This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

After wrapping up the Flood Dragon matter, Rita took advantage of her *Disguise!* skill and paid a visit to Brooks. Lucky for her, Brooks liked working night shifts, and he was still making fries at that hour; otherwise, finding him could've been a hassle.

Rita shelled out a hefty 30-gold fee to buy a single-use of Brooks' skill *We're Not Familiar, but That's Okay.* Since every empty skill stone issued by the Special Affairs Bureau was tracked, any reduction in her monthly submission would lead them to cut her supply in the following month, as they'd recently begun tightening control over the distribution of empty skill stones. However, she still had a stash of empty stones she'd acquired in Lania Kaia, traded for boots, that were yet to be used.

Giving an empty skill stone to Brooks, she walked him through the process and paid the fee, gaining in return a *We're Not Familiar, but That's Okay* skill stone. As long as she didn't interrupt it, this skill would stay active.

This, naturally, was for Rick.

On the morning of September 15, Rita woke early and spent half an hour playing a head-to-head game with Nivalis before heading to the bathroom for a shower, aware of her tight 7 a.m. schedule. She paused as she reached the sink, surprised to find a skill stone lying there.

Picking it up, she inspected it—it was *We're Not Familiar, but That's Okay.*

After using *Walk Through Time and Space,* she immediately understood that her future self had left this stone for her.

Why this particular one?

Rita opened her in-game white backpack. There, at the bottom row of her 37-slot inventory, lay another identical skill stone.

Did something go wrong that she'd need a second one?

By 8 a.m., the team regrouped outside the Flood Dragon dungeon.

For the past few weeks, Zoey had made time daily to sing the *Hope Song* for the Special Affairs Bureau. Her time commitment wasn't actually extensive; the Bureau used a teleportation skill to fetch her, taking her directly backstage with all the prep work done in advance. With a quick wardrobe change into a cloak and mask, she'd sing, and then they'd immediately send her back home. The entire process took about ten minutes, start to finish—truly a five-star service.

After hearing about the setup from Shadow.Q, Rita couldn't help but shudder; if she'd had this back during her star days, she could've worked around the clock!

The Special Affairs Bureau had also managed to gauge the limits of Zoey's skill—an audience of 50,000. Distance was irrelevant as long as they could see Zoey, and thanks to players' enhanced vision, even hundreds of meters posed no issue.

If there were more than 50,000 people, the skill effect would prioritize the 50,000 closest to her.

Player enthusiasm for Bureau missions had reached an all-time high, motivated by the perks of *Hope Song.* As the Bureau had structured it as a reward to raise overall player strength, the contribution points required were fairly affordable.

This reward extended nationwide, meaning players only needed to travel to the provincial capital rather than relocating entirely.

To the 94 players of the Flood Dragon raid team, there was no resentment about working hard only for others to benefit. Though their apparent reward was only 300 Hope Songs, the hidden perks were highly valuable. Once they triggered an attribute boost effect, they could sell their subsequent Hope Song slots, netting at least three gold coins per slot.

Rita, however, had a harder time selling her slots, as the Special Affairs Bureau and Zoey were in a transactional agreement, while her relationship with Zoey was more "friendly." It was akin to Rick and Aaron: they wouldn't sell their slots, and even if they didn't use them, they wouldn't consider selling.

Rita held back from selling her slots, as doing so might look like she was profiting off Zoey's goodwill. On a practical level, Zoey's willingness to offer 300 Hope Songs in exchange for her help with the Flood Dragon was already to Rita's benefit; Zoey was making an effort to cultivate a friendly connection. Otherwise, with so many people at the Lopez family's disposal, Zoey could easily find another ally like Lincoln, someone whose loyalty lay solely with her.

Rita planned to join Zoey for future events, so preserving this connection was more valuable than any immediate profit from selling slots.

Over the past few weeks, nearly 80% of the Flood Dragon raid members had reached level 8, with the remainder mainly consisting of support players. With Hope Song attribute boosts affecting most members, the team's collective strength had noticeably improved.

Even Zoey herself had powered up, replacing almost half her equipment. Ever since she'd used that feather on Mateo, it was as though her luck had returned to its former level, bringing her near-constant good fortune.

Unaware of Zoey's streak of good luck, Rita felt reassured seeing the team's stats and morale. Today's odds of success looked promising.

She'd brought Nivalis along, too. Though she'd found herself wary of allowing Nivalis and the Flood Dragon to meet since the thought of "can Flood Dragons transform into true dragons?" had crossed her mind, there wasn't a real reason for concern. Black Jade's arrival on Blue Star would make Nivalis's existence known to all, and with her superior attributes, level, and innate abilities—plus Rita's own support—there was no question of her needing to avoid Black Jade.

She'd even asked Nivalis about Flood Dragons and the possibility of them transforming, though unfortunately, the dragon was as clueless as a schoolchild.

Once inside the dungeon, Rita had Nivalis fly to a secluded spot far from the Flood Dragon. As they journeyed, she handed Rick and Zoey each a *Another Happy Day* skill stone, saying, "Knowing it's a tough find, I got these from the Bureau myself. Here, one for each of you. Use it whenever you see fit."

Knowing Rick's tendency to blame anyone and everyone when things went awry, she technically shouldn't have handed over these skill stones. However, she'd initially told clients that the adjusted luck value would appear on their status screen—a half-truth, since she could keep it hidden if she wanted. Stay connected with empire

The small deception had served a purpose early on; perceptive customers understood its practicality, reassuring them by showing the luck value. Meanwhile, those insistent on absolute transparency and prone to accusations were typically not her clients.