This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

In the second half of June, Rita, through her connection with **Shadow.Q**, found herself some professional combat instructors. The cost? The rent of a dungeon. As long as she kept training, the rent would be waived. Every day from 2 PM to 5 PM, she attended these lessons.

Now, her daily routine included classes on **Rania Kaiya Star**, two hours of dungeon runs, and then combat lessons in the afternoon.

Since players' bodies had become digitized, not everyone was a superhuman, but anyone who made it onto the leaderboard was certainly far from ordinary. With attribute points assigned to strength, agility, and endurance, anyone with more than 10 points in those stats could easily outperform former Olympic champions.

Consequently, many traditional training methods had been updated, breaking the limits of human potential.

The Special Affairs Bureau didn't reject Rita's request. If she had been an ordinary player, they would have required her to join the Bureau to enjoy such privileges. But as someone on the leaderboard who leaned toward the government's side while maintaining her independence, the Bureau treated her as a friendly collaborator.

Freelancers like her were highly valuable—no need to invest large resources in training them, yet they could still be used as an asset in critical moments through trades. Of course, such freelancers needed to be vetted. Those who were too greedy would gradually be excluded from the Bureau's list of trusted individuals.

As for rare opportunities that could increase attribute points? Those weren't available to her yet, but finding combat instructors was no problem. Relationships are built over time, after all. When a top instructor teaches you, you might not become best friends, but at least they'll be more inclined to help you later on.

One-on-one sessions weren't possible due to resource constraints. Just like dungeons, top-tier instructors couldn't be monopolized by one person. Rita was placed in a 10-person team. Unlike the combat instructor she had found earlier, this one specialized in lethal moves.

Moreover, the facility was equipped with professional tools unavailable elsewhere. There were devices for training reaction time, others for enhancing toughness, and ones for improving footwork.

Rita's favorite was the modified tennis ball launcher. In a dedicated training area, four machines, one in each corner, would launch tennis balls at her from various angles and heights. The balls were color-coded—red ones had to be hit back, while white ones had to be dodged. The machine would adjust its speed based on her agility stats, pushing her to her limits.

The machines even had a tracking function.

Unfortunately, the Bureau wouldn't sell these machines, so Rita couldn't train without restrictions outside of class.

This training couldn't be done half-heartedly. To hold back would defeat the purpose. If she wanted to train properly in the future, she realized she'd have to get some custom-made weights to wear during her sessions.

After just one session, Rita decided she would train here as long as possible.

She even signed up for melee and shooting classes. If she weren't worried about spreading herself too thin, she would have enrolled in every course available.

Just as the Bureau wanted to maintain a good relationship with her, Rita also wanted to establish more open connections with them. This would help her avoid being tied down by the Lopez family—she had no desire to be labeled as one of their people.

It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Other freelancers attending the training sessions clearly shared the same sentiment. Anyone capable of working as a freelancer might be a bit self-centered, but they weren't foolish. At least the ones deep enough in cooperation with the Bureau to attend these training classes weren't idiots.

Though the atmosphere wasn't overly friendly, there was no unnecessary drama, and the overall mood was positive.

Rita also noticed that most of her classmates were on the leaderboard. Even those who weren't were destined to become major players later on.

In less than two months, Rita's combat ability had improved significantly, and her friends list had grown by 12 people: 9 classmates and 3 instructors.

These connections would be invaluable for future boss fights, equipment trades, and skill exchanges.

But she was sure her own information had been leaked as well.

Even though she started wearing weights to her second session, she couldn't completely hide her abilities. Her instructor was supposedly at the same level as her, but their strength and agility didn't come close to hers. Even though she held back, professionals like these could still pick up on certain clues.

She was certain the Bureau now had a report that noted her attributes were above normal. But that didn't bother her—she could easily attribute her high stats to her gear. After all, she was lucky enough to have good equipment, wasn't she? This was something she had deliberately allowed the Bureau to notice.

The image she wanted to project was that of a powerful, skilled, and independent freelancer who prioritized cooperation with the Bureau over allegiance to any other faction.

At least, when the Bureau encountered a boss they couldn't handle, they'd think of her first.

...

While Rita was busy training, Rick and Zoey were searching far and wide for more attribute-stealing skill stones.

The ability to effortlessly increase attribute points was too addictive. While Zoey's **Song of Hope** could sometimes trigger attribute point gains after two or three uses, its cooldown was too long, making it less efficient than the skill stone.

But they didn't want the news about these skill stones spreading. After all, they were targeting their own Lopez family members, and getting caught would be awkward.

Meanwhile, tensions between the Lopez and White families continued, with several clashes occurring. Usually, the Lopez family initiated the conflicts, fighting on behalf of Zoey to protect her interests. After all, her **Divine Gift** was too valuable—it could enhance the overall power of the Lopez family. For that reason alone, they had to keep Zoey happy.

The two major families clashed back and forth, winning some and losing others. This constant friction drained resources on both sides, slowing down their growth.

If the White family lost, Rita won.

If the Lopez family lost, Rita still won.

How was that not a win-win for Rita?

Rick was busy grinding levels and trying to climb the leaderboard. It wasn't until mid-July, when he was over halfway through level 6 and had made it into the top 80, that he realized Samuel and Scarlett hadn't reached out to him much in the past month.

Strictly speaking, they hadn't completely stopped communicating—they still occasionally messaged him through the game to ask for money, equipment, or potions. Rick gave them something each time, but unlike before, they hadn't asked him to come home for a meal in weeks.

This was highly unusual. Samuel and Scarlett had previously insisted that Rick come home at least once a week, under the guise of wanting to see their son.

But now, they didn't seem to want to see him at all...

Rick felt a mixture of anger, frustration, and even fear at this realization.

Over the past month, even **Rita** had come to see him occasionally—though it was to sell him alchemy potions and engineering products at a 2% discount.

But Samuel and Scarlett? Nothing.

What kind of situation would cause formerly close family members to avoid someone like the plague?

Rick glanced at Ezra and Aaron.

The answer was clear.

Ever since the scandal broke, those two had been living in near exile.

They weren't completely shunned—after all, not everyone would distance themselves from an S-tier Divine Gift user. But whenever Ezra or Aaron invited someone to a dungeon run, all sorts of excuses would surface as to why they couldn't participate.

S-tier gifts were rare and precious, but everyone only had one life. Forum evidence had already confirmed that this disease, even in its digitized form, was incurable. It had morphed into what was now called the **Unknown Curse**.

One day, Rick told Zoey he needed to take a break and return home. She granted him leave, as she also needed to visit the Lopez family to prod them about why Sanchez's ear hadn't been delivered yet.