This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Aaron had managed to buy five skill stones, of which Rick took three, and Zoey kept two. Whether Aaron wanted any for himself didn't matter to them. But for Rick and Zoey, who had successfully stolen attribute points with the stones, a few stones just weren't enough to satisfy their craving.

They had lost anywhere between five to seven attribute points in total. If they hadn't discovered that it was possible to steal them back using the skill stones, they would have gone completely mad. Especially since this wasn't the first time they'd lost attributes—months ago, they had noticed similar losses.

Rick grew suspicious of everyone who had been around him during those times, but there was no discernible pattern. The only constant was that Zoey had always been by his side when it happened.

Zoey, on the other hand, had her own suspicions about Rick. The first time she noticed her attributes and items missing was the day after visiting the Wilson family. She hadn't been with Rick at the time, but much like now, she had simply noticed things were gone. Subsequent losses occurred at random, whether she was at home all day or out in the dungeons, but Rick was always around.

Yet, both of them quickly dismissed these thoughts, assuming it was just bad luck from being around the other. Neither could really point fingers since they were both suffering the same fate, losing their attribute points and equipment.

They both silently concluded: **I must have been jinxed by them.**

After that day, Rick and Zoey became even more cautious while running dungeons. They quickly devised a solution: bringing sixteen members from the Lopez family to fill the dungeon's capacity. They even switched to a different dungeon. This strategy proved effective—Rita couldn't sneak in once the dungeon was full!

The Draenei, meanwhile, were completely robbed of their chance for redemption…

But the more Rick and Zoey tried to block her, the more determined Rita became. She might not be able to sneak into the dungeon, but she could still work her magic outside. Her aim was to heighten their paranoia, pushing them into a state of hyper-awareness and distrust.

In the downtime while waiting, Rita didn't waste a moment, reviewing alchemy videos in her mind to reinforce what she had learned from Apache. Once Rick and Zoey's group emerged from the dungeon, she would immediately begin using her skills on them.

After three days of stalking, she managed to steal another two attribute points from both Rick and Zoey. As she watched their increasingly frustrated and disheveled expressions, Rita finally felt satisfied and decided to lay low for a while.

By then, Rita had stolen a total of nine points from Rick's Intelligence and seven from Zoey's. Combined with the previous points she'd pilfered, Rick, despite being level 3, now had attributes that resembled a level 1 player.

Meanwhile, Rita's own Intelligence had far surpassed her Agility. She mentally sighed, attributing the imbalance to the fact that both protagonists were magic-based characters.

...

Up on the rooftop of her villa, the vending machines were doing excellent business. The prices were comparable to those at the auction house, but the variety was the real draw.

In addition to rare alchemy potions, the machines offered quirky engineering gadgets like the **[Mini-Guidance Device]**, **[Pathfinder Robot]**, **[Eavesdropping Bee]**, **[Flash Grenade]**, and even an **[Automatic Furnace]**. These little items were as intriguing as they were niche.

The Special Affairs Bureau members who frequented the dungeon had all become familiar with the owner of this peculiar villa—someone who was dual-specialized in alchemy and engineering and could also cook.

On the rooftop, there were four vending machines in total. One sold potions, another sold engineering gadgets, the third offered food, and the fourth… sold information.

Each day, the stock would be randomly replenished at noon. Even those who didn't necessarily need anything would stop by just to browse, as every item had its unique uses. By midday, the machines would usually be sold out. While players at other dungeons queued up casually, those at the villa's level 3 undead dungeon fought to be first in line by noon.

It didn't matter if they were men or women—every player who came to this dungeon followed the unspoken tradition of browsing the vending machines before diving into the action.

Of particular interest was the vending machine selling information. The data, often presented in journals or books, was expensive—ranging from 50 silver to several gold coins—and it was clearly the work of someone with a Divine Gift. The purchased information could only be accessed by the buyer, preventing it from being copied or shared. It was a clear Special Affairs Bureau touch.

Rita had once bought a guide related to Rania Kaya Star's professional skills. It listed the locations of all the master trainers in each major city and encouraged players to invest in learning a profession if they had the resources.

The guide also detailed the strengths and weaknesses of each profession and listed nearly a hundred master-level artisans recognized by the game rules after the invasion began. Some of these artisans had already started working with the Special Affairs Bureau, and players could contact the bureau for more information if they were interested in training.

Rita glanced at the guide before moving on. She was already heavily invested in alchemy, and between cooking and engineering as her side projects, she had no desire to take on anything more. Even engineering was more of a hobby for her; she understood the value of focusing on fewer things to truly master them.

Checking the time, Rita noticed it was nearly noon. She restocked the rooftop vending machines: 50 potions, 30 engineering gadgets, and 50 cooked dishes she had made while practicing her culinary skills.

These three machines alone brought in about 30 gold coins each week, and with the additional 3 gold she earned daily from her Goblin transformation ability, Rita was raking in an average of 7 gold per day.

She had never imagined such a prosperous life. Sure, selling **Ginseng Essence** or exchanging gold coins earned her tens of thousands, but she never underestimated the value of steady income.

Plus, the money collected from the vending machines was temporarily stored inside them and didn't immediately reflect in her wealth ranking. This way, no one could trace her rising wealth from the leaderboard fluctuations.

After restocking, Rita headed downstairs to make herself lunch, avoiding the Special Affairs Bureau members who would soon arrive for their noon dungeon runs.

Of course, Samuel and Scarlett weren't about to miss out on this lucrative spot. Despite having been scared out of their wits the last time they joined Rita for a dungeon run, they had developed a keen interest in the vending machines.

Rita didn't bother hiding her operations from them. After all, she controlled the access to the goods, and they would undoubtedly report back to Rick and Lopez about everything they saw. There was no need for her to act secretive.

Recently, Scarlett had been overly attentive, offering to help Rita with household chores or to take care of the cats in the backyard. Rita politely declined, using the excuse that she needed peace and quiet to focus on her professional training.

Truthfully, Rita was unsure whether Scarlett had been aware of Rick's schemes with the food in their past life. Maybe she had been kept in the dark, or maybe Rick had spun a tale, claiming he didn't want to pressure Rita, so he had Scarlett lie about making the dishes herself to put her at ease. Knowing Scarlett's personality, she could easily have agreed to that.
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Scarlett might have seemed dim-witted at times, but she had a shrewd internal compass, always calculating what would benefit her most. Whether she was truly biased towards her son Rick was debatable. It was equally possible that she was simply stringing Samuel along as part of some long-term game.

But none of that mattered to Rita anymore. She had died once before and no longer cared about uncovering the truth. All she knew was that when she looked at Samuel and Scarlett now, all she felt was disgust and pain.

Rather than taking direct revenge herself, Rita wanted them to experience the misery of having their luck siphoned away by Rick. She was eager to see how they would react when they discovered the truth. But until then, she'd kick those two nuisances back to Rick. Let them enjoy their cozy little family reunion.