Chapter 191: Erratic Slash and Red Quake Orb
Cheng Tian stroked the head of the Primordial Stone Wyvern, his gaze lost in thought as he looked at the dual treasure chest, which possessed characteristics of both a Bloody Chest and a Silver Coin Chest, his finger tracing imaginary lines on its surface.
Compared to other Capcom arcade beat 'em ups of the same era, Knights of the Round Table was actually relatively more difficult and had a more unique flow. While it abandoned the satisfying combo system, it introduced a parry and counter-attack mechanic, and these counter-attacks were even effective against bosses.
But what left the deepest impression of Knights of the Round Table in Cheng Tian's and many other players' minds was the game's unique "treasure splitting" mechanism.
Most video games, regardless of genre, generally allow players to obtain item drops by defeating enemies or breaking obstacles. However, only Knights of the Round Table, on top of this, allowed players to attack already dropped items to split them into other forms.
For example, a normal silver coin chest, if picked up directly, would grant 400 points. But if slashed once, it would transform into three silver coin pouches, each worth 140 points, bringing the total to 420 points—a slight increase in value. However, these small silver coin pouches could not be split further.
Just as there was appreciation, there was also depreciation. For instance, a gold coin chest with a total value of 600 points might be split into 3 or 4 gold coin pouches, each worth 180 points, resulting in a slight loss or gain.
Not just chests, but items like expensive tea sets, large vegetable salads, and whole roasted hams could all be split.
However, it was precisely this "treasure splitting" mechanism that, over the next few decades, became the core reason why players in Cheng Tian's era continued to delve deep into this game, as it led to a special mechanism called "treasure hunting."
And not long ago, in the arcade where Cheng Tian had spent three weeks, he had personally completed a playthrough of Knights of the Round Table with treasure hunting as the primary goal.
Thinking of this, Cheng Tian opened his panel and clicked on the temporary skill granted by the dungeon affix [All-Encompassing Slash].
[Slash (Temporary): Dungeon Affix Limited Skill, Active Skill. A unique ability within the Knights of the Round Table worldview, allowing you to cut treasures to cause form changes that lead to appreciation or depreciation.
Use any bladed weapon to cut a target that meets the cutting conditions. The target will be split into several smaller items with some effects of the original item. The total effects and value after splitting will randomly increase or decrease. It is also possible for the splitting to fail, causing the target to be completely destroyed and lose its value.
You can only attempt to cut large treasure chests, valuables, or recovery items; already cut items cannot be cut a second time.
When you use it on a player's dropped treasure chest, all of the player's own dropped items will also be included in the cutting range. Split equipment items may experience fluctuations in form and stats, or they may be directly destroyed.
The basic cost of Slash is 5 MP. For each additional cutting target, the cost increases by 5 MP. The skill has no cooldown time.]
Cheng Tian rubbed his chin, a little curious, because in his opinion, the most important aspect of this Slash was not mentioned.
Was it because the default skill level wasn't high enough? Or some other reason?
However, considering the complexity and uniqueness of the treasure hunting mechanism, which far exceeded the "Dragon Egg Three-Choice-One" principle in Adventure Island 3, making it difficult to reproduce in a concrete dungeon, Cheng Tian decided not to delay further. He pulled out a disposable common machete from his inventory, ready to activate Slash directly, cut the chest, take the items, and leave.
But just at this moment, Cheng Tian's open panel showed an anomaly!
A line extended from Slash, the temporary skill, and it was actually linked to the "Holy Grail Knight" template Cheng Tian currently had loaded!
[Detecting a special linkage effect between the dungeon affix temporary skill 'Slash' and 'Percival, the Holy Grail Knight,' one of the three protagonists of Knights of the Round Table—]
[Detecting that your currently loaded native-level protagonist template is "Holy Grail Knight / Marcus Crupol"—]
[Your 'Slash' has temporarily advanced to 'Erratic Slash.']
[Erratic Slash (Temporary Advancement): Template Linkage Mutated Skill, Active Skill. By virtue of your highly consistent Holy Grail Knight identity with Percival and the Lady of the Lake's gaze, you will be able to observe special "Holy Mark Remnants" on cuttable items, and you possess the "Erratic Adjustment" ability to adjust the form of these Holy Mark Remnants to a certain extent.
Basic effects are the same as Slash; Erratic Slash may cause cut treasures to undergo a qualitative change, completely transforming into other forms; this rule also applies to Bloody Chests with composite attributes.
You can observe the erratic value changes in the current scene, and you can change the current erratic value by jumping in place.]
[Additional Evaluation: What are you waiting for? Get ready to jump!]
A very hearty smile immediately appeared on Cheng Tian's face when he saw this.
He then began to jump in place under the puzzled gaze of the Primordial Stone Wyvern.
After jumping about five or six times, and then, under the even more bewildered gaze of the Primordial Stone Wyvern, urging it to carry him for several more consecutive jumps, Cheng Tian finally jumped off the dragon's back. He decisively slashed the dual-attribute Bloody Silver Coin Chest with the common machete in his hand, following the already altered Holy Mark Remnants.
Under normal circumstances, the Bloody Silver Coin Chest could only be split into 3 Bloody Silver Coin Pouches and the items that this guy originally should have dropped.
However, after a strange puff of smoke, the Bloody Silver Coin Chest underwent a bizarre and magical collapse and deformation, then transformed into an item resembling a delicate trophy, retaining a meticulously carved base, upon which rested a spherical object containing a shimmering red liquid—
Red Quake Orb!
[Red Quake Orb: Special Item, Magic Item, Consumable. Usage condition: Smash it. Only effective in Knights of the Round Table related dungeons.
A magic orb imbued with special magical power, possessing the wondrous ability to kill enemies and convert their life force into high-value valuables.
After use, all non-friendly units within a 10-meter radius will suffer a powerful shock impact—
When the target is a normal template, it will be instantly killed regardless of HP; when the target is a boss template, 75% of its maximum HP will be deducted; when the target is an elite template, 50% of its maximum HP will be deducted; when the target is a champion template, it will deal 200 points of magic damage that ignores defense and resistance, and inflict a forced knockdown effect; when the target is a leader template or a player unit, it will only cause a forced knockdown effect.
All killed units will additionally and randomly generate valuables unique to the current dungeon.]
[Your "Holy Grail Mission"—Collect Red Quake Orb, has been completed.]
[You and your servants, combat mounts, and a maximum of 3 additional contracted squad members will receive the Lady of the Lake's Blessing effect of 10% increased all damage. This effect will last until you leave the dungeon.]