Chapter 528: Magic Battle Chess Game

“Wake up, Cosmic Superman! It is I, Shafolin!”

Leech controlled the small, leather-suited doll on the table, making it move. It was a practice tool for his recent studies in Runes and Magic.

Aside from the demanding material requirements, practicing with Runes wasn’t too difficult. It involved using Runes with various effects to create different abilities, then linking the Runes together to form circuits.

To this end, he had also created several other small runic alchemy toys, rapidly accumulating experience.

Compared to learning Magic, the most crucial part was making the little figure operate according to his behavioral logic in a meaningful way. Fortunately, he had previously studied the basic principles of movement for corpses and could directly apply that knowledge here.

‘Could I also apply this set of principles directly to corpses? No, it’s not necessary.’

Completely unnecessary.

The only reason to go to such lengths to animate a corpse was if its innate talent was poor and the body itself was of low quality. A Palace Level corpse, for instance, could become a Corpse Ghost directly without needing any materials at all.

Spending so much time and materials to perfect a single corpse was no different from tilling a field with a golden hoe.

Currently, the only value in reanimating a corpse was to provide Leech with its memories from life. Even Corpse Ghosts were largely useless unless they were Extraordinary.

However, applying a series of these concepts to certain Corpse Ghosts did have some merit, which was why he had been studying nonstop in the time leading up to the new year.

Standing by the table, Tangkx Scholar watched the ugly little figure with a perplexed expression. She truly admired Leech’s talent for Magic, but as for his aesthetic sense… it was rather lacking.

“I’m preparing to make a game. Do you know how to play chess?”

“King’s Chess?” Tangkx Scholar nodded. “…I suppose I could.”

‘If you hired me just to play chess with you,’ she thought, ‘I wouldn’t be against it.’

She omitted the first part of that thought, lest the filthy rich Lord understand its true meaning.

King’s Chess was an incredibly boring, old-fashioned board game, similar to Earth’s chess, but with extremely chaotic rules. Taking back moves was even permitted.

This often led to games devolving into real-life brawls.

“We’re not playing King’s Chess today.” For now, he had no intention of rolling up his sleeves and getting into a fight with Tangkx Scholar.

Leech lightly tapped the tabletop with his finger, and the long table instantly transformed.

The candlesticks piled on the table became towering mountains, wine glasses turned into low hills, plates flattened into plains, chopsticks extended into mountain paths, and spoons became rivers.

A dessert suddenly transformed into a Knight. It grabbed the fork stuck in its body, plunged it into the ground at its feet, and dug out a dollop of cream. The cream twisted twice and became a bird, which spread its wings and flew to the other side of the table.

A Sour Apple twisted into a wyvern.

Berries turned into fierce beasts and scurried into a small forest made from a bamboo basket.

“Excellent control,” Tangkx Scholar marveled. She could do all this too, and perhaps with even more finesse than Leech, but how long had it been since Leech learned Transformation Magic?

Curious, Tangkx Scholar picked up the cream-dessert Knight. The figure brandished its fork-longsword at her. “Madam, please put me down! This is a matter of respect for a Knight! Besides, your hand is too hot! My cream is melting!”

Her eyes lit up, and she turned to Leech. “You made it talk?”

“Don’t you think this is more interesting?” Leech was multitasking, making various refinements. After years of controlling corpses, he was already used to doing several things at once, so he could cast Magic while chatting with her.

“This is just a temporary board. I’ve actually been thinking about this for a long time.”

In just a few moments, the entire table had become a miniature world. The ecosystem was a bit formulaic—for example, a bird would always fly from one end back to him, then return along a fixed trajectory—but because the number of elements was so vast, you wouldn’t notice unless you stared.

Leech looked at the board. “Still, it feels like something’s missing without background music. And a main storyline. How about: Shafolin, stranded in the Magic World, relies on a Magical Girl to replenish his magic, and ultimately defeats the great Slime Demon King to save the world?”

“Should we add some gameplay mechanics, like using dice?”

Tangkx Scholar, who had just been watching at first, actively joined in after realizing how interesting Leech’s concept was.

With Tangkx Scholar’s help, the creation of the board and its rules sped up considerably.

As it happened, Arkke and Pitz were also in the castle. Both had decent Spiritual Power, so they were immediately roped into the game.

A party consisting of Shafolin, Harry Potter, Chunli, and Ye Wen officially began their adventure…

“My turn,” Leech said, picking up the dice. “Shafolin uses Zophie Palm Strike, 6d20… uh, let me roll and see.”

“No need to roll, it only has 5 health!”

As the words fell, on the huge long-table game board, the mighty Shafolin kicked a trembling little wild boar. It immediately burst, turning back into a pile of crushed berries.

No one cared why a “Zophie Palm Strike” was delivered as a kick, because the invincible Lord Zoffy’s damage was completely off the charts.

“Why is Shafolin so strong?”

The three of them shot him questioning looks in unison.

“Because according to his stats, he can lift 320 million pounds. Even a Giant Dragon would be slapped into tears by him,” Leech said shamelessly. “You have to believe in the light!”

It was time for his favorite activity: comparing power levels. Thankfully, there were no gag characters here, so Zoffy’s victory was assured.

Pitz asked in a small voice, “What about my Chunli?”

She had chosen that character because she looked beautiful and curvaceous, and her outfit was very pretty—at least, the prettiest of the four characters.

“…” No one answered.

Pitz silently shut her mouth. She pretty much got the picture.

It was just a chaotic, experimental game, but all four of them were having a great time.

Even Tangkx Scholar, who was highly skilled in Transformation Magic and the Activation Skill, was enjoying herself. She had never imagined such a form of entertainment existed: giving the pieces simple lines of dialogue, weaving a story, and embarking on an adventure. No matter what difficulties or obstacles lay ahead… well, with Shafolin around, there were no obstacles.

Especially after watching Shafolin take out the wyvern with his so-called “Spacium Beam,” the three of them completely understood. This was a sightseeing tour, not a dangerous quest.

The four only snapped out of it when a male servant reminded them it was time for dinner.

They had unknowingly spent the better part of the day playing this amazing magical tabletop game. The four of them had poured a great deal of Spiritual Power into maintaining it.

The game had to be put on hold.

After dinner, Tangkx Scholar returned to her room and froze. “Wait, what was I called over for today?”

…

Leech braved the cold wind and went to the graveyard.

The untended graveyard was overgrown with weeds. He casually opened a tomb and walked inside.

In the next instant, the Black Dragon Du Ao appeared out of thin air.

“In this world, a dragon’s entire body is top-tier material.” Leech watched the little black dragon spread its wings and land on his shoulder, then reached up to gently stroke its head. “And you’re already dead, which means it’s okay to just use you, right?”

Using a dead dragon as a complete subject for alchemy and Rune-crafting had been Leech’s plan for a while. Otherwise, this dragon was a bit too useless and couldn’t exert much power at all.

Using Mage’s Hand, Leech modified the Black Dragon Du Ao’s mouth and stomach, creating a Space Pocket.

He then carved various enhancement Runes onto its scales, from head to tail.

He installed amplification circuits on its eyes, back armor, scales, Dragon Wings, chest, neck, four legs, and claws, ensuring it would be faster, stronger, and more agile.

A “living” dead Alchemy Dragon was slowly being created.

This was no easy task. Leech spent a great deal of time and energy on it, and fearing uncontrollable consequences, he even chugged two Lucky Potions.

However, the two Lucky Potions only brought him the good fortune of catching a pair of chopsticks that slipped from his hand during dinner and having Tangkx Scholar suddenly offer to teach him a few useless spells.

Du Ao opened its mouth. A Fireball Magic Scroll inside ignited, and a rapid-fire barrage of Fireballs shot out, blasting the crypt into a mess.

Leech nodded in satisfaction.

“That’s more like it!”

Who said dragon whelps were too weak, that their breath attacks had no power?

Who said black dragons couldn’t breathe fire?

This was the most powerful rebuttal.

“I can stick a few cannons in there later, but cannons are a hassle to use. They need to be manually loaded, and the gunpowder residue has to be cleaned.” Leech’s mind raced with ideas as he looked at the Black Dragon Du Ao. “At the very least, stocking up on Alchemy Bombs shouldn’t be a problem. Or I could load it with incendiary bombs and flashbangs. It would be a walking armory!”

He pictured it: a little black dragon spitting out a volley of flashbangs. He drew in a sharp breath at the thought.

In any case, it was very interesting.

Its actual combat power hadn’t increased by much, though. A Palace Level expert could still smack Du Ao into a meat paste with a single slap.

“Alright, research is over for now,” Leech said. “I had my men clear a plot of land and collect a lot of wood these past two days. Time to improve the soil quality.”

It would be an insult to his status as a Lord to have such a fantastic soil fertility enhancer like a black dragon and not use it.

Next year’s harvest would definitely be a bountiful one!

After all, there was absolutely no one else who could get a dragon to help them farm—and a dead dragon that never got tired or bored, at that.

By the time he was done, the year was nearly over.

But Porcupine Territory became busy once again, as a large number of people were needed to mix the foul-smelling sludge from the black dragon’s rotted and fermented remains into the fields to enrich the soil.

‘Time to open a portal and make a trip to Leon City.’

The scene of the Bone Dragon being sheared apart by spatial forces was still fresh in his mind. Now that the Black Dragon Du Ao’s Teleportation Skill was finally usable, Leech could get rid of the red dot in his vision and come back to enjoy a happy new year.

The thought of the awards ceremony he would hold for the new year made his expression turn serious.

‘This is a great opportunity to build a good image and boost morale. It must be a grand event.’

Not only did the recipients need to know they had done well, but they also needed to know that their Lord knew they had done well.