Shadow.Q summarized the incident with her usual clean, sharp precision. She said,

When City Lord SmokeTune took Nivalis and Lidian out for a drive in the new sports car you gifted, they ran into the BS mascot on the street. The mascot tried to steal the car. They refused. For some reason, the mascot started shouting blessings, wishing for City Lord SmokeTune to be brave, to be herself, and to stand at the center of the world and loudly say no to her family.

She paused, then added,

To make the blessing come true, it shouted that line seventy three times.

Rita: …

The three newly joined BS leaders, who had halted subconsciously the moment they heard the report: …

The first victim appeared this fast?

After a moment of silent dread, all four of them opened the battlefield chat. Skipping the chaos of onlookers, they quickly found the source of the disaster.

BS SmokeTune: Cicada, I am living happily in BS. Stop sending me messages.

Dawn Spring Guest: … Sis, delete that.

Dawn Cicada: If BS does not perish in my lifetime, I am unworthy of being Vineborne.

Ah. So the first one hurt was BS.

Or no, technically, the ones truly hurt were the Lania Kaia players protecting her.

Lania Kaia Fat Goose: Can someone mute BS?

Lania Kaia Syntax: Save Lania Kaia.

Lania Kaia Mute: This is the first time I have ever seen BS SmokeTune speak in world chat…

Dawn Cicada: That is Dawn SmokeTune.

BS Rita: Can you not read?

She closed the chat immediately after sending that line. When she looked up, Mistblade, Pine Bloom, and Crab were staring at her with indescribable expressions.

Rita straightened her new coat and said to her people behind her,

Nothing serious. Let's go.

After they walked off, Mistblade suddenly turned to Pine Bloom.

Do you know how old she is?

Pine Bloom replied,

No idea, but she probably hasn't even lived a fraction of your lifespan.

Mistblade: …

…

On the fifth day after the Divine Game ended, everything was finally settling into place.

The divine courses were finished. All rewards had been converted to power. Cooperation projects between humans and the three new BS species were entering their first phase. Whale Falls in the Wind had been returned to Pine Bloom through the Owl exclusive dueling arena.

Y128 decided to stay in BS, but not as a director. Instead, it joined the research division to help develop weapons. BS's advantage had always been in technology, and even after gamification, humans had never abandoned that path.

If not for technology during the great battle, they would not have survived nearly as long.

Y128 only provided guidance and answers. It was closer to a mentor than a designer. It could not directly handle final schematics, preventing it from hiding backdoors. B80 performed regular inspections. Rita approved of every measure. If the research division had not insisted on these precautions, she would have been angry.

SmokeTune had begun redesigning BS's city layout. She had not finished exploring BS yet and had no plan to visit other worlds.

So Rita took only Nivalis with her to Lania Kaia. She needed to level up as much as possible before the next Divine Game so she could wear level 91 gear.

The BS symbol shot skyward, followed by the familiar announcement.

Warning, warning. BS Adjudicator has descended. BS Adjudicator has descended.

Rita dismissed the rain curtain, disguised herself, and immediately left the area.

As Adjudicator, she finally understood that a world leader entering another world through unofficial channels could not kill players there. If she attempted to do so, she would be forcefully expelled at the final moment and punished. High level players with special skills also faced restrictions when traveling between worlds.

So if she wanted to level up, she had to hunt down the dungeons where Dawn had descended onto Lania Kaia.

Not long after she left, Maple Syrup, Flowering Edge, and Holy Cup arrived at the place where she had vanished. The three players of different races stared at each other in silence, then walked away wearing matching scowls.

Golden rain curtain turned into thunder. Every dungeon was cleared in a single wave. Even working without rest, Rita could only reach level 70 in seven days.

She bought a full set of level 70 gear from the Lania Kaia auction house and left immediately. She had to visit Isolated Isle. Plans never kept up with change. With the Player Relic game finished, Isolated Isle had fully unlocked. She no longer needed to activate Dawn's path to enter it.

During her negotiations with Mistblade, Pine Bloom, and Crab, a system announcement had echoed briefly, though she had not diverted her attention then.

Battlefield Announcement: The world known as Isolated Isle is now open. It will enter the invasion sequence in seventeen star sea months.

There had been fifty players. Only seventeen died to the hands of Isolated Isle players.

Once the players regained their full strength and the Divine Game's locked abilities were restored, they were no longer the helpless offerings delivered to Isolated Isle when the game began.

Seventeen star sea months was not short. Three hundred fifty seven days. About the same amount of time as when Rita had been reborn early into the beta.

But Isolated Isle had no players participating in the Divine Game. They had no World Graveyard.

And now Rita needed to prepare a backup plan for BS while also sending a gift to Lightchaser and Ash Cinders.

From the BS war she had earned fifty two World Graveyard. After subtracting the nine Mahjong pieces, she was left with forty three non Mahjong graves. Counting the four she already had, she possessed only forty seven usable non Mahjong graves.

An Abyss tier player needed to pay thirty World Graveyard to enter the Divine Game. Which meant she had seventeen spare.

Exactly enough to assemble three sets of identical battlefield keys.

She intended to use two of those sets, along with two entry fees, for a total of eight World Graveyard, to purchase a promise from Isolated Isle.

If she failed the next Divine Game and Lania Kaia descended unrestricted onto BS, then Isolated Isle must accept refugees from BS.

She would use the cat ship to evacuate as many BS players under sixteen as possible to Isolated Isle. Isolated Isle only needed to give them a place to live. She would leave enough resources for them.

When Ash Cinders saw her apprentice on the shores of Moonlight Marsh, her emotions were tangled. Not anger. Adults lived with the consequences of their choices. But the feelings were complicated anyway. She finally understood part of what Lightchaser felt toward Wail.

No one was wrong.

No one regretted.

Yet mistakes and sorrow still came to pass.

But then the apprentice asked to meet Lightchaser and the wrong answer, and maybe several heads of school if possible.

And then that apprentice, whose presence was still a little immature, faced dozens of powerful figures in Isolated Isle, many cold, many resentful, many conflicted, and proposed a deal.

She sat alone at the end of the table.

Her frame was not small, yet compared to those towering presences, she looked almost slender. She kept her back perfectly straight, meeting every gaze with calm resolve.

The golden rain curtain fell only on her, separating her from everyone else. The rain shimmered like broken gold, little sparks streaking through her eyes like falling stars.

Ash Cinders heard Lightchaser ask, voice steady,

And you? What about you?

Facing the question, the apprentice's tone brightened a little.

Maybe I'll stay with BS. I mean, I'm already twenty nine, haha.

She made a joke.

A joke that wasn't funny.

Trying to make Lightchaser smile.

Trying also to make Ash Cinders smile.

A two for one.

It was terrible.

Because not only did the joke fail to make them laugh, it made the only two beings in the room who weren't angry with her begin to get angry.

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