This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Zoey's feelings were akin to spending two hours on a long car ride, only to have the door open and realize she had been brought to a stadium.

She stood outside the arena, silent for a while. "How many people can this venue hold?"

The man welcoming her was a handsome one named JK, who had a bit of a melancholy air about him, much like Rick. But it wasn't a depressing kind of sadness; it was a perfect amount, just enough to evoke sympathy without being overwhelming.

He introduced the venue to Zoey, "There are a total of 100,138 seats."

Zoey wasn't that easy to fool, and she quickly sensed something off about his statement.

Rita, just stepping out of the car, overheard as well and immediately ducked back inside. She whispered to Shadow.Q, "There aren't standing tickets too, right?"

Shadow.Q was unbuckling her seatbelt and, hearing Rita's question, gave her a strange look, as if she had asked something dumb. "Of course there are, otherwise all that space would be wasted."

Rita silently raised a thumb in acknowledgment, at a loss for words.

Rita stepped out again but froze when she saw JK standing next to Zoey. She immediately went back inside the car.

Shadow.Q asked, "Are you wiping your behind with my car seat?"

Without lifting her eyes from her phone, Nivalis, perched steadily on Rita's shoulder, replied, "No, she wouldn't. She can't bear to. She burns anything she uses for that."

Rita exclaimed, "How do you know that?!"

Shadow.Q blinked, incredulous. "Wait, do you actually burn it?!"

Nivalis continued, "I was sitting on the bathroom sink playing on my phone. You didn't see me, but I saw you. Is that my fault?"

Rita turned to Shadow.Q and asked, "Would you like me to explain?"

Shadow.Q raised her hand to stop her. "No need. I understand, I respect it. I admit defeat!"

Rita gave up, deciding it wasn't worth it. More pressing matters were at hand. She leaned in and whispered to Shadow.Q, "You guys at the Special Affairs Bureau aren't seriously using beauty traps, right? Trying to steal her from us?"

Shadow.Q's expression became subtly odd. "You think he's handsome?"

Rita clarified, "I'm not interested; I'm just curious about how low the Special Affairs Bureau will stoop."

Shadow.Q lowered her voice, her tone slightly conspiratorial. "Just be careful around him."

Rita's face grew serious. "Why? Is he ruthless? Morally bankrupt? Some privileged second-generation type?" She had already used Insight on him and only found a C-rank ability, nothing noteworthy.

Shadow.Q smiled softly. "His methods represent the Special Affairs Bureau's lowest standards."

Your adventure continues at empire

Rita, feeling a sense of injustice on behalf of her friend, said, "Why? I thought you were the bottom line!"

"...Thanks for the compliment." Shadow.Q paused before explaining, "He's from a faction that believes all players with abilities ranked A or above must be forcibly recruited into the Special Affairs Bureau to serve the country. Your dragon, for example, has been discussed by them; they wanted you to hand her over.

Landon shut them down immediately, and the other factions didn't agree with them either. They told him to do more real work and stop causing trouble for the Bureau."

Rita turned serious. "Are there many people in this faction?"

Shadow.Q smiled at the thought of something amusing. "Well, none of the A-rank or higher Divine Gift holders belong to their faction. In fact, even most of the B-ranks don't support them."

Rita laughed too.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

In short, that faction was made up of weaklings who hoped to control the strong through authority. But players with real strength didn't like being forced into anything. Most were willing to contribute, but they wanted to do it on their own terms. Voluntary service was seen as a noble choice driven by love for their home, while forced service felt like exploitation.

Worse yet, forced volunteers would likely see their achievements claimed by others. Those very same people would later boast, "Yes, I pushed them to serve the Bureau, and I admit I was wrong, but for the greater good, I sacrificed my personal pride." Blah, blah, blah…

Rita gave Rick a wave from a distance, signaling a hello before following Shadow.Q. She was now an official leader, so she had some perks. Shadow.Q led her through winding hallways to the third-floor VIP section. No matter what, even in an apocalyptic world, there would always be a small group enjoying privileges. And now, those privileges weren't reserved just for the rich and powerful.

Those who had made significant contributions, or had A-rank abilities like Rita, could enjoy those same perks—sometimes even more.

As Rita walked through the halls, she passed a number of people, some chatting in small groups, discussing equipment and abilities. Each of them was a minimum of level 5, and they were all well-geared. But despite their impressive appearances, Rita didn't sense any real fighting spirit from them.

When these people spotted Rita and the dragon on her shoulder, their eyes lit up, but Shadow.Q was quick to whisk her away before anyone could approach. A quick teleport later, they were in front of their private room.

Opening the door, Rita saw that several others from their dragon-hunting team were already inside. She smiled and greeted them before noticing that this VIP box had a perfect view of the stage, with no glass to obstruct the sound of Zoey's performance.

As they found their seats, Rita asked Shadow.Q, "You haven't heard her Hopeful Hymn recently, right?"

Shadow.Q replied, "Nope, this will be her first time singing here."

Rita patted her friend's arm. "Then you get an extra *Another Happy Day*." This skill was one she publicly claimed she couldn't use on others, but privately, she had no problem giving it to a friend.

Shadow.Q smiled wordlessly as her luck stat shot up to 10.

Just as Rita hadn't thanked Shadow.Q when she first offered the role of national dragon ambassador to Nivalis, Shadow.Q didn't say "thanks" now. It was simply understood between them.

They chatted about other things, like how Rita planned to stop attending the Bureau's training camp starting this month. Instead, she was negotiating with them for a 15-level dungeon to train her dragon, offering in exchange one 10-level and one 3-level dungeon she currently had.

3-level dungeons were still in high demand, especially until more people leveled up to 5.

Shadow.Q asked, "Is that 10-level dungeon a large one, medium, or small?"

Rita replied, "A small one that holds up to 20 people, no boss."

Shadow.Q thought for a few seconds before answering, "To be honest, the Bureau doesn't have a shortage of 10-level dungeons right now. In fact, we have too many. There's something you might not know—if creatures in a dungeon aren't killed within a certain time frame, they can leave the dungeon and enter Blue Star at will.

"For every level in a dungeon, it's roughly equivalent to 15 natural days. So, starting at the end of July, if the creatures in a 10-level dungeon haven't been cleared, they could enter Blue Star at any time...

"As for boss monsters or certain special entities, they have more restrictions. From what we've figured out, it's about 20 natural days per level. Even if a dungeon unlocks, they still can't leave right away. These are all just estimates based on current intelligence."