This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Although Rita often complained that the attribute gain from [I Just Want to Improve So Badly] was too slow, she knew in her heart just how good the skill really was.

Even the SS-tier gourmet talent [Yes, I'm a Master Chef] could only grant one attribute point per day—and with only a 20% success rate at that.

She had even tried using the skill inside [Behind the Curtain] during her alchemy sessions, wondering if she could exploit a time-manipulation loophole.

Unfortunately, the skill worked by accelerating time perception, not actual in-game time. So even if it felt like a hundred days passed inside, only one real day had gone by. No loophole. The rate was just too slow—couldn't hold a candle to [I Just Want to Improve So Badly].

Without that skill, the only viable way to earn more attribute points than one might lose to divine punishment in the Divine Game would be through support from Eclipse Vanguard.

But Eclipse Vanguard wasn't the kind of organization to pour everything into one person. They preferred spreading resources across many promising players instead of going all-in on a single gamble.

They'd rather wait for Rita to deliver results and then toss her a hundred attribute points each time she came knocking.

And yet, now that she'd cooled off, she was reluctant again.

Having an Eclipse Vanguard player join the next Divine Game wouldn't help her. If anything, it'd just add more competition for the scattered World Graveyard tiles.

More importantly, those 8,888 attribute points? She could earn them herself—eventually.

It was just like those SS-tier skills that once seemed unreachable. Now only SSS-tier ones were truly worth her time.

Opportunities come and go in a flash. That thought made Rita wonder—would she one day miss such a fleeting opportunity herself?

…

Eclipse Vanguard.

One of their players removed their hand from a crystal orb. A moment ago, the fish inside had been swimming; now they'd all sunk to the bottom—except a few, which floated to the surface.

To the untrained eye, it was meaningless. But the orb's creator knew exactly what it meant.

"No shot," the player said calmly.

They couldn't directly divine Rita's future—but they could ask indirect questions. Just now, the inquiry had been, "Will the deal Shadow.Q initiates with BS-Rita be successful or favorable to Eclipse Vanguard?"

All divination regarding Rita had to be approached sideways.

It had been the same when they tried to foresee who would determine BS's fate in the World Battlefield. A ring of diviners gathered, asking carefully worded questions:

"Is someone in the top ten of the level leaderboard key to BS's victory?"

"Yes."

"Top three?"

"Yes."

"Is it the second-ranked?"

And so on, until the truth became clear.

They'd asked even more layered questions:

"Of the players who are simultaneously in the top three for pet ranking, wealth ranking, honor ranking, and fame ranking—do they bring more benefit or harm to BS?"

In divination circles, Rita had practically become the mysterious figure whose name must not be spoken.

Previous divinations had already made it clear: whatever that Mahjong-like tournament was, it posed far more danger than opportunity for Eclipse Vanguard.

Someone had even tried divining Avery's outcome if she entered. The results were mediocre at best.

But Avery herself had little interest in the tournament.

She knew how to lead and how to delegate. She understood how best to "use" herself.

Her natural talent was formidable, but unlike Rita, who chased pure power, Avery devoted most of her energy to building Eclipse Vanguard. She only needed enough strength to protect her authority. She didn't need to walk Rita's path.

If she tried to do both, she might end up with nothing.

Still, not everyone was so resigned.

Some couldn't help but keep asking—taking every angle, searching for a way in.

It wasn't always out of self-interest or a desire for glory. But really—who wouldn't want to earn supreme honors? Who didn't crave a BS-wide announcement?

…

Meanwhile, Rita snapped out of her swirling thoughts. She swept up the tiles from her table and stopped overthinking it. Turning to her two companions, she announced:

"Pack up. We leave tonight."

She wasn't going to miss the June 1st Divine Game.

No way the death penalties would scale up again… right?

Having made up her mind, Rita did a loop around the backyard, refilled the cats' food and potions, and resisted the urge to stop at every cat bed and give in to petting.

She then swung by her newly built alchemy workshop, before hauling a few crates of fruit home from Eclipse Vanguard's stores.

She had already confirmed with B8017913: "Toys" could be brought into the Divine Game.

Not only that—they were considered neutral items.

A toy could be brought in as either a tool or a relic.

Which meant it was high time to test the limits of [Plush Collar].

And after this next game, she planned to start collecting toys with unique effects.

Sitting in the middle of her cat horde in the backyard, Rita burned through crate after crate of fruit. Through relentless testing, she determined the item's upper bound: 100 units.

Didn't matter if it was living or non-living, big or small—the collar could only transform up to 100 targets at once.

Very practical. Rita didn't hesitate to bind it with a soul-binding stone.

Done with that, she moved on to inspect [Soul Catcher].

Since she could bring two tools and two relics into the World Battlefield, it was time to dust off some gear.

[Soul Catcher] currently held three skills:

[A Prank] (1/1): Turns the target into the race of the first drop of alien blood they touch after activation. Lasts for 30 days.

[Backfire] (1/1): There's no rule that evil must be punished—but I say there can be. This causes the target's next malicious act to rebound on themselves.

[Severance] (1/1): Choose two targets. This skill stirs up latent resentment between them. If none exists, then for the next three days, each will learn a secret the other most wishes to keep hidden.

[A Prank] and [Severance] were both unique. One altered race—useful in the World Battlefield. The other could cause delicious chaos.

[Backfire] was the weakest link.

She'd considered using it on Rick, but then he'd been enslaved in the Lopez Family estate, so she hadn't bothered.

Now looking again, the skill's wording was frustratingly vague.

What counted as "malicious"? Whose perspective defined it?

Even if it defaulted to her moral compass, the Divine Game was inherently competitive—where was the line between good and evil?

All in all, [Backfire] seemed more like the last-resort tantrum of the powerless: "You'll get what's coming to you!"

As for BS… if she really wanted someone gone, she didn't need tricks like this.