Shen's moves were very aggressive. Whether they were good was another matter. They were not.
"Let's see how well he's taught you," he said as he moved his minor and majors pieces out, close to mine.
To an inexperienced player, it might have looked very threatening, but to me, I knew most moves did nothing unless I personally made a mistake. And for the others, I knew the correct line to defend.
Playing calmly, I advanced my pawns and developed my minor pieces, seizing control of the river in the center with tempo while he was forced to retreat, his pieces under attack and undefended.
The few audience members watched with intrigue seeing me fend off his assault utterly unperturbed.
"Seems like you really know what you're doing," he commented, still not looking worried despite the game being vastly in my favor.
Though I was only up two pawns, my position was way better.
With his arcanist trapped behind a pawn blocked by my knight and his arbiter being blocked in, I'd wager I was up at least six points on the evaluation bar by positioning alone.
He has definitely gone too overboard playing badly in the beginning to lower my guard. Unless he pulls out some ungodly tactic or I blunder back to back, I don't see how he can win this.
"Well, I should. I've been playing this opening for over a decade after all."
"Dang… Well, let's see how well you transition into the middle game then!"
The middle game was a slaughter.
I pushed my pawns forward hard, breaching his defenses.
Nearly all of my minor and major pieces were in play while he only had a few. Because of my overwhelming advantage, I could even sacrifice a knight to break through his feeble pawn chain.
The audience was paying apt attention now.
Feeling the threat of my assault, he began taking much longer to make his moves though, there wasn't much to be done. I'd already calculated many possible mates in 9 to 14.
Although he can brilliantly sacrifice his empress to prolong the game, there wasn't much point. I'd be up 12 points of material and easily win the endgame.
As he realized the impending mate in four after I took a knight, attacking his aegis with a discovered check on his emperor, he muttered "you… you lied to me!"
"Huh?" I was baffled.
"...What?"
What was he talking about?
"That wasn't 'pretty good' now, was it?" He said, sitting up and crossing his arms. "Are you an undercover titled player or something?"
A titled player?
…What!?
I was bewildered. "You were just playing really poorly in the beginning and I punished. Besides the knight sac, I didn't make any extraordinary moves."
"Yes, I played badly in the beginning and got into a bad position. But, I've never been thrashed around like that in the middle game."
At the same time, the audience stirred, understanding that I had won, and easily at that.
"What? he won against old man Shen?!"
"I've only seen him lose to three people before—an old traveler and two candidate masters…"
"And this boy beat him so much faster… Does that mean he's on par with a national master?!"
They chattered with fervor as I sat confused.
National master…?
Isn't that 2300 rating! And they're talking about me?!
"You… You said you've only played with your grandfather." Shen questioned in a tone seeming like he figured something out. "Never anyone else?"
I caught on. "Pretty much. I don't remember losing to anyone except my grandfather. I always believed my rating was around 1,500-1,600.
Scoffing, he said "don't kid yourself now. You're 2,100 minimum. Probably closer to the mid 2,200s. I'm hovering below 2100 and you handily destroyed me with tactics I couldn't even understand until after it happened."
I was still skeptical.
If I was that good, that'd mean my grandfather was even better, and there's no way he wouldn't brag to me about his cool chess title.
…Unless he'd done it deliberately, just to surprise me someday.
Now… Why does that seem more and more plausible the more I think about it?
That strange sense of humor of his…
Wait.
That had to be why he forbade online matches! I would've found out the truth really early otherwise.
The revelation dazed me; I've always believed I was just much better than the average, maybe top 5%, but definitely not top 0.05% or anywhere close to that.
Tssst… That old man… He must be laughing from his grave right about now!
I internally shook my head before shifting my attention back to the board.
We agreed to play a second game with Shen using his normal formation and opening this time. During that time, a waitress arrived with my food which I ate as I played.
This game, I'd say his opening was pretty solid, but into the mid game, he started falling apart.
Using tactics, I won two pawns, forced his Arcanist into a bad position, and took control of the center, putting myself in a much better position.
A bit later, I double checked his emperor with a discovered attack on his aegis, I was up four points of material.
After I forked my last piece of steak, along with Shen's emperor and empress, he resigned.
All in all, the game wasn't close.
Since move one, using apparently the theoretically best formation and opening moves, I was always winning; the gap increasing after every move. And I didn't even push myself too hard, spending eight seconds per move at most.
"See," Shen said, gesturing to the board. "Although I don't like to admit this, I've never lost this badly, not even to candidate masters. You have to be at the level of a national master… Maybe even international…"
***
With less than thirty minutes left before the caravan took off to the Etern Empire, I offered a farewell to Shen and the other folks. The thought of my unrealized skill still lingered in my mind.
There seemed to be around one-two hundred people in line getting their tickets vetted.
Many were traveling as entire families, likely intending to relocate rather than merely visit, given that the journey alone would take close to four weeks.
Others were Spiritbound, chasing greater opportunities across the border.
There weren't many like me, a seventeen year old awakened who just wanted to get out of here.
With the long line, I decided to do some last minute shopping at the nearby stalls with the ten silver I just earned. Gambling pays off huh.
Stalls lined the road, some selling food, others sold light armor and weapons. One store offered weapon polishing and sharpening, but what caught my eye was a circular stone slab carved with worn formation lines.
It was a Spirit Confluence.
Unlike Spirit Emporiums, it didn't sell subjugated spirits, but instead offered the chance to enter a formation containing trapped spirits and possibly form a contract with one.
That was why it cost only a handful of silver rather than several dozen gold.
…Should I try?
Typically, most Awakened delay contracting with Lesser or Aspect spirits in the hope of securing a Domain grade one before they turn eighteen.
Domain grade Spirits place too great a burden on souls already bound to another, making such contracts impossible. As a result, eighteen became the cut-off age where many Awakened abandon hope of a Domain Spirit due to statistical analysis and fear of falling behind. After all, without spirits, growth stagnates.
I'm 17, turning 18 in August, three months from now, while the median age for Domain spirit binding is early 16.
…Do I just go for it? I doubt I'll be so lucky to bump into a Domain grade Spirit like that woman.
Fuck it we ball. Let's go gambling.
…Actually nevermind. I've just won one gamble, so I'm going to lose the next.
I'll just play it safe and enter the confluence.
It's not like all great warriors had Domain grade spirits. Some Spiritbound have made it very far with just the correct arsenal of Lesser and Aspect Spirits.
Not to mention, what if something goes wrong on this journey as well? Having a spirit will make me feel slightly less powerless, which I hate.