God Complex - Vol. 1

X. Naivety-Part VI.

But he dared to ask another question.

"Please explain Ascension." Before Jun went to rest his chin on his hand he quickly added. "And anything else that needs to be explained.

A faint smiled formed on Misaki's lips. It was like she understood how Jun was feeling. Like she had been in his exact position before.

"Don't worry sai[1] bān, I'll teach you everything you need to know."

Jun learned that the King, Gold Warrior, and the Silver Warrior had different patterns on how they could move to one adjacent square. The Soldier could only move one square up. While the Shè and Swordsman could move anywhere on the lines they were allowed to travel.

But the Archer was strange in that it could hop pieces. Jun guessed the move set for the Archer was the reason for it's name.

Then Misaki explained Ascension to him which basically upgraded or changed the pieces into something else. Ascension was optional, in the sense that once a piece that could ascend was in the area it was at the player's discretion at when they wanted to ascend it. The opponent's area, the three rows from the opposite end of the board, was the area where Ascension could happen.

The pieces that could ascend were the Shè, Swordsman, Silver Warrior, Archer, Horse Rider, and the Soldier. Ascension created the Immortal, Demigod, Spirit, Dragon, Lesser Dragon, and Deity respectively.

The Immortal had the combined move sets of a King and Shè while the Demigod moved like a King but combined with a Swordsman.

And what surprised Jun was how the rest of the ascended pieces all had the same move set. The four all shared the same move set as the Gold Warrior.

Misaki also added that Ascension was permanent. Unless the piece got captured then it gets descended back to the piece it originally was.

Capturing was when a piece landed on the square that an opponent's piece was on. When an opponent's piece is captured, the piece is descended if it is promoted, and set off to the side table of who captured it.

Misaki and Jun didn't have the small side tables but they decided on using the space next to the board for the captured pieces.

She said that capturing a piece didn't mean the piece was out for good. It was now apart of the capturer's army. Kind of like how mercenary's were used in older times in the East. How a captured piece was placed back on the board was through Engagement.

Engagement allowed a captured piece to be placed on any unoccupied square. It could also be dropped in the path of danger, in where the opponent could capture the piece, or cancel a siege.

But certain pieces couldn't be placed on the last row because they would have no legal move. Along with placing a Soldier to give an immediate siege, though all of the other pieces can.

Misaki said that when the next move would mean a Weimi for the opponent, the opponent can say besiege. Saying it was a way to warn the other that they will lose if they do not try and get their King away from the capturing position of their opponent.

Though it isn't required and in serious play it is unheard of to say Weikami out loud.

Jun felt like he was going to fall asleep or have his head implode from the amount of information he had to retain just to play a board game. But Misaki soon ended her explanation with the object of the game.

"The object of this game is to achieve siege. There are three other ways as well, but we'll cross that river when we get to it." Jun watched as she rubbed her hands together. "My hands are so eager to play after so long. Let's begin!"