108: Warcraft III: Battlegrounds

"The rules are simple," the King of Wisdom said. "You will take on the role of Commander to lead your pieces and battle against my legion."

"As long as you can defeat me, you will be considered to have passed the test."

"Since I have studied this game for a long time, for the sake of fairness, you may freely choose your lineup from the pool of available pieces."

As his voice faded, a virtual screen appeared in front of Bai Ye and Huang Shi.

It listed various Demonic Beast pieces for them to choose from.

Choosing Demonic Beast pieces requires a certain amount of currency.

Huang Shi looked at the dazzling array of Demonic Beast pieces on the screen and felt his head spinning.

He couldn't understand it at all.

Bai Ye carefully studied the information on the pieces on the screen, his Split Thinking carefully analyzing the rules above.

Split Thinking 1: "Huh, the illustrated compendium seems to be able to detect the information of the pieces."

Split Thinking 2: "It's a bit like a certain Teamfight Tactics game; it can actually form special bonds. That's interesting."

Split Thinking 3: "This mechanism could definitely be brought to the real world to create an open-world war game with free-form combination as its selling point."

Split Thinking 4: "This is a non-mechanical Demonic Beast; can I take it out directly?"

1, 2, 3: "!!! Great thinking, Number Four. This idea can definitely be tried out later."

This was a natural game planner. Bai Ye felt its value might be even more useful than his own Lord-level combat power.

【Piece: Rock Giant Rhino】

【Rank】: Elite Limit

【attribute】: Rock

【...】

【Hidden Trait: Can form a bond with 'Moonlight Elf'. Under the illumination of moonlight, there is a small chance to evolve into a 'Thunder Armor War Rhino'.】

【Piece: Slime】

【Rank】: Transcendent Elementary

【attribute】: Water

【...】

【Hidden Trait: Devour Evolution. Upon meeting special conditions, it can devour other units to obtain some of their abilities and attributes.】

【Hidden Trait: Variable Body. Upon meeting special conditions, it can undergo Fusion with other units to form a brand new combat unit.】

Although these pieces were made of energy, each one possessed complete attributes, skills, and talents, and there was no difference from a real Demonic Beast.

The pieces also had their own lives.

The Rank of most pieces was Elite Limit.

"In other words, this is a match that purely tests tactical and command abilities?"

Bai Ye rubbed his chin, a flash of interest in his eyes.

He could treat this as a beta server and play around with it.

With the illustrated compendium as a cheat, he felt the probability of him losing was not high.

Worst case scenario, he could just jump onto the board and act as a piece himself.

The King of Wisdom looked at Bai Ye and the "wise" looking Huang Shi, his voice filled with arrogance:

"I will give you five minutes to select your pieces. If you have not made a choice after five minutes, the System will randomly assign them to you."

He did not believe at all that these two brutes, who didn't even understand the rules of war chess, could beat him.

Especially that one who looked like he had no brains; he probably relied on brute force to barge through the previous levels.

If they lost later, he could just extract the brutes' Souls and turn them into new pieces.

"Hurry up, if you don't choose, it'll be randomized!"

Huang Shi saw Bai Ye hadn't spoken for a long time and was scratching his ears and cheeks in anxiety.

He wished he could select all the powerful Demonic Beasts he knew, but many of the Demonic Beasts he knew were only Elite Intermediate.

This made him have to suspect that the bastard Demonic Beast across from them, who called himself a wise man, was targeting them.

"I've chosen," Bai Ye said to the King of Wisdom.

He waved his hand and quickly selected several pieces on the virtual screen.

Seven different Demonic Beast pieces appeared on his side of the board. Huang Shi leaned over to look and was dumbfounded on the spot.

What in the world is this?

"Seriously, brother, are you for real?"

The lineup Bai Ye chose seemed to be focused on pure whim.

The extreme defensive Demonic Beast "Black Iron Turtle". Its defense is extremely strong, even comparable to an average Initial Lord Rank. But its speed is extremely slow.

Some humans run faster than it.

The support Demonic Beast "Sleepy Sloth" that has zero attack power and lies on the ground sleeping soundly.

The "Echo Flower" that only repeats what others say.

The "Illusion Light Butterfly" that creates some light pollution.

The Self-Destruct Mushroom that breaks when touched and explodes when broken.

The "String Puppet" covered in threads that looks like it will entangle itself at any moment.

Most ridiculously, there was also a Slime with a Rank of only Transcendent Elementary, which was also the cheapest one among all of Bai Ye's pieces.

It must be to avoid wasting funds.

These seven Demonic Beasts used up all of Bai Ye's funds completely.

He opened his mouth for a long time, unable to say a single word.

His gaze fell on the blue Slime that was bouncing "duangduang" on the board, and the corners of his mouth twitched wildly.

"A Transcendent Elementary Slime... How about you just go over yourself and tear the wise man apart? dōyako tells me it is also Initial Lord Rank."

"Have you played Teamfight Tactics?"

"No." Huang Shi felt that stuff was too time-consuming; it was more interesting to read a couple more manga.

"Then just watch the show." Bai Ye said calmly. What if the opponent heard him talk about tactics?

The King of Wisdom checked the "bizarre" lineup Bai Ye chose, and a hint of human-like confusion appeared on his face, which seemed to be made of crystal.

"Challenger, are you sure you want to use this lineup to play against me?"

His voice carried a hint of uncertainty: "I will give you one more chance to re-select."

"No need, this is it." Bai Ye answered decisively.

"Very well." The King of Wisdom was silent for a moment, unable to help but feel pity for Bai Ye's "stupidity".

There would come a day when he misjudged someone. Although that white-haired curly-haired one looked stupid, he didn't expect there to be someone even worse.

Then those two could just stay behind and keep his pieces company.

"Since you insist, then let the match begin!"

His cane slammed heavily onto the ground, and dense smoke rose above the chessboard.

The Demonic Beast legion under the command of the King of Wisdom immediately went into action.

In the front row, three massive Rock Giant Rhinos charged toward Bai Ye's position like three moving hills.

Behind them, five Flame Magic Archers holding flame longbows drew their bows and nocked arrows, and several flaming arrows tore through the sky, covering the area towards Bai Ye's side.

In the center position, two Moonlight Elves wearing white robes raised their staffs high, and soft moonlight spilled onto the Rock Giant Rhinos.

It added a sturdy shield to them.

At the very back of the legion, there were also two Shadow Assassins.

They quietly entered a stealth state, preparing to look for an opportunity to assassinate the back row on Bai Ye's side.

Although the King of Wisdom felt there was no need to cut the back row at all, a single wave of charging would be able to wipe out the opponent.

A standard charge, suppression, support, and assassination tactic.

This was the best lineup he had studied after playing "single-player" for who knows how long.

It was airtight and could be called perfect.

How could the Challenger possibly beat him!