This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rita watched as Rick's head quietly lowered, seemingly focused on his meal, but she knew this was his habitual way of hiding his expression.

*Is he interested?* She mused. *Of course, he couldn't help but be.*

The reasons Zoey wanted the Flood Dragon all applied to Rick as well: to grow stronger, gain control, and confront his hidden enemies. Rita only needed to subtly ignite this spark of interest, and soon, it was clear her words had sparked a wildfire in Rick's mind.

*"What's a contract? If I get the Flood Dragon, I can make it restrain Zoey and force her to alter the terms."*

*"So what if my attributes and life points were reduced? Would she dare gamble with her own life?"*

*"Sure, Zoey promised to find me a dragon after this… but what if it never happens?"* Rita seized this line of thought, gently nudging it further.

*"What if she doesn't fulfill her promise? A Flood Dragon alone costs 300 'Songs of Hope'—would Zoey really be willing to pay that much for me?"*

Rick's thoughts continued:

*"Exactly… would Zoey really go that far for me? Even if she keeps her word, she could still put it off for years."*

*"Only what's in my own hands is truly mine…"*

*"I heard even Nivalis's dragon dung can be sold for money—what about a Flood Dragon's blood and scales?"*

*"A Flood Dragon… it had to be a Flood Dragon… is this destiny's way of telling me that gaining this dragon is my chance to become a dragon myself?"*

Rick's mind raced faster, his unease growing, and he blamed this restlessness on how long it had taken him to reach this realization.

Meanwhile, Rita sipped her bottomless coffee mug, sipping to restore her mana as she listened to Rick's thoughts. Hearing him say, *"It's my time to become a dragon,"* made her nearly choke on a small burst of laughter.

*That level of self-assuredness… she wouldn't have dared push his thoughts in that direction, fearing he'd snap back to reality from cringing at his own bravado.*

*Just how many male protagonist novels had he eaten up to develop thoughts like these?*

As much as Rita wanted to keep listening, the mana drain was simply too intense—each minute of mind-reading cost her 1% of her mana, a price she couldn't afford.

Her current mana pool, with all her gear on, exceeded 4,000. Listening to Rick's thoughts for one minute consumed over 400 mana points. Her coffee, which only replenished 500 mana per cup, barely made a dent.

Rita rarely faced mana shortages, but now it seemed time to seek better mana replenishment options. Besides the heavy mana cost, she also had to frequently adjust her health stats to make her consumption look less conspicuous.

When they'd been sitting around listening to the *Song of Hope* at Zoey's place, if she had been caught adjusting her stats with no apparent reason, it would have raised suspicions. But here, while everyone was resting, her fluctuating mana bar would likely be seen as her healing herself or casting buffs.

After storing her coffee cup, she added a final suggestion to Rick's thoughts: *"No one has seen another dragon worldwide so far; this Flood Dragon might be the last dragon-related creature… Even if I find a real dragon later, it could be traded. But if I miss this chance, I might never encounter a dragon again."*

Then she canceled the mind-reading skill.

---

When everyone resumed their positions, the male commander retracted the bronze bell, and the Flood Dragon was visibly incensed. The bell had immobilized it, deprived it of its senses, and drained its mana.

Rita had used her *Insight* skill on the bronze bell the moment the male commander threw it.

It was clearly an ancient, mutated artifact. While she wasn't particularly envious of it, she felt wary—one day she might face something like it. A tool that could ignore level, attributes, or size and simply freeze a target in place was indeed dangerous.

But after using *Insight,* she felt reassured. The item could only immobilize one life form and couldn't be used on another of its kind.

The Flood Dragon, once freed, lashed out in a brief burst, only to be knocked back by the pre-set traps.

The Special Affairs Bureau had obviously come well-prepared. Though Rita had fought with these 94 people multiple times, she noticed they grew more coordinated each time they battled the Flood Dragon.

She suspected they'd been secretly practicing on other boss-level beasts.

Once the second half of the boss battle started, things progressed even more smoothly. The players were well-rested, while Black Jade had not recovered. Even its skills had long since gone on cooldown.

The Flood Dragon almost looked visibly weary, like a middle-aged man exhausted from working late nights.

The battle continued until 2 a.m. on the 16th. When the Flood Dragon's health finally hit 30%, it suddenly sealed off all the air within a thousand-meter radius—a move no one expected.

But this time, when the male and female commanders issued the retreat order, they instructed everyone to retreat to the dungeon entrance but not to leave.

As Rita and the others made their way to the dungeon entrance, they could finally breathe again, but everyone was out of healing resources. Even Rita's *Fountain of Light* was on cooldown.

The female commander called, "Team A, head out," and she patted Rita. "You're out too."

Rita was confused but followed "Team A" out. Stepping outside, she was momentarily stunned.

Outside stood hundreds of people. As soon as Rita and Team A emerged, healing spells rained down on them, followed by various buff spells. In less than a minute, they were fully restored, and Rita and Team A returned to the dungeon while the next team emerged to be healed.

Back in action, Rita asked Shadow.Q, "Was this tactic prepared in advance?"

Shadow.Q nodded. "Yes, we didn't expect to use it this early, but today, there's a good chance we might win."

This tactic wasn't solely designed for the Flood Dragon. Now that levels 11 and 12 dungeons had been unlocked, this method had helped conquer them one by one.

Rita didn't bother asking why they didn't lure the Flood Dragon outside. She had swept her gaze over the support players outside; they were all below level 7, and many lacked complete gear. If they couldn't dodge the Flood Dragon's ultimate moves, they'd be wiped out instantly.

Only by having elite players at the forefront with support behind could they minimize casualties.

Using this almost "cheat-like" tactic, the Flood Dragon's health quickly dropped to 10%.

*—"Health at 10%, Mana at 17%, Weakness and Paralysis ended, Lockdown state over, Doom Curse at 27 seconds remaining, Bleeding state at 12 seconds remaining."*

The player monitoring the battle loudly reported the Flood Dragon's status.

Several players were severely injured and near death, so Shadow.Q teleported them to the dungeon entrance, where they were immediately tended to by waiting healers outside. The dungeon's locking mechanism prevented non-combatants from entering once the fight began, so support players couldn't join the battle directly.

"Zoey, prepare yourself!"