Life Is Like Chess

At that moment, the system sprite suddenly popped out.

"Dear host, harmless illusions and unknown laws have been detected. Would you like me to filter them out?"

Harmless illusions?

"Filter them!" Duke answered decisively.

The scene before him changed. What appeared before Duke was still a chessboard and a pile of chess pieces, but every piece had changed completely, becoming vivid, stick-figure-like body frames.

"What if I don't filter them?" The image in his field of vision changed again, reverting to the Karazhan Chess Duke knew best.

On Duke's side, the front row consisted of fully armed Stormwind guards in gleaming armor. Their blue plumes and shields bearing golden lion heads on blue backgrounds gave Duke an inexplicable sense of martial grandeur.

"Wow, can it change according to my imagination?"

This fantastical illusion was far beyond the immature 3D holographic gaming technology from before his transmigration.

Once Duke saw through it, his initial shock faded, replaced by eager interest.

There were six types of pieces in total. Although their appearances still followed Duke's imagination, dividing them into the Alliance and the Horde, for some reason they differed somewhat from the setup in the Karazhan Chess encounter from the game.

The first type was pawns, filling an entire front row. On the Alliance side, they were Stormwind soldiers; their counterparts were armored Horde infantry.

The second type was knights, two on each side. The Alliance had heavily armored knights mounted on fully barded warhorses, while the Horde had wolf riders brandishing enormous spiked maces.

The third type was bishops, two on each side. The Alliance had two frost mages, while the Horde had two doom mages.

The fourth type was guards, two on each side. The Alliance had two priests capable of healing, while the Horde had shamans.

The fifth type was rather strange. In the queen's position, the Alliance had Azeroth's Guardian, Stormwind Kingdom's chief court Archmage Medivh, while the Horde's spellcaster had an entirely blurred appearance.

There was nothing to say about the sixth type: the king! The Alliance's was King Llane, clad in heavy silver armor and wielding a massive warhammer. The Horde's was the Horde chieftain Blackhand, holding an axe.

Just then, the fellow calling himself the administrator, "Raven," spoke.

"Hehehe! Little guy, didn't scare you, did I?"

Duke curled his lip. "No, I was already scared."

"I don't see much of a frightened expression on your face. Fine... don't take this little game too seriously. It's just one of my little whims. Of course, your performance in this game will directly affect your status and living conditions at the Royal Academy of Magic. So, if possible, I still hope you'll give it your all."

At first glance, Raven seemed to be saying that he would use his authority as the dormitory administrator to offer Duke some sort of benefit. But there were far too many traps hidden in those words.

Duke did not expose him. A mysterious smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "Then fine. I suppose you wouldn't want me to play an ordinary game of chess with you, would you? Show me what special rules mages have!"

Almost Raven's entire face was concealed in the shadows beneath his hood. On the portion visible below it, where only his chin could be seen, an understanding smile appeared.

"This is an academy of magic. Those fools playing ordinary chess with my companions will be living next to the toilets for the next year."

"Oh, what a pity."

Please allow Duke to observe a second of silent, gloating mourning for those fellows.

"All right, what you're seeing is the ultimate version. First, you must prove that you are qualified to become a piece on this chessboard."

In Duke's field of vision, a massive golden scroll unfurled. It contained numerous spell formulas written in the common tongue. Above the scroll, a huge hourglass appeared out of thin air.

Its meaning was obvious: once the sand ran out, the scroll would close.

Almost immediately, Duke put the system sprite to work.

"System sprite, analyze and record them at once!"

"Understood, my host... Beep! Preliminary inspection indicates that these are simplified spell model formulas for [Arcane Intellect], [Frostbolt], and [Blizzard]. Copying formulas... Spell models recorded. Reverse-calculating the complete spell formulas."

Duke immediately realized that this was an excellent opportunity!

It seemed this was another thing that looked like a game but was actually an entrance test!

The examiners were not concerned with how powerful the prospective apprentices serving as test subjects were, nor with how many spells they could master. What they truly wanted to see was the candidates' adaptability.

Although this method of using spells was practically like handing a pistol to the candidates and having them simply pull the trigger, pulling the trigger did not mean they could hit the target. Hitting the target did not mean hitting an effective spot. Even if they hit it, the timing, method, and result still mattered.

How to use them, when to use them—every aspect tested the candidates' adaptability, their affinity with the elements, and their imagination and understanding of magic.

It was no exaggeration to call this a comprehensive magical examination!

For most candidates, every grain of sand in the hourglass was worth hundreds of millions of times more than gold. Quite a few people realized that this was an excellent opportunity to obtain spells for free. Even simplified versions would make their future path in magic far smoother.

Every candidate greedily stared at the scroll without blinking.

Only Duke was different.

His gaze merely swept across the entire half-man-tall scroll once before he lowered his head and seemed to fall into deep thought.

Only he himself knew that he was not thinking at all. He was enduring an information bombardment from the system sprite.

"Spell model [Arcane Intellect] discovered. It can temporarily top up your overdue intelligence, allowing your impoverished brain to temporarily hold more spell models. Rejoice—2 Intelligence from Level 1 [Arcane Intellect] can temporarily increase your mana by 20 points, allowing you to temporarily meet the minimum Intelligence requirement for mastering [Blizzard]."

"[Frostbolt]: Young man, want your opponent to eat a popsicle made from your foot-washing water? Level 1 [Frostbolt] can fully satisfy your needs!"

"[Blizzard]: Want to leave your opponent a complete mess in the cold wind? Want them to freeze into a snow bar in the blazing summer while looking utterly bewildered? Level 1 [Blizzard]—you deserve it!"

When Duke saw those opening lines, which sounded like cheesy advertisements, he had the sudden urge to make the system sprite livestream itself eating shit.

"What the hell is this? Please! Don't explain spells to me in that tone, okay?"

"Oh, what a pity. I drew this style of narration from the information in your brain. This manner of speaking clearly accounts for 70% of your daily conversations. I thought you would like it. Why are you complaining about me?" The system sprite countered Duke in the most serious tone possible.

Fine! Duke had been defeated.