This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Bought it!

Rita had just scored 10,000 pounds of gold from the Lopez family, and she could afford this! More importantly, the **Heart of the Undying** was exactly what she needed. If it could make Rick suffer, then 2,000 gold was nothing!

Just as she was about to pay, she thought about how many alchemy recipes required gold. "Do you take gold?" she asked.

Apachi shook her head. "Don't need it."

Without hesitation, Rita handed over 2,500 gold coins.

This was just who Rita was. Even after reincarnating, some habits were hard to break. When someone treated her well, she would be generous in return. In her past life, she had given half of her earnings to the Wilson family. Even though Rick and Samuel had never been satisfied, others who knew of her actions all thought she was generous—some even called her foolish.

She treated Apachi the same way. It wasn't about trust. In Rita's mind, a master like Apachi, willing to teach her rare knowledge, was an opportunity money couldn't buy. Whatever Apachi charged, Rita paid without thinking to check if it was cheaper in an auction house.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Apachi, in high spirits, accepted the payment. As she handed over the **Word of Redemption**, she also tossed a small, dark gray stone to Rita. Apachi did things on a whim, and when she liked someone, she would gift them something. "Here, take this, too."

Rita hadn't even had the chance to inspect the **Word of Redemption** and **Heart of the Undying** when she caught the stone. It was a dark gray, hamburger-sized disk, about 2 centimeters thick.

**[Alchemy Crust (Curious Item)]:** A failed product created from alchemical waste during a botched alchemy attempt by a master alchemist. Toss it into a fire while cooking for a chance of culinary transformation. The effects are unknown.

Curious items had no specific levels and could produce random effects—good or bad, powerful or weak. But since it was from Apachi, even garbage was premium garbage. Overjoyed, Rita stored it.

After thanking Apachi, she finally took a closer look at the golden potion and heart-shaped gem.

**[Word of Redemption]:** Endows the soul with the power of holy light.

That was the entire description. If not for Apachi's explanation, most people wouldn't understand its value. Many advanced alchemical potions had equally cryptic descriptions, and without proper knowledge, someone could create it and have no idea how to use it.

Rita drank the potion on the spot.

Immediately, a mysterious warmth surged from deep within her soul, spreading through her entire body like a sonic wave before quickly dissipating.

When she opened her character panel, she noticed a small golden shield icon next to her title.

**[Blessing of E'tha]:** You are under the protection of holy light.

Rita chuckled. When others acted cryptic, it was annoying, but when she was the cryptic one? It felt great.

Satisfied, she suddenly remembered Apachi had avoided her question about whether alchemy could enhance a **Divine Gift**. Didn't she say there was no problem alchemy couldn't solve? Ignoring a problem doesn't mean it's solved!

She sighed. Given Apachi's attitude, even if it were possible, the price would likely be too high. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so few S-rank **Divine Gifts** in Lania Kaia. Across the entire Dark City, including the city lord, Rita had only encountered three S-rank gifts, with Apachi's being one of them.

She then examined the black heart-shaped gem, about the size of a baby's fist.

**[Heart of the Undying]:** Embed this into your heart to carve the curse of immortality into your soul. Sacrifice a portion of the divine power granted to you in exchange for immortality. **(Immortality: Your HP will never fall below 1)**.

Several devious ideas flashed through Rita's mind. She smiled and stashed the **Heart of the Undying** away.

From the moment Apachi explained the three options, she had already dismissed the **Word of Redemption** as a choice. The dark deal was also out of the question—what if Aaron used it to recover and seek revenge? Or worse, what if he asked the demon to kill the person who gouged out his eyes? She wasn't about to pay for her own assassination.

No need to overthink it. The cursed gem was the best choice. If Aaron somehow benefited from it and became immortal, she could just consider it compensation for taking his eyes.

What a benevolent saint she was today.

With the most troubling issue resolved, Rita continued browsing the auction house. She briefly considered purchasing something to hide the dungeon portal at her villa, but the prices were steep. The cheapest option was a few hundred gold, which didn't seem worth it. After all, the rooftop dungeon would only be valuable for the next six months before becoming obsolete.

By then, she planned to hand it over to the authorities for some political favor.

In fact, she might turn it over to the Special Affairs Bureau in a couple of months.

She was sick of Samuel and Scarlett constantly visiting her for free meals, though the issue of the cats in her backyard was harder to solve.

Rita then rushed back to the alchemy shop and described something she'd read in fantasy novels—a portable, hidden space. She asked if anything like that existed.

Apachi gave her an odd look, as if sizing her up for fleece. "Yes, a legendary-level engineering creation: a magical house. You can set rules so no one can find it. Want to buy one?"

Rita checked her balance—27,000 gold coins—and confidently asked, "How much?"

Apachi replied, "Takes a legendary engineer two years to make. Last one I saw at auction started at 50,000 gold, buyout at 100,000."

Rita was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Never mind. My current place is fine."

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Apachi squinted at her. "Didn't you learn engineering? Once you're an advanced engineer, you could make a mini version, big enough to live in if you turned into a fat cat."

At first, Rita thought Apachi was joking and played along, but as she returned to the Blue Star, the idea grew on her. If she could make a mini magic house and set rules, like only allowing actual cats to enter, then putting the cat bed inside would solve all her problems!

The real question now was whether the "cat hotel" was worth the investment.

It had been so long, and she hadn't seen any returns on her investment. It was like buying a junk stock—she kept putting in resources without seeing any benefit.

With that thought, Rita decided to take a break from fighting. She cleared out the nearby monsters and exited the dungeon, heading straight to the backyard.

She crawled into the cats' wooden mansion, feeling around near the cat bed. Ever since the bed had transformed, she made it a habit to check on it regularly, but there had never been any changes.

But perhaps because she had just mentally cursed the bed for being a one-way investment, this time, her fingers brushed against something!