Death... and me

Back in the sect, Roan had gone to talk with Hulian, asking for a position to command a few groups. Usually, Hulian wouldn't even bother to hear such a request. However, since it was the twins, he still decided to give them a chance. It's just that he needed to test Roan first.

There was a war game similar to chess, but several times more intricated, called Sisca. It had close to twenty times more pieces on each side compared to a chess game, with a board obviously several times bigger. However, the size of the board wasn't a problem for the cultivators. After all, they could simply spread their Spiritual Energy to move the pieces and make their movements. The main objective was to take over the enemy's castle on the other side of the board.

It was often used to test a person's intelligence. Obviously, it was also perfect to see their ability to command as well.

"I've never played this thing."

Hulian wasn't surprised by that.

"That's not a problem. I'm not expecting you to suddenly become a professional in Sisca. I just want to see how you perform on your first try. That would also reflect how you would react in a random environment like a war zone. In a certain way, not knowing the game is the perfect condition to see your abilities to command."

Roan nodded, not minding it too much. Hulian then passed him a booklet with all of the rules of the game. Roan quickly browsed it a few times while shaking or nodding his head from time to time. Around twenty minutes later, he closed the book and passed it back to Hulian.

"Done."

"Done?"

Hulian looked at Roan with a surprised expression.

"There are a lot of rules and variations described there. Shouldn't you take a little longer to get used to it?"

Roan shook his head.

"No need. Let's start."

Hulian shook his head in disappointment. He already felt like Roan was rushing things too much. That was not a good quality for a commander.

Rean, who was also present, quickly grabbed the booklet from Hulian.

"Alright, let me look at it as well. It seems fun."

Hulian didn't mind as he brought Roan to the board in another room.

"Okay. The black pieces are yours. The white ones are mine. You can put them in any sequence you like on your side except for the center field."

Roan nodded.

"I already memorized all the rules. Let's start."

The way to position each person's pieces worked in turns. Each side could only put one piece down each turn. That would prevent them from knowing the final form of the enemy's formation ahead of time, making the game fairer.

However, Hulian noticed that Roan didn't seem to be following any particular strategy. He placed his pieces on the board in a very standard formation. It was as if he wasn't even thinking about it. Still, Hulian didn't complain. He simply didn't expect that much from Roan anymore. He would quickly finish it to show Roan that the art of commanding wasn't that simple.

Meanwhile, Rean kept reading the booklet on the side, trying to memorize its rules.

"Alright, let's start. You can move the first piece."

Roan didn't mind and immediately made his first move. Hulian then followed with his own. And just like that, time began to pass. When those two were around a hundred moves into the game, Rean finally closed the booklet.

"I understand how it works now."

He quickly took a look at the board and analyzed the positions.

"Hum... I think I know what they are trying to do."

Hulian smiled, not really believing that Rean knew what his aim was. So far, Roan's moves didn't seem anything impressive. He also made a few moves that made it easier for Hulian to move forward and conquer territory.

Finally, it reached a point where Roan seemed to not have any chances anymore.

"Alright. Let's stop it here and start a new one."

Roan looked at Hulian, puzzled.

"Why?"

Hulian pointed at the board before saying.

"Isn't that obvious? You can't possibly recover from this."

Rean, who was on the side, shook his head.

"What are you saying, Senior Hulian? Can't you see that Roan already won this battle?"

Hulian's smile froze as he looked at Rean.

"He won this battle? What are you talking about? I'm totally dominating his side."

Roan also looked at Rean with a surprised expression.

"You can see what I'm doing?"

Rean nodded.

"Pretty much. Elder Hulian's five main forces had been lured into a trap where they can't escape anymore. In the next few moves, his right side will crumble while the left side will only be able to desperately hold its position. However, it will be too late since you will take the enemy's castle while impeding Elder Hulian's left side from ever joining the battle until everything is over."

Roan couldn't help but be surprised.

'Since when were you good at commanding strategies? Or perhaps you're only good at games?'

Rean pondered a bit before replying.

'Hum... Now that I think about it, I don't know. It just comes into me naturally. Most likely, this is the influence of our Soul Connection.'

[Rean is right.]

Sister Orb said while they were talking through their Soul Connection.

[It's just like how Roan can lock Light Element in his body almost as well as Rean. It is the influence of Roan's proficiency that allows him to do so. Of course, be it Roan's commanding ability or Rean's Light Element control ability, both your talents also play a huge part in this. Well, this is a good thing for both of you anyway, so just enjoy each other's help.]

Rean's eyes lit up and quickly asked.

'Sister Orb, is there a way to enhance this ability?'

[Sure!]

Both Rean and Roan's interests were piqued.

'How?'

[Increase of brotherly affection. What about starting with a hug?]

The twins almost fainted!

'Ahem... There should be no need to rush things. Step by step learning is also essential to consolidate our knowledge.'

Roan agreed straight away.

'Exactly! Besides, if we force it, we might develop some brain issues in the future. Let's stay like this, shall we?'

Rean nodded vigorously.

As they said those words, they also thought.

'Brotherly affection, your ass!'

'I would rather die!'

'Fuck you!'

'You are lucky that you are a lot stronger. Otherwise, I would have broken your orb in half already!'

Sister Orb felt a little disappointed.

[Oh! Okay, then...]

All that conversation only took two or three seconds through their Soul Connection, so Hulian didn't notice anything.

Instead, he was more worried about what Rean just said. Because of that, he began to analyze the battlefield, especially the right side.

"This... How did you do that without me noticing?"

Roan looked at Hulian and answered as if it was something simple.

"Your overconfidence was the main point. I just pretended to be weak and lured you inside. You never bothered to take me seriously even once, so it was extremely easy."

Hulian's ears became red when he heard that. Sure enough, Roan never bothered to measure his words at all.

"Ahem... Let's continue this battle. I want to see how the end will develop."

Roan didn't mind as they continued to battle. Sure enough, Hulian's side crumbled fast as his left side got trapped by Roan's pieces. In the end, Hulian's castle fell without much of a resistance. The weird thing was how Hulian had a lot more pieces remaining than Roan, so his loss was quite an ugly one.

Still, Hulian was really shocked by that. That was Roan's first time playing this game, and Hulian had even lost in such a terrible way.

"Errr... Again! I admit I wasn't expecting anything from you at all. This time, I will not commit the same mistake. It will be a real test of your commanding abilities."

Roan nodded. He also didn't like this last battle since his opponent was holding back. The two quickly reorganized the pieces on the table and began to put them one by one in their positions each turn. The start of the game quickly followed right after. However...

"How did I lose even faster now...?"

Rean, who observed the entire game, immediately replied.

"You used a pincer attack between the right and left side of your field. However, Roan positioned his piece in a way that he wouldn't lose many of them during that attack. The problem was that when you finished your attack, your pieces were left vulnerable to a counter pincer attack. He simply defeated you with the same strategy you tried to defeat him."

Roan nodded.

"He's correct. You made quite a brilliant move this time. Perhaps you wanted to wipe out the shame of having lost so miserably last time. Too bad that you ignored the traps on both sides. Of course, I made sure to hide it well so that you wouldn't notice before it was too late."

Hulian gritted his teeth before saying.

"Again!"

Roan faintly smiled as he nodded.

Hulian acted a lot more carefully, thinking about every movement this time. As a result, this was the longest game they had so far. Unfortunately for him, the result was still the same. It didn't matter how many times Hulian tried. Roan always found the quickest way of delivering a fatal blow to his forces. Roan's playstyle was just like his combat one. The type who looked for the fastest way to kill the opponent.

Hulian finally admitted that he wasn't Roan's match. Not to mention that Roan got better at it with each game.

"Wait here for a minute. Let me invite someone else."

Hulian liked the game, but he knew that he wasn't any prodigy on it. He decided to call someone else instead.

As soon as Hulian left, Rean went to the other side of the board.

"One week of mother's dessert!"

Roan's gaze turned cold as he replied.

"Bring it on!"