This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 290: [Divine Gift] One-Person Party (SS-Rank)

The moment her skill activated, a 10-minute countdown appeared above both Rita and Miyaas.

Miyaas hesitated. He faltered as though considering retreat.

But Rita did not pause—not for a second.

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Here and now, she would stake everything on this confrontation. Between her and Miyaas, only one could survive!

Victory or death—nothing in between. A cautious person like her couldn’t bear a life of constant anxiety. As long as Miyaas wasn’t dead beyond recovery, she’d never sleep soundly, never eat peacefully. Every day would be miserable.

Miyaas sidestepped the crimson light beams shot at him after Rita crushed another skill crystal. With a raised hand, the seawater surged, coalescing midair into a massive axe.

Now!

Rita drank a [Melting Time], instantly resetting all her skill cooldowns.

In a rapid, commanding voice, she declared:

"All sea demons over level 100 are prohibited from using water-based skills. If a water skill is cast, the user will lose 2% HP per target struck as a cost."

The moment the rule was announced, another countdown appeared above Miyaas:

00:05

5—!

Miyaas wanted to stop, but it was too late. The water axe had already formed and was hurtling downward toward Rita’s head!

4—!

Before Miyaas could disperse the skill or redirect its trajectory, Rita stomped hard with her boots and launched herself upward, rushing straight toward the descending blade.

Midair, her form became blurry, and a thick fog began to spread. It quickly enveloped the entire whale and continued expanding outward. In an instant, the entire area was shrouded in mist.

Standing a hundred meters away, Nivalis raised a paw to brush aside the light fog and heard Rita’s rule loud and clear.

3—!

The warped water blade smashed heavily into the ground, sending waves rippling in every direction.

[Miyaa 113 Lv | HP: 0% | MP: 0%]

The fog began to condense, inch by inch, into Rita’s silhouette. Cracks spread across Miyaas’ sea demon skeleton, spiderwebbing rapidly over every bone.

In mere moments, the pristine white skeleton disintegrated into dust, leaving only a single white hand bone, which clattered onto Rita’s black boots with a dull thud before rolling to the ground.

Her boot lifted, then came down, pinning the bone beneath her heel.

The five-second countdown had ended, but a red timer still ticked above the pile of ashes:

[9:47]

Rita watched quietly, ready to announce a new rule at any moment.

Finally, as the countdown reached [4:47], the rule’s effect dissolved into nothingness.

She had won.

Ding! Ding! Level up!

Ding! Ding! Level up!

Ding! Ding! Level up!

Ding! Ding! Level up!

Ding! Ding! Level up!

She climbed from Level 10 to Level 15 in one go!

Rita spoke softly to Nivalis through their connection:

"No need to activate Aurora Shield anymore."

With her level-ups, her previously depleted 1% HP was fully restored. She opened the leaderboard. The name "Rita" now occupied the top spot—Level 15—while the second-ranked player remained at Level 11.

Nivalis canceled her spell and flew toward Rita, brimming with excitement.

"I leveled up too! Two whole levels!"

She had been close to Level 15 before, and now she’d reached Level 16.

Although Miyaas’ total HP barely exceeded 3%, most of the damage had been inflicted by Rita, making the shared experience gains reasonable.

Rita patted Nivalis’ head.

"Congrats! Can you freeze the water here? It contains some of my blood and Miyaas’ bone dust. I’d rather not leave it lying around."

As for [Soul Catcher], she couldn’t risk putting it directly into her game inventory just yet. She asked Eleanor for another storage box and carefully placed it inside.

While she suspected Miyaas might have used [Soul Catcher] to retain a sliver of his consciousness, suspicion alone wasn’t enough. She needed to confirm whether it still contained any of his contingency plans.

After Nivalis returned [Wrathful Moon], she went to freeze the water.

Finally, Rita had time to open her character screen and examine her fully evolved Divine Gift.

[One-Person Party] (SS Tier)

"A free soul is never trapped by thorns disguised as virtue. We need no thrones nor righteous facades. We are thieves in the shadows. Recognize yourself, and revel without restraint."

Skill 1: I Really Want to Improve Continue your saga on novelbuddy

Activating this skill grants a 30% chance to steal one item or 1% of the target’s money, a 15% chance to steal 1 attribute point, or a 5% chance to steal one of the target’s secrets. Each use costs 10% of the caster’s HP.

(This skill can only succeed ten times per target. We don’t hold grudges that can’t be resolved.)

Skill 2: I Could Just Take It

Betting on the name of the Thief God, this skill allows you to forcibly seize the target’s Divine Gift. This skill can only be used once in a lifetime. (If the target’s Divine Gift is SSS Tier, there is a chance of failure.)

Skill 3: Identity Is What You Make It

Transform your appearance, shape, and scent to mimic any creature or object you’ve seen. (The first transformation requires a piece of the target’s flesh or structure.) Your identity becomes completely undetectable, immune to all tools or skills. Duration: 2 hours. Cooldown: 4 hours.

Skill 4: Refurbish

This skill allows you to disassemble any item, Curio, or piece of equipment into its components. Before the skill ends, you can reassemble the parts to create a new item. The quality of your craftsmanship directly affects the new item’s grade and attributes.

(Duration: 30 minutes. Each use consumes 1 point of Luck, which regenerates after 7 days. No cooldown.)

Skill 5: One-Person Party

When unteamed, you can establish a "party rule." All creatures meeting the rule’s conditions must obey. The number of affected targets, their strength relative to the caster, and the balance between the rule’s conditions and effects influence the duration. (Minimum: 5 seconds. Maximum: 10 minutes.)

(Cost: 20% mana. Cooldown: 2 hours. Multiple rules can coexist. If the caster also meets the conditions, the rule will last for the full 10 minutes.)