A Foreigner's Chat Group

Chapter 134: A Step Closer

'So I got a 50% increase out of nothing? Neat.' Shiro thought dryly as he didn't expect that he would receive these gifts out of nothing. The 3 S-ranked Upgraders is enough to power him up, but the SS and SSS ones can bring an ability of his to new heights!

'I'll keep those two for now and use those two first...'

Beep-!

[Confirm the usage of Ability Upgrader (S) on [Critical Strike (A)]?]

[Confirm the usage of Ability Upgrader (S) on [Identity Theft (A)?]

'Confirm.'

The moment he mentally confirmed it, the cards made out of golden light submerged into him. Then, he saw another set of prompts appearing.

[The Ability [Critical Strike (A)] evolves into [Critical Strike (S)]!]

[The Ability [Identity Theft (A)] evolves into [Faker's Replica (S)]!]

"...What?"

Dumbfounded, he could only check their descriptions.

[Critical Strike (S): Gives a 100% increment to the attack damage once activated.]

[Faker's Replica (S): Allows the user to replicate an attack that they witnessed and understood. However, it won't truly be the same as the user's understanding will be taken into factor, giving the replicated attack a different route from the original's. The replicated attack can't surpass the original, but its power can match 60% of the original attack. The duration to copy the attack once seen is 12 hours.]

Upon reading the description of the funny name that he saw, Shiro inevitably thought of the other Shirou's quote in the Visual Novel.

Similar to this, his new ability can replicate the attacks of the opponent, albeit they can't surpass the original. Still, Shiro looked at it with great interest since that 60% cap didn't matter. To him, what made this ability valuable is that it'll allow him to counter some of his opponents.

An example of that would be Shiro copying a Servant's Noble Phantasm. Let's say he copied Enkidu's [Chain of Heavens]. With it forming a combo to his ripoff [Heaven's Restraint], he can fight gods more easily than before.

There's also Reality Marbles, Age of Gods Magecraft, and more! Though, it has a limitation of him seeing and understanding the attack and that once 12 hours had passed upon seeing it, he wouldn't be able to replicate it again.

"What did you get?!"

Just like a child unboxing her gifts on Christmas, Strea couldn't wait to hear the rewards that he got. After telling them of it, she became very excited while Cardinal 'congratulated' him.

Clapping, she said, "Wow, you are now officially a Faker."

Of course, Cardinal meant about the other Shirou. Not only do they have very similar names, their abilities also involved replicating others'. If that's not coincidental, she can only be amazed at the wonders of his luck.

"It doesn't mean that a fake-"

Before he could finish quoting it, Cardinal interrupted him.

"-can't surpass the original, is it?"

Shrugging, he teased, "Well, that's what Internet does to someone."

"Working while being a hikikomori is one of my abilities I'm thankful for."

"...Since when did you start watching anime?" Shiro asked.

"The moment you brought us out. That makes it a total of 34 days, 12 hours, 53 minutes, and 19 seconds."