This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 1287: Divine Game: Graveyard of Bones 9

It wasn’t as spectacular as Deceitful Bloom’s matches.

But anyone who made it this far, anyone who reached the final stage, couldn’t be weak.

Deceitful Bloom’s offense and setups flowed seamlessly. Every skill linked into the next. Centered around Flower of Deceit, her combat style was overwhelmingly aggressive, built on control and damage.

Byme was different.

She was slightly weaker in raw output, but her Variational Quicksand followed a defense plus damage route. Her fights weren’t flashy. The pace wasn’t fast.

But facing her was exhausting.

Variational Quicksand could defend, attack, and even drain life. It covered everything. Damage, sustain, durability. None of it was the strongest individually, but she had no weaknesses.

Tingo Roar was already incredibly strong.

Based on Byme’s own data, he ranked second in Starsea. Byme was outside the top eighty.

And yet this match lasted a full hour.

It ended in a draw.

When it was over, Rita and Nivalis looked at Byme very differently.

The image of her standing on top of a wind whale, sleeves rolled up, grinning as she poured black quicksand into its blowhole, refused to leave their minds.

Byme tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled.

"Is there a problem? That’s how you deal with a wind whale."

Rita and Nivalis both looked away at the same time.

"No problem!"

Byme asked, "Did you figure out my divine talent?"

Rita shook her head.

Byme had only used her ability for a few seconds when Tingo Roar unleashed his ultimate. The battlefield had been filled with waves and whale phantoms.

Rita couldn’t see anything clearly.

All she knew was that Byme had survived what should have been a fatal attack.

"Continue," Rita said.

One match after another.

Rita focused entirely on Byme.

From time to time, she glanced at the pocket watch map hanging around Nivalis’s neck.

She was starting to realize how important it was.

When watching memories, time didn’t flow normally. There were slow moments and fast-forward segments. Even though she kept track mentally, discrepancies were inevitable.

A few seconds. Maybe over ten seconds.

Not enough to matter yet.

Because if you knew a god’s burial time, every entry and exit was a recalibration point.

She had been pulled into Byme’s timeline immediately upon entering Graveyard of Bones. All chat channels were offline.

She didn’t know if they would reconnect after leaving.

If they did, communication between players could also help correct timing.

Now the question was whether there would be any clear signal when Byme’s burial window opened.

Or if outsiders had to judge it themselves.

And whether they could leave freely at all.

If not, players could easily get trapped inside a god’s Graveyard of Bones.

Instead of just thinking about it, Rita acted.

Her eyes stayed on the battlefield, but a gold coin appeared in her right hand.

She flipped it into the air. It spun, then landed back in her palm.

Heads.

Truth or Dare, Truth.

If the next person she spoke to told the truth, she would receive a reward.

Rita looked at Byme.

"When your burial point connects to reality, is there any clear signal? Or do players have to track the time themselves? And can I leave freely?"

Byme didn’t look at her. Her gaze remained on the battlefield, where she was currently fighting Deceitful Bloom.

"I’ve been waiting for you to ask that," she said. "I thought you wouldn’t. But not only did you ask, you even used a lie detector."

Rita answered calmly,

"Yes. Because you’re different from Deceitful Bloom and Foolishness. You prefer direct answers over guessing games."

If she was willing to answer, she would.

If not, she wouldn’t compromise.

Byme smiled, clearly pleased.

"I was buried between 10:17:29 PM and 10:22:35 PM.

"You can only leave my Graveyard of Bones during that window.

"If you don’t have a map, you’ll need to track the time yourself.

"To leave, return to the point where you entered and call my name." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

A faint glow flashed across the coin.

A reward appeared.

"One Call: Use this to anonymously send a message to any player, regardless of distance."

The coin vanished between Rita’s fingers. She tucked it away.

On the battlefield, Deceitful Bloom’s vines had taken root.

In an instant, they grew into massive flowering trees.

A gust of wind scattered countless petals into the air. Each one glowed with a clear, pure light under Starsea.

Byme knew how dangerous they were.

She was retreating, visibly pressured.

Deceitful Bloom showed no restraint, even against a fellow Vineborne.

If there was any difference, it was that her expression wasn’t as cold as when facing others.

When the storm of petals swallowed Byme completely, her soul fire flared.

Through the gaps between petals, Rita saw it.

Byme’s Variational Quicksand began to shrink. The vines formed of black sand were reduced by half.

But her condition improved.

Just like in previous matches.

Every time she used her divine talent, her vines decreased, but her stats surged.

Only her health remained unchanged due to the rules of Divine Instruction.

Without that restriction, even her health would likely increase.

By the end of Divine Instruction, her talent had stalled at this stage.

This was her only ability.

Rita asked,

"So your divine talent sacrifices part of your Vine to boost your stats? Is the boost permanent or temporary? And can your Vine recover?"

Byme frowned and corrected her seriously.

"It’s not sacrifice. It’s pruning."

"Fine. Pruning..." Rita didn’t press further on the details. Instead, she asked,

"So your first ability is called Pruning?"

"...Yes."

18:05.

Nearly twenty hours had passed since Rita entered Byme’s Graveyard of Bones.

If she didn’t want to stay another full day, she had four hours left to find the answer.

Byme noticed her checking the time again.

"Isn’t the information about Cat’s Ideal’s creator worth staying one more day?"

"It is," Rita said. "But there’s no point."

She didn’t waste time complaining about Byme’s lack of cooperation.

"Instead, tell me this. Among the people who studied with Deceitful Bloom, is anyone else buried here?

"Once I find Lynx Duke, I can check their memories, see her classes from another angle, then come back and compare notes."

"I don’t know," Byme said quietly. "I died too early. The wills I’ve met here don’t know either."

Her tone dimmed slightly.

"That might be the price of being preserved after death.

"We can’t actively search for answers.

"We can only wander inside limited... sometimes even false... memories."