This young minotaur was noticeably different from the others. Not only was he much smaller in size, but his horns were golden, and most importantly, his nose ring was very small, almost perfectly fitted to his nose. Among the minotaurs, the smaller the nose ring, the higher the status. Only the minotaur rulers wore just a nose stud.
At that moment, the little minotaur prince was roasting wolf ribs and drinking, chatting with his subordinates, and complaining about when he'd get to meet humans from Blue Star.
Rita lay down beside the young prince and began continuously using her **Steal** skill.
For the next three days, apart from her two-hour daily alchemy class on Rania Kaiya Star, Rita spent all her time inside the instance. She managed to steal 7 strength points and a ton of equipment and items. She sustained herself with **Emerald Feast** and meat provided by the minotaurs—since they believed good cows should eat meat.
When she slowed down, she'd sneak away to the corner to eat some of her own dishes to recover.
Just as Rita was beginning to wonder if she was wasting her time, on the morning of the fourth day, after using her skill as usual, she suddenly noticed that the little minotaur prince's nose ring was gone.
She paused in shock and quickly opened her inventory screen. There, in the last slot, she saw the item:
**[Ring of Fire Spirit]** (Sacred Relic)
The nose ring of the young minotaur prince, crafted by the minotaur chief himself, using the rare Fire Spirit Essence, specially made to match the prince's attributes and affinity.
**Skill 1**: *What It Means to Be Royalty* (Passive): Upon binding, each level-up grants an additional attribute point to allocate.
**Skill 2**: *This Is Royalty* (Passive): When suffering a potentially fatal blow, activates Holy Radiance, blocking the lethal damage. Can only trigger once every five minutes.
**Skill 3**: *Royal Aura*: Activates an inspiring aura that increases all allied units' attributes by 20% for five minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.
No wonder the minotaurs had hounded the White family relentlessly in the previous life! By the time Rita died, the minotaurs were still offering bounties for White family members. When the relic's existence was revealed in the second year, despite being hunted by minotaurs, outlaws, and voices advocating for peace, the White family refused to return the sacred relic.
This item was incredible, whether used solo or in a team setting!
Rita wasn't worried about the minotaurs locating the relic. If they could, they wouldn't have kept issuing general bounties for any White family member entering the instance. Moreover, later on, the bounty had even extended to every White family member. They had never specified a clear target.
It wasn't that they didn't want to—it was because they didn't know.
Rita also wondered why the prince hadn't bound the relic. Was there some kind of cultural etiquette among minotaurs about touching each other's nose rings? Maybe they couldn't be bound because others might need to touch them?
Not dwelling too much on her random thoughts, Rita quickly left the instance after acquiring the relic. The first thing she did after leaving was anonymously post on the forums.
The post detailed how she had received a quest in a level-one instance and befriended a minotaur named Terry, who mentioned that the young prince of their tribe had also come to Blue Star...
Most of the story was true. Both the quest and the minotaur named Terry existed—just from her previous life.
Soon, Rita found herself in a heated debate in the comments section. In a fit of anger, she revealed the details of the quest involving Terry, and as the argument escalated, she let slip that the minotaur prince was in an instance that couldn't exceed level 6.
Every faction had teams dedicated to gathering and verifying intel. Since this post involved a foreign prince, it quickly caught the attention of the major factions. Within half an hour, thanks to various **Divine Gift** abilities, the information was verified, and soon after, the race was on to check all instances below level 6 in their territories.
Rita exited the instance around 9 AM, returned to her villa, ran a quick instance, and then attended her alchemy class on Rania Kaiya Star for two hours. After class, she went to the auction house and spent over 50 gold to buy the best equipment she could wear. She was planning to tackle a level-10 instance soon.
Having already reached level 4, level-3 instances offered little experience and no meaningful challenge anymore.
After a busy day, Rita checked in on the White family's seaside villa at around 3 PM. Where there had previously been just a single guard, there were now 20, with a line of luxury cars parked outside.
Clearly, the White family had located the instance.
Rita didn't linger there long. Instead, she headed to a downtown hospital, intending to get a navel piercing to wear the sacred relic.
As for the nose ring being dirty? Just wash it! She had eaten cow tongue the day before—why not wear a cow's nose ring?
There was no need to hide her identity either. Rita openly used her ID to register and waited in line. With the combination of modern medicine and various healing potions, it only took 10 minutes for Rita to get a small hole in her navel, ready to wear any accessory.
Since the game's invasion, hospitals weren't as crowded anymore. While many diseases still couldn't be cured, injuries that caused bleeding were easily treated with a single potion. Even surgeries were quick recoveries, with patients often healing immediately after drinking a potion.
In some cases, even internal diseases could be treated with obscure magical potions. In a way, the game invasion had its pros and cons.
Back home, Rita locked her door and immediately took out the **Ring of Fire Spirit**, applied a **Binding Stone**, and bound the relic. She then lifted her tactical vest and green leather armor, fitting the ring onto her navel.
Afterward, she stared at her navel for a moment, musing: *If only I could install a magical eye in my navel…*
Why shouldn't a belly button count as an eye?!
She had even asked Apache before if there was a way to wear the magical eye without being noticed—and without gouging out her eyeball.
Apache had said it was possible to alter the shape of the magical eye to coexist with her regular eye, but such accessories could only be crafted by master jewelers. Sometimes, they appeared in the auction house, but you had to be lucky to snag one.
So, Rita would occasionally visit the auction house in hopes of finding one. Now that she knew such items existed, it was only a matter of time before she could use the magical eye.
Even if the two couldn't coexist, it didn't matter. She could always remove one of her eyes and **Disguise** the magical eye to look like a normal one.
For the sake of power, she was willing to stop being human.
Too excited after obtaining the **Ring of Fire Spirit**, Rita hardly slept that night. She took the time to sort out the durian flesh from the ominous durian shell. Some of it she posted on the auction house, and the rest she stocked in her vending machine.
She had no intention of using it on anyone close to her. Her **Wheel of Fate** skill was far more discreet and effective—there was no need to go through the hassle of making durian dishes for someone else.