Salamander Crystal Wingman

Salamander: Crystal Wingman

Salamander was a side-scrolling shooter and a spin-off of Cosmic Cruiser.

In the game, players could control an aircraft to shoot enemies, obtain enhancement components after destroying them, and apply targeted upgrades based on the number of components they currently possessed.

Acceleration, side missiles, sonic attack components, laser attack components, Crystal Wingman, shields—the number of components required for these six aircraft enhancement modes increased from one to six.

Among them, Crystal Wingman had the strongest utility. It could perfectly replicate all the attack capabilities of the compatible aircraft: firing rate, power, missiles, shooting components, and so on.

Of course, Cheng Tian already considered the original version's perfect replication effect valuable enough to send to the Auction House. Since this thing had appeared on a street stall, it had most likely been heavily nerfed or came with major usage restrictions.

At the same time, he was even more curious whether this thing was exclusive to vehicles or whether people could use it too.

[Crystal Wingman Replica: Blue Excellent/Lv1, Wingman. Equipment Requirement: the sum of Agility and Spirit must exceed 25.]

Manufactured using the wingman technology of the King of Britannia Cosmic Cruiser, this was a mass-produced version that could be used without a vehicle.

You must have more than 50% of your mana bar remaining before injecting MP to activate the wingman. Once activated, the wingman would continuously hover beside you and assist in combat by replicating the forms of ranged attacks you launched—

The wingman could only replicate E-rank skills/talents and ranged attacks from Green Gear or lower Weapons and Equipment.

The power of replicated attacks would be reduced to 25% of the original across the board.

Each replicated attack would consume an equal amount of built-in MP from the main body.

The wingman consumed 1 MP for every second it operated.

Once its MP was depleted, it would enter a 60-minute standby state.

The wingman could block at most two attacks. Once shattered, it could only return to Chosen Space for repairs.

Your Agility affected the wingman's hovering movement speed, while your Spirit affected its maximum MP storage.]

[Price: 12,000 Chosen Coins]

Cheng Tian's first reaction was that this replica had indeed been nerfed brutally. His second reaction was, Holy shit, why is it so expensive?!

As Cheng Tian held the Crystal Wingman, the Deadpool Mask on his face formed a troubled frown as well. He made no effort to hide it.

"Are you a newbie, buddy?"

The stall owner, who had just been idly scrolling through Chosen Space news behind his stall, suddenly spoke up. Only then did Cheng Tian shift his gaze toward him.

In truth, sellers did not need to stay at their stalls around the clock. They could simply set a price and go do something else. Many nearby vendors were absent; if you saw something you wanted, you could just pay for it. Chosen Space had rules, after all. So if a vendor was still around, then unless he had nothing better to do, it meant he was willing to haggle with customers.

As for the man's appearance and outfit... why did he look like Van Helsing?

Cheng Tian, having completely forgotten that he himself was dressed in a cowboy Deadpool style, raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. How could you tell?"

Cheng Tian's straightforward admission caught the stall owner off guard. Then the man seemed to lose interest, sighing as he flopped back into the gaming chair behind him.

These days, actively admitting that you were a Novice Player was practically the same as announcing, "I'm easy to rip off." But novices also meant there was not much profit to squeeze out of them. At the very least, Old Fan could not be bothered to join the hyenas surrounding the plaza.

Old Fan knew his price was inflated, but even with haggling, the Crystal Wingman was not something a novice could afford.

How should he put it? This thing was too expensive for novices, and it did not provide any immediately obvious boost in combat power. But for veterans, it also required considerable investment in upgrades before it could become useful. If they had equivalent resources, buying a better ranged weapon directly—or simply getting new skills—was clearly the better option.

But Old Fan was unwilling to sell it cheaply, so he had set up here to see whether he might encounter some sucker.

"It wasn't hard. I saw you wandering around earlier. Any newbie with a little social skill would gather information like that."

Old Fan did not say much else. Having already decided that Cheng Tian lacked the purchasing power, he still did not outright ignore him.

"Honestly, it's overpriced."

Cheng Tian did not dwell on the matter and instead turned his attention back to the mass-produced Crystal Wingman.

Yes, he was genuinely tempted.

At first glance, the Crystal Wingman was indeed in an awkward position where it was a pity to discard, but hardly satisfying to use.

Its heavy MP consumption made it difficult for novices to afford using it, while its limitation to replicating only low-level skills and equipment restricted its use for veterans.

But Cheng Tian was different.

The MP consumption could be compensated for with the Extra Skill he had just obtained, "Soul Salvation." As for skill replication, although Cheng Tian's first proper skill was the B-rank "Night Parade of a Hundred Demons," he also had the Green Gear Transformation Cane and the template loading granted by the "Game Master" talent!

The unranked Template Skills provided by template loading might be able to bypass the restriction and meet Crystal Wingman's requirements for replicating attacks.

"I know the price is high, but even if I cut it in half and put it on a huge sale, could you afford it?"

Old Fan was not deliberately mocking him. He was merely using the opportunity to tell Cheng Tian not to reach beyond his means.

Normally, a pure Novice Player who survived his first Novice Trial and earned around one or two thousand Chosen Coins was already considered excellent. That was assuming he had not slacked off during the team's main quest.

Yet after Old Fan finished speaking, he saw Cheng Tian check his panel on the spot, click his tongue, and decisively turn to leave.

As he walked away, he muttered to himself.

"Even if I sell this thing, I'd still be short eight hundred... forget it."

Cheng Tian figured the man did not truly intend to sell it at half price anyway, so there was no point wasting time. He might as well check out other things.

Most Chinese people valued keeping their wealth hidden, and Cheng Tian generally followed that principle. But at this moment, he was in Chosen Space, and his mindset had completely shifted into the showy mode he reserved for games: If I don't show off, how will people know I'm impressive? Invest in yourself now, and your future returns will double!

So he had muttered those words on purpose.

Although he did not know how much an ordinary Novice Player was supposed to gain from a Novice Trial, he knew one thing for certain: he was definitely among the best of them!

Sure enough, upon hearing that, Old Fan's eyes widened as he stared at Cheng Tian's departing back. He shot up from his recliner.

"Only eight hundred short? You made five thousand from one Novice Instance?! You've got to be kidding!"

Old Fan's completely unrestrained outburst instantly drew the attention of many nearby vendors and customers. Once they understood what he meant, they all turned their attention toward Cheng Tian as well.

No one was immune to gossip, especially gossip about someone making a huge profit of five thousand Chosen Coins from a Novice Instance—something anyone with even a little common sense about Chosen Space would scoff at.

At the center of the gossip, Cheng Tian stopped, turned around, and returned to Old Fan's stall... or rather, to the side of it. He directly applied for a stall permit, then, beneath the astonished gazes of the gossiping players, placed a complete set of Knight Armor on display.

Then he heard a nearly uniform collective gasp from the surrounding crowd—

Fuck! You got that from Demon World Village?!