This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Unfortunately, aside from those two alchemy-related books, the rest of the library's collection was mainly undead history, which Rita had no interest in.

She found the book titled *Every Dragon is a Glorious Epic*—the only book in the library with the word "dragon" in its title.

It provided a detailed introduction to the general characteristics of dragons. They were strong, proud, revered strength, and harbored an intense desire for revenge. Dragons would only submit to those who defeated them one-on-one.

If you could defeat them despite being weaker, beating them head-on in a fair fight, they would not only submit but also offer their loyalty.

Dragons were highly sensitive to emotions, and they had a keen sense of morality. Don't ever try to deceive or toy with a dragon.

Each dragon's *Divine Gift* was at least of the S-rank level, making them the chosen of Lania Kaia. Even if someone managed to sign a stringent pet contract with a dragon, the dragon wouldn't die with its master when the master perished because of its immense life force.

The book also covered dragon blood, scales, skin, horns—each part of a dragon being precious, containing great amounts of magical energy. Masters from nearly every field—alchemy, tailoring, jewelry crafting, engineering, and forging—coveted dragon materials.

Rita couldn't help but think of how Rick had sold even the dragon's blood in her previous life. It was likely that materials like scales, horns, and even the skin—parts that could be harvested without killing the dragon—had been sold too...

At the end of the book, there was a friendly reminder: if you wanted to gain a dragon's friendship, it was best to sign an equal contract with the dragon.

An equal contract?

The main difference between an equal contract and a regular pet contract was that the owner could not harm the pet. If the owner harmed the pet, the contract would backfire. Since Rita had no intention of mistreating the dragon, this was perfect.

Thinking back on the dragon's tragic fate in her past life and how it had helped her, Rita didn't hesitate to message Shadow.Q.

**Rita**: Can you help me buy a top-tier pet contract scroll from Lania Kaia?

**Shadow.Q**: 1999 gold. Are you sure?

**Rita**: Sure.

She transferred the 1999 gold immediately.

**Rita**: You can use my personal dungeon in the mornings for the next five days as a commission.

Less than 10 minutes later, Rita received an email from Shadow.Q with the top-tier pet contract scroll as an attachment.

This was the only scroll Rita knew of that allowed for the signing of an equal contract.

**Rita**: Thanks.

**Shadow.Q**: Pleasure doing business.

Shadow.Q was also pleased with the commission—this was exactly why they liked working with Rita. She was meticulous when necessary, but never stingy when it counted.

**Shadow.Q**: Want to sell something?

**Rita**: A pet contract scroll lets you tame a pet.

After sending that message, Rita counted to three, and sure enough, Shadow.Q responded with a payment for the info—a single copper coin as an attachment.

**Shadow.Q**: Payment sent.

**Rita**: What am I, a beggar?

**Shadow.Q**: You can give it back.

**Rita**: ∠(°ゝ°)

**Shadow.Q**: ⊥(°ゝ°)⊥

Rita was satisfied with that.

Carrying the book, she exited the library and handed it to the butler. In return, she received three high-grade healing potions. Afterward, she accepted the second part of the quest: **Prepare Provisions**.

Her task was to purchase rice, fruits, vegetables, flour, and other cooking supplies from the town's shops.

The shopkeepers were all either frail old undead or children, emphasizing the idea that "humans value their lives, but do undead lives not matter?" However, Rita was long past being swayed by such tactics.

This kind of guilt-tripping had successfully tricked many self-proclaimed peace-loving individuals in her previous life.

Many of these people had been failures on Earth—without resources, power, or influence—but with the backing of otherworldly factions, they obtained things they could never achieve on their own. No one wanted to admit they were traitors or spies, so they adopted the excuse of loving peace and opposing war.

But that had nothing to do with Rita. Let Shadow.Q handle those types. Rita calmly bought the necessary items and returned to complete the quest. Over the next two days, she completed over thirty tasks.

Collecting potion ingredients, delivering letters to various people, training with the dragon-hunting team, sending a message to a neighboring lord for reinforcements, mapping out the volcanic terrain, learning the stories of dragons and the undead... she did it all.

Although there was no experience reward, the rewards were still worthwhile, given that it was a level-15 dungeon. Even the lowest-tier items exceeded the output from level-1 to 5 dungeons.

On the level leaderboard, Rita had dropped to 50th place.

By now, the forum users were used to it—while Rita's solo efficiency was high, she sometimes disappeared for days.

Rick and Zoey assumed Rita was busy gathering materials again.

Samuel and Scarlett were still hoping Rita would help them level up, only to find she had seemingly vanished. They messaged her, asking what was going on.

Rita's reply was direct: "Stuck in a dungeon."

They didn't ask which one, fearing that if they pressed, Rita might ask them to get help from the Lopez family.

They didn't ask, and Rita was glad to be left alone.

Finally, on the morning of the fourth day, Rita completed a total of 58 prerequisite tasks.

When she joined the dragon-hunting party on their way to the volcano, she felt a sense of relief—finally, no more trivial tasks.

However, the rewards were plentiful. She had gathered over 100 potion ingredients, received two pieces of level-15 green gear, a basic healing potion recipe, and earned 2 gold coins.

Rita immediately sold the basic healing potion recipe on the auction house, listing it for 499 gold. It was snapped up almost instantly.

To 99% of players, they didn't know about the beta testing or that they could even travel to Lania Kaia. They were unaware that by missing the beta, they had permanently lost the chance to systematically learn a profession. The value of the healing potion recipe was obvious.

As they reached halfway up the mountain, Rita could already hear faint dragon roars.

After two hours of riding on horseback, the nearly 100-person group reached the foot of the volcano—so she really couldn't understand why she had to buy supplies for this trip. Were they going to starve in two hours?

The group left their horses at the base of the mountain and, led by the undead captain, began their hike up on foot.

Rita stayed at the back of the group, slacking off. This continued until they reached the summit and finally encountered the young dragon.

The 14-level young dragon, when standing upright, was about the size of a small airplane, with strong hind legs and shorter forelimbs. Its wingspan was at least three meters.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Most of its body was covered in pale blue scales, which shimmered like gemstones under the sunlight. Its white belly had silver, ice crystal-like patterns, and in the middle of its forehead, there was a water-drop-shaped white gem.

Majestic, awe-inspiring, noble—and with its chubby belly, it was almost adorable. It looked like a masterpiece of art.

This dragon, it was hers!