Now that her character had collapsed, she blushed and replied, "Why are you asking? You just heard wrong."

"How could I have heard wrong?"

"I said you heard wrong, so you heard wrong." Tang Xin rolled her eyes at him.

"Tangtang, that's not what you said before." Ai Xiaoxiao asked cluelessly.

Tang Xin was so angry that she almost threw this troublesome friend of hers out.

At this point, Soul Fingerprint finally received the message and rushed over. This senior team leader first curiously glanced at the two young girls dressed as tourists, then asked, "Ade, is this your sister?"

Tang Xin turned her gaze, looking suspiciously at this woman. However, after knowing that the other party was just the team leader, she felt a bit relieved.

She just looked at Hilveld next to her, then at Soul Fingerprint, and couldn't help but frown, thinking how come this dim-witted cousin always has pretty women popping up around him as soon as he entered this world.

Fang Hong nodded his head.

Soul Fingerprint looked at everyone, thought for a moment, then said, "Ade, you don't have to participate in the second round anyway. Since your family is here, I'll grant you a leave. But just like before, you must return before nightfall, okay?"

Fang Hong was slightly taken aback, somewhat surprised.

The format of this competition actually consists of three rounds: the first round is a sea election, only held once, selecting thirty teams from hundreds to enter the second round. The second round is the regular competition, where thirty teams compete in pairs and fourteen teams are eliminated based on total points.

The remaining sixteen teams will enter the third round finale stage. The finale stage is an elimination format, deciding the final champion, but at the same time, the Continental League exhibition match has a special mechanism. That is, among the three rounds of matches, the tournament organizers require that each contestant can only participate in two rounds.

This is probably to test the bench depth of each team, achieving the purpose of assessing the overall strength level of a region's Alchemists, and this was originally also the true intention of the exhibition match. But this way, Soul Fingerprint arranged for him to participate in the first and third rounds, so relatively speaking, he was given a bye in the second round.

So he didn't have a match, which isn't technically wrong to say.

But if it were anyone else, Soul Fingerprint might not have let them leave the venue, as any unexpected event could happen during the competition. However, on one hand, Fang Hong was not from Ragnarok, and on the other, she did not want him to be affected by external issues during the competition. This half-day leave was actually for him to handle his personal matters first.

Of course, all of this was premised on Fang Hong's stable performance before. If Fang Hong had been unstable before, under no circumstances would Soul Fingerprint have let him leave alone.

But for Fang Hong, he did indeed need this half-day now. Tang Xin's sudden appearance completely disrupted his previous plans, and he knew very well his cousin's personality. If he couldn't satisfy her, this little demon would definitely transform into a reporting robot.

And next to come would be his uncle and aunt.

Maybe even someone from the military.

Thinking of this, he felt a bit grateful to this senior from Ragnarok. And Soul Fingerprint merely nodded slightly at him, knowing that she's not an inflexible person. But relatively speaking, the competition was above all else.

But Tang Xin, still somewhat angry, just gave him a cold glance and replied, "Wherever you're going, I still have to watch the match."

Yet before she finished her sentence, her friend interrupted.

Ai Xiaoxiao asked curiously, "Tangtang, are you stupid? You've already found him, what match are you watching?" She took out a small notebook prepared long ago, with eyes full of little stars, and approached Fang Hong. "Cousin, cousin, please give me your autograph."

Seeing this, Tang Xin rolled her eyes.

She could only think, can you even use the autograph from Eteliria?

She sighed, feeling like she was surrounded by people who don't use their brains.

...

In the hall on the sixth floor of Elfendo, the Dwarf Goblin was cautiously moving stacks of Red Gold Engraved Plates to the center of the hall.

The Southern Region Alchemists in the hall were discussing animatedly. However, only a few distinguished Grand Artificers could sit at the central long table and examine these selected 'works' one by one—a total of seventy-seven Red Gold Plates, just as Qin Yu had predicted, these were the highest-scoring 'answer sheets' screened out in the first round of the competition.

Ande was carefully inspecting each Red Gold Plate under the light of the crystal lamp, full of enthusiasm. He occasionally nodded, seemingly intent on irritating his old friend, giving some clumsy commentary: "This one is good..."

"This person's technique is quite distinctive as well."

"This is a promising talent."

Phales threw the Red Gold Plate in his hand back onto the table without interest, making a light sound. "Lacking in basics, somewhat immature... as for this one, it is overly exquisite, lacking balance." At first glance, they were all mediocre, with almost no work that stood out.

He understood that Ande's insight was far superior to his own, and the other was merely acting this way to change the subject. He put down the last Red Gold Plate and couldn't help but sigh; as he had anticipated, this year's performance arena had no young talent to catch the eye.

The Alchemy industry had developed to a point where associations and branches were springing up everywhere like mushrooms after rain, and the system for selecting talent had become ever more refined. Today, identifying and filling gaps was far more challenging than it had been a decade ago.

Of the seventy-seven Red Gold Plates, the one he rated highest was still just average, the technique was practiced but only seemed to imply the work of an experienced hand. It resembled an old hand, but even so, it still lacked a certain polish.

Nonetheless, Ande picked up that Red Gold Plate, brushed it with his hand, and revealed a look of surprise: "This one is actually quite good, the technique is exceptionally skilled, the fundamentals are surprisingly solid. However..."

"However?"

Phales looked at him somewhat unexpectedly.

"It seems to be missing something," Ande squinted his eyes, "but I can't quite put my finger on what's missing."

Phales couldn't help but be a bit skeptical, thinking that it was unlikely Ande, with his keen insight, couldn't see it—that he wasn't pulling his leg? "Let me see it again," he couldn't help but say. But Ande, like an old trickster, raised the Red Gold Plate high and replied, "No way, you've already seen it, haven't you?"

"Just because I've seen it can't mean I can't see it again?" Phales fumed, his mustache bristling, eyes glaring.

Ande chuckled heartily, then handed over the Red Gold Plate: "I'm serious, the array on this plate is quite intriguing." As he spoke, he smoothed his beard and couldn't help but think of his student who had switched paths midway.

He couldn't help but think, with that student's talent, if they were trained for a year or so in advance, they might have been recommended to this old friend of his. Unfortunately, his student, while capable of multiple parallel operations, was ultimately just a Combat Artisan.

He shook his head.

Meanwhile, Phales was once again examining the Red Gold Plate, furrowing his brows. Yet he couldn't decipher what exactly was missing from this Red Gold Plate, only feeling a vague sense of awkwardness. Was Ande truly not joking?

And just at that moment, Ande suddenly slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "I got it."

This shout startled Phales so much that he almost dropped the Red Gold Plate he was holding, turning back with some annoyance and asking, "What did you figure out this time?"

"Looks like the little guy who made this Red Gold Plate held back a bit," Ande replied, full of confidence and a spark in his eye.

"Held back?" Phales couldn't see it at all, but since he wasn't a professional Array Master, he could only feel that he should take his old friend's words with a grain of salt. Who would hold back in a competition? It would either have to be someone incredibly confident or ridiculously arrogant.

He skeptically picked up the Red Gold Plate again. But at that moment, a servant hurried over and handed Ande a letter.

Ande opened the letter and, raising his thick eyebrows lightly, his smile faded, and his expression turned serious.

Phales was preparing to ask upon seeing his demeanor when Ande turned and preemptively replied, "Aren't you interested in meeting that person?" He patted the letter in his hand, "They've come to Fanric, and the letter says they've chosen an heir—old friend, if you want to gain the support of the Rose Workshop, now's your best chance."

Though he spoke thus, his snow-white eyebrows furrowed, showing a look of consideration.

Upon hearing this, Phales instinctively put down the Red Gold Plate. He knew who the person in question was; it was the current head of the Westwood Sibika family. Although labeled a traitor by the Prime Minister's faction, they were essentially still the absolute authority within the Rose Workshop.

Deep in thought, Phales found his mind drifting away from the competition at hand.

...

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