CHAPTER 783: 783: DIVINE GAME: CARD SWAP 32

The Moonlight Marsh cafeteria wasn’t far from the dorms. It sat right on a grassy field, dotted with dozens of massive, irregularly shaped stone slabs—some as long as a kilometer, others over 500 meters. These were the cafeteria tables. Around them were all kinds of wooden blocks, like logs randomly dragged out of the forest. Those were the chairs.

The stone tables were loaded with every kind of food imaginable—meats, vegetables, hot soups, desserts, fruit juices, and moo-moo milk.

Every race could find something they liked on this enormous communal feast. Both students and teachers ate here daily.

Rita had to walk halfway around the first-year table before she spotted Mistblade, Maple Syrup, and Fat Goose. The three were already eating, but they’d saved her a spot.

She sat next to Mistblade, tapped her meal card against the table’s surface, and only then did the dishes allow her to eat. Without that tap, the plates and glasses would have actively avoided her. Even if she grabbed one by force, the food inside would instantly vanish.

Mistblade handed her a glass of her favorite juice. "Heard you dodged GodDraw77’s tracking and earned an S-rank skill?"

Rita frowned and swapped the juice for a glass of moo-moo milk—the drink she hated most.

In the month since school started, she’d somehow become the shortest one in their group. Both Mistblade and Maple Syrup had grown half a head taller than her. It was horrifying.

She replied, "Yep~ The teacher told me to go find her later."

Maple Syrup, sitting beside Mistblade, leaned in. "How’d you pull it off?"

The chatter nearby died down. Every cub within earshot pricked up their ears.

Rita generously walked them through her entire strategy for evading GodDraw77’s search.

Some classmates asked for details. She answered most of them, except when it came to the specifics of her disguise skill.

One clueless cub kept pressing her about the skill itself. Rita just smiled and said, "That’s a secret."

She said it so plainly that no one could be mad. Everyone who knew her understood this was just how Rita operated. When she didn’t want to talk, she didn’t. Her boundaries were always clear.

If someone got upset over it, she’d just stop talking to them altogether.

Basically, if you wanted to deal with Rita, you had to play by her rules.

Still, nearly everyone who knew her liked her.

Like now—none of them would’ve shared how they earned an S-rank skill. But Rita did.

...

The teachers’ table sat diagonally behind the first-year table.

Back in her original form, GodDraw77 popped a fingertip-sized mini watermelon into her mouth.

That kid was sly. Sharing her strategy like that—what good would it do? Like anyone thought the teacher would fall for the same trick twice?

And she’d left out the most critical part: "Creatures of Moonlight Marsh won’t harm students."

A pretty useless tip in practice, but it bought her classmates’ gratitude and admiration.

Or maybe, from the cub’s perspective, even that goodwill didn’t matter. She’d just done it because she felt like it.

...

After lunch, Rita returned to her dorm for a thirty-minute nap. For afternoon electives, she’d chosen Forest Studies.

The class didn’t just cover the flora and fauna of Moonlight Marsh, but also those of the broader world.

She needed that knowledge to expand the drink pool of her skill, Wrong Season.

She was starting to realize this might be the highest-ceiling skill in her Summer Snowman set. Not only could it increase her stats, but it also produced an endless supply of magic brews with bizarre effects.

Unlike Fat Goose’s magic food—which mostly gave basic buffs—half of her drinks were straight-up absurd.

Like Monotony Sucks, which changed your fur color with each sip.

Or Arsonist, which let you spew fire for two minutes.

Or Hope I Wake Up Alive, which granted short-term flight.

If she ever couldn’t find a job, she could just open a bar next to the Rockin’ Locust candy shop.

Woken by a squirrel, Rita tidied up and slung on her backpack.

She had time to spare. With 50 credits earned today, she planned to hit the library first.

Moonlight Marsh’s library sat in the southwest corner—in the Everwinter Zone.

True to its name, that part of the campus was perpetually in winter.

Rita had tried using the snow from that area to craft a Summer Snowman the day she first discovered it. But it failed.

Turned out the snow there wasn’t real—it was conjured by a skill.

She pulled her winter cloak tighter and dashed into the six-story palace made entirely of ice.

She headed straight for the trading section on the first floor’s left wing. Students could trade here, or use their credits to buy all kinds of items—including intel on the black-uniformed students.

It was a long-standing Moonlight Marsh tradition.

Every student with a black uniform had a publicly listed evil Divine Gift type. It cost 5 credits to access this information.

There were no detailed skill descriptions, just a one-line summary—often noting if the gift involved fraud, betrayal, extortion, or unfair deals.

The listings were locked to prevent resale.

Black-uniformed students were rare. As soon as most students earned their first credits, they used them to buy this info and avoid getting tricked.

Of the sale, 60% went to the student being listed.

It was both compensation and a form of regulation.

All of this was explained before admission. A mutual understanding.

For instance, Maple Syrup’s profile simply read: Fraud.

She’d been stressing about it lately.

Her gift required her to deceive people—but as time passed, nearly every first-year had heard about her Divine Gift.

How was she supposed to keep scamming them?

No successful cons meant no stat-boosting premium cookies. It was a vicious cycle.

But Rita wasn’t here to buy info on her own classmates.

Nor was she interested in upperclassmen—those couldn’t target first-years anyway.

No, today she was after something else: data on Moonlight Marsh graduates.

Like, say... Lightchaser.

She typed in Lightchaser’s name.

Hundreds of entries popped up.

Titles like:

"Lightchaser’s Weaknesses (Speculative)"

"Known Control Skills Used by Lightchaser"

"Lightchaser’s Necklace Artifact"

"Who Trained Lightchaser?"

Rita’s eyes settled on the top entries.

Even though she’d seen them before, they still left her speechless.

These weren’t intel listings.

They were tributes—Moonlight Marsh’s own glowing profile on one of its most infamous alumni.

Lightchaser – Divine Game Champion: 11 Times

Titles: Archmage, Scholar, Combat Master, Wrathflame Wielder, Magicbreaker, Howl’s Apprentice, Elven Traitor, Soul Painter

Regarding Lightchaser’s sins: Moonlight Marsh accepts 20% responsibility. No more.

You can find her in Moonlight Marsh’s history books.

If you ever offend Lightchaser outside school grounds, tell her you’re a Moonlight Marsh student. She’ll return your corpse to campus.