"Pray for Rain"
After a brief pause, two short words appeared in the communication bar.
Kanna was stunned after reading them. To be honest, among the four skills, Palm Thunder was the first she'd ruled out, and Pray for Rain was the second.
Her main concern was that in Chernobog, this skill would essentially only maintain minimal output, just enough to cause a light rain. Otherwise, with a natural disaster already present, adding another one—even for a mobile city—might cause Chernobog to fall.
She had originally guessed it would be an enhancement to Star Shift, but the system's answer was Pray for Rain, a skill she had dismissed.
But thinking about it, Pray for Rain itself had a very large range. Strengthening it on that basis would be more effective and direct. The system probably suggested it for this reason.
With a target in mind, Kanna decisively used the enhancement scroll on Pray for Rain.
Accompanied by a golden light, a new "Enhanced" affix appeared after the Pray for Rain skill. The original effect of the skill was not strengthened at all; instead, like Divine Transformation: Evil Star Eye, a new enhanced effect was appended to the skill, transforming it into:
Pray for Rain (Enhanced, this skill originates from the Pokémon world): Condenses energy to induce weather changes, temporarily transforming the weather into rain. Duration, range, and intensity are controlled by the condensed energy. Under this weather, Fire-type skill effects will be suppressed to a certain extent, while Water-type and Electric-type skill effects will receive corresponding enhancements based on the intensity of Pray for Rain.
Enhanced Effect — Rain Tiger at Will: Within the range of Pray for Rain, the caster can actively perceive all moving objects, and all targets within the Pray for Rain range designated as friendly by the caster are constantly considered to be near the caster.
The description of the enhanced effect was simple, but its content completely exceeded Kanna's expectations.
When she first saw "Rain Tiger at Will," she wondered what it was, but after reading it, she remembered: wasn't this the surveillance jutsu Pain-bro, from "A Bag of Rice," used in the Hidden Rain Village to monitor the entire village?
As long as something was within range, he could detect its whereabouts through this jutsu. It was quite the border defense assistant.
The first half of Kanna's enhanced effect was derived from this ninjutsu, but what did the latter half mean?
As she pondered the purpose of the latter effect, Kanna suddenly flipped to the skill description for Divine Transformation: Evil Star Eye. Looking at that skill description, her eyes couldn't move away: "Deals Electric-type damage to surrounding enemies and bestows the Thunder Punishment Evil Star Eye upon all nearby teammates (friendly units as deemed by Kanna)."
Kanna had previously discovered this mechanism on the deck: "nearby" meant a distance of no more than fifty meters, and there could be no obstructions between the two parties.
But now, as long as they were within the Pray for Rain range, all Operators would automatically be considered near her. This meant she could use Divine Transformation: Evil Star Eye anywhere to charge the skills of teammates fighting in other parts of the city.
Combined with the clone-dropping effect of Divine Transformation: Evil Star Eye's own enhancement, Kanna suddenly had a bold idea.
She prepared to open the door and go to the deck to find someone to verify her conjecture, but when she pushed… Hmm?
Why couldn't she open it?
Just as she thought the door was broken and was about to force it open, Kal'tsit's voice came from the communicator nearby:
"Kanna, what's been going on with you these past few days? Others open their restaurants perfectly fine, but you insist on fixating on one, and not only that, you eat their kitchen clean every single time, making dozens of chefs and even the kitchen hands consider changing professions.
Outcast and I have discussed it and decided to impose a one-week confinement penalty on you."
"Kanna! Don't blame Doctor Kal'tsit. You really caused too much trouble this time. Rhodes Island doesn't have many chefs to begin with, and you made dozens of them switch professions. If Kal'tsit didn't punish you, there would be no way to quell the chefs' anger. Just stay in your room for a few days. If you want anything to eat, just tell Grandma, and Grandma will bring it to you…"
The former was Kal'tsit's voice, the latter was clearly Outcast's. The microphone had been handed over to her.
Regarding this punishment, Kanna felt as wronged as if snow were falling in June. Although she had eaten four places empty, she had clearly chosen completely different restaurants three times, and the last time she even ate at a dessert shop.
These were four completely unrelated places. How could she have been fixated on one family to exploit… Even if someone was unlucky, they wouldn't run into the same group of chefs every time they did a mission!
Thinking of this, Kanna plopped down on the bed.
So annoying!
She was still trying every possible way to strengthen her abilities, fighting for a future where Rhodes Island would suffer no more sacrifices, yet Kal'tsit, that old lynx, was holding her back.
Thinking of this, the newly acquired abilities suddenly didn't seem so appealing.
Hmph! You gave up the opportunity yourselves, so you can't blame Kanna… Kanna, growing angrier the more she thought about it, lay down on the bed and closed her eyes.
In less than three minutes, drool streamed down her cheek, and the entire dragon lay on the bed, emitting a deep, sleeping "hoo-hoo" sound.
On the other side, the other chefs, who had felt a crisis due to the Head Chef's predicament, were finally satisfied and left the Control Room after Kal'tsit repeatedly assured them that the "hungry dragon" had been successfully confined and would be properly educated afterward, ensuring no further significant impact on the restaurants.
After these people left, Kal'tsit specifically retrieved Kanna's itinerary for the past few days. After reviewing it, all the Operators felt a mix of amusement and exasperation.
If the first time was simply bad luck for Kanna to choose him, if he hadn't been so determined to switch places with other Head Chefs, he might not have encountered Kanna again.
It was clear Kanna had deliberately chosen three distant, completely unrelated restaurants to eat at, yet she kept running into this group of chefs every time.
And the dessert shop was where Myrtle had taken her, accompanied by Cerberus.
If this was just an extremely low-probability event, then this group of chefs was indeed incredibly unlucky.
Amiya, who had been feeling very upset after arguing with Kal'tsit about Chernobog, couldn't help but smile after seeing all of this.
However, Amiya, who was very close to Kanna, found it very strange that Kanna rarely had such destructive eating habits multiple times in a week. She couldn't help but worry if the other party had encountered some problem.
Thinking that Kanna was confined, normally she would wait until Kanna was released before inquiring and visiting. But Amiya, who had just argued with Kal'tsit, uncharacteristically felt a surge of youthful rebelliousness and decided to go find Kanna to inquire about her situation after finishing her current tasks.
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