This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

After leaving the now mentally "fried" Lidian, Rita flew smoothly back to the dragon's nest and found Holy Cup.

At this moment, Holy Cup had taken on a smaller size and was lying in the nest, directing Nivalis to clean her dragon scales.

Upon seeing Rita, Nivalis quickly asked, "What happened? Did Lidian say something crazy again?"

Rita gave her a light smack. "Am I the type to gossip behind someone's back? You really underestimate me!"

On Dragon Island, both human and dragon spoke the dragon's tongue. After greeting Holy Cup, Rita skipped the pleasantries typical of human society and got straight to the point: the contract.

After Rita explained, Holy Cup asked, "So, you want to bind it to your soul?"

Rita shook her head. "No, I specifically don't want it to have any connection to my soul."

"That makes it more complicated." Though Holy Cup's words sounded difficult, her expression showed no sign of concern. "Tell me what nonsense Lidian said about Pine Bloom, and I'll help you solve this."

Rita immediately sat down cross-legged. "Alright! No problem!"

Nivalis: "...I really look down on you."

Rita: "I feel the same."

After that, Rita relayed most of what she had learned about Pine Bloom. However, she skipped the part about the divine skill [Die-hard], as she had promised Lidian not to share it with the other dragons.

Holy Cup listened calmly to everything Rita said, before falling silent for a moment. Then, she began speaking about the contract.

"The pet contract must have a connection to your soul. It's a deep binding; no matter what forms you take or how far apart you are, you can still sense each other. You don't want to bind it to your soul because you're worried it might plot against you, am I right?"

Rita didn't hide anything. "Yes, I don't trust it. I'm afraid it might turn the contract against me."

Holy Cup raised an eyebrow. "Even though you have absolute control over it, and can destroy it at any time, you still don't trust it?"

Rita understood the confusion in Holy Cup's voice. She replied firmly, "Of course. I can destroy it and control it, but that doesn't mean I trust it."

"Then do you trust Nivalis?"

"I can't trust her completely."

Rita didn't try to hide the truth. Some things just couldn't be hidden.

Before Holy Cup could respond, Nivalis quickly said, "It's fine, Holy Cup. She treats me really well."

Holy Cup: "..."

At that moment, North Year arrived with lunch, walking toward the nest to find his mate.

Blowing in the sea breeze and preparing for some sadness before finding his friend to mooch a meal, Lidian overheard the conversation. She shrank her form and flew into the dragon's nest, saying to Holy Cup, "So what do you think? Last time when I said something like this, you hit me. This time, you can't just not hit your own child, right?"

Nivalis: ???

Rita: "..."

Nivalis: "You can't be serious. You're the one with a wandering heart. My Rita's great, you can't compare!"

Lidian: "Holy Cup, listen to this, listen to what this kid is saying! Is this dragon language? She's done for—quick, hit her for early treatment!"

Nivalis: "Holy Cup!!! She should be the one to be hit! She's totally in love!"

Lidian: "Holy Cup!!!"

Holy Cup felt a headache coming on. Lidian had always been noisy, and now Nivalis added to the chaos.

North Year quietly set the table, hoping not to make any noise that would attract trouble.

Holy Cup turned her back to the two dragons, and Rita, understanding the hint, immediately walked over.

The two of them started talking in whispers in the corner.

Holy Cup: "I can help you use a soul-bound item as a medium. No matter how it tries to attack your soul in the future, it will trigger the contract punishment and be destroyed. But the cost is that the medium item will also be destroyed, and it can't be something too low-level. It has to be a tool or a rare item, and it can't be lower than SS-grade. The rare item must at least be a perfect one. Are you willing to do this?"

Rita hesitated for only two seconds before answering, "I am."

Her SS-grade item was the Wrathful Moon, and her perfect rare items were Heart Snatcher and Lonely Antenna Baby.

As for higher-level treasures, she never even thought about them.

It was a tough decision between the three. No matter which one she chose, it would hurt her. But in the end, she was willing to make the sacrifice.

After all, this was her line of defense—it wasn't guaranteed to be useful, but she'd rather have it. Plus, no matter how precious the items were, they couldn't be more important than her life.

Wrathful Moon still had room to level up, so it was excluded.

Lonely Antenna Baby was comparable to Heart Snatcher, but the latter probably had a higher ceiling.

Though Heart Snatcher was uncertain, it often brought unexpected surprises.

She took out Lonely Antenna Baby, bound it, and then said to Holy Cup, "I'll choose this one."

Holy Cup nodded. "Good, now take out the mechanical race chip."

Rita brought the mini 9th-tier magic cube in front of Holy Cup.

After Holy Cup recited a few dragon spells, Rita received a prompt.

"Do you wish to form a master-servant contract with the mechanical race B80234615 under the witness of ■■■Holy Cup? You will be the master, and it will be the servant."

"You control its life and death."

"It will calculate and deduce every possible success for you."

"B80234615 has chosen to submit."

"Do you wish to become its master: Yes/No?"

Rita chose Yes.

The 9th-tier magic cube floated in front of her eyes. Under Holy Cup's control, Heart Snatcher stood between her and the cube.

Within just a few seconds, Rita felt the presence of B80234615.

However, unlike the feeling she had when sensing Nivalis, she could feel that she could sense B80234615's emotions at any time. If she wanted, she could make it fall asleep immediately and lose its ability to attack.

At this moment, B80234615 was very weak. It seemed like its last bit of energy had been used up when it chose to submit to the contract, and it had essentially shut down.

Rita might need to find some precious minerals to recharge it.

She placed the 9th-tier magic cube into her pet space and thanked Holy Cup sincerely.

Holy Cup: "You treat Nivalis well. I know."

Rita: "She treats me well, too. She started being good to me first."

Holy Cup glanced at Nivalis, who was still arguing with Lidian. "She's not stupid. She wouldn't be good to you without reason."

Rita: "That's true. She's got good taste."

Holy Cup: ?

Just as Rita managed to get a good jab in, the pet rankings on BS were suddenly shaken.

Rita was still at the top, but why was she still second?

The pet at the top of the leaderboard was now B80234615, the mechanical race, and Nivalis had fallen to second place.

B80234615's profile picture was a glowing magic cube.

Can players have two pets at the same time??

Moreover, how could this pet already be stronger than Nivalis, a dragon?