This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

All her stats were now at **40% of their original value**.

Rita once again entered **Silvermoon City**.

Through her shadow vision, she saw Rick taking on a quest—a high-level, multi-step chain quest, no less.

A few minutes later, Rita found Rick by comparing the in-game buildings to those on her screen.

**[By the Name of the Thief God, you attempt to steal the Divine Gift of Blood Elf Player Rick.]**

**[Theft successful—Divine Gift detected as too high level—Theft interrupted!]**

Rita glanced at the time: **10:57**.

There was no time left. Plus, in her current **severely weakened** state, she couldn\'t afford to die again. She had no idea what might happen if she did, and she wasn\'t about to gamble her life on her greed.

Even though the in-game status hadn\'t impacted her real-world body yet, hundreds of **Phantom Shifts** had left her physically and mentally drained, teetering on the edge of collapse.

Rita moved her character to the **Goblin District**.

Rich goblins were hard to find. She had to go from one goblin to another, exchanging small amounts here and there, wasting precious time before finally amassing **10,000 gold**.

By then, her **Disguise** time was down to **5 minutes**.

Rita hurried to the nearest city gate, slipping out of the city. But given her weakened condition, she didn\'t go far, opting to stand by the wall between the two gates instead.

Then, she logged off.

Closing her eyes, the overwhelming sense of **severe weakness** threatened to drown her, but she ignored it. She didn\'t even look at the loot she had gathered or the **watch** and **false tooth** in her inventory.

Instead, she immediately opened her **character panel**.

**[Character] Rita (Level 0, 0.001%) (Severely Weak) (47:45:39)**

**[Divine Gift] Thief God (S-ranked)**

**[Divine Gift] Immortal (SS-ranked) (Fragmented)**

**[Divine Gift] God of the Culinary Arts (SS-ranked) (Fragmented)**

**[Divine Gift] Master Archer (A-ranked)**

**[Race] Human**

**[Racial Traits] Undead Will┃Consumption**

**[HP] 60/150**

**[MP] 80/200**

**[Strength] 8 → 3.2**

**[Constitution] 11 → 4.4**

**[Intelligence] 14 → 5.6**

**[Agility] 21 → 8.4**

**[Luck] 10 (Maxed)**

**[Charisma] 10 (Maxed)**

Her hands trembled as she opened the **God of the Culinary Arts** skill.

**[God of the Culinary Arts (SS-ranked)]**

*"Even gods are just ingredients in your kitchen."*

**[Skill 1: What does it mean to be the God of the Culinary Arts?]**

*Every dish you cook with a rating of 80 or higher has a 20% chance to trigger a critical effect. For every point beyond 80, the chance of a critical effect increases by 1%. When a critical effect triggers, the food\'s effects are doubled. If the dish is one of your original recipes, any score above 80 will guarantee a doubling of its effects.

When you eat food you\'ve prepared, all effects are tripled.*

**[Skill 2: Who is Hannibal?]**

*If you cook 38 different dishes, each with a rating of 90 or higher, using a specific target as the main ingredient, and then eat them all yourself, you will randomly learn one of the target\'s skills (usable once per target).*

**[Skill 3: Yes, I\'m a Master Chef]**

*Any dish you fully prepare by hand with a rating of 95 or higher has a 20% chance to randomly increase one of the eater\'s stats by 1 (can trigger once per target per day).*

**[Skill 4: Oh? Friend, look, there\'s a pot over here]**

*The God of the Culinary Arts does not receive negative feedback. You can mark someone who trusts you, and any negative emotions or resentment from diners will be redirected to the marked target.*

**[Skill 5: You want a free meal? (Passive)]**

*Nobody gets to eat the God of the Culinary Arts\' food for free. If a diner eats your food without paying—unless you explicitly say the meal is on the house—their luck will be yours until the meal is paid for. Their bad fortune will continue until they pay their damn bill.*

Just like the **Immortal** gift from the undead lord, there were five skills in total. The first four were unlocked, with the fifth one still grayed out.

Finally, Rita felt like she could breathe again, as if she had been drowning in deep water, unable to move or breathe, and now she was free.

And she understood.

She finally understood why Rick had treated her the way he did in her past life, why he worked so hard to win her trust, and why his women and brothers were so hostile toward her.

**So that\'s why...**

**That\'s why, Yu Xunhuan!**

But knowing the truth didn\'t bring her peace or forgiveness. Yes, Rick had transferred others\' negative emotions onto her, but those people were still the ones who had acted on those emotions and hurt her.

No, she wouldn\'t forgive anyone who had wronged her.

Everyone else might betray her, but she could never betray herself—never betray the pain and suffering she had endured!

Rita\'s hands shook as she downed a healing potion, but her HP remained capped at **40**. She realized that her HP max would remain at 40% until the countdown timer expired.

Still, she felt invigorated, more alive than ever.

She put on her **cooldown reduction necklace** and crawled under the bed to rest. She was exhausted, but she didn\'t dare sleep yet. Instead, she meditated, constantly monitoring Rick\'s actions through their shared shadow.

Rick\'s original **Luck** stat, which she\'d glimpsed earlier, was maxed out at **10**, just like hers. Although he hadn\'t immediately noticed that part of his **Divine Gift** had been stolen, he did remember the **You want a free meal?** skill.

So, Rick spent the rest of his money buying large amounts of ingredients and began cooking. He focused on low-level recipes, knowing he wouldn\'t suddenly become a culinary genius. Most of the food he made was barely passable, often failing to meet even basic standards.

He placed the cooked food on the ground, allowing NPCs and players alike to eat freely as they passed by.

At first, his luck was average, but as more people ate his food, Rick\'s fortune began to **snowball**. In under two hours of questing, he earned **3 gold coins** and a **green-quality item**. After learning cooking, he found a pouch with **300 gold coins** in the city\'s sewers. He used the gold to study **jewelry crafting** and **alchemy**.

And Rita? She simply watched as Rick siphoned the **luck** from everyone who ate his food, canceling out the bad luck she had inflicted on him by lowering his **Luck stat**.