This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 1264: Whose Afternoon Tea

Rita and the others only delivered the plan; they didn’t interfere with what came next.

During the waiting period, Rita and Maple Syrup took full advantage of the time to discuss cookie production and potential improvements.

Rita had initially assumed it was a skill—SSS rank, maybe even a Divine skill.

After all, as Lightchaser had mentioned before, sometimes beings could create abilities that couldn’t be replicated.

But the reality was far more intricate than she had imagined.

The skill had started as a simple B-rank ability called Little Bear Cookie. Maple Syrup had discovered it while baking cookies to commemorate her daughter. The cookie’s design was naturally the little bear Maple Burn had doodled absentmindedly.

Whenever Maple Syrup had leftover fragments from modifying other skills with Divine Game rewards, she would throw them at this skill. Even if the modifications failed, it didn’t matter. What amazed her most was that no matter how minor or low-level the modification, it always succeeded.

Over time, this originally B-level skill steadily rose to SS rank and beyond, until Maple Syrup first used Autumn Deer to make a Little Bear Cookie.

From that moment, the skill permanently carried the suffix [Maple Syrup]. No subsequent Divine Game reward could alter it.

Golden lightning formed words in the air:

Whose Afternoon Tea (Maple Syrup): "Mother, the little bear is my afternoon tea. Whose afternoon tea will we become?"

The Pain Oven skill allowed a player to defeat a target and turn them into a cookie item. The player could set one rule for the cookie. The cookie would retain part of the target’s strength, depending on the baker’s skill. Baking skill not only affected the cookie’s power but could also provide special enhancements or restrictions. Beings turned into cookies could not revert. Baking required a five-minute interval to let the Pain Oven cool. (The mood of the cookies could unpredictably affect the skill.)

Rita read the skill description and exclaimed, "So I don’t even have to intervene for the cookies to remain free from other players’ control!"

Maple Syrup didn’t deny it, but instead asked, "What was your original plan for solving that?"

Rita replied, "Divine talent. You can modify a trait of a certain being or item."

After she said this, not only did Maple Syrup fall silent, but the entire underwater chamber grew quiet. Mistblade, Smoke Tune, Crab, and the leaders of Nuclear Flash and Marmang all turned to look at her.

Rita chose not to explain her Divine talent’s limitations and kept silent.

After a long night of sitting alone, deciding her path, she had grasped a new ability—Setting.

As she had said, this ability allowed her to directly modify a trait of a certain type of being. Permanent modifications would occupy part of her soul fire indefinitely, similar to how she saved backup timelines.

It might not consume as much as a full 10 points like a "save," but for someone with a maximum of 100 soul fire, even one or two points represented a meaningful limitation.

Mistblade asked, "So you were planning to permanently consume soul fire to make the cookies untouchable by other beings?"

Rita remained silent. But anyone who had activated a Divine talent would understand the limits of such abilities.

Seeing the others with their Divine talents showing no surprise, Rita stopped resisting and explained her compromise solution.

"I’ll announce that I will occasionally modify this setting throughout the day. Each adjustment won’t last a fixed amount of time. If you don’t want the cookies to retaliate, don’t manipulate them carelessly."

Maple Syrup: "...That could work."

Rita tried to bring the conversation back. "Earlier, you said baking cookies is faster with help. How exactly does that work?"

Maple Syrup tugged at the corner of her mouth. "They just surrender and step into my oven themselves."

Half an hour later, Maple Syrup and her team arrived at the battlefield.

Rita’s first thought stepping into it: even the ocean floor could turn into a hellscape.

The lines of beings on each side—Marmang and Nuclear Flash—were sharply defined, separated by a line invisible to outsiders.

Both sides contained an incredible variety of species, clearly seasoned by countless battles. On Nuclear Flash’s side, only around twenty percent were Speechfruit; the rest were alien species previously defeated by Nuclear Flash.

And this was only one battlefield.

NightFury and Guava urged, "Hurry up."

Marmang responded with a melody unfamiliar to Rita, Mistblade, and the others. Almost half of their beings emerged, performing a synchronized surrender to Maple Syrup.

Maple Syrup, who disliked unnecessary words, moved quickly.

Spreading her arms, her wings transformed into streams of fire, circling a section of the battlefield. Each feather became a flame, flying around the beings within a limited area.

The area she covered wasn’t enormous—no more than 100,000 beings—which was Maple Syrup’s upper limit.

But Nuclear Flash would only allow a single day.

NightFury stood beside Rita, not forcing her gaze as before when asking about Divine talent words. She said, calmly, "Nuclear Flash only has one world skill. It’s not enough."

"If I pull you into Lania Kaia, sharing world skills with BS and Dawn?"

"I want to believe you, BS Rita," NightFury said, her voice firm and cold. "But Speechfruit’s hope cannot rest on other beings. Acquiring two world skills before going to Lania Kaia is far better—for you, and for Nuclear Flash."

She wouldn’t blindly trust BS Rita based on a small personal understanding, leaving Nuclear Flash and the future of Speechfruit in the hands of an alien.

She didn’t care if BS Rita was upset about Nuclear Flash destroying Marmang. Leaders didn’t waste energy on emotions.

As long as Nuclear Flash gained two world skills, joining BS Rita at Lania Kaia to share them wasn’t difficult—BS Rita would welcome it.

Nuclear Flash was already willing to wait a day for Marmang for the sake of BS Rita’s plan. That was the maximum concession NightFury could offer for future cooperation.

Nuclear Flash NightFury wasn’t just a resilient warrior; she was an excellent, mature leader, capable of thinking beyond immediate battles, balancing strategy, alliances, and the future of her people.