This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rita recalled the maze rules. They only mentioned that the maze would open on the hour, with a 3-minute window to enter, but didn't specify the number of players allowed in:

"How many players do you estimate can get in within three minutes, based on the mechanical race's ticket-scanning speed?"

B8017913 replied, "Last round, 79 players got in within under 2 minutes. After that, the gate stayed empty for over a minute before closing. If all players prep their Blocks in advance before the game starts, conservatively, 150 players could make it in."

The music and spotlight issues were resolved, and she was now disguised. Even when the effect of [No Logic] ended, as long as no one could track her down, she wouldn't need to panic.

There was a battle happening up ahead. After telling B8017913 to keep monitoring, Rita stepped back a few meters and dropped the map fragment from her mouth into a corner at the turn.

The spot was blatantly obvious—textbook bait.

If she had time, she would've placed it at the location where she found her first map piece. But that wasn't an option—this round only had 7 minutes left. After that, the map would shift and fragments would expire.

No player would seriously search for a lost fragment this late into the round. If she hid it too well, no one might find it.

In this sense, placing it somewhere obvious could actually work in reverse. Because time was nearly up, players who had given up collecting fragments might just ignore it completely.

After planting the bait, Rita left the corridor.

She had barely run a few steps when she bumped into a group of players fighting their way in this direction. She immediately turned and ran back the way she came.

But she was quickly caught by a drag skill and yanked into the battle.

Fortunately, [Mysterious Power] was still active, and three of these players had previously attacked her. Since she was already here, Rita decided to take advantage of the chaos and leech a bit—throwing out occasional attacks to both sides.

She couldn't kill anyone, and no one could kill her.

Taking this opportunity, she activated [Magical Echo] to begin regenerating mana.

The fight gradually shifted closer to where Rita had left the map fragment. Coincidentally, the brawling group she'd been tracking also neared that location.

Rita carefully moved toward the spot herself.

Drawing on her years of acting experience, she convinced herself first: she was just a player who'd noticed the map piece, wanted to grab it, but was trying not to draw attention and get others involved.

Most players here were Tier 15. A few Tier 14s like her had been thrown in just for being too good. Their awareness was sharp—about 80% of them spotted the map fragment.

With just 3 minutes left in the round, the fragment didn't mean much anymore, but after noticing Rita's movement, the two players closest to it went for it. It was a simple task.

That familiar voice rang out.

—"The Free Stuff Always Costs the Most.!"

Hook set. Fish caught. Rita stayed in the brawl a minute longer.

At 11:59, she let out a loud, "Meowww~~"

All the players suddenly froze mid-fight and turned to look at her.

"Meow-meow~~" "Meow-meow~~"

So this was what it felt like to be a cat and hear every living thing around you meowing back. It was terrifying.

Rita took off immediately. Once she reached a quiet spot, she summoned the deep-blue helm.

Although she could turn it with her mind, she found it more ceremonial to press a fluffy cat paw against the helm and give it a gentle spin. Instantly, she left the battlefield and appeared in the Ferris wheel cabin she'd previously visited in February Theme Park.

With just 10 seconds left before the map fragments expired and refreshed, she focused her mind and stepped into the room again, approaching the scale.

'12:00'

A breeze blew through February Theme Park. Even outside the maze, in a different Month Theme Park, Rita still had to pay double the game fee.

Her hopes of reducing spending were dashed.

Apparently, game rules followed game eligibility. Without a ticket, you weren't registered for the game, even if you entered the map—you couldn't read the rules or participate.

But once you paid with Blocks, even if you left the map via other means, the rules would still follow you.

And her [Don't Ask Me What Potions Are] was gone!

She remembered Verdant Whisper · Windrush using "Asset Transfer" on her and wondered if that fragment had been sent to her.

She couldn't go check the vending machines herself. Public areas enforced absolute rules that canceled all active skills. She couldn't risk losing [There's a Cat Here], and if she left, how would she get back into the maze?

Thankfully, she had people on the outside. Rita said, "Keep your eyes on the maze entrance. Count how many players go in. Once the gate closes, check the exchange for [Don't Ask Me What Potions Are] to see if it's been listed."

B8017913: "Got it."

Rita returned to a tree inside the maze and, with a paw, scooped up the compensation she'd just received—[Hallucinogenic Mushroom Spray] (1/3).

That player had plenty of great stuff. Seven-piece and nine-piece sets, even two complete nine-piece artifacts. Far wealthier than she was.

But to test the skill's limits, Rita had chosen a single piece from a three-piece set.

It had cost her just 550 gold.

Actually, it was 500—but a notice said the compensation had been converted to the other player's world currency, with a 50-gold service fee.

180 attribute points — 10,000 gold — 500 gold.

Three levels of compensation price tags: nine-piece, five-piece, three-piece.

There might be some price fluctuation depending on item rarity, but this seemed to be the basic framework.

If she only wanted Blocks or random items, this skill wasn't better than [I Just Want to Improve So Badly]—it required payment and negotiation.

But when she needed something specific, this skill was absolutely gold-tier.

Especially while under the [Mysterious Power] effect—it offset her criminal tendencies quite nicely.

The maze entrance closed, and the game restarted.

…

'12:01' — [Owl Got Lost] came off cooldown.

[Mysterious Power] only had 49 hits left—far from enough to handle the flood of new players entering the maze.

Distorting recognition could stop people from targeting her, but it wouldn't stop them from attacking her at random.

In fact, after she used a disguise, [No Logic] started to backfire. Since no one knew who held the Divine Relic, the first instinct was to kill any unfamiliar cat on sight.

So instead of distorting perception, survival skills took priority.

Rita used [Owl Got Lost] to transfer [Mysterious Power]'s remaining cooldown onto a rarely used SSS-tier offensive skill.