This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

After dealing with Aaron, Rita realized she was out of cigarettes and alcohol at home. Instead of returning, she went straight to the mall. On the way, she took out her phone from her game inventory—it wouldn't stop buzzing with messages. Seemed like everyone was trying to contact her.

She glanced at her notifications, even seeing someone offering film resources in exchange for her **[Sparks]** skill book. Rita regretted not setting it to anonymous when listing it earlier. Maybe she was getting overconfident, thinking an F-rank skill book wasn't a big deal…

After some thought, she delisted it and re-listed it at a more "reasonable" price. She set the buyout price to 19 gold, starting at 18 gold.

In **Lania Kaia**, this F-rank skill book would typically sell for 2 to 5 gold at most. After all, it only summoned a small fireball, about as dangerous as a bullet. But for ordinary people? Even a small spark was still magic!

While many had **Divine Gifts**, most Gifts were only useful for self-enhancement, not direct combat. For these people, 19 gold was expensive but still more reasonable than the ridiculous 50-gold price tags slapped on green-tier gear. And in the current market, the cheapest skills were still overpriced. If someone dared to list basic gear for 50 gold, skill books could easily go for double.

After sweeping up the mall's stock of alcohol and cigarettes, she rejected a passerby's request for an autograph. Just then, she received a system notification—her **[Sparks]** skill book had sold.

Grinning, she collected her earnings. This was easy money! She resolved to sell any similar skills she found in the future before people wised up and stopped paying inflated prices. However, she didn't plan to engage in large-scale arbitrage between **Lania Kaia** and Earth.

Even though the auction house allowed for anonymous listings, she couldn't justify it to herself. Selling items she obtained personally? Sure. But profiteering off others' desperation by reselling? It felt like war profiteering, exploiting players' resources in a time of need. It wasn't her style.

If she needed money, she could just raid **Lopez**. That way, she'd get both cash and satisfaction—much more fulfilling.

Carrying the booze and smokes for **Apache**, she returned to **Lania Kaia** for more lessons.

Alchemy involved over 3,000 commonly used materials. In each class, **Apache** would go over about ten of them, explaining processing techniques, properties, and usage. She'd only explain it once, never repeating herself. Fortunately, Rita had a good memory and took meticulous notes, recording every bit of knowledge. Even a casual comment from **Apache** went into her notebook.

This diligence seemed to impress **Apache**.

Although progress was slow, the more Rita learned, the more she realized how far she was from mastering alchemy. Still, she thoroughly enjoyed the process of learning about this foreign world's knowledge, seeing it as a relaxing escape from her revenge and grinding.

For the next few days, Rita followed a structured routine—alchemy lessons in the morning and dungeon runs in the afternoon and evening. Through intense practice, she not only mastered the techniques taught by her coach but also honed the survival skills she had learned during life-and-death situations in her past life.

By now, she could skillfully evade and fight off 30 goblins simultaneously without taking a single hit, relying solely on her movement.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

She was ready to clear this dungeon and tackle the one beneath her downtown apartment. It wasn't arrogance—her stats had grown significantly. The level 3 goblins had been great for leveling up, but they were no longer challenging enough to serve as her personal sparring partners.

On the 28th, Rita received a message from **Shadow.Q**—it was time to settle the profits from her skill crystals.

**[Shadow.Q]:** "We sold quite a few internally. You can choose between receiving contribution points or gold for your cut."

**[Rita]:** "How do the contribution points work?"

**[Shadow.Q]:** "30 skill crystals will earn you 1 contribution point."

That was about what Rita had expected. Based on the previous contribution points **Shadow.Q** had given her, she had calculated that 1 contribution point was worth about 80 to 90 gold. It wasn't much, but the points had their own value beyond money.

**[Rita]:** "What can I buy with contribution points?"

**[Shadow.Q]:** "There are some extremely rare skill crystals that can only be purchased with contribution points."

**[Rita]:** "My crystals aren't rare enough?"

**[Shadow.Q]:** "Think of it like comparing a six-hour hotel room rental to an annual lease."

Rita understood. Some skills must have effects that lasted for years.

**[Rita]:** "Can I see the list of items available with contribution points?"

**[Shadow.Q]:** "When you've accumulated 100 points, I'll personally come over to pitch them to you."

**[Rita]:** "…Fine. I'll take contribution points."

**[Shadow.Q]:** "Check your mail."

While **Another Happy Day** only had a cooldown of 5 hours and 4 minutes, Rita wasn't strict about using it immediately when it became available. On average, she crafted 4 skill crystals per day. Sometimes, if she was diligent, she could make 5 crystals in two days. Other times, her inconsistent schedule made her miss crafting opportunities.

Averaging it out, she produced around 4 per day, meaning she delivered about 45 crystals every two weeks.

She didn't want to break her "average luck" persona, and she needed to keep some for herself—especially for future use against Rick. So, every two weeks, she handed over around 45 crystals, keeping the rest for her own use. This technically wasn't breaking her contract.

When she opened her mail, she saw the reward: two **dragon-shaped coins**, one gold and one silver, and 1.5 contribution points.

**[Rita]:** "By 'internal sales,' you mean you kept all of them for yourself?"

**[Shadow.Q]:** ∠(°ゝ°) "Salute! You're our most valued friend at the Special Affairs Bureau."

**[Rita]:** "You didn't even bother adding 'forever' to your empty words."

**[Shadow.Q]:** ∠(°ゝ°) "Forever salute! You're our most valued friend at the Special Affairs Bureau."

**[Rita]:** "…"

Enjoy new stories from empire

She couldn't help but be amused.

But what amused her even more was that just after receiving the payment from **Shadow.Q**, **Samuel** and **Scarlett** arrived at her place for dinner. As usual, the conversation eventually circled around her dealings with the Special Affairs Bureau.

Scarlett, the gullible one, soon brought up the topic of Rita's earnings, even mentioning the **[Sparks]** skill book she had sold. She questioned why Rita didn't just keep it for family use instead of selling it.

Rita sighed and said, "The healing potions I've been giving you guys? I had to buy the materials for those myself. I need money for equipment and maintaining my connections—everything costs."

Scarlett, although naïve, began to think it was enough. After all, they had received quite a few potions from Rita, and now even with money, potions were hard to come by. But Samuel shifted the topic to her appearance on the leaderboard.

He smiled and added, "You've always been the one I could count on the most. Top 100! Out of billions of players, my daughter's in the top 100! That's impressive! How'd you do it?"

Watching his mana slowly drain as he activated his lie-detecting skill, Rita thought about how she was living with constant surveillance. She responded, "Just grinding dungeons. Isn't Rick doing the same with the Lopez family? The Special Affairs Bureau also controls a lot of dungeons."

Every word she said was the truth. Samuel, however, sensed that she was avoiding more specific details, though he didn't think she was lying. He figured she just didn't want to reveal all the dungeon info.

Samuel, who had once worked with Rick to manipulate her life in the past, wasn't the type to rush things. He knew pushing too hard would only make Rita shut down. If he wanted her to willingly share dungeon information, he needed to play it cool.