This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rita asked Nivalis, "Did you get Fishing Master?"

Nivalis let out a small laugh. "Yep!"

Rita glanced at the other players in the game, noticing that information had appeared above each player's head, much like the energy-saving mode of a pocket watch, but more detailed.

For example, Mistblade's info appeared as:

[Mistblade, Level 15, 76%┃53%┃Rage: Extremely Dangerous┃Taboo: Third Fox Tail┃Weakness: The tip of the Ninth Fox Tail]

Rita watched as Mistblade successfully rear-ended a black kart. After the collision, she didn't stop. Instead, she pushed the other kart into the gas station wall, flooring the accelerator and flipping the kart over, before punching its rear tire to burst it. Finally, she turned her kart around with a smug, graceful smirk and drove off.

Hmm… the Fishing Master skill was pretty accurate.

But what Rita liked more about it was that the skill could reveal a player's taboos and weaknesses. She wasn't sure what the difference between a taboo and a weakness was—did taboos offend someone? Or maybe they made the target rage? She would need to experiment to find out.

This skill could, to some extent, replace her Archer's passive skill "You Are Too Weak" and might even be better.

With "You Are Too Weak", she couldn't see Mistblade's weaknesses, but Fishing Master directly told her what they were. Maybe the third fox tail referred to Mistblade's first tail when she was still a small fox?

Rita wondered how Dun Dun ended up giving her such a useful skill. Did it lack enough S-tier skills to give away, or did it have some skill-exploring items that could replace this divine blessing skill?

...

Nivalis's driving skills were still reliable, and she wasn't greedy. If she could catch up, she did, but she never lingered in fights. Keeping their kart safe was the top priority.

Plus, Rita always made sure to refill the boost fuel at the right moments, so Nivalis never had to worry about running out of fuel at a crucial time.

In order to avoid being in the bottom fifty and dying if she left early, Rita focused on targeting other players' tires. If she could blow one up, she did. She also kept track of how many players were losing their karts.

Other players were pairing up with their pets, with most having the pet attack while the player drove. Of course, there were exceptions like Mistblade, who did everything herself.

Her white hamster pet just stood on the steering wheel, seemingly washing its face, not doing much. It wasn't as useful as Mistblade's tail, which could slap passing players into midair for a 360-degree spin before dropping them.

Meanwhile, Rita once again "accidentally" violated two rules.

Reflecting on her previous rule violations, Rita tried to guess, "I think there's a rule about not being able to boost for more than 10 seconds."

The next second, a rule in the game's instructions lit up and translated into English:

[Rule 10: Boost time cannot exceed 10 seconds.]

While stealing kart coins, Rita muttered to herself, guessing various rules, but there was no reaction.

Nivalis asked, "Do you think it's only useful to make a guess after breaking the rule?"

Rita thought she was right.

Just after she said that, they were rear-ended. Rita immediately spun her car around and fired a shot at the player behind them, but the player dodged by turning their head. However, as she fired, Rita pushed her right palm forward, using a skill—Drunken Dream.

The player in the kart was instantly knocked out drunk. Nivalis quickly turned around and pursued. One rear-end wasn't enough—she kept chasing!

She relentlessly attacked, not only recovering their lost mileage but also making a big profit.

When the opponent regained consciousness after losing more than 10% of their health, Rita's shot had already hit them in the back of the head.

Nivalis rammed the opponent's rear once more, while Rita fired a second shot. Unfortunately, the player was quick on their feet, realizing Rita was a threat, and used an escape skill to flee, leaving behind just their kart.

It could only be said that the players here didn't lack combat awareness. Their skills varied, but when it came to battle, they were decisive.

Without hesitation, Nivalis delivered several more rear-end collisions, completely wrecking the other kart.

Rita glanced at the steering wheel, noticing Nivalis had already stolen 19 kart coins. Adding the 10 kart coins from the rewards, it was enough to leave, but not quite enough.

This round of the game was hard on the karts. They'd definitely need to spend a lot of kart coins on repairs at the next gas station, not to mention the cost of refueling.

It had been 12 minutes since the game started, and their mileage had already exceeded 1500 km.

Rita told Nivalis, "Let's play for 7 more minutes and then leave."

Nivalis headed straight for a black kart that was parked near a body. She slammed into it with a loud clang. Rita genuinely feared their kart might not survive much longer...

But then—!?

Rita suddenly looked toward a nearby vending machine!

She quickly communicated with Nivalis in her mind: "Head to those vending machines, let's try stealing from them!"

Nivalis: !!!

Nivalis: "You're more experienced at this than me!"

Nivalis: "Teach me!"

Rita: "..."

The two of them sneaked their kart behind the vending machines and hid.

A few seconds later, Rita and Nivalis stared at the 2 extra kart coins that appeared on the dashboard. They exchanged a look and silently stared for a few seconds before rolling up their sleeves and starting to steal frantically! Find adventures on My Virtual Library Empire

However, considering the cost of using Essence Points, Nivalis was the main driver. She used "I Just Want to Improve So Badly", while Rita would steal only once since each theft cost 3 Essence Points, which wasn't worth it. Rita was responsible for healing Nivalis.

Unfortunately, they kept stealing kart coins, but they couldn't take the products from the machines—no idea why that was.

A minute later, their kart coins had increased to 37. During this time, other players noticed them and tried to attack or ram their kart, but Nivalis skillfully dodged them. The two of them kept circling around the vending machines.

Just as Rita attempted to steal from one of the vending machines for the tenth time, suddenly, an information window appeared above the machine:

[Vending Machine #17, ???, Waking-up Syndrome·Offended┃Taboo: Don't harm it again after it wakes up┃Weakness: The payment slot]

Rita froze and immediately slammed the accelerator. She shouted, "Exit! Go!"

Nivalis didn't know what had happened, but she unconditionally trusted Rita. Even though they still had three minutes left before their planned exit, she immediately adjusted the car's direction and headed for the exit.

Behind them, the vending machine had started hopping after them.

Rita and Nivalis floored the gas pedal, too scared to release it, but a few seconds later, they both hit the brakes.

The vending machine's attack method turned out to be launching its various products at them! Sometimes it even threw out some kart coins!

Was this a boss? No, this was more like a money-grabbing child!