This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rick lay in his bedroom at the Wilson household, twirling a white feather between his fingers. This feather was a cursed object he had acquired before signing the contract with Zoey. By soaking it in someone's blood, he could absorb their luck.

Over time, Rick had learned how to master the *God of the Culinary Arts* skill. He understood the nuances: luck was about making things fall into place, like getting high-quality equipment or useful items. But fortune—fortune was something else entirely. It gave more options, often unseen.

While luck might push you toward the best of three choices, fortune would create a fourth or fifth, better option out of thin air.

The difference was immense, and stealing someone's fortune not only brought good things to the thief but left the victim drowning in misfortune.

Rick was torn.

Undoubtedly, the one he hated most was the person who stole his attributes and Divine Gift. But second place went to Zoey...

Zoey, who had humiliated him, treated him like a dog, and took every good thing for herself. Every humiliation and every slight weighed heavily on Rick's mind.

Despite his jealousy of Rita's success, his hatred for Zoey burned brighter.

He clenched the feather in his hand, finally making up his mind. He'd use it on Zoey.

As for Samuel and Scarlett? They were no longer a concern. He called the Lopez family and had their leveling privileges revoked. He didn't bother to hide his actions—he knew they wouldn't dare confront him.

*Want to level up? Go beg Rita.*n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

That very evening, Samuel and Scarlett received the news. They'd been kicked from the leveling group. While the message was phrased politely, its meaning was clear.

The two exchanged glances, knowing Rick had seen through them just as he predicted.

Scarlett now fully realized that their reaction during lunch hadn't escaped Rick's notice.

Rick's illness was an open secret within the family. Perhaps only Rita remained in the dark.

The next morning, Samuel and Scarlett acted as if nothing had happened, smiling as they prepared breakfast for Rick. Rick returned their smiles, thanking them for their care.

But as soon as Rick left the house, the smiles faded from their faces.

Both were growing tired of Rick. Where once they doted on him, now they saw only an ungrateful son. How could he catch such a filthy disease and still dare come home? And to cancel their Lopez family benefits over something so petty?

*Rita was better, more considerate.*

This emotional rift between them was like a crack in the ice. It might not shatter right away, but once formed, it was impossible to repair.

---

While cracks formed in the Wilson family, similar fractures were growing within the Lopez family.

The tensions had been there for a while.

Zoey's Divine Gift was a treasure to any family, and the Lopez family granted her near-unlimited access to their resources, second only to the family head. Zoey didn't hesitate to take advantage of it.

But she quickly noticed that whenever she took money or jewels, someone—a butler, Theodore Mateo, or another figure of authority—would remind her the next day to use her *Hopeful Song*.

Gradually, it started to feel more like a transaction than a privilege.

And if it was a transaction, she was getting short-changed. She knew what her gift was worth.

More importantly, the power she was given wasn't real power. She could spend money freely, swap equipment every day, attend every important meeting—yet she had no actual decision-making authority.

She was just another version of Rick.

Did Su Linfeng think she didn't understand? That she'd be content with being pampered like some silly girl?

No, every time she glanced at Mateo and saw the true rewards, she realized just how little she was getting.

Lopez family cracks ran deep.

Zoey had started slacking with her *Hopeful Song*. The skill was so familiar to her that she could sing it in her sleep, and no one could tell if she wasn't fully using it. If people's attributes didn't increase, well, that was their bad luck, not hers.

Between the lower chances of getting attribute points and the increasing number of unlucky events during missions with Su's team, more and more members of the Lopez family were thinking of leaving.

Meanwhile, Zoey was quietly siphoning resources, preparing to build her own team. A team that belonged to her, not the Lopez family.

---

By late July, everyone on the leaderboard had reached level 6, with the top player sitting at 96% of the level. Rita hovered between 15th and 17th place, but her fame on the forums was equal to the top ten.

People had figured out that Rita was only running dungeons for 3–4 hours a day, and that she was mostly soloing. While other players' experience bars steadily climbed by about 1% per hour, Rita would gain 3–6% in short, concentrated bursts.

She wasn't the only solo player, but her experience gains were the most dramatic.

Speculation ran wild across the forums. Some admired her, some analyzed her playstyle, while others accused her of being selfish for hogging dungeon resources. Some begged her to share her soloing techniques.

Rita didn't have time for that. She was far too busy between leveling, training, cooking, alchemy, and running her operations on her rooftop dungeon. She hadn't even had time to pay Sanchez a visit.

Yes, she admitted to herself, she was biased. She'd spent too much time tormenting Zoey and Rick...

But they were a much more efficient use of her time! Taking down one of them was like taking down a whole group.

Rita laughed to herself, wondering how people managed to juggle multiple romantic partners at once. She couldn't even handle the workload of tormenting a few enemies.

And those who tried stirring up drama on the forums, hoping for a response, were left frustrated. Rita didn't care about their noise.

---

On August 3rd, after three consecutive days of dungeon grinding, Rita reached level 7. If she increased her dungeon time, her experience gains soared, and she made it into the top three on the leaderboard for the first time.

Thanks to the *Fire Spirit Ring*, she now gained six attribute points every time she leveled up.

She allocated 38 total attribute points for the first time, dumping them all into agility.

Her current stats:

- **HP**: 618/618

- **MP**: 1670/1670

- **Strength**: 28

- **Constitution**: 20

- **Intelligence**: 40

- **Agility**: 25 + 38

Her stats were equivalent to those of a level 25 player with no equipment. It was her overwhelming strength that gave Rita the confidence to toy with Rick, Zoey, and the others at her leisure.

With the Fire Spirit Ring enhancing her powers, her next move was clear—Rick, Zoey, and her enemies wouldn't know what hit them.