Understanding the System

Keeping all these thoughts aside, I realized that it had been quite a while since I last saw my status screen. Calling it up, I was met with a sight which made me proud, for my once empty status screen was now filled with a lot of skills.

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[Name: Alexander 'Alex' Crawford

Superpower:

>Innate<

-Conceptual Card Creation and Manipulation (Hidden)

-Golem Creation and Manipulation

>Gained<

-Peak Human Condition

-Brotherhood of Assassins' Stealth, Parkour, Fighting and Assassination Skills

-Eagle Sense

-All-Metal Klyntar Physiology

-True Sight Marksmanship

-Ultra Instinct

-X-Gene (Latent)

Mission: Survive the Reaping of half the living life in the universe/

Stop the Blip/

Kill the Mad Titan

Points: 32

Grade: E]

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Most of this was expected, but a few things caught my eye. Firstly, I had forgotten about my accidental Innate Superpower- Golem Creation and Manipulation. It had a lot of potential just waiting for me to tap into. I needed to utilize that.

Secondly, I had yet to awaken my dormant X-Gene. Though it was basically a lucky draw, but I had the means to upgrade my mutant ability to above Omega-Level, so it was just a power-up. But, it would open up an entirely new can of worms, with a mind-reading Baldie with no respect of privacy plus a Metal Manipulator with a mutant supremacy outlook hot on my heels. Still, all this was for the future me to deal with, I just needed to focus on things I could handle right now. Speaking of such things, I was immediately attracted to the newest addition to my Status Screen, just below the Points section which correctly showed 32- Grade. Now a bit familiar with the working, I focused on the 'Grade: E' before me, and like I expected the screen changed to give me a brief overview of this addition.

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[Grade: The overall Grade you get on your Quest which decides your Reward.

It depends on the Level of your Interaction with various Protagonists, the Number of Points you possess and your Streaming Activity.]

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Enlightened about this new concept, I once again focused my attention to know more about the 'Streaming Activity' part, and the screen obliged supplying me with information which froze my mind.

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[Once Canon starts, depending on your level of interaction, the Plot will be altered and each character will get a certain amount of Screen Time depending on their relevance to the plot. However, for each Rookie, they will most certainly get screen time and their actions will be linked to and included in the Plot. However, such actions will result in a lower Grade.

There is another means by which you can improve your Grade, i.e. Live Streaming. Rookies whose actions are not relevant to Plot but are interesting to the Viewers can gain Points via Subscription thereby improving their Grade.

<Note: Rookies with low Grades will automatically attract attention of Plot forces and get embroiled in action to improve their Grade>]

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I stood still for a few moments, comprehending all of this while rapidly calculating how it will affect me and my future plans. That was keeping aside the whole Streaming part and how all the Rookies would get screen time, whether they wanted it or not. I tried to think ahead, focusing on the Visitors to try to glean off more info about them but to no avail. Still, even if the system did not want to help, I could try to deduce the possible implications.

Firstly, the Viewers could get a subscription and hence contribute Points, which implied that Viewers had Points or at least access to it. This in turn meant that Viewers could earn Points, for nobody would spend their money for no reason, meaning they either bet their Points on us Rookies, or through some other mechanism which benefitted them. But, Points were the currency of M.Q.A. so these Viewers were either Questers, the upgraded form of us Rookies, or further up the hierarchy. Ultimately, they were my competitors, so I undeniably had to keep my wits around them. Because they obviously couldn't be trusted.

Because of the whole Plot relevance and Grade, I had no choice but to be actively involved with the characters and interact personally, which was the complete opposite of the 'Mastermind Hidden in the Shadows' angle I was thinking of. But, I had the choice to decide what exactly I showed them. Reading and re-reading the screen to make sure I understood correctly, I compiled my plans and ideas to form a prototype plan of action which could help me complete my to-do list, which was both my ideal walkthrough for Marvel as well as my bucket-list for things to do, I mean, this is fucking Marvel. My second chance would be wasted if I didn't participate in some trademark scenes here. Still, that's something for much later, and I should now be dealing with the immediate issue posed by this Streaming shit.

For this round, which is Marvel, being our starter world, will technically limit us Rookies as all of us would have only one single superpower, courtesy of our respective World Wills. Depending on our situations, there would be chances that we would gain additional skills and powers depending on our circumstances. Like, if we had a strict parent belonging to some army or mercenary background, or was involved in sports or stuff, they may gain abilities such as [Olympic Athlete Condition], [Shooting Skills], etc. or something similar to that. While they may not have similar powers as me, the Status Screen provided a means of providing unified information of various power systems. So, it gave a clear understanding of one's power level, as it was based on one's understanding. So there was no chance of cheating it. But thankfully it was completely and utterly confidential. Nobody other than me could see it, but I could decide to show it on the Stream. Huh. As if any idiot would do that. One might wonder how I knew that. Well, I simply asked the System.

Coming back to the topic, there was one power which most would gain- Mutant Powers. The X-Gene in me and the existence of Frost Industries and Baxter Building, along with multiple lectures of a certain Professor Charles Xavier, who was not completely bald but had a receding hairline, on the subject of Genetics and Biophysics all pointed to the fact that this was Marvel, the original Marvel as depicted in the comics and not the family friendly MCU. Or, at least, we had mutants. The rest would need to be checked at some other time.

Another way to gain powers, get captured by SHIELD or Hydra. No, like seriously, while this may sound suspiciously suicidal, it was a sure-fire way of getting either superpowers or at the very least military level training. While the chances of you getting brainwashed were indeed high, I had a theory which would theoretically prove that all Rookies would be free from mental-manipulations to some extent. Long-term ones, I was sure of, but others, not so much. One thing I banked on was the fact that in the presence of mind readers, the creator of the game would obviously not want the characters to know that they were in fact pawns used for entertainment. I mean, look where that info got Charles- Mentally Insane. So, I think that there would exist mental blocks in the minds of all Rookies which would prevent them from somebody else ripping out the facts and knowledge from our minds without our consent. Plus, these mental blocks will also safeguard our personality so we do not forget that we are here for a mission, and after its completion we would have to leave the world. I mean like, just imagine a guy, a Rookie who gets indoctrinated into Hydra and becomes its operative, and he is doing the shit he usually does, but the suddenly because some other guy completes the mission, Poof! He is back at MQA mid-mission and searching for a Hydra Base. This is too obvious of a loophole so there must be safeguards, hence justification that this is feasible.

Another path was joining the Kamar-Taj, and tapping into mystical arts. Not a bad choice actually, but that actually depended on your convincing power and the fact that the Ancient One didn't consider you a disturbance in the timeline and did not erase you from existence. I mean, we are not even a speck of dust in front of that entity existing since time immemorial, and interacting with them is nothing but a gamble not worth risking. Another thing, same theory as before, we Rookies must be blocked from his sight, at least superficially. After all, we were unforeseen variables, the 'Ones beyond Fate'.