This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

In the room, the voice of Octopus Bucket echoed. In the past, it would only respond when Rita requested more time, but now it said, "Not bad, you've officially made the cut."

Rita: ?

So you've been planning to replace me as soon as you found something better? Even after we formed a team, you can still swap me out?

Octopus Bucket: "Do you want more time?"

Rita: "Yes! I want to perfect all 18 dishes into delicacies."

Octopus Bucket: "Alright."

Then, the countdown in the room immediately increased by 900 days, without considering if Rita could handle such an extended period of isolation.

Rita was curious: "Is this competition really that important?"

Octopus Bucket: "I don't like losing."

Rita felt like the octopus wasn't being completely honest, but what could she do? After thanking her "boss," she continued experimenting with the magical dishes.

She didn't know what Octopus Bucket wanted, but she knew she had to make sure she wasn't kicked out of the team. Being able to team up with Octopus Bucket was definitely more beneficial than not.

From time to time, Octopus Bucket would add magical ingredients or food items that Rita hadn't specifically asked for, likely things it had found outside.

Rita accepted everything boldly and tried them, sometimes discarding previous menus without hesitation.

When she said she wanted to perfect 18 dishes, it wasn't just to use the space to appease Octopus Bucket; she had to prove her worth in this team.

Only then could she delay the time when she would be hunted down.

900 days. The only one she could talk to was B80234615.

Sometimes, she felt like she was back at High Tower. Back then, she'd often find a skilled chef among the owlbears, apprentice herself, and spend day after day cooking.

Other times, when she wanted to practice alchemy, she would escape with Nivalis, hide deep in the Forest Sea, and find a quiet place to hide.

But those years, Nivalis was always by her side; now, it was a mechanical race.

Its emotions were quite rich, but Rita knew that 99% of its emotions were simulated.

There were rare moments when it would show a clumsy, confused side, then murmur a few words before falling silent. Rita always felt like that was B80234615's real time—like a phone or computer after the screen goes black, thinking, not working.

B80234615 liked to talk to her, and Rita never stopped it. In fact, she allowed B80234615 to interrupt her at will, even to try and distract her.

After all, the environment when she was cooking outside wouldn't be as quiet and secure as in this space.

The cooking competition would definitely be noisy; with her skill, "Super Chef? Super Chef!", she could disrupt other players for 3 seconds at critical moments. Of course, other players could also do the same.

Cold dishes, hot dishes, soups, desserts, main courses, drinks—Rita didn't know the specific format of the competition, but she made sure to prepare everything as best as she could.

The ingredients Octopus Bucket brought only had TingoJE, but she designed the menu based on a full banquet process, and beyond that, Rita prepared more dishes.

Once she had perfected the 18 dishes into delicacies, she glanced at the time. There were still over 300 days left, so she started designing additional varieties of dishes.

B80234615: "Aren't you going to try making two-star delicacies?"

Rita: "No, one star is my limit. My alchemy isn't strong enough; I need to reach Master level first."

She was confident when she needed to be and rational when it was necessary.

Rita quickly created 3 new dishes, 2 snacks, and 5 quick bites.

However, the snacks and quick bites were for later when they would return to the food street to open the restaurant, and the ingredients weren't from TingoJE.

She couldn't let TingoJE stay at the restaurant permanently. She would be happy, but TingoJE probably wouldn't be.

As the countdown neared its end, Rita felt a bit regretful.

The kitchen in front of her quickly faded. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself back on Octopus Bucket's back, her legs still bound by its tentacles, but Marmang-Crab had been freed and was flying beside them.

They were in an unusually quiet marketplace.

There were stalls on both the ground and in the air, with wide spaces between them. Various strange players and cosmic beings walked around shopping, but there was no sound at all.

Rita, being as cautious as she was, immediately realized that since there was no sound, she too should remain silent. She glanced at Marmang-Crab, who was also looking at her.

She had been in that space for 1200 days, but outside, it had only been 1200 seconds—just 20 minutes.

But Marmang-Crab already had a number of injuries.

Marmang-Crab waved its claw, and Rita immediately understood what the internet-addicted crab meant. She opened the leaderboard and found Marmang-Crab's message.

Marmang·Crab: "Such a shame, why aren't you speaking?"

BS·Rita: "Is there a rule here?"

Marmang·Crab: "Yeah."

BS·Rita: "Willing to share?"

Marmang·Crab: "Not really."

BS·Rita: "Figured it out, I curse you."

Marmang-Crab probably didn't mind her dying a few times, as it could revive her, and it wouldn't affect the cooking competition. Besides, if she died in the marketplace, Octopus Bucket wouldn't take it out on it.

Rita scrolled through the previous chat records, wondering if there had been any new information shared while she was gone.

There were messages about finding people, buying ingredients, arguing, and even buying [Chefs].

It turned out that [Chefs] could indeed be "transferred," but voluntarily leaving a team would result in a death penalty, and the team leader could also suffer a death penalty if they kicked out a [Chef] after forming a team.

However, compared to the initial death penalties, losing the right to participate in the competition and run a restaurant was far worse. So now, the [Chef] market was on fire in the chat channel.

Some newbies were asking about the difference between cosmic beings and players, but none of the big shots were answering.

Rita also wanted to ask, but thankfully, she had a customer service assistant now.

Rita: "What's the difference between cosmic beings and players?"

B80234615: "Players are beings who still have planets and civilizations, while cosmic beings are those whose homelands and civilizations have been destroyed but refuse to join another planet."

B80234615: "For example, after BS was broken by Lania Kaia."

Rita: "Change the analogy, reverse it."

B80234615: "…For example, after Lania Kaia was broken by BS, Lania Kaia's players didn't want to go to BS to live, and they refused to walk the world in BS's name, so they chose to wander in the cosmos."

B80234615: "Only the strong have the courage to leave a planet and wander alone in the universe."

B80234615: "And only true strong players can survive in the long wandering and loneliness of the cosmos."

Let me know if you need further translations or clarifications!