This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

As Rita flew toward the trading post, she watched the steady stream of players coming and going. Their expressions ranged from anxious, to focused, to utterly lost. Yet scattered among them were a few whose Block-shaped faces radiated nothing but pure joy and satisfaction.

Her decision slowly became clear.

Sure, choosing [Blocks Conversion] had plenty of drawbacks.

For one, she'd lose a significant chunk of her Blocks—and Block count played a key role in a player's final Divine Game ranking.

For another, with enough time, she could eventually acquire those attributes naturally. The game was riddled with uncertainty, and something like [Universal Fragment] was much safer.

But… it was barely past 9 PM.

This game was only a quarter finished.

Who knew if there'd be a special event later on, like the one in Chaotic Restaurant?

She needed to prepare for the rest of the journey.

Right now, she still had tons of game item fragments on her. If she sold all of them, her Block count would be massive. But such a huge size would be a massive handicap for upcoming games.

Besides, if she really needed more Blocks later, she could always go back to the 15th Month Ferris Wheel. She'd definitely earn more there—now that she knew the ropes.

Of course, she had another option. She could convert all her unused fragments into Blocks and hoard them, then go idle. Conservatively speaking, she could rest for at least 12 hours without needing to play.

After all, she only had [Game Simulation] left twice. Once it was used up, every game would be on hard mode. Not playing at all might be the safest move.

But just sitting around after racking up that many Blocks?

…She doubted her watching gods would be satisfied with that.

She had a theory.

Maybe the Mech species weren't cursed to bring players bad luck.

Maybe, instead, they gave the gods an excuse—a loophole, a gateway—to legally interfere in the game.

Take her first entry into Chaotic Restaurant. She'd assumed her bad luck came from contracting with B8017913. But logically, that didn't hold up.

There were thousands of players in that game. They couldn't all be cursed, right?

And entering the game had been her own choice. No external force made her do it.

The Divine Game was overseen by countless gods and demons. No single entity's personal bias could affect a player directly. The only powers the gods held were over the rules and the rewards.

But if a player contracted with a god-created Mech—thus gaining the unfair advantage of knowing universal language—then the gods were granted limited interference rights to keep the balance.

Naturally, this interference wouldn't be helpful.

It would be to create trouble at just the right time.

For example:

Her teammates in Chaotic Restaurant.

Being thrown straight into the 15th Month Theme Park at the start.

Losing item fragments upon entering the March Theme Park.

Being dumped in the same cabin as Verdant Whisper Gale.

Whether the god watching her just wanted to be entertained or genuinely didn't like her—

As long as she stayed bonded to 913, that interference would continue.

But it had to be limited.

And she was certain—some gods were favoring her.

Even if that favor wasn't the kind she wanted—more like throwing her into chaos just for the drama—

She had to hold onto that attention, use it to her advantage, and resist the ones who disliked her.

And the best way to do that?

Enjoy the game.

Even if she put all the divine politics aside, she herself couldn't accept wasting time.

She entered this world to grow stronger.

Aside from breaks and rest periods, she just couldn't sit still.

Besides—

The questions she had about Blocks Conversion still hadn't been answered.

Resolved, Rita selected [Blocks Conversion] and [Double Return].

Rather than betting on a volatile future, it was better to secure the gains she had now—be it in attributes or items.

A Block-shaped case and a round token dropped from the sky.

Rita caught them using the hand-Blocks she'd taken from other players, then attached them to her body.

Only then did she have the bandwidth to look at her "other" reward. "The Ferris Wheel? What is it exactly?"

It didn't look like a mount.

Nivalis passed over the Ferris Wheel, which she'd been inspecting for a while. "No description."

B8017913 added, "No idea either. Never seen one before."

[Blocks & Me – March Ferris Wheel]:

Game reward.

Cannot be traded.

Cannot be dropped.

Cannot be damaged.

No special effects.

No attribute bonuses.

Can be shrunk into a keychain.

Looks like it needed further investigation back at the base.

Maybe the Bumper Car and Pirate Ship had hidden uses too.

Rita stashed away the Ferris Wheel and hovered near a vending machine. Time to manage her Blocks.

So far in this game, she'd earned over 550 Blocks.

Actually, she'd acquired far more than that. But she'd endured tons of cabin explosions, and had run into all sorts of bizarre abilities—

Some used time skills or rewind mechanics to reclaim Blocks.

Some took back their Blocks and stole extras.

Some swapped Blocks entirely.

She'd gained and lost in equal measure.

It was eye-opening.

Still, the results were worth it.

Even with all the chaos, she'd earned more here than in any other game—especially now that she could manually select which Blocks to keep.

Including her original stockpile, Rita now held over a thousand Blocks.

While still inside the Ferris wheel, she'd already received a notification:

[Congratulations to Player BS-Rita for unlocking Hidden Easter Egg – Block Tycoon]

[Block Tycoon: Achieve over 1000 total Blocks]

Unfortunately, it was just a pop-up. No reward.

Which made her think of the "Yes, I Am Popular" Easter egg.

That one had come with multiple prizes, likely because she was the first and only to achieve it.

Maybe these eggs had limited redemption slots.

Too slow, and you'd still unlock it—but get nothing.

At the trading post, her first order of business was reclaiming her lost items:

[Soul Catcher] and [Plush Collar]—

Both had been lost in cabin explosions, which meant the Divine Game itself had listed them for sale at standard prices.

Reasonable.

Rita unsealed her Blocks and used those she'd earned from the 15th Month Theme Park to buy them back.

Her next stop was her prized Game Console Fragments.

[Gamer's Favorite Console] (1/9) — Price: 630g Blocks

It was the center screen piece.

Nearly three hours had passed since she last saw one.

And now… the price had spiked. Badly.

As more players lost their Blocks and got booted back to their starting rooms, lost items began flooding the market.

Block inflation had officially begun.