This was a form of "entertainment" particularly favored by Prophet Wizards, called star-象棋.
Every point where the lines intersected was a Star. Every time they placed a piece, both sides of the gambling would silently think of a matter, a question, or an object in their hearts—the exact category decided by mutual agreement.
Once the moves were played, they would use various methods to "guess" what the other side was thinking of.
Of course, in the eyes of outsiders this was "guessing," but for Prophet Wizards, this was actually a kind of "interpretation."
Whoever successfully interpreted the other could make the opponent place one more piece.
The more pieces placed, the greater the chance of forming an "Astrology pattern," enabling the other side to interpret the final answer. And the one who interpreted the other’s "Astrology pattern" was the winner.
So, avoiding placing pieces, and misleading the opponent’s reading, that’s the real game inside the game.
The rules are roughly like this. You could say this is a game exclusive to Prophet Wizards. For non-Prophet Wizards, once they run into this kind of Astral Chess, they basically have no chance.
"Play Astral Chess?" The Black Earl’s tone rose at the end.
Keep in mind, among the people present, not a single one was a Prophet Wizard. Playing Astral Chess for them was basically flailing around blind. Before, Dox and Kaier could still help out, but if it was Astral Chess, all they could do was throw in the towel.
The old woman didn’t answer. Instead, she once again tapped her staff against the ground, and stars fell onto the board.
Points where the lines crossed lit up one after another, finally forming a row of astral lights like a Rainbow Bridge.
"Presumptuous usurpers dreaming of climbing high, listen to the murmur of the stars." After the old woman spoke, she closed her eyes and fell silent.
This was exactly the same as with the poet before: she gave the prompt, then stopped talking. Only when you solved the problem would she speak again.
"Feels like a dummy, no matter what you ask it just won’t respond." Dox muttered a complaint under his breath.
In fact, it wasn’t just Dox who thought this way; everyone else did too. The poet from before at least said a few sentences, but this old woman was completely talking to herself; the Black Earl questioned her, and she answered something entirely different.
Now that this star pattern was displayed, the meaning was obvious.
She wasn’t planning to play a game against the Black Earl. She directly revealed her own star layout and was letting the Black Earl interpret it.
Although it still wasn’t the same as real Astral Chess and was much simpler... could a non-Prophet Wizard really interpret this stuff?
Everyone stared intently at the Black Earl, while the Black Earl silently gazed at the stellar pattern on the board.
A few seconds later, the Black Earl summoned Vay over, reattached his nose, and motioned for Vay to hold out his hand. He tapped the first star that had lit up earlier.
Soon, a line of information floated above the board: The Far Shore.
Then, the Black Earl tapped each of the moves the old woman had played, one by one.
Each one was a place name, but not in the traditional sense of "place name."
For example: The Far Shore, The Horizon, The Starry Sky, Where the Sun Sets, The Sea Beneath the Bright Moon...
In a normal game of Astral Chess, these place names would have been "interpreted" one by one by the Black Earl. But now the old woman was directly providing the answers.
What the Black Earl needed to do now was just one thing: through the meaning represented by each piece, interpret the overall meaning of the star pattern.
From beginning to end, the Black Earl was very calm. This gave everyone a bit of confidence; maybe the Black Earl really could interpret it.
However, it wasn’t long before they heard Vay asking in the Mind Ribbon: "Dox, is your inspiration reacting at all? Hurry and come take a look, see if you’ve got any ideas?"
Even though it was Vay speaking, it was undoubtedly at the Black Earl’s signal that Vay said this.
Dox really wanted to say he didn’t understand either. But he knew this time it wasn’t Vay asking; it was an order from the Black Earl, so he could only grit his teeth and go.
Time ticked by bit by bit. Watching Dox scratching his head over there and hearing Vay sighing again and again, Angel knew this star layout was probably very hard to interpret.
Angel actually had a way to interpret it. He could completely go up to the Wilderness of Dreams and ask for outside help.
If he used outside help to get the answer, it definitely wouldn’t be wrong. But it would be hard for him to explain how he’d interpreted it.
He couldn’t exactly say he’d cultivated Divination cross-branch, right?
So Angel could only quietly watch from the side.
He was also really curious: if they failed to interpret it, what would happen? Angel glanced at the old crone who had closed her eyes and stopped talking, and secretly guessed in his heart that maybe she’d just never open her eyes again?
Regardless of what the old crone did in the end, one thing was clear: if they couldn’t interpret it, they would definitely miss out on the "surprise" the Wise Sovereign had mentioned.
This was also what confused Angel a bit. Didn’t the Wise Sovereign know that none of them were Prophet Wizards? Why would he arrange a test involving Astral Chess?
Just as Angel was quietly waiting for the Black Earl to give up, a twist appeared.
The Black Earl let out a soft sigh. "Forget it."
Angel thought the Black Earl was about to give up, but the Black Earl’s next sentence left Angel stunned.
"The meaning of the star pattern is... the Abyss of Evil Gods."
As soon as the Black Earl finished speaking, the old woman opened her eyes. "Interpretation correct. Since you have discerned the Abyss of Evil Gods, you should understand what I mean. This is the message I am gifting to you."
As her words fell, the old woman gently stepped back, and her figure began to slowly fade away.
At the same time, everyone heard her final sentence in their ears: "Presumptuous usurpers dreaming of climbing high, remember my name: Astrologer, Glaipnir."
The old woman vanished, leaving behind only the broken mask she had been wearing.
Vay walked over, picked up the mask, retreated back to the others, and handed the mask to Angel.
From beginning to end, Vay didn’t say a word.
At this moment, everyone was puzzled, but what puzzled them wasn’t why the Black Earl suddenly knew the answer to the star pattern—he had used Divination before. Although he’d said it was borrowed from someone else’s ability and already used up, who could say if that was true or not?
What they were puzzled about was: what exactly did Glaipnir mean by the message she claimed to be gifting the Black Earl?
Why was "Abyss of Evil Gods" her message to the Black Earl?
Judging from the Black Earl’s complete silence, it seemed this message had truly struck a chord with him.
Although everyone was terribly curious, seeing the aura of silence rolling off the Black Earl, and the way Vay looked so miserable he didn’t even dare speak, in the end they still didn’t ask out loud. Instead, they shifted their gaze back to Angel.
Angel was now holding half a mask in his left hand and half a mask in his right, one for the left eye and one for the right.
He tried fitting the two mask pieces together.
They matched perfectly, aligning edge to edge.
Which meant these two broken masks should originate from the same source.
However, even with the two pieces combined, the mask was still missing a part.
The missing part was the nose and the lower half of the face.
Following the previous pattern, barring any accidents, the third "person" should appear soon, and that person should be wearing the remaining part of the mask.
Angel looked up at everyone. "Do we continue talking about Old Stone, or do we wait a bit longer?"