This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rita: … The "strong ones" who were hammered to death by Pine Bloom have something to say.

Not sure if B80234615 guessed what Rita was thinking, but it added, "Elimination is everywhere, and here, every once in a while, a world is destroyed, and a new world is born. This is a playground for gods; the world, and you and I, are just toys."

Rita fell silent.

Lania Kaia's 12 alien races still have their own tribes and main cities. That might be the best outcome after the world's defeat, much like the Forest Sea from back in the day.

The second best result would be the world being destroyed, but the tribes surviving, turning into the "monsters" Rita encountered in the wilds of Lania Kaia.

Based on her guess, BS was most likely destroyed in the last life, and from Jameson's version of the conclusion, their descendants were actually doing okay—just not as fulfilling.

Looking at this, Rick probably ended up in Lania Kaia with his three wives and was living a pretty good life with his talent and the power he built.

It had been a long time since Rita thought about the book that flashed through her mind when she was reborn—the one where she couldn't remember the details for a few seconds. She was more inclined to believe the conclusion she had drawn based on the information she had personally gathered.

Aside from these two outcomes, the other possibility was that those powerful beings whose tribes had been almost wiped out became cosmic wanderers?

This assumption might be a bit hasty, but Rita believed that as long as a tribe still existed, powerful beings wouldn't easily leave their tribes to wander.

Putting herself in their shoes, if BS were destroyed, as long as humanity hadn't been reduced to just a few thousand people…

No, as long as it hadn't been wiped out to the point where there were only a few hundred left, even if she was cold-hearted, she wouldn't leave.

But among the many cosmic wanderers passing through the food street, Rita hadn't yet seen any of them with a similar form.

B80234615 continued its explanation, "They don't have homes here."

Rita: "So they can still participate in Divine Game?"

B80234615: "Divine Game is their only entertainment."

Once the conversation turned to game rewards and mechanics, B80234615 would always sidestep without giving clear answers. Rita elaborated on her guess:

"Do they receive many rewards for participating in Divine Game? Is it possible for them to lose their player status? Or could they become permanent residents in the game?"

B80234615: "It's not possible. Players can only represent their world in battles outside. Without a world, even if they get a thousand keys, they have no qualifications to participate in the game."

B80234615: "And player status doesn't mean much to them. All cosmic wanderers—I'm talking about all of them—were once players of Divine Game who fought for their own worlds, without exception."

B80234615: "The permanent residents in the game are us, the mechanical race. We don't need them, but cosmic wanderers do receive rewards after participating in Divine Game."

Rita: "Alright."

B80234615: "By the way, I only have 2% battery left."

Rita casually grabbed the smallest World Graveyard she had and hid it in her palm, pretending to scratch her right ear as she passed it to B80234615. In the world battlefield, World Graveyard was a special item that couldn't be locked.

It's one of those cases where you take as many as you can; Rita thought that this game would provide some more, but even after killing enemies, she didn't get any World Graveyard drops…

She hadn't stolen any World Graveyard here either, and considering she was still in bad luck, the chances were even slimmer.

There was talk of the market in the chat channel, but the kind of information that could potentially harm players was exchanged very subtly. Only players who had shared similar experiences could truly understand what others were talking about.

Rita flipped through the chat records but didn't find anything more useful, so she decided to observe Marmang-Crab and the other players nearby.

Octopus Bucket had released her from its bindings. Now, with her cooking skills improved, Rita removed her disguise and flew beside Marmang-Crab.

Over the next half hour, she encountered quite a bit of trouble. The [Procurement] position was just as dangerous as [Chef] and [Cashier].

The problem with this market wasn't that it had a lot of rules, or that the rules were particularly troublesome. In fact, there was only one market rule in effect at a time.

The trouble with the market rule was that it changed every minute.

Every time a player broke the rule, other players would have to guess the rule based on the reactions of the offending player.

The unknown waiting time was the most agonizing. Even though there were thousands of players and cosmic beings in the area, in the first few seconds after the rule change, the atmosphere was terrifyingly tense.

Punishments were applied equally, and even powerful players could fall victim.

When Rita first came out of the space, the rule was to remain silent.

Breaking the rule would result in randomly selecting a player's favorite attack skill to hit them.

And the damage of the skill would be enough to bring that player to 1% health by the time the skill finished its process.

After being hit by [Cheers] for the fifth time, Rita was close to dying: "That's a real soul-crushing move."

The blood shield she had cast earlier had been shattered. She hurriedly healed herself, terrified that another player might take advantage of her weakness.

Luckily, [Cheers] was a long-lasting burst skill, so it would last five seconds. As long as Rita started healing herself from the first second, by the time the skill finished, she wouldn't be left with just a sliver of health.

Rita held [Dusk and Night], created by B80234615, ready for anyone trying to take advantage of her. She also tried to grab Marmang-Crab's leeway, but unfortunately, when the penalty skill ended, Marmang-Crab had put up a shield.

Without triggering the [Midnight Exile] effect, the bullet didn't break through the shield, and Rita regretfully lowered her sniper rifle.

Marmang-Crab looked at her with a sad expression: "You really have a cruel heart."

The next minute, it was Rita's turn to break the rules.

But as expected, Marmang-Crab didn't rush to take action.

Not only did Marmang-Crab not take action, but players with combat power exceeding 13th tier didn't attack her either.

Noticing this, Rita sometimes let [Cheers] hit her for the last few seconds, deliberately running behind Marmang-Crab to avoid the sneak attacks of players at the 11th and 12th tiers.

Marmang-Crab: "… Lania KaiaMaple Syrup wouldn't do this."

While hiding behind Marmang-Crab and healing herself, Rita casually replied, "Well, that just shows she still has a lot to learn."

Marmang-Crab: "…"

TingoJE: "…"

Octopus Bucket: "You speak well, say more during the competition."

Rita, who had been assigned the trash-talking strategy: "… Thank you, you really have good taste."

In the first five minutes before the competition started, Octopus Bucket began guiding them toward the food street.