Lith looked at Arya with a smile on his face. He knew she definitely was in a tense state right now and there’s no way that she can make her next move without losing either the rook or the queen.
Arya turned her gaze to meet Lith’s and doing so, she saw his smile. She smiled back at him and said, “instead of feeling happy for making one good move, analyze the game and see what would happen next. Run mental simulations.”
Lith’s smile faded, and he nodded his head in agreement. Before he could run a mental simulation, Arya made her move by moving her king out of the check he had given her. Lith then considered his next move, as well as the one after that, to checkmate Arya.
Running a few simulations in his mind, he found the best course of action was to capture her rook with his knight first, and he did just that.
Noticing this, Arya looked at Lith and extended her hand forward to flick his forehead.
“Oww.”
Lith said while rubbing his forehead. He then looked at Arya and said, “teacher, why?”
Arya removed her sunglasses and blinked a few times, which resulted in her silver eyelashes getting flaunted naturally. Her beautiful blue eyes then focused on him and she said seriously,
“Where is your focus? Did you not run a mental simulation like I said?”
Lith didn’t understand why she said that out of nowhere but still said, “I am focusing on the game, teacher. And I did run a few simulations. Like see here, I move this, you do this, then…”
Lith showed her a few possibilities of what the game may have turned out to be. Arya watched every one of them carefully and after Lith stopped showing them to her, she looked at him and said seriously,
“Lith, all of these possibilities are after you’ve taken out my rook. You were too excited about it that you overlooked this one thing. Hold on, instead of me telling you, just watch this.”
After Arya finished speaking, she moved her queen a few squares diagonally across the board and looked at Lith again in the eyes and said,
“See here. What is this?”
Lith looked at it and then at her and said, “it is a check. I was expecting it, teacher.”
Arya shook her head after hearing his response and said,
“Look clearly, it isn’t a check. It’s a checkmate.”
“Huh?” Lith asked, confused.
Rather than responding verbally, Arya moved her finger across the board, causing Lith to notice the bishop she had moved earlier. The bishop was well hidden on one side of the board, and it went unnoticed by Lith, who was preoccupied with devising a strategy for what he would do once he had Arya’s rook.
He couldn’t see any possibilities of a potential checkmate within the upcoming few moves, but he sure knew that he could get a check. He was expecting a check from Arya’s queen, but now that he looked again, he frowned and felt that he didn’t focus well enough and missed the bishop, which was hiding. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and said,
“Tsk. You’re right, teacher. I didn’t focus well it seems.”
Arya nodded her head, agreeing with Lith. She then smiled and said ruffling his hair, “it’s okay. You’ve still got a long way to go. Your journey has only just started. Had there been someone else in your place, they wouldn’t have lasted so long. You did well, keep it up. And yes, increase your focus.”
Lith made a mental note of it and nodded his head in understanding.
Lith and Arya then began another round of chess and continued to play together. Arya taught him many things while playing, and Lith naturally was learning a lot from her this way.
…
Auckland city, Villmer.
“Stupid! This is fucking stupid! What the fuck does he mean the item isn’t available? Isn’t he an Emperor rank? Isn’t he an Emperor of a big country? How come such a thing isn’t available to him? Was I the only one he could find to make a fool like this?
Argh, Graham, you’re giving me a headache now. It’s starting to get annoying. If that damn vice principal can have a teleportation token, why can you not? Without it, now I would need to be in this place for the next two days. Ugh my attendance…”
Liam paced around in his room and ranted while kicking and punching things around.
He just received word from his father, Graham Novius, that everything on the list was available, except for the token to teleport in and out of the academy. It would take some time to obtain it, but no longer than two days. Liam had been ordered to stay in his room and was not permitted to leave, so he was reacting in this manner.
“Fuck it. I’ll just fucking sleep. There’s no point in ranting. The more I think about it, the more annoyed I will be. It’s better that I go to sleep and relax.”
…
In a small town in Lupin country, Human Continent.
An old man having a black cloth wrapped around his body which revealed a bit of his stomach, indicating his lean and muscular physique, was sitting beside a fountain present in the center of the town plaza. The old man also had a cloth bag beside him and a black flag with one word written on it in white — Destiny.
He had his eyes closed and was “watching” a few things. A few minutes later, he opened his eyes and muttered to himself in a neutral tone,
“Walking a thousand paths, you ever change fate. Will you find a certain route that leads to your destiny, or perish, joining the many deaths?”