Hudi laughed at his words. "Didn't expect you to have a sense of humor."

Seeing him disbelieving, Fang Hong shook his head and said, "I'm serious."

Hudi, still disbelieving, pushed up his glasses and consoled Fang Hong, "Of course, I know you're serious, buddy, but you've got to face reality. Even if you barely make it through the preliminaries, you still won't match up to the Invokers from the Grand Guilds."

Fang Hong found this defeatist attitude very odd; last time it was Miya, and although her words were different, the sentiment was the same. "Is there really such a big gap between ordinary Invokers and those from the clubs?"

"Of course, club Invokers are all selected right from the Trainee stage. Not one in ten thousand, but at least one in a thousand, and with the backing of a Grand Guild, they have talent and resources both. How can an ordinary Invoker compare?"

"But aren't there also lone wolves in the Second World?" Fang Hong pressed on. The lone wolves he was referring to were those Invokers who didn't come from club or Guild backgrounds, but they weren't necessarily loners; they could also be part of a small team or an Adventure Group.

"How many of those lone wolves are there?" Hudi shook his head, "At least I'm not that kind of genius; I'm well aware of my own limits."

"But Hudi, an Invoker should never give up these two pursuits," Fang Hong seriously said, not approving of his attitude: "One is a curiosity that never ceases exploring, and the other is an ambition that never gives up the pursuit of victory."

These were two sentences from the front page of the Invoker's handbook, famous sayings widely circulated among the first generation of Invokers. But Hudi suddenly found his new friend was still very young and couldn't help patting his shoulder, shaking his head without saying anything.

Fang Hong, seeing him still disbelieving, did not insist further. Ahead was a huge wooden crate with Clockwork Fairies uniformly distributed by the Tournament Organizers, neatly arranged, their brass shells reflecting beautiful light under the lamps.

Clockwork Fairy II model.

Just looking at them, Fang Hong couldn't help thinking: "The organizers must be loaded—" But remembering that the organizers were the Colin Commercial League and the Elpaxin Artisan Association, it wasn't surprising after all. It was just a pity that these Clockwork Fairies had to be returned after use.

Otherwise, just this crate would be worth a fortune.

After receiving his Clockwork Fairy and connecting it to the Main Crystal, Fang Hong tried to move the copper feathered wings inside and found the wings to be exceptionally responsive, clearly much simpler to operate than the old Fairy models.

Hudi, watching him try it out in surprise, couldn't help but ask with suspicion, "You've never used one of these before?"

The answer was affirmative. Fang Hong had indeed never used such high-end gadgets before.

So he subconsciously nodded.

But Hudi misread the situation and clapped him on the shoulder, saying, "No worries, you seem to have a talent for wing control. Just follow me when we fly."

His tone was very sincere,

so much so that Fang Hong looked at him speechlessly when he realized, at a loss for what to say for a moment.

Fortunately, the Tournament Organizers began drawing lots then—dissolving the awkwardness—because there were too many contestants and limited space, so they had to divide the over forty people into four groups. Fang Hong happened to be the first to draw, and he approached a small Dwarf Goblin holding a wooden crate fearfully looking at him.

He smiled kindly at the little guy and then reached into the crate. The small Dwarf Goblin deliberately tilted the crate and rotated its large black eyes, as if contemplating something.

Fang Hong drew out a piece of paper that read: D12.

"Group D, number twelve," the Dwarf then announced.

Fang Hong then understood what the little Dwarf Goblin had been up to; it's said they have some special little abilities, probably used in such trivial matters. He saw the little Dwarf Goblin blink at him, and Fang Hong couldn't help but laugh silently, shaking his head at it.

The Dwarf Goblin seemed a bit discouraged.

Hudi was in the third batch to draw lots and ended up in Group B. He came back with his paper, looking glum, and told Fang Hong, "Bad luck, now you're on your own."

"I'll be fine," Fang Hong smiled.

"Of course, you're fine," Hudi said dejectedly, "Group B is full of strong competitors, including that guy Immortal Worm."

"Immortal Worm?"

"Don't ask, it's just an annoying fat man's ID, but as much as I hate the guy, his skills truly stand out among ordinary Invokers."

Fang Hong reassured him, "Don't worry, the first round isn't a Combat competition anyway."

"But the second round is," Hudi answered gloomily, "The second round is between the winners of Groups A and B, and C and D. In theory, there are only four spots, and I was hoping to make a run for the second round."

"Wait, didn't you say earlier that your goal was the first round?" Fang Hong asked curiously.

But unexpectedly, the man pushed up his glasses and confidently answered, "But didn't you say it, an ambition that never gives up the pursuit of victory? Heh heh," he chuckled, "I actually think you made a lot of sense."

Fang Hong was momentarily speechless at this shameless fellow.

Nevertheless, he realized that talking with this thick-skinned fellow had somewhat eased his nerves. Indeed, he would be nervous too, after all, he had no idea what the Combat Artisans of the First World were really like.

At least in his impression, the term Combat Artisan in the Second World was synonymous with toughness, and for those people, Multi-Control was as natural as breathing or drinking water.

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