BXBX NOVEL Chapter 166 - Diary Entry
Chess?
What\'s that?
Ban\'s face contorted behind the face mask upon hearing that unfamiliar term.
\'What kind of game is that?\'
"It\'s my first time hearing such a game, care to elaborate on how you play it?" Ban said honestly as he approached Mr. Nian.
"Oh, I see,we got a complete newbie here. It looks like your friend will have to pay for the information he wants, Joana." Mr. Nian said in an amused smile as he invited Ban to sit at the other side of the table.
Joana also did not idle as she followed behind Ban and sat beside him as well.
"Don\'t be disheartened though, it\'s completely normal that you aren\'t familiar with this game, after all, I also just recently learned about it 10 years ago while adventuring in a dangerous location."
"Very well, just like what I did to the others, I will teach you the basics of this game called chess as well."
Mr. Nian took out a green checkered box below him and placed it above the table. He then took out multiple wooden sculptures with various forms and placed it above the checkered box. The various sculptures have two colors, black and white.
Woof! Woof!
Just as Mr. Nian was about to start explaining the basics of the game, they suddenly heard an excited voice that came from behind Mr. Nian.
It was the dog that Mr. Nian was fondling and stroking earlier, one of his Summoned Monsters, a Mountain Dog.
The Mountain Dog was big enough for a person to ride it, if only it was already an adult, Mr. Nian would probably choose to always ride it.
Mr. Nian looked at his back and was taken aback by the expression that he saw from his Mountain Dog, almost like it was fawning on something or more precisely someone.
The Mountain Dog kept on barking as it stared in a particular direction, Mr.Nian traced it and to his surprise, his Monster was actually looking at the newcomer, the chess noob, Leon.
Meanwhile, the culprit behind the dog\'s action, Ban, was actually dazed at the moment.
It was not because of the dog but due to the fact that the moment he sat down, the System screen suddenly materialized in front of his eyes as it produced a lot of words containing one of the censored Ancient Summoner\'s diary entry, the \'All About Them\' Book of Techniques.
[ It\'s been months since I\'ve met this strange Beast at the center of the continent.
It was a Beast that had the form of a checkered box, or to be precise, it was a sentient checkered box.
I was fascinated by it\'s form and of course, I tried taming it. I could not resist the urge as even though it did not look like a Beast or a Monster, I knew for a fact that it was one.
Unfortunately, it\'s been months and I could still see no progress from it. Different from other Monsters and Beast I have come across before, this sentient checkered box, who called itself a \'chess board\' actually wanted me to play a game with it as the main medium of the game.
Unfortunately, it was my first time hearing such a game, and \'chess board\' could only teach me from the basics.
But sigh, the game is too hard! I could not defeat the chess board at all. Never in my thousands of years of existence would I ever think of experiencing something like this.
Anyways, the chess board is up now and we\'re gonna play that game called \'chess\' again, I\'m already here so I can\'t give up at this point right?
…
It\'s been years since I\'ve started playing \'chess\' and I\'m already getting the hang of it. Chess board was also impressed by my progress so she\'s more willing to communicate with me now. Her guard has now started to lower down, I hope I will be able to defeat her as I think that the only way to tame her was to defeat her in her own game.
…
After five years, I can finally say that I already have the capability to at least force \'Chessly\' to use one of her complicated chess strategies.
Unfortunately, I\'m still far from defeating her so I think I should just do my best practicing my chess skills.
Playing it with my colleagues also helps boost my morale, they always think I\'m the creator of this game and none of them could defeat me.
Playing with Chessly everyday makes me feel frustrated for always losing. Playing with my colleagues certainly helps me regain my confidence as the \'Central Continent\'s\' number one genius.
Chess was also starting to spread around the Summoner\'s World because of my words, sooner or later the day will come where the younger generations are gonna surpass the skills of the old.
Sigh, I shall not slack off any longer and practice with Cheesly everyday.
…
]
Ban\'s attention was pulled towards the diary entry as he ignored his surroundings. He knew that there were various forms of Beast and Monsters out there but it was his first time knowing that there was a Monster or a Beast in the form of a checkered box.
Not only that, he just read something very important from that diary entry, it turns out that there was actually another \'continent\' other than the one he was right now, the South Continent.
The game that the Ancient Summoner was talking about, wasn\'t that the same game that Mr. Nian was talking about?
Ban felt excited thinking about that. Before he could give the order to inject the knowledge regarding the game chess from the diary, the System beats him to it as a surge of information and knowledge entered his brain without a warning.
Unlike before, it actually made him a little dizzy due to the sheer amount of knowledge and data it contains.
After countless years of playing with \'Cheesly\' the Ancient Summoner finally managed to defeat her after an arduous chess battle. The Ancient Summoner recorded all of the things she learned about chess in the diary as reference for taming the Beast, Cheesly the Chess Board.
Ban felt dazed as the information was injected into his brain, he was now completely oblivious to what was happening around him.
Fortunately, Eva was there. She upped her guard as she knew that her owner was in a strange state at the moment. She can\'t let the others disturb his peace.
Woof! Woof! Wo-
The Mountain Dog\'s barking halted when Eva glared at it fiercely directly in the eye. It immediately whimpered as it stuck its tongue out subversively as it went behind Mr. Nian\'s back, seeking shelter from Eva\'s gaze.
Nevertheless, the Mountain Dog still kept on looking at Ban with that same fawning expression.
\'What\'s happening?\'
Mr. Nian was surprised as it was his first time seeing his monster acting like that. Normally, it would always choose to stay silent and even sometimes act shy towards other people. It would always hide behind his back, except for when it was interacting with his nephew or when it saw its favorite food.
He looked at Leon again and inspected him again, searching if there\'s something tasty around him that allowed the Mountain Dog to act that way.
Just as he was about to ask Leon about it, he was suddenly interrupted by a loud \'bang\' sound coming from the door opposite of where Ban and Joana emerged from.
"Uncle, please forgive me already, I promised I won\'t do it again. I promised I won\'t bring your doggy again to stroll outside the Adventurers Market again."
A kid that was about 10-12 years old emerged from the door and immediately kneeled, asking for Mr. Nian, his uncle\'s forgiveness.
If Ban was awake at the moment, he would surely recognize the kid as the one he met a few days ago. It was the same kid who let the Monster Dog of his uncle eat chocolate, allowing it to be in that frenzied state. In the end, Ban managed to calm it down, making this same kid feel grateful as he would not be hanged by his uncle anymore.
Unfortunately, it seems that the kid was still not able to escape his fate of getting hanged.
"Impudent rascal, who told you to come inside without knocking? Didn\'t the others warn you that I have a guess here? It seems that you haven\'t been disciplined enough. Go back to the other courtyard and let Cockado hang you in the air for another hour."
Mr. Nian was furious at his nephew\'s action.
Just a few days ago, he came to know that this boy brought his beloved Mountain Dog outside the Adventures Market for a stroll.
Fortunately, nothing bad happened except for the pungent smell that his Mountain Dog was in. Nevertheless, his nephew still needs to be punished for his actions.
The punishment was simple, his nephew was afraid of heights so he let one of his summons hang him above the ceiling for an hour everyday.
"It seems that an hour a day was still not enough to discipline you, now go back there and get hanged for another hour. You\'re not allowed to get down until the time is over or else I will add another hour as your punishment."
Mr. Nian\'s nephew\'s face contorted as tears started to fall from his eyes.
"Uncle, please no more punishment, uncle. I promise I won\'t do that again, my handsome uncle," the kid said while moving closer towards Mr. Nian, ignoring the fact that Mr. Nian just mentioned earlier that he has a guess.
At that moment, while he was moving forward, the kid suddenly saw and recognized Ban, or more precisely, the terrifying red mask he was wearing.
"Ehh? Aren\'t you that uncle from before who helped cure the frenzy state of my uncle\'s Mountain Dog?" The kid said surprisingly after seeing him.
Suddenly, he covered his mouth as he immediately ran away from Mr. Nian who now has a dark expression on his face.
"Uncle, I forgot something in the courtyard. I\'ll also just let myself get hanged by your monster on the way there, thank you for always punishing me uncle!" the kid shouted while doing his best to run away.
Unfortunately, he heard the angry bellow of his uncle, his steps halted forcefully upon hearing that angry voice.
"YOU RASCAL! COME BACK HERE BEFORE I ADD ANOTHER KIND OF PUNISHMENT TAILORED JUST FOR YOU!"
Mr. Nian\'s loud bellow reverberated in the courtyard as the kid could only turn around slowly with a fearful expression.
The moment he uttered those words earlier, that\'s when the kid knew that he just fucked up.