Chapter 175: 175, Spoils of War – Spiritual Power Sand Table_1
Translator: 549690339
Looking at the evenly matched combat scenario shown on the sand table, Lan Bo found himself somewhat stupefied.
A week ago, Tina was a military novice who couldn’t even differentiate between troop types.
But a week later, Tina could draw with him in a “chess combat simulation”.
She learned so much in just a week – was this the so-called “talent”?
Su Yu stood by, watching this chess combat simulation.
Besides Su Yu, there was another person in the chess room – Milann, the president of the Chess Association.
Upon receiving the news of Lan Bo’s arrival, Milann promptly rushed to the chess room.
Coincidentally, he saw Tina draw with Lan Bo.
As an old friend, he burst into laughter: “Ha ha, Lan Bo, are you losing your touch? Tied with a girl who has just learned chess combat simulation? Let’s hope you won’t embarrass yourself by admitting I know you!”
“What do you know?” Lan Bo shot him a fierce look: “If you were me, you probably wouldn’t even match Tina!”
Lan Bo was quite confident in his chess combat abilities; he was a bit stronger than Milann.
If Tina could tie with him, beating Milann would undoubtedly be no problem.
“She?” Milann seemed not to believe it: “What are you, kidding me? She’s just a beginner, how could she defeat me, the president of the Chess Association? That’s a joke!”
“What if I could win?” From across the sand table, Tina flashed a friendly smile.
She blinked her innocent eyes and asked: “How about making a bet?”
“What is the stake?”
“Let’s play nine rounds of chess combat simulation, first to win five. If I win, I want this ‘Spiritual Power Sand Table’.”
Influenced by Su Yu, Tina loved to bet on things she felt confident about, to increase potential earnings.
To put it crudely, after spending so much time with Su Yu, Tina was starting to act just like him.
“Quite confident, aren’t you, young lady!” said Milann, not able to help himself from taking a few extra looks at Tina: “What if you lose?”
“If I lose, I will donate one million spiritual energy coins to the Chess Association for sand table maintenance.” Tina didn’t even bat an eyelid, making it seem like one million was just a piece of paper to her.
“One million?” Milann was swayed: “Alright, deal!”
Under the witness of Lan Bo and Su Yu, the chess combat simulation duel between Tina and Milann officially began.
The duel followed Tina’s proposal, using a best-of-five-out-of-nine system, draws not counted.
At the start, Tina unsurprisingly lost two rounds.
However, she learned many lessons from her defeats and began to understand some of Milann’s tactics.
By the fourth round, the two gradually reached a draw.
In the seventh round, Tina skilfully implemented the classic “Corridor Tactics” during a critical stronghold battle, scoring a victory.
The following rounds turned into one-sided domination.
Tina’s tactics were as unpredictable as the wind and as flowing as water.
After several defeats, Milann’s morale plummeted. His usual tactics were repeatedly seen through by Tina and consequently could not be utilized.
By evening, Tina walked away from the Chess Association with her spoils of war – The Spiritual Power Sand Table, and made her way back to the Unicorn Camp.
Walking on the road, Tina still found the recent chess combat simulation battles quite exhilarating.
Speaking softly to Su Yu at her side, she said, “Nemesis, now that we have this Spiritual Power Sand Table, we can spice up our evenings a little. We don’t always have to stick to the usual dry learning.”
“No thanks, I don’t want to play these games with you.” Su Yu shrugged.
Su Yu had played quite a few “chess combat simulations” in his former life, as many hidden missions involved it, so he had to master some.
But compared to Tina’s level, he was far behind.
For the current Su Yu, facing Tina was like a Go enthusiast against Alpha Dog. He wasn’t in the mood for a beating.
Back at the camp, Tina had the porters place the sand table in the living room.
The Spiritual Power Sand Table was 3 meters wide and approximately 5 meters long. There was no conceivable place for it other than the living room.
Fortunately, as the Legion Leader, the living accommodation assigned to Tina was sufficiently spacious, otherwise, there might indeed be no room for this large contraption.
After the sand table was set up, it was already late.
Tina paid the porters.
After they left, Tina couldn’t help but stretch: “Nemesis, I’m going to take a bath first, then we can continue our studies in the room.”
For the past week, Tina and Su Yu had been studying up all night every night, so she had already grown accustomed to this way of life.
As for sleep, after advancing to the fifth level, her energy was almost infinite and she didn’t need any sleep.
Su Yu, however, shook his head: “Tina, you’ve graduated now, so there’s no need for me to accompany you anymore.”
Tina was taken aback: “Is that so?”
A slight feeling of unwillingness surged in her heart. If Nemesis was unwilling to accompany her, it would be quite dull to study alone.
She wished she’d taken it slow back then.
Su Yu took out a small notebook from his backpack, and looked at Tina seriously: “Tina, have you thought about experiencing a real battle after you graduate, using the actual combat to test your learning results from these days?”
He had already completed the 23rd ring of the main storyline and was not far from the 25th ring of the scenario campaign. Su Yu naturally wanted to arrange a scenario campaign for Tina.
Plus, after the 25th ring, he could get the reward for the first stage of the main storyline!
The reward for the first stage was definitely very good!
Su Yu was absolutely looking forward to it this time.
Upon hearing Su Yu’s words, Tina was slightly taken aback: “Test my learning results with actual combat?”
She thought for a moment: “Um it’s not impossible, but Orleans city is currently very peaceful, where can we find a combat opportunity?”
Orleans city was indeed located very deep into the rear of the Empire, and it was now very peaceful. It didn’t have as many combat opportunities as the front lines. And without the consent of His Majesty the Emperor and the Princess, she would not be allowed to mobilize the army to the front lines on her own.
“No worries. I’ve found a target for us to practice on.” Su Yu responded, “30 kilometers east of Orleans city, there is a bandit fort in the ‘Red Ridge mountain’, how about we practice on them?”
“Bandits?” Tina lowered her head, deep in thought.
She had heard of the bandit fort at the Red Ridge Mountain.
Red Ridge Mountain was located on the transport artery in the northeast direction of Orleans City. If the merchants of Orleans City wanted to trade through land with the central cities of the Empire such as Forest City and Goldfinch Imperial Capital, they would have to pass through Red Ridge Mountain.
The bandits were rampant in the Red Ridge Mountain area, robbing numerous passing merchant squadrons.
But these bandits specifically targeted small-scale merchant squadrons and passing travelers, they always avoided business squadrons owned by larger noble families.
The current turmoil, alongside the city lord of Orleans’ lack of resources to eliminate the bandits, has allowed them to wreak havoc for almost two years now.
If it were these bandits, indeed they would be excellent targets for practice.
Su Yu added: “Tina, eradicating these bandits, on one hand, is a chance for you to put what you’ve learned into practice, but on the other hand, this would also help you establish your reputation among the Knights. Only by leading them to victory, will they fully accept you.”
“You have a point.”
After some thought, Tina ultimately made up her mind: “Alright, in the next two days, we will lead the Knights and eradicate those bandits!”