suspected, Orpha eliminates any apprentice she deems unworthy."
"Her apprentices are outstanding in every field because the unworthy are already dead."
"Don’t worry about your moon-fox friend. At least before we left Arisentna, she was Orpha’s most favored student."
"Compared to Mistblade, you should worry more about your friend Maple Syrup."
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