Captain America: An innate-level Protagonist Template, based on "Steve Rogers," one of the controllable protagonists from the "Captain's Mandate/Captain America and the Avengers" template. He was one of the core figures among the superheroes of the Marvel universe, often serving as the backbone of his team. His physical capabilities were nearly at the human limit, and he was exceptionally skilled at using shield-type weapons.
When you chose to load the "Captain America" template—
You would simultaneously obtain the template-exclusive weapon, "Captain America's Shield."
You would simultaneously obtain the template-exclusive skills Shield Master, Blitz Charge, Whirlwind Leap, and Blazing Oil.
Loading and unloading this character template both had a cooldown of 25 minutes.
Yes, Captain America. This was the Protagonist Template loaded onto Cheng Tian.
Loading a Marvel template in the DC universe—wasn't that a kind of NTR too?
The fighter had almost instinctively pulled back his swollen fist, but before he realized what had happened, his chin was struck by an upward blow from the shield. His dislocated jawbone and airborne tooth fragments instantly left him dazed.
The tavern erupted into an uproar. No matter how they imagined it, they couldn't believe that someone as scrawny as this Asian yellow-skinned monkey, Cheng Tian, would actually dare to resist under these circumstances. But as gang enforcers and fighters, their reactions weren't slow. Several of them had already drawn pistols from their chests and waistbands.
However, Cheng Tian was even faster. He seized the edge of the shield and hurled it forward with tremendous force, as if throwing a discus!
The shield flew even faster than some of them could draw and aim their guns. Whistling through the air at high speed, its spinning edge revealed a razor-like sharpness. It effortlessly sliced through one gang member's raised pistol, along with his index and thumb, before embedding itself in the bridge of his nose.
Yet the shield's momentum didn't disappear. Instead, as if it possessed tremendous elasticity, it bounced toward another gunman nearby. This time, it struck from the side, slicing the man's ear in half straight through the middle. The shield's edge remained lodged in his skull.
Shield Master: A template skill and composite skill. Captain America's shield techniques had reached a level of mastery that seemed to disregard the laws of physics. He could use the shield to perform any number of inconceivable maneuvers.
While holding a shield—
You could throw the shield at a target. The shield's flight speed would increase by 100%, dealing full Strength + shield-strike damage. During flight, the shield would receive a certain degree of shield-path guidance based on the target's movements. If it successfully hit its first target, the shield would ricochet toward the next most threatening enemy unit within a range of Strength × 1 meter. If the shield missed its first target and there were obstacles nearby, it would bounce off those obstacles and fly toward the target again.
Your shield's ricochet damage would not suffer any reduction in power.
All shields you possessed would have their overall performance doubled, while their durability consumption rate would be halved.
Your connection and coordination with your shields would become closer.
Once every 30 seconds, you could use a special gesture to actively recall any shield equipment you had personally thrown that had landed within a range of Strength × 1 meter.
Blood stained the tavern floor red, while the henchmen's screams wiped away some of the arrogance and conceit clouding the others' eyes. Those who had stopped their advance began staring at Cheng Tian with uncertainty. Two words that could sometimes be used interchangeably had already surfaced in their minds—
Superhero or supervillain!?
Because their own boss was a supervillain, these people had an even clearer understanding of how terrifying supervillains truly were.
However, among those who could only rise as enforcers within the gang, the less quick-witted clearly made up the majority. Cheng's resistance had only added fuel to the fire. Rather than retreating after seeing their comrades' miserable states, they flew into a rage, flipping over the tables, chairs, and benches around them before surging toward Cheng Tian's position.
That yellow-skinned monkey's inexplicably manifested shield was gone. Now was the perfect time to attack!
Having temporarily lost Captain America's Shield, Cheng Tian pulled one leg half a step back. Without the slightest panic, he raised his other empty arm. The next second, the ugly, gigantic head of a one-eyed, one-horned monster appeared in front of him. Its lifelike, bloodshot eye glared fixedly at the nearest person.
Even viewed as a piece of art, this thing was far too frightening. Instincts of seeking advantage and avoiding harm made the henchman slam on the brakes... But Cheng Tian hid half his body inside the monster's head, crouched down, and suddenly charged forward!
Like a racing car flooring the accelerator and accelerating in an instant, the entire thing happened in the blink of an eye. The gang henchman hadn't even had time to feel pain before the sharp horn pierced through his chest, sending his entire body flying from the impact.
Borrowing the earlier alleyway thug's description of "being hit by a forty-mile-per-hour van," this impaled henchman's experience would probably be more like "being hit by a seventy- or eighty-mile-per-hour pickup truck."
And this was still derived from the bonus effect brought by Shield Master.
At that moment, Cheng Tian was actually equipped with two shields simultaneously. He hadn't combined and enchanted the template weapon, "Captain America's Shield," with the "Cyclops Head." Instead, he held them separately, allowing him to receive the bonuses from both sides at once.
The monster's head was ugly, strange, and even a little smelly, but it was still a genuine magical shield. Cheng had no aesthetic obsession when it came to equipment. He only cared about the stats, not the appearance.
He was exactly the sort of person who would use a weapon named "Pink Fluffy Rabbit" to kill a "Demon King."
And under the enhancement of Shield Master, the Cyclops Head naturally received the effect of having its overall performance doubled.
The shield's original Strength +4 directly became Strength +8, causing Cheng Tian's Strength attribute to soar to 24 points. Compared to the actual Cyclops he had killed earlier, he was now only five points weaker.
Although, due to the difference in species, Cheng Tian—being a pure-blooded Earth human—couldn't display the same strength as a Cyclops, 24 Strength already gave him enough capital to charge through mobs unhindered.
Incidentally, doubling the Strength bonus came with another minor cost: the original Charisma -2 became -4, lowering Cheng's Charisma attribute to 5 points.
No wonder the gang members collectively disliked the sight of him. With 5 points of Charisma—enough to sit at the same table as Red Arremer—combined with racial discrimination and their master's orders, the fact that they had held back until the bartender spoke was already remarkable restraint. Or rather, it was the result of having been disciplined by the gang's rules.
With a piercing Blitz Charge, Cheng Tian forced his way through the encirclement with a corpse in tow, charging straight from the bar to the vicinity of the tavern entrance.
"Get him! He's scared! Don't let him escape!"
At the same time, the bartender shouted his orders, clearly sounding somewhat flustered. Yet he himself looked as though he wanted to shrink into the bar.
But just as everyone assumed Cheng Tian was about to break through the door and flee to freedom along the long staircase leading to the surface, they saw him shake the corpse off the Cyclops horn and turn around to face them.
"I really am scared."
As Cheng Tian spoke, he shook his empty right arm once, like a spring.
Then he revealed a terrifying grin, his gums almost completely exposed, and forced out a sentence from between his teeth with all the strength in his gut—one that sent a chill through every gang member.
"...I'm scared you'll run away!"
With a clang, the bloodstained Captain America's Shield that a henchman had thrown to the ground suddenly shot back onto Cheng Tian's right arm.
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