100\% Drop Rate: My Special Ability is Perfect Replication

The interview was easygoing and as good as before. Narad was as cool as before, talking mostly about the fifth wave and his thoughts on the Villains.

They talked about Negan, too. The Arachne Pathfinder was quite famous in the wider universe. He also held quite the legendary grudge, though Negan hadn’t said anything about Faust yet.

He could bet that they would meet again, but when was the question.

After the show ended, Faust shared a few snacks with Narad as they talked more casually.

"You shouldn’t have much problem with him until you get a world ascension quest," Narad said casually. "As vengeful as he is, Negan will want to destroy you fairly."

The ten-foot-tall dwarf giant was reclined in his seat. He changed up his aesthetic for this show, resembling some artsy snob from 2010. He wore a cashmere sweater, khakis, and sandals.

He also wore a beanie.

All this was for the viewers, but Faust could barely hold his laughter back at times.

"But he can find Earth, right?" Faust said, stifling a laugh. "He’s like a space navigator player."

"Arachne Pathfinders are some of the best in the galaxy," Narad agreed. "The system will be obscuring your location, of course. And his world has its own system that would penalize—look, my point is he can’t do anything."

Narad rubbed his horn. "Until the world ascension, then he could call on one of the worlds under his organization to start an Incursion on yours. Your world won’t be open for Incursions until it gets to Iron-grade."

Faust rubbed his chin. "Can we win if they invade us?"

"It’s possible... but these Incursion worlds are purposely held back to Iron-grade or whatever grade they need to be to invade and punish lesser species—not my words." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

So these worlds stifled their growth to the peak of Iron-grade so if they were needed they could attack other worlds for their bosses.

"Will they have Silver-rank Players?" Faust paused. "Actually, what about Gold rank?"

"Nope," Narad said immediately. "I’m limited in what I can tell you, but you don’t have to worry about that."

"Okay. Can you tell me about race ascensions? I have this crystallized race matrix, but I don’t want to turn into a monster if there are better choices."

Narad chuckled, his single horn glowing with rainbow colors. "You won’t transform into the race you choose, unless you complete a quest for transformation skills. You’ll just gain a Racial Schema and some skills related to that race.

"Your attribute increases at each level and improves, too. Humans have really poor attribute increases in the beginning. You should complete the ascension as soon as possible."

That was good. He didn’t really want to transform into some inhuman serpent monster. Getting with Nirvana would be very strange...

Faust sat up and announced, "Okay, I should be on my way. Might be a while before I’m back on here. I want to get something that’ll teach me combat for my next excursion."

"Oh, like a dueling show?" Narad said. "I know a good one that you might enjoy. I’ll talk to your liaison officer and make some calls."

Faust mentioned that to open up a conversation about Narad helping him find something. He hadn’t expected such easy help.

"Thank you," Faust said sincerely as he accepted the system prompt for the teleport.

◇◇◇◇

Faust returned to the novice village to see that the others were out and about. Drekar shadowed him as he strolled through the streets.

He had his cloak’s hood up so no one recognized him, but even then people had calmed down.

People talked casually in buildings or on the streets in large groups. Some dueled and flaunted their skills in open squares, streaming to try and build their viewership.

’I should do a stream soon.’

He had to try to build up more viewers. He was already getting more and more potions and spell scrolls.

He stood under the shade of a building, watching two boys clumsily spar. No skills or weapons. Just hand-to-hand combat.

And it sucked.

The entire group had been sparring for about twenty minutes. Forcing your enemy out of the ring or knockouts were the win conditions.

A boy with spiky black hair was the best fighter among them. He had good footwork and sharp reflexes. He slipped beneath his opponent’s attacks easily and laid down three body shots that had his opponent staggering out of the ring.

The ring was a rectangle in the ground cut out by a sword. As the opponent staggered out, the crowd cheered and the people clapped the spiky-haired boy on the shoulder.

"You’re killing it, Kev!"

"That’s five straight wins!"

"Theo is about to knock him out, just watch."

Faust smirked. Despite how amateur they were, he had to admit that it was fun as hell.

Proving yourself in front of so many people. The laughing and jokes among friends. Someone was frying monster meat somewhere, filling the damp air with savory smells.

"Do you want to join them?" Drekar asked behind him.

Faust didn’t even glance back at the shadow. "Competition is only fun when you have a chance to win. I’d ruin the whole vibe."

Yeah. It was better to just watch. Faust enjoyed watching fights and games almost as much as he enjoyed playing.

"How long is the system going to take with the hidden quest rewards?" he wondered.

He turned up, farther north of the village. The black castle hung upside down there.

Its sharp spires and monolithic blocks reassembled themselves slowly. At its center, a gold light leaked from the peak, where the throne room slowly rebuilt itself.

"Your village will likely get custody of the castle, there is precedent for that," Drekar reassured. "As for me... well, I know of some cases similar to mine."

He drew closer, leaning over Faust’s shoulder. At seven feet in height, Drekar drew a lot of attention.

"But, Sir Faust, the system will investigate any malpractice in completing the hidden quest. You did complete it, right?"

Faust ignored his question, smiling to himself. "How about we have a spar of our own?"