This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

The little seahorse remembered Crab's warning and patted Rita's arm. "So what are your gacha rules? How many Blocks for one pull?"

As soon as the question dropped, players in front and behind turned to listen, curious to see if she could deny a gacha roll.

Rita slowly turned her gaze away from the curious Event Loot Crates and said lazily, "Each player gets only one pull. One complete Divine Relic for one gacha."

Seahorse: "…"

Other eavesdropping players: "…"

The seahorse choked on his words before squeezing out, "That's… not how you play the game."

Perfect trash talk opportunity. Rita mimicked the seahorse's dumbfounded expression, pouting and stammering, "That's… not how you play the game."

She even wobbled her head dramatically as she said it.

Seahorse: …

B8017913 cast a sympathetic glance at the seahorse. That tube-shaped snout of his actually looked like it had inflated a bit. Honestly, he looked less like a seahorse and more like a Peashooter from Plants vs. Zombies.

The Peashooter had started spewing trash talk!

Rita was volleying it right back!

Players and Event Loot Crates nearby were eating it up, trying to learn a few lines for themselves.

The banter only stopped once Rita stepped up to buy her ticket.

Maybe because the game provided players with a ton of resources—or maybe because players could walk away with multiple crafted items—the entry fee for this one was steep. At 500g Blocks per round, it was by far the most expensive game Rita had seen.

She glanced back at the line. Despite their surprise at the price, not a single player left. If anything, the high cost only made them more excited, a sign that this game probably had real value.

Rita used one of her free game coupons.

As she stepped into the waiting zone, the game rules echoed in her mind. They matched almost exactly what she'd heard back in 16th Month Theme Park, with two key differences: five extra penalty tiles, and the crafting time in the specialized space was now only 50 minutes.

Then came the prompt to choose her profession.

Without hesitation, Rita typed in: Capsule Machine Manufacturing.

The screen stalled, stuck on "Searching…" for several long seconds. Just as Rita thought the option would be rejected, it switched to "Confirmed."

…

—Divine & Demonic Group Chat—

"She actually got through?!"

"Confirmed. Can't override it now."

"I thought there was no such profession!"

"Well… technically, there wasn't. But ever since that capsule machine manufacturing course dropped, there is."

"So what now… it feels like she's here just to restock."

"Players never caused this much trouble when they brought toys into games. This one must be different."

"Objectively, the problem's BS-Rita. Not Deceitful Bloom or Drummer."

"It's fine. Deceitful Bloom and Drummer are queued right behind her. Let them teach her a lesson!"

"Isn't that overkill?"

"Overkill? This is divine cleansing of a corrupted battleground. She deserves it!"

"Deceitful Bloom is glorious!"

"Deceitful Bloom is glorious!"

"Deceitful Bloom is glorious!"

Deceitful Bloom nodded silently. Dumb teammates had their moments—at least their chanting game was stronger than Drummer's.

Turning to look at Drummer, the duck-faced god scanned him head to toe and gave a slow shake: "Godly? Not quite."

Drummer: "…"

He quietly opened the divine side chat.

—"Where the hell is my squad?!"

…

Rita had no idea what the crafting rooms for other professions looked like, but the moment she entered, she felt like she'd stepped into a miniature exhibition hall.

The space was a twelve-sided polygon, each side lined with cabinets stuffed full of materials. She appeared at the center, with a massive countdown timer beneath her feet.

A quick scan showed that 90% of the materials were ones she'd seen during her lessons with Deceitful Bloom and Drummer. Some she'd practiced with extensively, others had only been briefly explained before time ran out.

The remaining 10% were totally unfamiliar.

Rita flew to the shelves and grabbed dozens of materials. She didn't store them in her capsule machine right away—instead, she started crafting small items she'd designed during her study sessions.

Gathering materials could wait. First and foremost, she couldn't afford to lose.

Or more precisely, she needed to control her wins and losses. That meant producing a wide enough variety of professional creations to cover any situation.

This game only granted one 24-hour crafting session—just once, at the very beginning. Every time after, she'd only be able to craft if she landed on a blank tile. So everything she'd need had to be built now.

Capsule machines revolved around one central concept: rules.

An enormous, complex concept.

Rita had only scratched the surface. What she did understand came directly from the divine lectures. Anything she hadn't fully grasped yet was memorized and stored, waiting for her to revisit, reflect, and blend into her own theories.

Even with just the basics, that sliver of insight into rules was enough to infuse into her creations.

[Question Capsule]: The first person to touch this capsule—aside from the creator—must answer a question set by the creator. Wrong answer: lose 90% HP. Correct answer: transfer 90% of your mana to the creator, who can store it for later use.

[Shadow Capsule]: Summons a clone of the creator for 2 minutes. The clone shares all attributes and combat instinct but cannot use Divine Talent Skills. It absorbs all damage directed at the creator during its duration.

[Reflection Capsule]: The first person to touch the capsule becomes the damage tank for the creator for the next 10 minutes.

Twenty-four hours wasn't generous, so Rita stuck to the three shortest-craft capsules: one offense, one defense, one hybrid.

She made 67 Question Capsules. The other two she produced a bit over 30 each.

During those 30 star-sea years of study, Rita had created over a hundred original capsule types, most during her time-stopped cram sessions. Only seven ever earned a "Not bad" from Deceitful Bloom and Drummer.

[Question Capsule] was one of them.

With one minute left on the clock, she packed up the capsules and flew to a materials shelf. She grabbed seven unfamiliar resources and started stuffing them into her capsule machine.

But as soon as the first item vanished into the machine, Rita was forcibly ejected from the crafting space.

They were clearly blocking players from looting the system. If a material disappeared fully into inventory, you'd get booted. But if it was used in crafting, and the byproduct still remained in the space, you were safe.

Still…

Rita could feel the key material inside the capsule machine, and her smile grew.

If she could bring it out…

That meant this system could be exploited.