Unfortunately, this method had a high failure rate. Fourfold Spring required a critical hit to heal, and with Midnight Exile, she didn't lack for critical hits. The problem, however, was that she didn't have it on hand.
Pine Bloom was too quick, and each time, she took away 30% of Rita's health. To survive, Rita would need to raise her health by at least 31% before the final blow from Pine Bloom.
100% → 70% → 40% → 10% → 0%.
This meant Rita needed to raise her health by 21% before Pine Bloom killed her, which would require 6 critical hits to guarantee it... But Pine Bloom could kill her in under two seconds.
Six critical hits in two seconds?
Even if Sea Pony was willing to stand still and let her hit, it was impossible.
After ruling out all other options, there was only one left—[Behind the Scenes].
In this special time-altered space, Rita could lower her health to below 5%, then use Mysterious Power and deactivate [Behind the Scenes].
This was the most reliable and safest option.
Though Rita had considered all of this, less than 30 seconds had passed.
After deciding on her course of action, Rita immediately chose her revival price—Sharpshooter's second skill.
[Skill 2] Critical Hit—! (Passive): 7 is a magical number, and any shooting action related to 7 will always be a critical hit.
The moment Rita opened her eyes after resurrection, she quickly removed the Ballroom Formalwear Pine Bloom had given her and waited for a moment.
Marmang-Crab looked surprised: "Huh? Did Pine Bloom make a move on you?"
She was attacked again! And even though Rita removed the Ballroom Formalwear, Pine Bloom was still able to take back everything she had "gifted" Rita...
Without hesitation, Rita pressed the [Behind the Scenes] icon on her arm.
Time slowed down, and she could still hear the last syllable of Marmang-Crab's sentence.
The red curtains fell from all directions, and Rita found herself within the curtain's confines.
The space wasn't very big, resembling a circular stage, and Rita stood at the center. The distance from the surrounding curtains was about five meters.
Marmang-Crab and Sea Pony, who had been standing on either side of her, were gone, but the kitchen counter, the ingredients not yet cleaned up, and the fridge in the distance remained.
It was as if the curtain had created a small world just for her.
She could feel that she could end the skill at any moment and leave the space, but she didn't rush to handle her health. This skill consumed one level every time it was used, so she wanted to maximize the benefit.
Rita picked up the ingredients and examined them. The skill description was intriguing—items placed before the curtain fell could refresh infinitely.
At first glance, it seemed like she could craft indefinitely, but Rita didn't believe the finished products would be retained. That would be overpowered—using one set of materials to infinitely farm resources would be absurd.
She decided to test the skill. As she crafted, she felt the special nature of the ingredients.
With a thought, the Pineapple Sailor Fish she had just made reverted to its original form—ingredients, seasonings, and potion materials.
Indeed, this skill allowed materials used in cooking to revert to their unused state, enabling infinite refreshes.
Rita got to work practicing her cooking, and in the process, she used the moment of solitude to think about a few things.
Meanwhile, Pine Bloom was calculating her available items—three Meal Upgrades and two Overtime Matches.
Rita had been right. Pine Bloom not only had more Meal Upgrades, but also Overtime Matches that could increase the number of rewarded kills.
At this point, Pine Bloom was waiting for Rita's resurrection, eager to see which divine skill she would hand over.
She also began to wonder whether using these long-held rewards on BS Rita was worth it.
While killing Rita could earn her a reward, killing a Tier 7 player from Tier 15 Abyss would carry its own penalty. Each kill randomly lost one SS-level skill.
SS-level skills weren't exactly rare for Pine Bloom, but "randomly losing" them was still a headache.
Y1148: "By the way, you still haven't told me why you cried when you were 17."
Pine Bloom: "Because I had a prophetic dream. I dreamt that years later, I met a filthy thing called Y1148. I woke up crying."
Y1148: "…You didn't say that when you tricked me into leaving the battlefield."
Pine Bloom: "You admitted it was a trick."
Y1148: "I can tell you're in a bad mood. Your attack power is ridiculously strong."
At this moment, the results came through.
Pine Bloom looked at the Critical Hit—! she had acquired, deep in thought.
Y1148: "Wow, a super strong skill suitable for three-year-olds!"
Pine Bloom: "…Can you speak properly?"
Pine Bloom: "…How is this an A-tier divine gift? You're telling me she stole multiple divine gifts? A skill that can steal divine gifts must have some kind of limitation, right?"
Y1148: "Yes, skills that can steal divine gifts are always one-time-use only, but top-tier Divine Game rewards might reset that cooldown."
So, maybe Pine Bloom had gotten an unexpected divine gift?
But Pine Bloom didn't believe BS Rita's self-awakened divine gift could be as underwhelming as an A-tier skill.
Pine Bloom attacked again!
The second attack was off.
Y1148: "What's going on?"
Pine Bloom: "Only returned forty or so health."
Rita, with just 0.8% health remaining, sighed in relief.
There were still four players left in the restaurant: Octopus Bucket, Marmang-Crab, Sea Pony, and the first rabbit. If any of them slapped her, she would die.
She looked up and saw that the first rabbit was eyeing her, ready to make a move.
Marmang-Crab: "What skill did you use? How are you down to just 0.8% health?"
Sea Pony: "You talk nonsense all the time..."
Rita had secretly washed 100 plates during the [Behind the Scenes] phase. Not only did it fulfill a game rule, but it also gave her a nice boost in Mischief Score.
Marmang-Crab, realizing this, stopped complaining and brought up the earlier curtains. "Was that curtain a skill from Pine Bloom?"
Rita, surprised, asked, "Have you seen it before?"
Marmang-Crab: "No, but it's clearly a dual-time-space skill. You didn't have it before, but now, suddenly, you do—probably got it from Pine Bloom. That's my guess."
As she continued chatting with Marmang-Crab and Sea Pony, she began preparing dishes to reduce the cooldown of her skills.
[Clock Reversal] hadn't unlocked yet, so it couldn't be used now, but that didn't stop Rita from thinking about how to reduce Mysterious Power's cooldown using multiple methods.
She didn't know how much longer she could survive with this skill, but she was determined to minimize its downtime and the time spent in danger...