The Golden Spatula's First Match

(Ps: The game mechanics for Battle of the Golden Spatula in this book differ slightly from the original; they are not identical.)

(Ps: This chapter contains many settings. You may skip it; it will not affect the story.)

The autumn wind on the back mountain swept the last few fallen leaves across the stone steps. The lights in the main control hall were steady, and the eight grids on the screen all glowed with pale gold borders. Yi Chen did not exert any pressure; he simply raised his hand and tapped the corner of the screen, causing a line of fine, dense text to appear before everyone's eyes.

The public chess pool is loaded. The capacity for each unique chess piece is fixed; purchasing one deducts it from the pool, while selling or elimination returns it.

Eight players compete in the same pool. The economic base increases by +5 gold per round, and savings interest is +1 per 10 gold, capped at +5. Win/loss streaks provide a +1 to +2 compensation. Rerolling costs 1 gold, and leveling up the population costs 4 gold.

Reroll probabilities are calculated dynamically based on the current population level. At Level 3: 75% for 1-cost, 25% for 2-cost, 0% for 3-cost and above.

At Level 4: 55% for 1-cost, 30% for 2-cost, 15% for 3-cost.

At Level 7: 19% for 1-cost, 30% for 2-cost, 40% for 3-cost, 10% for 4-cost, 1% for 5-cost.

At Level 8: 15% for 1-cost, 20% for 2-cost, 32% for 3-cost, 30% for 4-cost, 3% for 5-cost.

"Don't be intimidated by the names," Yi Chen's tone was as indifferent as when he gave positioning advice during the day.

"The 'Ning Rongrong', 'Dugu Yan', and 'Xiao Wu' in the pool are not you yourselves; they are verifiable spirit projection samples. But from the first round on, this is no longer a toy box with infinite refills."

He tapped the edge of the screen with his finger, and the first line of data locked into place before everyone's eyes.

1-cost pieces: 12 types in total. Each starts with 29 purchasable physical copies. 2-cost: 10 types, 22 copies each. 3-cost: 10 types, 18 copies each. 4-cost: 12 types, 10 copies each. 5-cost: 8 types, 9 copies each.

Ning Rongrong stared at those numbers, her brow twitching slightly. "...In other words, if someone else buys out a certain 1-cost piece, I won't be able to roll it anymore?"

"Correct," Yi Chen nodded. "So, the first lesson of S1 isn't about calculating synergy thresholds; it's about competing for the same inventory against seven other people. This is called 'card blocking'."

Neutral monster rounds do not cause health loss or unit loss, but the gold and equipment fragments follow standard settlement rules.

Ning Rongrong opened the five-grid shop for the current round. The list appeared from top to bottom: Tailong, 1-cost, Clear Sky Sect, Defense. Ye Lingling, 1-cost, Commoner, Support. Ma Hongjun, 1-cost, Shrek, Burst. The remaining two slots were empty; rerolling would cost 1 gold.

Her fingertips hovered in mid-air, her ears turning red. "...They really wrote the names directly. Ye Lingling, Fatty, Tailong—they're all printed on there."

"Because the pool is loaded with the publicly available spirit master lists you submitted."

Yi Chen said calmly, "If you want orthodoxy, you can't use nameless placeholders to fool around. You must accept whoever's name is printed, and more importantly, recognize that it is now a resource."

Rongrong took a deep breath, pulling her emotions away from the analysis.

Her current population was only 1, so she could only field one piece. Ye Lingling was a Commoner support, so placing her in the center of the back row was the safest bet.

Ma Hongjun was a Shrek burst unit, suitable for the front-row flank to serve as a temporary worker and tank a few rounds.

Tailong was a Clear Sky Sect defense unit, but the entire Clear Sky Sect only had three pieces. Chasing a three-star was theoretically feasible but consumed pool capacity heavily—10 copies of each, meaning 30 cards for three types, and 9 copies for a three-star. If two families fought for the same type, both would easily get stuck.

She didn't waste her gold. She spent 1 gold to take Ye Lingling, locked her on the bench, and kept the remaining 4 gold for interest. Her savings were under 10, so the interest for the next round would be 0, but her purse was clean.

Xiao Wu efficiently bought an Oscar to use as a front-row battery and moved Ma Hongjun half a grid back.

Dugu Yan's list showed her own name and Huo Wu's name.

She only said, "It's not strange that my name appears in the pool; I've demonstrated it too many times in Heaven Dou City," before raising her hand to buy herself as the main control anchor and placing Huo Wu on a high platform, intending to form a control chain within three rounds.

Ye Lingling was the quietest. She bought herself as the healing core, added a Jing Ling, and then dropped a sentence coldly: "Since the pool is verifiable, the number of copies of the same name bought by others should also be visible on the panel. Otherwise, the word 'orthodoxy' is just empty talk."

The corner of Yi Chen's mouth twitched ever so slightly as he tapped a folded window in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Ye Lingling's column read: Purchased 1, Pool Remaining 28, Total 29.

"Your request is reasonable," he said. "So, starting from this round, what you need to learn is not 'which piece I like', but who is competing with you for the same thing, how many are left, and whether you want to fight for it to the end."

After the monsters were defeated, gold was credited. The screen popped up a draft prompt.

The draft order was sorted by health from lowest to highest; players with lower health picked first.

The display stand held combinations of chess piece embryos and equipment embryos. They were picking the embryos, not the real people.

Rongrong's health was still 100 this round, so she was the last to pick.

She wasn't in a hurry, watching the players ahead enter one by one. Only two options remained for her: a Dai Mubai embryo with a Storm Greatsword, and a Ning Rongrong embryo with Chain Mail.

She stared at the embryo printed with her own name, her face heating up for half a second, but her hand had already picked it up along with the Chain Mail.

Then, she decisively placed it in her empty back-row slot, equipped the Chain Mail, and said with a straight face, "Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect count +1. This embryo is my positioning coordinate; no one is allowed to say it's strange."

Xiao Wu picked the Oscar embryo with Chain Mail first; she didn't care about face, she wanted utility.

Dugu Yan chose the Hu Liena embryo with a Useless Large Rod, going for a magic-based control route. Ye Lingling chose the Bai Chenxiang embryo with a Recurve Bow to supplement agility and attack speed.

After the draft ended, Yi Chen added a sentence, his voice not loud, yet it suppressed all the chatter: "The rule of the draft, where lower health picks first, is to remind you that in S1, health is not just life—it is your bargaining chip for a comeback. If you lose more health early on, you can pick the good items others left behind during the draft. This is not a punishment; it is a balance."

By the start of the fourth round, Rongrong leveled her population to 4. Her shop probabilities jumped to the Level 4 tier: 55% for 1-cost, 30% for 2-cost, 15% for 3-cost; 4-cost and above were not yet visible. The numbers beside it reminded her that leveling up wasn't just about expanding the army; it was about opening the door to higher-cost cards, though the probability of low-cost cards would be diluted accordingly.

But what truly silenced them was the first real sense of competition in the pool.

Xiao Wu wanted to chase Ma Hongjun as her main carry worker and rerolled twice. Although the 30% chance for a 2-cost wasn't low, the 2-costs that appeared were either Oscar or Dai Mubai. The pool copies of Ma Hongjun had been bought up by the random players in the previous rounds. The remainder dropped from 29 to 26 and was still falling. She finally believed that the "Purchased/Remaining/Total" line wasn't just decoration, and she gritted her teeth: "...Someone is buying my worker away?"

"It's not 'yours'," Yi Chen's voice fell flatly. "The pool is public; whoever buys it owns it. In S1, there are no 'my chess pieces', only 'I grabbed it first, then decided whether to keep it or sell it back to the pool'."

He pointed his chin at Xiao Wu's remaining count line. Ma Hongjun, pool remaining 24, total 29.

"Now you have two rational options," he held up two fingers. "One, give up on Ma Hongjun and switch to another 2-cost burst unit, like using a Dai Mubai embryo as a partial substitute. Two, start rerolling with gold now to compete for Ma Hongjun, but the cost is delaying your push to Level 5 population. Which do you choose?"

Xiao Wu stared at the string of numbers, her cheeks tensed for a moment, before she finally stomped her foot: "...Level 5 first! If the worker is blocked, I'll change people. I won't be a slave to the pool!"

Yi Chen raised an eyebrow, acknowledging her choice.

The 4-unit battle settlement concluded, and the screen displayed four sub-totals.

Ning Rongrong relied on Ye Lingling and her own Civilian 1 trait to recover mana, maintaining her health at 92 and gaining +1 gold for her win streak.

Xiao Wu's Shrek synergy had only just begun, and her growth stacks had yet to accumulate; her health dropped to 65, with a loss-streak bonus providing some small compensation.

Dugu Yan's crowd-control chain had already taken initial shape, crushing opponents through stuns with her health at 97. Ye Lingling had stacked her Civilian trait to 3, granting the entire team 8% damage reduction, with her health at 83.

Yi Chen offered only a brief critique, avoiding a long-winded lecture that might disrupt the rhythm: "Rongrong wins by playing clean; she didn't waste money on 'does it look like me.' Xiao Wu loses because she treats preferences as necessities; the pool doesn't owe your nostalgia anything. Yan'er wins through her control chain, and Lingling wins through damage reduction, but everything you're winning right now is just the foreplay of the level 4 probability pool."

He raised a hand, prompting the screen to flip to the level-up reminder. At level 5: 45% chance for 1-cost, 33% for 2-cost, 20% for 3-cost, and 2% for 4-cost. To reliably acquire 4-cost pieces, one needed to reach at least level 7 or even 8. Before then, one shouldn't stake the fate of their lineup on high-cost units.

Ning Rongrong stared at the probability bar, suddenly truly understanding why their master forbade them from touching high-cost units during the practice phase. It wasn't a prohibition; the math simply didn't allow it.

Above the screen, the current match information glowed coldly. Rank: Unranked. Pool chain verification: Passed. Eight-player shared deck: Active.

Outside the hall, the synchronized screens on every terminal in the venue were frozen on that same line.

Yi Chen leaned back into his chair, rotated his long-cooled cup of tea, and spoke with the finality of a seal: "Once this match ends, S1 will truly be locked in. The pool is public, the probabilities are verifiable, and chasing cards relies on calculation, not luck. From now on, if anyone tells you the Golden Spatula is just a game, show them the verification code."

The countdown for the fifth round began. The shop refreshed with a new line of named units, and the four women's fingertips no longer hesitated.

The first verifiable piece had already fallen into the public pool. From here on out, every single one would have to be fought for against the other seven players.