The cold-faced but warm-hearted Greenie had said that players unanimously believed that even the first stage of Demon Village should be D-rank rather than E-rank. That alone was enough to prove just how infamous Demon Village's source material was among players.
Of course, its most infamous feature was that it was a "newbie killer." As long as a player's skill could break through a certain threshold, the probability of dying in Demon Village would drop dramatically.
Take the stages 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4 of Super Mario Brothers, another popular newbie trial dungeon. Stage 1-1 in particular practically taught players by the hand how to kill enemies, collect mushrooms and coins, and obtain power-ups. There was no need for a veteran guide at all.
And in 1-4, they had even thoughtfully placed a fixed mechanism deep inside the castle, behind the final boss, "Fake Koopa," that could trigger a terrain kill on the boss. As long as players were clever and brave enough, they could pass safely without a head-on fight and rescue the Princess inside... Oh, no, it was Toad Number One.
To be fair, Nintendo's level-design guidance here was truly god-tier, enough to serve as a textbook example for the gaming industry. Even players with zero experience could understand the gameplay as quickly as possible. Moved into Chosen Evolution Space, the same kind of level design could produce the exact same guidance effect, without even needing to assign a newbie guide.
Few enemies, no traps, plenty of treasure, and generous room for error. Even if a player's talent was terrible enough to be a lump of garbage, as long as they steadily obtained treasures like the "Super Mushroom" and "Fire Flower"—
What Goombas? What Koopa Troopas? Facing players throwing fireballs, you Koopa Kingdom grunts are the ones who should be running!
And with the Mario Brothers stage as a comparison, Demon Village—essentially created by its producer to make things difficult for players—would have to be demonized, or it would be letting down the countless players who had died there.
Incidentally, the source materials for the other two dungeons with reputations comparable to Demon Village were Mega Man and Battletoads. It was just that the latter two hid their fangs for a few more stages. They lured players in before killing them, whereas Demon Village was more like, "I don't care what you are or where you're from—I'm killing you the moment you enter!"
Whether Cheng Tian had five thousand coins was still unconfirmed for the time being, but a set of Knight Armor capable of blocking any single attack had been openly displayed before everyone.
That meant Cheng Tian had not only crawled out of that hellhole called Demon Village, but had also been the main contributor to the raid mission. Otherwise, the key that opened the boss-killing reward and granted the armor would never have fallen into his hands.
But if they knew that the Red Arremer Cheng Tian had faced was an elite template, that the giant monster he had faced was a Champion Template, and that he had defeated all of them in single combat... they probably would not have been able to react at all.
Because that would not have been a newbie trial at all. It would have been a newbie slaughterhouse!
"Hey! You did that on purpose, didn't you? One set of Knight Armor is priced at five nines? Are you trying to reach the heavens?!"
The moment he saw Cheng Tian price the armor at 99,999, Old Fan began complaining on the spot.
The surrounding players had gathered after passing by to listen to the gossip and catching an explosive story. Most of them nodded incessantly in agreement, but few turned around and left immediately.
That was because it was obvious Cheng Tian had deliberately set the price too high, waiting for buyers to bargain. It was the sort of move made by someone who had no clear understanding of the market price and was shifting the pressure of the listed price onto the buyers.
If there had been fewer people, there might have been a chance to find a bargain. But now that there were more people, the nature of the situation had changed.
Squinting at the heads bobbing before him and the rapidly rising number of stall messages, Cheng Tian was somewhat surprised.
Most of them might have been there just for the spectacle, but it also showed that the audience for this Knight Armor... seemed to be rather large?
Yes, quite a few people really were interested in the Knight Armor. Some had even begun contacting others on the spot, and the situation showed faint signs of slipping out of control.
The reason was that Cheng Tian seemed to have underestimated the Knight Armor's rule-based damage resistance, which came at the cost of occupying six equipment slots and having only one point of durability.
Blocking a planet-destroying cannon was indeed a little excessive, but it absolutely qualified to block a lethal strike from a powerful boss in some high-difficulty dungeon.
Although ordinary players had only six fixed item slots, just as Cheng Tian had obtained additional skills, there were naturally ways to expand the number of item slots in the space.
Therefore, in theory, after using the Knight Armor to block one attack, a player could immediately switch to backup equipment and continue maintaining their position as the tank. It was an item with tremendous strategic value.
Moreover, although this was technically the lowest-grade magical equipment that could be obtained in batches, there was practically no substitute for it in the space.
Take the most popular Super Mario dungeon series, for example. The "Invincibility Star," which could grant near-invincibility, usually could not be brought out of the dungeon. As for the "Super Mushroom," which could make a person grow larger and stronger, it seemed capable of absorbing damage at the cost of shrinking afterward—but the damage taken before shrinking was something the player had to endure in full.
For ordinary players, Knight Armor that broke after taking a single hit was practically useless, and might not even be as good as a set of plain leather armor.
But in specialized circles such as high-end boss-clearing groups, all three armor sets from Demon Village were desperately scarce. Even when they appeared on the market, they were worth a fortune—yes, that was not a typo.
As a result, whenever a Demon Village bounty mission occasionally appeared in the player mission hall, people camping there would snatch it up the moment it was listed. The armor obtained as spoils had practically been monopolized.
The people here were not players with an urgent need for Knight Armor. They intended to act as middlemen, buying it from Cheng Tian and reselling it at a markup to those who needed it.
"Crystal Option! I'll trade you a set of armor!"
Old Fan had approached at some point and tried to whisper with Cheng Tian. After all, Cheng Tian had shown considerable interest in the Crystal Option earlier.
Cheng merely glanced at him, twisted his old waist, and forcefully let out a fart with his lower body, giving his answer.
Clearly, Cheng already knew the value of the Knight Armor. At this moment, the identities of both sides had changed. Cheng Tian was the seller in a seller's market now, and Old Fan was the one who had to bleed.
"Crystal Option! And you can pick any two other things from my stall!" Old Fan clenched his fists.
"Four." Cheng Tian held up four fingers.
"...Three! I can't give you any more!" Old Fan's gums nearly bled.
"Deal~"
And so, Cheng Tian used just one set of Knight Armor from Demon Village to trade for the four-item set known as the "Famicom Big Four."
Their listed price exceeded 25,000 coins, and their actual value was also more than half the listed price.
Seeing Cheng Tian take away the four most valuable items on the stall in one go, Old Fan really wanted to shoot him twice with a bang-bang and see whether he could self-repair like that hooded mask!
Judging solely by the prices, Old Fan had suffered a huge loss. But these items were bargaining chips for trading with a specific circle. With them, a lone wolf like him had a chance to gain access to information that was rarely circulated publicly.
That included, among other things, channels for obtaining special equipment and items, conditions for triggering titles, sources of skill stone drops, and detailed dungeon information.
Sometimes, expensive did not mean good. The best choice was the one suited to oneself.
Old Fan placed the Knight Armor into his personal space, feeling both pain and joy. He was still thinking that this time he ought to be able to obtain the conditions for the Bullet Time skill drop from Max Payne. But when he turned his head, he saw another set of Knight Armor priced at 99,999 appear on Cheng Tian's little stall...
Before you continue