(P.S. The Teamfight Tactics rules in this book differ somewhat from the actual game.)
(P.S. This chapter contains a lot of new rules. You can skip it without affecting the story.)
The autumn wind swept the last few fallen leaves over the stone steps behind the mountain. The Main Control Hall was evenly lit, and all eight panels on the screen now glowed with pale gold borders. Yi Chen didn't release any pressure. He merely raised a hand and tapped the corner of the screen, and a line of fine print appeared before everyone.
The shared chess pool was loaded. The pool for each chess piece of the same name has a fixed capacity. Purchased pieces are deducted from the pool; sold or eliminated pieces are returned.
Eight players compete for the same pool. Base income is +5 gold per round. For every 10 gold saved, interest is +1, up to +5. Win and loss streak bonuses range from +1 to +2. Refreshing the shop costs 1 gold, and leveling up costs 4 gold.
Refresh odds change dynamically according to your current level. At level 3: 75% chance for 1-cost pieces, 25% for 2-cost pieces, and 0% for 3-cost pieces or higher.
At level 4: 55% chance for 1-cost pieces, 30% for 2-cost pieces, and 15% for 3-cost pieces.
At level 7: 19% chance for 1-cost pieces, 30% for 2-cost pieces, 40% for 3-cost pieces, 10% for 4-cost pieces, and 1% for 5-cost pieces.
At level 8: 15% chance for 1-cost pieces, 20% for 2-cost pieces, 32% for 3-cost pieces, 30% for 4-cost pieces, and 3% for 5-cost pieces.
"Don't let the names spook you." Yi Chen's voice was as calm as when he normally gave advice on positioning.
"Those 'Ning Rongrongs,' 'Dugu Yans,' and 'Xiao Wus' in the pool aren't you yourselves. They're verifiable Martial Soul projection samples. But from the first round onward, this is no longer a toy box with an infinite supply."
He tapped the edge of the screen with a knuckle, and the first line of information was pinned before everyone's eyes.
There are 12 types of 1-cost pieces, with 29 copies of each initially available for purchase. There are 10 types of 2-cost pieces, with 22 copies of each. There are 10 types of 3-cost pieces, with 18 copies of each. There are 12 types of 4-cost pieces, with 10 copies of each. There are 8 types of 5-cost pieces, with 9 copies of each.
Ning Rongrong stared at the numbers, her brows twitching slightly. "...So if someone else buys up all the copies of a certain 1-cost piece, I can't roll it anymore?"
"Correct." Yi Chen nodded. "So the first lesson of S1 isn't calculating trait breakpoints. It's competing with the other seven players for the same stock. That's called getting contested."
Monster rounds don't cost you health or eliminate you, but the gold and item components they give follow the standard rules.
Ning Rongrong opened the five-slot shop for this refresh. Listed from top to bottom were Tailong, 1-cost, Clear Sky Sect, defense; Ye Lingling, 1-cost, Commoner, support; and Ma Hongjun, 1-cost, Shrek, offense. The last two slots were empty. Refreshing again would cost 1 gold.
Her fingertips hovered in midair, and her ears flushed first. "...The names are printed right there. Ye Lingling, Fatty, Tailong—all of them."
"Because the pool was loaded with the public Martial Soul registry you submitted."
Yi Chen spoke evenly. "If you want authenticity, you can't keep using nameless placeholders. You have to accept whoever's name is printed there, and recognize that they're resources now."
Rongrong took a deep breath, pulling her emotions back into the realm of analysis.
She was only level 1, so she could field just one piece. Ye Lingling was a Commoner support, safest in the center of the back row.
Ma Hongjun was a Shrek offense piece, suited to filling a frontline flank as a temporary carry and taking hits for a couple of rounds.
Tailong was a Clear Sky Sect defense piece. But the Clear Sky Sect had only three pieces in total, so theoretically she could pursue a three-star. The problem was that the pool only had ten copies of each: three copies per player made thirty, and nine copies were needed for a three-star. If two players contested the same piece, they could easily get stuck and both lose out.
She didn't buy recklessly. She spent 1 gold on Ye Lingling and placed her on the bench, saving the remaining 4 gold for interest. Her savings were below 10, so she'd get no interest next round, but at least her purse was tidy.
Xiao Wu briskly bought an Oscar to serve as a frontline battery, then moved Ma Hongjun half a space back.
Dugu Yan's list showed her own name and Huo Wu's.
She said only, "It's no surprise my name showed up in the pool. We did too many demonstrations in Heaven Dou City." She bought herself as the main control anchor, then placed Huo Wu on the raised platform, aiming to complete her control chain within three rounds.
Ye Lingling was the quietest. She bought herself as the healing core, then added a Jing Ling. After that, she calmly remarked, "Since the pool is verifiable, the remaining count for copies of the same name bought by other players should also be visible on the panel. Otherwise, the word 'authentic' is meaningless."
The corner of Yi Chen's mouth twitched ever so slightly. He raised a finger and tapped a folded window at the bottom right of the screen.
Ye Lingling's entry read: Purchased 1, 28 remaining in pool, 29 total.
"You're right to ask for that," he said. "So what you need to learn in this match isn't 'which piece do I like?' It's who's competing with you for the same thing, how many are left, and whether you're going to fight for it to the end."
After the monster round, the gold came in. The screen displayed a carousel prompt.
The picking order was based on health, from lowest to highest. The lower a player's health, the earlier they got to choose.
The display platform held linked combinations of chess-piece shells and item shells. Players chose the shells, not real people.
Rongrong still had 100 health this round, so she was last to pick.
She wasn't in a hurry. She watched as the players ahead of her took their turns. Two choices remained on the platform: a Dai Mubai shell with a Storm Greatsword, and a Ning Rongrong shell with Chain Mail.
She stared at the shell with her own name on it. Her face flushed for half a second, but her hand had already snatched it up along with the Chain Mail.
Then she decisively placed it in an empty spot in her back row and equipped the Chain Mail. With a stiff expression, she said, "Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect count +1. This shell marks my position. Nobody's allowed to say it's weird."
Xiao Wu picked an Oscar shell with Chain Mail. She wasn't here to compete over appearances; she wanted something practical.
Dugu Yan picked a Hu Liena shell with a Useless Large Rod, taking the mage-control route. Ye Lingling picked a Bai Chenxiang shell with a Recurve Bow, adding attack speed to her agility offense.
After the carousel ended, Yi Chen added, his voice low but firm enough to quiet the chatter: "The rule is that the less health you have, the earlier you pick. It's meant to remind you that in S1, health isn't just your life—it's also your comeback resource. If you lose a lot of health early on, you get first pick of the good stuff other people left behind. It isn't a punishment. It's balance."
At the start of round four, Rongrong leveled up to 4. Her shop odds shifted to the level 4 rates: 55% for 1-cost pieces, 30% for 2-cost pieces, and 15% for 3-cost pieces. She still couldn't see 4-cost pieces or higher. The numbers beside her reminded her that leveling up wasn't just about fielding more pieces; it opened the door to rolling higher-cost ones, while diluting the odds of finding low-cost pieces.
What truly left them speechless, though, was their first real taste of competition for the pool.
Xiao Wu wanted to pursue Ma Hongjun as her main carry and temporary damage dealer, so she refreshed twice in a row. Although the odds of rolling a 2-cost piece were a decent 30%, the 2-cost pieces she found were Oscar or Dai Mubai. The Ma Hongjun copies had been scattered among the players in the earlier rounds. The remaining count had fallen from 29 to 26, and was still dropping. At last, she believed that the "purchased/remaining/total" figures weren't just decoration. Gritting her teeth, she muttered, "...Someone's buying up my temporary carry?"
"He's not 'yours.'" Yi Chen's voice came down coolly. "The pool is shared. Whoever buys a piece owns it. In S1, there's no such thing as 'my piece.' There's only 'I got it first, then decided whether to keep it or sell it back to the pool.'"
He lifted his chin toward the remaining count beside Xiao Wu's name. Ma Hongjun: 24 remaining in the pool, 29 total.
"Now you have two rational options." He held up two fingers. "One, give up on Ma Hongjun and switch to another 2-cost offense piece, such as using Dai Mubai as a partial substitute. Two, start spending gold on refreshes now and compete for Ma Hongjun, at the cost of delaying your level 5. Which will you choose?"
Xiao Wu stared at the numbers, her cheeks tightening for a moment. At last, she stomped her foot. "...Level to 5 first! If my temporary carry gets contested, I'll switch. I'm not becoming a slave to the pool!"
Yi Chen's brow lifted slightly, a sign of approval.
After the level 4 battles were settled, the screen displayed four brief summaries.
Rongrong's Ye Lingling and Ning Rongrong gave her one stack of the Commoner trait and restored mana. She stayed at 92 health and gained +1 gold from her win streak.
Xiao Wu's Shrek trait had only just begun, and its growth hadn't stacked up yet. Her health fell to 65, but her loss-streak compensation gave her a small boost.
Dugu Yan's control chain had started to take shape. She crushed her opponents with stuns and had 97 health. Ye Lingling had built up three stacks of Commoner, giving the whole team 8% damage reduction. She had 83 health.
Yi Chen offered only a brief assessment, without disrupting the pace with a long lecture. "Rongrong won by keeping it simple. She didn't waste money trying to find pieces that 'looked like her.' Xiao Wu lost by treating preference as a necessity. The pool owes you no favors for your sentimentality. Yan'er won with her control chain, and Lingling with damage reduction. But all of you are still only seeing the opening act of the level 4 pool."
He raised a hand, turning the screen to the level-up odds. At level 5: 45% chance for 1-cost pieces, 33% for 2-cost, 20% for 3-cost, and 2% for 4-cost. To get 4-cost pieces reliably, you needed to reach at least level 7, or even 8. Until then, don't stake your lineup on high-cost pieces.
Ning Rongrong looked at the odds and suddenly understood why her master hadn't let them use high-cost pieces during practice. It wasn't that he wouldn't let them. The odds simply didn't approve the expense.
The match information glowed calmly above the screen. Rank: unplaced. Pool-chain verification: passed. Shared pool enabled for all eight players.
Outside the hall, the synchronized displays at every terminal in the guild hall froze on the same line.
Yi Chen leaned back in his chair and turned his now-cold tea a little. His words fell like a stamp. "Once this match is over, S1 will be truly locked in. The pool is public, the odds are verifiable, and you pursue pieces with calculations, not luck. If anyone tells you the Golden Spatula is just a game, show them the verification code."
The countdown moved into round five. The shop refreshed with another row of named shells, and the four girls' fingertips no longer hesitated.
The first verifiable chess piece had entered the shared pool. From now on, every piece would have to be fought over with the other seven players.