This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

*It's finally beginning!*

Even before the fight against the Flood Dragon started, Rita had covertly used *Another Happy Day* to adjust Rick's luck. She'd also brought along a spare *Another Happy Day* skill stone—one she hadn't yet handed over this month—as a backup, planning to find a way to replace it later. Now, despite it being under six hours since she last modified Rick's luck, she used it again to lower his luck to 1.

Meanwhile, Zoey took out the skill stone Rita had given her and crushed it, increasing her own luck to 10.

Unlike an equal contract, a pet contract doesn't require both parties to sign. The owner simply writes their name and then lets the blood of the beast soak the contract. If the beast still has enough strength, it can reject the contract. This is why they generally wait until a creature's health is below 20% or even 10% before attempting a contract—it minimizes the creature's chance of resisting.

Just as Zoey threw the contract toward the Flood Dragon's wound, the beast was struck by a shield bash, leaving it stunned. It felt a surge of panic, already planning how it would use this human contract to get closer to that dragon…

But the moment the contract touched it, an invisible force repelled it!

Rick exhaled in relief; he'd nearly jumped to intercept the contract but missed the chance, held back by a sudden wave of apprehension. As the contract bounced away, Black Jade relaxed internally, though it showed no sign on its face. With a commanding flick of its tail, it pointed at Rick and declared, "If I am to contract, I will only accept him!"

It sounded as if the Flood Dragon had a say in the matter.

Zoey's gaze grew icy as she looked at Rick, suspecting he'd done something behind her back. She sneered, "Do you think you get to choose your master?" She turned to Shadow.Q and demanded, "Under our agreement, are you not bound to help me subdue it?"

Shadow.Q immediately shouted, "Elijah, restrain it!"

The male commander Elijah selected several close-combat players, and they coordinated to throw chains from four directions, binding the Flood Dragon tightly.

Rick remained calm throughout, showing no reaction even when the Flood Dragon was restrained. He relaxed completely, giving Zoey a harmless smile.

Zoey, feeling a bit relieved, moved to retrieve her contract, which had been knocked away. Though she had immediately rushed toward it when it was first deflected, a gust seemed to carry it further off course. With no other players nearby, Zoey had to approach the contract herself.

Just as she bent down to pick it up, Rick made his move.

No one had anticipated that Rick would act.

No one had guessed he had a teleportation skill besides his sliding dash!

And he'd hidden it all this time!

He'd never used it during previous fights with the Flood Dragon, even when his health had dropped below 10%. But now, for the sake of the Flood Dragon, he finally revealed his trump card.

Not only his skills but his people.

The moment Rick teleported to the Flood Dragon's side, Aaron and Ezra sprang into action. Aaron blocked Zoey in the distance, and Ezra, coming up behind Lincoln, pressed a dagger to his throat.

In an instant, Rick slammed the contract he had prepared in advance, already bearing his name, onto the wound on the Flood Dragon's tail.

The Flood Dragon's tail even twitched slightly, as if voluntarily moving to meet the contract.

The Special Affairs Bureau players were stunned. They hadn't expected the "son-in-law" to betray them at the crucial moment. How dare he?

Even the top-tier players around him couldn't react in time. They were too slow to stop him.

And Rita, who had been watching Rick closely, didn't hesitate the moment she saw him raise the contract. She used *Another Happy Day* on Rick again, adjusting his luck down to 1 regardless of his current luck level.

With altered luck, the Flood Dragon's preference, Rick's amplified desire…

The suppressed frustration from his missing talents, his insecurity from losing attributes, his hunger for power, Rita's silent pressure, his complicated resentment towards Zoey…

Countless threads of fate converged at this moment.

*—Contract formed!!!*

Flood Dragon Black Jade, who had been cursing and struggling moments before, suddenly widened its green eyes, staring at the contract in the air. Red magic threads surged in its eyes, forming a magical symbol.

*[Moment of Reversal]* (SSS-Level): When a target inflicts any kind of harm upon you, you can use this skill to exchange any identical attribute between yourself and the target, thus reversing the situation. Unless you cancel it voluntarily, the skill will remain active, even if you or the target faces death. This skill may only be used once every seven natural days.

This skill was something it had realized upon seeing a true dragon for the first time.

At the time, it had just been born on the island of Daylight City, with all of its attributes at 1.

Its only Divine Gift was *Lucky Little Snake,* which included a single, silly skill called *Luck Grows With Hunger.*

It had been carried to the island by an amateur alchemist who needed fish dragon eggs for an experiment. By mistake, a common snake egg had been mixed into the batch.

The alchemist carelessly tossed it onto a trash heap, where no one bothered to eat it; it wasn't delicious or nutritious.

It was taken out of the city, its eggshell covered in cracks. The malnourished little snake hatched early in the trash pile, slithering away just before the heap was destroyed by a magical array.

Daylight City was an island in the sky. Little Snake had crawled all the way to the island's edge, finding nothing to eat. Just as it was about to faint from hunger, a black dragon appeared in the sky, lazily drifting through the clouds, its long whiskers stirring with the wind, its tail sweeping gracefully behind it.

It was so far, yet so vast, that a single tail swipe from the dragon nearly blew the tiny snake off the edge.

The dragon and the snake were, at their closest, less than a hundred meters apart.

The dragon's whiskers alone were hundreds of times thicker than Little Snake.

*"Next life, I'll grow up to look like that!"*

This was Little Snake's last thought before the magical storm knocked it out.

When it woke up, it discovered it had gained an SSS-level skill, its only skill beyond its innate gift—*[Moment of Reversal].*