Arthur's Knight Armor, Ready to Wear

Arthur's Knight Armor = Ready to Wear

Not far from Arthur's skeleton lay a complete set of metal armor scattered across the ground.

If Arthur had not fallen during the initial attack, then after Princess was taken captive, he would have put this Knight Armor back on and charged toward Demon King's Castle once more.

Now, Arthur was dead. The Knight Armor should have been buried in the Human World alongside the matching armor hidden within Demon King's Castle for later arrivals, together with all the other soldiers who had sacrificed themselves... Yet when Cheng Tian approached, the lifeless Knight Armor seemed to have been injected with vitality and activated in its entirety!

First, it split itself apart by component. Then, like the opening animation of Saint Seiya, it snapped onto Cheng Tian with precision, equipping itself from his feet upward to his head.

Even its dimensions, originally suited only for Arthur's relatively short build, stretched themselves out in midair, ultimately outfitting Cheng Tian as a standard medieval knight.

[Knight Armor: Green Excellent/Lv1, full-body armor, special armament, simultaneously occupies 6 major Equipment Slots: head, chest, hands, waist, pants, and shoes. Equipment Requirement: Arthur's Proof/Strength 12. Absolute Durability 1/1.

The Knight Armor can block one instance of valid damage of any intensity. After negating the damage, the armor will completely shatter and forcibly launch the user backward by at least 3 meters, while granting the "Phase Shift" state for 3 seconds.]

Setting aside the damage negation, the armor's effect was practically identical to Cheng Tian's current Damage Dodge Template Skill.

With skilled use, this thing could even achieve an effect like Nitro Boost, using the knockback from getting hit to skip certain fixed obstacle points.

But the most infuriating and unique aspect of this armor was precisely its damage blocking.

It could block a zombie's slap, and it could block a Star Destroyer Cannon... It would probably be more cost-effective to find a chance to have it block a shot from a Star Destroyer Cannon.

Besides, this thing occupied far too many Equipment Slots. If Cheng Tian had not set out naked, he would never have worn it.

Still, considering Vampire Magician from Great Demon World Village had already appeared, perhaps somewhere there were more advanced Knight Armors that could let people cast magic.

"Bro... friend, that full set of Knight Armor looks pretty cool on you~~"

Seeing Cheng Tian return fully armed, One-Ear, who had only just recovered somewhat, instinctively began with "bro," but the experience of having one ear pierced through made him change his wording the instant the first word left his mouth. Once bitten, twice shy.

"Good thing this stuff has padding inside. Otherwise, it would be impossible to wear."

As he spoke, Cheng Tian knocked on the armor, making it clang loudly.

Out of curiosity, Cheng Tian had once tried a full-contact armored combat club and experienced what it felt like to swing a flail while wearing a complete suit of armor.

All he could say was that it felt pretty awkward. Especially after putting on one of those helmet visors full of narrow vertical slits, his field of vision became even more restricted than with a motorcycle helmet. Being able to see only directly ahead made Cheng Tian deeply uneasy.

Now he understood why Arthur in the game always kept his visor raised... With it closed, he really could not see the road.

"Hey, you. Can you still walk?"

After exchanging a few words with One-Ear, Cheng Tian turned to Phone Bro, whose clothes were stained with dark reddish-black blood, and asked.

Phone Bro hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.

Having his body digitized had allowed him to stop bleeding quickly once he left combat. In theory, he could still display the physical stats his panel should provide, but the loss of health and flesh was very real. For a city kid who had barely suffered before, it was simply too much to bear.

As he shook his head, a faint hope rose within him. He hoped Cheng Tian, who had taken the initiative to ask, would offer him some kind of help.

But the reality was...

"Oh. Then good luck. I'm leaving first."

Under Phone Bro's stunned gaze, Cheng Tian looked utterly unconcerned, then smoothly turned around and left.

Cheng Tian actually had plenty of team spirit. Even when it did not affect stage-clear rewards, he was the type to risk his life saving his cyber teammates in games like Vermintide, Darktide, and Left 4 Dead. Even if the other side was just a BOT, he would still save them.

But this college student who had done something stupid in a moment of hotheadedness clearly did not fall within Cheng Tian's definition of a cyber teammate.

As Cheng Tian passed One-Ear, he paused slightly. Their eyes met for a moment, then he strode forward again on his long legs.

One-Ear was actually pretty decent. He had courage and fighting ability, and he did not drop the ball at critical moments. But considering he clearly had some connection to that suicidal idiot, Cheng Tian naturally would not deliberately say anything that might undermine their unity. He would leave the choice to One-Ear himself.

Would he follow Cheng Tian and try to advance the main quest, or stay here and wait to die with his classmate?

Not wanting to waste anything, Cheng Tian also gathered up the Whiteboard equipment Green Skin had pawned off to the other newcomers earlier. Their original owners were dead anyway, so there was no reason not to take them.

A wooden baseball bat from Streets of Rage, a Goblin Cleaver from Journey to the West: The Great Sage's Fury, a straight sword from Chinese Paladin, and a War Hammer from SD Final Fight.

Cheng Tian stuffed all four weapons into his inventory.

It was worth mentioning that the Chosen Players' inventory essentially used the hero template from Warcraft. It only had six slots, but unlike Diablo or Resident Evil 4, there was no need to play Tetris inside the inventory. Each slot could hold one category of items.

That also confirmed Cheng Tian's initial guess about why Green Skin had only taken out five pieces of equipment to pawn off.

They were all Whiteboard weapons, but during this penniless newbie phase, Cheng Tian did not intend to let even a mosquito's leg slip away.

What was more, for Cheng Tian, who was currently under dual Protagonist Templates, these Whiteboard weapons had another use.

The cemetery covered a far larger area than it had in the game, but finding the direction of the exit was not particularly difficult.

By the moon revealed after the clouds drifted past, Cheng Tian could see a dense forest in the distance and the faint outline of a river. That was most likely the direction of the first gate leading to Demon King's Castle.

In that same direction, Cheng Tian also saw Red-Eyed Crows lingering on Withered Trees, as well as Man-eating Flowers growing around the tombstones. They writhed like animals, nearly as large as the tombstones themselves, and when their mouths opened, he could see rings of lamprey-like sharp teeth inside.

Generally speaking, wherever there were monsters was the correct path. At the very least, Demon World Village would be no exception.

Man-eating Flowers were Killer Plants mutated by magical corruption. As soon as they caught the scent of a human, they would decisively open their mouths and spit black fireballs condensed from evil magic at their targets.

They did not eat people. They only killed them, stationed like fixed turrets along the unavoidable road to the cemetery exit.

Because they were fixed turrets with limited attack range, they could actually be avoided by taking a detour.

...But Cheng Tian refused!

A flying object sliced through the air and accurately stabbed into the open mouth of a Man-eating Flower. It was none other than Cheng Tian's Gentleman's Cane, the one capable of casting transformation magic.

Yet strangely, Cheng Tian still held an identical cane in his hand.

At the same time, the cane that hit the Man-eating Flower exploded on the spot. With a soft pop, the Man-eating Flower actually transformed into a green monster duck with plant roots connected to its rear!