This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

As Rita passed by the Ferris wheel, she noticed the line of players waiting to ride had grown several times longer, snaking around several corners of Month Theme Park's streets.

She nudged the co-pilot with her elbow. "Wow~ What happened? Why is this ride suddenly so popular?"

B8017913 paused, then replied in a voice so calm it bordered on deadpan. "Oh no. You don't think it's because of you, do you?"

Rita pouted. "Tch! You're no fun—you can't even keep up with my banter!"

B8017913: "Maybe it's because you're the legendary drama queen."

Rita: "…Promise me you'll stop browsing those BS forums."

As they passed the BBQ stand, B8017913 glanced over again and sent a message: "Just before your Ferris wheel run ended, the food truck started marinating huge batches of skewers. Judging by the current foot traffic, there's no need to prep that much food in advance."

Rita picked up the implication immediately: "You mean... a wave of new players is about to arrive?"

B8017913: "I'm just telling you what I see."

Rita's first thought was the ducklings she saw in the Game Simulation—and the timing of the 'I Admit I'm Very Popular' hidden achievement.

Was it the gods? Or was there going to be a switch between Month Theme Parks?

Whatever the case, the only thing to do was to keep playing.

She drifted her Star Pirate Ship into a hover, stopping right in front of the maze gate.

This was a game where multiple players entered at once. If mapping out routes mentally was part of the challenge, bringing B8017913 along would be incredibly useful.

Plus, barely anyone was in line. Even without knowing how long the game would take, it looked like she'd make the next round.

She pulled out Game Simulation and aimed it at the maze.

One second later, Rita lowered the Block card with a sour face. "Next one."

This was a PvP-style game where every kill would drop two of the victim's Blocks and a random piece of their map. You needed a complete 30-piece map to escape.

Even death and restarting wouldn't let you exit—you'd respawn right back in the maze.

That meant unless you found map pieces on the ground, you'd need to rack up 30 kills to escape. That was one kill every two minutes on average.

And if you got killed? You'd drop a map piece and Blocks and go right back to the entrance.

There was no time limit, but every hour on the dot, the maze would "open" and reshuffle itself—resetting all progress if you hadn't escaped.

Worst of all, map pieces in the maze were deliberately scarce. The only real way to get them was by hunting players.

Who knew how many players were already stuck inside?

She sent all the details and rules to Nivalis in February Theme Park, letting her decide whether or not to try it.

Turning back, Rita noticed her three tag-alongs were nowhere to be seen.

They probably went off to report back to their mentors and leaders.

Her own goals were clear and impossible to hide—Mistblade and Pine Bloom had already figured out that she was only choosing games that minimized the gap in combat strength.

Their students followed her not just to see what she would play next, but also to learn what not to play.

By observing how she approached each event, they could prepare ahead or gauge whether an event required high combat proficiency.

There might even be other divine game players lurking nearby, silently observing her.

Rita almost hoped Mistblade and Pine Bloom would come to her and offer to buy the game rules from her.

To her, only gains in hand were real. And even if she didn't sell the rules, plenty of players who had played and lost a ton of Blocks definitely would.

Selling off rules was an easy way to recover losses.

Unfortunately, their relationship was too strained for that. They'd clashed. There was no trust left. Even if they wanted to buy the rules, they wouldn't come to her.

What did surprise her, though, was Verdant Whisper · Windrush. Forget making a deal—she was probably about to follow Rita into her next game.

No player could dominate every event just by using reflect damage skills.

If Rita imagined herself in Windrush's position, losing her most precious item, she'd absolutely chase the thief to the ends of the game, even at the cost of her ranking.

Because once this special "forced unbinding" event ended, getting Cat's Ideal back would be nearly impossible.

So what was Windrush thinking? Just giving up?

No way. No player would give up Cat's Ideal so easily. That item had clearly been carefully modified.

A chill ran down Rita's spine. She wasn't scared of noisy enemies—she was scared of the ones that vanished into silence.

Her Star Pirate Ship roared back to life and floated to her second choice: a constantly rotating event.

Five large, multicolored discs hovered in the air, circling around a central magic pillar while flipping rapidly in all directions.

Even standing nearby felt like a strong wind would slap you cold.

She raised her Game Simulation, but the card shattered in her hands—the third and final use exhausted.

B8017913: "How about this one?"

Rita still looked thoughtful, but the fact that she didn't instantly bail like with the maze meant there was potential. "If we prep properly, it's doable."

Right then, she received a system notification.

[Player Verdant Whisper · Windrush has used the item "Shared Prosperity" on you. You are now bonded companions. Your next three game entries will be chosen entirely by party leader Verdant Whisper · Windrush, who will also pay your admission. Once she completes a game, you will exit simultaneously and receive 20% of her rewards.]

Rita's breath slowed. Not in relief—but tension.

So it begins.

[Player Verdant Whisper · Windrush has used the item "Asset Transfer" on you. Prerequisite item "Shared Prosperity" detected. Effect activated: Any game item fragment Block you lose during gameplay will automatically be transferred to Verdant Whisper · Windrush, who will replace it with a standard Block to fulfill the loss.]

Rita: This karma hit way too fast...

Then she remembered the Sleevewind Clan teammate who'd left with Six-Tails and Owlite.

Her face froze. "Oh no... Don't tell me they chose the maze!"

She spun the ship around and gunned it back the way she came, explaining the situation to B8017913 en route.

Frustrated, she muttered, "Did she even consider I might've already sent Cat's Ideal home?"

But B8017913 didn't answer that. After a pause, it simply asked:

"Why are other people so efficient at revenge?"

Rita: ??

I feel like you're throwing shade at me, but I have no proof.

This feeling of being constantly exposed by your own pet is the worst!

B8017913 caught her look and offered a half-hearted clarification: "Oh, I was throwing shade at Winter Sea · Frenzied Shark."

Rita: …You might as well not have explained.