This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

The only person louder than Nivalis these days was Sanchez. Ever since she obtained her Emerald Wings and returned to Blue Star, her gloomy disposition had completely vanished. She had become enamored with the internet.

Every single day, Sanchez would post photos of her emerald wings from different angles. She even used a green coffee cup, asking her followers if the cup matched her wings. Her posts generated a flood of jealousy, sparking intense online arguments as she clapped back at envious commenters with unmatched fervor.@@novelbin@@

Rita shivered at the thought of Sanchez's temperament, half-expecting to wake up one day to headlines about Sanchez tracking down a troll in real life.

Shadow.Q was slightly more restrained. She limited herself to posting selfies in Eclipse Vanguard's instance portals, casually advertising the guild's perks while subtly showing off her Obsidian Wings—and oh, how coincidental, her coffee cup just happened to be black.

Whenever Rita complained about their vanity, Nivalis would glance guiltily at the new orange-red bedspread she'd bought for Rita, missing the blue-and-white one they had before.

The three of them, plus Nivalis, had attracted a tremendous amount of jealousy. Internationally, there were growing demands for US officials to reveal how the wings were obtained. However, both the government and Eclipse Vanguard stayed silent, even as online forums raged for weeks.

The truth was, 99% of Eclipse Vanguard members didn't know the exact method to acquire the wings. While rumors of the quest had circulated early on, only those who undertook it knew its full details. Everyone else just knew it was exceptionally dangerous.

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The results spoke for themselves: fifty people had participated, most went insane, and only six emerged with wings. Of those six, one wasn't even an Eclipse Vanguard member but was none other than Rita, the four-time leaderboard champion. Meanwhile, Zoey, an S-tier god-given talent, had died horribly. Before her death, she had clearly lost her sanity, muttering in an Oakshade tongue.

The allure of wings, however, was irresistible. Like a top-tier weapon or ultra-rare skin in a game, dedicated players were willing to sacrifice everything to obtain them. The advertised 12% success rate didn't seem so bad either.

Internally, Eclipse Vanguard had classified the Light Wings quest as an SSS-tier reward. Members could exchange contribution points to participate. This move not only drained the excess points accumulated by Special Affairs Bureau players but also served to pacify the remaining members of the disbanded Azure Dragon Corps.

After Zoey's betrayal and the loss of the Hymn of Hope, Eclipse Vanguard offered the Azure Dragon Corps a discount: they needed only 70% of the usual contribution points to attempt the Light Wings quest.

Conveniently—or perhaps intentionally—the details of this reward leaked to the public. Now, with over ten million members, Eclipse Vanguard was thriving. Were it not for their strict recruitment process, requiring talent assessments and binding contracts, membership could easily surpass a billion.

The Lone Wolves group had seen several members join Eclipse Vanguard lately, all to pursue the Light Wings quest.

When Rita heard this news, she sat in her study for a long time. Rationality had stopped her from going back in time to prevent Zoey from entering High Tower, but there was still a lingering regret.

Now, she realized she couldn't have stopped it.

As long as Zoey was alive, her relentless nature meant she would always seek power. If she learned about High Tower, she would find a way in. Her dissatisfaction and ambition were part of her essence.

On January 8th, Rita finally completed Spring Not Late. With her nerves somewhat eased, she turned her attention to organizing her World Tomb collection.

Her 6-Dot, 7-Dot, and 8-Dot tiles formed a set: World Graveyard: Oakshade – Six, Seven, Eight, which unlocked the Novice at the Table skill, enabling the discovery of a god-given talent. Separating the set allowed each tile to unlock a unique artifact instead.

Beyond the Six-Seven-Eight set, she had six additional World Tombs: two Red Dragons, one 3-Character, one 5-Character, one 7-Character, and one 9-Bamboo.

The 9-Bamboo allowed her to bring a teammate into the battleground. That would likely be consumed as her entry ticket.

Her Red Dragons, if their effects stacked, could let her enter the battleground two minutes early. Though combining them with Six-Seven-Eight could create a new World Graveyard: Pawns, Rita prioritized preparation time over an extra skill.

Her Character tiles—3-Character, 5-Character, and 7-Character—each unlocked one item. She decided to bring Wrathful Moon and Chávez's Clock as essentials. Her other artifacts, A Big World, A Small Me and Soul Catcher, were unbound and thus unusable.

For the third slot, she chose Magician's False Teeth.

The description for Character tiles emphasized: "When carried into the battleground, you (and your pet) may unlock one artifact." This implied even bound artifacts might be locked in the battleground. The False Teeth, though small, provided extra space for her most critical items, like her lantern and stopwatch.

While the teeth's one-cubic-meter capacity sufficed as a backup to her game inventory, it might not be enough if the game inventory was sealed.

Thinking it over, Rita decided to visit the Lania Kaia auction house with Nivalis.

Space-related artifacts were rare, often crafted from body parts or organs, and their capacities were small. The largest available offered three cubic meters of storage but came in the form of a finger bone—something Rita refused to use. Sacrificing a tooth for functionality was one thing; losing manual dexterity for a bigger space was another.

After browsing through the options, she concluded her Magician's False Teeth were still the most practical.

Another option occurred to her: using her Renovation skill to forcibly modify the teeth. She had an unused A-tier Magic Eye, but ever since discovering she could store moonlight in her eyes, she was reluctant to augment them.

The teeth, on the other hand, were replaceable. Even if the renovation failed, she could buy another set. The Magic Eye, while valuable, was wasted in her inventory if it didn't contribute to her strength.

Rita promptly booked a room in Ashe City, preparing to forcibly renovate the Magician's False Teeth using the Magic Eye.