"I wonder if I'm dreaming."

"You're not dreaming, it's very real, Mr. Ade declined, and I saw it too," Luo Yu replied irritably.

"Then he must be insane."

"How are you any different, ignoring the Twelve-Colored Iris just the same."

"That's not the same."

"I think it's pretty much the same." Luo Yu unusually added a few more words, then his toes struck Tianlan hard, and he bent down, sweating coldly.

Gita carefully tugged at Fang Hong's sleeve, but the latter just gave him a gentle smile and shook her head.

What nobody expected was that the biggest reaction came from the boy himself, who suddenly stood up and said, "What an idiot, so full of himself! Who do you think you are, an Elite or a member of the Silver Weslan Youth Training Team?"

Fang Hong was so annoyed at this guy, he rubbed his bruised forehead and retorted, "And what's it to you?"

"It's nothing to me, but idiots just infuriate me," the boy snapped back at Wu Di, "Let's go, I'm going to wash up, out of sight, out of mind."

Wu Di nodded, but before leaving, he took a special glance at Fang Hong, looking somewhat surprised.

And Tianlan, unusually, didn't argue with these two.

The silence around made Fang Hong awkward—as if he had done something stupid again. Looking around at the others, he started the conversation himself, "Tianlan, I thought you would start arguing with that guy again."

To his surprise, the girl from France seemed a bit embarrassed, and answered, "Actually, I think he was right. Brother Ade, why don't you reconsider?"

Fang Hong chuckled and shook his head, "I know what kind of person I am, but that kind of life isn't for me—my uncle always taught me one thing as a kid, some immediate benefits may sway us, but if you don't forget your true heart, you won't be confused."

"True... heart?"

Tianlan paused for a moment.

Luo Yu and Gita couldn't help but glance at each other, what was their true heart? In the long run, becoming an Invoker seemed to be a starting point rather than a goal, but what comes after that?

The French girl pondered for a moment and finally nodded her agreement, "You're right, Brother Ade."

Listening to this, the Dwarf Referee pondered for a moment and couldn't help but admire the young man. Outstanding Alchemists are the Commerce Alliance's most precious treasure, over the years the Colin Commercial League had always been competing with the Artisan Association of the Cloud Sea Region, but regardless of the competition, they often couldn't retain those real geniuses.

Maybe that was the reason...

They truly yearned to be above the clouds and sea, hence they would not easily fold their wings; what they pursued is that world that truly belonged to them, above the Cloud Sea, beyond the Continental Bridge, that much broader New World—

He suddenly pulled out a card, which was also made of copper, gleaming yellow under the firelight, adorned with some strange patterns. He passed the card over, saying, "Well, if you ever change your mind, you can take this card and come find me at the Colin Commercial League."

Fang Hong didn't dare refuse the kind offer and took the card, seeing the name 'Leim Short Bay' on the copper piece, a typical Dwarf naming style. Assuming it was the chief referee's name, he nodded his thanks, "Thank you, Mr. Leim."

"You're welcome, I see great potential in you, young man."

Then the Dwarf Chief Referee bid them farewell and left as well.

Tianlan, looking at the card in Fang Hong's hand, was full of surprise, "That's a card from the Colin Commercial League! He actually gave you a card, my gosh, he must really think highly of you, Brother Ade."

She looked quite troubled. "I'm having second thoughts again, I still think you should have accepted."

Fang Hong chuckled wryly, shaking the card in his hand, "It's just a card, aren't these handed out casually?"

"Keep it well, Ade," Atira said.

It was then that Gita quietly explained, "Eteliria's cards are not quite like those on Earth, Brother Ade. Many large organizations have such cards, and they are imbued with magic power. The Colin Commercial League doesn't issue many of these cards lightly in a year, and by holding it, you essentially have a pass nearly equal to its holder's authority."

"So, it's basically a magic introduction letter," the Papalarian who had just cleaned the mashed potatoes off himself interjected, leaning his hands on the chair.

"Of course, that's not all," Tianlan replied, "This thing can get you premium services in many places, at least in the Cloud Sea Region. Let me think, we can save at least 5% on purchasing supplies." She exaggerated a bit as she counted on her fingers, "Wow, we're going to be rich, that's a lot of money."

Upon hearing this, Fang Hong carefully put away the business card, looking very unimpressive.

Can't help it, fear of being poor.

"Alright," Atira then stood up and clapped her hands, "That's enough good news for now, don't forget we have more important things to do."

"What thing?" Fang Hong was completely clueless.

"It's your competition," even the Elf Girl couldn't stand him and gently glared at him: "That's why I said don't be so impulsive next time. Official matches are completely different from preliminary ones. But since you've entered, you naturally have to give it your all, and the rest of us will go do some preparation work."

Only then did Tianlan remember this matter, and she quickly nodded eagerly, "Sister Atira is right, I'll go and gather information about our opponents."

Their words reminded Fang Hong.

The upcoming competition was foreseen to be tough, and he didn't have a clue about the extent of what could be achieved; naturally, he couldn't go into it as unprepared as he had been in the preliminaries—in fact, he had already suffered enough from that before.

He planned to first modify the Emerald Birdα Magic Guided Reactor. There was nothing wrong with the reactor itself, but the crystal the Dwarf merchant had given him had to be converted into a Type-One Crystal before he could use it. Otherwise, relying solely on the Core Crystal inside the Control Gauntlets to challenge opponents well above level ten was essentially a suicide mission.

Then, it was time to redesign and modify the Walker. Now that he had some prize money, he naturally felt much more confident—no need to rely on that "woodworking project" anymore.

Fang Hong didn't expect to upgrade the Walker to the lofty II series, but at least it should be close to the II series, somewhere between 700 and 800—not his nonsensical type 170.

This required some metallic materials and Lesser Crystals, along with a Crimson Crystal energy-generation device and a balancer, but these items should be easy to obtain here and wouldn't be too expensive, so he left this task to Miss Atira.

At this moment, Luo Yu also stood up, saying, "Next up is Mr. Ade's and that Elpaxin Artisan Association player's match, I guess. I'll head to the match arena now. If the opponent forfeits, I'll come back and inform you right away."

Fang Hong nodded, looking gratefully at the other party, which would somewhat save him some time.

"Then I have to focus on the next match," Tianlan sighed with exasperation, "Oh, the thought of watching the fight between those two annoying guys is just unbearable."

Then she spoke to Gita, "Tata, why don't you gather the paperwork intelligence."

Gita nodded gently.

"So, Mr. Parker—" Tianlan began to delegate.

"I understand, I understand," the Papalarian Crossbowman immediately jumped off his chair, "To protect Gita, right?"

The former winked at him, giving the guy an approving look.

At this time, Hudi also stood up, saying, "I'll go as well." Fang Hong looked at him, originally wanting to ask him to stay and assist him, but suddenly seeing Hudi looking somewhat listless, he seemed to understand something.

Then he silently swallowed his words.

Fang Hong knew, it was probably the recent ordeal with Colin Commercial League that distressed him.

However, looking at the suddenly busy group, his heart felt a bit touched; it was his competition, but everyone seemed to treat it as their own matter.

After all, he, Tianlan, Atira, and Luo Yu had only known each other for just a day.

Not to mention Hudi.

Fang Hong couldn't help saying, "Thank you all."

Tianlan nonchalantly waved her hand, "Don't mention it, this is also to teach that guy a lesson, I've wanted to teach that bastard a lesson for a long time—"

Fang Hong rubbed his forehead, deeply agreeing.

...

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