Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"You done checking on those rewards that originally belonged to me?"

Katalina asked with scorn on her face after she saw Tuan walking toward her. The latter chuckled before responding.

"They were not meant to be much use to you anyway. Those weapons are suited to my element."

Tuan said and stood a few meters away from Katalina. The afternoon sun was upon them, which was directly hitting Tuan's eyes. So he used his hand like a canopy and started looking for a shade. The butcher soon found a ruined building that looked like it was some sort of infirmary in its prime. So he started walking towards the ruined infirmary before telling the female close combat expert to follow him.

"You don't follow Titus tournaments, do you? The drops are not fixed. They change as per the ranker's element and style"

Tuan raised his eyebrows before realization dawned on him. He had thought that Alephee announcing the ideal drop meant that the weapons were fixed. Alephee zeroed in on the type as per his needs and let the array used for drops handle the elemental part of the weapon.

"Anyway, what's done is done. You can keep those weapons. But you must also help me get the next drop if and when we find it."

Katalina flared her nose as she spoke. It was obvious from her speech and demeanour that she wouldn't take no for an answer. Tuan consulted with a voice in his head before nodding with a sigh. As if it was going to be such a troublesome job for him.

Katalina's mood improved when he received an affirmative nod from Tuan. Only then did she start taking her co-op with Tuan seriously.

"You don't look like it, but you are a reliable team player, aren't you?"

The female close combat sighed after she threw a rhetorical at Tuan. She continued speaking as she followed him.

"Since the battle is over, there would be no viewing angle. Those heavyweights must have started engaging with the monsters and mana beasts by now. When will we start our raids?"

Tuan didn't reply immediately. He kept on walking and reached the ruined infirmary. The butcher only spoke when he was sitting on the steps that led to the upper floor of the building.

"Katalina… Er… Can I call you Kat? I'll call you Kat."

Tuan said matter-of-factly as he retrieved another bottle of Frostfoam from his storage. He started drinking in the middle of the day. It was his way of celebrating the ownership of such exquisite weapons. Or more like, he was just finding an excuse to drink to curb his cravings for a smoke.

Tuan adjusted himself after drinking Frostfoam and carried on.

"Kat, we have seven days to go. We have barely entered into the finals. Why the rush? I can bet you all the Extols I have right now. This is because the top earners of the first day and the top earners of the fourth day would be different as a whole. And those top earners won't be the same on the seventh day either.

You know why that is, right?"

Tuan asked Kat and threw the glass at her. The latter caught it and looked at it dubiously. Then she stared at him for a brief moment before following his example.

She immediately felt the chill induced by the Frostfoam followed by her mana circuits getting stimulated. With a pleasant sensation coursing through her veins, she opened her mouth to respond.

"Rankers targeting the top rankers of course. I know what you are trying to say here. That earning significant Titus points from the first day is a liability. We would be targeted that much harder.

But we can't avoid earning points forever, Tuan. Have you looked at your drop? The top earners would be the ones who would be slaying more powerful monsters and mana beasts, which in turn would give bigger drops as rewards.

We'd be left behind if we stayed on the fence for too long, and other rankers would strengthen themselves with the drops. We can't slack because of this. We shouldn't."

Katherine said, and threw the Frostform back at Tuan. The latter nodded to show that he agreed with her before continuing.

"You are right. We can't slack around. So we won't. But we don't necessarily have to have more ambitious targets. If the drops are what you are worried about, I'm sure we can find them in the city if we just look hard enough."

Eren said and continued to drink. Katalina cursed him for not offering her another round in her mind before continuing.

"So what is your plan? Run around the city while the rest of the competitors are out, earning points and better drops?"

Kat shook her head in denial. She took a long breath and continued.

"Plus, the drops in the safe area and the drops in the hunting area would be completely different in terms of how rankers can use them. Maybe you got lucky with the drop just now. But the drops in the safe area generally pale in comparison to drops in the hunting area.

The drops here would only contain normal items like weapons, support artefacts and potions. But the drop in the hunting area might offer one-time use items in addition to normal items, effectively shifting power balance."

Tuan cursed his lips when he heard that. Frankly, he hadn't paid attention to the tournament's history. In his previous timeline he barely heard anything like this happening in the Nightshade duchy. So he informed Kat about it.

"Er… I am not aware of how the tournament usually unfolds. I guess the pattern would be the same every year even if the venue changed. So there are more advantages to staying active in the hunting area and collecting monster drops.

Can you tell me how much of an advantage we are talking about when we collect monster drops compared to staying here in the city and taking a safe approach?"