CHAPTER 825: 825: DIVINE GAME – CARD SWAP 74

"Because for the next four years, GodDraw77 will open because of me!"

The youthful voice echoed across the long river.

Not humble. Not reserved.

Arrogant to the point of defying the sky.

GodDraw77 thought, even if she herself were sent back into the Divine Game right now, she wouldn’t be able to shout such words.

Not because she couldn’t, or wouldn’t—just...

She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Maybe it was simply that when people grew older, they became ashamed to shout their dreams to the entire world.

Was that the real reason Divine Game had an age limit? Because people lost something as they grew up...

After Rita’s declaration, no one on the field spoke for a long time.

She suddenly understood a phrase she’d seen before but never really grasped: "Silence can be deafening."

And just like that, she couldn’t keep a straight face anymore—she burst out laughing.

Her laughter was like a spark in a powder keg. The silence exploded into cheers, jeers, and roars from the stands, crashing toward her like a tidal wave, loud enough to be a sonic-type skill.

"Arrogant!!"

"Somebody teach her what humility is!"

"Pride comes before the fall—she’s nothing special!"

Rita cupped a hand to her ear, still laughing. "Let me hear which one of you is barking at me li—"

Wait. This wasn’t the arena—it was Divine Game.

A flash of the Berrento mountain-dog principal popped into her head. He was probably sitting right behind her in the principals’ section, a hundred meters back. Rita nearly choked on her own breath.

She lowered her hand to her knees, kept her expression rigid, and said solemnly, "I mean, I’m very glad to have participated in Divine Game."

The belated politeness went ignored.

"Last year when Deep Sea Mine took the championship, they weren’t this cocky. Why should she be?"

"Somebody take out that Moonlight Marsh brat!"

"Bug Marsh number one in the world!"

"Front row! There’s a Moonlight Marsh over here—smash them!"

"Why are you yelling? When Moonlight Marsh started the Lightchaser Moment and opened GodDraw77, you were still in diapers!"

"Fat Goose! This is your moment to prove you’re the ultimate tank!"

"Then do me a favor and heal me! And get your tails out of my face, they’re blocking my view! And you, Maple Syrup—your wings!"

"Last year when we watched at Moonlight Marsh, everything was so calm."

"Yes, very refined. Someone’s grandmother was knitting in the stands."

"...I think I like this year better."

"Wait, doesn’t what she said hit us too? If she opens GodDraw77 for four years straight, what are we—her stepping stones?"

"Is that really what you’re thinking about right now?!"

Even the principals’ section behind her was in chaos.

"She’s got an extremely dangerous deprivation skill!"

"Moonlight Marsh—two championships!"

"She’s got an extremely dangerous deprivation skill!"

"Moonlight Marsh—two championships!"

The Bug Marsh and Moonlight Marsh principals had both turned on auto-reply and were trading blows.

On the crimson platform below, grudges were being settled in all directions.

With half an hour to wait before the audience burned through their emotions, Rita started sorting through her individual championship rewards.

[Individual Match Champion Reward: The champion may select one God-gifted skill to upgrade, and gains 200 free attribute points.]

Should she pick [Summer Snowman], which shared its name with her divine talent, or [Wrong Season], which brought steady profit every day?

The wine from [Wrong Season] not only provided attribute bonuses, it was her main source of alcohol for [Drunkfire Cooking].

And most of those drinks had bizarre, unpredictable effects.

But [Summer Snowman] was also extremely useful. While it hadn’t seen much use in Divine Game, in a dangerous situation it could be a lifesaver.

After weighing every possible upgrade, Rita decided—[Summer Snowman].

[Wrong Season] was already good enough. Besides... it wasn’t irreplaceable.

Otherwise, when she’d tested the skill-modification process before, she wouldn’t have picked that one first. If it worked, great; if it failed, she’d just use [Moment of Reversal] to swap it out.

For stat growth she had [I Just Want to Improve So Badly].

For alcohol, she could just buy it.

For strange buffs? She could craft them.

"I want to upgrade the second skill of my God-gift, Summer Snowman," she said softly.

A wisp of crimson light drifted from her seat into her brow.

On her personal panel, the second skill briefly turned into gibberish.

It didn’t take long before the new [Summer Snowman] appeared.

[Summer Snowman]: Creates a miniature snowman identical to the target. Each time the snowman is used, the user’s state reverts to what it was two minutes earlier. The more detailed the snowman, the more times it can revert, up to 10. The player can carry no more than 2 snowmen. Upon first use of a snowman, the user may choose any one skill to copy and store inside it. Until the snowman disappears, that skill can be used once with no cost and no cooldown. Each snowman requires a small amount of naturally fallen winter snow to craft. Snowmen have no cooldown to use, but players may only craft one every 30 minutes.

Rita shot to her feet.

In the middle of the crowd brawling in the stands, several heads turned. The fighting grew fiercer—what, was this year’s champion about to jump in for a quick match?

But to their disappointment, Rita sat back down.

The rest of the wait she spent squirming on the champion’s throne like it was full of spikes.

She couldn’t wait to make a new snowman and see if she could copy [Crime Simulation] or [Low-Risk Investment] into it.

In her head, GodDraw77’s voice finally snapped, "Wear your uniform properly."

Rita instantly straightened her back and smoothed her outer academy robe—then froze.

She reached into the many-pocketed shirt beneath and pulled something out.

[Burning Orange] (Divine Relic): Divine Game souvenir. No hidden effects.

What was the point of that?

She stuffed it back, a bit disappointed—only to feel something else at the bottom of the pocket.

She pulled it out: an irregularly shaped metal token. The [Demon’s Pass] she’d gotten from the Fun Match?!

The text she couldn’t read before had changed to English.

—Instinct will guide everyone back to their original path.

[Foolishness Certificate] (Divine Relic): Divine Game souvenir. No hidden effects.

That line again.

Instinct? Didn’t all creatures have the same instincts? Survival, staying alive?

She frowned, turning it over in her mind. Did "instinct" just mean "nature"?

Unable to decide, she tucked both items away.

Souvenirs were souvenirs—proof of her championship either way.

The 100 attribute points from the Fun Match had all gone into Agility. This time, she split the 200 from the Individual Match between Constitution and Strength.

Now Agility, Constitution, and Strength had all broken past 400, with Intelligence at 320. With a bit more progress, she could break 400 in all four before the end of third year.

But... she remembered the principals’ exchange.

An "extremely dangerous deprivation skill"? Were they talking about [Moment of Reversal]?

She hadn’t traded divine skills in Divine Game, but Pomango had—and of course that would be noticed.

The ability to swap God-gifted skills... how could that not count as deprivation? That alone was enough to put her on Moonlight Marsh’s danger list.

Even if her own principal kept playing dumb, she knew—two Divine Game championships or not, Moonlight Marsh wasn’t going to rewrite its rules for her.