This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 476 - : Honor · My World

Rita smirked. "Well, I do know Eclipse Vanguard has been a bit tight on funds lately."

The proof was obvious—several of Eclipse Vanguard's top accountants hadn't made it into the wealth leaderboard's top ten in a while.

Shadow.Q's eyes sparkled. She immediately grabbed Rita's hand. "You! Don't tell me you're going to—"

Rita smiled, patting the back of Shadow.Q's hand with a motherly expression. "One special mahjong tile, and I'll convert five slots for you. Plus, I'll throw in three—"

Before she could finish the word "mines," one of the players examining the loot suddenly gasped, "Holy shit! My skill prompt says this stuff has a chance of helping a player's profession breakthrough from Legendary to Epic!"

Shadow.Q's facial expression twisted into something inhuman. She hated herself for not silencing these two players before entering the room.

Meanwhile, Rita's face also contorted—but out of pure shock.

She dug through her pockets and fished out three of the smallest diamonds she had, carefully placing them into Shadow.Q's hand. "Here. Three diamonds. On the house."

Shadow.Q: "...You were about to say mine, weren't you?"

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Rita: "Nope. Absolutely not."

Shadow.Q had given up. She dragged the two players over and interrogated them properly.

The two weren't particularly wary—perhaps because they saw no need to be.

To them, Rita was the pride and future of BS, someone who had always shared her advantages with the players. Given her close relationship with Eclipse Vanguard, they simply assumed she had found valuable resources and was generously offering them to the organization.

So when they discovered the hidden value of the mine, they blurted it out without a second thought.

The bespectacled woman explained, "My Divine Gift skill told me that these could be used as high-end profession materials. They work for jewelcrafting, engineering, alchemy—even sewing. If processed into pigments, they can inspire master craftsmen, increasing their chances of a breakthrough."

Rita already knew this much. After all, once a profession reached the highest tiers, further progress relied on inspiration rather than experience accumulation.

She bit her lip, desperately trying to suppress the laughter bubbling up inside her. With great effort, she kept a solemn expression and gave Shadow.Q a firm pat on the shoulder. "Good stuff, huh?"

Shadow.Q: "..."

Shadow.Q used [Mental Fortitude]. It failed.

She still tried to struggle. "It's just a chance, though… Doesn't mean it's worth that much…"

The male player with a buzz cut chimed in eagerly, "No, the chances are really high! There's a 60% probability of triggering inspiration during crafting, and a 20% chance for full-on enlightenment! This stuff is god-tier!"

[Mental Fortitude] Failed Again.

Shadow.Q turned to Rita, utterly defeated. "Have some mercy."

Rita smiled. "One special mahjong tile. Five mines."

Shadow.Q: "..."

This was daylight robbery.

But much like when Shadow.Q initially offered 666 gold for the conversion, Rita's price wasn't entirely serious—it was the starting point of negotiations.

After a bit of haggling, they settled the deal.

In the end, Rita exchanged 60 mines for three special mahjong tiles.

As she examined the tiles—[West Wind], [White Dragon], and [1-Bamboo]—she couldn't help but complain, "Damn, what a garbage hand."

[West Wind] unlocked a skill. [White Dragon] unlocked an accessory or inventory slot. [1-Bamboo] allowed her to bring an extra teammate.

All valuable in their own right, but… completely useless for the current hand she was building.

Still, it wasn't a total loss. She'd gained 30,000 more Honor Points, bringing her total up to 612,051.

Shadow.Q had also noticed this. What Rita didn't know was that Eclipse Vanguard's willingness to give up three special mahjong tiles so easily had a lot to do with her massive honor point increase.

They had been monitoring her honor closely, waiting to see if her actions would trigger another BS-wide buff like last time.

Even though no new attributes had been granted yet, they knew Rita must have done something significant to benefit BS.

After finalizing the transaction, Rita stayed for dinner with Shadow.Q and the two players before finally handling the conversion requests for five more players.

She could've just stored the [Shatter & Reconstruct] skill in a crystal and let Eclipse Vanguard handle the conversions. But she preferred to do it herself—drinking Melted Time potions as needed—rather than entrusting it to someone else.

Once everything was done, Rita finally had some peace and quiet.

Though world battlegrounds were exhausting, each game brought her something new and valuable.

But one question had been gnawing at her mind.

Back home, she finally asked B80234615, "Why do I get honor points for picking up World Graveyards?"

At first, she thought it was simply because she had killed non-human players—that would make sense. Defending BS's honor should naturally come with rewards.

But the 47 World Graveyards she looted had belonged to players who died by suicide.

And when she fed some of them to B80234615 for energy, she lost 20,000 honor points.

Clearly, she was missing something.

B80234615 explained, "World Graveyards increase honor points because they don't just represent BS's honor. They also contribute to BS's evolution. When you used them for me, they didn't benefit BS directly, nor were they used to enter a battleground—so the honor was invalidated."

Rita frowned. "They increase BS's evolution? Like the rewards for winning Divine Games?"

"Yes."

"But the item description only says they can be used as entry passes."

"There's an item in the Honor Store called [My World]."

Rita opened the Honor Store and quickly found it—a strange little object that looked like a piggy bank.

[My World] (Relic)

Deposit proof of your honor. Accumulate strength for your world's future retaliation.

(Price: 100,000 Honor Points.)

The description was as vague as it was expensive. She had glanced at it before but dismissed it immediately.

B80234615 elaborated, "World Graveyards are more than just proof of a player's world. They contain traces of that world's power. When you deposit them, the system extracts a fragment of their world's energy and gifts it to BS.

"This is a war of worlds. Even the weakest fragments, when accumulated, can change the fate of a planet."

Rita narrowed her eyes. "And what do I get out of it?"

B80234615 went silent for a few seconds.

Then it gave her an answer in the form of a fact.

"This… is your world."

Rita leaned back in her chair. "When you were lying in the Abandoned Zone junk heap, what were you thinking? Was your program simulating pride and fulfillment? Or was it loneliness and regret?"

For a moment, the mechanical glow of B80234615 flickered—like a broken signal.

"This isn't the same. You're twisting the question. You're just giving up some World Graveyards."

"Exactly. That's why I didn't outright refuse. I asked what I would gain."

"…You and I don't think the same way."

Rita smiled faintly. "Then do you still want to ignite your Soul Fire?"

"I do."

The mechanical cube pulsed softly. "I can't calculate what you're thinking right now. But I've started to wonder."