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In the quiet of the night, Caelan organized his thoughts, drafting the character backstories in his mind palace.
Ryu: Ryu is an orphan, adopted by his Master, Gouken, at a young age and taught the Ansatsuken (Assassin's Fist) martial arts style. Gouken greatly valued this strong and talented martial artist, teaching him everything he knew, including the glory of battle. Ryu lived a solitary life, his only close friend being Gouken's other disciple—Ken from the Lion Kingdom. Unlike Ken, Ryu's sole goal in life was to pursue the highest realm of martial arts. After Gouken's death, Ryu began participating in street fighting tournaments to prove his strength. However, behind the scenes, Ryu's martial uncle, Akuma, waited for the right moment to show Ryu the true, dark power of the Ansatsuken. Although Ryu possessed immense talent, he harbored the terrifying power of the "Satsui no Hado" (Surge of Murderous Intent). This dreadful energy plagued him constantly. He fought against it, striving to break free from its corruption while pushing his limits in every battle.
Looking at these notes in his mind palace—which were basically copy-pasted from a certain encyclopedia—Caelan nodded in satisfaction.
This modification worked well. Ryu being an orphan with no surname was logical. His birthplace was temporarily set as the Moonwatch Empire.
Although this world did have a "Baka Kingdom" located east of the Westridge Republic, the name came from its abundance of talking "Baga Birds" and was bestowed by the Pope of the Holy Light Church. It had no relation to the "Land of the Rising Sun" from his previous life. The Westridge Republic, however, was strangely similar to a certain superpower from Earth—equally despicable.
Next was Ken.
Ken of House Crimsonflame (A name derived from his flaming Shoryuken and the title 'Crimson Fighting King').
Birthplace: Lion Kingdom. A noble young master of the Crimsonflame Family.
Backstory: A typical hot-blooded youth, Ken was fearless and loved a challenge. Though he came from a wealthy family, his parents couldn't control their unruly child. To tame him, they sent him to the Moonwatch Empire to train under the Ansatsuken Master, Gouken, hoping he would change. There, he met his greatest rival and best friend, Ryu.
Abilities: In terms of raw talent, Ken surpassed Ryu, often improvising new moves. He would frequently mock Ryu's rigidity. When Ken created a Shoryuken that burned with actual flames, both Ryu and Gouken were astonished. He later developed two unique super moves based on this technique.
Later Life: After Gouken's death, Ken returned to the Lion Kingdom and dominated local tournaments. Eventually, he inherited the family business and married, settling into the life of a mortal. Yet, beneath the surface, he still yearned for the thrill of the ring.
Copy, paste, delete, modify. Yes, this adaptation was solid.
Next up: his childhood goddess, Chun-Li.
Her background had to be the Moonwatch Empire. However, the identity of an "Interpol Officer" didn't exist here. The City Watch seemed too low-status, and a Bounty Hunter wasn't quite respectable enough. So, what should she be? An Adventurer?
Also, Chun-Li's title definitely could not be "The World's Strongest Woman."
It wasn't that Caelan didn't want to give her that title; he simply didn't dare. If he marketed her that way, the famously crazy women from the Phoenix Empire would definitely come knocking to challenge the claim.
If he couldn't give her the title, he would subtly enhance her gameplay. For example, he would buff that impractical move, the "Spinning Bird Kick." In the original, the charge time was too long. Caelan decisively removed the charge requirement, making his goddess more viable and beloved by players.
As for game balance? Heh heh. He'd just slightly nerf the damage to compensate.
Also, "Spinning Bird Kick" sounded a bit awkward in this language. Caelan decided to rename it "Inverted Spinning Kick."
The Rest of the Roster:
Dhalsim of House Whitepeak: Birthplace changed to the White Sandalwood Kingdom.
Zangief of House Frostclaw: Birthplace changed to the Frostpeak Empire.
E. Honda (Honda of House Hundredpalm): Birthplace set to the Baka Kingdom.
Guile of House Stormblade: Birthplace set to the Lion Kingdom.
Blanka: Birthplace set to the Phoenix Empire (Sold there, then abandoned in the border forest near the Elven territories).
The Four Heavenly Kings: Aside from Sagat, the rest were born in the Chaos Lands.
This was the tentative plan. The detailed plot would need careful consideration later. Unfortunately, he was working alone. If only he had a team to brainstorm with.
One more crucial detail: the reaction speed of people in this world was significantly faster than on Earth. Caelan needed to increase the health pools and animation speeds of all characters to enhance watchability and playability. If he kept the original speed, the characters would look like they were moving in slow motion to the locals.
The game quickly took shape in his mind palace. However, after a careful calculation, Caelan realized a problem: his current mana capacity was insufficient to engrave it.
He needed to increase his total mana by at least five times. At his current rate of growth, that would take several months—assuming he didn't hit a bottleneck. Using a larger runestone tablet would lower the mana density requirement, but he was still far off.
So, what to do? Wait until he was stronger?
Caelan had hoped to release this before the Elite Academy Tournament ended to ride the wave of popularity. Ideally, before it even began.
It seemed he could only wait. However, he had an idea: he could separate the lore introductions from the game itself. Players could buy specialized "Introductory Runestones" to learn the characters' stories before the game launched.
It was a viable path. He would refine the idea back at the shop.
The morning at the academy passed quickly.
When Caelan arrived at the shop, he saw that the leaderboard data needed updating. He took out a "Size 1" runestone tablet—a small item about the size of a pinky finger that cost only two copper bits.
He updated the display and hung it on the wall.
New data flashed up. Several more people had cleared Elemental Contra on Normal difficulty. Tank Battle and Super Mario saw movement in the rankings, but Salamander remained uncleared. The player base for that genre was just too small.
Chronicle of the Fierce Tortoise Warriors also remained uncleared.
Quinn of House Stormcall was currently camped out in the shop, determined to conquer the game. She had struggled her way to the eighth level and was currently analyzing the final boss's attack patterns.
Idle customers gathered around the leaderboard, mostly interested in Elemental Contra.
First Clear Hero Leaderboard: Elemental Contra
1st Place: Quinn of House Stormcall (Crimson Academy, Year 3, Class 0) | Deaths: 0 | Difficulty: Normal | Time: 18m 31s
2nd Place: Joyce of House Crimsonsword (Crimson Academy, Year 5, Class 0) | Deaths: 1 | Difficulty: Normal | Time: 19m 12s
3rd Place: Rowan of House Peachtree (Crimson Academy, Year 2, Class 12) | Deaths: 2 | Difficulty: Normal | Time: 19m 23s
4th Place: Unknown | Deaths: 2 | Difficulty: Normal | Time: 19m 57s
5th Place: Tobias of House Turncoil (Whitewood Middle School, Year 5, Class 3) | Deaths: 2 | Difficulty: Normal | Time: 20m 06s
6th Place: Gordon of House Dormantdrake (Crimson Academy, Year 1, Class 12) | Deaths: 4 | Difficulty: Normal | Time: 21m 13s
7th Place: Winston of House Sealmark (Crimson Academy, Year 2, Class 19) | Deaths: 4 | Difficulty: Normal | Time: 21m 15s
8th Place: Cassius of House Everflame (Crimson Academy, Year 1, Class 0) | Deaths: 0 | Difficulty: Easy | Time: 14m 29s
9th Place: Cora of House Fishbrook (Mare Street Tofu Shop) | Deaths: 1 | Difficulty: Easy | Time: 14m 11s
10th Place: Unknown | Deaths: 2 | Difficulty: Easy | Time: 13m 57s
"Wow, the list changed a lot."
"Third-year Quinn is amazing. She's still firmly in first place."
"Isn't she trying to get the First Clear on Fierce Tortoise?"
"Can't she take a break when she's tired?"
"You call taking first place on the Contra leaderboard 'resting'?"
Quinn didn't pay attention to the chatter. A quick glance confirmed she was still #1 on Elemental Contra, so she ignored the rest of the board and refocused on her screen.
Some bystanders had guessed correctly. Yesterday, Quinn had felt fatigued from grinding Fierce Tortoise, so she switched to Contra just to "relax." She hadn't expected her intuition and mechanics to be so sharp that she cleared it deathless without really trying.
Behind her, a crowd three layers deep watched her play.
Among them stood Dorian of House Serpentcoil. He watched silently, mentally recording the enemy spawn points and the boss's attack patterns.
Since his family was not wealthy, Dorian didn't plan to play at the shop after buying his home copy. However, the shop's arcade version allowed for continues, making it the perfect place to study high-level gameplay.
Currently, the best reference material was Quinn.
Dorian could now reach the Stage 6 boss with five lives remaining. Last night, he had pushed Shredder (Normal Form) into his critical red phase. He estimated that with a little more focus, he could win. He had only failed because of a momentary lapse in concentration, getting kicked to death by the boss.
Quinn didn't mind people studying her moves. She had confidence in herself. In fact, she enjoyed the audience. Sometimes, the crowd spotted things she missed. For instance, the weakness of the Level 7 boss had been pointed out by a random onlooker.
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