Originally, Cheng Tian's guesses about Red Arremer's skills had been nothing more than basic enhancements like spitting fireballs, increased agility, and double-jumping. At best, it might have had Red Arremer's ability to turn into a stone statue, which came with its very obvious strengths and weaknesses.
Although Red Arremer had been elevated to the status of a spin-off protagonist thanks to his popularity, and was countless times stronger than Prinny, the weakest penguin in the "Disgaea" spinoff series, Red Arremer was still Red Arremer. His foundation was fixed, and no matter how strong he became, he could never reach the level of his higher-ups.
But Cheng Tian had never imagined that the Red Arremer template for his random skill would actually be the special Red Arremer unit that appeared as a hidden boss in the fighting game "SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos."
More strictly speaking, it had directly turned Red Arremer's kill easter egg into a skill.
In that fighting game, the vast majority of opponents defeated by Red Arremer would be forcibly transformed into Western demons or Japanese monsters.
For example, Mai Shiranui, after being defeated by Red Arremer, would turn into Aonyōbō, a monster in the Hundred Demons' Night Parade who had an exceptionally curvaceous figure, a mouth full of "noble" blackened teeth, and an overwhelming desire to get married... It fit perfectly with her setting of chasing Andy around and forcing him to marry her.
As for Chun-Li, after being defeated, she would turn into a Qing-dynasty zombie with an iron-blue body, a talisman plastered to her head, and both arms held straight out as she hopped around. Combined with Chun-Li's original image as a bun-haired kung-fu girl, it vividly embodied the Japanese people's stereotypical impression of China.
As for Iori Yagami, who hated violence the most... he would become a skeletal gun emplacement with Iori Yagami's signature swept-back hairstyle, no limbs, and only a spine and skull. He probably wouldn't look out of place at all in Castlevania.
Also, just as the additional notes had mentioned, besides Red Arremer, there were two other beings in the game who could transform other people's appearances.
Targets killed by Athena would turn into animals bearing the stereotypes associated with their original forms.
Taking Mai Shiranui as an example again, she would be transformed into a voluptuous... cow.
It was worth mentioning, however, that this Athena, who wore a leotard and wielded a sword and shield, was not Athena Asamiya, the popular singer from "King of Fighters." She was the playable protagonist of the 1986 arcade game "Athena," a genuine counterpart of the goddess of victory.
According to SNK's supplementary settings, the relationship between Athena and Athena Asamiya was akin to that between an ancestor and a descendant. In fact, in the later "King of Fighters" games, some of Athena Asamiya's special moves would briefly make her take on her ancestor's appearance.
As for Demitri, the vampire from "Darkstalkers," he possessed the special ability to forcibly turn any living creature into a woman for a short period, then suck out all of its bodily fluids.
There were no female targets involved—he would turn men into women before sucking them dry. He truly was completely indiscriminate.
But the character's greatest contribution was probably that his gender-swapping skill prompted SNK to design corresponding female personas and models for almost all of its male nonhuman characters. The most famous of them was "Orochi Iori," who had been feminized after being hit by the ultimate gender-swapping move.
Because her ascetic nun-like appearance after the transformation was so popular, it even spawned a player community's fan creation called "Orochi Girl."
Cheng Tian even believed that the official all-female fighting game released by SNK itself in 2018, titled "SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy," had very likely originated from Demitri's gender-swapping ability.
The leader of "Fatal Fury," the legendary wolf Terry, was directly transformed into Terry Girl, with long, slender thighs and springy, jelly-like flesh. Her excellent character model could even occasionally be seen in the 3D zone... All he could say was that the game's developers had surely enjoyed themselves while making it.
At this moment, Cheng Tian couldn't turn people into animals, much less transform men into women, but he could turn people into beings from the Western demons and Hundred Demons' Night Parade. The sheer entertainment value was truly maxed out.
Thinking of this, Cheng couldn't wait to go meet the Cyclops at the end of this stage!
What? What if the Hundred Demons' Night Parade classification failed?
Wouldn't it be even more fun if Cheng Tian transformed himself?
Completely ignoring the two other college students watching him cautiously, Cheng continued fiddling with his panel.
At the same time that "Hundred Demons' Night Parade" was officially added to his skill bar, the panel also gave Cheng Tian the information he most needed to understand.
He had three empty skill slots remaining.
Sure enough, a new player's maximum number of skill slots was only four. That was within expectations.
Although the actual combat effects of Hundred Demons' Night Parade could only be described as having potential for the future, it was ultimately not a useless skill and was still worth looking forward to.
After finishing with his skills, Cheng Tian immediately dumped all the free attribute points he hadn't even had time to warm up into his Strength attribute.
In short, increasing his HP first could never be wrong.
Including the two points of Agility granted by the Red Imp First Blood achievement, Cheng Tian's unmodified attributes had become Strength 14, Agility 12, Spirit 12, and Charm 9.
He hadn't yet felt any tangible improvement from the increase in Agility, but his maximum HP rising from 100 to 140 was a real change. A 1.4-fold increase in HP truly made him feel much safer.
Since he was still wearing the Knight Armor, Cheng Tian hadn't noticed the changes to his body. But if he took everything off now, he would discover that his slightly flabby belly had already turned into a slab of chocolate—square, solid, and sharply defined.
As for his muscle mass, although he couldn't see any obvious changes with the naked eye, Cheng Tian could clearly feel that the armor on his body seemed much lighter.
He casually picked up the two-handed hammer resting to one side. Since he now met the equipment's basic requirements, holding and swinging it had become effortless.
The change from 10 Strength to 14 Strength was truly substantial.
Cheng Tian glanced at the remaining time on the main quest. There were less than seven hours left, but considering that the greatest threat, Red Arremer, had already been dealt with, the stage's overall time limit should still be fairly generous.
Incidentally, the 10 HP Cheng had lost earlier from deliberately taking a slap from a zombie had already recovered as well.
Cheng Tian still didn't know about the other races, but he had more or less figured out his own recovery rate.
An adult male of the Earth Human Race recovered roughly 1 HP per minute. Converted, that meant every point of Strength corresponded to 0.1 HP recovered per minute—and that was while out of combat, with the body having available energy to expend.
Cheng Tian was extremely hungry and thirsty now. The food he had wolfed down at home earlier had already been almost entirely consumed by his body's regeneration.
As the saying went, sharpening the axe wouldn't delay the work of cutting wood. Having overcome the major threat of Red Arremer, Cheng Tian planned to rest for a while and take care of his biological needs.
The two college students, who had maintained their distance ever since the battle with Red Arremer had begun, could only stare as Cheng Tian stripped himself down again until he was wearing nothing but strawberry-patterned underwear, then unabashedly began relieving himself directly into the bushes.
They had only one evaluation of this—
The water pressure was incredible!
Thanks to "A Night of Rainfall in a Small Tower" for the 5,000-coin tip!!!
Thanks to "Mad White Tiger" for the tip!
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