Two Zeros Strung Together Are Infinity

Cheng Tian confirmed that this new set of armor on him was no different from the previous Knight Armor. In fact, this was a feature of the original game: as long as you could kill the final boss and weren't wearing any armor, the key would give you a set of armor for free.

Cheng Tian scattered the white-grade equipment, which wasn't worth much, and decisively exchanged the three valuable items—the King Statue, the Money Bag, and the Mobi-chan Windmill—for Heaven's Chosen Coins.

Firstly, to free up inventory space, and secondly, he simply didn't have the time to wait and trade with others later.

With the rewards from blasting the Red Imp, Cheng Tian now had a total of 4220 Heaven's Chosen Coins in hand.

Although he still didn't know their purchasing power, as a typical old-school player, Cheng Tian felt comfortable seeing that he had savings.

After a short period of tossing and turning, Cheng Tian's inventory was left with only the map and wings. His main and off-hand weapons were the Gentleman's Cane and the Cyclops Head, paired with his set of Knight Armor, making for a completely mismatched look.

After a brief test, Cheng Tian confirmed that the Cyclops Head also met the blueprint construction rules for Knight Throwing. He could consume 5 MP or 2 Innocent Souls to condense projectiles.

The consumption of Innocent Souls had increased, probably because the Cyclops Head blueprint was a blue magic item, requiring more resources.

However, considering that the Cyclops Head thrown out had a chance to spit fireballs on its own, 2 Innocent Souls was still a good deal.

With self-allocated points and equipment bonuses, Cheng Tian's Strength stat had reached 20 points. Numerically, it was twice that of an average adult male on Earth, but Cheng Tian felt that it wasn't such a simple numerical calculation. It was probably the type where the higher the value, the lower the growth curve.

"Accompany me for three more hours."

Taking advantage of the dungeon pause brought about by the main quest completion, Cheng Tian, who had rested for a while, said to the Demon Cicada.

The Demon Cicada, very aware of its current situation, nodded and floated onto Cheng Tian's shoulder, ready to continue following.

"Space! I choose free exploration!"

As the words fell, the Demon Village, which had been frozen by a strange power, started up again, and the remaining three hours of the main quest continued to count down.

However, Cheng Tian didn't immediately return the way he came. Instead, he first touched the wide-open door that theoretically led to the second-level scene of the Demon Village—

Only to be blocked by an invisible wall, and he couldn't even see what the scene was like on the other side of the door.

"Tch~ Stingy~"

Cheng Tian muttered, not bothering to linger, and turned around to start heading back the way he came.

Three hours later, Cheng Tian, who was moving faster because he had less baggage, had completed all the objectives of this trip.

He opened his arms and hugged the Demon Cicada, who had accompanied him all the way, tightly.

"Friend, see you again if fate allows."

Releasing the somewhat bewildered Demon Cicada, Cheng Tian raised his fist.

The Demon Cicada didn't hesitate, and its small claws met Cheng Tian's fist once again.

Then, the light representing teleportation out of the dungeon enveloped the one person and one insect, and they both disappeared from the Demon Village dungeon.

The white light representing the transition dissipated, and what appeared before Cheng Tian, who was alone, was a pure white space with nothing else in it.

At the same time, Cheng Tian's phone, tucked into his crotch, vibrated slightly, and then a projection prompt box from the Chosen Evolution Space popped up.

[Player ID DX233180, congratulations on breaking through the novice trial and officially becoming a Chosen Player, and welcome to the Chosen Evolution Space.]

[This is your personal space within the Space Island. You have the right to modify your personal space within a certain range, and you can also spend a small amount of Heaven's Chosen Coins to obtain some cheap and high-end enjoyment experiences.

You can invite other players into your personal space through the invitation code. Others without invitation authorization cannot enter your exclusive space.

You can store your props and items in your personal space without restrictions.]

[You can apply for free or paid space service functions in your personal space at any time, including but not limited to "item recycling," "personal repair," "equipment enhancement," etc. Some functions, such as the "Player Mission Hall," require entering the corresponding facilities on the island to use.

In addition, players are also allowed to apply for opening stalls and establishing facilities on the Space Island. You can trade and interact with other players in the space.]

[Please set your game ID before officially entering the Space Island. You can avoid the risk of being doxxed offline by modifying your ID and paying to blur your appearance.

Once you die in a dungeon or in reality, all your inventory and possessions will be lost, and different types of "relics" will be generated according to the current rules.]

[Friendly reminder, not all Chosen Players on the Space Island come from the same dimension, and there are differences in concepts between dimensions, so please communicate with caution.]

Oh? There are other world races!?

Compared to the string of descriptions with hints and warnings above, Cheng Tian was clearly more concerned about the "Chosen Players do not all come from the same dimension" hint explicitly given in the last friendly reminder.

Did this mean that he might see truly meaningful other-dimensional races?

Traditional catgirls with seven mammary glands? Brain-eating octopus people? Or very wagggh green mushroom monsters?

In short, it was very exciting.

However, before officially entering the island, Cheng Tian had some things to deal with.

Part of it was the loot he got from his three hours of free exploration.

After the Cyclops and the Red Imp were both killed by Cheng Tian, the first level of the entire Demon Village only had randomly refreshed mobs left. For Cheng Tian, who was alone with one insect and moved quickly, they posed no threat at all.

So he found all the Easter eggs on this first level.

Relying on the fact that he was in the free exploration stage, Cheng Tian decisively touched the negative Mobi-chan Windmill from before. He was even prepared for all of his exploration time to be deducted and be kicked out of the dungeon on the spot.

As a result, the item didn't take effect immediately after he got it. After a closer look, there was a considerable difference from what he had imagined.

This Easter egg, which was a purely negative effect in the original game, had become a two-way functional consumable that at first glance seemed useless, but after careful consideration, seemed to have some strange tricks to play with.

[Mobi-chan Windmill 30 seconds: Hidden Easter egg, consumable. Capcom's official mascot, makes cameo appearances in various works of the company, but its low popularity is a huge problem...

Use on any unit to shorten 1 skill cooldown time, BUFF duration, or task time limit of that unit by 30 seconds.

When the selected time limit to be shortened is itself less than 30 seconds, the duration will become 00/∞.

This effect will remain in effect in the current dungeon.]