This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

As the third round of the game began, the bell of the Month Theme Park rang.

It was 00:00—the first day had officially ended.

Under the menacing gazes of countless high-level players, Rita stepped onto the battlefield once again with her capsule machine on her back.

…

00:27

[Current Defend the Gacha Rankings]

[1. BS-Rita – Roads Invaded: 9]

…

[First place rewards: 9 bonus gacha pulls]

…

[BS-Rita has entered the Global Rankings for Defend the Gacha and retained her best record. Reward upgraded.]

[Congratulations to BS-Rita for obtaining 1/3 of a Premium Gacha Token (Remaining: 0)]

[Congratulations to BS-Rita for entering the Global Leaderboard for Defend the Gacha]

[Rank 1: BS-Rita – Game Rating: 99.8]

…

Rita nearly collapsed onto the ground, completely drained. She'd been on high alert the entire time, not relaxing for even a second. Even while pulling gachas, she made sure every single piece of her body was within the protection range of her capsule machine.

Because even when she was absolutely sure she hadn't stepped outside of it, she still somehow died a few times during the match. And she had no idea how.

Maybe it was time-stop skills. Maybe it was something she'd never even encountered before.

Thankfully, it seemed to have been some kind of item-based ability—limited by cooldowns and not usable infinitely.

Even with a few deaths under her belt, she'd still won.

She didn't even care about the massive play fees deducted from her account. The moment she secured the third piece of the premium gacha token, she immediately pulled out her capsule machine fragment.

The three fan-shaped shards automatically merged together with a soft "click" the second they came into proximity.

After quickly scarfing down some grilled meat, she ran toward the colossal capsule machine looming within the thick mist.

Maybe all the gacha machines were the same, but in her gut, Rita felt that the ones in the high-level zone might offer something better. Even if not, it felt better.

The players who had just finished the Defend the Gacha game hadn't gone far, and others nearby began gathering around. After seeing what BS-Rita got as a reward upgrade, they finally understood why she dared enter the July Theme Park, and even spammed the war chat like a lunatic to fill up the queue faster.

They all wanted to see what this premium gacha machine would produce.

MarmangBanban: "How many of those token pieces exist in total?"

MarmangCrab, who had already gotten the intel from Seahorse hours ago, replied, "Should be nine."

In truth, after learning the info, he hadn't been slacking—he went all out and played several games. But without making it onto the global leaderboard, there was no way to unlock the token reward. He hadn't managed to get a single piece yet.

Surrounded by a sea of players, Rita stepped up to the giant gacha machine. Under everyone's watchful gaze, she slammed her palm down on the two-meter-wide activation button.

The massive capsule machine started churning with deep mechanical rumbles, the translucent orbs inside tumbling violently. Everyone watching went quiet. Even a few event NPCs had stuck around to watch the show.

Seconds later, a pale blue capsule nearly half a meter tall slid down the long chute and landed in the collection tray in front of her.

Rita had planned to sneak it back to the March Theme Park and open it in private. But the moment she touched it, a voice echoed in her mind:

[Please state your wish.]

Rita's breathing slowed—now she was fully awake.

She took a deep breath, and in her mind, rattled off her entire dream in one go:

"A divine skill upgrade, 100 universal fragments, 200 advanced combat lessons, 5000 star fragments, and 100 star-sea years of capsule machine engineering classes."

The capsule, which had still been glowing faintly, seemed to freeze up on the spot. Like it had just blue-screened.

And not just the capsule—the god behind this particular gacha machine was also momentarily speechless.

Each of these premium gacha capsules was connected to a god. While players were encouraged to speak their wish, what they actually received was still determined by the god in question.

Faced with this absurd wishlist, the god directly tossed it into the divine chat.

[X9House]: I told her to speak a wish, not build a fantasy! Can someone go wake her up?!

[Deceitful Bloom]: She asked for a capsule machine engineering course?

[X9House]: You volunteering to teach her?

[Drummer]: I can.

[Deceitful Bloom]: Huh? I thought you didn't even like her. Said she wasted Midnight Exile. Said she was cowardly.

[Drummer]: So what? Liking someone doesn't mean you can't call them out.

[Deceitful Bloom]: …?

[X9House]: Teaching divine crafting might be pushing it.

[Deceitful Bloom]: Premium gachas are meant to be six-star rewards for players. She didn't cheat.

[Foolish]: It's the only premium gacha token that's been successfully completed.

[Captain]: How about this—you give her several options and let her choose.

[X9House]: Huh?

[Captain]: Include the capsule machine course, but only show it for 3 seconds. Cap it at 30 star-sea years. Put it to a vote—if the majority agrees, she can have it.

…

Rita, oblivious to the divine debate, waited nervously, trying to keep a straight face.

Just as nearby players started to wonder if the machine had bugged out, the capsule lit up again.

A series of options appeared before her eyes:

Select Your Reward (119 seconds remaining):

– Divine Skill Upgrade Method + Hints

– 45 Universal Fragments

– 80 Advanced Combat Lessons

– 1000 Star Fragments + 2 Star Tracks

– 30 Star-Sea Year Capsule Machine Engineering Course

She had two full minutes to decide.

But Rita didn't even hesitate—she immediately picked the last option.

X9House was genuinely stunned. If rules allowed, he would've messaged her directly.

She had turned down a divine skill upgrade hint, a custom nine-piece equipment set, a massive boost in combat training, and even rare divine relic upgrades… for a crafting course?

And she didn't even blink.

If Rita had known what he was thinking, she would've told him the answer was simple:

Yes. Absolutely. Nothing compares to it.

If the divine upgrade came with the upgrade itself rather than just the instructions, maybe she would've hesitated. But she believed she'd find the method eventually through the Tree of Gold or another divine reward.

The custom nine-piece gear sets? Sure, tempting—but this game wasn't over. She'd get more chances. She'd grow stronger and gather rare items, just like Verdant Whisper · Windrush and the others.

She had already pulled five universal fragments just from Defend the Gacha. The utility of those rewards didn't compare.

Even the 1000 star fragments + 2 star tracks, while excellent, mostly helped upgrade Wrathful Moon. And while upgrading it would be nice, not doing so didn't prevent her from using it. Plus, the exchange market was opening soon—she'd get her hands on fragments eventually.

But that final option?

A 30 star-sea year capsule machine engineering course?

That was special. Truly once-in-a-lifetime.

She had never seen a crafting course like this—ever. Even the most detailed ones only went so far as brewing or sub-categories within cooking.

But this was direct training in the creation of divine constructs.

Learning how to dismantle and rebuild the gacha machine. From how to make a capsule to the divine rules that rendered it skill-immune, to how reward logic was programmed—everything.

If she hadn't asked for it specifically, she was convinced that even opening a million loot boxes wouldn't have gotten her this.

Knowledge. Knowledge was the rarest reward of them all.

All the other options gave her results.

But knowledge? It represented the unknown. Creativity. Infinite possibility.