The Papalarians were left speechless by this logic.

In the end, Atira gently closed the argument, "Ade is indeed very impressive."

Fang Hong, embarrassed by the praise but also displaying the vanity peculiar to youths, bashfully responded, "We-, well, it's really nothing." If Sicape were here, she'd certainly reveal his proudly raised little tail.

However, the elf girl simply smiled slightly, and Tianlan thoroughly believed him without a doubt.

Hudi felt somewhat envious of the close bond between these individuals, as many adventure squads were actually filled with deceit and mistrust, and only those who truly shared ideals and goals would stay together to form a stable adventure group.

And he vaguely saw the embryonic form of such an adventure group in these people.

"Hudi," Fang Hong just happened to turn his head and ask him, "Do you adventure alone? By the way, why does that fatso call you that?"

"Ah," Hudi adjusted his glasses, looking a bit nervous, "Not really, in fact, I have a cat. Given the opportunity, I will definitely introduce it to you."

"A cat?" Fang Hong was startled. A cat counts as a team member?

Hudi solemnly nodded, "Of course. I live with it in Elpaxin, near Shallow Bay Harbor. There's an inn there. Do you know it? I specifically rented a room there for it. Everyone knows it, and they respectfully call it Miss Spoon—because it's quite a dignified and respected cat.

Sometimes when I have free time, I go back to Elpaxin to visit it."

Fang Hong furrowed his brow upon hearing this answer.

Tianlan, however, seemed quite amazed, "Wow, that sounds amazing! Do we also get a chance to visit Miss Spoon?"

"Of course," Hudi answered, "If you go back to Elpaxin, you can look for me in Shallow Bay Harbor. I'm sure Miss Spoon would welcome you to visit."

"We will definitely go," Tianlan replied with eagerness, "I've always wanted to have a cat. But before that, I've decided to visit Miss Spoon first."

Gita, who was beside him, also showed rare interest and tentatively nodded, asking softly, "Why not take Miss Spoon with you on adventures?"

"Ah, about that…" Hudi thought for a moment, "I used to take her on adventures often. We would frequently visit the Bay Gorge to the west of Elpaxin. You know, some places can only be reached by her. Miss Spoon is very smart, knows how to activate mechanisms, and was my best partner during that time."

"What happened later?" asked Tianlan.

"Later, Miss Spoon gradually grew fond of a more relaxed lifestyle. She's getting on in years, so I stopped dragging her around. You know, older folks always like staying in their warm little nests. Instead of adventuring, they prefer reading books and basking in the sun," Hudi explained.

"That does make sense," remarked the young girl from France, as if an epiphany had struck her.

Everyone was chattering away when Fang Hong noticed the dwarf referee with the pointy beard making his way through the crowd. The referee approached them, rubbing his hands apologetically as he spoke, "Ah, sorry, there's been a bit of a problem."

"A bit of a problem?"

Taken aback, Fang Hong instinctively asked, "Is there a problem with the prize money?"

The question was so silly that Atira couldn't help but cough lightly.

"Not at all," the dwarf referee shook his head, "You can rest assured, the Colin Commercial League would never make any mistake with the amount of money."

Fang Hong then breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's about the match," the dwarf referee answered with a worried frown, "We haven't found the contestant sent by the Elpaxin Artisan Association, so the finals may have to be postponed for a while."

"Another contestant can't be found?" Hudi was somewhat surprised, thinking to himself what was with tonight, with one problem after another, previous matches hadn't been like this at all.

The dwarf referee couldn't help but feel embarrassed, but heavens knew why so many issues were popping up today.

"Actually, you didn't have to come inform us first," Fang Hong responded, "Because I wasn't planning on continuing in the main competition anyway, Mr. Referee, so I definitely won't mind."

"What? You also want to withdraw, Mr. Xiaya?" The dwarf referee was taken aback.

Fang Hong nodded. Initially, he had gone for the prize money in the preliminary rounds, and in the main competition, only the first place would get the Ring of Golden Flame award. Although he was interested in the Ring of Golden Flame, he had enough self-awareness.

He had heard that the two contestants who went into the loser's bracket in the main competition were both above Level 10, one even being a Level 14 Combat Artisan from the Elpaxin Artisan Association. As a Level 3 contestant, he thought it best not to get too ahead of himself.

Even if his control over the Flexible Construct was outstanding, it couldn't bridge a Level gap of seven or eight levels, besides, how worse off could the contestants that made it to the finals of the main competition be?

He explained his reasoning, then said, "And as you've seen, Mr. Referee, with my Walker that doesn't even qualify for a Type I—how could I possibly be a match for those people?"

The dwarf referee was also troubled upon hearing this.

He was the referee in charge of Fang Hong's match with the Immortal Worm and certainly knew what Fang Hong's equipment was like. He believed this young man's understanding of the Flexible Construct was sufficient to battle the contestants in the main competition—but the young man did have a point.

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