'Um? An emergency mission?' Sheva was taken aback by the message in front of him. 'Really, system? At this moment? You haven't even sent the reward for the last emergency mission to me, right?' He clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.

[Because you haven't claimed it yet, Host.]

Sheva just rolled his eyes exasperatedly when he saw that. While he was happy that the system got upgraded several times and gave him more benefits, the boy was also annoyed that it became a smartass and more annoying than ever, always having a comeback line to whatever he had in mind. Oh, well… What could he expect from the system that could read his mind?

'Fine, you win!' He sighed helplessly. 'Come on, show me the mission!'

[DING!]

[AN EMERGENCY MISSION APPEARS! A MYSTERIOUS MAN IS CHALLENGING EVERYONE ARROGANTLY! WIPE THAT POMPOUS SMIRK WITH YOUR OWN HAND!]

[Requirement: Avoid a defeat and reveal his identity!]

[Reward: Unknown]

Well… This was a troublesome mission. Not only did he not know anything about his opponent and the reward—hardly motivating, if he had to say—but the requirement for the mission itself also troubled him. After all, he only needed to avoid a defeat here. Yeah, that might sound easy, but the system had never given him a free reward. That meant his opponent was a very strong opponent that even the system was not confident that he could do anything here.

'System, check my stats first, please.'

[DING! The scan is successful!]

[Name: Adrian Sheva]

Attacking 84

Defense 77

Calculation 79

Strategy 78

Intuition 73

Time management 80

Title Slot: [Empty] [Empty] [Empty]

[You have one unused title in your inventory.]

'Wait, my time management skill has crossed 80 points?' Sheva widened his eyes in surprise. 'Is it because of my game against Muradli Muhammad?' In his mind, that was the only reason why the stats got a breakthrough, since in that game, he managed to defend himself well even in a time-trouble situation.

[Affirmative, Host. You have improved a lot from the games against Kirill Alekseenko and Muradli Muhammad. Now, you need the last push to get some of your stats to break through a new height. So, hope you get that luck!]

Sheva nodded slightly when he heard that, knowing that this was something that he should explore himself. Right after that, he checked his inventory, just to find a new item on top of the shelf.

[Title ENDGAME MASTER. Effect: Using it will boost the host's concentration 30% higher in the endgame phase!]

[Do you want to use it?]

Well, there was no point in not using the reward he earned with blood and sweat, so Sheva just agreed with the system's question without even thinking twice. Right after that, he could see a new badge with the appearance of a white and black flag like a chessboard pop below his stats. Well, it wasn't a chessboard, per se, but some sort of finish line flag in a race. Still, since the system didn't correct him, the boy didn't even think that he was wrong here.

'Hmm… I don't feel any difference?' Sheva mused.

[To prevent it from frying your brain, you will only be able to see the effect of the title during the game, Host.]

'… So, you give me a reward that could only be felt its effect in the game, and you also got me an emergency mission about playing a game against this mysterious man, right? That seems pretty convenient, System.' He complained inside his heart. Still, he didn't delve into this matter too much. 'Well, System, if you really want to see a show, I will give you one.'

"Um… Excuse me, can I have a turn next?" He suddenly raised his hand, attracting the people there.

"You want to play too, Shev?" Anna was the first one to react, seeming surprised by his decision. Even though she suggested the same before, it was more like a playful one, not something that she thought Sheva would take seriously.

"Oh, well… Since it resembles the event in the past a lot, how about following the plot line here?" Sheva grinned goofily, having thought about an excuse already. "Sorry, but our date will be interrupted a little for this. Are you okay?"

"Um!" Anna nodded, not having any problem with this. If anything, she also wanted to join this fun, feeling curious about the mysterious man at the table.

"Well, 10 French Swiss." The man who acted as the helper here asked for the registration fee. "You will have a turn after this."

Sheva nodded quietly, taking out the money from his pocket before putting it on the table. Right after that, he waited for his turn silently, watching the current game unfold on the table while also analyzing the mysterious man's playing style.

'He is fast.' Sheva took a note in his head. 'He is incredibly fast.' That was the first impression that the mysterious man gave away during this game.

Yeah, the man played incredibly fast right now. He blitzed his way through the game like lightning, not even giving his opponent any time to breathe. Hell, it was ridiculous how in a 3+2 blitz game, he managed to get his time up to 4 minutes, while his opponent was struggling with the time below one minute already.

The man's strategy was simple here. He didn't even try to go for a tactical or positional battle, just developing his pieces silently on the back while also trying to overwhelm the opponent with time pressure, waiting for the opponent to crumble like wet paper. It annoyed Sheva a little since this didn't really reveal anything about the man's playing style, but at least this gave the boy an idea about how good the mysterious man was.

'Yeah, he could play almost everything accurately, even in such a short time, showing that he is an experienced blitz player here. He will definitely be a difficult opponent to deal with.'

In the end, the man's opponent, a middle-aged man who looked like he had just come back from the office, couldn't bear the pressure anymore. He shook his head repeatedly before finally letting out a deep sigh, as if coming to an acceptance that he couldn't do anything more than this.

When Sheva saw this expression, he knew that the game was over, and it was his turn next to challenge the mysterious man.

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