Chapter 539: Projection Match

The fourth day of May. The 【Arcane Maze】 event of the Snow Melting Competition has been temporarily postponed, with the specific time not yet determined, which has also fostered quite a bit of interaction and socializing among spellcasters.

This morning, Xia Duo and Niya arrived early at the plaza in front of the Nether Palace, preparing to travel to the exchange meeting via teleportation. The location of this exchange meeting was quite special; it was situated underground and had no surface access whatsoever.

Although the straight-line distance from Giles Tower to the underground Temple was very short, it could only be traversed via teleportation.

The teleportation with prepared coordinates went very smoothly, and could be called a perfect teleportation; Xia Duo and Niya arrived in a spacious circular hall almost simultaneously.

Looking around, they were currently in the center of the hall. Seats had already been arranged all around, and tea, snacks, and fruits were all available. At this moment, besides him and Niya, four people had already arrived.

One of them was female, who should be the organizer, Beilaila.

Seeing two more people arrive, Beilaila's eyes lit up and she revealed a smile. She wanted to apply for an Advanced Laboratory at Giles Tower, and one of the requirements was to organize five exchange meetings with at least ten High Mages participating; this was already the third one.

This time there are already!

And taking advantage of the Snow Melting Competition, there are many spellcasters coming to Saivendun; perhaps all the quotas can be completed quickly!

Looking at the newcomers again, Beilaila stood up subconsciously. How could she not recognize the Princess's student? Previously, she had only distributed the invitations through familiar Mage friends.

Although she had suddenly received an inquiry from Niya last night, she had not really prepared for the other party to actually come. Whether it was the other party's identity as the Princess's student or her achievements as an Arcanist, it made Beilaila's heart tighten.

Must not be rude!

Thinking this, Beilaila immediately went up to greet them and bowed respectfully, "Welcome, Lord Saville. This must be Mage Xia Duo, right? The 【Arcane Maze】 you created is very profound and of extraordinary significance; we were just talking about it!"

"No need for formalities, just call me Mage Niya," Niya replied calmly.

Xia Duo also calmly sized up the woman before him. She was around thirty, with long, jet-black hair coiled behind her head, somewhat like a snail shell. Magic Auras flickered on her body, clearly indicating she had some wealth.

Regarding the other party's praise, Xia Duo felt a bit ashamed. Although he had clearly stated long ago that the 【Arcane Maze】 came from his hometown, the creator who ended up being spread around was still him.

However, he also felt proud that this form of strategy game could be recognized; after all, this was a manifestation of the wisdom of the ancestors of his hometown.

"Mage Beilaila, I am looking forward to this exchange meeting," Xia Duo replied politely.

"Everyone, let me introduce you!"

Saying this, Beilaila hurriedly called over her three companions from before and introduced them very enthusiastically; they were all from the Seven Towers.

Besides herself, who like Niya came from Giles Tower, her three companions included one from Gustav Tower and two from Morien Tower.

After a round of pleasantries, they each took their seats. Niya was arranged to sit next to Beilaila, and Xia Duo sat on the other side of Niya.

Next was waiting. The invitation had the start time of the exchange meeting on it; of course, if one could not read Elf script, it would be a tragedy, as it was possible to miss the time.

What Beilaila said before seemed to be true; they really were discussing the 【Arcane Maze】 just now, and now while waiting, they started chatting about it again.

As they chatted, they actually each summoned projections of chessboards and pieces and started playing a simplified version of the 【Arcane Maze】, which was Chess.

Even Niya felt a bit moved. She looked at Xia Duo and whispered, "Let's play a game too, since we're just sitting here anyway."

"..."

Xia Duo was not surprised that Niya knew how to play Chess; after all, the 【Arcane Maze】 was submitted to the Princess through her. It was just, was it really okay for a teleportation exchange meeting to turn into a Chess exchange meeting? But seeing that Niya had even summoned the chessboard and pieces, he could not refuse and had to go along with her.

This kind of projection summoning could actually be classified as 【Prestidigitation】, manipulating light and shadow to form specific patterns according to one's own will, only here, it had become a chessboard and pieces.

Once they actually started playing, Xia Duo immediately felt a completely different sensation than playing Chess on Earth. Spellcasting demonstrations required maintaining focus, but at the same time, Chess was a mental exercise that also required maintaining focus.

Fortunately, this kind of nearly static projection did not require much mental effort to maintain; with the ability of an Arcanist, it was naturally effortless.

But even so, Xia Duo felt as if he were conducting Focus Training, and it was not that kind of boring, dead training; playing chess was also improving his thinking ability at the same time.

Combining Focus Training and thinking training, no wonder Xia Duo had often heard people mention the 【Arcane Maze】 recently.

So that's how it is!

Chess seemed very ordinary to Xia Duo, and he had not even associated it with Focus Training at all. The so-called 【Arcane Maze】 just added the link of the player assisting the pieces in offense and defense; in essence, it was just an indirect Spell Duel.

This was somewhat incongruous, mixing external forces into a purely intellectual competition. A strong player could even lose not a single piece, falling into a lower tier in terms of structure.

It was really not as good as projecting chess, which, while fully exerting the role of intellectual training, could also take into account Focus Training.

By the mid-game, people were teleporting into the hall one after another. But as soon as they arrived and saw three projected chessboards hanging high, they were all stunned. In this situation, they actually had no intention of reminding them at all.

They either watched from the sidelines or called over companions they knew and set up their own chess games.

The chess skill of a beginner like Niya was clearly inferior to Xia Duo's. While maintaining the game and responding to Niya, Xia Duo still had the energy to observe the situation around him.

Watching the teleportation exchange meeting slide step by step toward a Chess exchange meeting, Xia Duo had to take the initiative to remind her, "Niya, most of the people have arrived, shall we end this game here?"

"People?" Niya was stunned for a moment and finally remembered the main business. She could not help but blush; she had just been immersed in the game and had even forgotten that they were currently in the underground Temple, thinking she was at her own residence! The chessboard projection between the two disappeared by half instantly. Seeing this, Xia Duo also cancelled the projection and at the same time sent a reminder to Beilaila, who was separated only by Niya.

There was still some time before the exchange meeting started, but it was about time.

Beilaila, as the organizer, actually needed a participant to remind her. While blaming herself, she also reacted immediately and sent reminders to the other participants.

With this, the temporary Chess exchange meeting ended, and the teleportation exchange meeting officially began.

"Everyone, those who can come here are all friends who agree with this form of exchange meeting." After a simple opening, Beilaila directly announced the start of the exchange meeting, "As the initiator and organizer of this exchange meeting, let me start!"

Book friend group: 966022519

Welcome everyone to come and chat~~

(End of chapter)