This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

No more dice rolls? No problem.

Rita didn't hesitate to throw down a huge stack of Blocks to buy extra rolls.

Winning a duel didn't award Blocks—only landing the finishing blow granted you 10. But buying a single extra dice roll cost 5 Blocks. At this rate, she was burning more than she earned.

But Rita didn't care in the slightest.

Every time she landed on a blank tile and gained crafting time, she'd make a few more Reflection Capsules.

Her plan was simple: use Reflection Capsules for regular players, and save Question Capsules for her two teachers.

How did Deceitful Bloom know BS-Rita was chasing him?

Because her eyes never left him. She was staring so hard it was like she was trying to burn his soul into memory, just in case she mistook him for another loot crate.

Deceitful Bloom turned to the loot crate on his left and sighed, "Was that really necessary?"

"...Did she run into Drummer?" the crate said with a cough.

Deceitful Bloom: ?

A few tiles away, Drummer had just placed a capsule when BS-Rita locked eyes on him like a missile.

It felt awfully familiar.

Ten seconds later, she was blasted back to the start again. Her black-bean eyes flicked rapidly between Drummer and Deceitful Bloom.

Deceitful Bloom: ...

For the next thirty minutes, Deceitful Bloom and Drummer got to experience what it felt like to be Windrush from Verdant Whisper—constantly pursued.

BS-Rita was clearly targeting them.

Since dice rolls were random, whoever moved first didn't necessarily stay ahead. So whenever she caught up, she went for whichever teacher was closer.

She wasn't picky.

Once, she was only four tiles away from Deceitful Bloom but rolled too high. She clutched her head, groaning loudly, "No! I did nothing wrong!" and re-rolled.

This time she got a 1.

It was perfect—defeat the next player, advance three tiles, and she'd land right in front of Deceitful Bloom.

Her burning gaze fixed on him like a heat ray.

Deceitful Bloom: "…"

…

— Divine Demons Group Chat —

"Wait, who was supposed to be punishing who again?"

"Deceitful Bloom and Drummer were going to punish BS-Rita, remember?"

"Then why does it look like they're the ones being punished…"

"So tell me, in that phrase 'A demon descends to purify the battlefield and return the Divine Game to its glory,' is the demon Deceitful Bloom or BS-Rita?"

"Deceitful Bloom~ is~ glorious~"

"Deceitful Bloom~ is~ glorious~"

"Deceitful Bloom~ is~ glorious~"

"Shut it, all of you! Like your precious Drummer is any better!"

"Yeah, cut the bias already!"

"Wait, is Deceitful Bloom… pulling feathers?"

"Oh no. He's getting ready to flee with a dice roll…"

"Uh-oh. He just shielded Drummer in front of him!"

"Crap, Drummer's bolting too!"

"BS-Rita is glorious!"

"BS-Rita is glorious!"

"BS-Rita is glorious!"

…

Rita's jaw nearly dropped when she saw both her teachers also start buying extra dice rolls.

They were trying to run?

Immediately, she burned more Blocks—this time grabbing a chunk of 15th Month Theme Park Blocks from her capsule machine to fund even more rolls.

As Drummer leapt over a loot crate, the crate asked, "Couldn't you just not answer her?"

Drummer: "…Then I'd be sent back to the start."

Hmm. Not a bad tradeoff, actually. If he just accepted it and let her win, he'd get to see her confused little face—definitely a worthy sacrifice.

He stopped running.

Meanwhile, Deceitful Bloom glanced at him, leapt ahead a few more tiles, and finally stopped as well.

Rita couldn't understand the subtle language between the loot crates, but she definitely understood what she was seeing.

Her teachers had stopped running.

When she finally caught up to one of them, she didn't ask a deliberately divisive question. After attending both Deceitful Bloom and Drummer's lectures, she knew they had conflicting interpretations of capsule machine mechanics and design theory.

She avoided all of that.

Even though more than half her lingering questions stemmed from those very contradictions, she had no intention of weaponizing their disagreements against each other.

That would just make both of them hate her.

Instead, Rita proposed a refinement path for the Question Capsule and ended with, "Is this right or wrong? If you stay silent, I'll take it as confirmation that it's right."

Drummer clicked his tongue. Whether he answered correctly or not, BS-Rita could figure it out from his reaction.

He looked at Deceitful Bloom, who was watching the scene unfold with interest, and finally gave her the right answer.

Then he let himself be sent back to the start.

Rita soon caught up to the second teacher.

Deceitful Bloom used a Silence Capsule.

Rita instantly lost her ability to speak and began steadily losing HP. She clutched the capsule, unable to ask her question.

So she quickly DMed B8017913.

From Deceitful Bloom's 7 o'clock, B8017913 shouted, "Here's the question! BS-Rita asks…"

Deceitful Bloom gave the answer, watching Rita get blasted back to start again—off to harass Drummer once more.

He and Drummer exchanged a glance. Neither said it aloud, but both of them had to admit: for all their groaning and running away, this was actually kind of fun.

Especially seeing BS-Rita darting between them like a lost puppy, chasing whichever teacher was closest, unwilling to let either go.

…

Rita spent a full two hours in this game.

She finally left It's Not the Craft That Sucks at 11:21 PM.

Her teachers had both left half an hour earlier. If they'd stayed, she might have stuck around even longer.

She had energy-restoring Buffet Vouchers, so stamina wasn't an issue.

After they were gone, she stopped spending Blocks on extra rolls. She waited for free ones to regenerate or for trailing players to catch up—then used victories to leap ahead.

She hit a few penalty tiles along the way, but she used Stubborn Mule to reroll whenever that happened.

As she exited the game, she finally heard the system chime.

[Congratulations! Player BS-Rita has entered the global leaderboard for It's Not the Craft That Sucks]

[Rank: 3rd | Dice Rolls: 262 | Game Score: 99.3]

[Scoring based on dice count, crafting performance, win rate, Blocks collected, and more]

[Reward: Limited Edition Dice x1]

[Note: If you fall out of the top 10 before the game ends, the reward will be revoked]

[Blocks & Me – March Dice]: Game-exclusive reward. Non-tradable, cannot be dropped or destroyed. No special effects, no stat boosts. (Bound to: BS-Rita)

Rita caught the dice—it was the same size as a medium Block, white with red dots.

Bumper Car, Star Pirate Ship, Ferris Wheel, Capsule, Dice.

That made five limited-edition rewards now.