This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

After pacifying Nivalis, Rita contacted Shadow.Q.

She had finally succeeded in creating a low-cost version of [Melting Time]. Though it used completely different herbs, the ingredients were largely analogous, and many steps had been simplified. The final product was a basic potion, but for the current Blue Star players, it was more than sufficient.

[Rita]:

[Time is Like Dough—Stretch It, and There's Always More]:

Reduces the cooldown of all player skills by 30 minutes. Cooldown: 10 minutes.
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[Shadow.Q]:

"My lady, name your price! How much for a bottle?"

[Rita]:

"This formula is my own creation. I'm willing to sell the recipe to you directly, but it's a bit complex. While it's just a basic potion, three steps can't be automated and require an alchemist's hands. The herb costs average around 50 silver coins, but you can gather them from low-level dungeons under level 10."

[Shadow.Q]:

"Our offer: we'll waive the 1,200 gold coins you owe for buying [A Big World, A Small Me]. For each bottle Special Affairs Bureau produces for its own use, we'll pay you 1 copper coin. If we sell the potion, you'll receive 5% of the profits. This is the Special Affairs Bureau's show of goodwill. Deal?"

[Rita]:

"Deal."

The Special Affairs Bureau, having become familiar with Rita's personality, didn't lowball her. Perhaps they'd been coached, or perhaps they'd learned that generosity earned Rita's favor. She wouldn't say it outright, but she'd always repay such goodwill with valuable offerings in the future.

Rita appreciated the terms. Most importantly, Shadow.Q distinguished between SAB's self-use and sales revenue.

If the SAB used the potion internally to maintain stability, Rita was fine with receiving a smaller cut. But if they sold it for profit, she'd be uncomfortable, even if the profits ultimately went toward SAB development. Shadow.Q's dual-tiered terms resolved this perfectly.

Even the 1 copper coin per bottle seemed negligible—but for a resource-rich organization like SAB, it was akin to a money-printing machine.

While this potion wouldn't see the same demand as basic healing potions, the high-level dungeons currently being cleared required massive amounts of cooldown reduction potions. Important players would likely carry at least three bottles each.

If the SAB produced 10,000 bottles, Rita would earn 1 gold coin. And how many players were there in the US?

Rita pulled out her phone's calculator and began dreaming.

Less than an hour later, Shadow.Q arrived via teleportation, canceled Rita's debt, and signed a game contract with her, complete with the Special Affairs Bureau's official seal. Per Rita's request, the contract included a clause stipulating her monthly share would be sent directly to her mailbox.

After signing, Rita followed Shadow.Q to the SAB's alchemy division, where 200 intermediate alchemists were waiting for her lecture.

Rita wasted no time on introductions. She walked straight to the podium, quickly wrote down the recipe, and began explaining the preparation of each herb step by step. She shared every detail of [Time is Like Dough—Stretch It, and There's Always More], answering questions for half an hour before leaving.

Making money wasn't easy. For the next few weeks, she would teach alchemists for an hour each day. Intermediate alchemists from across the country would attend until at least 500 of them could successfully brew the potion. Only then would the deal be complete.

Whether influenced by Lucia or not, Rita found herself answering unrelated questions too. Many were common bottlenecks for intermediate alchemists, and Rita did her best to help.

When Shadow.Q escorted her out, they handed her a large bundle of arrows crafted by the SAB.

As someone who frequently used arrows, Rita immediately recognized their quality. The bundle contained roughly 1,000 arrows. She inspected one and found that its arrowhead was far superior to the 1-silver-per-quiver arrows sold in Lania Kaia's weapon shops. In fact, each arrow was white-tier gear.

[Sharp Arrow] (Common):

Attack +1

Rita accepted the arrows without hesitation. After returning home with Nivalis, she left the little dragon at home and headed out alone.

Having cleared her urgent tasks, it was time to learn mahjong. Otherwise, holding those tiles would leave her utterly clueless.

Though the chaos from late September had been quelled by the SAB's firm response, and the founding of [Eclipse Vanguard] on October 1st had suppressed much dissent, the incident still left ripples. Many people poured their life savings into the game—buying gear, renting private dungeons, or hiring power-leveling services.

As a result, the entertainment industry had grown quiet, while martial arts gyms, fitness centers, and weapon shops thrived.

Rita searched for a long time before finding an entertainment lounge. Upon entering, she realized it seemed to be run by [The Nameless Ones]—a group she remembered from news reports about Black Jade's killing sprees in her past life.

When she asked to learn mahjong, the proprietress led her to a table with three players already seated.

"If you want to learn, they're the only ones here at this time willing to teach you," the proprietress explained. "Oh, and no gambling here."

Rita removed her mask and sunglasses as a courtesy. Before she could offer to pay for lessons, two of the players—both older women—eagerly pulled her into a seat and began explaining the rules while shuffling the tiles.

"To win, you usually need 14 tiles. You need a pair of identical tiles, and the remaining 12 tiles should form four sets of three. Each set can be either three identical tiles or a sequence…"

They explained terms like kong, flower kong, and pure color (qingyise) while Rita listened intently.

When they reached pure color, they clarified:

"For pure color, all the tiles must belong to one suit—dots, bamboo, or characters. No honor tiles like white dragons or red dragons are allowed!"

Rita: Hmm? Oh no…

She thought back to Mistblade's irritated expression when drawing a four-character tile.

Wait. Could Mistblade… have been trying to complete a pure color hand?

The thought struck her as absurd, like someone playing poker and fretting over completing a full house.

Rita wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. "Auntie Wang, what happens if someone interrupts a pure color hand?"

She quickly fabricated an example. "Say, yesterday my mom's game was interrupted by a power outage. Everyone left the table as-is, planning to resume later. But while I was practicing my skills, I accidentally destroyed one of her tiles. I didn't realize at the time and replaced it with a random tile. Thinking back, it might not have matched the rest of her hand…"

The table fell silent. Then, one of the women slammed her hand on the table, eyes wide.

"Girl, your mom didn't try to kill you?!"