Carly still lost decisively, but this time she fared slightly better, managing to hold on for ten moves. She's still a novice, and it's impossible for her to beat Ed, a seasoned veteran, in such a short time.
"Hehe, Carly, are you convinced now?" Ed asked Carly with a grin.
Carly was still pondering the game on the board. Ed's brilliant move had clearly shocked her, and she had obviously accepted her defeat.
" Lord Ed, your game is excellent. I'd like to take it and play it with others. What do you think?"
Carly planned to use this to teach others a lesson; she wanted to win without them saying a word. She had just learned some of Lord Ed's techniques.
Ed was overjoyed to hear Carly's words; having someone help with promotion would save him the trouble.
" Carly, that's no problem at all, and I can even teach you a Gomoku winning formation."
"Really? That's wonderful." Carly was overjoyed.
"Of course it's true, listen carefully, Carly: Underwear Formation is one of Gomoku's winning formations. Once Underwear Formation is complete, it can easily take down the opponent in a second. The first piece can be placed anywhere, don't worry about what others do. The second piece is placed here. If others start placing pieces here to prepare for an attack, ignore them. Our crucial step here completes our Underwear Formation, and the outcome is already decided. If the opponent starts attacking with their third piece, we block them again. We don't care what they do, we just focus on attacking. If they feel they're about to lose and try to defend, it's too late. We'll just place our piece here and take down the opponent. Underwear Formation is extremely powerful, and you must not spread this information."
Ed gestured and rattled off a whole bunch of martial arts secrets, which Carly listened to very attentively, memorizing all the key points. And now she felt incredibly strong again.
" Lord Ed, why does this Underwear Formation name sound so strange? Is there something special about it?"
" Carly, a name is just a label. It's a very proper name. Don't pay attention to trivial things. What you need to focus on is the ingenuity of the formation itself." Ed was spouting nonsense with a straight face.
"Okay, I understand. I've almost mastered your Underwear Formation, so I'll be going now."
Carly grabbed the chessboard and pieces from the table and disappeared in a flash.
Watching Carly's departing figure, Ed smiled and picked up his pen again. The chessboard was now set, but the pieces were still missing. If they were playing outdoors, paper pieces wouldn't be suitable; a gust of wind would ruin the game.
Actually, the simplest way to make chess pieces is with stones, but the shapes and colors are not uniform, so Ed still plans to fire some.
The brick factory now produces more than just bricks; it also makes pottery. The location remains the same as the original open-air brick-making site, under the jurisdiction of Red Iron Village. However, it's much larger now because the area needs bricks more extensively. It's no longer entirely open-air; some houses have been built there.
Ed plans to make the shapes of the chess pieces resemble those of Go pieces, as this would make them easier to use.
Once most people in the territory know how to play, we can hold a Gomoku competition to liven up the territory, which currently lacks entertainment.
Ed was very pleased with his sudden idea for Gomoku, and now he was just waiting for Carly to spread it.