This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

A week later, Rita sat cross-legged on the ground, a heavily armored elite squad leader from the opposing faction unconscious before her. As she chewed on some digestion tablets to stave off nausea from overeating, she continued shoveling healing food into her mouth while repeatedly using her skills on the fallen soldier.

Just as she felt like she might vomit, she succeeded.

Finally, the last Constitution point was hers. Find more to read at My Virtual Library Empire

Now, her base stats—excluding equipment bonuses—had all reached 100. Both her HP and MP had surpassed the 5000 mark!

[HP]: 5850/5850

[MP]: 6750/6750

[Strength]: 100

[Constitution]: 100

[Intelligence]: 100

[Agility]: 106

Rita allocated the six unspent points from leveling up to Agility, pushing it to 112, before finally stepping out of the dungeon, satisfied.

At this point, her base stats rivaled those of a level 76 Blue Star player, based on the initial average of 7 points per stat for new players.

The only thing she lacked compared to a level 76 player was the ability to equip their high-level gear. Her strongest equipment currently were [Meteor] and [Ember], both around level 20 quality.

As she exited the dungeon, she scooped up Nivalis, who was still deeply engrossed in a game of mahjong, and placed the little dragon on her shoulder.

For the past few days, Rita had been splitting her time between teaching classes for the Special Affairs Bureau and grinding attribute points in the dungeon. She decided it was time to head to Lania Kaia to gather information on Eternal Night Fortress and the mysterious Peach Moon Emperor.

Additionally, her inventory was overflowing with equipment she had stolen or looted; it needed clearing before her bag ran out of space entirely.

Preparing for the Journey Before leaving, Rita picked up her order of 200 custom-made mahjong tiles from a parcel locker outside her apartment.

So far, she had only seen circle and character tiles, so she had ordered only those two suits for her personal set. Though she didn't plan to make mahjong widely known in Lania Kaia, keeping a set on hand for emergencies felt prudent.

In a crisis, she could scatter the tiles as a distraction, potentially buying herself a few precious seconds to activate her escape skills.

She also considered using the fake tiles to lure out others who might possess real ones.

Despite the abundance of entertainment activities in Lania Kaia, including card games like poker, mahjong was curiously absent. Perhaps people like Mistblade Moon Emperor had suppressed its spread to maintain control over the difficulty of collecting the real tiles.

According to Mistblade, she could sense the presence of other real tiles because of the one she possessed. However, when Rita had unearthed her [Three of Characters], she hadn't felt anything.

Clearly, there was a prerequisite Mistblade hadn't shared. Regardless, collecting more tiles could only benefit her.

For this information-gathering mission, Rita decided not to bring Nivalis along. Though the little dragon never caused trouble during serious tasks, moving solo would give her better mobility.

After leaving instructions for Nivalis to guard their home, Rita used the teleportation array to transform into a fish and swam to Yaslan City, where she disguised herself as a yellow-skinned minotaur before entering the drylands.

Before heading to Eternal Night Fortress, she inspected her gear to ensure she wasn't wearing anything Nivalis had seen her use.

Revisiting Old Allies Her destination was Dark City, and her first stop was the alchemy shop.

Rita suspected that Mistblade had detected the dragon's scent on her because of her equipment and tools. While her disguise skill altered her body's scent, it didn't mask items she had frequently used. For someone like Mistblade, even these traces could be clues.

Her lesson was clear: there was no such thing as a flawless disguise.

Upon entering the shop, Rita sought out Hecipah for advice on Moon Sand.

"What's that about my moral boundaries scaring Lucia?" Hecipah asked, lowering her book.

Rita, in her minotaur disguise as Ravenpaw, explained, "I just meant you're not one to rigidly follow the rules. You must know something."

Hecipah shot her a glare. "I don't. I'm not Lucia, bold enough to go after the clock tower in Eternal Night Fortress."

"Fine, guess you'll get a smaller share," Rita muttered.

Hecipah didn't even look up. "You could try talking to Kayden. She spent some time in."

Rita's eyes lit up, and she hurried to the counter, where Kayden was lounging with her chin propped on her hand, gazing out the window.

Kayden turned to Rita lazily. "What do you want to know?"

Clearly, she'd overheard the conversation with Hecipah.

Lowering her voice, Rita leaned in. "Information about Eternal Night Fortress. What's your price?"

Kayden leaned closer as well, her small forehead pressing against Rita's massive minotaur nose. "What kind of package are we talking about?"

"The priciest one," Rita replied.

Kayden smirked. "Follow me. This is premium content. Let's go somewhere with fewer undead around."

"That makes sense."

Behind them, Hecipah muttered to herself, "How did Lucia deal with so many unruly students? I can barely handle two."

Secrets and Plans In the shop's backyard, Kayden accepted a "throat-clearing fee" of 10 gold coins before asking, "What do you want to know?"

Rita had prepared her questions on the way over.

1. "Who can provide the latest and most comprehensive intel on Eternal Night Fortress?"

2. "What unspoken rules should outsiders know about Eternal Night Fortress?"

3. "What do you know about the clock tower in Eternal Night Fortress?"

Kayden admitted her knowledge was outdated but suggested that someone more entrenched in local life would have better answers.

Finally, she made an additional offer. "I have two pieces of intel about the Oak Owls. I'll sell them to you for 50 gold. Trust me, you won't regret it."

Half an hour later, Rita left the alchemy shop with a much heavier heart.

Kayden's answers had been worth the trip.

- First tip: "At three o'clock from the Eternal Night Fortress clock tower, there's a gourd-shaped island. On it is a rundown tavern. Inside, you'll find a ghost named Gota who knows everything about Eternal Night Fortress. As long as you're willing to pay, he'll happily sell his knowledge."

This information might or might not have been worth the 5 gold coins she'd paid.

But the two pieces of Oak Owl intel for 50 gold?

Her initial reaction had been relief—"Glad I bought it."

But her immediate follow-up thought?

"…But maybe it would've been better not to know."