Chapter 443: The Harder the Rules, the More Excited People Get
Cheng Tian wasn't intimidated by this seemingly stringent extreme challenge; instead, he immediately pinpointed several key aspects of it.
From one ban in the Top 16 to four bans in the finals, it was indeed outrageous, but not entirely without a path to survival.
At least players' talents and titles could still be used.
At this moment, Cheng Tian fully realized the significance represented by the word "talent."
Then there was the no-penalty nature of the challenge itself. If he felt an ominous threat to his life, he could simply abandon the challenge and prioritize self-preservation. Furthermore, abandoning it didn't mean he'd never have another chance to trigger it, which significantly reduced the psychological burden of giving up.
And the most crucial point arrived... it didn't ban his teammates!
Although each round mandated a forced starting lineup, requiring him to face the enemy first, this didn't mean his loss directly equated to a challenge failure.
To put it extremely, even if he forfeited at the start, as long as Eileen and Bazett were capable enough to completely overpower the opponent, he, having done nothing, would still be considered to have successfully completed the challenge.
Timely abandonment, sensible concessions, and trust in teammates to preserve and conserve his own resources might be the top priority for the upcoming challenges.
Oh, and there was one more very crucial thing.
Cheng Tian looked at the mental energy lightning streaking across his fingertips.
This method of applying mental energy, obtained from an S-rank skill, like the body's instincts of breathing and blinking, should be able to circumvent the skill-banning rules.
But then again, are everyone's extreme breakthrough challenges this bizarre?
Or is it just him?
Cheng Tian didn't know, but he immediately told Eileen about his extreme breakthrough challenge.
When alone, he could do as he pleased, but Cheng, having decided to form a team, was already prepared to take responsibility. The situation of his X-ban challenge would definitely affect the subsequent competition, and this matter absolutely had to be discussed.
Upon hearing that Cheng Tian had actually received an extreme breakthrough challenge quest, Eileen's face instantly transformed into a wise expression, like Marcille.
"Really? So fast?"
Gradually recovering from her wisdom, Eileen couldn't help but glance at her own panel; she was still a full 5 points away from her bare agility attribute's extreme value.
Of course, apart from her lower strength, Eileen's Spirit and Charm attributes were quite high, exceeding the average level for agility archers, and her lower health was supplemented by the extra bonus from that previous Chaos Scepter.
Although she already knew Cheng Tian had been stuck at the mental extreme for a while, it was still a bit too fast for him to receive an extreme breakthrough quest so quickly.
According to Eileen's understanding, the Space actually had a hidden setting: if a player was stuck at a certain rank and couldn't break through, the attribute points and skill points obtainable from main quest dungeons would gradually decrease, until only chosen coin rewards remained, or they simply died in the dungeon.
Therefore, the act of trying to stay at a certain realm to grind oneself to 50 points in all four dimensions before advancing was theoretically extremely difficult to achieve.
And this extreme theory, which could be achieved, probably only applied to players who had a smooth journey from the moment they entered the Space, always received high or even top-tier evaluations for every main quest, and completed their breakthroughs before getting stuck at a realm, thus naturally obtaining a large number of attribute and skill points.
Eileen had also seen Cheng Tian's attributes: primary Spirit, secondary Charm, decent Strength, lagging Agility. But one had to remember, how many months had it been?
And he was already preparing to face the Bronze rank?
"Challenge! You must challenge it! If you give up directly, how much of a favor would I owe you?!"
Eileen immediately declared her stance and decided to fully support him.
However, when she learned the more detailed X-ban rules from Cheng Tian, she couldn't help but grasp her face, pulling it hard to both sides, and muttered.
"Items, equipment, classes, skills all banned!? This is too unreasonable..."
"It's alright, as long as we have talents and new skills, the impact isn't that big."
Cheng said this while demonstrating his Stand World, and the various elemental effects evolved from his mental energy.
Eileen still didn't know, or rather, deliberately hadn't pressed for the specific effects of Game Expert. She only knew it was a special talent that randomly granted limited skills based on the dungeon.
As for the Origin Battle Method, a skill that was still fresh and new even to Cheng Tian himself, it was equally new to Eileen.
"Still, don't feel too much pressure. If the challenge fails, there will be other opportunities. But compared to myself, you two, without any restrictions, might be the key to my challenge's success."
Cheng's comfort was meaningless; instead, it made Eileen feel that the responsibility on her shoulders suddenly became heavier.
It feels so good to put pressure on others~
With Eileen's shoulder in his hand, Cheng Tian's gaze swept around. Besides still not being very favored by Mina, Bazett, Utan, and even the elephant and pterodactyl released to live in the "park" all showed their support.
Cheng Tian pressed the option to accept the "Mental Extreme Breakthrough Challenge."
In an instant, a current different from the mental energy lightning surged through his entire body, making him shiver.
And when he opened his panel again, his item bar had turned completely red.
Banning now?
"...Otherwise?"
Cheng Tian, after a brief moment of surprise, quickly understood the underlying issue.
Taking the item ban as an example, if items were only banned in the arena but not outside, then one could furiously consume items in the arena, and then quickly replenish their lost health and mana with items after the match. This clearly wasn't a thorough enough ban.
However, Cheng Tian's Void Garage, derived from his title, was unaffected. Storing and retrieving vehicles and the elephant was still possible, though they couldn't be used in the arena.
After confirming that his item bar was unusable, Cheng Tian immediately checked the scheduled competition.
Although the battle roster hadn't been released yet, the schedule had already been decided.
First, two days would be used to complete the Top 16 to Top 8 matches, then one day each would be reserved for the Top 8 to Top 4 and Top 4 to Top 2, and the final day would be entirely dedicated to the finals. The entire competition would take about 5 days to complete.
Even if everything went smoothly, he would only be fully unsealed on the fifth day after winning or losing the championship.
Moreover, the crucial point was that this major competition was bound to have unexpected twists. Even if all MUGEN elements were temporarily removed, King of Fighters '97 itself would stir up trouble.
Iori's rampage, Leona's rampage, the awakening of the Goenitz team... and most importantly, the resurrection of Orochi.
He didn't know if these special events would interfere with the normal progress of the competition, or if they would be linked to his challenge quest.
Even outside the competition, many possibilities could arise.
Although Shadaloo had fallen, NESTS still existed. Cheng didn't believe that NESTS, having suffered such a great loss at his hands, would just let it go.
As soon as he thought of the myriad random events that might interfere with his challenge, Cheng, who never lacked an adventurous spirit, was not only not annoyed but a surge of eager anticipation began to emanate from him.