This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

The hundred-person raid team disbanded, as discreetly as they had arrived, leaving only Shadow.Q and Zoey to discuss matters. From now on, on the 1st and 15th of every month, the Special Affairs Bureau would organize a hundred-person team to help Zoey contract the dragon until successful.

Starting from September 1st, however, Zoey would also have to fulfill her contract by singing *Hope's Anthem* for the players of the Special Affairs Bureau.

Although the team was not far from victory, they would need to level up a bit more. Once the average level reached 8, they should be able to handle the dragon. Until then, the Special Affairs Bureau would continue their dragon hunts, aiming to improve teamwork even if they couldn't defeat the dragon right away. The next attempt was scheduled for September 1st.

Zoey wasn't keen on leaving someone behind in the instance to prevent it from resetting. Clearing the smaller monsters still yielded rewards, and today she had already gained two pieces of level 12 equipment, not to mention the experience points.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Zoey wasn't too upset—after all, if even the Special Affairs Bureau's top-tier players couldn't take down the dragon, other factions stood no chance either. This meant she still had time to secure the dragon. She had already planned her strategy: if that anonymous seller offered the dragon's instance information every ten days, she would buy it every single time.

After Shadow.Q left, Rita turned down Rick's invitation for dinner and headed to the training camp for her lessons.

After she left, Ezra asked Rick, "Where did your sister train? Her movements feel different from normal players."

Zoey chimed in, "It's a Special Affairs Bureau program. Only players with deep cooperation with them can participate. I've heard it's really effective."

Rick nodded, "It sure looks like it. Did you notice that my sister's fighting skills—her shooting and dodging—have improved since the last time we teamed up?"

Zoey, who had been observing the players from the healing group, nodded, "I noticed it too."

Rick said thoughtfully, "Maybe we should ask about it? We're working with the Special Affairs Bureau now, after all."

He wanted to ask Shadow.Q directly but knew Zoey preferred to handle things herself. Zoey didn't like it when Rick made decisions on his own.

Zoey replied, "I'll contact the training camp. You handle finding out about the instance location. Offer whatever price is necessary, even if it means offering *Hope's Anthem*."

This time, Ezra couldn't be the one to handle negotiations. It was acceptable for Zoey to have monopolized the instance location once, but not every time. Discover hidden stories at empire

Anonymous offers were an option, but with thousands of players bidding in that forum thread, there was no guarantee the seller would even see an anonymous offer. The seller would likely prioritize famous players or those associated with top-100 ranked players to avoid wasting time on someone making random bids.

Rick thought over their options, looking for someone with enough clout but without obvious ties to them. Eventually, as Shadow.Q was walking two miles away, she received messages from both Zoey and Rick at the same time.

One asked if they could join the Special Affairs Bureau's training camp, while the other asked if she could buy out the instance's location on their behalf, offering 30 gold coins as compensation.

Shadow.Q, always happy to do business with big clients, responded quickly.

**Shadow.Q:** "Sure, one lesson for one *Hope's Anthem*."

**Zoey:** "Time is precious. Can we skip the back-and-forth negotiations and go straight to your best offer?"

**Shadow.Q:** "Two lessons for one *Hope's Anthem*, and each lesson is unlimited in length. You can train for three days straight if you want."

**Zoey:** "Fine, add Rick as well. How much?"

**Shadow.Q:** "Three lessons for two *Hope's Anthem*."

**Zoey:** "Never mind."

**Shadow.Q:** "So fragile, this elite love."

…

The deal took only two minutes to finalize, which even surprised Shadow.Q. She thought it would take much longer.

From previous negotiations, Shadow.Q had noticed Zoey had a complicated relationship with her *Hope's Anthem*. On the surface, she seemed to dislike it, almost despising the idea of using it. When Shadow.Q had first suggested a public concert series, Zoey's face had shown clear disgust.

Yet, at the same time, Zoey was proud of her ability—proud that her skill was an S-class Divine Gift. It was understandable. So far, only 12 S-class Divine Gifts had been identified within the country. Considering the population size, that number was astonishingly small, even accounting for those who might be hiding their gifts.

Having a bit of arrogance about an S-class ability was entirely normal.

In Zoey's eyes, her *Hope's Anthem* was incredibly valuable—not only because it was an S-class skill but because *she* was the one wielding it. To her, only a sky-high price would be worthy of its use.

Unlike Rita, who had practically put her abilities up for sale the day the game invaded.

Shadow.Q had no doubt that if Rita had possessed *Hope's Anthem*, she would have already held concerts, charging 5 silver coins per ticket and 1 gold coin for a monthly pass. After finishing her songs, Rita might even have stood on stage, tears in her eyes, thanking everyone for coming to her show.

To someone like Zoey, this kind of behavior would be unimaginable.

And yet, this time, the deal had gone so smoothly. Something had changed in Zoey. Perhaps it was the sight of those elite players, standing at the top of the pyramid, or maybe it was seeing the power of A-class Divine Gifts, which in the right hands could rival S-class abilities. Shadow.Q wasn't sure.

But when a proud person begins to let go of their arrogance, especially one with such an irreplaceable gift…

Who could say who would ultimately be the heir to the Lopez family?

There was just something strange about Zoey's stats. She was already level 7, but her attributes seemed closer to those of a level 4 player. Had she not allocated her points? How cool is that? No wonder she's the heiress.

…

Zoey was definitely feeling challenged.

After the game's beta, the Lopez family had started building their own team, but those players paled in comparison to the elite squad from today.

Zoey saw that nearly everyone had an A-class ability, each with unique skills. Even without those, their combat abilities were well-trained—clearly experienced fighters. Zoey doubted she could last three rounds against them, even with her many attack skills.

The only player with a B-class gift was Rita, but she was even stronger than the Special Affairs Bureau members.

The first time Zoey met Rita, her stats had been unimpressive. Rita hadn't even entered the game until the second beta test, yet now she possessed the world's only dragon.

Even if it was an equal contract, the fact that Rita could get her dragon to create magic markings that enhanced her strength was an impressive feat.