Still, Rita did not dislike the perfectionism brought on by the God of the Culinary Arts Divine Gift.
This ability was clearly designed for people willing to cook seriously and carefully.
Only then could its true value emerge.
But she was no longer in such a rush.
Ever since the first beta test, she had lived in a state of constant anxiety.
Never relaxing for even a moment.
As if some monster was chasing her from behind.
Now, with the greatest threat finally in her hands, she could slow down a little.
At the very least...
She should probably sleep six hours a day.
Lying in bed, Rita watched the humidifier beside her release a thin mist of advanced revealing potion.
Then she looked over her current attributes.
[Strength]: 8 + 2
[Constitution]: 11 + 2
[Intelligence]: 14 + 1
[Agility]: 21
Healthy people who exercised regularly usually started around 7 in physical stats.
Of course, Intelligence depended on actual intellect.
Male fitness enthusiasts could easily start with 10 Strength or Constitution.
Professional runners or parkour athletes often had Agility far beyond 7 as well.
But even calculating based on those peak starting values, Rita's current stats already rivaled a level 6 player.
And yet she was technically still level 0.
Her experience points came only from the handful of beginner quests during the first beta test and Apache's task.
Neither had awarded much EXP.
The game would officially invade reality in February next year.
Rita had no plans to "warn" the authorities.
At this point, her preparations were already complete.
Whether she acted like a good person or not made no real difference anymore.
Besides, there was no need.
During the third beta test alone, hundreds of thousands of people had logged in.
Most people who stumbled into extraordinary power would naturally choose to hide quietly.
But some people would always be different.
Some wanted attention after gaining power.
Some wanted to accomplish things they never could before.
It could not stay hidden.
Absolutely impossible.
These people would expose themselves sooner or later.
That was exactly what happened in her previous life.
Toward the end of 2078, bizarre incidents had started appearing constantly in the news.
In the final month or two before the invasion, rumors had already begun spreading openly.
And honestly, Rita believed the authorities already knew far more than the public realized.
After all, among those hundreds of thousands of players were government personnel.
Otherwise, the official response in her previous life could never have been so fast.
She had already stockpiled what she needed.
Stolen what she needed.
Spent what she needed.
Now her plan was simple.
Systematically learn martial arts and firearms training.
Then spend the rest of her time improving her professions and cooking.
Her close combat and ranged combat skills had never actually been weak.
During the final year of her previous life, all her close-quarters experience had been forged through countless life-or-death fights.
Every move had been designed to kill.
No flashy techniques.
Just lethal efficiency.
Elbows to the throat.
Finger strikes to the eyes.
Punches to the kidneys.
Elbows into the chest.
She did not look down on those techniques.
Nor think they were ugly.
She simply wanted to learn more.
Otherwise, no matter how high her stats became, if she could not use them properly, she would never truly unleash their full potential.
Any martial art capable of becoming an established system obviously possessed unique advantages.
She wanted proper training.
As for ranged combat...
In her previous life, "shooting" mostly meant magic.
Arcane Missiles.
Ice balls.
Fireballs.
Magic projectiles.
She had relied mostly on instinct.
Maybe she genuinely possessed talent.
Combined with her [Acting] Divine Gift that allowed her to store three other people's abilities, the synergy of all those skills had helped her survive an entire year while being hunted.
But now she possessed the [Master Archer] Divine Gift.
Not mastering ranged weapons would practically be insulting the talent itself.
And insulting her absurd 21 Agility.
Fortunately, Rita had enough money to pay for proper training.
In the mornings, she studied martial arts.
How to generate force efficiently.
Which body parts could become weapons.
How to break restraints after being pinned.
And so on.
In the afternoons, she practiced shooting.
Distance control.
Wind calculation.
Trajectory adjustment.
Everything.
Unlike the rough, improvised fighting style from her previous life, the current Rita felt herself improving every day.
Those numerical attributes no longer felt like abstract stats.
She truly was becoming faster.
Sharper.
Stronger.
Even her shooting coach was stunned by her talent.
On her first day, her posture while holding a bow had been terrible.
Obviously self-taught through online tutorials.
Yet in less than a week, she could hit the bullseye consistently at thirty meters.
If she had not already been twenty-six years old, the coach might have recommended her for national-level training.
There was just one strange thing.
Every few arrows, she would deliberately miss one shot badly.
The coach assumed her arm strength was insufficient.
But Rita knew the truth.
She was intentionally hiding the fact that every seventh attack guaranteed a critical hit.
So whenever she reached the seventh arrow, she intentionally pulled the bowstring only slightly, letting the arrow flop weakly through the air.
Rita understood her own weaknesses clearly.
If she had time to aim carefully, she performed well.
But rapid-fire shooting?
Her accuracy dropped to around sixty percent.
Moving target accuracy was even worse.
And shooting while running herself?
That was another disaster entirely.
Still, she was not discouraged.
Everything had only just begun.
...
While Rita busied herself with training, Samuel finally recovered mentally enough to begin packing away the shattered remains of his treasures.
Surprisingly, he remained optimistic.
After all, even though his son had lost half his manhood, Rick had not collapsed completely.
And Rita was still searching for healing methods.
Who knew?
Maybe there really were abilities capable of restoring damaged objects.
Miracles happened.
So from that day onward, Samuel also began searching everywhere for information about players.
Meanwhile, Scarlett became the happiest person in the family besides Rita.
Her son had married into wealth.
The entire family had gained extraordinary opportunities.
She genuinely could not think of a reason to be unhappy.
As for future grandchildren taking whose surname...
She honestly did not care.
At least they definitely would not take the surname Yi.
So what difference did it make?
In her own mind, she was extremely enlightened.
One of those "clear-minded modern women" people talked about online.
Her only regret...
Was that her daughter no longer gave her spending money.
Even Rita found it ridiculous.
Your son married into a billionaire family, and you're still asking your unemployed daughter for money?
[Happy Scarlett]:
@Rita Daughter, Mom found a handbag I really like [shy emoji]
Rita immediately long-pressed the message, quoted it, then tagged Rick.
[Rita]:
@Rick I found a gun I really like [shy emoji]
Click here to farm some gold from the rich son-in-law.
Rick: "..."
To be fair, Rick genuinely was not short on money.
That was the difference between marrying into an ultra-rich family.
Ever since becoming part of the Lopez family, five million dollars was transferred into his account every month as allowance.
Food and housing were covered.
His clothes were custom purchased or tailored.
The entire five million was literally pure spending money.
Soft rice really was delicious.
And honestly, his wedding night had gone very smoothly too.
That bed Rita gifted them absolutely had special effects.
Once the lights went out, they went at it until dawn.
Rick had practically forgotten he was missing half of himself.
Zoey had been very satisfied too.
Although...
She vaguely felt things seemed a little shorter than before.
But the experience itself was satisfying enough that she did not think deeply about it.
Thinking about this, Rick generously transferred five hundred thousand each to the two women in the family.
Then he asked them to help investigate Divine Gifts for him.
Especially whether anyone had obtained a Divine Gift they could not use.
The two women naturally agreed enthusiastically.
"Okay okay okay boss, leave it to us!"
Their customer service attitude practically rivaled Haidilao.
Samuel suddenly appeared in the group chat too.
He transferred money to both women and asked them to investigate skills or items capable of repairing objects.
Again, the replies flooded in.
"Okay okay okay thank you boss, leave it to us!"
Then immediately afterward...
The mother and daughter both forgot about it entirely.
A week later, Rick and Samuel asked again in the group chat whether they had found any leads.
The result?
Complete silence.
The mother and daughter both pretended to be dead.
Rita pointed at the group chat on her phone and cursed herself aloud:
"Rita, if you're not biologically related to this family, then who the hell is?"