This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Only after at least half the audience had left did the five of them finally descend from the golden pillar, returning to the windmill lodge that belonged to Moonlight Marsh.

GodDraw77 immediately took Motor and several other apprentices whose conditions were still abnormal and led them away to see Mistake Answer. He had ways to deal with such lingering states in advance.

Rita said goodbye to her friends and went back to her room to review the team match.

She wanted to record everything, whether useful or useless.

The layout of the shops in the port city. The skills of other apprentices. Every scrap of information mattered.

What she couldn't do was practice \\[Sin of Arrogance]. No opponent here. No Lightchaser.

Her shopping cart had gained quite a few new skills—some single-target, some AoE—but the ones she didn't dare use lightly were still the same:

\\[Crime Simulation], two copies of \\[Low-Risk Investment], \\[Click to Jump].

It was a pity Lulumi's \\[Buy One, Get Three] hadn't been cast on her. That skill had potential.

Rita destroyed the second little snowman she had copied with \\[Crime Simulation] and spent, freeing a slot. She could save it for the next match.

Besides that, there was one unexpected surprise in her pack.

It came from Mojie. When he had tried to use \\[Low-Risk Investment] on her, she had countered, and stolen something back.

A strange item, a black feather.

\\[Sorry, I'm in a Hurry] (Curio): Insert this feather into any patch of hair. As long as your hair is thick enough, you gain the ability to fly. While flying, you consume 10 mana per second.

Six hundred mana per minute. Expensive, yes, but for fourth-years, still bearable.

If a situation in the game required flight, apprentices would gladly pay even more.

She had already thought of its future owner: Mistblade or Fat Goose. Both would pay for something like this.

Flying items and skills never sat on shelves long in Moonlight Marsh. They were simply too rare. Mistblade and Fat Goose had been searching for ages. Sometimes they missed the sale, sometimes they lacked what the seller wanted in trade.

The only real question was whether she should sell it now, or after this Divine Game was over.

Fat Goose hadn't used his ultimate, but she was sure he had one hidden.

Both of them were rivals worth watching.

Her instinct told her to wait until the game was over. The price would be lower, but at least she wouldn't be strengthening her opponents during the match.

But Lightchaser's shadow lingered in her mind.

If it were her teacher, she would sell it now.

Because Lightchaser would believe that made the game more fun. She had never shown fear that anyone might surpass her.

Rita lay across her desk, spinning the feather between her fingers.

She couldn't do it.

She had learned so much from Lightchaser, copied so much of her. But when real choices came, her heart still wanted to be cautious.

Compared to Lightchaser, her carefulness looked like pettiness. And it hurt.

She felt like a poor imitation, a moon stealing light from the sun, glowing only in the night for a little while.

Mistblade had joked about telling Lightchaser the truth—that \\[Nebula Bubble] could be used far more than three times. Rita wasn't even worried her teacher would be angry.

Because Lightchaser was too clever. She surely knew already.

She had told her once: instead of wasting effort feigning weakness to lull your enemies, use that time to plan what you'll do when your skill is countered, how you'll strike back.

Lightchaser's words always forced Rita to see her own shadow, to recognize her own cowardice.

She told herself to be like Lightchaser, a blade that never returned to its sheath. But the truth was, unless she had no choice, she would never risk everything.

Swinging with full force, every moment, every time—that was exhausting.

While her thoughts tangled, a knock came at the door. Rita tucked the feather away, stood, and opened it.

GodDraw77?

She wore a long robe of pale gray-white, the same color as Lightchaser's hair. It made Rita's chest tighten, but she hid it, smiling and greeting her teacher politely.

GodDraw77 didn't reply at once. She studied her apprentice for several seconds, then asked, curious, "What are you struggling with?"

Rita opened her mouth to deny it. But when her eyes met GodDraw77's heavy gray gaze, the truth slipped out.

"I was thinking… if one day Lightchaser realizes I'm actually a coward, will she regret taking me as her student?"

The words stunned GodDraw77. For a moment, she looked almost lost. Then she smiled faintly and stepped into the room as if it were her own home. Rita instinctively backed away, but GodDraw77 crossed to the window.

"I said almost the same thing once."

Rita's room was one of the best in the lodge, assigned to her as the previous Divine Game's dual champion. From its window you could see the wide fields of Kimbori, golden flowers scattered like shards of sunlight.

GodDraw77 placed her hands on the sill and leaned forward. She chuckled softly toward some unseen point in the distance, then said, "Seems like it's the same for every race. We envy and romanticize what we don't have.

"I used to envy Lightchaser too. Hard to even find words to describe her, isn't it?

"She's too bright. Bright enough to shine into every dark corner.

"Your caution looks like hesitation. Your restraint looks like fear. She's omnipotent, so you doubt yourself.

"You copy her ways, but you can't escape your own nature.

"You chase her, but you can't cast yourself aside."

She didn't look back. She gazed at the white windmill and the round moon beyond it. The night wind lifted her smooth hair.

Rita had the sense she wasn't really speaking to her at all. But she still answered quietly, "Yes… that's true."

"Don't worry," GodDraw77 said softly. "She never regrets her choices.

"She won't regret taking you as her apprentice. She won't hate you for what you are.

"Before I gained GodDraw77, everyone said I was timid, hesitant. I failed year after year. Even after winning the team match three years in a row, they still said the same.

"Only Lightchaser, again and again, told the world she could never have won without me."

Rita gasped. "That doesn't sound like something she would ever say!"

The remark wasn't funny, but it made GodDraw77 laugh until she had to slap the windowsill to steady herself. When she finally calmed, she turned, her expression firm.

"You think Lightchaser is fearless because even if she errs, she can claw victory back. I won GodDraw77 because even if I was one step slow, I could turn the tide. There's no right or wrong. Winners decide what's true.

"You have what Lightchaser lacks—cunning and patience. And what I lack—boldness and arrogance. That's good. That's very good.

"Don't become another Lightchaser. Remember yourself.

"And if you forget… just call your own name until she comes back."