Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 28 Ritual and Change

The layout of the Temple of Wisdom was completely different from the night before. A circle was drawn on the floor in the center of the hall with ink, forming a magic circle composed of many small patterns. The dark ink emitted a faint blue light, making it look like stars twinkling in the night sky.

Four tall lampstands stood around the magic circle, and instead of candles or oil lamps, they held magic crystals that emitted a pale purple glow.

At the center of the magic circle stood a square cabinet, seemingly made entirely of gold, with intricate patterns carved on it. Upon closer inspection, these patterns were about the deeds of Gar Shininggold, the chief god of dwarves and also the god of wisdom.

A tripod, also in the color of gold, sits on the cabinet. Its three legs are connected to the cabinet. A gemstone is placed on the tripod and held in place by a setting that resembles a rose petal.

When his gaze fell upon the gemstone, he was instantly drawn to its pure blue hue, as if lost in the boundless sky or falling into the azure ocean. The sapphire was about the size of a thumb, with a cross-shaped white light shimmering in its center.

Starlight Sapphire! Without much thought or hesitation, and having never even seen such a magical gem before, Zhang Yuan was absolutely certain of it.

A curious country bumpkin looked around, feeling that the entire ritual site was shrouded in the unknown and mysterious. Of course, that description wasn't entirely wrong, as it was indeed a secret ritual.

Zelana stood behind the altar, fiddling with something, while Old Man Bentley brought over a headband and gestured for Zhang Yuan to put it on.

What? A headband? Despite his inner grumbling, the person obediently accepted it and put it on his head.

"Come here, lie down in the center of the magic circle, with your head against the ritual platform," the old master instructed Zhang Yuan to cooperate in preparing for the ceremony.

After lying down, Old Man Bentley gave a few more instructions before starting the ceremony with Jellana.

With a gesture from Zylana, the Starsapphire emitted a bright yet soft glow, perfectly covering the entire magic circle.

“Veritas, Credo, Oculos! (Truth, certainty, with the eyes alone)” Old Bentley began his long chant, and with the last few notes, Zhang Yuan, who was getting a little bored, fell asleep.

After an unknown amount of time, perception and consciousness returned to Zhang Yuan, but when he opened his eyes—no, in his current state, he no longer had the concept of eyes.

He did not rely on vision, but rather incorporated the outside world into his perception in an almost intuitive way. In his perception, he was like an amorphous cloud, changing back and forth with his emotions.

Countless tiny entities floated around his body, projecting tiny specks of light, like dust, into Zhang Yuan's mind, washing over him like flowing water.

Zhang Yuan stirred his consciousness, drifting like a cloud or a jellyfish in the ocean of starlight. Occasionally, he would encounter larger clusters of light, like whirlpools in a river, drawing him in. However, once he touched a cluster of light, it was as if he had entered a bizarre and strange dream, and his entire consciousness became hazy and unclear.

He hurried away and continued wandering until something familiar entered his field of vision.

It was indeed very familiar, but it was still somewhat different from the spell structures I knew well and prepared every night before bed. This difference was like the difference between two different works of calligraphy, rather than the difference between a work of calligraphy and a photograph.

At this moment, Zhang Yuan finally remembered his situation and realized that what he had perceived was his goal. He mustered his strength and lunged forward, imagining himself as an octopus, extending the tentacles of his mind to firmly entangle the other party.

The instant the two connected, wave after wave of information washed over his thoughts and consciousness like ocean waves. Zhang Yuan, who chose to accept it, could clearly feel that a lot of knowledge was pouring into his mind along with the waves. Spells that needed to be repeatedly recited and memorized, and complex and intricate spell gestures were thus instilled into his mind by the rituals from the outside world.

When I transmigrated back then, did I learn magic in the same way? For some reason, this thought popped into someone's head.

The concept of time does not exist in the world of thought. It may be a moment, or it may be a long time. All the magical knowledge was still successfully injected into Zhang Yuan's mind. At the same time, he also understood the name of the spell: Sleep Spell.

Satisfied, the octopus floated up, wiggled its rear end, and prepared to hunt its next victim.

He locked onto his target with little effort, another one, or rather, a level one monster-summoning spell structure. He pounced as before, extended tentacles as before, and performed the binding play as before...

Completely different! Before he could even have a proper conversation with his target, Zhang Dachu felt as if he had been shoved into a toilet and then the flush button had been pressed hard. After a dizzying moment, he found himself in a familiar yet strange place.

Looking around, the marble-paved ground is divided into a grid pattern of crisscrossing lines, and the eight high platforms in the distance also indicate what this place is—the Void Chessboard.

The layout and scenery of the chessboard remained unchanged, and Zhang Yuan was surprised to find that his originally formless spiritual body had been reformed into the shape of his physical body.

As he wandered aimlessly, trying to figure out the reason for his transformation and the purpose of the system sending him here, he reached the center of the chessboard, where the familiar twenty-sided die once again came into view.

With a sudden thought, knowing he had probably found the key, Zhang Yuan quickly stepped forward, picked up the dice, and held them in his palm. Just like the scene before, he felt a sense of absurdity, as if time and space were being distorted.

The picked-up die began to emit a pale blue glow, and a familiar pop-up window appeared before my eyes:
"A corresponding summoning spell has been detected and confirmed to be a first-circle arcane spell, 'Level 1 Summon Monster.' Confirm import into the DLTCEP system?"

"Agree/Disagree"

I subconsciously reached out and tapped the pop-up, but surprisingly it didn't go right through. The pop-up, which was usually untouchable, now seemed to have a physical presence.

Someone who wasn't in the mood to think about the details quickly clicked "OK"!

With a shift in light and shadow, a new window appears:
"With the authorization of the administrator, the auto chess piece system is bound to the summoning arcane magic."

"Current Summoning Spell: Level 1 Summon Monster - Effect: Summon a level 1 chess piece."

"Current energy points: 11 (Chess piece cost is 10 * own level)"

"Choose the following pieces today: Tiny, Crystal Maiden, Anti-Mage, Drow Ranger, Tiny"

"Rules: Players must spend energy to purchase chess pieces. Chess pieces refresh once a day and can be locked or refreshed again for 20 energy points. Due to the limitations of the dimensional rules, chess pieces cannot be placed directly in reality. They must be summoned through spells of the corresponding level, with the spell level corresponding to the chess piece level."

The system's explanation was incredibly detailed. After reading it word for word, Zhang Yuan basically understood how the auto chess system worked. It was simply a matter of replacing the summoned creatures with chess pieces.

The only problem is the source of these energy points. I already have 11 energy points? Could it be from the burrowing worms and goblins I killed?

However, these are all issues that can be explored gradually in the future. The most urgent task is to determine which chess pieces to purchase, leave this place, and even awaken from the ritual.

After careful consideration, I still chose Little as the first choice. First of all, it is not surprising that Little, a stone elemental, is a summon, while the appearance of a humanoid summon is really hard to explain.

Secondly, despite its small size, it's quite sturdy and even has control skills. In contrast, the other pieces are all fragile and functional. In the current situation, it's better to choose something more practical first.

Someone who praised their own wit was already fantasizing about becoming the chess master of Faerûn in the future. (A moment of remembrance for the original book title.)

Thank you all for your enthusiastic support with recommendation votes. I've specially released one chapter from my limited stockpile of chapters so that you won't have to wait too long for this cheat code.

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(End of this chapter)