This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Before Rita had the chance to complain, a series of notifications rang out in her mind.

[Due to mid-game adjustments that impacted your progress, player BS-Rita may select one of the following as compensation:]

[Event Gift Boxes x5 / Blocks Duplication / Universal Fragments]

[Congratulations! Player BS-Rita has unlocked the achievement: This Can't Go On Anymore]

[Achievement: This Can't Go On Anymore – Force a divine rule change mid-game despite there being no actual loophole]

[Achievement Reward: Choose any skill or item skill and halve its activation cost]

The first reward was an easy pick. Rita chose the most valuable option on the market—Universal Fragments.

As for the skill cost reduction, she once again didn't choose the Teletubby, because she had a new idea. One that came to her after recording the game with her Game Addict's Console.

After recording "Defend the Gacha," she had played it during time stop. The good news was that time spent gaming inside the console counted even during time freeze. But even so, 1000 hours of gameplay was still far too much.

After knocking a player back to start, Rita pulled out the Game Addict's Console.

The first skill, "Game Bleeds Into Reality," stated: "Once gameplay time for a recorded game reaches 1000 hours, the player will randomly receive one item or skill from that game."

In other words, the 1000-hour threshold was the cost of the skill.

She tried applying the achievement reward to this skill.

As expected, the skill description changed.

[Skill 1: Game Bleeds Into Reality – Record any game. When total gameplay reaches 500 hours, the player will randomly receive one skill or item that has appeared in that game. (Game Slots Used: 2/10)]

Seeing the change did improve her mood… but only just a little.

She packed up the console and stared listlessly at the back of a nearby Fat Duck, mumbling to herself, "Sigh… the game fails, yet I'm the one who has to carry everything."

"A true player doesn't complain about the environment—they change it or remove whoever's changing it."

"A grain of sand in the Divine Game becomes a mountain when it lands on a top-tier player."

"Sighhhhh…"

The unlucky Fat Duck in front of her: "..."

Someone please shut her up already.

It scratched the back of its neck, plucked a few feathers to buy an extra dice roll, and prepared to flee.

Not just it—every Fat Duck nearby started moving, either fleeing or intentionally losing the round to return to start.

Rita: …So you're all just gonna ghost me now?

Despite the new restrictions, she wasn't in a rush to leave. At least the game overhaul didn't count the previous times she entered the crafting space. That meant she still had ten entries left.

There was no way she was wasting them. She used all ten entries before heading to the goal square and leaving "It's Not the Craft That Sucks."

Even though she'd rolled more times here than in March Theme Park, her ranking and score were still slightly lower.

She could guess why.

First, she didn't make as many gacha balls this time. Half her time in the crafting space had gone into selecting materials for Renovation, which affected her professional score. Also, the overall skill level of players in 1March Theme Park was lower than those in March Theme Park.

All of that combined meant she landed in third place again on the leaderboard, still holding the [Blocks & Me – March Dice].

But with the new system changes, there was no way anyone else could beat her score now. Later players would be limited to ten entries, making it impossible to gather as many materials or match her crafting time.

As for other effects...

Nivalis: "Uh-oh, your plaza just got taken again."

Rita: "Would you focus on your game?! Stop hanging around online all day!"

Nivalis: "I'm eating."

Rita: "So my plaza is your dinner entertainment now?"

Nivalis didn't reply. Playing dead.

By now, Rita had flown to the nearest trading post.

Over an hour ago, B8017913 had told her that Sakura·Orange White had entered a new game—a straight-up PvP bloodbath. No way Rita was joining that.

The [Blocks Tracking] effect had already expired, so she couldn't see where the final piece was. Her biggest worry now was that someone would loot that last [Dull Game] fragment and put it up on Divine Game's market.

She let out a breath when her search showed zero listings... but her anxiety didn't ease.

She bought another [Blocks Tracking] and slapped it onto [Dull Game]. A familiar red message floated above the revolver: October, Sakura· Orange White ↓.

Still in her hands.

But just waiting around wasn't an option.

As she scrolled through the trading post for items like "Shared Prosperity" or "Asset Transfer," she received a new message from B8017913.

B8017913: "Sakura· Orange White left that game. She bought some food and is now lining up for the maze game. Only 32 players in line."

It was 5:53 PM. That meant Sakura· Orange White was aiming for the 6 o'clock slot.

Rita made her decision instantly. She had to be in this one.

Maze game durations were notoriously unstable. Once someone went in, who knew when they'd come out?

Even if Sakura cleared it in one run, the next game might not be one Rita could sneak into.

She messaged B8017913: "Keep an eye on her."

Then she quickly collected the revenue from her recently sold items, dumped it into the gacha machine, and listed five new items.

No time to queue for a ticket refund—she bought a [Teleport Pass] and transported herself directly to the gates of the October Month Theme Park.

Every second she saved had to go into disguising her identity.

She grabbed a bunch of small Blocks and rapidly reshaped her color scheme and form.

Her physical structure didn't need major changes, but she had to adjust her color pattern—someone in October might have remembered her exact Block layout from her earlier gacha run.

The key addition was a pair of wings. A pair of Block wings modeled to resemble the flowing fire wings seen on other high-tier avatars.