This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Before the game started, Rita decided to adjust B8017913's form once again.

Under its guidance, she twisted the earring a few times, and B8017913 turned back into a cube shape. She twisted it a few more times, and the cube transformed into a platinum ring with a circle of blue diamonds.

Rita slipped it onto her right index finger, while her left middle finger sported [Betrayal].

Nivalis lay at the back of the room, sighing: "If only I could transform into jewelry without using skills... jewelry would be fine, but even a doll would work."

Rita comforted her: "Once we get out of here, we'll look for something like that in Lania Kaia or another world."

Nivalis also considered heading back to Dragon Island to loot: "After this game, should we visit other worlds?"

Rita pondered over what to do once this game ended:

She wanted to use [The Old Blacksmith] to build an alchemy workshop and an engineering workshop.

Then, she would craft [Spring Not Late], a tool to break the bloodline shackles.

Using [Behind the Scenes], she would practice alchemy and level up to recover the lost levels.

She still had seven more rabbit tooth courses to finish.

She'd also visit the Multi-Race Arena to grab some chests and equipment.

She planned to take Nivalis to Lania Kaia to get some stat points.

Then, she'd search for Black Jade, because she absolutely had to get [Moment of Reversal].

Finally, she needed to check on things with Rick. If what had been predicted in the vision happened, she'd have to put an end to him for good.

There were too many tasks to consider, and just thinking about it, her schedule was already packed.

Rita said, "We're not going anywhere for now."

Just as she finished speaking, she landed at a street corner.

Unlike the restaurants on the main street with transparent barriers surrounding the front, back, and rooftops, the Dark Gourmet Street consisted of food tents, each one indistinguishable from the others. The only difference was the color. There were no signs or scrolls hanging at the entrances.

Looking around, it felt like she had wandered into a campsite or a black market in a magical world.

From the outside, the food tents looked like black holes. No one could see the insides of the restaurants.

The streets were crowded with countless fruit customers, players, and event gift packs. The bustle here rivaled the previous Gourmet Street.

Rita wasn't in a rush to enter the tents; instead, she was looking for suitable architectural landmarks for [Romantic Tourist].

With 10 mark opportunities left, she first marked a distant white food tent, then flew to the entrance of the Dark Gourmet Street, marking the stone monument there, before starting her casual stroll.

Without her only healing skill, [Mango Pomelo Sago], Rita couldn't use [I Just Want to Improve So Badly] on the passing players, as it required a sacrifice of health to use. Without the chance to steal skill icons, she couldn't make up for the lack of healing skills.

It was a vicious cycle.

She had to keep an eye out for nearby players who had healing skills to borrow.

Rita wasn't planning to rush into a restaurant just yet; she was hoping to find a hidden Easter egg to make use of.

Besides, the reward for completing her mission was 5000◆, but to challenge the Dark Chefs, she would have to die.

She only had 3 chances to use the Easter egg that revealed players' identities.

Until she figured out more about the rules of Dark Gourmet Street, staying out of trouble seemed like the safest option.

Just then, Rita suddenly froze, because a player fell from the sky, landing heavily in front of her. It was Winter Sea·Frenzied Shark.

Without a word, the player immediately released a skill.

Rita's health plummeted to 40%, and she quickly used [Romantic Tourist] to teleport back to the entrance of Dark Gourmet Street.

But in the next second, another attack came. She only caught a glimpse of the player's Feather, and the next thing she knew, she was back in the initial room.

The eighth death.

And Pine Bloom had used a max-level killing penalty upgrade item once again.

Rita had a countermeasure for this, though. The reward from the 2nd Easter egg allowed her to reduce the death penalty by 3 levels.

Since Pine Bloom had raised her death penalty to level 10, she could use the Easter egg reward to drop it to level 7, meaning she only needed to sacrifice one SSS-level skill.

But the real question was: what would happen once she left the room?

After several rounds of games, the hunters who had been lying in wait were beginning to surface.

There was probably still a bodyguard situation outside.

The situation she'd feared most had finally arrived—the greatest danger of this game had come.

And there were still nearly 17 hours left in the game.

[Mysterious Power]?

She had just used [If You Can Kill Me] in the last round. This skill still had 5 minutes left on cooldown.

And against those powerful enemies' attacks, her health dropped at the extreme pace of [Bedtime Tale]—it only took 4 hits to clear her health. Without [If You Can Kill Me] or [Reward or Punishment], she wouldn't even get a chance to use [Mysterious Power].

Rita had a real headache.

Should she turn into White Boat with [Survive Until the End]? That tactic was already useless against strong players. Everyone knew about it after the battlefield chat.

She had been using every trick in the book, pushing every skill to its limit.

But now, what should she do?

Just walk into a random restaurant?

She had already marked a food tent after entering Dark Gourmet Street.

At this point, it seemed like her only way out.

Since the gourmet food was sacred here, and attacking a chef with superior culinary skills resulted in a penalty, the food tents should be off-limits for attacks.

Otherwise, how could low-level players survive here?

But what if battles could happen inside the tents too?

And what if she couldn't handle the crises inside the food tents?

The countdown above the initial room still had 29 seconds left.

Rita opened her inventory and looked at the last slot. There was a rabbit fur.

One she had gotten during the last closing time, which, when used, would randomly teleport her to a certain spot in the battlefield.

She had a second option.

Once she was sure she wasn't about to jump from one dead end to another, Rita finally relaxed.

Besides that, she still had a white coral given to her by Sea Pony.

She had used one before when she forced customers into the light pillar, and she used another when she joined the 7th round.

Rita carefully calculated all the things she had that could help her solve her crisis.

With 17 seconds left, Rita left the initial room.

The moment she stepped out, her hand slammed onto the [Romantic Tourist] skill icon, a tiny figure standing under the bright moon on top of a high mountain, gazing at distant buildings.

The next second, her form became a shadow, leaving the entrance of Dark Gourmet Street, dodging the incoming attacks and escaping the players surrounding her. In the final second, she got a good look at the faces of those players.

Lania KaiaPine Bloom, Winter Sea·Frenzied Shark, Marmang Crab, Black Spring Grimpeak, Sakura·Oolong…