Only by doing this could she shrink the A Big World, A Small Me that was hidden inside her.
If she shrunk herself but not the magnifying glass, she wouldn't be able to carry it, much less protect it. If it were lost, the skill would immediately deactivate.
Her shadow took the conjured magnifying glass and flew to a corner, aiming it at Rita.
If there was one flaw to A Big World, A Small Me, it was the long activation time—she had to remain targeted for a full minute before the effect kicked in.
In most games, that kind of window would be hard to secure. But in the ferris wheel, it was more than enough.
Under the watchful eyes of the players in line and Little Gingerbread, Rita began to shrink, smaller and smaller, until she was no larger than a grain of rice.
Then—her tiny glowing wings fluttered—she took flight!!
She was now the size of the Stardust pellets they snacked on in-game. Her body so small it lost all color, reduced to a glowing black speck. The visual effect was overwhelming.
Pine Bloom and Mistblade: ...
Mistblade leaned toward Pine Bloom, speaking in her newly-learned Owlcrow tongue: "It's the first time I've realized how much you look like fruit flies."
Rita overheard that and yelled back, "Stop chirping behind my back! I'm a firefly!!"
Mistblade rubbed her ears at the high-pitched buzz. "Even more convincing."
Pine Bloom covered her face with one hand, rubbing her temples. "She's not an owlcrow," she muttered.
And in that moment, she finally understood why Maple Syrup always poured herself a drink whenever BS-Rita came up in conversation.
She used to think it was just boredom. But now—clearly, it was dread.
Rita didn't have time to ask B8017913 for a translation. She simply sent her shadow to toss the conjured magnifying glass out of the game zone.
The moment the item left the designated area, it vanished—just like any conjured object should.
She didn't immediately cancel her shadow though. She kept it with her for backup in the coming battle.
While peering into the next cabin to assess how many players were inside, she heard Nivalis's voice in her ear.
Nivalis: "Hey, firefly firefly, do you read me? This is Nivalis."
Rita: "…Just spit it out!"
Nivalis: "Got the special camera. As long as you don't print the photos or use the item on the photo, it's not considered skill use. I tested it—it works in public zones."
Rita: "Good stuff. Be sure to snap plenty… What's 913 up to? Why's it always a second behind with replies?"
Nivalis: "It's working a grill stand across from the ferris wheel. No Block pay, but it gets to keep the skewers. Once you're done, we'll have a feast."
Rita: That's actually kind of touching.
Before she could reply, the next cabin nearing the ground had only one player in it.
Little Gingerbread pointed. "Go."
Rita flitted forward, wings buzzing, straight into the cabin.
And in that exact moment—she cast one more skill.
It was her answer to the second most annoying problem in this game: Blocks you win don't shrink.
—Ultimate Skill: Ancient Curse
Rita spoke in BS-tongue: "I curse all players currently playing the ferris wheel game in March Theme Park: any Block acquired through any means will temporarily shrink to match the smallest Block on the player's body. This curse can only be broken if the player maintains a win rate over 50%."
Her curse echoed throughout every corner of Month Theme Park.
Mistblade and Pine Bloom both frowned. It was a brilliant curse—but they hadn't entered the game yet.
Pine Bloom was just about to hand over her Block to the ticketing mech. She paused for a fraction of a second—just enough to realize what BS-Rita had done.
This was intentional.
Pine Bloom smirked, placed the Block into the mech's hand, and stepped into the game queue.
If she didn't beat BS-Rita's smug little Block-body into the ground, she'd be disgracing every owlcrow ancestor before her.
Right after Rita cast Ancient Curse, a wide-area AoE skill slammed into the cabin.
Above both players' heads, red health bars appeared—ten segments each, representing their 10 HP.
Rita didn't dodge. She surged forward.
Both health bars ticked down to 9.
Right as the curse ended, she cast Top Chef? Top Chef!
Both players were hard-CC'd for 0.1 seconds.
The enemy didn't even have time to utter a catchphrase. The brief stun ended, and they took 1 point of damage from the counter.
Rita burst into high-speed flight, diving in tight circles around her opponent, attempting to land close-range attacks.
While flying, she triggered Spring Scenery & Flowers.
Icy blossoms began blooming all over the cabin, each movement leaving a trail of frozen petals.
Its cooldown was under five minutes. The next 10 hits would be guaranteed to land. No better time to use it.
Sure, she could've just stood still and let the opponent hit her, reflecting damage via counterstrike. It would've saved energy and ultimate cooldowns.
But that method was too slow.
And she couldn't afford slow.
She needed to move through cabins fast—Pine Bloom and Mistblade were right behind her and could catch up any second.
If she was unlucky, there might only be a 2-minute gap between them. She had to widen it now.
Otherwise, once they caught up, they'd get locked in a cycle of back-to-back duels—again and again, cabin after cabin—until one of them got blasted out by an explosion.
Pine Bloom, for her part, had indeed entered the cabin just after BS-Rita.
But the battle tempo in this game was fast. While she waited the standard 2 minutes to board, BS-Rita had already finished 2 duels and switched cabins twice.
After reading the full game rules, Pine Bloom understood exactly why BS-Rita had shrunk herself, hidden all her items, and picked this game in the first place.
Because she had Absurd Story.
The ferris wheel cabins weren't huge. Their shapes varied, but the internal volume was roughly the same.
Pine Bloom was now only half a meter tall, just over 20 centimeters wide. Among March Theme Park players, this was considered mid-to-upper-tier.
Each cabin could fit about 15 players of Pine Bloom's size.
This meant that if 6 or 7 players of that size ended up in the same cabin, there would be nowhere to hide unless you used a skill.
Pine Bloom, now half her original size, sidestepped a spell and raised a finger.
At her fingertip: a glowing Feather formed from pure light.
With a flick of her wrist, it scattered into specks of green that filled the cabin.
Each second, those lights exploded—each burst stealing 1 HP from her opponents.
Pine Bloom mentally applauded her own performance. As expected—she was flawless.
From a cabin somewhere above, a shout rang out in universal tongue—one Pine Bloom could understand.
"Why do owlcrows look just like flies?!"
Pine Bloom, in the middle of combat, still found time to stick her head out the window and shout back in the same tongue:
"She's not an owlcrow!!"
The sheer passion, layered emotion, and righteous fury in her voice actually made Rita reflect.
…Maybe she was being a little too much.
—"BS-Rita! Can't you at least clarify a little?!"
—"Next time, I promise!!"