This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Once fully equipped, Rita's health was just over 4,000—barely enough to survive two hits from the dragon. But her speed was unparalleled, and she never got greedy for damage, making it nearly impossible for the dragon to land a direct hit. The dragon had to resort to area-of-effect attacks instead.

Even when the young dragon used its wide-range *Divine Gift* spells, it made little difference. Rita could teleport a hundred meters away in an instant. And even when the dragon managed to graze her with an attack, Rita had countless healing methods at her disposal.

The battle was going far better than Rita had anticipated. Although a direct hit from the dragon could knock off 90% of her health, she had plenty of ways to heal: her skills *Emerald Feast* and *Fountain of Light*, various healing potions from basic to advanced, *Ginseng Essence*, and numerous buffing foods.

And if worse came to worst, she still had the *Blood Bodhi* in her inventory, which could grant her five seconds of invincibility.

Rita realized quickly that the dragon, though powerful, was a bit… slow. Instead of using basic attacks, which could still deal significant damage, the dragon seemed addicted to flashy, drawn-out spells that took too long to charge.

In fact, once the two became somewhat familiar with each other—or perhaps because the dragon was embarrassed by constantly missing—she started announcing her moves aloud before casting.

Dragon: "Aurora Veil!"

Rita reflexively asked, "What element is that?"

The dragon paused mid-cast and solemnly explained, "Ice, my strongest ice spell." Then she resumed her charge.

Rita: "Thanks…"

Rita couldn't help but wonder if having such a pet might lower her own intelligence. This dragon was a bit slow.

The fight dragged on from 5 p.m. until 1 a.m., lasting a grueling eight hours!

At one point, the dragon's health dropped to 30%, only for it to fully restore its health and mana using a *Divine Gift* ability. And it did this *twice*. Even though Rita had mentally prepared for such things, it nearly made her cough up blood in frustration.

There was even a little comedic interlude. Throughout the battle, Rita had to stop every so often to eat something for buffs. She kept munching on food while the dragon, seeing this, couldn't help but grow envious. By the third hour, the dragon couldn't take it anymore and roared, "You're eating again! That's cheating! I want a break too—let's stop for ten minutes so I can eat something!"

Rita, panting between dodges, retorted, "But if you eat, you'll heal."

Dragon: "You're healing too when you eat!"

Rita: "But it's my food."

Dragon: "… Fine, you give me food, and then we can keep fighting. If my health drops below 15%, I'll count it as my loss."

Rita quickly agreed. She needed a break too, and with the dragon having just healed back up to 93%, she didn't stand to lose much.

Two hours later…

Dragon: "How about we say 20%? I'll lose if I drop below 20%."

Two more hours later…

Dragon: "Maybe 25%? Just a little more food…"

Rita: "…"

In the end, they ate three meals over the course of their eight-hour fight. Luckily, Rita had plenty of food, thanks to her cooking practice. She had initially prepared extra meals to trade to Shadow.Q for favors from the government, but instead, she ended up feeding a bottomless pit of a dragon.

When the dragon's health finally dropped to 25% again, Rita, out of breath and dodging more attacks, asked, "Would you consider signing a contract with me? I promise I'll treat you like a friend. I'll provide food and shelter, and we can go on adventures together. Don't you find this place boring?"

Unlike the invaders from Lania Kaia, dragons were rare and not particularly keen on attacking Blue Star. In fact, over the course of the three years she had lived through in her previous life, Rita had only ever encountered this one dragon.

The young dragon was already exhausted and had long realized that this human was too tricky to defeat. *She's impossible to get rid of!*

All the dragon needed now was an excuse to give up. Her attacks were slowing, and her next roar wasn't so much a battle cry as a signal.

Luckily, Rita's translator was top-tier, and she could understand the dragon's words perfectly.

"Humph, really? I don't believe you."

The dragon's slower attacks made it clear she was looking for an out. Rita, quick to pick up on the cues, offered her an easy exit. "I swear it's true. We'll sign an equal contract."

"I won't force you to do anything you don't want to, and I won't harm you. All I need is for you to protect me because, honestly, I'm weak. I need a strong, beautiful dragon to watch over me."

This wasn't just giving the dragon an out; it was laying out a red carpet with fireworks and a starry background.

The dragon perked up, her mood visibly improving as she decided to accept with a flourish.

She plopped down, her large belly hitting the ground with a thud. *What a battle! She had never fought for this long in her life!*

"Bring the contract over," she said, holding her head high and extending a claw. "You seem alright. I'll protect you."

Truth be told, the dragon was tired of guarding this mountain. If she had known how boring it would be, she wouldn't have seized the opportunity to come here in the first place. Blue Star wasn't as fun as she had imagined—it was dull, and she was stuck here.

Most importantly, this human had proven to be strong enough. Despite being weaker in level and stats, she had defeated the dragon with sheer ability. The dragon could tell that if she didn't surrender, this human would have just kept wearing her down.

Rita cautiously approached, still prepared to teleport away at a moment's notice. The dragon had proven to be honorable, but Rita had long learned to stay on guard. She spread the contract out on the ground. "You can check it."

The dragon grabbed the contract with her claw, carefully inspecting it. Satisfied that everything was in order, she pricked herself, drawing a bit of her own blood to write her name in elegant, complex symbols.

Rita followed suit, pricking her finger and signing her name in blood.

As soon as she completed the final stroke of the "A" in her name, the symbols on the contract glowed gold, and a few seconds later, the scroll dissolved into two glowing orbs that flew into the foreheads of both Rita and the dragon.

The dragon scratched her name into the ground with a claw, slowly introducing herself. "My name is Nivalis."

Even without the translator, Rita could now understand her perfectly.

Rita looked up at the beautiful young dragon, grinning brightly. "Hello, Nivalis. I'm Rita."

At the same moment, a system notification rang out with a world announcement.

**[World Announcement: A player has successfully signed a pet contract with a mythical creature. The Pet Ranking function is now available.]**

**[Ding—Player Rita and her pet Nivalis have entered the Pet Rankings. Would you like to conceal this information?]**n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Rita instantly selected **No**.

There was no point in hiding it. Unless she never let Nivalis out of her pet space, this would be impossible to keep secret. So why bother?

Opening the new Pet Rankings interface, Rita saw her name already at the top.

**Pet | Level | Species | Contract Holder**

Nivalis | Level 14 | Dragon | Rita

Her private messages immediately exploded—even though she had restricted her messages to friends only.

Shadow.Q, Rick, Zoey, Samuel, Skylar, her trainers—practically everyone in her contact list had messaged her.

Even her email inbox had gone berserk, with over 99,000+ unread messages in an instant.

It was 1 a.m., and everyone was still awake?