Chapter 452: No Disgust for Used Underwear, Only a Thirst for Stat Bonuses
Everyone's attention immediately focused on the two-piece swimsuit, as it was quite unique.
Athena's Pink Summer Special: Blue Excellent / Lv1, Underwear, Two-piece swimsuit, Does not occupy a fixed equipment slot. Equipment requirement: Humanoid creature.
To divert the public from the hidden brawls under the night sky, the organizers, in conjunction with Athena's Office, fabricated the sensational news of 'The World's Number One Idol's Undergarments Stolen' to shift public attention. However, for some unknown reason, the clothes were actually lost... It's the exact same set as the one in your hand.
Spirit +5, Fire Resistance +10%, Shaping, Anti-shake, Indestructible (has priority effect).
Additional Hint: Theoretically, men can indeed wear it, but both top and bottom must be worn to activate the equipment's inherent effects; additionally, if the rightful owner sees this item in your hands... well, actually, it's not a big deal. After all, you've already performed an abdominal strike on the world's number one idol, and the fan club's internal hatred has successfully reached the 'irreconcilable' stage. Countless devoted fans are now preparing to take revenge. This item, if found in anyone else's hands, might cause huge trouble, but in your hands, its significance is too low to be worth mentioning.
Compared to goods, goods are discarded; compared to people, people die.
The mere theft of personal undergarments seemed insignificant when compared to the fact of beating up a goddess.
An ordinary person stealing Athena's swimsuit would likely incur a -3000 reputation effect, while for Cheng Tian, 'stealing underwear' would probably only be a -200 reputation, because his reputation was already -9800, leaving little room for further reduction... But it must be said, this straightforward stat bonus, the characteristic of not occupying a regular equipment slot, the gender-neutral equipment condition, and the future-proof attribute of being upgradeable, clearly made it quite valuable.
This was even without considering its Attach 'Athena' attribute. If Cheng Tian truly wished, he could likely make a fortune in the current world with this two-piece swimsuit.
However, for such special equipment that is hard to acquire even with money, Cheng Tian clearly intended to keep it for his own people.
"Who among you is interested in it?"
Cheng Tian promptly asked the girls.
Since Cheng Tian himself completed the 1v3, according to the team's distribution rules, these items rightfully belonged to Cheng Tian. Although Cheng Tian, who already had the Strawberry Mammoth briefs, wouldn't wear it, rules are rules.
It was evident that the girls' expressions were a bit conflicted.
"It's a drop... It's a drop... It's a drop..."
Irene kept repeating, as if brainwashing herself.
In fact, players had long adapted to using other people's drops. To put it more extremely, all the equipment on players belonged to the relics of monsters and NPCs, and this never hindered anyone from using them.
However, a swimsuit, being an item with underwear properties, would more or less give people a feeling of 'using someone else's used underwear,' a situation particularly prominent among women.
Look at Cheng Tian; when he swapped Arthur's briefs with the bearded uncle, he didn't show the slightest hesitation. His face was filled with a pure craving for 'stats' and 'equipment.' As long as the stats were good enough, he would even be happy to use a pink fluffy rabbit to fight a Boss!
"How about I––"
Bazett, who was very close to male thinking in terms of being uninhibited, had her gaze almost fixed on the 'Anti-shake' attribute. But just as she opened her mouth, Irene shivered and then quickly shouted.
"No! I can! Let me do it!"
Having tossed the excellent used swimsuit to the female comrades, Cheng Tian began to look at the other two items.
Eating Buns, needless to say, is a relatively rare pure recovery skill in the game, a disguised ability to convert mana into health.
But because its origin was Chin Gentsai, Cheng Tian knew that this item would at least exhibit several characteristics in the future: a chance to choke and fail to recover health, a chance to fully recover health, and an 'undefendable' BUFF effect added to flying projectiles.
However, for Cheng Tian, who could activate his Origin state and convert red and blue bars himself, it wasn't of much use.
In Cheng Tian's opinion, this skill was best suited for Bazett... and the war elephant Mammoth.
In terms of appetite, these two—one human, one elephant—were probably the pinnacles of their respective species in Cheng Tian's team.
However, considering that if the war elephant Mammoth really learned this skill, it would most likely use its already scarce MP on Eating Buns, which would not only delay health recovery but also further delay the release of other skills. This item seemed more suitable for Bazett.
Of course, the prerequisite was that she was willing to use her last empty skill slot on it.
As for the 'Spirited Wine Gourd' dropped by the old man, it was a bit special. It was a composite equipment in the form of a wine gourd, which would yield different application effects through different usage methods.
When used as an off-hand weapon, it could be thrown. If a flying energy projectile could be struck with the bottom of the wine gourd, it would be directly nullified, while significantly reducing the durability consumption of the gourd.
When worn as an accessory, the strong aroma of wine would attract some targets, effectively increasing the encounter rate in wild areas. At the same time, it would cause some olfactory interference to attackers, giving the wearer a small chance to evade direct hits.
When used as an item, the periodically generated strong wine 'Bombard' inside could be drunk. This wine could enhance the final effect of 'Fire Breath' type skills and could also replace some necessary casting materials for fire-breathing.
Yes, the wine in this gourd could replace genetically modified chili peppers as the fire-breathing material for the war elephant Mammoth, but if Mammoth used it herself, it would occupy one of her accessory slots.
Whether to choose it or the Vulcan Gatling gun, this question was more important than whether the elephant would get drunk and go wild.
However, just as Cheng Tian was about to try the effect of the wine gourd himself, he saw that his newly opened equipment slot was already completely red.
From the sunfire mask on his head to the tattered shoes on his feet (the shock-absorbing boots were given to Bazett), everything was glowing red. This even included the second set of equipment slots provided by Titan's Grip, with only the Ghost Gauntlets, derived from his talents, remaining on his hands.
Because he had officially entered the quarterfinals, Cheng Tian himself had entered the second phase of the Extreme Breakthrough Challenge: no items + no equipment.
Well, no drink for now~ I'll save it as a celebratory drink after winning the championship.
While Cheng Tian and his team were dividing the spoils, the arena was repaired and ready for the second main match of the Round of 16—
Women's Fighter Team VS Red Devil Mansion Team.
This time it was an all-female fight; there wasn't a single male creature in either team.
A famous person named Lu once said that he loved watching women fight the most in his life~
And the audience's enthusiasm, which had somewhat subsided, surged again with the appearance of both teams.
"Both teams! Please send out your vanguards!"
As the host announced, one person from each team stepped forward.
The Women's Fighter Team sent out King, who was full of heroic spirit, more handsome than many men, and dressed in a casual suit like a bartender.
The Red Devil Mansion Team sent out Hong Meiling, who embodied the stereotypical Chinese style.
King adopted a stance derived from Muay Thai, with both hands guarding her head and chest, and one foot constantly tapping the ground.
Hong Meiling, after a fist salute, placed her hands up and down, spread her front and back legs, and her aura instantly stabilized.
"Vanguard Battle!"
"King! VS! Hong Meiling!"
"Ready~~~GO!!!!"