This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Chapter 359 The Role of Moon Sand!

Rita remembered vividly—she'd obtained her very first World's Grave back at the end of August. Only 150 days to use it?

That meant if she didn't want her 6-Dot to vanish, she'd have to use it before the end of January—at the very latest, January 15th. The same day Mistblade had set for their meeting. Coincidence?

Rita frowned deeply. This critical information wasn't mentioned anywhere in the descriptions of items from the World's Grave Forest. Were there other hidden details she didn't know about?

After having a simple meal with Nivalis and Kayden, cooked by none other than herself, Rita finally left. The dishes she made, all with scores over 90, left a significant impression—Kayden even licked her bowl clean.

Once Rita was gone, Kayden returned to the alchemy shop, calling out, "Apache, I'm back!"

Apache, still stirring a bubbling cauldron, didn't even glance up. "You took Ravenclaw home with you?" Although Apache knew Rita's real name, she never used it in the shop, and neither did Kayden.

"Yes, I did."

"Unusual for you to invite an outsider to that little den of yours."

"Ravenclaw isn't an outsider. She's my friend!"

Apache finally raised her eyes, her curiosity piqued, only to catch sight of Kayden's cheerful silhouette. The little undead hummed a nursery rhyme as she stood on tiptoe, organizing potions and gemstones on the shelves.

Rita, on the other hand, spent almost her entire day rushing around. By the time she returned to Blue Star, it was already the early morning hours of the 26th.

The first thing she did was stealthily head to the Lopez Family Estate, using Wrathful Moon to rewind herself back to the exact moment on the 15th when she had resurrected Zoey with her Cotton Candy skill.

The nature of time travel immediately threw her into a brief mental loop. If she returned to a point before she used Cotton Candy to resurrect Zoey, wouldn't that mean her act of resurrection never happened? Would the Zoey of her current timeline cease to exist?

The realization struck her that this paradox was accounted for by the One-Person Party skill itself. When her past self was still actively in a party, the skill refused to activate—it simply didn't work.

Attempting to skirt around her "past self" and restrict Zoey's resurrection rule using the Party Codex only gave her a window of 2 minutes. It was far too short to sever Zoey's resurrection skill completely. When she noticed Zoey's signature item, Sweetwine, wasn't dropped after her death, it became clear the resurrection cooldown hadn't been interrupted.

There was one other method—traveling back to a point before she even arrived at the Lopez Family Estate. But after calculating the timeline, including Zoey's massacre of the estate, their conversation, and their duel, it was clear the entire sequence had lasted far longer than 10 minutes, making it impossible to avoid encountering herself.

Frustrated and annoyed, Rita returned to the present timeline.

She spent the rest of the night in her study, continuing her work on Spring Not Late. She left Nivalis in charge of feeding the cats in the backyard, deciding to save the "cat-petting" session for New Year's Day as a small celebration.

By the time she finally finished and went to bed, it was 4 a.m. But her rest was cut short just four hours later by a phone call from Shadow.Q.

Still groggy, she picked up. It took her a moment to realize the call wasn't through the game chat but a real-world phone line. "Hello?"

On the other end, Shadow.Q's voice sounded nonchalant. "Hey, Rick. Satellite imagery shows that an alien force is gathering under the sea. Eclipse Vanguard is forming several teams to investigate and search for dungeon entrances. Want in?"

Rick? The nickname was unusual—it had a strangely personal tone.

Rita opened her eyes, sleepiness instantly fading. Shadow.Q never called her that. It had to be a deliberate choice, likely a subtle warning for her to be cautious.

"Nope." Her tone remained lazy and indifferent as she declined without hesitation.

Although Rita sought to use Eclipse Vanguard as a shield against those plotting against her, she had no intention of getting overly involved. She had too much on her plate already.

Spring Not Late still needed refining, and she needed to begin stockpiling moonlight for her Wrathful Moon, even though it was still upgrading and couldn't store any for now. There was also Nivalis' debt of aura points she had promised to repay.

On top of that, she still had to ignite her orange-red wings using lightning—a task that required her to chase after thunderstorms. Then there was the world battlefield on the 15th of next month. Before that, she wanted to explore Miyaas' lair.

Let's not even mention copying the martial arts manuals she'd stolen from Moonfox City for later sale. If she sold them to the general player base, it could boost her reputation, but if she sold them directly to Eclipse Vanguard, the profits would be far greater. It was a dilemma she hadn't resolved yet.

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"Fair enough," Shadow.Q replied, his voice as calm as ever. "I was just going through the motions of asking. Mainly, I wanted to see what you know about Moon Sand in relation to Fate Out of Sync."

Moon Sand? Why was Shadow.Q bringing that up?

Rita's thoughts raced. If Shadow.Q was deliberately asking over the phone rather than in-game chat, it was likely because Eclipse Vanguard wanted to listen in. Were they conducting a lie detection test?

The game's chat interface was private, but real-world speech could be analyzed. Shadow.Q's choice of words was also highly calculated—he hadn't asked, "Do you know where the Moon Sand went?" because that would leave no room for evasion. This was his way of helping her out.

But why was Eclipse Vanguard so serious about this? What was so important about Moon Sand that they'd risk straining their relationship with her just to confirm its whereabouts?

Instead of answering, Rita shot back a question of her own. "So, you've figured out what Moon Sand does?"

Her tone was confident, and Shadow.Q didn't bother with pleasantries. He went straight to the point: "It allows you to redraw your divine talent."

Rita's hand froze mid-air as she twirled Nivalis' tail. Her mind raced. "How many grams does it take to redraw once?"

"10 grams," Shadow.Q replied. "But there's no guarantee you'll get something better. We've been running tests with the Moon Sand you sold to Eclipse Vanguard, pairing it with time-related divine talents. The results are the same as when we tested it during the beta—it's a completely random draw."

Rita was silent for a long time. So, Moon Sand was this powerful? No wonder Eclipse Vanguard treated it with such gravity.

The ability to redraw divine talents was essentially a chance to rewrite fate.

Many talented players who excelled in combat or strategy but were stuck with subpar divine talents could get a second chance. Even though it was random, pairing it with luck-altering skills like Feeling Blessed could tilt the odds in their favor.

Even if the results were lackluster, Moon Sand could still serve as an exclusive resource to incentivize players to join Eclipse Vanguard.

Redrawing divine talents—a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change one's destiny. The potential profit and strategic value were immeasurable.