Chapter 187: The System’s Rewards
Indeed, Sheva remembered the emergency mission he got to fight back against Priasmoro Novendra’s provocation earlier. He had done well in that game, and the system should’ve sent the reward already. After knowing that, the boy operated the interface in front of his head quickly, going straight to the mission page.
[Two rewards unclaimed! Do you want to claim it?]
’Um?! Two?!’ Sheva was taken aback. ’What else did I get?’ Curious, he entered the mission page, just to find out that he had already done two missions in a row today. The second one also came as an emergency mission, yet the boy didn’t feel like he had received it earlier. However, after seeing the content of the mission, the boy finally understood why he had just seen it now.
[AN EMERGENCY MISSION APPEARS! EVERYONE IS IMPRESSED BY YOUR SKILL, AND THEY ARE ALL EAGER TO GET YOUR BLOOD! ACCEPT THEIR CHALLENGES AND COME OUT UNSCRATCHED!]
[Requirement: Don’t lose! You can do it, young man!]
[Reward: A recovery pill, giving Host an instant recovery effect as if Host has just been in a deep sleep for a full two hours. Can be used in a double-header tournament.]
’Only two hours?’ Sheva frowned immediately, feeling dissatisfied with the reward. ’Why is it so low? You know that I need at least seven hours of sleep to go back to my prime, right?’
[Host, you need to read it more carefully. The pill gives you an instant recovery effect as if Host has just been in a DEEP SLEEP for two hours. DEEP SLEEP, not an ordinary sleep! An adult human only needs to have a deep sleep for 10 to 25 percent of their sleep! That is the stage that gives you a recovery boost the most! If you are in a deep sleep for too long, you can get hypersomnia, which will lead you to a health complication!]
All the warnings the system gave were enough to send a shudder down Sheva’s spine. The boy nodded repeatedly, not wanting to offend the system further. Also, even though he couldn’t see it clearly, the boy could feel the sarcastic tone hidden behind the system’s words, and honestly, if only it had a face, the system would roll its eyes at him mockingly.
The mere thought of that was enough to make Sheva’s face blush in embarrassment.
’Still... That means this item is good, right?’ Sheva muttered to himself, staring at the yellow pill that he took out of his inventory. The boy observed it for a while, not finding anything interesting in the pill. It was crazy how such an ordinary-looking pill was a high-ranked product coming out of the mysterious system. ’Oh, well... It will be better to save it until I really need one. For now, let’s go and see my main reward!’
[DING!]
[Congratulations, Host! You get a FocusaPill! A pill that will allow the Host to use 100 percent of your brain’s potential for one hour! During that time, Host will be able to think clearly, and Host can learn everything related to chess easily.]
[P.S. The pill boosts the Host’s learning ability, so better use it to study rather than to focus in the middle of the game.]
As he pulled the pill out of the inventory, Sheva stared at it carefully, trying to find anything special in it. Just like the pill earlier, though, there was nothing impressive about the pill. Hell, Sheva himself even doubted the credibility of this item.
’Oi, system, this is legit, right?’
[Don’t worry, Host, everything coming from the system is top-grade items! Guaranteed!]
If anything, this only made Sheva more skeptical. He turned around first, scanning his surroundings to get a better look at his current situation. It was night already, and only a few murmurs from the neighborhoods travelled across the wind, knocking into Sheva’s ears. Well, that... And his mother’s quiet snoring.
This was a perfect atmosphere to learn, and even though Sheva was exhausted, somehow, his brain was still pretty active. Knowing this, he wanted to test the FocusaPill that he got from the system, so the boy took out a book from his bag and started to open it.
’Okay, system, don’t disappoint me.’ Sheva took a deep breath before consuming the pill in one breath. Right after that, something seemed to click inside his brain, and his worldview also seemed to be different. Everything moved so slowly under his eyes, as if it waited for him to understand everything. The boy gulped nervously, yet he shook his head immediately, turning his attention to the book. ’This state only lasts for one hour, right? I need to make the most of it!’
The book he read was a pretty old one, with the title of Play Like a Grandmaster, written by Alexander Kotov, the Soviet grandmaster in the past, who also wrote so many revolutionary chess books. This was the last part of the trilogy, with the first one being Think Like a Grandmaster and the second one being Train Like a Grandmaster. Master Sergei recommended Sheva to read them all if he had a chance, but unfortunately, Master Irfan only had one of them in his collection.
Truth to be told, though, Sheva himself was not an avid reader. Hell, this was probably the first book that he picked up after graduating from high school, and he had already been offered to learn from Irfan’s library for almost three months. Before this, the boy would rather go for a puzzle, math, sudoku, or something that would force his brain to work.
As for sitting in one place for two or three hours just to read one book... Well, at first, he thought he wouldn’t be able to do that. But after experiencing a chess game for almost three, four, or even five hours, Sheva believed that he would be able to survive a similar situation too.
He also felt the effect of the FocusaPill instantly, as everything the boy read was able to enter his brain seamlessly. It didn’t help that what he read was a good book. It wasn’t like any other chess book that was full of notation and quite less in explanation. Moreover, this book also offered a lot of tips for a player who tries to be a grandmaster.
In just one hour, Sheva learned the basic principles of middlegame, like how to assess his position, what to do when he was at an advantage, where to aim, and how to defend when he was at a disadvantage. There was even one quote that he liked from this book.
’The player who wishes to improve, who wants to win in competitive play, must develop his ability to assess positions, and on that basis to work out plans for what comes next.’
Somehow, it resonated with his heart, which only boosted Sheva’s spirit to learn.
Still, one hour finally passed quietly, and before Sheva knew about it, his mind suddenly got fuzzy. All the subtle noises that he had never noticed, like the gust of the night wind, his mother’s quiet movement on her bed, or even the neighbor’s chatters, were registered in his mind once the effect of the pill was gone, and for a moment, the boy suffered from a headache.
Fortunately, it only lasted for a few seconds, and the pain was gone instantly as he heard the system’s notification rang inside his head.
[DING!]
[Congratulations to the Host for having a good-quality time of learning the middle game! Reward: Strategy +1]