This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rita: "How about we both take a step back? You return the domino to me, and I'll give you a bottle of mid-level Forgetting Potion. You drink it, and then I'll let you go."

PhantomDancer: "You can't kill me. I have the Fragrance Blade personally marked by the Mistblade Moon Emperor. If you kill me, you'll be branded. Even though my emperor won't seek revenge from the dragon race for me, you won't be able to escape."

Rita: "Fragrance Blade? Never heard of it. I don't believe it. Ha, so funny. Who's afraid of such a thing?"

She laughed out loud, but in reality, she was deeply concerned...

Although she didn't know exactly how the Fragrance Blade worked, she was aware of how deeply the Moon Fox Clan studied fragrances, not to mention that she didn't want any connection with the Mistblade Moon Emperor right now.

...In the end, she had been outwitted by too much culture.

The standoff between one human, one dragon, and one Moon Fox lasted for several minutes.

During that time, Rita listened to many of PhantomDancer's rants about the lack of culture among Blue Star people, and lectures on the Fragrance Blade—how, as soon as he dies, the Fragrance Blade will transfer to Rita, and all Moon Foxes who see her will know she killed a member of the Moon Fox royal family. The Fragrance Blade will then avenge him.

Rita asked, "Does the Fragrance Blade mark everyone who hurts you, or only the one who kills you?"

PhantomDancer: "Of course, it marks everyone who hurts me before I die."

PhantomDancer: "It's not that magical, I'm not some big shot... But I guess it's true. At the moment of my death, the Fragrance Blade will mark the closest foreigner to me. I'm not lying."

After getting the answer she wanted, Rita didn't want to wait any longer. Not only because her mana was nearly depleted, but also because the longer she waited, the higher the risk of exposure. This place wasn't as remote anymore, and someone might hear the commotion and come running.

She gave Nivalis a look: "Go! Get him down to low health."

Nivalis understood immediately and began reading her skill bar.

As soon as Rita saw the magic runes light up in Nivalis' eyes, she froze—Aurora Shield, Aurora Shield, Aurora Shield... again with Aurora Shield!

She almost had the words to activate Aurora Shield memorized. Sooner or later, she would have to find a way to disable this skill...

Forget it... I'll handle it myself.

Rita sent a mental message to Nivalis: "Don't make a sound from here on out."

She then canceled the effect of *We're Not Familiar, but That's Okay.*, pulled out a *Crushed Soda Can*, tossed it casually, and kicked it lightly. The can instantly flew into the woods. Then, she used *I'm in a Hurry* to teleport next to PhantomDancer, gently raising her hand to strike, sending a snowflake-shaped ice flower toward him.

PhantomDancer dodged clumsily, even using a very long-cooldown skill to escape. He exclaimed, "You dare!"

Before he could finish the word "dare," he was stunned.

But since he specialized in mental-type skills, his resistance to such attacks was high. In less than a second, he regained his senses, having used up a precious skill to dodge the ice flower Rita had curved toward him.

He quickly realized that the object kicked by the Blue Star person was suspicious, but he couldn't figure it out. He could only begin retaliating at his own pace.

—*Mind Bind*!!

The next second, PhantomDancer froze in place, mouth agape, starting to laugh foolishly, drooling and babbling incoherently—he was so out of it that he almost sat down and chewed on his big toe.

Rita: "Ha~!"

Although she couldn't scan his skill library, she was able to see PhantomDancer's talent *I'm Starting to Think*, which had divine gifts related to mental-type skills.

She was genuinely worried this guy might have some other powerful attack skills.

Seeing that PhantomDancer was still drooling, Rita took out a *Intermediate Sleep Potion* that would put someone to sleep for six hours. She poured it into his drooling mouth, then dragged the unconscious Moon Fox to Nivalis, giving her a look to make sure she kept an eye on him.

Then, she happily went to pick up the soda can...

The determined way she had kicked the can earlier now seemed to contrast with how urgently she picked it up.

By the time she returned with the can, Nivalis was still deep in thought. Rita asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

Nivalis gave her a long, sad look. "How am I supposed to fight if I can't make any sound? Why are you restricting me like this? Is it because I'm too powerful?"

Rita: "...Why do you love using Aurora Shield so much?"

Nivalis: "Because it's my strongest skill."

Rita asked earnestly: "So, in all your years, has your Aurora Shield ever hit anyone?"

Nivalis: "..."

Nivalis looked utterly stunned, as if his faith had been shattered, and it was like he had uncovered a huge secret: No! It has never hit anyone!

Rita: "It feels like I'm bullying a mentally challenged elementary student."

After dragging PhantomDancer all the way back to her place, Rita shut the curtains, placed the Moon Fox on the ground, and expertly adjusted its luck to 1. She then started using *I'll Take This, This, and This* repeatedly.

When her health dropped too low, she ate food for healing or used the Fountain of Light.

After stealing for over two hours, she finally acquired seven pieces of equipment and five intelligence points, and at last, got back the *50,000*.

She placed the *50,000* along with the previous *6Tong* and *30,000* together but still couldn't figure out what they were.

When she had previously dug up the *30,000*, she had shown it to Nivalis, who said he didn't know what it was. Thinking about PhantomDancer's thoughts, she asked Nivalis, "Have you ever heard any dragons mention these dominoes?"

Nivalis, who was playing a game, shook his head: "No."

Rita tried to list the items on the auction house to see if it would recognize what they were, but the auction house showed only the simple words: *30,000*.

Rita even took some time to search the auction house for every variation of Mahjong, but found nothing. She then put the three dominoes in a metal box and hid them in the magician's fake teeth.

Once she collected enough, she would figure it out.

The next issue was how to deal with PhantomDancer.

Killing him was inevitable.

The question was who should do the killing...

The White Family? The White Family's security level had definitely increased by now.

The Lopez Family? Not necessary for now. The Lopez Family and Black Jade would likely clash soon. Adding a Moon Fox would make it easy for Rick and Zoey to exploit the situation—perhaps they could trick the Moon Fox and Black Jade into fighting each other.

Rick? He was currently with Black Jade, and there were definitely people from the Special Affairs Bureau nearby watching. Not ideal.

The best choice would be the Taylor Family...

But how could she get him there so far?

Rita glanced at the time; it was already 6 PM.

Fine, sending him to the Taylor Family wouldn't be too bad.

It was better than keeping PhantomDancer here. As long as he was alive, she wouldn't be able to relax, even if he was unconscious.