By evening, Valerius escorted Cocolia to the door.
"No need to see me off. I can go back on my own."
She waved her hand and walked toward Qlipoth Fort with an air that completely resembled a mother-in-law.
After entering, she saw Bronya still working and immediately frowned. "Why are you still not resting?"
"Mother, I still have a bit of work left. I'll be done soon."
Cocolia walked over, grabbed Bronya's hand, and said earnestly, "Bronya, this is a critical moment. You must not relax."
"Mm, I know."
Belobog was still in the middle of rebuilding. Of course it was a critical time.
"What do you know? I'm talking about Valerius!"
"…Valerius? What about him?"
"Well…"
Cocolia leaned close and whispered everything that had happened today into Bronya's ear.
"Ah—how could you…?"
Bronya didn't even know how to finish her sentence. Other people's mothers helped guard their daughters' relationships—why was hers pushing things the other way?
"Can you control him?"
"…I…"
She couldn't deny it. She really couldn't control Valerius. But just thinking about him being involved with other people still made her uncomfortable.
"Bronya, listen to me…"
Cocolia immediately began analyzing the situation for her. The more Bronya listened, the more it made sense.
She couldn't control Valerius anyway, and there were definitely others eyeing him. In that case, it was better to secure a strong position in his heart from the start.
"Then… Mother, what should I do?"
"Like this…"
Cocolia began teaching her "strategies." At first, Bronya thought it sounded reasonable—but the more she listened, the stranger it became.
"Remember, the most important thing is a child. If you have a child, your position will be secure."
"And as for other people's children—you must eliminate them."
"Wait." Bronya quickly interrupted, her expression darkening. "Mother… where exactly did you learn all of this?"
"From that drama, Legend of Jia Huan, of course. What's wrong? Don't underestimate TV dramas—they're full of valuable experience."
"I still have work to do. You should go rest."
Bronya's face had completely darkened as she practically pushed Cocolia out of the room.
Good grief. Has my mother lost her mind? She's actually teaching me palace scheming?
"No, I need to talk to Valerius. He can't just keep introducing random nonsense like this."
She knew that drama had been recommended by Valerius to Serval. She never expected her mother to treat it like a guidebook.
No, she had to find something to keep her mother busy. If Cocolia stayed idle like this, who knew what kind of chaos she might cause?
Three days later.
Valerius stood on a floating island.
This was the new game arena.
He had no choice—if he didn't start a new game soon, the players would nag him to death. Every time he opened the livestream, all he saw were demands to start a new game.
So he decided—fine, let's do it.
"Let's see who can make it to the end this time."
After reviewing the rules, Valerius gave the system the command, and the game officially began.
A flash of light descended as countless players appeared across the floating island.
"Whoa, a sky island? This time we're in the air!"
"Everyone's here again—another full-scale battle?"
"Perfect. I'm definitely winning this time."
As the players grew excited, Valerius jumped onto a raised platform.
"Silence."
Once the crowd quieted down, he continued, "This time it's an individual competition. The top three will receive rewards."
At those words, many players lit up. Three winners meant a real chance.
"This game is called Sky Island Battle Royale. Here are the rules:"
"1: Everyone will be randomly assigned to a floating island. Each island has a fishing rod. You must use it to fish for essential resources, including food, materials, weapons, and more."
"2: Islands can attack each other. Eliminating a player grants 1 point. The game continues until only one player remains. The final survivor earns 10 points. Rankings are determined by total points."
"3: The first three players eliminated will be punished."
"4: As usual, you start with 10 points. You can use them to buy powerful blueprints or weapons from me. My island will drift randomly."
"That's all. Simple, right?"
Many nodded, though some frowned.
"Wait, I have a question." Jian raised her hand. "Are the points earned in-game the same as the points used to buy items?"
"No."
Valerius shook his head, then realized that might be confusing. "Alright, I'll convert the points used for rewards into coins this time so you won't mix them up."
"Can we steal them?"
Boothill immediately asked. If points became coins, could they be robbed?
"No."
Valerius glared at him. If that were allowed, people would just hoard and rob each other for endless draws.
"…What a pity."
"So disappointing."
"Boring."
A wave of disappointment spread instantly.
"Any more questions?"
Everyone shook their heads. The rules were straightforward—basically a sky island battle royale.
"Good. Then good luck."
With a snap of his fingers, all the players turned into streaks of light and scattered in every direction.
On a tiny floating patch of land—less than two square meters—Silver Wolf stood there, holding a fishing rod in a daze.
"I knew it… that guy never plays fair."
At first, she had seen Valerius's massive island, big enough to hold everyone. But now that she stood on her own, she realized just how small it was.
Barely two square meters. Any sudden movement might send her falling off.
Looking at the fishing line dangling into the clouds, Silver Wolf had a bad feeling.
Was she really stuck like this?
Then she noticed—the livestream chat still worked!
There was no visual feed, but messages from other players were flooding in.
[March 7th: Oh my god, this is way too small! I almost fell off!]
[Stelle: Same… and we only have one fishing rod. Who knows what we can even catch?]
[Sparkle: One fishing rod? No way. I have over thirty.]
[Feixiao: What? That's fake. How could anyone have thirty?]
[Noelle: I only have one… I'm doomed, I'm doomed.]
[Lisa: Don't believe everything you hear. If she really has thirty, I'll eat my island.]
[Valerius: Everyone only has one. Start fishing quickly, or when someone attacks you, you won't even be able to fight back.]
[Seele: Valerius… where are you? I want to find you and buy something.]
[Valerius: Find me yourself. But if you really want to know… I'm in Bronya's heart.]
[Ling: Ugh—gross!]
[Su Shang: Sisters, we should unite and eliminate all those disgusting men first.]
[Caesar: Exactly. Why do we only get one fishing rod? This is oppression. This is inequality.]
[Huang Quan: Fighting for your own value is what modern women should do.]
[Kafka: ...…]
[Yunli: ...…]
[Guinaifen: I just hope they don't break down after the punishment ends.]
[Yae Miko: Screenshot saved. Watching this once a day is very refreshing.]
[Raiden Ei: Miko, where are you? I just caught a bottle of cola.]
[Yae Miko: I'm not telling you.]
Heh. Just a bottle of cola? Watch me fish up an entire crate.
She had already made up her mind. Once she developed enough, she was going to hunt down Raiden Ei relentlessly.
After all, she hadn't forgotten how Ei bullied her in the last game.
This time, she was definitely going to get her revenge.
To Read 60+ ahead advanced Chapters, head over to P@treon
patreon.com/DarkVerse146