This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

As the next Divine Game drew closer, Rita felt surprisingly calm. But one question lingered in her mind—should she win this round or not?

During the BlueStar War, she had slain three world leaders. Each kill had rewarded her with half of the opponent's World Graveyard pieces. Even if those three weren't the most diligent players, maintaining Divine Game eligibility meant they still had plenty of fragments. Altogether, Rita had gained fifty-two new World Graveyard tiles. Among them, nine happened to belong to the Mahjong set that BlueStar required.

With those nine tiles, she finally had a complete winning hand—a rather special one, too: a luxurious Seven Pairs.

[2-Dot][2-Dot][2-Dot][2-Dot][3-Bamboo][3-Bamboo][8-Bamboo][8-Bamboo][Red Dragon][Red Dragon][7-Character][7-Character][9-Character][9-Character]

She had never won a Mahjong hand before. According to BlueStar and B8017913, completing one would grant her an incredibly rare reward—but at the cost of scattering her collected World Graveyards back across Lania Kaia and BlueStar. They would reappear for other players to discover or purchase through the Honor Shop.

If she played this hand, she would get the reward. But afterward, her remaining tiles would be a jumbled mess:

[3-Character][4-Character][8-Character][1-Bamboo][5-Dot][6-Dot][8-Dot][East Wind][North Wind][White Dragon][White Dragon][Green Dragon]

Plenty of tiles, but chaos nonetheless.

Her current key, built from those tiles, wasn't bad:

[World's Grave Forest · Mist]

World's Grave Forest · Key ★★★ (Required for entering world battlefields)

[Skill 1] Legendary Prologue: Upon entering a world battlefield, you and your pet each unlock two divine-gift skills.

[Skill 2] Roar of War: Upon entering a world battlefield, you and your pet each unlock three SSS-tier skills.

[Skill 3] Fight Another Day: Inside the battlefield, you and your pet can exit the game instantly without any penalty.

[Skill 4] Death Like the Wind: Once per Divine Game, you and your pet can ignore all restrictions and instantly return to the nearest safe zone.

But if she played the Seven Pairs set, it would create a six-star key—[World's Grave Forest · Heroes]—with nine total skills.

Each option came with its pros and cons.

After staring at the tiles for a while, Rita suddenly reached out and pushed them forward. "Win."

If she didn't, she'd regret it forever.

If she messed up in the next Divine Game and lost the wager, even if she died in BlueStar, she knew the one thing she'd regret most would be not winning this hand when she could.

[ Ding — Player BS-Rita has completed a winning hand and earned victory in her exclusive world game. ]

[ The result will be shared with other players in the same exclusive world game. ]

[ Calculating performance... Verifying number of games between wins... Player BS-Rita is a new player... ]

[ Total games played: 6 ]

[ Game Rating: SSS ]

[ Reward Tier Unlocked: SSS ]

[ You may choose one reward from the following ten options. ]

[ Option 1: Three Invasion Sequences. ]

[ Option 2: Location of your origin world's fragment (limited to world-level specificity). ]

[ Option 3: Pet divine-gift skill upgrade (pre-upgrade skill must not exceed SS tier). ]

[ Option 4: Reduce the rule difficulty of the last ten Divine Games by one level. ]

[ Option 5: ... ]

Rita's gaze lingered on the second option for a long time.

It felt as if the final layer of mist had been lifted—one clue after another clicked into place.

BlueStar had been deliberately chosen by Lania Kaia as an invasion target...

And that phrase from BlueStar—"Mistblade and Maple Syrup live every day, every minute, every second, for the rebirth of Snowfield and Forest Sea."

Plus Maple Syrup's obsession in the Card Swap game, when she had revealed a divine relic just to make Rita lose...

The only possible answer was clear.

The fragment of Forest Sea was inside BlueStar.

When Rita asked BlueStar to confirm, its voice carried a mixture of relief and joy.

"Yes, the fragment of Forest Sea is here in BlueStar. I can't reveal world fragment locations on my own. I can only confirm or deny when you've gathered enough clues to reach the conclusion yourself."

Rita nodded slowly. "So you're like B8017913—you can only 'like' my answers when I'm right."

The little cube robot riding on Calico's back looked over its shoulder at her with a pitiful glance.

BlueStar made a stifled, resentful hum of agreement.

Rita asked, "So the fragment won't appear unless BlueStar is destroyed, right?"

"Yes," BlueStar replied. "When BlueStar shatters, the fragment that fell into its world core will resurface."

That answer didn't surprise her. She'd known it the moment she asked.

Everything came down to the gods—guiding, manipulating, even forcing worlds to war against one another.

It was like a game developer merging servers against the players' will. All anyone could do was fight to make sure their world wasn't the one being absorbed.

And lately, the developers had grown desperate. The new invasion sequence rules were proof of that.

Rita felt no anger. No bitterness. She stripped all emotion away, forcing herself to look at it from the outside.

She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Her refined, gentle features turned cold, almost detached.

[ You Are Being Watched. ]

[ You Are Being Watched. ]

[ You Are Being Watched. ]

[ You Are Being Watched. ]

The alerts echoed in her ears, but she ignored them.

Were the gods seeking destruction?

No. Destruction would be far simpler than this.

If their goal was annihilation, why bother granting every living being a divine gift?

Was the Divine Game just a twisted arena for the gods' amusement?

No. Its endlessly unique mechanics, its intricate reward systems—it wasn't just for entertainment. It was cultivation. Refinement.

Even Foolishness and Captain needed to hold council votes to modify the rules. When they descended into the game as event avatars, they were bound by limits. This Divine Game wasn't their playground—it had boundaries even for them.

And Deceitful Bloom's affection, her admiration—they were real. Even if Rita was just one apple among thousands, Deceitful Bloom had still spent time and effort on her.

Then maybe it was time to see things differently.

In BlueStar, under what conditions would a game keep merging its servers?

There were only two reasons.

First, too few players—merging servers kept things active and lively.

Second, the company running the game was collapsing, merging servers to cut operating costs.

Before the invasion, BlueStar's population had already reached its upper limit. Lania Kaia's was even larger, though slightly more spacious due to multiple world fusions. But even that was after countless wars had culled their numbers. Without those wars, there might be so many players that Lania Kaia itself would crumble under the weight.

Eliminate the wrong answer, and only one possibility remained...