Zero-Star Repeat

"......Huh?"

-......What?

The result was so far from what they'd expected that both of them let out dumbfounded noises.

"The name's more normal than I thought. I figured it'd be something like 'Home Cooking – 0 Star' or 'Nap Time – 0 Star'."

-......Apologize to every NEET in the country. Anyway, what's with Repeat? What does that have to do with me...... Ah.

"Ah."

They realized it at the same time. Where on earth this 'Repeat' keyword had come from.

"Regression!"

-Yeah, that has to be it. You repeated your life. Something like that.

Cheonma narrowed his eyes. As expected, his regression was clearly deeply tied to this RaSe game.

-So that's how RaSe plays it, huh? Fine. I'll bet everything on clearing this game completely. No matter what!

"Man, for a guy without a body, you've got some serious ambition."

-......Patron Spirit and player are one body. If you clear it, that's me clearing it too.

"Sure, let's say that's true. Then first, let's check out the skill our one-body buddy gave us."

It felt good.

The moment he saw the name 'Repeat', it hit him like ding!

This was in the same league as Unlock.

It was right then that Carpe opened his status window.

"Whoa. Right, this too!"

Titles given when he'd first gotten the 0-star Patron Spirit and 10-star skill. Naturally, acquiring a 0-star skill triggered them too.

The title options were the same format as the previous ones.

Which meant they were filthily good.

-In over ten years of gaming, I've never heard of an all-stats +33 title. Even if the 0-star skill is total trash, this makes up for it.

"We'll find out starting now."

Whoosh.

Carpe took a deep breath and checked his skill window.

"......Is this a joke?"

-The unfriendly description makes it seem like it's in the same vein as Unlock.

"Unfriendly is one thing, but this is ridiculous."

This was going too far. At least Unlock explained the kanji.

"What the hell are we supposed to repeat?"

-That's what we figure out now. Let's experiment on some monsters first.

"Sigh, fine. We'll get it eventually."

With a sigh, Carpe and Cheonma headed out of the city.

A short walk from Ruana's east gate—the port city's east entrance—revealed a stunning beach stretching out long and inviting.

This was 'Ruana Beach', the first hunting ground most players encountered from the mainland.

Being a port city, the nearby monsters were mostly sea creatures.

Giant conches, giant crabs, sea crocs, sea turtles, and so on.

And excluding field bosses, the strongest monster on Ruana Beach was the 'merman' Carpe was hunting right now.

"Lightning Arrow!"

"Gyagyagyagyaack!"

Thud.

Of course, even Ruana Beach's strongest monster was just a one-shot kill to Carpe—nothing more, nothing less.

"Even mermen are one-shots."

-You're a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stat monster shoving lightning into water mobs. Of course it's one-shot. The strongest here is barely level 20.

Carpe had taken down five beach monsters so far. All one-shots, no exceptions.

"First time trying magic, but it's pretty decent."

3-star skill, Elemental Arrow.

The upgraded version of the 1-star Magic Arrow, letting you infuse it with any element before firing.

"Less satisfying punch, but damn, it looks good."

-Mages aren't popular for nothing. Anyway, that's not the point right now.

"Whoosh. Yeah."

Carpe furrowed his brow. He hadn't found even a clue about 'Repeat'.

"I've tried everything that came to mind."

Repeating skills.

Repeating kills on the same monster.

Yelling 'Repeat!' at monster corpses.

Nothing budged the Repeat skill.

-You can't fill up on the first drink. It's early days—don't rush.

"Got it. I'll keep at it a bit longer."

About an hour later.

Unfortunately, Carpe's 'Repeat' research yielded no results, but his level hit 12 in the meantime.

"Haa. No clue."

-No real progress yet. Better to push the quest for now.

"Yeah, probably. Let's see."

Carpe opened his quest window to check details.

"Gotta find this NPC Geas, looks like."

Carpe checked the quest window again. Only Geas's name—no location info.

"What is this, find Kim in Seoul? Needle in a haystack in this huge city...... You know anything?"

-Of course not. Even I don't memorize every NPC name and spot. Unless it's a major one.

"Figured. Worth a shot."

As Carpe had experienced, Arkram was a secret society. Geas was probably hidden deep.

"Myth-class chain quest lives up to the name. Tough from the start."

A normal player would've raged, "What kinda unfriendly game is this?"

"This'll be fun."

The enjoyment-seeker grinned.

Freebies were great, but hard-earned rewards had their own flavor.

Long story short, RaSe wasn't that unfriendly.

"Geas? Oh, the graveyard keeper Geas!"

"That old man's out by the west gate cemetery. Comes down every few months for supplies at my shop, so I know."

Back in the city, Carpe hit up a general store in the east commercial district and straight-up asked the owner about Geas.

The friendly shopkeeper gave the answer on the spot.

For Carpe, who'd braced for a desert needle hunt, it was a bit anticlimactic.

"Kinda underwhelming."

-Easy solution's a good thing. Why complain? You're starting to sound like a perv.

"It's the romance of the journey."

-Only you'd call hunting NPCs in town an adventure. Long road ahead—move it.

Port city Ruana split into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠three main areas.

East commercial district, south port zone, central lord's castle.

West and north were rugged mountains, mostly undeveloped, low traffic.

Hence, unwanted necessities like dumps and cemeteries went there.

Carpe's target: west cemetery.

Farthest from east commercial, but gates had warp NPCs to other gates.

-Standard setup. City's Beijing-sized. An hour per trip? Trash game, no players.

Thus, Carpe warped from east gate to west in seconds.

"Lemme see, mini-map......"

Carpe activated it. Cemetery wasn't far from west gate. He hurried out.

Five minutes along the mini-map route.

"There it is."

Anybody could've pegged it as a cemetery.

Rows of graves, two-story shack nearby. Carpe headed straight there.

Creeeak.

"Excuse me. Huh?"

The moment he entered, lemon scent stabbed his nose. Intense enough to make him swallow hard.

"Heh heh. Smell's strong, eh? Bear with it. Nothing beats this for masking corpse stink."

As Carpe blinked at the lemon, an old man descended from upstairs.

Wrinkle city, snowy hair, but kind-faced.

"Gravekeeper Geas here. Rare visitor. What brings you? Plot reservation?"

"Uh, that is."

Wait, what to say?

Quest just said go to Geas and hear about the relic.

Could a stranger just blurt, "Here for Magic King's relic info!"?

"O...... Oh!"

But Carpe's dilemma proved pointless.

RaSe boasted realism, but it was still a game.

As the stranger hesitated, NPC Geas reacted first.

"I see the Magic King's heir."

Geas dropped to one knee.

"Huh? How?"

"Heh heh. An Arkram member wouldn't miss the divine relic."

Geas eyed Carpe's legendary gauntlets, Enigma.

And then—

"Oh."

Carpe let out a short whoop at the auto-clear notice.

Of course, Geas, true to his programming, carried out his role.

"Thrilled to pass the ancestral legacy in my generation. The relic the Magic King left is nearby."

"Where?"

"The cemetery core, 'Ruana's Pit'."

"Huh?"

Carpe blinked midway through the notice.

'Multiple Magic King relics?'

The 'Magic King's Second Relic' link confirmed it.

Clearing the starter city quest had netted legendary gauntlets, Enigma.

This next relic was surely legendary too.

Maybe the second was the end—or maybe third, fourth......

-Obviously not, you con. Legendaries aren't Vienna sausages chaining endlessly.

'Yeah, probably epics or mythics mixed in.'

-Shut up. Talking to a soulless griefer's making my gut twist.

Cheonma grumbled, but even he saw the possibility.

Anything went with Mythic grade.

Carpe's eyes sparkled as he told Geas.

"Heading out now."

"Heh heh, I get your haste, heir, but calm down. Preparations needed."

Geas explained.

'Ruana's Pit' had no original name—a secret Arkram spot guarding the king's relic.

No nation or city back then; Geas's clan managed it secretly for generations.

Then, 150 years ago, Ruana city popped up, and the lord made it a cemetery.

"Trouble started then. The relic pulsed strong mana; piling corpses birthed undead hordes."

Arkram freaked.

The king's sacred relic site turned undead den? Obvious.

But a secret society couldn't fight a metropolis. Solution: get jobs as gravekeepers.

"We managed the cemetery, but...... eventually death aura thickened too much to enter."

"Why not move the relic earlier?"

"Heh heh, impossible. Unworthy hands touching it triggers annihilation magic."

"Ah."

Carpe nodded.

'Treasure-laden ruin sealed by death aura' backstory.

He could guess Geas's next line.

"With a few materials, I can craft an artifact to block the death aura."

Classic RPG: gather mats to craft entry item.

"The sea's long symbolized purification. Bring materials infused with sea essence, heir."

"Merman scales are easy, but Sea Essence is trickier."

-Sea Essence drops low-rate from sea mobs. Or Gathering skill......

Problem: Carpe had no Gathering.

Only option: farm drops.

"Got it. Back soon."

Quest accepted, Carpe bolted from the shack.

"Back to the beach! But first."

-First?

"Check rewards."

Carpe opened inventory. A 'New!' marked card pack awaited.

"Skills come like this usually?"

-Nah, skill reward quests are rare.

You could get skills from kills or quests. But drop rates were abysmal.

So max out with job skills only? Nope.

-Level-ups give packs every 5 levels post-job change.

"Ah."

15, 20, 25......

Packs at level multiples of 5. Most players got skills this way.

-Random, though. Slight bias to job-fitting skills, but just slight.

"If it's mismatched, sell it?"

-Random too. Some skill cards tradable, some not. 80/20 non-tradable heavy.

"Everything's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠random in this damn game."

-That's why tradable high-grades skyrocket in price.

"Gotcha."

Carpe pulled the pack from inventory.

"Looks like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠multiples inside? How many cards?"

-Five.

"Whoa? That's a ton. Generous game......"

-Pick one; the rest vanish.

"......Shitty trash game."

Of course.

Carpe sighed deeply.

Made sense—easy skills would crash the market.

"Reminds me of old TCG days."

-You've played everything. Cards too?

"Yup. Nickname was Didi Drawlord."

Godawful play smarts, but draw RNG carried—friends' gift. Anyway.

"Opening it."

RaSe packs were vinyl like childhood TCGs, fancy patterns. Carpe tore it yelling.

"My turn! Draw!"

-Lunatic.

Fwoosh!

Flash—five cards floated up.

Brown backs, yellow '?' marks. Carpe checked reverses: '?' too.

-No peeking for secrets; all identical. Just pick.

"Hmm......"

2- to 8-star guaranteed.

High-end probs trash, so realistically 4-5 star best bet.

"Approach avoiding 2-3 stars to save sanity."

Carpe picked second from left.

"You it is!"

'?' vanished, revealing truth.

Carpe's sanity snapped.

"......"

-Whoa, brutal? 2-star from intermediate pack's rare bad luck.

"What the. Rigged?"

Avoided 2-3, and it ghosts a 2-star?

-Rigged is your whole luck streak. Gotta have bad pulls for balance.

"No way. That's it?"

-Duh. Pick one, rest evaporate...... Huh?

Cheonma blinked in shock.

-What the?

Four cards still floated.

"What's going on?"

-Impossible. Packs vanish post-pick?

But they lingered. Carpe frowned, grabbed another.

And then—