Part 4: Runes

The twins were sitting in the middle of the room, wearing some clothing that they stole from Henry and Joanna. Comfortable cotton boxers-shorts and a loose white gown. Considering their environment, any more clothing than that would be extremely unpleasant. They were side-by-side, so they only needed to utilize a single screen that they could both read.

[It is possible to utilize unmarked soldiers or beasts during a battle. However, the enemies they defeat will not have their souls captured. There is also the issues of loyalty, communication and tactical control. Units are different. In order to create a unit, you must purchase an Ankh of Samsara Rune. The most basic version can be purchased rather cheaply, but it will only have the simplest features. More expensive ones will be far more effective. Unfortunately, you are unable to purchase the advanced runes… If your units perish, you will be unable to resurrect them.]

“Woah! This is really fucked up.” Azra was slightly disturbed by the descriptions of those ‘items’.

[Slave’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks a physical body with a magical tattoo that can attract and capture souls of the enemies they directly kill. Allows the unit to be summoned from the territory to the tower nearest to them or to the field they are designated and back again. They are unable to leave the tower during defensive combat. They are able to receive telepathic commands from the Divine Chessboard. If they resist the orders of their masters, they can be punished by the Rune. Costs 2 souls for 1 use.]

[Puppet’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks a physical body with a magical tattoo that can attract and capture souls of the enemies they directly kill. Allows the unit to be summoned from the territory to the tower nearest to them or to the field they are designated and back again. They are unable to leave the tower during defensive combat. They are able to receive telepathic commands from the Divine Chessboard. During combat, their consciousness is totally suppressed and they are unable to resist any commands they are given by their masters. Costs 10 souls for 1 use.]

“Brother, those are most likely meant to control beasts with little to no intelligence. It would be incredibly wasteful to spend so many souls to force people to fight for us. There are far more efficient methods that we could utilize in order to manipulate them.” Yuri quickly examined the next three Runes on the list, which were much less expensive.

[Soldier’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks a physical body with a magical tattoo that can attract and capture souls of the enemies they directly kill. Allows the unit to be summoned from the territory to the battlefield and back again. Costs 1 soul for 10 uses.]

[Sergeant’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks a physical body with a magical tattoo that can attract and capture souls of the enemies they directly kill. Allows the unit to be summoned from the territory to the battlefield and back again. Able to receive telepathic messages from their superiors. Costs 1 soul for 5 uses.]

[Captain’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks a physical body with a magical tattoo that can attract and capture souls of the enemies they directly kill. Allows the unit to be summoned from the territory to the battlefield and back again. Able to receive telepathic messages directly from the Divine Chessboard and issue orders to Guardians under their command. Costs 1 soul for 1 use.]

“It seems like there’s a separate bunch of runes for offense and defense, huh?” Azra opened another screen so that he could read what he wanted, while his sister did her thing.

[Defender’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks a physical body with a magical tattoo that can attract and capture souls of the enemies they directly kill. Allows the unit to be summoned from the territory to the tower nearest to them. They are unable to leave the tower during combat. Costs 1 soul for 10 uses.]

[Guardian’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks a physical body with a magical tattoo that can attract and capture souls of the enemies they directly kill. Allows the unit to be summoned from the territory to the tower nearest to them. They are unable to leave the tower during combat. Able to receive telepathic messages from their superiors. Costs 1 soul for 5 uses.]

[Overseer’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks a physical body with a magical tattoo that can attract and capture souls of the enemies they directly kill. Allows the unit to be summoned from the territory to the tower nearest to them. They are unable to leave the tower during combat. Able to receive telepathic messages directly from the Divine Chessboard and issue orders to Guardians under their command. Costs 1 soul for 1 use.]

Part 5: Special Units

[Scavenger’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks a physical body with a magical tattoo that can attract and capture souls lingering in their vicinity. Allows the unit to be summoned from the territory to the tower nearest to them or to the field they are designated and back again. They are able to open a small portal to deposit items directly into the Chessboard World outside of combat. Costs 1 souls for 1 use.]

Yuri leaned on her brother’s shoulder and murmured “There appear to be runes for noncombatants as well as mercenaries.”

[Mercenary’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks a physical body with a magical tattoo that can attract and capture the souls of enemies they kill. They are able to keep the souls in order to trade them to the Divine Chessboard for physical currency. Allows the unit to be summoned from the territory to the tower nearest to them or to the field they are designated and back again. Costs 1 souls for 1 use.]

“I’m more interested in this one…” Azra snickered and pointed towards the screen.

[Adventurer’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks a physical body with a magical tattoo that can attract and capture the souls of enemies they kill. They are able to keep the souls in order to trade them to the Divine Chessboard for physical currency. Allows the unit to be summoned from the territory to the tower nearest to them or to the field they are designated and back again. They are able to communicate with each other telepathically. For a price, they can utilize the teleportation feature to leave or return to the Chessboard World whenever they desire. They can open a small portal to deposit items directly into the Chessboard World outside of combat. Costs 10 souls for 1 use.]

He continued “Couldn’t we potentially create a huge organization on the outside world? Hehehe~, imagine all the resources we could gather that way… Maybe some kind of Scavenger, Mercenary and Adventurer Guild? No, that’s not really catchy at all and it’s way too long. Hmmm~…”

Yuri wondered “Perhaps Samsara would be an adequate name? It should be a secret organization in order to prevent our enemies from finding us.”

“Yes! Just Samsara! Or maybe the Ankh of Samsara… Either way, we don’t have nearly enough souls to spend on that kind of stuff right now. Guess we need to kill a lot more people in the future.” Azra smirked, hugging his sister with his right arm.

She whispered “The last item on the list appears to have requirements that we need to meet.”

[Champion’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks the soul with a magical rune, binding them to the Chessboard World. They can be resurrected from the spawner after death. Only one per Queen piece can be utilized at any given time. No further information available at this time.]

Part 6: Yuri’s Pawn

[Now that the battle has ended and your curiosity about units has been sated to some degree, it is time for Uriel to design her second tower. Every pawn has two functions. It can be used to deploy a basic infantry battalion or a defensive structure. First however, you must decide upon the terrain. Keep in mind that when two chess pieces are placed side by side, the space around them is interconnected. It will be possible for animals, plants and weather to carry over from one space, into the others.]

“Intriguing…” Yuri had originally chosen the tropical rainforest preset, but now she wasn’t in such a hurry. Time was something that they had an in excess. There was a temporal displacement between the Chessboard World and Elysium, so it would take awhile for any important new quests to appear.

Azra eventually went to sleep, while his sister continued designing and integrating both of her territories together into one. The terrain of her king space remained roughly the same, while her pawn space was actually an ocean. Of course, it was far too small to be considered a real ocean, but the majority of the forty-nine square miles was saltwater. The edge of her tropical rainforest had turned into a seven-mile long white sandy beach.

A single square mile at the very center of the pawn space, was an equatorial island. The depth of the ocean was several kilometers, so there was an enormous amount of room for all sorts of plants, animals and other lifeforms to grow.

When it came to the towers that she could choose from, the options were rather similar to before. The first one was essentially just a treehouse, only thirty feet above the ground. It could be garrisoned by troops rather easily and there would be a decent amount of difficulty invading it. However, it was still made out of wood. Under most circumstances, it would easily be burned down.

The second choice was massive mushroom. It could be entered through a small door at the bottom and had a spiral staircase in the stem, which led all the way up to the stone battlement that was created upon the head of the mushroom.

What she picked was the third option. It seemed to fit the island rather well. A twenty-meter tall spiral white seashell. The inside had been carved into a staircase and there were holes cut out of the sides, for archers to fire their arrows out of.

“Azra, I have completed my tower…” There was a slight smirk on Yuri’s lips, as she nudged her snoring brother awake.

“Ugh, what’s wrong Sis?” He cracked his neck as he stood up off of the uncomfortable wooden floor, then he muttered “Ah, you’re finished already?”

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