The First Crab to Be Eaten

As the game deepened, the smile on Sakayanagi Arisu's face gradually faded.

High spirits, in the end, could not bridge the gap in raw ability.

By the 47th move, she clearly felt that her strength was failing her.

To say her strength was failing was perhaps an overstatement; the situation had reached a point where her defeat was inevitable.

Without her even realizing it, Makoto Nishikado had breached the defense of the center, an area she had previously held as an advantage.

Sakayanagi Arisu hadn't even noticed when Makoto Nishikado had launched his offensive.

Reviewing the game from the start, she felt that at the 14th move, Makoto Nishikado had overturned the board with a single "crawl."

That crawl, combined with the initial 3-3 point invasion, had forcibly reversed Makoto Nishikado's opening disadvantage, leaving her feeling as if she had a fishbone stuck in her throat.

Sakayanagi Arisu naturally did not know that in the timeline of Makoto Nishikado's previous life, AlphaGo had emerged to overturn many traditional perceptions in the Go world.

In the eyes of traditional players, the 3-3 point invasion was far too conservative, as Go theory dictated the struggle for more expansive space.

Yet, AlphaGo defied this traditional wisdom.

Once AlphaGo dominated the entire Go world, the 3-3 point invasion slowly became a common opening in professional tournaments.

Professional games where all four 3-3 points were invaded had even occurred.

Studying AI and memorizing AI game records had become the daily routine for professional players in his past life.

Some had even become the strongest human players of their time by memorizing these records and simulating the logic of AI moves.

Because of this, some critics remarked that professional Go at that time had become boring.

After the nine-time champion struggled for 120 moves, there were no professional players left who could defeat an AI, or even hold their own against one without a handicap.

Makoto Nishikado held no prejudice against AI joseki and had studied them quite seriously.

In his view, one had to first understand the meaning behind AI joseki to have any chance of surpassing AlphaGo.

As for this world, AlphaGo had not yet appeared.

However, Makoto Nishikado had heard rumors of people researching the use of AI to play Go.

In other words, Makoto Nishikado was neither looking down on Sakayanagi Arisu nor setting a trap.

He was simply utilizing the tactics he had learned in his previous life.

It was just that these tactics were groundbreaking for Sakayanagi Arisu.

She had the "honor" of being the first to taste the crab.

Sakayanagi Arisu had not realized the function of this opening, nor did she have any idea how to respond to it.

By the time Sakayanagi Arisu reacted, the only choices left to her were a moderate loss, a heavy loss, or a catastrophic loss.

For the 47th move, Sakayanagi Arisu pondered for a full fifteen minutes, trying to find a possibility for only a minor loss.

Makoto Nishikado waited patiently, taking the opportunity to glance at his system notifications.

[Triggered Sakayanagi Arisu's emotions, obtained 2782 emotion points.]

[Triggered Sakayanagi Arisu's emotions, obtained 3164 emotion points.]

"Can your body still handle it?"

Seeing the influx of emotion points and noticing Sakayanagi Arisu's pale complexion, Makoto Nishikado finally spoke again.

Playing Go seriously was, in fact, quite mentally taxing.

"It's fine. My condition is just incurable; it doesn't usually affect me much."

"You should know, I even dare to drink coffee on a regular basis."

Sakayanagi Arisu looked up, smiling in response to Makoto Nishikado's concern.

Whether in body or mindset, she was not as fragile as she appeared.

She even frequently utilized her frail physical condition to elicit sympathy from others, allowing her to gain an advantage.

But this was a fair competition, so he must not show her mercy just because she was a delicate flower!

"Since you've said so, let's continue. Remember to tell me immediately if you feel unwell."

"The little princess should try to worry less about herself."

Makoto Nishikado continued to watch the system interface.

Having spent two weeks at Advanced Nurturing, he was guaranteed to earn at least 5 million emotion points per week.

If he could maintain this pace, he could accumulate roughly 800 million emotion points in three years.

A skill reaching the 10 million level was already the rare tier occupied by someone like Koenji Rokusuke.

But what if he raised a skill to 100 million?

Considering that no one in the world likely possessed a skill of that caliber, Makoto Nishikado would have to upgrade it himself.

Upgrading a single skill to the 100 million level would cost 200 million.

In other words, three full years of accumulation were only enough for him to upgrade four skills to the 100-million level.

If he were to raise his medical skills to the 100-million level, could he cure the illness of Sakayanagi Arisu?

The sound of a chess piece dropping interrupted the thoughts of Makoto Nishikado.

Makoto Nishikado's expression remained unchanged as he refocused his gaze on the board.

"I lost."

Sakayanagi Arisu did not place her piece on the board; instead, she returned it to the bowl of black stones.

She chose to resign, her expression looking quite unpleasant.

Sakayanagi Arisu had not spent a very long time on Go, so losing to Makoto Nishikado, who was also a genius, was not strange.

However, knowing this rationally did not mean she could accept it.

Especially this time, she had lost in an extremely unsightly manner.

The game had just entered the middle stage, and she had already been forced into a desperate situation.

It wasn't impossible to continue, but doing so would be too ugly.

To be played into such a state during the opening phase meant she was at least two levels weaker than Makoto Nishikado.

"Cheng, that 3-3 point of yours, combined with the crawl at move 14, is simply a Hand of God. Could you explain your understanding of it to me?"

Sakayanagi Arisu tidied up the pieces and, relying on her memory, restored the board to how it looked after the first 14 moves.

With her memory, she recalled all 46 moves without the slightest deviation.

"I can explain it, but in Go, that move is a bit better than a standard move or a vulgar move, yet it can only be considered a brilliant move. The Hand of God is not a realm so easily attained."

Makoto Nishikado corrected her.

Even historical figures in the Go world were still pursuing the Hand of God.

A 3-3 point opening had not yet reached the level of the Hand of God.

Although Makoto Nishikado possessed the Hand of God skill, it remained in an unawakened state.

Furthermore, he had no idea how to awaken it.

"Can we play another game?"

Once Makoto Nishikado finished his preliminary explanation of the 3-3 point, Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes burned with intensity.

One advantage of losing quickly was that she could start the next game sooner.

"Can I refuse? Your Go level is a bit weak, you know."

Makoto Nishikado resumed his usual smile.

As a professional-level Go player, constantly bullying the weak was not a good thing.

"You really dare to say that!"

Sakayanagi Arisu looked angry; in reality, she was even angrier.

Using the word "weak" to evaluate a genius was truly too rude.

Yet, Makoto Nishikado was the victor, having completely dominated her on the board.

Therefore, facing Makoto Nishikado's sharp critique, Sakayanagi Arisu had no choice but to take it.

She was not the type of person who would claim to be the best in the world just after making the top sixteen in a global tournament.

"Cheng, then do you dare to play a game of chess with me?"

Sakayanagi Arisu brought out the chess set she had prepared long ago; she would not let Makoto Nishikado be so presumptuous.

In the short term, Sakayanagi Arisu admitted she could not defeat Makoto Nishikado at Go unless he gave her a two-piece handicap.

But if she were given a two-piece handicap, winning would be the same as losing.

Outside of Go, she possessed skills that could prove she was a genius!

"Since that is the case, I shall keep the little princess entertained."

Makoto Nishikado agreed with a smile.

Since he had teased the little princess until she was in a bad mood, it was naturally his responsibility to coax her back.

To prove he wasn't just handing over the win, Makoto Nishikado specifically raised his chess level to the 990,000 level.

[Hand of God awakening condition: Three types of board game skills raised to over 10 million, or one type of board game skill raised to over 50 million.]

Seeing the system notification suddenly pop up, Makoto Nishikado instantly switched to his battle face and immediately exchanged for Sakayanagi Arisu's chess ability.

Combined with the 990,000 skill level he had just raised, Makoto Nishikado was now a chess master even stronger than Sakayanagi Arisu!

Looking at Sakayanagi Arisu's earnest and confident eyes, Makoto Nishikado defended himself in his heart.

Little princess, it is not I who harmed you, but this scoundrel of a system that harmed you!