This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 591 - : The Bones of Black Jade

Rita maneuvered the bones of Black Jade through the air, releasing a few skills.

If the skeletal form of Black Jade was simply flying and patrolling without engaging in battle, it would cost her 500 mana per minute.

However, when Black Jade entered combat mode, not only would the skills used by Black Jade consume its mana, but the base mana cost of controlling the bones would also increase to 1500 per minute.

The most energy-efficient option was to let Black Jade lie down, close its eyes, and do nothing. This way, it only consumed 200 mana per minute.

Rita took out the box of attributes given to her by Eclipse Vanguard and used [Refurbish] to check and confirm that everything was in order.

After using the immediately applicable attribute items, her available attribute points increased by 89.

Adding the 24 points from the BS evolution and the 12 points gained from leveling up twice today, Rita allocated all of her 125 available points to Intelligence.

With the points she had stolen from the dungeon run yesterday, her base stats now looked like this, without any equipment:

[Rita]

Level: 19

HP: 18,385/18,385

MP: 29,325/29,325

Strength: 249

Constitution: 275

Intelligence: 361

Agility: 2,252

Luck: 10 (+42)

Charm: 10 (Max)

Her mana regeneration speed was decent, thanks to the bonuses she got from the Divine Game and the rare fruits she ate on Dragon Island.

Without any food, buffs, or potions, her mana regenerated about 1200 points per minute. Now, with over 100 additional Intelligence, that rate would rise significantly.

This was more than enough to sustain the mana cost of both Black Jade's idle and combat modes.

The only issue was whether she would lose control over Black Jade if she died in the Divine Game.

Rita wasn't worried about being unable to control the bones of Black Jade; as long as Black Jade had died by her hand, she could always use [Only the Dead Obey] to take control of him again.

Rita used [One-Skewer BBQ] to make 14 skewers from Black Jade's flesh. This time, she deliberately made skewers of varying sizes for comparison—the largest was nearly one meter long, while the smallest was no bigger than a toothpick.

Given her current appetite, she could finish them all without trouble.

After consuming them, she gained some additional buffs—mana increases, HP increases, and shortened casting times. The effects weren't particularly strong, but they accumulated over time.

The larger skewers did indeed provide stronger benefits, but still, nothing compared to the skewers made with 1st Restaurant's ingredients.

In the end, the quantity of the skewers didn't matter nearly as much as the quality of the ingredients used.

With more than a thousand pounds of Black Jade left, Rita collected it all.

She messaged Shadow.Q saying it was time to discuss business, then released [Silent Hill] and the electric cage, resuming her practice with Black Jade's remaining skills.

She found that she couldn't control which skills Black Jade would use; she could only give a command, and then Black Jade would do its best to follow the order according to its remaining combat awareness.

Rita: "You say he still has combat awareness—does that mean he's not completely dead?"

B8017913: "I don't know. Life is mysterious. I don't know where the soul goes after the soul fire extinguishes or how resurrection skills work. My database doesn't contain information about this."

Rita didn't ask any further questions and began using her skills to clean up the remaining flesh on Black Jade's bones, making them appear cleaner.

Shadow.Q arrived quickly. She took one look at Black Jade's skeleton, not speaking a word, just like when she saw Nivalis' go-kart. She glanced at it and then shifted her focus.

Rita waved her hand, making Black Jade fly around them both.

She spoke, "From now on, Black Jade will stay here to guard my home. If I'm not around and you encounter an emergency situation that you can't handle, send me a message and I'll send him to help. If you can't reach me, but it's truly urgent, you can also come to him directly. I'll give him a command, and in emergencies, he will temporarily follow your orders. You'll have two opportunities per month."

The two opportunities perfectly matched the number of times she would go into the Divine Game.

Chaotic Restaurant like the Divine Game wasn't something that happened every time. Even though dying in the game could sever her connection with Black Jade, she would always return after leaving the game.

However, she needed to find a way to provide Black Jade with mana or to gain a few more skills that could increase his mana.

Otherwise, if Black Jade ran out of mana during an important moment, it could interfere with her own battle.

Shadow.Q watched Rita with a neutral expression, thinking about how Rita's words often resonated with her.

She didn't know what qualities the Legion Leader believed a leader should possess, but if Rita was the leader, she would follow her—forever.

Rita had the ability to move others in ways no one else could.

A powerful leader's pity could stir hearts more than the thousand words of a weaker one, or even their selfless dedication.

It was cruel, but it was the truth. The former often had more value than the latter.

Shadow.Q now vaguely understood why Avery always asked her to guide Rita, to help her become someone who could lead from the top.

Perhaps Avery had already seen Rita's softer side, which was why she wanted Rita to show her colder, more dominant side, rather than bowing down and letting others have too many unnecessary expectations of her.

Only by remaining unreachable could Rita touch others with her softer, compassionate side when they saw it.

Shadow.Q smiled and nodded, "Got it! I'll remember."

Rita had Black Jade shrink in size and accompany Nivalis in playing go-kart races, while Rita sat down with Shadow.Q at the race track to discuss their business deal.

The catalog in her hand was at least three times thicker than the one Shadow.Q had given her yesterday. Rita casually flipped through it, recalling that the previous transactions had been in similar books. It was clear this wasn't made of ordinary materials.

Rita asked, "Have there been any Divine Talent Skills related to networks that caused problems for Eclipse Vanguard?"

Shadow.Q wasn't surprised by Rita's sharpness. She nodded and replied, "Yeah, we had some issues, but they've been resolved. However, many habits remain. The most important information still exists in special catalogs like this one."

Rita nodded but didn't press further. She began flipping through the catalog.

Unlike the first time when Eclipse Vanguard could only offer a Grade A skill and a Legendary Equipment as a token of goodwill, now their offerings were much better.

The first page contained SS-level skills, but they were extremely rare, with only seven.

Three attack skills, two defense skills, and one healing skill.

Rita's gaze stopped on the last one.