Minute 3.

Her left hand lost its grip and the long blade was knocked away. Both of Rita's hands went numb and hung uselessly at her sides. It was a debuff from Mistblade's skill and she could not dispel it.

But with Lucky Number active, Pine Bloom and the others were not in much better shape. Their HP had already dropped below thirty percent.

All four beasts were under twenty percent.

At three minutes and twenty seconds, Rita leaped high and used her foot like a blade, a single Backstab Throat Slash that opened the throat of the nearly dead Frost Wolf.

Her fourth kill. She immediately unlocked the reflect skill Absurd Story.

Now she could literally stand still and let them hit her, grinding them down with reflected damage.

As long as the damage value contained a two, Lucky Number would trigger double reflection.

Absurd Story reflected one hundred percent.

Rita slid one step back so that Mistblade's spear tip scraped her tactical belt. The dagger at her waist dropped. With a flick of her toe she sent it spinning up.

She slipped past Mistblade's next slash, stepped on the sweeping tail of a Frost Python, vaulted after the dagger, and caught the handle between her teeth.

The instant she landed, she lunged straight for Maple Syrup, who had just finished off a beast. Maple Syrup reacted fast, kicked her spear up, spun, and thrust. Rita did not dodge. She let the spear pierce her heart and closed the distance in a rush.

Even in child form she was half a head shorter than the Oak Owl, and that was an advantage. She curled a smile, eyes fixed on the exposed throat right before her. The dagger clenched in her teeth flashed and carved a line of steel light. Backstab Throat Slash.

The reflect that triggered from the spear striking Rita, plus the vital crit from that Backstab Throat Slash.

Maple Syrup, dead.

The moment her HP hit zero, Maple Syrup burst into motes of light and vanished from the corridor.

Rita whipped aside, barely slipping past Mistblade's stabbing blade. Facing Mistblade and Pine Bloom, the dagger still between her teeth, a bead of blood at the corner of her mouth, she smiled at them with open provocation.

Three apprentices and two beasts remained on the field.

One minute left until the random event ended.

Good news, the corridor entrances were still sealed. The revived Maple Syrup could not get back in.

Mistblade and Pine Bloom came at her together, weapons raised.

They shifted their footwork and brushed past the lunging beasts with ease. Their intent could not have been clearer. Team up and take Rita out first.

Rita, dagger clenched, looked up at Mistblade and Pine Bloom. She knew their plan. First cripple her arms, then her legs.

Make her completely unable to fight and dump her back in the BlueStar corridor.

What would happen to her then? Would she be eaten by beasts, or something else?

It did not matter.

Mistblade, Pine Bloom, and Maple Syrup would keep playing until someone won the hand.

If Rita wanted to keep fighting, she would have to cancel Mystic Force and die once to reset. By the usual Divine Game rules, even if she revived, Mystic Force's cooldown would not change.

This single random event had effectively burned her Mystic Force.

Rita's shoulders dipped as she focused on the charging Moon Fox and Oak Owl.

She was awakened too. Her memories were back too. All those combat techniques learned through Divine Game rewards, all those two days and nights of pushing past her limits against the elites of BlueStar and Lania Kaia, had fully returned.

In that moment she suddenly thought of a conversation years ago on the Star Glacier.

She had been fighting the Chernor Worm forever, dizzy and about to black out, when Lightchaser appeared and asked what she was thinking, then actually advised her to give up. Lightchaser did not want an apprentice's youth crushed under a dream that only looked grand and dazzling.

Lightchaser was always like that. Most of the time, her temper was awful, she was overbearing and absolute. Once disappointed in someone, she walked away without leaving even a chance to make amends. Yet now and then, a sliver of gentleness slipped through that few could see.

What had Rita answered back then?

She told Lightchaser, I do not want to wait for someday. The best story is right in front of me.

Fourth wave, minute four.

Rita pushed off and ran to meet Mistblade and Pine Bloom, eyes locked and steady.

She had already missed the Lightchaser moment she promised. She could not miss GodDraw77.

Yet at the instant she crossed paths with them, she dipped her center of gravity, shifted her steps, and slipped like a wisp between them, sprinting for the two beasts that had been chasing in after Mistblade and Pine Bloom.

She rose lightly, her body turning on its axis to swing the dagger in a cutting whirl. It looked almost like a dance, but the crisp, decisive motion filled that dance with a razor edge of killing intent.

Six streaks of purple light flew in total.

A simplified Wildfire.

Stacked with Midnight Exile, it hit for one times damage, then five times, then twenty five times.

The two beasts, already on their last legs, collapsed together and dissolved into light.

Rita turned with the dagger between her teeth and smiled sweetly at the grim faced Mistblade and Pine Bloom.

She walked out of the corridor and earned two skill unlocks.

At the table, she set the dagger down first and called out, Lightchaser. She waited a few seconds. No sprite appeared, so she unlocked Lightchaser Moment.

The skill lit up again, and its cooldown began ticking once more.

Rita called Lightchaser again. This time the Lightchaser sprite appeared on the mahjong table, sitting on the row of tiles in front of her, watching.

Her guess had been right. The skills were only sealed. Once relit, their cooldowns did not reset, or she would have immediately used Let It Die again.

She told the sprite, Teacher, you handle my draws here. If we win the hand, I become GodDraw77.

The Lightchaser sprite spoke for the first time. Are you sure?

I am sure.

What if we cannot win?

Then I go run another round in the corridor.

The sprite understood the meaning between the lines. She only needed to draw tiles here. The fighting would all be handled by her apprentice.

She looked at Rita's limp arms and asked calmly, How many rounds can you fight?

Until you draw the tile that makes me GodDraw77. We still have seventeen seconds to waste.

The sprite held Rita's gaze in silence, letting a few more seconds pass without feeling any of them were wasted.

By now Mistblade and Pine Bloom had drawn and gone back to their corridors. Lightchaser finally stood and walked to the back wall of tiles. She picked one up at random, flipped it, and her gray blue eyes lifted to Rita. Six Character. Is that GodDraw77?

She could not see Rita's hand, and Rita could not conveniently reveal what she needed. All she could do was ask like that.

Rita bent to take the dagger in her teeth again and shook her head. With her words muffled she muttered, Terrible luck, then sprinted back toward the BlueStar corridor.

She had barely taken a few steps when Lightchaser's voice sounded behind her. Is this the Lightchaser Moment you set up for me?

Rita turned while running. She jogged backward, arms swinging uselessly, dagger still clenched in her mouth. She looked as ridiculous as a half melted little snowman.

Her round eyes sparkled with laughter and she nodded to the sprite again and again.

She was so happy. Happy that her teacher had discovered the gift she had prepared for her.

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