4: How was Chapter 4 accomplished?

Chen Aoyun "played" four chess pieces.

All four "pieces" were existences from Huaxia Civilization!

Whether it was the ordinary Dragon Country citizens watching the live stream, those inside the Dragon Country "Support Group" base, or even foreigners with ulterior motives watching the situation in the Dragon Country, everyone was dumbfounded at this sight!

"Didn't they say that the Huaxia Civilization inherited by the Dragon Country is trash and has no Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces?"

"How could he suddenly 'condense pieces' on his own? And he played four pieces in one breath, with every single one being an existence from Huaxia Civilization?"

"But the Heroic Spirit after playing the piece... this appearance... is it really a Heroic Spirit?"

The Dragon Country had long been without Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces.

In order to avoid constantly being at the bottom in the Game of National Destiny, the Dragon Country had also tried forced "condensing of pieces," wanting to just throw caution to the wind and try to conjure a Huaxia Civilization existence.

Since the Strategist had no archetype of a Heroic Spirit in their heart, forced "condensing of pieces" naturally only resulted in distorted, pathetic failures.

A thousand years ago, a Dragon Country Strategist tried to force a "condensing of pieces" and conjured a man picking his feet, which was not recognized as a Heroic Spirit by the rules of the Game of National Destiny.

Seven hundred years ago, another Dragon Country Strategist tried to force a "condensing of pieces" and conjured a three-year-old child, which was still not recognized by the rules.

Five hundred years ago... three hundred years ago... two hundred years ago, every so often, a Dragon Country Strategist would refuse to accept defeat and attempt to condense their own Heroic Spirit "chess piece" in the Game of National Destiny.

But everyone failed. The only time a forced "condensing of pieces" was somewhat reliable occurred fifty years ago.

At that time, the Dragon Country's national destiny was starting to hit rock bottom; without a Heroic Spirit of its own, the Dragon Country was not far from facing disaster in the real world.

But that forced "condensing of pieces" still did not succeed.

The condensed Heroic Spirit seemed capable of being played, but the one condensed by that Strategist looked very weak: it was an old man fishing with a bamboo pole by the river, acting like a complete fool.

The old man seemed to have the surname "Jiang." Not only did his physique look frail, but his brain also seemed a bit off; he was clearly fishing, yet there was no bait on his fishing rod...

Seeing this situation, the Strategist who had forced the "condensing of pieces" back then decisively abandoned this Heroic Spirit and honestly used Heroic Spirits authorized by other countries to deal with the Game of National Destiny.

Heroic Spirits authorized by other countries—this Heroic Spirit authorization business was much like the arms trade.

No matter which country it was, the Heroic Spirits authorized to the Dragon Country were all trash with useless combat power.

Trying to get a ranking on the chessboard of the Game of National Destiny using these authorized trash Heroic Spirits? That was ten thousand times harder than letting Zhanying beat Ke Jie.

"The Dragon Country has a dark history of forced 'condensing of pieces.' This time he played four pieces at once, it wouldn't be that same style again, would it?"

After watching the "condensing of pieces" and the subsequent playing of the pieces, and finally seeing the materialized Heroic Spirit, whether it was the Dragon Country audience, foreign audiences, or even the Support Group where Group Leader Chen Feng was, everyone couldn't help but have this thought.

There was no other reason.

Because the first Heroic Spirit that appeared after Chen Aoyun played his piece looked, by its appearance, like a pig butcher.

"Heroic Spirits are either noble existences, or they look like dragons among men at a glance. A pig-butcher Heroic Spirit... is the Dragon Country forcedly 'condensing pieces' again, and has it condensed another piece of trash?"

"Hasn't that fishing old man from last time taught the Dragon Country people a lesson?"

"If a Strategist has no image of a Heroic Spirit in their heart, forced 'condensing of pieces' is just a joke, even if there is a tiny, tiny chance of actually condensing a Heroic Spirit."

"But facts have already proven that even if the Dragon Country forces a 'condensing of pieces' and condenses a Heroic Spirit recognized by the Game of National Destiny (the fishing guy surnamed Jiang), it is still very weak and cannot meet the needs of the Game of National Destiny."

"After so many failed lessons, why haven't the Dragon Country people realized it yet? Why are they still forcing the 'condensing of pieces'?"

Although he couldn't see the barrage in the live stream room cursing him for being stupid and calling him out for forced "condensing of pieces," Chen Aoyun was speechless himself after seeing the Heroic Spirit that appeared after he "played" his piece:

A burly man, eight feet tall, with his chest and belly exposed. Around the man's waist was a greasy, shiny, tattered butcher's apron, even stained with suspicious dark red blotches.

The hair on his thick arms was like steel needles, and in his hand, he was holding... a notched, thick-backed pig-killing knife?!

With this image, let alone a noble Heroic Spirit, he wasn't even as good as a decent soldier; he was the spitting image of a reckless butcher just dragged off a meat stall in the market!

"Brother Yide, don't blame me for the way I condensed you, making your image so poor."

"It's mainly because the Construction Power left behind by the previous Dragon Country Strategist was too little."

"The remaining Construction Power still needs to be used to construct skills, so I won't change your skin; you'll just have to make do for now..."

When playing a Heroic Spirit, the Heroic Spirit's image is random. As the Strategist, Chen Aoyun could certainly change "Brother Yide's" image.

Brother Yide had many images: he could be the mighty General of Chariots and Cavalry, he could be the Prefect who held the power of life and death over a city...

But switching images consumes Construction Power. Chen Aoyun did not have much Construction Power in his hands, and since the Heroic Spirit's image didn't affect combat power anyway, Chen Aoyun had to wrong "Brother Yide" by letting him appear as a pig butcher...

Hehe, that's right. Chen Aoyun played four pieces, and the first "piece" was none other than the Heroic Spirit — [General Zhang Fei] (Zhang Yide)!

Because the image of [General Zhang Fei] at this moment was a bit too much, not only did the audience in the live stream and the Dragon Country Support Group shake their heads, but even the [Roleplayer] receiving the Heroic Spirit had complaints.

"What is going on?"

"Why does the [Heroic Spirit] descending upon me look so weak?"

"It doesn't look like a Heroic Spirit authorized by a foreign country... Is this a Heroic Spirit of our own Huaxia Civilization?"

"... A meat-selling butcher? The new Strategist forced a 'condensing of pieces' and condensed a meat-selling butcher?"

"Hasn't thousands of years of attempts already proven that there are no practical Heroic Spirits in the Huaxia Civilization inherited by our Dragon Country? The rule that one must not force a 'condensing of pieces' is the first lesson in the Support Group's training for Strategists; why would the new Strategist still force a 'condensing of pieces' and condense such a weirdo?"

When a Strategist "plays a piece," it must be placed on a "chess piece." If there is a [Roleplayer] within the "chess piece," then this [Roleplayer] is the target for the Heroic Spirit's "descent."

A Dharma image of [General Zhang Fei] over two meters tall descended upon Xiao Zhenghong.

Although the Dharma image of [General Zhang Fei] looked muscular and seemingly fierce, Xiao Zhenghong knew that the strength of a [Heroic Spirit] depends either on "historical achievements" or on "the degree to which they are believed in by people."

What "historical achievements" could a meat-selling butcher have? And how could he possibly have been "believed in" in the previous era?

It was very obvious that the new Strategist was once again forcing a "condensing of pieces," and the Heroic Spirit Chess Piece "condensed" was, unsurprisingly, trash.

"This 'chess piece' of mine was hard-earned through 'roleplaying,' from a small soldier to a general; the path of roleplaying is not easy, is the new Strategist just going to waste it like this?"

"Forget it, it's better than nothing. Even if it's bad, it's still better than a 'blank piece'."

[Roleplayer] Xiao Zhenghong was currently playing the role of a "General," commanding a legion of "Swordsmen."

Without a Heroic Spirit descending, the "Swordsman chess piece" commanded by Xiao Zhenghong had 10 points of health and 10 points of combat power.

Once the Strategist played a piece and the Heroic Spirit descended onto his "Swordsman chess piece," the "Swordsman chess piece" would become an "Heroic Spirit Chess Piece"!

Regardless of anything else, no matter how strong or weak the Heroic Spirit descending upon him was, once the "Swordsman chess piece" became an "Heroic Spirit Chess Piece," at the very least, the "chess piece's" health would become 100 points, which is the basic health for all Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces.

This was why Xiao Zhenghong said it was "better than nothing." At the very least, the chess piece's health had increased.

"The Heroic Spirit condensed through force will have 100 health, but what about its combat power?"

"Probably not even worth looking at."

"Forget it, I'll take a look anyway."

"It'll definitely be weak, but I still need to have a bottom line in my heart regarding how weak it is."

While talking to himself, Xiao Zhenghong opened his own panel.

It didn't matter until he looked, but once he did, Xiao Zhenghong was shocked.

[Heroic Spirit Chess Piece] Descending Heroic Spirit: [General Zhang Fei] chess piece Health: 100 chess piece Combat Power: 72

72 combat power?!

"Am I seeing things?"

"I've been working too hard roleplaying from a small soldier to a general recently; have my eyes gone bad?"

"That's not right, no matter how hard roleplaying is, it only tires the mind; what does that have to do with my eyes? How could I be seeing things?"

After confirming it over and over again, Xiao Zhenghong was stunned. "It really is 72 combat power!"

"This... this... this... how is this possible?!"

"The combat power of an [Heroic Spirit Chess Piece] comes from two parts: the 'chess piece' and the 'piece.'"

"The original 'Swordsman chess piece' had 10 combat power, and now the combat power has become 72, which means this Heroic Spirit [General Zhang Fei] provided a 62-point combat power bonus to this Heroic Spirit Chess Piece!!"

"62 points!"

"The previous Strategist kept stepping on mines during the layout and move-playing phase; not only did he get himself killed, but he also ate a whole bunch of traps during the move-playing phase, stacking nearly a dozen DEBUFFs!"

"He said this himself; there can't be a mistake."

"This means that even after eating so many DEBUFFs that lower the [Heroic Spirit Chess Piece] stats, this Heroic Spirit named [General Zhang Fei] still provided a 62-point combat power bonus!!!!"

"Holy crap!"

"Eating so many DEBUFFs, the Heroic Spirit [General Zhang Fei] can still provide 62 points of combat power; if the previous Strategist hadn't eaten so many traps and didn't have so many negative effects lowering attack power, then the [Heroic Spirit Chess Piece] I am commanding right now would be soaring through the roof!"

Xiao Zhenghong realized it. He finally realized it.

Forced "condensing of pieces"? The new Strategist was definitely not forcing a "condensing of pieces." He had truly found a Heroic Spirit that belonged to the Dragon Country, to the Huaxia Civilization itself, and this Heroic Spirit named [General Zhang Fei] was surprisingly strong!

"Every match in the Game of National Destiny has different requirements for Heroic Spirits. This current Game of National Destiny values 'combat power' and ignores the other attributes of Heroic Spirits."

"If the Heroic Spirit [General Zhang Fei] can provide 62 points of combat power after descending, even under the influence of over a dozen DEBUFFs, then how high must this [General Zhang Fei]'s original combat power be?"

"80? 90?"

"No!"

"At least 95 or above!"

"Damn! With 95 or above combat power, even if all other attributes were 0, this Heroic Spirit [General Zhang Fei] would still count as a T0-level Heroic Spirit, right!"

"Our Dragon Country finally has a Heroic Spirit of our own, and it's a T0-level Heroic Spirit right from the start."

"The new Strategist, how did he do it..."