On Sunday evening, while several of the young wizards of the Sin Hunting Team were discussing "Shadows in the Sun" and "what is objective and fair reporting" before the class began, the head of the same club was having an interesting conversation with his members in a break room at Alpha Castle.

It was a spacious lounge with white and black walls, bare floors, no blankets, and nothing but a coffee table and a few sofas in the main seat.

There is no armor standing in the corner of the house and the ghosts hidden in it, no portraits of the predecessors hanging on the white walls serving as advisers to the later generations, and there are no golden chandeliers and green bonsai hanging on the roof like other rest rooms in the castle.

The balcony in the lounge was large and had plenty of light, but the sunlight didn't add a touch of warmth to the room. The décor of the entire lounge is very plain, even rudimentary, and the only finishing materials that can match the area of the lounge are the matte wall tiles that surround the lounge, and the white Ouroboros carved on the brick surface.

At this moment, this slightly shabby lounge was crowded with young wizards in white robes.

Most of them had one or two black borders on their collars and cuffs, and the rest of the wizards with three black edges and no black borders were a minority.

These wizards belong to the emerging society of First University, the Cheung Kei Society.

Because Alpha College does not institutionalize the weekend meeting like Jiuyou College, the degree of autonomy of the student union is very high, and it is these student clubs that maintain the cohesion between students, so most of these clubs arrange the regular meeting time in the evening of the weekend, which is an interesting contrast with the system of Jiuyou College.

Most of the time, the regular meeting of the club is the cadres to report on the work of the previous week, and the club boss arranges the work content of the next week, occasionally mixed with one or two team building or small parties.

Just like today, the head of the Cheung Kei Club, Mr. MacKing Seprano, was playing chess with one of his members.

Seprano, who was ranked seventh in last year's Star Coin sequence, surpassed Sir Friedman, who was also in Alpha Academy, and was promoted to Star Knight in the latest Acarna list released by Wand in January this year. And Sir Friedman only received the title of Star Squire.

It is said that on the evening of the day the list was announced, Sir smashed a lot of precious porcelain in his common room.

Today, when Augustus is still the 'Star King', the closer he is to his position, the more likely he is to become the next Augustus. In the eyes of most people, the title of 'knight' is obviously a little more honorable than 'squire'.

In addition, the Cheung Kei hunting team under the name of Cheung Kei Club has risen six places in a row in the latest hunting team ranking released by the First University, becoming the eleventh strong hunting team in the entire university ranking.

All this good news has put this lounge in a state of pent-up joy.

Except for Cole, who is playing against Mr. Seprano.

Cole is a second-year student at Alpha Academy, with a thin build, a black robe, graying hair, deep wrinkles carved on his forehead, and silver-gray eyes. His voice is short and sharp when he speaks, and his eyes wander when he looks at people, which always gives people a slightly nervous feeling.

"The Dorray Green Effect," explains McGinn Seprano, holding a chess piece in his hand and staring at the chessboard, in a casual tone, "means that 'everything that is done on the outside can be reflected in one's own portrait', for example, if someone stabs Mr. Dorray Green with a knife, then the knife wound will only appear on Mr. Green's magical portrait, and will not hurt him." ”

The lounge was silent, and everyone was chewing on the meaning of Mr. Seprano's words.

Cole sat across from Seprano, trembling, walking on thin ice as if he were on the edge of an abyss—even though he was a member of the Cheung Kei Society, until now, he didn't understand what Mr. Seprano meant by playing chess with him.

"Cheung Kei is my 'portrait'. Mackin Seprano raised his eyelids, glanced at the rest room, and whispered, "All the means to harm the Cheung Kei will eventually hurt me." ”

The atmosphere in the lounge became more and more oppressive, and many people straightened their backs and chests to meet Seprano's gaze. It was also mixed with the emotional and excited sobs of some Cheung Kei members.

Kneeling across the board, Cole curled up in a ball, trying to hide himself behind a low coffee table, but the effort didn't work.

The fat on Seprano's cheeks shook and seemed to smile.

"I love chess. ”

His fingers gripped the chess piece, flipped between his fingers, his gaze shifting from the crowd to Cole and then to anticipation. He spoke in the same voice as always, as if gritting his teeth, and seemed very forceful:

"It's not as compact as military chess, where the two sides are always in close hand-to-hand combat, and it's not like Go, where the opponent is bound and the opponent is bound. There is plenty of room between the pieces for players to compromise, but there are also clear rules for players to generalize. Can be divined without appearing chaotic...... What do you think, Cole? ”

Cole's face turned a little pale.

"I don't know much about chess, Your Excellency. The young wizard with his silver-gray eyes spoke nervously.

"It's simple, I'll teach you. Seprano dropped the chess piece, then took out a Bible from the drawer under the coffee table, pressed his right hand on it, and said solemnly: "The pawn who crosses the river can eat a horse." ”

Then, he took his hand off the Bible, smiled effortlessly at Cole, and said, "Since I answered a question from you, I hope you will answer me a question according to the Bible." ”

He shoved the Bible in his hand in front of Cole.

Cole looked at the mottled golden handwriting on the Bible with some unease, and the corners of his mouth squirmed.

Behind him, several strong figures seemed to inadvertently move forward.

"What do you want to know, Your Excellency?!" Cole immediately pressed his hand to the Bible.

"Chess is an activity full of rules, and it represents a kind of order: the pieces can only move according to the rules. The horses walked the day, the fields were gone, and the pawns moved forward step by step. But if your pawn goes deep into the opponent's hinterland, like this. ”

As he spoke, a pawn in Seprano's hand arched forward step by step, until it arched in front of the handsome chess on the opposite side:

"Like this, a pawn can checkmate the old handsome man opposite...... Of course, a horse like Cole, you don't need to take the same risks as this pawn. ”