This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 1211: Divine Game, Divine Instruction 25

After [March Winter Sleep] withered, the group didn’t give up and continued to work on their assignments. The difference in their progress quickly became apparent.

For those trying to fuse two complete skill runes, the process twisted and contorted before they even reached 10%, while Ash Cinders and the others’ attempts to modify the skills caused the runes to collapse into meaningless symbols.

These tasks were still too challenging for the beginners, so they had to rely on the help of [March Winter Sleep].

During the dormant time of [March Winter Sleep], they didn’t remain idle. Rita opened the footage stored in her glasses and began reviewing her failures. As she was documenting the failed nodes, Dawn Cicada nudged her with her elbow.

Rita looked up. "What’s up?"

Dawn Cicada asked, "Do you want to know where your other underage teacher is?"

Ash Cinders cleared her throat loudly, but Dawn Cicada ignored her.

Rita didn’t even look up, "What now?"

Dawn Cicada replied, "It’s about Smoke Tune’s food and lodging costs for the next period."

Both Rita and Ash Cinders looked up almost simultaneously. "Tell us quickly!" they said in unison.

Dawn Cicada didn’t make them wait, responding directly, "The burial place. That’s all I know."

Maple Syrup asked, "Why is she so special?"

Her tone held no hint of doubt or dissatisfaction, just curiosity.

Uncharted Star Sea strove for fairness in both its programming and gameplay, so any oddity was bound to have a reason behind it.

Rita couldn’t help but think of the elf she had seen on Dustfire’s Old Dining Table.

However, that [Wrathful Moon]’s original owner, aside from having grayish-white hair and gray-blue eyes, bore no resemblance to Lightchaser at all. The weapon, the features, the voice and tone—all completely different.

Ash Cinders added, "Perhaps it’s because [Isolated Isle] is inherently special, filled with many secrets."

"Indeed," Rita nodded seriously, agreeing, "The oddest thing is Binast’s calendar. When we arrived, it was only the 168th year, not even a blip on the history of the Magic Academy. I heard Archmages are over three hundred years old."

She glanced at Ash Cinders, hoping to get an answer, but saw a more serious expression on her face.

Ash Cinders said, "Didn’t you ever listen in history class? Binast only counts in centuries. Every thousand years, the clock resets."

Rita averted her gaze, feeling a little guilty. Just then, the spring water solidified into ice, and the frosted flowers bloomed again. Rita immediately sat up straight and began summoning runes. "Let’s get to work!"

Other players also snapped out of their thoughts and began practicing.

Rita once again began to fuse [Mist Arrival] and [Cured But Salivating], one being a passive skill and the other with no cooldown. She didn’t have to worry about switching when one skill entered cooldown.

The practice routine went like this: 7 minutes of work followed by 7 minutes of rest. At first, it was hard to adjust to the interrupted learning, but gradually they all got used to it.

After another failure, Rita noticed that Nuclear Flash NightFury, upon using a skill, had faint NightFury patterns appear on her forehead.

Instead of reviewing her previous failure, Rita became more curious about divine talents. When Nuclear Flash NightFury looked her way, she asked, "After finding your divine talent direction, is progress going well?"

Nuclear Flash NightFury didn’t hold back and shared, "Not really. Finding the direction is just the beginning. I actually feel more confused, like I finally opened a door, only to find I’m standing at the entrance of a maze."

Maple Syrup joined in, "Isn’t it like Quiet Mountain? First, you find your demon talent, light up your demon name, and then your ability becomes complete?"

TingoJE chimed in, "But QM Rita could already use her demon talent abilities."

Kessa asked Nuclear Flash NightFury, "Does your [Hollow] have any abilities?"

"I’m still figuring it out," Nuclear Flash NightFury explained. "This is why I feel like I’m standing in front of a maze. There are many possible directions, but I can’t make sense of them. My intuition tells me that once I start, I can’t go back, I must follow through."

Rita leaned closer to Dawn Cicada and whispered, "I know you have a very interesting skill. Do you know what divine talents gods have?"

Dawn Cicada replied expressionlessly, "Do you know I not only have an interesting skill, but also an interesting ideal?"

"What is it?"

"To live."

Rita stared, "...Just say you don’t know! Why make it so complicated?"

At that moment, Deceitful Bloom’s voice echoed, "The first one to finish their homework can ask me one question. This reward applies to all players."

Foolishness added, "The second one to finish their homework will receive a toy from me. This reward also applies to all players."

The chatter in the classroom suddenly ceased. Even though the flowers hadn’t bloomed yet, Rita and the others focused entirely on reviewing.

Even with incentives, it wasn’t until the afternoon that Rita was the first to succeed.

She had fused [Mist Arrival] and [Cured But Salivating], two unrelated skills.

[Cured But Salivating] (SS-level): When you drool in misty weather, you have a 95% chance of controlling your opponent. Each use consumes 1% mana, and once controlled, it drains 5000 mana per minute. You can control up to three players at once.

Honestly, it wasn’t a failure. If she had received this skill when she first started playing, she would have been ecstatic.

But now, this SS-level skill was nothing more than something to store away.

What kind of battle would be worth using up that much mana? None!

Even in that mysterious clock tower battle against QM Rita, she wouldn’t use it.

With a calm expression, she raised her hand. "Teacher, I succeeded!"

Deceitful Bloom asked, "What skill did you fuse? Show it off, give your classmates something to be amazed by."

Rita hesitated, "...That’s private."

Foolishness said, "Share your joy with your classmates. They’ll be happy for you."

Rita muttered, "..."

Those two black-hearted individuals must have found a way to see what skill I fused...