This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

The seahorse immediately activated a hidden Sea Seed behind the map fragment. It exploded silently, shaking the leaf loose and sending it fluttering down—just enough to draw Lania Kaia Pine Bloom's attention.

But instead of picking it up, Pine Bloom's gaze snapped like an arrow straight toward the seahorse's hiding spot.

In the blink of an eye, she was in front of him, a wood-element skill surging forth.

The seahorse quickly retreated without hesitation, throwing out an S-rank crowd control skill before bolting toward the flower wall, scooping up the map fragment, and burning through several movement skills to vanish into the distance.

Only after safely escaping and activating an invisibility skill did he finally stop.

He pinged Crab: "Oh my god, I almost got caught by her—Lania Kaia Pine Bloom! The one the Divine System name-dropped!"

MarmangCrab often suspected that if the seahorse stopped talking trash, it'd start losing HP: "You dare say that to her face? …Anyway, did she pick up the fragment?"

Seahorse: "Nope. Lania Kaia Maple Syrup passed by earlier too. She didn't grab it either."

MarmangCrab: "They might've noticed something off. Just focus on picking up other set pieces. Once we sell enough, we can buy full sets outright."

Seahorse: "Alright, then I'll go find BS-Rita. I heard she's in the maze too. She's gotta be packing good stuff."

MarmangCrab: "Got some intel?"

Seahorse: "Nah, but c'mon, look at her. With that attitude and mouth, how's she still alive if she's not holding onto something great?"

MarmangCrab: "…Are you just flexing about yourself?"

Seahorse: "Tch. You have no idea. Trash talk isn't just about a toxic mouth—it takes nerves of steel, pressure resistance, and real skill. You think me and BS-Rita spit fire just for fun?"

MarmangCrab: "I figured it's as natural as eating while swimming. Open mouth, garbage comes out."

Seahorse: …Fair.

…

After the seahorse bolted, Rita used Dandelion Wind to escape as well.

She immediately canceled her disguise and fled far from the scene, minimizing the exposure of her Pine Bloom impersonation.

Now, even as players continued to chase her down, she was already admiring her newly acquired divine gift skill:

"The Free Stuff Always Costs the Most."

The main flaw—or at least the thing to watch out for—was this clause:

"If the value gap between the taken item and the compensation is too large, the player must pay gold or attribute points to balance it."

That meant you couldn't cheat the system with garbage-to-gold trades. At best, you could make minor gains or break even.

Kind of like her own Reverse Moment—ideal for fair trades, tolerable with minor gaps.

But this one? It was still better.

Unlike Reverse Moment, this passive allowed for value gaps. The clause said if the difference was too big, then and only then did payment kick in. It wasn't blocked—it just got adjusted.

And there was one more risk: Could the other player figure out who used the skill against them?

That part was uncertain and would need testing. She'd ask Nivalis later—Nivalis had a skill that could trace hostile actions.

Rita didn't run randomly through the maze. After returning to the last battleground and finding Pine Bloom had already moved on, she started looking for new conflict zones. If she found one, she could shapeshift into a map fragment and get picked up.

She was spotted a few times along the way, but after players realized they couldn't kill her easily, they stopped wasting time.

At the 31-minute mark, she activated Owl Got Lost for the second time.

This time, it randomly reset Clock Reversal.

Perfect.

Once its cooldown dropped, she cast it again, halving the cooldowns of all her long-timers. Mysterious Power now had only 29 hours left. Her disguise skill? Down to 25 minutes.

In the game-wide chat, Verdant Whisper · Windrush was clearly getting desperate.

[Verdant Whisper · Windrush]: 5gBlocks for BS-Rita's location, anyone in March Maze?

[Ghost·Sang Cup]: She's in the March maze?!

[Emerald Crane Gale]: She's in the March maze?!

Rita: …This can't be good.

[Ghost·Sang Cup used item skill "Spotlight Entrance" on you.]

A beam of light slammed down from the sky, locking onto her.

[Emerald Crane Gale used artifact skill "I Bring My Own BGM."]

A thundering bassline and pounding drums exploded around her. It was like a live concert had just spawned with her as the frontwoman.

No matter where she moved, the spotlight and rock band followed her like a curse.

Those two had literally teamed up to stage her public execution.

She could already hear footsteps charging toward her from all directions.

[BS-Rita]: There's such a thing as too efficient with your revenge!

[Verdant Whisper · Windrush]: You think I'm Winter Sea·Frenzied Shark or Lania Kaia Pine Bloom?

[Ghost·Sang Cup]: You think I'm Winter Sea·Frenzied Shark or Lania Kaia Pine Bloom?

[Emerald Crane Gale]: You think I'm Winter Sea·Frenzied Shark or Lania Kaia Pine Bloom?

[Winter Sea·Frenzied Shark]: …What the hell is wrong with you guys?!

[Lania Kaia ·Pine Bloom]: Who hasn't died before? It's no big deal.

[Lania Kaia ·Fat Goose]: With that mindset, you'll succeed at anything.

[Marmang·Crab]: With that mindset, you'll succeed at anything.

[Lania Kaia ·Mistblade]: With that mindset, you'll succeed at anything.

Pine Bloom quietly logged off.

[Lania Kaia ·Fat Goose]: So, Verdant Whisper · Windrush—what'd she do to you?

[Verdant Whisper · Windrush]: "Cat's Ideal" is on her.

[Marmang·Crab]: So that's where it went?!

[Sakura·Orange White]: You just lost it like that? Which of you is supposed to be Tier 9 again?

[Winter Sea·Frenzied Shark]: You had "Cat's Ideal" and still ranked up this slow? Never even made Demon Lord?

[Tingo·Autumn Deer]: Say no more—March Theme Park, I'm on my way!

[Raging · Mecha]: What a clown.

Seeing all those big names popping up, Rita's expression darkened.

Was this item really that famous?

Why had Verdant Whisper · Windrush never dared to reveal it before?

[BS-Rita]: "Cat's Ideal" has already been sent out of the game.

Even though she knew no one would believe her, she said it anyway.

No one responded.

Newer players began asking what made "Cat's Ideal" so special—but no one answered.

She shut the chat off.

Whatever. Music and spotlight aside, she activated Survive Until the End, transforming into a map fragment once more.

Seconds later, her HP dropped by 0.004%.

She stayed calm—until it ticked down again.

And again.

They'd found her.