SSS-Rank Glitch: I Can Duplicate Anything

The air in the Dead Zone tastes like rust and regret. Luzian Kinn's back hits a collapsed pillar. Hard. Three of them stand over him. Former allies. Current problems. Kai, S-Rank, team leader, district snake, pockets the dungeon core they spent three weeks hunting. The one Luzian found. The one his F-Rank "finder skill" was the only reason they even located the vault. "Forty percent? You're F-Rank, buddy. You get nothing." The goons laugh. Vic kicks his boot. Just to feel important. Kai taps his forehead. Hard. "Tool's broken." (They're going to leave me here. In the Zone. For the Corruption to eat.) Luzian's HP is 4/120. His mana has always been 0/0. His left arm hangs useless, shoulder socket screaming every time his heart beats. Standard procedure. You don't kill the F-Rank. You just... leave him. Monsters do cleanup. Kai spreads his arms. "Last swing. Freebie. Let's see that F-Rank fury." Luzian pushes off the pillar. The System interface flickers. Then it cracks. A thin, jagged line splits the holographic text down the middle. Everything freezes for one impossible second. A new window doesn't appear. It forces its way into existence. [ERROR: FATAL SYSTEM ANOMALY DETECTED] [SOURCE: USER "LUZIAN KINN" – RANK: F] [UNKNOWN PARAMETER EXCEEDS SSS-RANK THRESHOLD] [GLITCH STATE: ACTIVE] [ABSORPTION–DUPLICATION–OVERWRITE] The blue screen shatters. Shards of light dissolve like ice in acid. In their place: a single pulsing notification. [SSS-RANK GLITCH: ABSOLUTE DUPLICATION] [SCANNING NEAREST VIABLE ASSET...] A targeting reticle snaps onto Kai's chest. "What the fuck is that look?" Kai's S-Rank instincts are screaming. He doesn't know why yet. Luzian looks at his broken arm. At the smug prick in front of him. At the notification waiting for a command. (It's reading him. Like a barcode. Scanning for... what?) [ASSET IDENTIFIED: S-RANK PHYSIQUE (KAI VAREN)] [DUPLICATION COST: 50% MENTAL LOAD] [PROCEED? Y/N] He chooses Yes. The world stutters. A wave of pressure detonates from Luzian's chest. Vic stumbles, clutching his ears. The other goon drops his weapon. Kai grunts, hand flying to his chest. "What,?" Luzian sees it. A shimmering copy of something deep inside Kai's soul, muscle density, reinforced bone structure, tendon elasticity, rips free and slams into his frame. It feels like being born again. Bones knitting, not healing, rewriting. His left arm snaps back into the socket with a wet pop that makes Vic gag. Luzian catches himself on the pillar. [MENTAL LOAD: 50%] flashes in his vision. Blood drips from his nose. But he's standing. "How..." Kai pats his chest like he misplaced his wallet. "My passive. The density buff. It dropped. I didn't use it." Luzian pushes off the pillar. Legs new. Unstable. But they hold. "You dropped it?" He wipes blood from his nose. "Weird." Vic is already backing up. "Boss... his arm. It was broken." Kai's eyes narrow. Analysis skill activates. "You're still F-Rank. Your Status says F-Rank. That's impossible." (He sees the old screen. The fake one. He doesn't see the crack.) Luzian grins. The grin of a man who spent twenty years being told he was garbage finally finding the receipt that proves the system was wrong. "You know what my favorite part is, Kai?" Step forward. The goon on the left trips over rebar trying to get away. "You stood there. You gave me the speech. You let me take a swing." He raises his right hand. The one that was useless thirty seconds ago. Now it's dense. Packed with S-Rank muscle fiber his F-Rank skeleton was never designed to support. (Going to hurt like a bitch to use. But it'll work. Once.) "And while you were busy being an artist," the grin sharpens, "I was watching." He lunges. Not with skill. Not with technique. Raw, duplicated, stolen power. Fist connects with Kai's chest before the S-Rank can finish activating his defensive skill. Meaty. Final. Kai flies backward. Ten feet. Twenty. Crashes through...