Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!

Sheva had to hold back the urge to snort when he read the notification in front of him. The Best Chess Player System? Is there any title cornier than this? Who gave the system this shitty name?

Well, the boy didn't dwell on this matter for too long. No, right now, there was a more urgent matter for him to think about, and it was the new system in front of him. After waiting for thirty minutes—which seemed like forever, you know—Sheva was too eager to see the upgrade with his own eyes. He started manipulating the interface in front of his eyes, trying to explore the new features.

While the interface itself didn't have that much of a change, Sheva noticed a few differences here. The first glaring addition was the new 'Mission' section, which basically told him that the system's basic operation had changed. It wasn't the daily check-in system anymore, and instead, it would be the common 'mission—reward' one.

'Well, this is a great change!' Sheva exclaimed in surprise. 'At least, a mission will keep me motivated instead of getting something out of nothing! Good job, System!'

Yeah, even though it was good to get a lot of knowledge without any effort, Sheva slowly realized that it eroded his motivation to keep learning. After all, even without learning, he would still get better, so why would he do that? However, it also reduced half the fun of the game, as the feeling of improvement from his own effort was something important to keep his motivation up.

So, yeah, this was definitely a good change from the system.

Shaking his head, Sheva decided to click the mission section, wanting to see what was inside there. To his surprise, though, there were already two missions ready for him, and the content itself was also pretty shocking.

[Mission 1: Get your grandmaster title within a year!]

[Reward: Unknown. Punishment: Unknown.]

[Mission 2: Lead your country to climb to the top 15 countries in the Olympiad!]

[Reward: Unknown. Punishment: Unknown.]

*Author's note: Hey, everyone! This is my attempt to revive the system, but I am really struggling to set up a reward and punishment for the mission. If any of you have an idea, please leave something in the comment section! Thank you!

'System, why would the reward and punishment be unknown?' Sheva clicked his tongue, feeling dissatisfied with the system's decision to hide them.

[Don't worry, Host. Everything coming from the system is a top product, guaranteed!]

Sheva couldn't help but nod at the reassurance from the system. However, after thinking for a few seconds, he snapped his head to the interface immediately. His face was in shock as he realized something was wrong here.

'Holy shit! Wait a second! System, did you just answer my question? Is this a fucking joke?! Are you done being a cold-blooded machine?!'

This question was valid, as after having the system for more than three months, Sheva had never been successful in forcing an answer from the system. The boy had already accepted that it was just a mere machine without any features to answer his question. However, this changed everything, as having a system that could talk would really be a big deal in the future.

[This is the new feature coming from the upgrade. Now, the system is equipped with the latest AI technology in the universe, ready to answer all the Host's questions related to the system itself and help the Host to be the best chess player in the world.]

'Awesome!' Sheva clapped his hand unconsciously, wincing right a second later when he noticed how loud he was. Fortunately, the clap wasn't enough to wake up all three of his companions, so the boy just sighed in relief when he noticed that. Still, his heart was beating fast with his eyes lit up, knowing that this feature alone was a game-changer for him. 'So, System, care to explain to me the details of the mission?'

[DING!]

[Mission 1: You are the man who aims to be the best player in the world. Being a grandmaster is the first peak you have to climb. Get the title for yourself, Young Man!]

[Requirement: 3 Grandmaster norms (1/3), A rating peak of 2500 or more (2309)]

[Mission 2: The country has called you to be the representative for the highest field in the chess world! Don't let your country get embarrassed by the others! Prove to the world that Indonesia is a rising country with strong players in the chess world!]

[Requirement: Get Indonesia to the top 15 countries in the Chennai Olympiad 2022]

Sheva could feel the corner of his mouth twitching, not expecting the system to be a chatty person like this. The dramatic description alone was enough to tell him that the new version of the system had a unique sense of humor, and he felt like the future would be more interesting with this.

'Still… The second mission is a little bit hard, though.' Sheva mused, a bit troubled by the content. 'The first one is okay since I have the confidence to do so. But the second one really depends on the other teammates too. Even if I could win all my games, if somehow my teammates couldn't deliver, the mission would be deemed a failure. Is this a bit too difficult, system?'

[Don't worry, Host! The current Indonesian team's peak potential is to be the 15th best country in the world, so the mission is possible to be completed!]

'It is the peak potential, right? Does that mean we really have to show our best in all games and couldn't slip even for a single one of them?' Sheva felt his mouth twitching once again. 'You know how hard it is to get a group of people to reach their highest potentials, right?' He asked sarcastically.

[Don't worry, Host! The mission is possible to be completed!]

Seeing the system start to repeat the answer, Sheva sighed in resignation. It seemed that he should think carefully about this matter later. Yeah, later. He was currently still on the plane, not the best place to use his brain too much. So, he just took a note inside his head for this matter and changed the topic again.

'So, system, is there any new additional feature besides this?'