This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 331: Maple Burn · Bear Cookies · Cheers

Of course, it’s not like Maple Burn and Maple Cang only know how to enjoy life without giving anything back.

Maple Cang, aside from her love for sleeping in, is actually a pretty great sister and daughter. The jewelry and equipment she makes for Maple Syrup, Maple Mu, and Maple Burn are always crafted from the best materials. She meticulously works on them until the final pieces look like works of art. Yet, the necklace she wears—one made of Bear Cookies—was created by none other than Maple Burn not too long ago. It consists of twelve Bear Cookies strung together.

At first, the cookies weren’t even shaped like little bears. There was no such thing as Bear Cookies back then. Rita never would have done something so silly. Initially, she just baked a batch of round cookies. One tray didn’t bake well and scored only a 93, so she turned them into a necklace for Maple Cang. She jokingly said, "You can snack on these at night if you get hungry."

Maple Cang loved that necklace of small cookies. Rita had been with Maple Burn for a long time, and she had never seen Maple Cang show such open affection before. Maple Cang took the cookie necklace, added a few gems, and it instantly turned into a decent blue-quality accessory. But of course, it was still just cookies, and nothing could compare to the high-end metals that Maple Syrup and Maple Mu had retrieved for her.

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That day, Rita sat outside under a Mu tree, staring at Forest Sea, deep in thought. She couldn’t quite understand why Maple Cang attached such meaning to something so simple. Why not just get a better necklace with more attributes?

It was just regular cookies. She would bake batches every few days, and always put them in the living room, next to the butter beer in a wooden tray, alongside fresh flowers. The cookies were never out of stock. Whenever she swapped out the flowers, she’d also make sure to check how many cookies were left.

She had thought about trying different flavors, but Maple Cang seemed to genuinely like these cookies, or perhaps she was just being sentimental. Every time Rita tried a new snack, Maple Cang would ask why she wasn’t baking the little cookies anymore.

Eventually, Maple Cang even brought her a recipe, saying she heard from Maple Syrup that the outside world had a cute little bear shape she wanted to try making. Rita had taken one look and thought, "Isn’t that the Bear Cookies from the Oaks?" It seemed like it had appeared earlier than expected, but that didn’t matter—if it worked, it was fine. So, the round cookies by the butter beer barrel became shaped like little bears.

Not long ago, Maple Cang had asked Rita to make her another Bear Cookies necklace. Rita did, and now Maple Cang wore it around her neck.

Rita couldn’t understand or accept Maple Cang’s actions, but her heart couldn’t deceive her. For a brief moment, she almost thought she heard the sound of a wound deep in her heart beginning to heal. But she knew better. It was just a fleeting illusion.

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She wasn’t Maple Burn, and she didn’t need these things.

She had always been happy, and her happiness was something she gave to herself.

While Maple Cang took care of the emotional side of the family, Rita handled the daily meals. She would prepare all sorts of portable boost recipes depending on where and when they went for dungeon runs, but she never made food for any Oaks other than family. Since Maple Mu had called her a "stingy little thing" when they first met, and sometimes Maple Cang called her that too, she wasn’t going to start being generous.

When they went together to clear dungeons, Rita always saved her longest cooldown, most powerful boosting skills for Maple Syrup, Maple Mu, and Maple Cang. Even if her teammates complained that she was selfish and lacked team spirit, she didn’t care.

Because she knew that it was her selfishness that Maple Syrup, Maple Mu, and Maple Cang loved, and it was her selfishness that they cared for. The most powerful healing skills—she never used them on herself.

A coward’s brief moment of bravery, a stingy person’s resolute strength, that was what made her special. She watered, she fertilized, and she waited for the day of harvest.

This year, her wings finally developed completely. Maple Syrup began personally teaching her how to properly use her wings.

The wings were the source of power for the Oaks. They weren’t just for flying; their abilities varied from individual to individual. At the age of 11, each Oak’s wings activated their full potential, a process called "ignition." The method and timing of ignition differed for everyone.

In previous reincarnations, Rita had never reached the special age of 11. She couldn’t go back to ask the elders about how to ignite her wings, and she didn’t dare ask other Oaks. Instead, she had been gathering information from the High Tower during her time as a traitor. Every training version she found was different, but since she was in the High Tower’s body, she had no qualms about practicing with them. Whatever version she followed, the results were always correct, though the effects varied. Whether it was due to the training version or the color of her wings, she couldn’t say.

She had planned to wait until she got her wings and compare them to the intelligence Shadow.Q and the others had gathered before practicing, but she never expected that the last identity she obtained would be Maple Burn. After seeing Maple Cang and Maple Mu use their wings, she had been eagerly waiting for this day to come.

—"Our orange-red wings allow you to choose an element or material as the source of your power and freely control it."

—"After Lania Kaia’s invasion of Forest Sea, and receiving the Divine Gift, our abilities evolved. If you choose a natural element, any skill related to that element can be freely controlled and its power and form altered."

Saying this, Maple Syrup opened her fingers and used her signature skill—Cheers—against the enemy soldiers charging from the dungeon.

The thunderous buzzing sound echoed through the air. A primal fear of thunder seemed ingrained in people’s genes, and even though Maple Syrup was right next to them, even though Rita knew it was Maple Syrup’s skill, she couldn’t help but enter a state of alert. She wasn’t afraid, but her heart still raced.

Thunder and lightning filled the sky as dense bolts of lightning gathered, forming one "glass cup" after another, each glowing with light. The cups flew joyfully through the air as if they were at a party. Each cup contained a compressed ball of thunder.

Once these cups touched an enemy, they would explode instantly. If they clinked together, the balls of thunder would collide, causing a larger thunderstorm to erupt.

Although this wasn’t the first time Rita had seen it, she was still deeply moved. This was it!!! Her dream technique—Cheers! Just listen to the name; it matches her One-Person Party perfectly!

One skill, and it had wiped out nearly half of the dungeon. What had been a lush, green area moments ago was now scorched earth.

Whether she would get the orange-red wings after ascending the tower or not, she had to learn Cheers first!

Maple Syrup retracted her skill and looked down at Maple Burn with a smile. She asked, "What do you want to choose?"