MTLNOVEL Chapter 139: Buff x Debuff
Item: The Magical Armband of the First Kill Captain
(Congratulations on becoming the first player to kill a major storyline character in a given world, thereby disrupting the world's plot. This item cannot be obtained naturally; it is only issued by the system upon completing a specific achievement.)
1. Effect 1: After using this item, the player can become a captain of a squad initially consisting of five members. There is no need for system matchmaking, and the squad can freely travel to a specified world.
However, the target world must be one the player has previously visited and has a completion/progress rate of at least 20%.
2. Effect 2: In system-assigned missions, the player can designate other people to join the squad—including storyline characters—to carry out tasks.
Squads are divided into "temporary members" and "fixed teammates." In fixed-team mode, once members are chosen, they cannot be changed; only when someone dies can their spot be replaced.
In temporary-team mode, players can form a team up to two times, while storyline characters can join only once.
Note: If the player wants to invite a storyline character to become a permanent teammate, they must unlock a specific quest. (The number of squad members can be increased by achieving subsequent first-kill achievements.)
3. Effect 3: When the player's squad later completes missions in The King of Fighters (KOF) world, the rewards and ratings are increased by 10%.
System Notification: Ding! Congratulations to the player for achieving the "KOF World First-Kill Achievement." You have been awarded 3000 Dimensional Coins. Please check your inventory!
…
Player Abnormal Status: The Kusanagi Clan's Curse
1. Effect 1: Because the player killed one of the protagonists of the KOF world, Kyo Kusanagi, the storyline there is now in disarray. Whenever the player returns to the KOF world, the system will announce their presence to all local players, and a hostile mission may be triggered at random. Proceed with caution!
2. Effect 2: The player will unlock more hidden storylines in the KOF world, and these storylines will no longer be random.
3. Effect 3: The player is now eligible to gain the power of the Kusanagi Clan.
4. Effect 4: Upon entering the KOF world, the "Fated Mission" will be triggered. The guardian will of the Three Sacred Treasures families (the Kusanagi, Yagami, and Kagura clans) will harbor hostility, causing relevant plot events with character involvement to unfold.
There is a lot of system information, but Xiang Nan focuses mainly on these details.
He organizes his thoughts:
Positive Gains from killing Kyo Kusanagi include Dimensional Coins, eligibility to acquire Kusanagi Clan power, proactive unlocking of more hidden storylines, and a 10% increase in mission rewards in the KOF world.
Negative Impact: Once he enters the KOF world, he'll be targeted by all players there—though it's essentially just an announcement.
The number of players who might receive a hostile mission is random, not necessarily everyone. It simply notifies all players that this intruder has appeared.
For Intermittent Squads, there is still a time limit for entering other worlds. Also, there's a cooldown on how frequently one can revisit the same world, preventing rapid, repeated entries in a short period.
As for the Three Sacred Treasures families, their threat is obviously far greater than the hostility from other players. He's essentially become a villainous boss now.
"Fated Mission"? What does that mean? Is it completable? And if so, what do you get for completing it? Xiang Nan is very curious.
Then there's the First-Kill Armband!
The system automatically grants this item as a reward each time the player achieves a "first kill" of a major storyline character.
You can team up with storyline characters and freely travel to other dimensions… It sounds ridiculously overpowered!
If he were to bring someone like Netero into the KOF world… That thought alone is thrilling.
However, one must unlock specific quests to do this. Without unlocking them, apparently you can only team up with a storyline character once, although there's no such limit for players.
Also, having this item means that when undertaking normal tasks—such as those in the "Extinction Game" or the Reincarnation Dimensions—you can freely choose your teammates instead of relying on random matchmaking.
This also means he and Manman won't be forced apart anymore.
But a squad only has two "uses" to form a team, unless Manman becomes a permanent member.
Overall, for waging war in the Reincarnation Dimensions, this armband is like a trump card—it removes all the random variables of a forced match, eliminating many hidden risks.
Otherwise, when you're grouped with strangers, everyone has their own agenda, and betrayal or backstabbing can easily happen during missions.
Now, you can directly pick your own companions, making the squad far more stable.
All team members, regardless of level, receive system rewards as long as the task is completed in team mode.
Practically speaking, if Xiang Nan proceeds to the next round, the seventh level of the Extinction Games, and travels to another world, he could invite a level 8 Extinction player. Even if that person doesn't participate in the task themselves, they would still gain Dimensional Coins or resources from that world upon completion.
That's amazing, and Xiang Nan is excited.
He then realizes:
"But if I can get this item, that means other players or organizations in the multiverse might have it too… That's a bit scary. If a player from a super-powerful world has already befriended its top storyline characters—like from Dragon Ball—and forms a team with Kakarot or other Saiyans, then even a base-level Super Saiyan would dominate most worlds.
How are you supposed to fight that?"
At the thought, Xiang Nan's excitement cools, and he feels a chill run down his spine.
"Still, to unlock the ability to recruit a storyline character, you need to complete a specific quest. The stronger the character, the more difficult the quest would be. Otherwise, this item would be totally overpowered. It can't be so simple. The main point is that most story characters have fixed personalities and are difficult to sway. Many heroic characters have their own moral codes… In the brutal reality of these Reincarnation Dimensions—where killing is rampant and lives are cheap—they probably wouldn't just go along with it.
As for the truly evil villains, you might use them, but you'd be introducing a huge liability. On some level, they're even harder to control, constantly plotting and scheming. They might turn on the captain at any moment. To recruit a storyline character—hero or villain—you really need thorough understanding, preferably a bond or entangled interests. Otherwise, it'd be hard to gain their genuine cooperation."
Upon deeper thought, the item doesn't seem so utterly game-breaking after all.
"Besides, if you don't do the unlock quest, you only get one shot at teaming up. It's more like a secret trump card for life-or-death battles or crucial missions."
Calmer now, Xiang Nan sees potential pitfalls in the armband. Overall, though, it remains a powerful "ace in the hole."
Finally, he looks through more system messages:
They highlight the criteria for the First-Kill Achievement: killing a world's main protagonist (one able to significantly impact the storyline). Each world has only one chance for a first-kill achievement.
For instance, since Kyo Kusanagi is already dead in KOF, if someone kills Iori Yagami or Chizuru Kagura later, it won't count.
More system messages indicate how much "progress" you gain by killing certain KOF characters:
Rugal: 5% (once he dies, the '95 KOF storyline can't unfold as originally intended)
Saisyu Kusanagi: 2%
Kyo Kusanagi: 20%
Thanks to killing these characters, Xiang Nan's progress in the KOF world is now 29%. He doesn't know what that really means for a first-timer in the reincarnation dimensions, but he suspects not many players achieve it.
In any case, he now worries about the "Hunter × Hunter" world in his main timeline. If a player like him appears there and decides to kill key characters, how will he protect them? Gon and Killua, as main protagonists, absolutely cannot be allowed to die the way Kyo did.
The next Hunter Exam is just two months away, and the "Hunter × Hunter" storyline is about to begin. Xiang Nan feels it's imperative to join the Hunter Exam—both to deepen his connections with people like Netero or Biscuit for honing his Nen abilities, and to counter potential outside threats. He definitely doesn't want a tragedy in his home world.
In closing, Xiang Nan and Manman have reached Extinction 6, meaning their system-imposed isolation from storyline characters is lifted. They are now truly integrated into this world.
~~~
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