This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 304: [Essence]: 7

On September 20th, Rita met Mistblade and obtained the [Spring Not Late] potion from her. After consuming it for the first time, Rita learned that it would protect her for 100 days. Considering that her bloodline curse had previously been triggered, she decided that it would be best for her to learn how to make a new [Spring Not Late] before the end of December.

At first, she thought this plan was hopeless. But if she had to stay in the tower for 300 years, surely she could figure it out in that time, right? If she made it out of the tower after all that time, she would be able to make a new one in time.

Rita had been keeping herself busy. Every day, she gave Nivalis some practice materials to take up to the rooftop to sell, while she focused on her experiments. During this time, Blue Star had become increasingly chaotic. While the land-based dungeons were still under control, the seas were becoming eerily quiet. Not only had sea creatures been decreasing, but fishermen who had gone out to sea had also disappeared without a trace. The government had already banned all players from venturing out into the oceans.

The atmosphere in the forums had also grown more tense. However, with the growing levels of the Eclipse Vanguard players, most low-level dungeons had been opened to the general public, and they had divided the dungeons and trading zones by level. With more order, the ordinary citizens’ anxiety had eased significantly.

On the night of November 30th, when Eclipse Vanguard sent out their share of [Time Is Always Squeezable], Rita was on the mountaintop near Ironforge. She didn’t know what effect cutting the moonlight would have yet, so she figured it was better to test it on someone else’s land first.

Following the instructions of the [Who Will Cut the Moonlight] skill in her mind, Rita made a strange yet beautiful gesture. In an instant, as if the moon were being eaten by a celestial dog, the silver moon above her was sliced several times by some mysterious force. It was like dough being cut with a sharp knife—each slice soft yet sharp, and with every cut, a part of the moon appeared darkened, as if missing.

At the same time, Rita felt a chill in her right eye. She didn’t move, waiting until the last bit of the moonlight was completely "cut off." Once the area around her was engulfed in total darkness, she estimated the range of the moonlight’s disappearance by calculating the distance using her shadow leap ability.

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Looking back, the 100-kilometer radius centered on her position was completely engulfed in darkness. But once she stepped out of that zone, the moon was visible again. It was as if the moon had abandoned that land entirely. Was this what they meant by a "moonless place"?

Rita quickly fled the scene. She wasn’t planning to stay to see if the moon would return on its own. If she got caught by another race in the act, that would be troublesome. She decided to buy information from elsewhere if she needed it. Experience tales at novelbuddy

As she traveled, she received her November share of [Time Is Always Squeezable] from Shadow.Q. This time, it was over 2,000 gold—more than double what she had received in October. It seemed like the alchemists had become more skilled, and their output had increased.

Looking at the 5,032 gold in her pouch, Rita told Nivalis she’d pay her back later, and drank a [Melting Time] potion to change her appearance, especially her right eye. She then headed to Dark City, spending almost all of her gold to buy an escape gem from Hecipah.

Back at Blue Star, she crawled out from under her bed, removed her disguise, and immediately went to a makeup mirror to check her right eye. There, she saw a faint crescent moon, nearly a full moon, just like the moon phase of Lania Kaia tonight.

If you didn’t look closely, you might mistake it for the bright gleam that some people’s eyes have. Rita blinked, and when she looked again, the moon vanished, but if she focused, she could still see it. This gave her right eye a mysterious and captivating aura.

She could sense she could easily control the moonlight in her eye, but she wasn’t sure what the effect would be.

After some time studying it with no clear results, Rita took out her lantern and enlarged it slightly. She held the small lantern close to her right eye and peered into the Wrathful Moon inside it. Before she could manipulate the light in her eye, she noticed the moon inside the lantern began to move wildly, almost as if it were reacting to electricity.

She poured all the moonlight she could control from her right eye into the Wrathful Moon. Gradually, the moon inside the lantern began to glow softly, and the light bathed Rita, illuminating her.

As the cold moonlight in her right eye diminished, Rita’s stats showed a new attribute:

[Essence]: 1 point.

And this value was slowly increasing—2 points... 3 points...

But Rita didn’t have any skills that required Essence.

She asked Nivalis in her mind, "Do you know what Essence is?"

Nivalis answered, "I know, it’s the energy that gets used up when you release a special ultimate move once it’s filled."

Rita replied, "...I meant in reality! Stop with your otaku talk!"

Nivalis continued, "Oh... Essence is a very special, rare kind of energy. It exists in everything, everywhere. It could be hidden in a copper coin, or in an S-grade item, or even in a broken pot by the roadside. If you destroy something like that, you might gain 1 point of Essence. No one has figured out the exact rules of how it works, but you can’t rely on luck to get it."

Nivalis added, "Any skill can use 1 point of Essence to release. Skills that use Essence become dozens of times stronger. D-grade skills could have the power of A-grade skills, and A-grade skills could rival S+ level... but... just a little bit more and it could be amazing! Watch my hands! Look at my eyes! I’m talking about the four million!"

Rita cut her off, "Nivalis."

Nivalis then said, "But! Essence is incredibly rare, extremely rare. Both Wind Shear and Emperor Umbrella have Essence, but even after all their battles, many times it was just one move away from deciding the outcome, and they’re reluctant to use it. I even asked Emperor Umbrella once if she was reluctant to kill Wind Shear. She said no, it’s because she doesn’t want to use her Essence."

Nivalis continued, "1 point of Essence is like an enhanced skill—used at the right time, it can turn the tide and even save your life. Wind Shear isn’t worth it though."

Rita asked, "How much Essence is considered a lot?"

Nivalis replied, "Emperor Umbrella on Dragon Island has the most Essence—679 points. Every time I say she has enough to beat Wind Shear, she says I don’t understand how rare Essence is. I said she’s stingy, and she hit me!"

Nivalis pouted and added, "I’m not the cute little mascot, I’m the main character of a dark story!"

Rita just sighed.

Looking at her newly added 7 points of Essence, Rita fell into deep thought. Was this a one-time occurrence, or would she get more each time? If she got more every time...

She wasn’t sure if Lania Kaia would lose the sun, but she was sure of one thing: from now on, if Lania Kaia had her, the moon would be gone.

Unfortunately, [Who Will Cut the Moonlight] was still on cooldown, with 30 more natural days to go. That meant she could only use it once a month, which wasn’t mentioned in the skill’s description.

And Rita was certain that this skill had more uses than just with [Wrathful Moon]. It couldn’t be that the skill only worked in combination with that. It must have other purposes.

She realized that skills with short, cryptic descriptions—like this one—often hid great surprises. Unlike some teleportation skills that were straightforward and easily countered, these kinds of skills were much more powerful.