Chapter 1315 1315: 1315: Divine Game: Graveyard of Bones 37

From inside the lantern, Rita witnessed everything.

She pressed both hands against the glass, watching as Mistblade stood frozen in place, her expression stiff, her figure slowly growing smaller as Lynx Duke carried the lantern farther away.

That look… was painfully familiar.

It was exactly the same expression they had both worn back in Binast, when Lightchaser had annoyed them so badly they couldn't even respond.

Completely stunned.

Even though Rita couldn't see Lynx Duke's face, just from Mistblade's reaction, it was obvious that whatever Lynx Duke had said, it definitely wasn't encouraging.

Rita couldn't help tilting her head upward, trying to get a better look at Lynx Duke. She wanted to compare this version of her to the one from the final battle.

Unfortunately, all she could see was her chin.

The lantern was held steadily in the elf's hand. Rita didn't rush to come out. Instead, she let Lynx Duke carry her along, step by step, not knowing where they were headed.

She might not be familiar with Lynx Duke, but she was very familiar with Lightchaser.

Even if their personalities differed, that same core arrogance, that same untouchable confidence, was unmistakable.

For people like them, who named their own myths and divine talents after themselves, the best strategy was simple:

Let them take the lead.

Otherwise, asking questions would get you nowhere.

At the very least, she had finally found Lynx Duke.

Sitting on the moon sand inside the lantern, holding the ship's wheel, Rita began thinking about how to use Cat's Ideal to locate the King.

She released B80, letting it sit beside her with the pocket watch so she could keep track of time.

The surrounding mist gradually faded. As color returned to the world, Lynx Duke's voice sounded from above.

"How much combat power did you have when you got this lantern?"

Rita paused.

She honestly couldn't remember clearly. Back then, she had still been sneaking between BS and Lania Kaia through the space under her bed, not even knowing what Divine Game was.

"Probably below Tier 2," she answered. "When I first entered Divine Game, my evaluation was Tier 2, but when I got the lantern, my divine talent hadn't upgraded yet."

So she had obtained it almost right after becoming a player?

The elf lowered her gaze slightly, looking at the player inside the lantern. "What grade was it when you got it?"

"A+."

"And how did you get it?"

"…I dug it up from the seabed while treasure hunting with an E-rank item."

That was basically the same as picking it up from trash.

Lynx Duke stopped walking.

She frowned slightly, staring at the lantern in her hand, clearly unable to accept that her relic had ended up like this.

The sudden stop made the atmosphere tense. Rita immediately felt something was off.

She imagined, briefly, if her own Echoes of the Snowbound Realm ended up in some forgotten corner and got casually picked up by a random player with no effort…

Yeah, she'd be annoyed too.

Before Rita could patch things up, Lynx Duke spoke again.

"And Cat's Ideal? How did you get that?"

"… "

Rita froze.

To be honest, it hadn't been that difficult either.

If she really compared things, getting both of these divine relics together still wasn't as troublesome as obtaining Foolishness Game.

But she knew the truth—everything traced back to Wrathful Moon.

Without the massive amount of arcane energy it gave her, without the ability to break rules and use skills freely, she would have been swallowed by Divine Game long ago.

"I've only been in the game for less than five years," Rita said honestly. "If not for Wrathful Moon giving me enough arcane energy to ignore limitations, I probably would've turned to dust along with BS by now."

The elf resumed walking.

She carried the lantern into a forest, where countless fireflies floated in the air, their glow blending with the lantern's light to illuminate the surroundings.

"Tell me everything," she said.

Rita had wanted to hear Lynx Duke's perspective on Starsea anyway. Telling her story was a good starting point.

So she began—from the moment she found the lantern.

For the most part, Lynx Duke listened silently.

She didn't interrupt, didn't question, didn't probe into the parts Rita deliberately skipped or avoided.

Only when Rita mentioned Card Swap and Lightchaser did she ask a few extra questions.

Clearly, compared to the successor of Wrathful Moon, she cared more about that junior who no longer had much to do with her.

When Rita deliberately glossed over certain details about Lightchaser and the Binast Divine Game, Lynx Duke let out a cold laugh.

"She already told me. No need to cover for her."

"…Cover? That sounds awful," Rita replied stubbornly. "I just don't like talking about other people's private matters."

Lynx Duke snorted softly. "Continue."

Rita took the chance to ask, "So what exactly is your relationship with her?"

Lynx Duke answered casually, "In your BS terms, she carries my blood, part of my genetic code. In Starsea terms, she holds a strand of my soul flame."

"Then wouldn't that make you incomplete here?" Rita asked. "I thought only complete soul flames could be buried in the Graveyard of Bones."

"Normally, yes."

Lynx Duke's tone didn't change, but the words carried absolute certainty.

"But I'm Lynx Duke. Even with a flaw in my soul flame, the Order Clock will still preserve me here."

Rita: "........."

Even after years with Lightchaser, this kind of absolute self-centered confidence still made her scalp tingle.

She scratched her head, then instinctively used the same method she used to deal with Lightchaser.

"It's an honor for the Order Clock to bury you."

For the first time, Lynx Duke raised the lantern to eye level and properly examined the player inside.

"As Lightchaser said," she remarked, "you like to speak nonsense to fool people."

Rita didn't flinch. She raised a finger and shook it lightly.

"That's because Lightchaser lacks confidence. She thinks she doesn't deserve my praise, so she assumes I'm lying. If she believed I was telling the truth, she'd admire my honesty instead."

B80, who had been quietly sitting nearby, immediately started clapping enthusiastically.

With Nivalis not around, it was the only one left to support Rita's performance.

What a load of nonsense.

Lynx Duke let out a quiet sigh and lowered the lantern again.

"No wonder she makes that expression when talking about you."

Rita didn't even need to ask what kind of expression that was.

But before she could comment, Lynx Duke added,

"Still, you have a point."

Rita: "…Right."

"Continue. You were talking about your wager with the demon."

As Rita kept speaking, the feeling was strangely familiar.

It was like when she had created My Sigh in Quiet Mountain—

That sense of finally stopping after a long, chaotic journey, turning back to look at the path she had walked.

Was it pride? Satisfaction? Emotion? Regret?

None of those quite fit.

Instead, it felt… distant. Almost unreal.

Who was that person who walked on thin ice yet still enjoyed every game?

Who was that person who had no burdens, only a single-minded drive to grow stronger?

That past, where she had "grown up" again in Card Swap, felt like a fairy tale sealed away somewhere deep inside her.

When she pulled BS out of the invasion sequence, she had been crying—

But she had also been full of hope.

And yet—

That had only been the real beginning of the game.

Like grinding all the way to max level…

Only for a system message to pop up in front of you:

Congratulations.

Tutorial complete.