This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Samuel had recently begun to feel that perhaps the Wilson family's feng shui was off. His daughter had quit the entertainment industry, and his son had been involved in several incidents. To top it off, the family treasures, which had just been repaired, had been swapped with fakes.

He had even considered the possibility that Rick was behind the switch. After all, who gets so mad that they destroy family heirlooms? Had Rick staged the whole "emotional breakdown" as a cover to break the fakes? Maybe he hadn't expected Samuel to find a player to repair them.

But suspicions aside, Rick was now part of the **Lopez** family. Even if Samuel had his doubts, he had to pretend otherwise. What else could he do?

Now Rick had angered the **Jones** family!

Even though the whole situation had nothing to do with Rick, and the **Jones** family had identified the perpetrator through surveillance footage—a member of the **White** family—there was no easy way for them to let this go. The Jones family couldn't lash out at the White family, and directly confronting them wouldn't accomplish much. However, the Jones family wasn't powerless.

Even if they couldn't touch the White family, the rest of Rick's studio was fair game. As for Rick, who was only considered a half-member of the Lopez family, well, he was essentially just a "live-in son-in-law." As long as the Jones family didn't escalate things too far, they could still hold Rick's group accountable.

Their youngest son had lost his eyes at Rick's studio. It was only fair that someone took responsibility. The Jones family could argue that the trouble had been stirred up by Rick's group and that their son had taken the hit for it.

They conveniently ignored the actual culprit and targeted Rick, demanding an explanation.

Rick, **Julian**, and the rest of their team were under serious pressure. Even though their backgrounds were comparable to the Jones family's, their situation was complicated. As players, they had unpredictable abilities, but they couldn't handle this kind of issue alone.

Rick, in particular, was stressed to the breaking point. Not only had his attribute points inexplicably dropped by three, but he'd also lost several pieces of equipment and an important item. He was still trying to wrap his head around those losses when Aaron's eyes were gouged out.

Rita heard that the matter had been "resolved" by the 19th, when Rick called to invite her to dinner at the Wilson house. He wanted to introduce some of his friends to the family—a situation that mirrored what had happened in her past life. Out of curiosity, Rita privately asked Scarlett about the details, and her mother happily spilled everything she knew.

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It turned out that Rick had, unsurprisingly, handled the situation on his own. He had given Aaron an **A-rank Mystic Eye**, a valuable item that saved Aaron from permanent blindness. Not only did it prevent Aaron from becoming disabled, but it also provided him with a rare and powerful tool that would be almost impossible to buy. The Jones family was pleased with this outcome.

If the rumored fourth beta test really took place, Aaron would enter the game with a significant advantage thanks to his Mystic Eye, making him far more powerful than the average new player.

The Jones family naturally made peace with Rick, and Aaron, along with the rest of Rick's friends, became even more loyal to him.

Rita was speechless. She had spent days sneaking around in Rick's room, only managing to steal a few attribute points and some trash-tier gear. Where had Rick suddenly pulled an A-rank Mystic Eye from?

In her past life, she hadn't seen any sign of such an item on Rick.

And weren't the Jones family worried that someone might gouge Aaron's eye out again? Rick wasn't exactly known for being generous. If the Jones family didn't offer something in return, Rita was certain that Rick would try to reclaim the Mystic Eye somehow.

The next morning, before the sun was fully up, Rita arrived at the Wilson family villa. She wasn't there out of eagerness to meet Rick's friends—no, she just wanted to be sure that Rick wouldn't sneak in early and cook her a meal. She couldn't risk eating anything he prepared. She needed to keep an eye on the situation the whole time to ensure her safety.

While pretending to relax on the couch watching TV, Rita was actually watching alchemy videos in her mind.

There's a reason they say it's best to start studying at 25.

When you're younger, you don't appreciate the value of learning. It's only after life smacks you around that you realize what skills you need to make serious money—like alchemy, for instance.

Despite the large sums of gold she was currently handling, in her previous life, she had struggled to hold onto even 10 gold coins during the first year of the game's invasion. The costs for potions, equipment, and skills were overwhelming, particularly potions.

Even though Earth had developed mass-produced healing drugs during the game's invasion, they all had cooldown periods. During battles, especially when fighting monsters, you needed to constantly heal—every minute, if possible. To do that, you had to juggle various healing items: basic potions, bandages, modernized healing pills, mutated red dates… anything that could restore HP.

If you wanted to be efficient in battle, healing potions were essential.

The cheapest healing potions in **Ranaya Kaia** sold for 1 silver, but on Earth, they could go for as much as 20 silver.

Thinking about the batch of potions she had sold to the Lopez family for 100g of gold still made Rita smile.

It wasn't as if the Lopez family didn't know the true value of those potions. But since they couldn't access **Ranaya Kaia** yet, they were willing to pay the price. The people who did go to **Ranaya Kaia** were too busy leveling up to spend time reselling potions. And even if they had the money, they'd rather invest it in their personal growth than wasting time on such trivial items.

The cost of traveling back and forth would outweigh the profits.

For the truly wealthy, 100g of gold wasn't much—about 50,000 dollars. That was pocket change for people who regularly spent even more on luxury items. A potion that could instantly restore health was worth every penny, even if they weren't players themselves.

Rita briefly considered asking **Gun King** to sell another batch to the Lopez family, but she quickly decided against it. With February 22nd just around the corner, the Lopez family, rich as they were, wouldn't want to be ripped off again. The 1,000 bottles she had already sold them were enough to prepare their family for emergencies.

By now, most of the major players were simply waiting for February 22nd. If the fourth beta did happen, they could just buy potions in the game. Unlike the large transaction for the 1,000 pieces of equipment, buying potions was a small matter. The Lopez family could scrape together 5 gold coins and buy them directly from a game store for 1 silver each if necessary.

Just as she was mulling things over, **Samuel** came over and sat down beside her. After some fatherly chit-chat, he got to the point: "Daughter… do you have any gold coins left? Could you lend me some?"

Rita gave Samuel a glance, then reached into her bag and handed him a gold coin. "This month's payment from the special bureau hasn't come in yet. You can use this for now. Don't talk about borrowing and lending between us." Ever since Samuel had become a player and gained his **Divine Gift**, he knew how difficult it was to earn gold.

Although the amount was less than he had hoped for, Samuel understood how tough it was to make money in the game. Many people considered themselves wealthy if they had just a few silver coins. He patted Rita on the shoulder and offered a few warm words of thanks.

Rita played along, letting the father-daughter scene unfold.

Not long after, Rick arrived at the villa with his five friends.