The wandering man settled his bill and hurriedly entered the Elpaxin Artisan Association. The floor of the hall was covered with a thick red carpet and scattered with flower petals, a sight he hadn't seen during his last visit.

Just as he crossed through the crowd, the wandering man heard someone calling his name.

"Mr. Wandering Man, over here! Thank heavens, you've finally arrived!" a jolly Dwarf Lady waved at him enthusiastically. She was somewhat plump, and her wrinkles were all bunched up together: "By Rotas above, I heard your shuttle was delayed, I should have sent someone to pick you up. But you wouldn't believe how many endless tasks there are here, I've been completely swamped all morning."

"Here I am, Miss Aisha," the wandering man said as he opened his arms and warmly embraced the Dwarf Lady who had jogged a little on her way: "You haven't changed a bit, and it's been half a year since I last saw you. Oh no, if anything, you've grown younger, my lady."

The Dwarf Lady burst into laughter. "Oh stop it, I know, I know my own situation, dear friend. I'm getting old, not young. I'm one hundred twenty years old now, which isn't considered young among Dwarves, and this might be my last time preparing for the Continental League before I retire. You know how much I miss the mountains of Ishurian, and my cozy little cave, where the fireplace shines bright in winter, and my knees don't hurt as much."

She enthusiastically took his hand and said, "Come, let me take you to meet those stubborn old men. They've been so busy recently, they never expected you to be the one broadcasting the competition this time. Speaking of which, how did you land this opportunity? The last time I met you, you were still a newcomer."

The wandering man smiled softly: "Just a stroke of luck, Miss Aisha, I didn't expect it either."

He wasn't being facetious—before receiving the military's commission, he indeed hadn't anticipated that a fringe independent broadcaster like himself would get such an important opportunity.

Thus, he had immediately interrupted his broadcasting plans at Giant Tree Hill and hurried back to Aquen.

The Continental Alchemy League, although a non-combat event, was only second in size to the top three mega-events of the Second World. It spans the Cloud Sea, Osh, Giant Tree Hill, and Rotao among four Floating Continents, hence it was also known as the Intercontinental Alchemy Grand Competition.

However, this competition only included traditional alchemy events and didn't involve Combat Artisans, so it was only lukewarmly followed on Earth.

Even so, this broadcasting task was a fiercely contested project among major platforms, and the wandering man didn't know what got into the military this time to draft him out of all people.

Prior to this, he had signed a long-term contract with Stargate Port, but that was at most just a temp job.

But he had heard rumors that Stargate Port was short on manpower recently. Apparently, most of the internal security forces had been deployed into Eteliria over the past week, and with unstable news from the Second World prior to this, it had stirred unease, making people think another world war was about to erupt.

The wandering man naturally took these rumors with a grain of doubt, but fortunately, he had some connections at the Elpaxin Artisan Association, which prevented him from being completely in the dark.

Perhaps that was what the military had seen in him.

The attention towards the Continental Alchemy League was low on Earth, but the reverse was true in Eteliria.

The league cycled about every two years. In the first year, through a round-robin system, twenty-two winning teams were selected from each region, followed by a six-month break. After that, the second half of the league selected the top five teams with the highest points to proceed to the final stage.

In the final stage, twenty teams from four regions, plus six teams directly invited by various Royal Households, twenty-six teams would compete in the scorching summer at the Hall of the Holy King in the Osh Empire for the ultimate championship.

In fact, the Continent sees a surge of Genius Alchemists every two years because of this competition, as most of these geniuses would eventually flow towards the major powers and Summoners' Guilds—precisely for this reason, this competition became a focal point of attention for these major powers.

For instance, the Colin Commerce Alliance actually unified the Cloud Sea and even began to rival the Colin Craftsmen's Guild in recent years, mainly by absorbing these excellent Alchemists.

And about a quarter of the Artisan Masters from the continent's two largest Guilds, Silver Weslan and Elite Guild, were from this group of talents.

In Eteliria, the Royal Households also regarded it as a means to nurture their young Alchemist squads and flaunt their national strength and alchemy development prowess.

Because of these various reasons, the development of the Continental League had recently gained vigorous momentum.

The two walked through the hall, down the corridor behind it. The Elpaxin Artisan Association had arranged the competition venue at a square behind the Artisan Association—that place was originally an arena but was only used during town festivals on regular days.

The latter part of the league was rotated among several cities. This was the second time it was held in Elpaxin, and today would also be the most crucial match.

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