Cheng Tian checked and confirmed that this new suit of armor was no different from the Knight Armor he had worn before. In fact, this was a feature from the original game: as long as one could kill the stage boss while unarmored, the key would directly grant a free suit of armor.
Cheng Tian gave away the Whiteboard equipment, which had little value, while decisively exchanging the three valuables—the King Statue, Money Bag, and Miyachi Windmill—for Chosen Coins.
First, to free up inventory slots for other items. Second, he simply did not have the leisure to wait and trade with others later.
Including the reward for blowing up the Red Arremer earlier, Cheng Tian now held 4,220 Chosen Coins.
He still had no idea what their purchasing power was, but as a typical Chinese, Cheng Tian felt at ease just seeing that he had savings.
After a brief round of sorting, only the map and wings remained in Cheng Tian's inventory. His main and off-hand weapons were the Gentleman's Cane and Cyclops Head, and paired with his full suit of Knight Armor, the whole getup looked utterly mismatched.
After some quick tests, Cheng Tian had confirmed that the Cyclops Head also fit the template construction rules of Knight's Throw. He could spend 5 MP or 2 Innocent Souls to form a projectile.
The Innocent Soul cost had gone up. Perhaps because the ogre head used as the template was a blue magic item, it required more expenditure.
Still, considering that the thrown Ogre Head had a chance of spitting fireballs on its own, 2 Innocent Souls was quite a bargain.
With his own stat allocation and equipment bonuses, Cheng Tian's Strength Attribute had reached 20. Numerically, that was twice that of an average adult human male on Earth, but Cheng Tian felt it could not be such a simple calculation. It was probably the kind of stat where the growth curve diminished as the value increased.
"Keep me company for another three hours."
Taking advantage of the dungeon pause brought by the main quest's settlement, Cheng Tian spoke to Ghost Cicada only after resting for quite a while.
Ghost Cicada, who understood its own situation perfectly well, nodded and floated onto Cheng Tian's shoulder, ready to continue following him.
"Space! I choose the Free Exploration Phase!"
As his words fell, Demon World Village, which had been frozen by a strange force, started up again. At the same time, the remaining three-plus hours on the main quest resumed their Countdown.
However, Cheng Tian did not immediately retrace his steps. Instead, he first tried the wide-open gate that supposedly led to the second stage of Demon World Village—
Only to be firmly blocked outside by an invisible wall. He could not even make out what lay beyond the gate.
"Tch, stingy."
Cheng Tian muttered under his breath, but did not persist. He simply turned around and started heading back the way he had come.
Three hours later, Cheng Tian, whose return journey had gone faster without deadweight, had completed every objective of this trip.
He opened his arms and pulled Ghost Cicada, who had accompanied him all the way, tightly into his embrace.
"Friend, may we meet again if fate allows."
After releasing the somewhat bewildered Ghost Cicada, Cheng Tian raised his fist.
Ghost Cicada did not hesitate. Its little claw once again bumped against Cheng Tian's fist.
Then, the light signaling their departure from the dungeon enveloped both man and insect, and they vanished from the Demon World Village dungeon at the same time.
The white light of transit faded away, revealing a pure white space before Cheng Tian, who was now alone. Other than himself, nothing else existed there.
At the same time, the phone tucked into Cheng Tian's underwear vibrated faintly, followed by a projected notification window from Chosen Space.
[Player ID DX233180, congratulations on passing the Novice Trial and officially becoming a Chosen Player. Welcome to Chosen Space.] [This is your Personal Space on Space Island. Within certain limits, you have the right to alter your Personal Space however you wish. You may also spend a small amount of Chosen Coins for cheap yet premium comfort experiences. You may invite other players into your Personal Space through their IDs. Others cannot enter your exclusive space without invitation authorization. You may store your items in your Personal Space without limit.] [Within your Personal Space, you may apply at any time to use free or paid space service functions, including but not limited to "Item Recycling," "Personal Repair," and "Equipment Enhancement." Some functions, such as the "Player Quest Hall," can only be used after entering the corresponding facilities on the island. In addition, Space Island permits players to apply to open stalls and establish facilities. You may trade and interact with other players within the space.] [Before officially entering Space Island, please set your Game ID in advance. You may avoid the risk of being doxxed and tracked down in real life by changing your ID and paying to blur your appearance. Once you die in a dungeon or in reality, all your stored and held possessions will be lost, and different types of "relics" will be generated according to the current rules.] [Friendly reminder: not all Chosen Players on Space Island come from the same dimension, and different dimensions may have different beliefs and customs. Please communicate cautiously.]
Oh? There were races from other worlds!?
Compared to that long string of tips and warnings, Cheng Tian was clearly more interested in the final reminder's explicit statement that "not all Chosen Players come from the same dimension."
Did that mean he might get to see genuine interdimensional races?
Traditional catgirls with seven mammary organs? Octopus people who loved eating brains? Or those very WAAAGH-tastic green mushroom monsters?
In any case, it was something to look forward to.
Before officially entering the island, however, Cheng Tian still had some matters to handle.
Part of it was the spoils he had obtained during his three hours of Free Exploration.
After Cheng Tian killed both the Cyclops and the Red Arremer, only randomly spawning Grunt Units remained in the first stage of Demon World Village. They posed no threat whatsoever to Cheng Tian, who was alone with only one insect companion and could move about easily.
So, he found every hidden bonus in the first stage.
Relying on the fact that he was in the Free Exploration Phase, Cheng Tian decisively picked up that negative Miyachi Windmill from before. He had even prepared himself for all his exploration time to be deducted and for himself to be kicked out of the dungeon on the spot.
Yet the item did not take effect immediately after he obtained it. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be quite different from what he had imagined.
This hidden bonus, which had been purely negative in the original game, had actually become a two-way functional consumable. At first glance it seemed fairly useless, but after thinking about it carefully, it looked like it could be used for some strange tricks.
[Miyachi Windmill 30 Seconds: Hidden bonus, consumable. Capcom's official mascot, which has made cameo appearances in various works by the same company, though its low popularity is itself a huge problem... Use on any unit to reduce the cooldown of one skill, the duration of one BUFF, or a quest time limit for that unit by 30 seconds. If the selected duration is already below 30 seconds, the duration will become 00/∞. This effect remains active throughout the current dungeon.]
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