This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

From 8:00 to 9:00, Rita and Nivalis spent most of the time in the air, engaging in chaotic battles. Occasionally, they would sneak into the food street for a backstab.

The food street was constantly filled with red columns of light shooting up to the sky every few steps. The columns were about the thickness of a can of soda. Often, players would rush to pick up the job position markers. These were most likely players who had started the cooking adventure as black-market residents and hadn't yet joined a restaurant. If they didn't take a position by 9:00, they would be sent to the dark food street.

Or perhaps these were players who had no way of protecting themselves in the black-market zone. The death rate here was high, with players often being knocked out by unknown weapons and group skills. Some decided to take a risk with the surprise egg rather than be killed without any options.

After the position marker appeared, some players would be killed on sight. At first, these players were cooperative—if a player with much lower combat power approached, they would simply open their arms and allow themselves to be killed. After all, being killed would reset their black-market timer.

But soon, a player in the battlefield chat revealed important information.

Winter Sea·Whale Full: "Here's some good news: If you pick up the job position marker but don't join a restaurant, you won't be considered officially hired. You'll still be a black-market player, and even if you die, your black-market time won't reset."

Marmang·Crab: "Are you in the dark food street?"

Winter Sea·Whale Full: "I'm waiting for you all to join me in the dark food street."

This player was clearly just causing trouble for the fun of it.

During this time, Nivalis died twice—mainly from accidentally running into high-level Demon Lords and Overlords. With just one skill from them, Nivalis was immediately wiped out, without any chance of escaping.

Meanwhile, Rita hung on thanks to her Bedtime Tale.

After blindly fighting for a full hour, she had gained quite a bit—five S-level skills, three SS-level skills, and one SSS-level skill.

Nivalis received the same rewards, and this was one of the reasons Rita had wanted her to come out. Every kill meant both Rita and Nivalis received a reward. It was like a buy-one-get-one-free deal—actually, make that a buy-one-get-two deal, considering B80234615.

Two of the kills had even been made by Nivalis herself.

Rita compared the attack, healing, and defense skills, especially the SSS-level skills. She realized that even among the same rating, skills could vary in quality.

She used her own Phoenix Seat and Unchanged Fate as reference points. These skills, which she had unlocked herself, were noticeably stronger than those she had obtained from other players.

The Phoenix Seat was more powerful than the Courage skill she had received from Sakura·Oolong, despite being of the same type of explosive skill.

However, the Phoenix Seat had a much longer cooldown time compared to Courage, and the latter could be used more frequently. Still, in general, players would choose Phoenix Seat over Courage, because the long cooldown could be reduced with various means, while the 5-minute burst damage was incredibly precious.

As Rita accumulated more SSS-level skills, the comparisons continued. The latest one she received was similar to Unchanged Fate—a solidification technique called Old Rules.

Old Rules solidified all current statuses but only for 3 minutes, whereas Unchanged Fate could last 5 minutes. The cooldown for both was the same—3 star-sea days.

She told B80234615 about this and also mentioned the self-created skill Fourfold Spring she had obtained from TingoJE. This was a very powerful healing skill, though she wasn't sure if she had gotten the original version or the modified one.

B80234615: "Gods only grant players divine talents and their corresponding skills. Any other skills, no matter how you acquire them, were originally created by various life forms."

B80234615: "The so-called ratings actually reflect the brilliance and beauty of the soul fire when the player created the skill. The brighter and more beautiful the soul fire, the higher the rating. Within the same rating, the strength of the skill may fluctuate due to the 'temperature' of the soul fire."

Rita, glancing at the leaderboard for the second-round elimination rankings, remembered the words of the white bear: The soul fire determines the lower limit of a living being.

B80234615: "In the eyes of the gods, without soul fire, there's no need for divine talents. They see us as meaningless, unable to create, unable to see the future."

This topic was getting heavy, and Rita wasn't sure how to comfort the suddenly melancholic mechanical race. Fortunately, B80234615 didn't seem to want to continue either. Most of its emotions felt simulated, and Rita couldn't tell if the sadness was coming from the program or a desire.

The second round of eliminations began with the same rules as before. If any employee type had fewer than 8,000 members, 10% of them would be eliminated. Afterward, 810 players would be selected for surprise eggs.

This meant the fewer employees there were, the greater the chance of getting hit by the first type of surprise egg.

As the leaderboard disappeared, Rita knew that the hardest part of the game was coming.

She had become a black-market player around 7:50. She had to find a job position and officially join a restaurant before 9:50.

She had avoided using Fourfold Spring all this time, saving it for this crucial moment.

To be on the safe side, she didn't plan on pushing her limits like those high-level Demon Lords and Overlords. She aimed to secure a position and join by around 9:30.

Rita: "Let's fight for another half hour, and then we'll go get a job."

Nivalis: "Alright."

After the staff optimization, the number of red columns increased.

The food street was filled with red columns, and from time to time, black-market players would pass by the columns or be sent flying into multiple columns.

This was the hardest time in the game, but it was also what Rita had been waiting for.

With Fourfold Spring active, it was time to use I Just Want to Improve So Badly!

As long as she landed two critical hits, she could use I Just Want to Improve So Badly. The number of black-market players in the air was even higher than the employees and customers on the food street. Rita carefully targeted the empty spaces between the red columns, striking each one with precision.

Her critical hit rate was now 71%, so it only took her about 3-4 strikes to steal once.

Rita was grinning brightly as she kept swinging her massive bone club around.

"Eighty!"

"Eighty!"

"Eighty!"

...

"Everyone's going crazy."

"Deceitful Bloom is a monster!"

"Does Celestia know that her tooth was knocked out by BS Rita's bone club?"

"Did you record it?"

"Yes, I did! I'll sell it for a high price when Celestia comes back!"

"So, what does eighty really mean?"

"Do you think these players will realize we're secretly rigging the surprise eggs?"

"We never said we wouldn't rig it."

"Exactly! We never said that, right? The random draws are unaffected by luck, but we didn't say they weren't influenced by us."

"Besides, those lazy players who don't even try to play the game... Why are they hoarding all those high-level skills?"

"Do you think the gods will get mad when they find out?"

"They won't."

"How do you know?"

"Just now, the captain asked for half of the surprise egg spots."