This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 305: "I Can’t Die Here"

The Essence stat didn’t increase any further after several minutes, but the Wrathful Moon in the lantern was still glowing brightly, as if it were in a good mood. Rita reduced the size of the lantern and carefully placed it back into her pocket watch.

She thought about her Thief God skill. If she had used the Essence Version of The Thief God’s Theft, Which Can Also Be Robbery to steal Rick’s Food God skill back then, would she have been able to steal all five of his skills in one go?

Nivalis: "Did you get Essence?!"

Rita: "Yep, I can score big with it. Some people can’t hit the jackpot, but they’ve got Essence. Seven points, to be exact."

Nivalis: "You... you..."

Rita: "Sorry, I’m not great with words. I didn’t mean to offend you."

Nivalis went silent on the other side.

Rita: "Ah, cold treatment."

The next day, Rita, carrying a still-sleeping Nivalis—who had been up all night playing Mahjong—on her shoulder, arrived at the Special Affairs Bureau. Thankfully, Nivalis had turned small before going to sleep; otherwise, Rita wouldn’t have wanted to carry her.

Yesterday, Shadow.Q had notified her via email to come and collect her equipment and skill crystals from the Special Affairs Bureau.

When Rita arrived, a full table of equipment had been set out, all purple-tier. They could pick freely, with each item labeled to show 1-3 units in stock. In case several people wanted the same item, there were dice next to them for everyone to roll.

The equipment wasn’t divided by gender, and the items for Lania Kaia had been enhanced with a unique and inexpensive material. This material added 50% stretchability (either plus or minus) to the gear, allowing it to automatically fit the body. Even if it was gear made for Blue Star’s slim players, it could fit them, though it might be a bit tight.

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Special Affairs Bureau had even prepared two sets of level-15 gear, clearly meant for her. There were also sets for Nivalis, but they were only small enough for her to wear when transformed. It was rare for non-humanoid creatures to wear gear. Most of the time, they weren’t used to it, and equipment made for them consumed materials that were several hundred to thousand times more expensive, so no master would waste precious resources crafting items for them.

Rita’s accessory slots were already occupied by a necklace that reduced cooldowns and the Fire Spirit Ring, so she didn’t take any more accessories unless they reduced cooldown times.

When she had first been reborn, she had searched high and low for jewelry and weapons, gambling on mutations to earn money. Back then, finding a few blue-tier items was a huge fortune to her. She even thought of herself as the richest person in the world.

But now, those things didn’t seem as valuable. Her inventory was packed with equipment, most of which she kept in storage boxes, not for sale but to switch out for different appearances when needed.

She finally selected a headband, arm guards, gloves, pants, and shoes at level 15, along with a purple-tier bow. She hadn’t had any level 15 gear before, and these items were crafted by Blue Star’s top seamstresses and blacksmiths, based on the maker’s name engraved on each.

On the side of the table, there were ten metal hand spikes and a small glass bottle, about 10 centimeters long, made from a combination of Blue Star and Lania Kaia materials, mixed with special S-level Divine Gifts to create an SS-level weapon.

There were no skills attached, only the weapon trait—Piercing.

Eclipse Vanguard had likely tested these items before distributing them, and they were intended to be used to harvest Moon Sand from the three pointers. The glass bottle was a special container with huge capacity, used for holding the Moon Sand.

There were also eleven wooden boxes, each containing a high-level translator, thirty skill crystals, five equipment binding stones, and a D-level skill Master of Slacking.

Master of Slacking allowed you to check the time at any point, even when failing and restarting from the Tower, and the recorded time wouldn’t reset. One of the equipment binding stones had to be used for the translator.

Rita glanced over her already-bound equipment and couldn’t bear to part with any of it. She decided to check her translators with Renovation after returning to make sure they were working properly before binding them.

Each person received the same set of items, and Eclipse Vanguard had also prepared a set for Nivalis.

Most of the skill crystals were A-level or higher, and there were even nine S-level ones. Only four B-level crystals were included, two of which were Young Rogue and Old Rogue from the Gun King, and two Feeling Blessed crystals, which could alter luck.

The rest of the skill crystals were prepared for use before or after entering the Tower. Before entering, they included ones for city disguise and willpower boosts; after exiting, they included escape and survival skills—such as ones that could forcefully break bindings, lock health bars, instantly return to Blue Star, ignore mental attacks and magic arrays for a short time, and even one that could stop time.

Eclipse Vanguard’s plan was to use time-stop skills in turns, and then use the S-level needles to puncture the three pointers to collect and clear the Moon Sand, with a dedicated team to repair it afterward.

However, Rita was not part of this plan. She had made it clear that she didn’t need to cooperate with anyone, so Eclipse Vanguard hadn’t assigned her any tasks. She could act according to the situation and make her own decisions.

Rita always felt like Eclipse Vanguard was treating her like the main character of a novel, trusting her so much… she couldn’t help but wonder if they had some method to predict her actions. Jameson could discern her star fire, but what about Eclipse Vanguard?

Even though she had known about these plans for a long time, actually receiving the skill crystals still surprised her. With these crystals, equipped with her current strength and vision, if she stood on the opposing side, she couldn’t think of any way to block them. Lightning cages and common sleep gas cans wouldn’t work.

Just then, Shadow.Q walked over, holding her box of skill crystals.

"You can exchange the two Feeling Blessed crystals for any S-level or below skill crystal, or trade them for one S-level skill crystal. Let me know once you decide, and I’ll arrange it."

Rita immediately took out the two crystals and handed them to Shadow.Q: "Exchange for one I Can’t Die Here."

I Can’t Die Here (S-level): For five minutes, all binding skills will have no effect on you. If your HP falls below 5%, you will immediately gain a shield, the total damage the shield can absorb is equivalent to 500% of your HP. If the second effect is triggered, every minute after ten minutes, 88% of your HP will be forcibly drained for five minutes. Casting time: 1 second. 500 MP cost. Cooldown: 3 hours.

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It was an incredibly powerful skill, and she was also quite interested in another skill from the same source.