Chapter 167 - Playing Chess With A Newbie
The kid knelt before the enraged Mr. Nian as he fearfully explained what had happened before.
With how loud the commotion around him was, no matter how dazed Ban was due to the System, it would only be a matter of time before he woke up.
At that moment he opened his eyes, he saw a familiar kid who was crying in front of Mr. Nian.
The kid hurriedly explained the whole details to Mr. Nian, and this time, the kid narrated all of it without a single detail missed.
Hearing that, Ban instantly immediately understood the whole situation.
It seems that Mr. Nian was the uncle that he was talking about before, the one who would hang him if the matter regarding the dog was found out.
Unfortunately, it seems that the kid was really unlucky.
However, Ban did not feel any pity towards the kid at all, he knew from the start that the kid was unruly, he only helped calm Mountain Dog because they were in the way.
After the kid explained everything, Mr. Nian was so mad that he immediately yelled for the kid to go back to the courtyard and punish himself by getting hanged above the ceiling by Mr. Nian\'s monster, Cockado.
Mr. Nian then turned around towards Ban and Joana and bowed deeply as an apology for his action earlier as well the action of his nephew.
"What happened has happened, we can no longer do anything about it." Ban said calmly.
"What you said is right, Mr. Leon. However, I still felt guilty for what my nephew has done and I also felt grateful for you saving my monster."
"Forget the game Mr. Leon, ask anything you want and I\'ll answer them to the best of my capabilities for free. But don\'t let the others know of this alright? This will be the first time I will be giving someone information for free, I don\'t want them to come flocking towards me." Mr. Nian said in a joking tone.
Although he was mad at his nephew, that emotion was still suppressed by the gratitude he felt towards Leon. The Mountain Dog was his latest summoned monster, he used an insane amount of treasure just to summon it, and if it died due to that chocolate, he would surely be at a loss.
Hearing that, Ban could not help but turn towards Joana.
\'Will this become the same situation with her? Do they always reward someone who managed to \'help\' them?
Joana saw his head tilting towards her and she could not help producing a smile to receive his gaze.
Ban just ignored her as he stared back towards Mr. Nian who now has a face full of smiles while stroking the Mountain Dog lovingly.
"I won\'t reject that then, Mr. Nian. However, I also seem to have other information I want to obtain, and knowing that the information you sell are all valuable, can I try playing that game with you and see if I could win another free information?" he said calmly.
His brain was now brimming with chess knowledge that it still even hurts due to the forceful injection of information by the System. How could he miss this opportunity to win another free information?
"Ohooh- getting greedy are we?" Mr. Nian said with an amused tone.
"Alright, no problem! However, I must warn you in advance that the game is pretty hard. I was only even able to understand it a few years ago, with that in mind, are you still willing to play?"
"It\'s alright, I\'ll try!"
\'Or else, the 30 years of chess gaming experience I obtained would just turn into a waste.\' he thought amusedly.
And with that, Mr. Nian immediately started explaining the basic movements of chess.
Of course, he won\'t tell him that he already knew how to play the game lest he chickens out.
Joana also listened carefully to renew her knowledge about it. She was able to play this game with Mr. Nian before with the same condition he offered to Leon. She can admit that it was very hard, to the point that Mr. Nian would always crush her every time they played.
Mr. Nian finally finished his explanation a few minutes later.
"Alright, that\'s the gist of it. As long as you corner my King piece, you win!"
"However, can you? Haha!" Mr. Nian burst out into a laugh. He was very confident in his chess skills that even his friend who played the same as him could no longer even hold a candle against him.
If his friend could not even defeat him, how much more would this newbie who just learned chess today?
"Alright. I think I know how to play it now!" Ban said.
"Then let\'s start shall we?"
"Before we start, let\'s make this game a best of seven so that you won\'t feel indignant about your loss!"
"Alright, no problem!" Ban said.
He suddenly felt nervous as he was not really aware of Mr. Nian chess skills. With how confident he is, he would surely be at least on the master level in chess.
They arranged the chess pieces and Mr. Nian chose the white side so he moved first.
With that one move from Mr. Nian, countless strategies that the Ancient Summoner has learned throughout her years of playing with Cheelsy emerged inside Ban\'s brain like a river.
However, unlike before, the surge of strategies did not hurt his brain. Instead, he embraced it as he chose the best strategy and moved a piece from the black side.
Mr. Nian only scoffed at his move as he also moved another white piece.
At that instance, the perfect strategy was immediately chosen from Ban\'s brain, this time, he moved the queen piece just beside the pawn piece that Mr. Nian has moved just earlier.
Mr. Nian scoffed again as he reached his hand towards his pieces to make a move and start the plan that he formulated inside his head.
However, Mr.Nian suddenly stopped in his tracks as if he was frozen in time.
He suddenly realized that he could no longer make a move.
Not because there was no longer any area, it was because the black queen piece was now staring towards his white king piece greedily.
Mr. Nian suddenly saw a vivid image of a beautiful queen who just successfully usurped the throne of the haughty king. The queen was now standing above a platform while the king was kneeling below her. There was a sharp sword in her hand, ready to cut the head of the arrogant king.
The beautiful queen bellowed as she brought down the sword towards the king.
"Checkmate!"
Ban suddenly said softly, interrupting Mr. Nian\'s thoughts who was still wondering how he already lost.
\'I thought he\'s the real deal! It seems that in front of the massive knowledge I just got, Mr. Nian was also just a complete newbie!\'
The Ancient Summoner called this move the \'Fool\'s Mate\'. It was used by Cheelsy during one of their matches.
By using only two moves, Ban was able to defeat the self proclaimed professional, Mr. Nian.
"How can this be?" Mr. Nian said in bewilderment as he stared at the current positions of the chess pieces.
Aside from four areas, the other part of the board was actually untouched.
"Again!" Mr. Nian said indignantly as he arranged the pieces again.
\'It must be just a fluke!\' Mr. Nian thought.
Ban shrugged his shoulders as he also arranged the black pieces back into their position.
Clap! Clap!
Woof!
Clap!
Eva, Joana and the Mountain suddenly cheered upon seeing that Ban or Leon had won. Their eyes were glistening in excitement as they watched them start the next match.
Mr. Nian was suddenly annoyed as even his dog was now cheering for his opponent.
\'Aren\'t dogs supposed to be loyal? Aren\'t they a man\'s best friend? Why is my dog cheering for my opponent instead?\'
\'I must not lose this time! It was only a fluke!\' Mr. Nian said resolutely as he made his first move.
Ban immediately responded after choosing the best strategy and seeing Mr. Nian\'s next move, Ban knew that he has already won.
Mr. Nian avoided the same move he made earlier to prevent himself from getting checkmated with only two moves. However, it was due to that evasion that he fell into another trap.
And with that, his hand stopped in mid-air again as the same image as earlier surfaced in front of his eyes.
The beautiful queen donning in black dress swung her sword down and beheaded the arrogant king again.
Checkmate!
Mr. Nian heard Leon\'s voice again and he just realized that his voice was really annoying.
Clap! Clap!
Woof!
Clap!
Another cheer resounded around them as Mr. Nian could only bow his head down in shame.
He glared at his unloyal dog and then towards Leon, "Again!"
Mr. Nian no longer thought of Leon as a newbie. He stretched his back as he arranged the pieces again, this time he chose to play with the black side.
He was now getting serious.
With a very serious expression, Mr. Nian placed his move right after Ban was done placing his white piece.
Now that he was getting serious, the same situation as earlier actually did not happen.