This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

However, Rita didn't let her guard down completely. The term "mineral merchant" was very subtle. If players were trading minerals here, did the other party's identity truly qualify as a "mineral merchant" at the moment of the trade? These kinds of ambiguous pitfalls had to be discovered through practice.

But Rita's biggest advantage was that the penalties for violating the rules weren't something she couldn't bear. At least, it was far less risky than "randomly losing an item or artifact from your inventory."

Considering the harshness of the game, it was highly unlikely she could use her Master Thief Dragon skill to bug the system and choose which item she lost.

Moreover, every line in the game rules concealed information. The phrase "too much loss" implied that there was room to maneuver—at least, fair trades could avoid penalties. And the "unfair gain" rule was interesting too—it meant not only did you need to profit, but you had to use deceit or other underhanded methods. She was already forming ideas about this, as she always excelled at deceiving others.
Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

But nothing compared to the most important line—[Friendly Reminder: Beware of Thieves].

The game monument only reminded players to watch out for thieves but didn't forbid stealing. For a seasoned thief like Rita, this was the best news ever.

At present, she had ten various minerals with unclear values. Rita's first task was to find a mineral merchant in the market.

She and Nivalis walked through the crowd. Some of the other races around them carried bundles of minerals on their backs, but most players, like herself, carried nothing. Rita had obtained a master-level sewing pattern, Temporary Pocket, so she didn't need to carry anything for now. Other players probably had their own hidden tricks.

Rita wasn't in a rush to steal from other players. Unlike outside where stolen items would automatically appear in her inventory, without one, the items would appear directly in her hands. She wasn't sure if minerals or other objects would appear in Temporary Pocket this way.

And unlike Kart Coins, which were easily hidden, most minerals were too obvious. She'd need to find a cloak first, at the very least to cover her hands.

Nivalis, watching the players around them, was itching to act but remembered Rita's warning and didn't make a move. She couldn't help but think to herself, We've never stolen items or equipment in the World Battlefield, have we?

Rita answered in her mind, That's not surprising. After all, the World Graveyard has restrictions. The equipment and items that can be brought in must be either special or powerful. They're either bound to the player or held directly in their hands. Our skill is stealing, not robbery. It's hard to get anything like that.

As she spoke, Rita turned on her heel and entered a small shop with a sign depicting minerals.

Unlike the bright daylight-like lights outside in the market, the shop was dimly lit, just a little brighter than the tunnel itself. The store resembled more of a hastily remodeled stone cave than a proper shop. The walls were carved with holes, each displaying different gemstones and minerals.

The space inside was much larger than Rita had imagined, likely expanded with spatial magic.

A number of other players, from various races, were walking around. Each one had a robot following them.

At that moment, a robot about the size of Rita's waist approached. It looked a bit like an old-fashioned BS mailbox, its body entirely metallic. The pincers on its arms rotated every now and then, making a sharp mechanical clicking sound.

[Z8017933 ??? Battery: 82%┃Cunning · Sneaky · Deceptive┃Taboo: Guests stealing from the store┃Weakness: Battery Drain]

Before Rita could speak, the robot addressed her in perfect English, "Hello, guest from the BS planet."

Rita hadn't expected this level of intelligence. She'd only just entered the World Battlefield, and this NPC-like existence was already speaking fluent English...

Suppressing her surprise, Rita said, "I'd like to sell some minerals."

Z8017933: "Please, follow me."

Rita didn't move. Instead, she pointed to another idle robot in the corner. "I don't want you, I want that one."

[B80234615 ??? Battery: 92%┃Honest · Gentle · Enjoys Chatting┃Taboo: Guests stealing from the store┃Weakness: Battery Drain]

Z8017933's screen flickered, but it obediently stepped aside. B80234615 immediately approached.

"Hello, esteemed guest from BS."

Rita followed the robot into a small, enclosed room. The room only had a small table, and the robot suddenly extended, growing several meters tall, so it could stand face-to-face with Rita across the table.

Rita placed a dimly glowing gemstone on the table.

B80234615's screen lit up, quickly displaying the price. "Slightly flawed soft rainbow gemstone, 186 Diamond Coins."

Rita didn't waste time haggling. This was a shop in the trading zone, and while the price might be a little lower than the outside stalls, the risk was far lower. Given the robots' ability to speak English, Rita assumed they were part of Divine Game.

She swiftly pushed the gemstone over to B80234615, who stored it in a compartment. The robot then extended its mechanical hand, dropping a purple diamond the size of a ping-pong ball, a blue diamond the size of a quail egg, and a handful of small white diamonds the size of fingernails.

The currency was clear: 100, 50, and 1. Rita was relieved to see that the glowing diamonds outside weren't currency—so she wasn't missing out on anything.

She placed all the diamonds into her Temporary Pocket. After waiting a few seconds, there was no violation notice.

She wasn't sure if it was a gain or a loss, but it was definitely within the boundaries of fair trade. Rita immediately took out the remaining nine minerals.

In total, she ended up with 2,976 Diamond Coins.

At that moment, the player ranked number one on the leaderboard, Nuclear Flash NightFury, had already earned 30,000 Diamond Coins.

Rita, however, was ranked far outside the top 50,000, while there were fewer than 60,000 players total in this round of Divine Game...

This gave Rita a sense of helplessness, similar to when she played mobile games in the past. She felt like she'd done everything she could—no idle time, no AFK moments—and yet when she checked the leaderboard, the top players seemed to have cheated. Their numbers were unrealistically high, like they had a cheat code running in the background.

Rita asked, "B80234615, do you have time? I'd like to chat. No agenda, just want to make a friend."

B80234615's voice was warm: "Of course, esteemed guest. The price for 10 minutes of conversation is 100 Diamond Coins. The price to become friends is 200 Diamond Coins. If you wish to ask me questions, each question will require a separate discussion."

Rita & Nivalis: ...

So, "enjoying conversation" was just a euphemism for charging for time...