This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

When Rita regained consciousness, she realized that there were only 47 days left until she could exit the Tower. She had been unconscious for 10 whole days! She immediately checked which skill she had lost this time.

It was another B-grade skill—Break Time!

She felt lucky that it was a skill she could afford to lose. She had accumulated over 40 B-grade attack skills in the Tower over the years, so losing two of them wasn't much of a loss. Plus, with the Dandelion Blow skill that Maple Syrup had helped her acquire, the need for Break Time was already quite minimal.

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At the moment, due to her "foolishness," she was assigned to clean the battlefield of corpses. Rita continued to maintain this "foolish" persona, spending her days either cleaning up or sneaking stat points. Whenever she saw a Divine Gift that could save her life, she would try to acquire it, aiming to raise her strength so she could protect herself.

She couldn't afford to make another mistake. Not only did she not want to lose any more skills, but she also needed to ensure that she was in top condition when leaving the Tower.

After finding a secluded spot, she summoned Nivalis. She had placed a note in the pet space, asking Nivalis not to come out until it was safe. When Nivalis emerged, she looked worried. "What's happened? I've been so worried!"

Rita silently watched as Nivalis fidgeted with a phone in her claws. The screen was still showing a match of a puzzle game.

Nivalis noticed Rita's gaze and nonchalantly hid the phone, saying, "I've been feeling down, couldn't eat, so I decided to distract myself."

Rita didn't push it, but asked Nivalis to stay by her side and keep watch.@@novelbin@@

Nivalis knew Rita wouldn't really be upset. She had always admired Rita for this—she never asked much from anyone around her. Rita's happiness, safety, ideals, and pursuits were never dependent on others, even Nivalis, her contracted pet.

Even when training her for battles, it was more out of Snow Pile's request than Rita's own demand. Before entering the Tower, Nivalis had boasted to Holy Cup about how great Rita was. Holy Cup had replied, "If she never demands anything from you, it means she's prepared to lose you at any time."

Nivalis had been angered by this at the time but couldn't argue back effectively. She had even snapped, "But I'm never leaving her!"

Holy Cup had said with a teasing tone, "You want her to like you, to trust you completely, and not be able to live without you. But do you think she would ever abandon you?"

Nivalis, though irritated, had no response to that.

And now, over 200 years in the Tower, their bond had only deepened. Could Nivalis finally be greedy for that affection?

Sighing deeply, Nivalis shifted into her bird form and perched on Rita's head while she continued to clean the battlefield.

Rita chuckled at Nivalis' glum expression. "What's wrong? Why so gloomy?"

Nivalis fiddled with Rita's hair, making herself more comfortable. She muttered, "I've got some problems."

Rita smiled for a moment, but when she couldn't get anything more out of Nivalis, she decided to share something from her past life.

Rita: "So... do you suspect Maple Mu and Maple Cang?"

Nivalis: "Yeah, I do. Maple Mu feels off. It's like she's been in there for a long time... like maybe the real Maple Mu didn't die completely, and part of her consciousness still lingers."

Rita: "As for Maple Cang... her situation is even stranger. The last look she gave me was weird. She seemed to have a deeper affection for Maple Burn than even Maple Mu or Maple Syrup did. But Maple Burn and she had no conflict of interest, so why would someone who deeply loves you feel joy and anticipation over your death? And remember, Maple Burn is now a heroic spirit."

Rita paused, her gaze drifting toward a nearby Mu tree with a maple leaf carved on its roof. She felt her mind wandering.

Her voice was steady but carried an underlying tension: "That last look from Maple Cang... It was strange. I revived her at great cost, even losing part of my wings, and yet when she opened her eyes, there was joy in them. And not just joy—it was like... anticipation."

She remembered the way Maple Cang had reacted when she gave her the first small round cookie necklace and later, when she made Bear Cookies for her. It was all starting to feel like a series of bizarre coincidences. She couldn't shake the feeling that her own unintentional actions and words might have mirrored something the real Maple Burn had once done or said, creating an eerie parallel.

Could it be that the Maple Syrup and Maple Cang in the High Tower were merely virtual constructs made from memories?

But there was something even more suspicious—when the Tower opened to all alien races, why would Maple Syrup and the heroic spirits teach such powerful skills and give them to the adventurers, including A-grade and even S-grade skill books? Rita didn't believe that Maple Syrup could have discovered Maple Cang's anomaly and not investigated it. There was too much the Tower didn't reveal.

"Maple Burn" and Maple Cang, what's the difference? One is alive, and one is long dead.

Nivalis suddenly grasped Rita's hair tightly with her talons, a realization dawning on her. "You're saying Maple Burn could come back to life?"

Rita sighed deeply, "Yes, and it's likely connected to the blessings of heroic spirits we receive after entering the Tower."

Nivalis' voice was filled with panic. "But Snow Pile never mentioned anything like this!"

Rita calmly reassured her, "Maybe he couldn't say anything. And don't forget how casually Wind Shear gave me Absolute Clarity. That was a warning of sorts."

Nivalis hesitated. "Are you sure?"

Rita nodded. "If I get wings of light when I leave the Tower and they're linked to Maple Burn... there's a good chance that's what's really happening."

Maple Burn might revive through the wings of light, within her.

The true purpose of the High Tower might not only be to memorialize the 12 heroic spirits of the alien races. It might also be preparing for the resurrection of the oak spirits. The thunderous battle songs echoed like a celebration of the heroes' return.

No wonder the other 11 races restricted their own people from entering the Tower. Perhaps their leaders knew something, but there were restrictions, like the pigeons, preventing them from speaking out. Strangely enough, they hadn't pursued the light oak spirits either.

Nivalis suddenly gasped. "But what about your own kind?"

Rita didn't respond immediately. This was the hardest part. The highest levels of the 11 alien races couldn't speak openly about this, and Rita herself might have been unknowingly cursed with a silencing spell.

But for now, it was a relief. Being unable to speak freely was probably the best outcome.

If she could tell everyone, it would complicate things once she left the Tower. Could she reveal this to Eclipse Vanguard? That would be like digging her own grave. Even if she said she wouldn't be taken over by the oak spirits, others wouldn't believe her.

If she kept quiet? She couldn't stand by and do nothing while an enemy took control of her people. But she couldn't expose herself either.

For now, she would go with the standard explanation: "Living as an oak spirit for 300 years in the Tower means even the strongest will be influenced and eventually assimilated."

That should be enough to keep Eclipse Vanguard on guard, without making them go as far as to wipe them out. They couldn't justify it yet.

In the end, Snow Pile's approach was probably the best conclusion.