Three golden boards stood in a row in an open clearing on the back mountain. Morning light filtered through the treetops, scattering speckles of gold across the boards as if gilding the delicate little figurines.
Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing each sat before a board, their eyes fixed intently on the battle unfolding before them.
Unlike a real eight-player match, they were playing a simplified training mode. The system periodically granted them a fixed amount of gold and random chess pieces. They had to use their limited resources to assemble the strongest lineup they could, then fight.
This was the "Twilight Trial" mode Yi Chen had designed especially for them.
Yi Chen stood to one side with his hands behind his back, his gaze moving between the three boards. A faint, interested smile played on his lips.
"Let's begin," he said calmly.
The three girls drew a deep breath at the same time and began making quick moves across their boards.
Ning Rongrong made the first move.
Her style was unmistakable. Once the game began, she didn't rush to acquire high-star carry pieces. Instead, she steadily bought two front-line defensive pieces and one back-line damage dealer, quickly putting together the most basic "tough front line, damage from the rear" formation.
The two Spirit Master pieces in front held shields and planted themselves firmly at the vanguard, while the archers in the back stayed in a safe position.
She also carefully adjusted their formation, spacing the two shield bearers apart so they wouldn't both be caught in the opponent's area-of-effect attacks.
"Rongrong's thinking is clear," Yi Chen silently assessed. "She's securing the formation's stability first, then gradually building up its damage.
"That steady, step-by-step style really suits the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's usual approach."
His gaze shifted to Zhu Zhuqing.
Her tactics were completely different from Ning Rongrong's.
She abandoned the front line right from the start, concentrating all her resources on three nimble assassin pieces.
Her positioning was just as extreme. She placed every piece in the corners of the board's last two rows, as if deliberately concealing their sharpness.
She even put her strongest assassin at the far edge, clearly planning to have it flank the enemy and strike at their back line.
But Yi Chen saw through her intentions at a glance.
"Lying in wait, ready to strike—and kill in one blow. Zhuqing has completely brought the assassin's combat philosophy into Golden Spatula.
"But a pure-assassin lineup can easily get wiped out early on. Against an opponent with a solid front line, she could take a heavy loss."
At last, his gaze fell on Xiao Wu.
Xiao Wu's tactics... how to put it? They were certainly distinctive.
She hadn't built a complete front-and-back-line formation like Ning Rongrong, nor had she pursued the ultimate assassin burst damage like Zhu Zhuqing.
She'd made just one choice: pour all her resources into a single warrior piece, force it up to two stars, then equip it with an attack item.
Her other two pieces were only one-star cannon fodder, which she'd casually tossed into the corners.
The warrior stood alone at the very front of the board, yet exuded the air of a lone defender holding the pass against an army.
"A single-carry warrior..." Yi Chen's mouth twitched. "Is this girl treating Golden Spatula like a one-on-one Spirit Master duel?"
Still, he had to admit that although this style was simple and crude, it could often produce unexpected results early on, before anyone's lineup was fully formed.
A high-star carry piece with the right equipment really could take on several enemies at once.
"All right, since you're ready, let's start the first round," Yi Chen announced. "Rongrong against Zhuqing. Xiao Wu sits this one out and watches."
Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing both nodded, their gazes sharpening with focus.
"Begin!"
At Yi Chen's command, the pieces on both boards sprang into motion.
Ning Rongrong's front-line shield bearers raised their shields and advanced steadily, while the archers behind them drew their bows. Soul Power arrows streaked through the air toward Zhu Zhuqing's formation.
But Zhu Zhuqing's assassins were faster than the arrows.
The instant the battle began, all three assassin pieces blurred into afterimages. They swept around the side of Ning Rongrong's front line and charged straight at the archers in the rear!
Ning Rongrong's expression changed, but she couldn't control the pieces to defend the back line. All she could do was watch as the assassins rushed toward her archers. Fortunately, her two shield bearers were positioned well apart. One of them turned around in time and blocked an assassin's path.
But the other two assassins had already reached the archers!
A flash of cold steel, and the archers' health plunged. The shield bearer arrived in time to drive the assassins back, but the archers were already on the brink of defeat, their damage output severely diminished.
In the end, Ning Rongrong narrowly beat Zhu Zhuqing, thanks to her shield bearers' tenacious defense and her archers' damage, even at critical health. Her shield bearers came through in the final moments, blocking two consecutive lethal strikes and securing the win.
"Whew... that scared me to death!" Ning Rongrong wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and looked at Zhu Zhuqing. "Zhuqing, you were way too fierce! You almost turned the whole thing around!"
Zhu Zhuqing stared impassively at the assassins wiped out on her board. "The assassins didn't have enough burst damage. If I'd had one more attack item, your shield bearers wouldn't have been able to stop them."
Ning Rongrong shivered. She was glad she'd won this time; otherwise, next time Zhuqing might really cut her to pieces without leaving a scrap.
"Next round: Xiao Wu against Rongrong," Yi Chen announced.
Xiao Wu had been raring to go for a while. The moment she heard it was her turn, she eagerly rubbed her hands together. "Come on, Rongrong! I'm not going to go easy on you!"
Ning Rongrong snorted. "Who's scared? Bring it on!"
The second round began.
Ning Rongrong stuck with her steady front-and-back-line formation, shield bearers up front and damage dealers behind, advancing step by step. Xiao Wu, meanwhile, remained committed to her single-carry warrior, pouring every resource into the piece until it reached three stars, then equipping it with lifesteal and attack items.
As soon as the battle began, Xiao Wu's three-star warrior charged into Ning Rongrong's formation like a god of war. With one slash per enemy, it cut down Ning Rongrong's front-line shield bearers one after another as easily as slicing melons and chopping vegetables.
Ning Rongrong's expression changed drastically. Her archers fired desperately from the back, arrows raining down on the warrior, but its lifesteal equipment restored a large amount of health with every attack. The back line couldn't deal enough damage to bring it down.
In the end, Xiao Wu's three-star warrior weathered fire from Ning Rongrong's whole team and hacked through every last back-line piece to claim victory.
"Yay! I won!" Xiao Wu leaped up happily, waving her little fists.
Ning Rongrong, by contrast, slumped over her board, looking glum. "That's not fair! Your pieces had so many more stars! And my luck was terrible today. The pieces I got were all bad!"
"Hehe, that's called tactics!" Xiao Wu said smugly.
Watching his three disciples' playstyles, Yi Chen had already formed his judgment.
Rongrong was good at managing resources and planning her formation. She had a firm grasp of lineup balance, but lacked an effective counter when facing an opponent with an exceptionally powerful individual piece. Zhuqing understood the explosive potential of an assassin lineup, but her formation was too extreme. If her front line couldn't hold or her burst damage fell short, her whole team could collapse. Xiao Wu had a knack for developing a single carry, but relied too heavily on one piece's performance. If her core piece was countered, she had no backup plan.
Still, all of these weaknesses could be remedied through training.
"All right, that's enough. Stop here." Yi Chen clapped his hands. The three girls immediately stopped fooling around and looked at him attentively.
His gaze swept over them as he spoke slowly. "I've learned each of your styles. Rongrong is steady, Zhuqing is fierce, and Xiao Wu is decisive. Each of you has your strengths, but each has weaknesses too."
The three girls listened attentively, not daring to slack off for a moment.
"Starting tomorrow, I'll create a special training plan for each of you based on your individual strengths," Yi Chen said.
"Rongrong needs to get better at handling unexpected situations and learn to find a way back when she's at a disadvantage. Zhuqing needs to balance her lineup instead of chasing extreme burst damage. Xiao Wu needs to learn how to manage multiple carries and stop putting all her eggs in one basket."
"Yes, Master!" the three girls replied in unison.
Yi Chen nodded in satisfaction, a faint smile appearing on his lips. "All right, that's enough training for today. Go back and get some rest. The real training starts tomorrow."
The three girls exchanged glances, their eyes shining with anticipation and fighting spirit.