Chapter 16: the Pawn

When they heard the warning everyone stopped what they were doing. It is a basic lesson that players usually avoid fighting; the bulk of combat falls to the Queens. Even if a regular player possesses the same raw physical power as a Queen, they lack the Queen’s specialized skills, buffs, and equipment options. A higher ranked player is like an unarmed adult, where as a lower ranked Queen is like a child armed with a gun. So no matter how physically you are gifted you are just a sitting duck so naturally Queens do the fighting.

​Smith, Jack, and Brian retreated, while Anna, Lily, and Velvet stepped forward to shield them for the incoming threat and after a sudden rustle of leaves. A small, green creature emerged. It had a oversized head, a large nose, pointed ears, and a thin frame, holding nothing but a wooden club. Although Smith was new to being a player, he recognized it immediately from past encounter in the internet and other media and it was a Goblin.

​A quick scan revealed the Goblin was only 12 points of Aura Level. Seeing this, the whole group relaxed.

​Brian turned to Smith and said, "That’s a Goblin. They are among the weakest and most common creatures in this dungeon, making them perfect training for a novice like you." He then turned to Lily. "Hey darling, can you show her how things work around here?"

​Addressing Velvet next,Lily said to het"Since you haven’t been a Queen for long and are still at the Novice rank, you can only summon two Pawns. The process is simple: close your eyes, locate them in your spiritual space, and summon them directly it might be slow now but in the future you will do it instantly."

​Velvet closed her eyes. Inside her spiritual space, two orb-like lights floated at the center.And with a single thought, two blood-red portals materializing beside her.

​From the portals emerged two figures dressed in red, samurai-style half-armor. Unlike Velvet, who carried multiple weapons, each Pawn wore only a single katana at their waist. They wore red masks covering their noses and mouths, revealing glowing red eyes and white hair they where one male and one female.

​To Velvet’s surprise, the Pawns emitted the same fierce killing intent she had felt during her own summoning. Though she knew they were emotionless constructs, the killing intent in their eyes was undeniable.

​Feeling a direct mental connection to her newly summoned Pawns, Velvet commanded them forward. One Pawn drew her katana and aimed it at the Goblin. Despite its limited intelligence, the Goblin sensed a threat and charged, swinging its wooden club wildly without any pattern or technique to speak of.

​Because a Pawn possesses roughly half the Aura Level of its Queen, this Pawn was only at 5 points compared to the Goblin with 12 points. However, Aura Level merely represents raw physical strength—not combat mastery. It is like the difference between an adult and a child: an adult may be five times stronger than a child, but a child with a blade and has mastery on how tonused it,the child can still kill an adult by striking a vital artery where dying from a fatal blow. Combat mastery, equipment, and technique ultimately dictate the outcome of a battle.

​As the Goblin swung its wooden club, the Pawn effortlessly sidestepped and dodged the strike. The monster’s miss leaving its flank wide open. Seizing the opening, the Pawn slashed the Goblin’s ribs upward, leaving a severe wound. Before the creature could recover from the pain, the Pawn seamlessly shifted her grip and with reversing the blade she delivered a swift Downward slash directly to the Goblin’s neck, severing its head cleanly.

​Given Velvet’s superior equipment and battle instincts, the battle was an easy victory. Brian was not surprised. Through years of research, it was widely known that a Queen to acquire a title required extensive prior combat experience from a previous dimension. Velvet’s Pawns naturally reflected that high level of skill.

​With the threat eliminated, Velvet lost interest and wasn’t satisfied with the fight it was an easy victory and the points awarded for killing such a small creature were negligible, so she quickly unsummoned the Pawns back into her spiritual space.

​Looking at the two floating orbs in her mind, Velvet noticed their light had dimmed slightly. She turned to Lily for clarification.

​"Yes, that’s how it works," Lily explained. "Summoning pieces consumes energy, and maintaining them in the physicaly drains it continuously and especially during combat where they start using battle arts and skills. Once depleted, their energy recovers naturally over time, or you can speed up the process using Energy Orbs."

​Lily continued, "If a piece dies in battle, it returns to your spiritual space in a damaged state and cannot be re-summoned until its energy fully recovers. Using Energy Orbs significantly speeds up both energy restoration and repairs them. These orbs drop from dungeon creatures; while not rare they are a valuable resource and serve as the primary currency among the chess players."

​Velvet nodded. "Understood. Thanks for the heads up."

​Upon inspecting the Goblin’s remains, they found a tiny crystal shining like a grain of salt.

​Brian glanced at it and smiled. "You got lucky. This Goblin dropped an Energy Orb. It’s less than a gram, but it can still be traded for quick cash if needed. For now, let’s hold onto it."

​The party pressed deeper into the forest. Velvet refrained from re-summoning her Pawns to conserve energy, treating them as strategic assets rather than routine combatants. Instead, she fought with her own body. Over the next half-hour, she systematically dispatched several isolated Goblins along the trail she only used one katana with one hand and she was not taking them seriously at all.

​Their smooth progress abruptly ended when they rounded a bend and encountered a much greater threat: an organized Goblin hunting party.