Near the end of August, Rita had already watched the beginner and intermediate alchemy videos seven times.
That day, she noticed something strange.
She had not crafted anything at all.
She had only spent several hours watching alchemy videos.
Yet her alchemy experience increased.
Only one point after several hours, but it had moved.
That alone meant everything.
Rita immediately started remaking beginner potions from scratch.
Then she realized something else.
The feeling was completely different now.
In the past, she followed the videos rigidly, step by step.
Now there was freedom in the process.
Freedom.
Sometimes she even deviated entirely from the methods shown in the videos.
The finished potions were not significantly different from the original versions, but she could feel it clearly.
For the first time, she had truly stepped through the gates of alchemy.
That night, after transforming into a goblin and minting her three daily coins, Rita went to sleep.
Recently, she had stopped farming Zoey and Sanchez for stats.
Maybe because their attributes were already too low, but after a full month of stealing, she got nothing.
And there was no way she was going to spend every night hiding under someone's bed, drinking potions while repeatedly stealing.
Even if she had enough potions, it was still wasteful.
Early-game beginner healing potions were extremely valuable.
So Rita stopped completely.
Proper sleep.
Recover energy.
Then continue learning efficiently the next day.
But her good mood came to an abrupt end at the beginning of September.
Because Rick moved into the same villa district.
Only two kilometers away from her.
Samuel and Scarlett even invited her over for a housewarming dinner.
Rita looked at the security booth and almost laughed.
This one was way bigger than hers.
The house itself, however, was nearly empty.
No appliances.
The meal had been catered from a restaurant.
Rita immediately put on the expression of a loving older sister proud of her brother.
Before Samuel or Scarlett could speak, she smiled and said, "I'll handle the appliances."
Wasn't this just bait?
Game items were a different matter.
Even Theodore's White Dragon cloth belt was something she hated the idea of giving away early.
But a few million dollars?
By next year, that amount would not even buy a single low-tier blue item.
She would earn it back from Rick many times over eventually.
While talking, she quietly observed his condition.
Nothing unusual.
She still could not tell whether Rick had contracted HIV.
She had checked before.
The disease could remain asymptomatic for years.
But she still worried.
What if three syringes of infected blood had not been enough?
Still, she reassured herself.
It was better if Rick remained unaware.
If he found out too early, how could she make him pass it to Zoey?
The premarital health examination had happened before the engagement.
She only injected Rick afterward.
Rita also made no effort to avoid dishes Rick touched.
Saliva did not transmit HIV.
If she could avoid sharing food naturally, she would.
But if she could not, she refused to act suspicious over something so small.
Once Rick discovered the disease, he would absolutely react the same way Zoey had after losing her attributes and Chávez mask.
He would start suspecting everything.
Less than a week later, Rita hired a professional team to measure Rick's villa for appliances and furniture.
She did not appear in person.
She worried those two little silver coin demons would coordinate and trick her into buying the most luxurious options possible.
The best and most expensive appliances?
For your villa?
Dream on.
Rita upgraded her own villa with premium equipment first.
Then she moved all usable old furniture and appliances into the small apartment.
Whatever did not fit got sold.
Her cash reserves were almost gone now.
She left herself a little over one million dollars.
Enough to last until the official game invasion.
Besides, she still had eight hundred million sitting in her Hong Kong account.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
Samuel had that much money all along.
And yet he manipulated her for years with five million.
After realizing there was no way she could max advanced alchemy before the third beta, Rita finally stopped pushing herself so hard.
Instead, she decided to spend as much of her massive fortune as possible.
Stockpiling daily necessities was pointless.
Buying more dungeon apartments was unnecessary too.
Two entrances were already the limit of what she could protect.
Dungeon entrances constantly refreshed.
But the rules inside varied depending on dungeon size.
In smaller low-tier dungeons, low-level alien races only needed to survive twenty-four hours before entering Blue Star.
More complex dungeons required longer survival periods.
Three days.
Seven days.
Thirty days.
Sometimes even years.
The stronger the alien race, the harsher the conditions for entering reality.
Many dungeon entrances only got discovered after aliens survived long enough to emerge into Blue Star.
As for gold?
She still had 1,473 gold bars left.
More than ten thousand pounds.
She could only wait for the next beta and search for Bloodmoon City goblins again.
Worst case scenario, she would wait for goblin merchants after the invasion.
Apparently, having too much money created its own problems.
Stockpiling potions or special crafting materials would not generate much profit either.
She had no intention of exploiting humanity's disaster for money.
This was a war affecting all of Blue Star.
She was not selfless enough to sacrifice everything.
But she also could not bring herself to profit by dragging everyone down.
So instead of hoarding supplies and reselling them later, she might as well travel city to city and exchange gold bars with goblins.
After thinking it through carefully, Rita decided to make another trip to W City.
This time, she wanted weapons.
Old but well-maintained bows and crossbows.
Or the best firearms available on the market.
Once the game invaded reality, if even one mutated into something extraordinary, she would profit massively.
Eight hundred million Canadian dollars converted into gold was not even three thousand pounds.
And three thousand pounds of gold only translated into around eight thousand game coins at the rate of 180 grams per coin.
But legendary bows and firearms?
That kind of money could buy dozens.
In her previous life, one legendary weapon had come from a weapon collector.
After the game invasion, a sword he polished daily mutated into an absurdly powerful weapon with three affixes.
Its equipment requirement was especially rare.
No level restriction.
Only attribute requirements.
As long as your stats were high enough, anyone could equip it.
A guild once offered three thousand gold for it.
He refused.
Even for a level twenty legendary weapon, that price was outrageous.
The Lopez family had also tried to buy it.
They got rejected too.
Yet not long afterward, Rita saw that same sword in Mateo's hands.
After giving the Wilson family the all-purpose excuse of "going to W City to search for players," Rita flew there that very night.
She found a broker and told him to keep an eye out for famous swords, bows, crossbows, and top-tier firearms.
She even used the Chávez pocket watch to Insight the broker first, confirming he was just an ordinary middleman rather than someone with a Divine Gift.
If she spent eight hundred million on herbs, fabrics, or leather, she would need an entire warehouse to store everything.
But antique weapons tied to history and stories?
And top-tier firearms?
Spending eight hundred million on those felt like spending pocket change.
She bought three famous bows and five crossbows immediately.
One hundred million gone.
Once word spread that a major collector had arrived in W City searching for bows and crossbows, Rita stayed another week.
Over time, she acquired fifteen more bows and twenty-one more crossbows.
Final total:
Twenty-one bows.
Twenty-seven crossbows.
Cost:
Five hundred million.
Maybe because her luck stat was maxed out, she also managed to buy two meteorite pistols.
Those excited her the most.
She had never heard of pistols mutating into top-tier weapons in her previous life, but she could not possibly know everything.
Smart people always hid their trump cards.
Besides, many mutated weapons had level requirements.
Leveling in this game was painfully slow.
A weapon might mutate long before anyone was strong enough to use it.
So remaining undiscovered was entirely possible.