This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

After hanging up with Rick, Rita headed to Arpachi's lab in Lania Kaiya Star for her daily lessons. Though Arpachi was busy researching the unknown curse and only agreed to teach for two hours a day while brewing potions on the side, Rita cherished every minute of it.

She often attended lessons in her cat form, and after class, she'd stop by the restaurant to observe the master chefs at work. Rita was determined to improve her cooking skills. After all, dishes with a rating of over 95 had a 20% chance of increasing attributes upon consumption. That was far more valuable than leveling up.

By spending just a few hours grinding, her gains could match others who spent three days. She regularly checked the leaderboard to ensure she stayed within the top 100, but as long as her pace was steady, she wasn't too worried.

For the first half of March, Rita settled in J Province. Occasionally, she'd drive back to Los Angeles, run a few dungeons, whip up some food for the cats in her backyard, and check if anything new had appeared in the cat's magical nest.

During this time, the market price for healing potions started to drop. Initially, they were rare and could fetch a whole gold coin, but now the price had stabilized to 2 silver and 50 copper per bottle, with predictions suggesting a slight further drop. Still, if someone couldn't afford healing potions, they could visit a hospital for pills, injections, or even blood-clotting bandages.

There was also food therapy, and in the worst case, health would naturally regenerate over time if someone rested at home. Overall, people weren't in dire straits.

Rick continued to ask about the mechanical eyes, and Rita didn't delay for long. After receiving 80 gold from him, she quickly went to the auction house, spent 12 gold to gather the necessary materials, and forged two mechanical eyes, which she mailed to Rick.

Meanwhile, Rick held the two mechanical eyes in his hands, his gaze dark as he stared at Aaron's character panel, particularly at his Divine Gift.

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**Why?**

**Why do these losers get to have S-rank Divine Gifts?**

That day, Rick had finally acquired a tool that allowed him to **Insight** other players' abilities. His first target? Zoey.

**[Holy Light] (S-rank)**

- **Skill 1**: **Punishment** (Passive) – Each attack has a 50% chance to restore 10 health to the caster.

- **Skill 2**: **Hope** – Chant the Song of Hope. Those who hear it have a 15% chance to gain 1 attribute point. This bonus can only trigger once per 30 days for each individual.

- **Skill 3**: **Prayer** – Channel holy energy toward a target, dealing holy damage to enemies and reflecting 20% of that damage back to an allied target, restoring health equivalent to the reflected damage. Requires continuous channeling, consuming 10% mana per use, with no cooldown.

- **Skill 4**: **Penance** – At the start of each month, you can set a personal vow. If you strictly adhere to this vow throughout the month, you will gain attribute points. The harsher the vow, the more points you can gain, up to a maximum of 5.

Rick's eyes had burned with envy when he first saw this. A Divine Gift like this would make anyone the core of any team! But he managed to suppress his jealousy. After all, he and Zoey were more or less tied together by mutual interests now.

Still, there was one thing that pissed him off to no end.

**Despite being married to Zoey for so long, he had never once heard that damned Song of Hope! Not even once!**

When Rick arrived at his workshop, he checked in on the others. The most talented member of his team, Julian, had an A-rank Divine Gift. Everyone else was trash, which helped calm Rick down. He almost forgot about Aaron—until the mechanical eyes arrived.

**Why does this blind idiot have an S-rank Divine Gift too?**

**Are S-ranks just being handed out like candy these days?**

His fists clenched as the mechanical eyes creaked slightly in his grasp.

"Xiao Yu?" Aaron's voice trembled with unease. He'd heard Rick enter the room, along with the faint grinding noise of machinery.

Though Aaron was blind, he had an unsettling feeling that something wasn't right. His instincts told him to break the silence.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Rick quickly regained his composure. After all, Julian had followed him into the room. Julian had already noticed Rick holding the mechanical eyes and excitedly exclaimed, "Lin Zi, you're getting your sight back! How cool! These mechanical eyes are awesome!"

Rick forced a smile and placed the eyes in Aaron's hands. "Here you go. I was going to surprise you by sneaking them in while you slept, but since you're awake, why wait?"

Aaron pretended not to notice the strange atmosphere earlier and eagerly took the mechanical eyes. He removed his blindfold, carefully inserting the eyes into his empty sockets. After a brief sting, a familiar sense of wonder washed over him—the same feeling he had when he'd first received his magic eye.

Light flooded back into his world!

Though he had been blind for a long time, the mechanical eyes didn't overwhelm him with light. They felt natural, just like his original eyes. After a couple of blinks, he adjusted quickly and gazed tearfully at the people around him.

After a few moments, Aaron snapped out of it and immediately opened his character panel to check his Divine Gift.

When he saw the "S-" next to it, his heart sank. But then he noticed the **[Undying]** attribute, which completely grabbed his attention.

For a moment, Aaron felt a strange gratitude toward the mysterious person who had taken his eye but given him a heart in return.

At the same time, Rick noticed the curse icon beside Aaron's name.

**Rick wanted to curse out loud.**

Why was it that other people's curses granted them immortality? Was this really a curse, or was it a blessing?

Rick desperately wanted to know how he could get his hands on such a beneficial curse. But he couldn't ask. If he did, he'd expose the fact that he'd been using **Insight** to spy on people's private information. Even the strongest of bonds wouldn't survive that revelation.

Julian, always blunt, immediately asked about Aaron's Divine Gift. Aaron didn't mind sharing, and when he did, the entire workshop buzzed with excitement. With such a powerful ability, Aaron was destined to be among the top players, even though he had started late. The future of their workshop seemed bright.

Rick forced himself to endure the celebrations that lasted all afternoon.

Later that evening, when Aaron returned to the Jones family, another round of celebrations ensued.

Though Aaron had relied heavily on Rick and his team while he was blind, he never forgot the support he'd received from his family. Aaron was no fool—he knew the value of maintaining strong family ties. A good relationship with his family would only benefit his future endeavors.

When the Jones family learned that Aaron had an S-rank Divine Gift, they immediately allocated resources to help him catch up on the time he had lost. They sent him into dungeons to level up and provided him with plenty of equipment, potions, and gold.

The Jones family also knew how to show gratitude. Upon learning that Rita had crafted the mechanical eyes, they discovered that she was an intermediate engineer with connections to the Special Affairs Bureau. Despite Aaron's insistence that Rick had arranged the deal and paid extra, the Jones family sent Rita a gift—a brand-new sports car.

When Aaron found out the gift was a sports car, he said nothing.

It was just like the bed Rita had gifted Zoey and Rick years ago.

Completely useless.

But it sure looked impressive.