This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

On the morning of April 25th, Rita, now a little orange-and-white cat, jumped onto the back of Shadow.Q's motorcycle, with a small hamster perched on her head.

Once she was settled, Rita stretched out her paw, which was holding an iced Americano.

Shadow.Q didn't hesitate: "What if you turn back into your original form once we're inside?"

Rita mewed, "Let's try it. If I change back, I'll just deal with it. If the media blows it out of proportion, you'll just have to help explain it."

She was the leader of BS Star now, and her influence was nearly global. Every little move she made could spark chaos. If news of her traveling to another world got exaggerated or misunderstood, it could shake player confidence.

No one in Eclipse Vanguard knew she planned to use the dungeon portal to enter the other world. Shadow.Q would even use her invisibility skill to keep Rita hidden until they reached the destination.

Shadow.Q revved the motorcycle and sped toward the location, which wasn't far, so they didn't need to use a teleportation array. "Got any intel to sell?"

Rita thought for a moment but couldn't think of anything. However, she had a request in mind: "If you can find the languages of all races and sell them to me—every one of them—I'll trade you five bottles of [This Skill I Don't Like II]."

"All races? You mean the people in the coliseum?" Shadow.Q asked.

"Yep."

"So, you're playing Mahjong with them on behalf of BS?"

"We're not playing Mahjong," Rita corrected. "We're playing Flying Chess, Jumping Chess, and Blind Man's Bluff."

"…Well, that sounds exhausting."

"It's not hard at all. I'm a peace ambassador."

Shadow.Q couldn't take it anymore and pushed the motorcycle to full speed, trying to shake the cat off the back.

Nivalis, hanging on tightly to Rita, shouted, "Do you think it's fun to make her angry?!"

Rita, her fur whipping in the wind, clung to Shadow.Q's leather armor and mewed loudly, "Totally fun!"

…

By the time they reached their destination, both the cat and the hamster were completely windblown, their fur flattened. They glared at Shadow.Q, who offered them a fake smile before using her skill to make them both invisible.

After locking the motorcycle, they walked a bit farther and saw a dungeon portal, with 15 players already waiting.

This was a level 3 dungeon portal, and a level 15 boss would appear in the coliseum. With Shadow.Q, a level 14 player, there to support, it was an easy victory.

The players greeted Shadow.Q respectfully, and she responded politely before taking out the Radiant Offering to activate the coliseum. The portal's purple hue shifted to red.

The players entered one by one, and Shadow.Q was the last to step through. As she walked, she felt something heavy settle on her shoulders, and her face was soon bombarded with a shower of fur.

Once in the coliseum, Rita and Nivalis hopped off Shadow.Q's shoulders. Shadow.Q sighed, feeling discarded, as she looked around at the dungeon.

After a few moments, she noticed a large ripple form beneath a massive portal that divided the coliseum in two.

Eclipse Vanguard had never discussed whether they should send someone to explore the other world through the coliseum. Lania Kaia was already risky enough; they had just started to uncover its resources and knowledge. No need to rush into exploring new worlds.

Seconds later, another portal on the other side began to expand, and a massive surge of seawater flooded into the coliseum. A gigantic shark emerged from the portal.

"Well, this invisibility skill has a drawback," Shadow.Q thought as she saw a cat struggling to swim against the current in the distance.

Soon, the water covered the coliseum, submerging everything.

Rita and Nivalis slipped through the portal, and once they confirmed there were no other players nearby, Rita transformed back into her original form, perched on Nivalis' back, who began swimming through the underwater world.

Nivalis asked, "Is this the Winter Sea or the Marmang-Crab world?"

Rita checked the map, "It says Marmang."

To be sure, Rita used a disguise skill to transform into a Marmang-Crab, though she made it smaller, about the size of a small cat or dog. Nivalis transformed into a killer whale, carrying Rita on her back as they swam through the waters.

As soon as they entered the Marmang world, the calendar and map time shifted accordingly.

Rita, aware that her Divine Game player status had a countdown, wasn't too concerned. She knew the approximate time for Blue Star's next 1st of the month. If she got close, she could always message Shadow.Q for confirmation.

Wait, theoretically, she could activate her key now and submit her ticket early to secure her spot for the next game, right? Divine Game encouraged players to participate, so it shouldn't block them with unnecessary procedures.

After some hesitation, Rita decided to wait a few more days before testing it out. If anything unexpected happened, the loss would be small.

Rita looked at Nivalis and said, "Let's go. The nearest city is southeast. We'll start by earning some money and get ourselves a translator."

Nivalis, with a concerned look, asked, "Are we breaking the law here? Are we intergalactic criminals?"

Rita shrugged, "If we don't get caught, then no."

The underwater world here was vastly different from Lania Kaia's. Giant sea plants as tall as mountains dotted the landscape, their massive leaves glowing brightly, lighting up the surrounding waters.

On their way to the nearest city, they encountered several Marmang players, from whom they stole some Marmang coins—small white shells the size of a fingernail. It was a single unit, unlike the multi-denomination coins in Lania Kaia and BS. They weren't sure how valuable they were, but it didn't matter; the goal was to steal whatever they could.

Over the next few days, Rita and Nivalis thrived in the Marmang world. Using the Crab Language and their thieving skills, they gathered plenty of resources. Attribute points were not an issue—they'd already maxed out many of their stats in Lania Kaia—and now they were just making steady progress. Rita's three main attributes had surpassed 280, excluding agility.

They also acquired lots of gear, items, and sea shells, which they planned to resell to Eclipse Vanguard for research. Eclipse Vanguard had shown a strong interest in rare items.

As Nivalis put it, "I wasted half my life before this. Now this is how a dragon should live."

Rita, who had grown tired of saying it, muttered under her breath, "…Don't tell Holy Cup."

Nivalis responded with a familiar sigh, "I get it. Just live well."

On the 30th, they managed to get their hands on the most advanced transportation in the Marmang world—mechanical seahorses. When not in use, they could shrink to keychain size and be carried around. They still needed some time to figure out how to use them, but once they did, it would make travel much easier.

Rita, too impatient to wait until she returned to BS, decided to bypass the usual method of selling through Eclipse Vanguard. Since communication could still happen across worlds, she sent a message to Shadow.Q directly.

[Rita]: I'm on another planet. Want me to buy something for you?