This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Two minutes later, with the helpful assistance of the Fae Tribe player, Rita successfully communicated with the Starshine Tribe chef.

After repeated questioning, Rita confirmed that the Starshine Tribe chef was indeed a Light Chef, and she had clarified some of the kitchen rules. Only then did she initiate a food duel, while stating her demands:

"Let's have a food duel! If I win, I want 50% of your money and 50% of your sales data."

Bicolor·Joinery had the right to refuse, but instead of rejecting her, he accepted eagerly. He said, "Alright, but if I win, I want to choose one of your skill icons as my reward."

Rita's expression remained unchanged, but her gaze noticeably grew colder.

After both players made their requests, a spoon appeared between them. However, the spoon rotated slightly, and the bowl end of it slammed down toward Rita.

This indicated that the stakes were uneven. The reward that Bicolor·Joinery demanded was far more valuable than the one Rita had proposed.

At some point, the players and customers in the oasis restaurant had gathered around.

Bicolor·Joinery gave Rita a deep look. He knew who she was, and he also knew that Winter Sea·Frenzied Shark's divine skill was in her hands. That's what he was after.

With a sigh, he spoke again: "If you lose, I will randomly choose one of your current skill icons."

The spoon remained motionless.

This was awkward.

Rita looked at the eight skill icons she had left.

Aside from the completely locked [Mysterious Power], the remaining four skills—[I Just Want to Improve So Badly], [Bedtime Tale], [Survive Until the End], and [Repay]—were rare, top-tier SSS-level skills.

These four skills alone meant that Bicolor·Joinery had to offer enough of a stake to qualify for a random selection of her skills.

Bicolor·Joinery took a deep breath and said, "How about you raise the stakes?"

From what Rita had learned from her experiences, including the teachings in [One Person Party], she didn't like to corner others into a no-exit situation without knowing their full hand.

So, she hadn't been aggressive from the start and only requested 50% of the money and 50% of the sales data as a trial.

Bicolor·Joinery, ranked over six thousandth, could at least offer half of his earnings, which, combined with his original score, would allow Rita to climb into just over the 10,000th position.

But since Bicolor·Joinery was so audacious in trying to steal her skill icons, Rita couldn't play the saint anymore.

She raised the stakes: "If you lose, I want all of your money and sales data."

Bicolor·Joinery responded: "If you lose, I will randomly pick one of your current skill icons."

This time, the spoon moved, tipping toward Bicolor·Joinery.

After several rounds of back-and-forth, Rita finally lowered her demands to: "If I win, I want 90% of your money and 80% of your sales data."

The spoon hovered in mid-air, slowly rotating, parallel to the ground.

One of the players standing next to Bicolor·Joinery whispered, "Do you think you can win?"

Bicolor·Joinery shook his head, then nodded. He was gambling. He was betting that, despite BS-Rita's sudden rise in strength, her culinary talent, no matter how extraordinary, couldn't surpass the years of experience and accumulation he had.

If he lost, he would have given away a large part of the rewards from this divine game. If he won, he could take one of her skill icons, and with some luck, he might even get Winter Sea·Frenzied Shark's divine skill!

At first, there was a little hesitation, but when the spoon tilted toward Rita during the conditions assessment, he knew he couldn't miss this opportunity. This was a big gamble!

Bicolor·Joinery considered himself to be gambling, but Rita wasn't.

She had already assessed Bicolor·Joinery's strength and title, deducing his experience and culinary skills. She observed his movements while cooking, his mastery of the heat, and the aroma of the dishes in the air. She noticed the expressions of the customers as they ate the food.

She inferred his sales performance from Bicolor·Joinery's earnings and analyzed the quality of the dishes by asking the Fae Tribe player about the restaurant's pricing.

Information was everywhere.

Rita only initiated the food duel after being fairly certain of Bicolor·Joinery's culinary range.

There might have been some element of luck involved, as she couldn't guarantee her analysis was 100% correct, but it wasn't a big factor.

Soon after the food duel started, Bicolor·Joinery regretted it.

08:51 AM.

Rita got what she wanted— a large bag of money and nearly 8,000 ◆ in sales data.

By now, Rita had climbed to 7,881th place on the real-time leaderboard.

She didn't take the dish she made during the competition; instead, she divided it among the customers present.

— "Sometimes, you need to try forgetting the culinary effect of a dish and just treat it as a piece of art, sharing it with those who crave it."

— "Just like you enjoy the process of making potions and gems, if you want to earn the favor of the food spirits, you need to learn to share the food you make, not treat it as a cold, battle-ready tool."

White Bear was right.

But mainly, Rita's bag was full, and she needed to save two spaces.

After confirming that Bicolor·Joinery's ingredients weren't "low-quality ingredients," Rita saved a portion for herself. She ate the dish while healing and secretly used [I Just Want to Improve So Badly] on a few players in the restaurant.

Another round of faucets turning on and off, healing and using skills.

After finishing the meal, she closed her eyes and attended a [Flight Combat] class before taking a moment to relax.

09:07 AM.

With just 2 minutes left on the restaurant's 2-hour dining period, Rita suddenly pressed the [If you can kill me] skill and dashed out of the food tent.

The moment she exited, Rita was already searching for the next white food tent.

But she quickly realized that the entrance to the white food tent she had just left, and all other white food tents she could see, had changed from black to white.

She heard the sound of skills slicing through the air.

She had been stalling not just for her own rest but because the players in the oasis restaurant had broadcast her movements on the battlefield chat.

To her surprise, these strong players had indeed been waiting for her outside the restaurant.

Skills pelted her, and her health dropped to -35%, despite triggering the occasional heal effect from getting hit.

In her vision, the status of the white food tents was abnormal, unsure whether they were now unenterable or if something would change inside.

Rita grit her teeth, enduring several attacks, and dashed into a nearby blue food tent. Above the entrance of the tent, there was a light blue number: 4147.

The dish she ate in the last restaurant had a continuous healing effect. Rita waited a moment at the entrance of the blue food tent before stepping inside.