This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

The most ridiculous time was when Rick accidentally fell into an elite mini-boss's lair during a dungeon run. He hit his head on some unknown treasure that the mini-boss had stolen from a tribal leader. The treasure turned into white mist, which enveloped his wound. When he got up, he had gained 2 attribute points…

Now, both Zoey and Rick were at level 7. Zoey's stats were about average for a level 3 player, but Rick had already recovered to the level of a 5th-level player.

The more Zoey thought about it, the more irritated she became. When Rick returned from B City, she was definitely going to beat him again!

Following the instructions in her mind, Zoey pressed her finger on the name "Matthew" and chose to share her curse with him without hesitation.

Instantly, the curse in Zoey's status changed from: **[Unknown Curse Level 1]: All healing effects are reduced by 5%; health cannot regenerate; contagious** to **[Unknown Curse Level 1 (?)]**: All healing effects are reduced by 2.5%; health regeneration is slowed; contagious.**

Zoey looked at the name of the Curio in her hand and sneered.

Back when she married into the Lopez family, her name had been successfully added to their family tree.

Thinking back, what an idiotic move that had been!

Zoey put away the **[Does This Family Tree Have to Be Filled?]** and pulled out another item Rick had obtained— a simple mug.

**[Excuse Me, I Need a Refill]** (Grade B): Pour any liquid or potion below master level into the cup, even just a drop. After 10 minutes, the cup will refill itself with that liquid, containing exactly 250ml. Cooldown: 1 natural day.

Zoey took a dropper filled with Mateo's blood from the table.

That's why loyalty from subordinates was the most useless thing. As long as the benefits were good enough, people would forget the favors they owed to the Lopez family. Worse, they would find a way to justify their betrayal to soothe their guilty consciences: *This is Mateo's own sister; how could she harm him?*

After 10 minutes, Zoey gently placed the cursed feather into the mug filled with blood.

Sorry, she was going after the people on the family tree!

All those telling her to care about the "big picture" were only the ones who stood to gain from that big picture. But if she wasn't going to be the winner, what was the point in caring about the bigger picture?

...

While Zoey was plotting the Lopez family's downfall, Rita didn't even have a chance to thank her, as she was busy reading the martial arts books she'd brought back from the Moonfox City Library.

When she had raided the library, she hadn't had time to be picky. She grabbed whatever she could. Now, she needed to find what best suited her current level.

She set aside all the flashy, high-level martial techniques and magic spells for later and focused on two books. One was about sharpening the five senses, and the other was a skill that let her swap places with her weapon—**[Fox Shadow]**.

For an archer, this was a game-changer. It meant that wherever her arrows could reach, she could teleport. She wouldn't even need to unlock parts of the map first. In a team battle, if things got dangerous, she could avoid revealing her **Phantom Shift** ability.

Not only could it help her escape, but it also enhanced her mobility in combat. She could use it for surprise attacks, and combined with her **[I'm Getting Serious (Passive)]**—a skill that guaranteed a hit after three seconds of aiming—it could allow her to get right onto a boss's back.

For example, when fighting a dragon, she could join the flying group and land directly on the dragon's back.

The only problem was that **[Fox Shadow]** was a secret technique of the Moonfox clan, and it required the user's weapon to be coated with a scent created by the user. This scent acted as a link between the user and the weapon, with magic energy embedded in the fragrance.

This wasn't too difficult to solve. Potions had scents too, although potions of the same type all smelled the same. But she could always concoct her own mix. While Rita wasn't an expert in perfumes, she figured she could brew a harmless, personal fragrance for teleportation.

As for the magical energy, anyone who had become a player could feel the energy waves emitted when using a skill. Over time, everyone learned how to control this invisible force, like a part of their body or an extension of their breath.

While Nivalis was clearing out monsters, Rita was experimenting with her concoction. She even poured in a bottle of expired perfume and eventually produced a strange-smelling brew—a barrel of it, in fact.

It didn't have any particular effect and wasn't as fragrant as the scents she remembered from the Moonfox clan, but it wasn't unpleasant either—just a light herbal aroma. She poured the brew into her special quiver, and the rest she bottled, spraying some on herself.

Then, she started practicing **[Fox Shadow]** by following the instructions in the book, learning how to pinpoint her scent in the air, how to trace it, and how to move through it.

When Nivalis finished clearing out the enemies and flew back to the dungeon entrance, she found Rita blindfolded, sniffing around like a bloodhound.

Nivalis shrunk down to her phone-sized form, quietly flew over, and extended one of her dragon feet toward Rita's nose.

Rita suddenly yanked off her blindfold. "Did you step in strawberry ice cream last night and not wash your feet?!"

Nivalis quickly pulled her foot back and sniffed it herself. "I licked it clean! It smells delicious!"

Rita had enough. This little dragon was even less hygienic than the cats in the backyard! She grabbed a pot, filled it with water, and unceremoniously dunked Nivalis into it, scrubbing her down.
Enjoy new chapters from empire

Nivalis flailed and protested, "I don't need a bath! I'm clean! This is my dragon majesty! You're scrubbing away my dragon majesty!"

Rita retorted, "Dragon majesty, my foot! Do you even wipe after using the bathroom?"

Nivalis, grumbling, said, "Didn't you say that dragon poop sells for 7 silver coins per pound? If I wipe, I'm wiping away money! Why would I do that?"

Rita couldn't take it anymore. She smacked Nivalis a few times. "That explains why my pillow smells! I thought I was hallucinating from collecting so much dragon poop..."

Nivalis squirmed, trying not to use her full strength in fear of knocking Rita over. She wailed, "It's not my fault! My arms are too short to reach! You're setting me up to fail! Besides, maybe that smell is from your drool! Couldn't it just happen to smell like dragon poop?"

Rita was speechless.

She remembered when this dragon first arrived at her home, how cute and well-behaved she had been, introducing herself with "I~ am~ Turan~"...

But now?

After giving Nivalis a proper scolding in the dungeon, Rita took the sniffling dragon, who was fake-crying with no actual tears, to the mall. Following Nivalis' instructions, she bought ten tubs of every flavor of ice cream.

In exchange, Nivalis solemnly promised that from now on, she would wipe herself clean after using the bathroom.

To ensure this, once they returned home, Rita placed a wet towel next to the dragon's toilet, so Nivalis could wipe herself down after every bathroom visit.

This whole issue was indeed Rita's oversight. She had been asking Nivalis to clean up after herself without realizing that the little dragon's arms were too short to reach!

With her wings being so dexterous, Rita had forgotten about her short arms entirely!