Eating together always included Nivalis, but before heading out, Rita had something to take care of first.
After growing closer with Nivalis, the dragon no longer hid anything from Rita. During their trip back from B City, Nivalis, bored out of her mind, revealed all of her skills to Rita. Among them was one particularly amusing skill that Nivalis had developed after becoming addicted to online games on Blue Star. When Rita heard about it, her scheming mind immediately started working overtime.
[Talking While Pooping] (D): This skill allows you to create a virtual character that exists in reality. It has the basic stats of a player, but it cannot level up, has no independent thoughts, and every action must be controlled by the user. Duration: 24 hours.
Nivalis often used this skill to create a virtual character to take the blame in her place. For example, when teaming up with others in online games, Nivalis would sometimes feel like goofing off but knew rationally that it wasn't a wise idea as it could get her scolded. That's when the virtual character came into play:
"Hey, Nivalis, can't you use your ultimate ability already? Just go for it!"
"Is this mage even playing right? Are you still running some weird tactical build? This is a free win if you just ult!"
"Lol, do you not know you can unleash your ultimate once your energy bar is full?"
"Seriously, you're named Nivalis? Are you trying to ride on the fame of the cute, charming, and beautiful dragon on the pet leaderboard?"
At this point, Nivalis would use her actual self to say in her sweet, innocent voice, "That's not true!" Then, she'd have her game character unleash her ultimate.
Inevitably, all her teammates would start yelling at the virtual character instead of Nivalis. Even if someone used their Divine Gift to dig up the virtual character's information—a shady service that could be hired for a single silver coin after the game invasion—they'd never link it back to Nivalis.
Nivalis, a dragon who now carried an image-conscious "celebrity" persona, remained pure and untarnished. No one ever knew how bad she really was at games.
Rita had witnessed this skill in action countless times but had always assumed that the virtual character was some shadow Nivalis had conjured up to keep herself company while gaming. She had no idea it could be used this effectively.
Previously, Rita had delayed collecting her earnings from Skill Stones because she was worried about her rank on the wealth leaderboard. She couldn't exactly show up and pull a massive pile of gold coins out of her bag in front of others—it would attract attention. The inevitable fluctuations on the leaderboard would reveal her as the anonymous richest player.
Even storing the gold with Nivalis wouldn't work, as the dragon was officially considered an extension of Rita. Any wealth tied to Nivalis would still count toward Rita's total, keeping her firmly at the top of the leaderboard.
Her original plan had been to temporarily store her gold somewhere safe while collecting her earnings and then retrieve it later, but this carried risks. She was certain the Special Affairs Bureau suspected she was the anonymous top player on the wealth board.
But with Nivalis's skill, she now had a foolproof solution.
This time, Rita decided to "clear her name." By creating the illusion that the anonymous wealth leaderboard's top player and herself were two separate people, she could dodge suspicion. Even if the Bureau heard rumors about her trading methods with the goblins, they wouldn't connect it to her.
Before leaving her house, Rita had Nivalis create a virtual character named "Anonymous." She transferred 81,600 gold coins into a chest and handed it to the virtual character.
With her personal wealth reduced to just 88 gold coins, she turned off the anonymity setting for herself on the leaderboard. The wealth board didn't fluctuate—proof that the virtual character was being treated as a separate entity.
Nivalis explained that she could sense the virtual character's location and status at all times. Rita instructed the character to hide in her bedroom safe with the gold chest, laying down traps of spider silk around it before heading out.
While stuck in traffic, Nivalis expressed regret about missing Rita's encounter with the Moon Emperor of the Moon Fox Clan during her trip to Lania Kaia.
Rita asked curiously, "Are you really that interested in the Moon Emperor?"
"Of course! Do you know how rare they are? In Lania Kaia, while everyone talks about the Twelve Sacred Clans as being equal, we actually rank them into three tiers. The Moon Foxes, Timber Owls, and Undead are considered the Upper Sacred Clans—their status and power are far above the rest."
This was news to Rita. She'd never noticed such distinctions before. All 36 major cities in Lania Kaia were about the same size and prosperity, each with its unique cultural flavor. Even among the Beastkin and Minotaurs, their tribal cities were as luxurious as royal palaces.
"What about the other clans? Who's in the middle, and who's at the bottom?"
Nivalis hesitated for a moment. "That's hard to say. Maybe Wind Scythes are stronger? But Elder Dragon always said this ranking shifts over time. The Moon Foxes, Timber Owls, and Undead have been firmly at the top for ages, though. As for why… Elder Dragon said he'd only tell me when I'm strong enough to protect myself."
When they finally arrived at the restaurant, Rita passed along Nivalis's information to Shadow.Q. Surprisingly, the Special Affairs Bureau had never heard of these rankings either. Like Rita, Shadow.Q chose to treat this as critical information and reported it immediately.
Once their meal was served, Rita started a new conversation. "Do you know why the blank skill stones are so tightly regulated?"
Shadow.Q replied, "I don't know the details. I only know it's a directive from B City. I've been asking around, but my contacts are reluctant to share anything."
Rita suspected there was more to the story but chose not to spill what Hannah had told her. Instead, she changed the subject to test Shadow.Q's sincerity.
"I want to terminate my contract with the Skill Stones early. I'll stop supplying you with [Feeling Blessed], including the quota for September. Just deduct the cost of the blank stones from my revenue, and I'd like to settle my earnings today."