This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rita stepped back to the center of the glass room and began pulling equipment out of her capsule machine.

Before entering each Divine Game, she still made a habit of preparing gear, but after participating in so many matches, collecting equipment no longer felt as important.

Outside the Divine Game, no one in BlueStar could match her even if she went unarmed. In Lania Kaia, wearing any kind of distinctive gear only made her easier to recognize—she'd rather keep a low profile and avoid its leaders altogether. Inside the Divine Game, though, her inventory slots were always too limited to bring much in anyway.

That was before she had the capsule machine from "Chaotic Blocks." Ever since then, things had changed. She'd already prepared a full set during the "Card Swap" match, and for the 23,662nd Divine Game, she had updated it all over again.

She slipped into leather armor, fastened her cloak, pulled on riding pants and heavy boots, adjusted her gloves, and set her hat in place. Every slot filled, every piece polished and reinforced.

Feeling a stare, she turned her head and saw Wither Monarch sitting motionless in the adjacent glass room, his dark, hollow eyes fixed on her with a heavy, oppressive look.

Rita glanced up while tightening her boots. "What?" she asked flatly.

Wither Monarch shook his head, face cold as ever. His gaze flicked briefly toward the golden rain shimmering faintly around her before he turned back to the air and began tapping his fingers quickly in front of him.

Messaging someone, clearly.

Rita sighed and opened the battlefield chat.

[Lania Kaia Wither Monarch]: BS-Rita practically moved her whole house in here.

[Verdant-Mojie]: I'm next door to you. I saw it too. How is this fair anymore? How do we play if she doesn't get nerfed?

[Lania Kaia Mistblade]: What happened now?

[Marmang Lulumi]: She used that capsule machine to bring in everything she owns.

[Fury Cinnabar]: I heard from Winter Sea's Frenzied Shark that BS-Rita once proposed to a god. Which one? Don't tell me one actually said yes.

[Winter Sea · Frenzied Shark]: We asked her. She said there were too many and didn't know which one we meant.

[Tiger Ear Quex]: Maybe all of them said yes. What a happy little divine family.

[Lania Kaia Wither Monarch]: Hahaha.

Rita glanced from the chat to Wither Monarch again, watching his expressionless, half-dead face. He looked like someone ready to destroy a planet or murder a neighbor for fun—and yet, apparently, he was chatty online.

Just like she would've never guessed that Winter Sea's Frenzied Shark was such a blabbermouth. Every rumor somehow traced back to him.

Before she could curse him out, a glowing screen appeared in the center of the room, projecting this round's rules.

[The 23,662nd Divine Game · Player Relic]

[Game Start Countdown: 00:09:59]

[Game Overview:]

Phase 1 · Relic Creation: Within six hours, collect materials and craft your relic. You must seal at least four skills within it. The relic's rank will depend on its compatibility with you and its craftsmanship, aesthetics, and strength.

Phase 2 · Choose a Proxy: Select your proxy and persuade them to wield your relic to fight on your behalf.

Phase 3 · Relic Battle: Proxies will compete in a battle royale. All proxies share identical stats and attributes; their only difference lies in the relics they wield. Depending on your proxy's performance and ranking, you will receive varying rewards or penalties.

[Game Duration:]

Relic Creation: 6 hours

Proxy Selection: 1 hour

Relic Battle: Until victory is decided

[Special Rule:]

Players cannot use any active skills on one another.

[Difficulty:] Nightmare

Rule 1: ??OXO??EXO101?###

Rule 2: Forbidden to use black-metal materials.

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Rule 6: κΨλρΘΔΨΦηκΨηΔηκΘΔΨΦΩ

Rule 7: Do not enter towns ending with the number 5.

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Rule 9: Forbidden to use green materials.

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Rule 13: The color of your relic must not match your hair color.

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Rule 17: The relic's final model cannot resemble any divine artifact present in this Divine Game.

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Rule 21: You may not stay in any town for longer than 20 minutes.

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Rule 27: Do not speak to any creature with golden hair.

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Rule 31: Do not make any creature laugh.

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Rule 35: When crafting your relic, the number of self-provided materials must not exceed three units.

Rule 36: ¤¤※¤¤※¤※¤¤¤¤¤※

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[Exclusive Rules:]

Rule 1: You may not use theft-type skills against players whose power level is below yours.

Rule 2: You may not kill Divine Game players ranked in the "Fool" tier.

Rule 3: You may not use "Refurbish" on mechanical species.

Rule 4: You may not use time-related skills more than five times per match.

Rule 5: You may not use skills to steal moonlight from the Divine Game battlefield.

[Penalty Clause:]

Each violation of the above rules will result in the automatic return of three items you've stolen within the last three Starsea days to their original owners.

Rita stripped off her cloak again and sat down, thinking through the challenge.

The flood of new global and personal rules was expected—she'd grown strong enough to warrant them. She'd already anticipated the increase. Out of the thirty-six global rules, she could interpret nine herself, and B8017913 had managed to decipher eleven more. That was already better than most.

As a nightmare-tier Divine Game, this would be nothing like the previous "Player" or "Agony" levels. Twenty open rules at the start was a generous warning.

What both irritated and comforted her, though, was that this time there was no direct player combat. Instead, the core mechanic revolved around crafting—the creation of player relics.

That meant this round would test creativity, precision, and strategy rather than brute force. Throwing together random junk and sealing skills inside it wouldn't cut it—not with this many bizarre restrictions.

Still, the deciding factor clearly lay in the third phase.

Proxies.

Was it going to be another round of gods and demons stepping in to "play" with them again?

But there were 150,000 players online for this match—there was no way the gods could split themselves that many times.

Maybe the mechanical species who'd caused all that chaos earlier had been appeased and were finally back on duty?

She voiced her suspicion to B8017913.

The little robot hesitated, its expressionless face somehow showing discomfort. It looked at her several times before she sighed. "...So it's that bad?"

B80234615 replied in its neutral tone, "From now on, any mechanical species can form a contract with a player to temporarily leave the Divine Game. The terms are... restrictive, but still far superior to ordinary pets. This game is meant to foster relationships between mechanicals and players."

Rita stared blankly. "So it's basically a hellish matchmaking event?"

Then she added, "Fine. Can we at least see their ID numbers?"

B8017913, merciless as ever, crushed her small hope. "No. You can't see any identifying information, not even their personality templates."

Rita groaned. "But can they see who we are?"

B80234615 answered, "Yes."

Rita felt an invisible pit opening in front of her. "...I'm about to fall straight into this, aren't I?"

Then, deciding to be blunt, she asked, "Can you recognize L12185511 or Y128 if they show up?"

B80234615 replied, "No. I just received notice that I'm also prohibited from scanning identities. And... there's more."

Rita pinched the bridge of her nose. "Go on. How much worse can it get?"

B80234615 hesitated for a second, then said, "Didn't you, um... bully a mechanical in the amusement park once? I heard it's been looking for you."

Rita looked genuinely offended. "What? I've never bullied a mechanical! I'm not that childish—or that bored!"

B8017913 quietly added, "Empty capsule."

Rita froze.

"...Oh," she muttered. "Right. That one."