This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Snow swirled through the maze, drifting down in heavy flurries. The flakes clustered midair, forming the number 10.

A countdown.

Ten seconds until the game began.

Around Rita, a dozen of her Blocks had transformed into snow cubes—double the entry fee, triggered by the 6:00 PM game session.

Several players glanced at one another, assessing the competition, before their gazes unanimously landed on her.

Demon Lords and Overlords had battled here for years. Though rankings fluctuated, most top-tier players were familiar with one another. But this new face? Completely unknown. Either using a disguise skill, or a visitor from a different Month Theme Park.

As the countdown vanished, Rita bolted into the maze, ignoring the attacks hurled at her.

[Mysterious Power] was already active. Dodging wasn't necessary.

Even with future-Rita's warning, she wasn't going to deviate from her own plan. If anything, sticking to her course would lead her to the moment where she'd need [Wrathful Moon] to rewind time.

Her goal was simple: find Sakura· Orange White, get the final [Dull Game] shard, then return to the 15th Month Theme Park and ride out the rest of the Divine Game in peace.

She didn't care if the gods and devils found that boring. If they wanted more content, let another player drag her back in with a Forced Invite card.

She couldn't match the Demon Lords and Overlords in raw speed, but her "defense" was deceptive.

Multiple players launched attacks at her—dozens of skills unleashed in rapid succession—but she didn't even flinch. She tanked the hits directly, her Blocks only slightly scorched.

It gave the illusion she was a tank build—someone who'd sacrificed speed for near-invincible defense.

The players who had spawned from the same entrance as her quickly gave up and turned to fight each other instead.

Only after they scattered did Rita duck into a corner and pull out [Cat's Ideal] and one of her [Where's the Owl Already] cards. She used [Owl Got Lost] to transfer the cooldown from [Waste Guide], then activated time-stop.

Buffs were secondary. First, she needed to explore and locate Sakura· Orange White.

With only one shard, [Dull Game] was unusable. That meant she couldn't use [The Free Stuff Always Costs the Most] to trade for it—because the skill only worked on items the other player had used.

That was the second limitation of that skill.

So she had two options:

Option one—disguise herself as a Fat Duck and challenge Sakura to a gacha duel.

Option two—use [I Just Want to Improve So Badly] to steal it.

She was going to try option one first.

Time-stop engaged.

Rita first organized her second gacha machine, loading it with capsules filled with assorted Blocks.

Once secured to her back, she pulled out a duck feather and activated [Away from Home, Identity is Self-Assigned], transforming herself into a Fat Duck.

Success.

Her entire body of Blocks converted into feathers. She could still feel which feather represented which Block.

Her first gacha machine, however, appeared by her feet. It couldn't be transformed.

She shrunk it down to its smallest size, tied its strap to the second gacha machine, and slipped it underneath her duckwing.

If she kept the second gacha machine on, even raising her wing wouldn't reveal the hidden first one—neatly tucked beneath the strap and feathers.

Retrieving items was simple, too. She placed [Cat's Guide] into a capsule, then fed it into the hidden machine. With a single touch, it vanished into storage.

Next, she pulled out fragments from the 13th Month's [It's Not the Craft That Sucks], patched them onto her body, and watched as they transformed into feathers too.

These were her sacrificial tokens—something to lose during the 5-minute punishment timer if she didn't manage a kill.

Once everything was secured, she began sprinting through the maze.

Even if she found Sakura· Orange White, she still needed to learn the map.

In case her first attempt failed, she wanted to be able to teleport across the maze using [Absolute Freedom] or phantom mobility skills.

She kept [Dull Game] in hand the entire time, using the [Blocks Tracker] arrow embedded on it to confirm the identity of each player she passed—just in case Sakura had also used a disguise.

After four hours of nonstop sprinting, she'd mapped the entire labyrinth.

There were 491 players.

No one capable of resisting time-stop appeared—her earlier concern—but the sheer number of participants was much higher than she expected.

She honored her future self's warning: don't approach the maze's 3 o'clock entrance.

Still, after checking every path, the arrow on [Dull Game] led her to a corner near that very entrance.

Why was she supposed to intercept Sakura· Orange White here?

Would [Dull Game] be stolen shortly after the game started?

Or would someone interfere with the trade midway?

Rita crouched down in an egg-hatching position, closed her eyes, and rested—letting the remaining time waste away.

Since [Waste Guide] was still active, she figured she might as well rack up a few extra buffs.

...

When time resumed, Rita's "waste index" on her duck paw had passed 15,000.

Roughly 2,000 came from her previous session in [It's Not the Craft That Sucks], but most were earned from her intense study sessions with Deceitful Bloom and Drummer.

Over the 30 Star-Sea years, even though studying in time-stop deducted from her waste score, there were still plenty of breaks—short, well-earned naps that added up over time.

So by now, she still had a considerable surplus.

Her core stats—attack, defense, speed, crit rate, accuracy, health and mana regen, magic resistance—had all increased by at least 9x.

She stood still, waiting quietly.

Moments later, her expression twisted slightly.

Why did she tell Sakura· Orange White that [Dull Game] was special? Why say outright she came for it?

Then came her own voice, echoing through the maze.

She was hearing herself pitch the trade.

So this was what it felt like… hearing your own manipulation from the outside.

Listening closely, she double-checked her status.

Good. [Absolute Clarity] was still active. That was one of her initial loadout skills.