This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 603 - : Plush Toy & The Next Game

Ten centimeters tall—shorter than her phone standing upright.

She lifted her hand to examine the two rings she wore. Like her clothes, both B8017913 and \\[Betrayal] had shrunk and transformed into plush versions.

Flying onto the table, she opened her phone's front camera to inspect her current state.

She had truly become a plush toy, not just a scaled-down version.

Her hair appeared as flat patches atop her head; her eyes were two black bead-like dots. Her nose and mouth merged into a black anchor-shaped line, resembling a rabbit's mouth. Her entire appearance was cartoonish.

A few tiny carrots protruded from her back—these were her wings...

She moved slightly and, to her surprise, the mini carrots enabled her to fly.

Rita's first concern was whether this form made her vulnerable to fire.

She activated a fire-based skill with her right hand and extended her left into the flames. Her health began to decrease incrementally, but she held it there for several seconds before withdrawing.

The plush hand had a layer of fuzz burned off. Using a healing skill, she restored it to its original state.

It seemed that aside from the change in form, everything else remained the same. Fire still hurt, but the transformation didn't make her more susceptible to it.

Rita flew to the backyard, called over a kitten, and placed the collar on its front paw.

After three seconds, the kitten transformed into a plush toy. It could still run, roll, eat, and drink.

She proceeded to turn all 29 cats, 57 cat beds, bowls, and toys in the backyard into plush versions before stopping.

She hadn't yet discovered the limits of the plush collar, but this was sufficient.

With a sense of satisfaction, she reverted herself and the cats to their normal states.

The disappointment she had felt vanished. This toy was as good as any rare artifact!

True, it couldn't control any creature, but it served as a form of disguise without hindering skill usage or combat.

Most importantly, it had no cooldown, no usage limit, and no resource consumption!

Its function was similar to \\[A Big World, A Small Me], but each had its strengths.

\\[A Big World, A Small Me] was suitable for long-range use. In situations like shrinking Miyas, using the plush collar would be risky.

Moreover, the plush collar wasn't limited to self-use; she could use it on Nivalis.

Previously, Nivalis had joked about becoming a plush toy like B8017913 to be carried around by her. Now, that joke could become reality.

The only uncertainty was whether "toys" could be brought into the world battlefield. Currently, no known world tomb allowed players to bring "toys" into the field.

...

Rita spent three days leveling up in dungeons, dedicating an hour each day to progress in Lania Kaia. Time flew by.

She had left Nivalis behind and returned to BS on the 25th. The workshop had begun construction on the 18th. After Nivalis mastered \\[Super Filtration], she immediately returned to BS, arriving just as the workshop was completed.

Amid Nivalis's exclamations and praises, The Old Blacksmith wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel and beamed, "Glad you like it."

Even if she hadn't, he wouldn't have made changes. His rule was always to finalize requirements before construction. Once built, no alterations were allowed.

Rita and Eclipse Vanguard players stood by, just as they had ten days prior to welcome The Old Blacksmith.

Helim shouldered his pack and nodded to Rita, "Pleasure working with you. I'll be off now."

His pack contained three thousand pounds of food and a thousand pounds of fine wine—part of his compensation and gifts for his family.

Rita smiled and nodded, "Thank you for your hard work."

The Old Blacksmith's figure was enveloped in light and soon vanished.

Rita immediately led the Eclipse Vanguard players to the pre-selected site for the alchemy workshop.

"Come on out, The Old Blacksmith!!"

Light flared again. The Old Blacksmith's pack was gone, but the towel around his neck remained.

Familiar surroundings, familiar sky, familiar races, familiar faces...

Helim: "???"

Hadn't he just finished work?

He had only just seen his wife and children and hadn't even had the chance to hug them!

Rita handed over the pre-written requirements to The Old Blacksmith, "I have another alchemy workshop..."

The Old Blacksmith paused, then calmly accepted the reality of overtime. He recovered quickly; this wasn't the first time it had happened. Fortunately, he had already left the food at home.

He reviewed the requirements and glanced at the prepared materials nearby.

These materials were familiar to him, and Rita's demands for the alchemy workshop weren't complex. He calculated and said, "Eight days should suffice."

Leaving professional tasks to professionals, Rita didn't feel The Old Blacksmith was slacking just because this project required less time than the engineering workshop. She readily agreed and delegated the matter to Eclipse Vanguard.

She then patted herself down and left, taking Nivalis to Lania Kaia for further progress.

...

After transforming into a blue-winged owl, Rita donned the \\[Plush Collar], her eggshell antenna hat, and brought along the plush versions of Nivalis and B8017913 to Lania Kaia.

The three plush toys sat on the eaves of a house in Moonlake City, using theft skills on passing players.

Unlike Rita's bead-eyed appearance, Nivalis's plush form had eyes occupying nearly half her face, resembling Stitch—utterly adorable and non-threatening.

B8017913 claimed that the plush form reflected the user's soul and personality, a notion Rita firmly denied.

To test this, she placed the \\[Plush Collar] on B8017913, who transformed into a white robot with a Rubik's Cube head and a red heart outline on its chest.

Its eyes were two horizontal black lines, looking even more defiant than her bead eyes!

The squinty-eyed robot now sat to Rita's right.

Nivalis asked in the group chat: "It's almost the 1st. Are we participating in the Divine Game on the 1st?"

Rita had been pondering this for days.

Both MarmangCrab and B8017913 had mentioned that the previous non-exitable game mode was extremely rare, so logically, it shouldn't occur consecutively.

No matter how challenging the next game was, it couldn't be harder than the chaotic restaurant scenario.

If she could deduce this, so could other players.

Moreover, B8017913 had provided data supporting this conclusion.

Therefore, casual players who timed their participation were likely to join the next game.

However, certain rules in the chaotic restaurant had confirmed B8017913's statement—that the gods had begun punishing players who played passively.

This implied that the next game might be a trap for such players.

Wait for the game after next?

What if the pattern alternated between hard and easy?

Facing the unknown, there was no absolutely safe choice.

Rita shared her decision after days of contemplation: "Let's decide after I reshuffle on the morning of the 31st. If the hand is good, we skip it. If it's bad, we go."