Pillar of Yita

Among the contestants of the Silver Forest Spear, a long-haired young man was taking off his control gloves. He looked up at the grandstand and couldn’t help but shake his head: ”Someone’s going to have a tough time.”

”Why?” the little girl next to Liuli Yue asked.

”That South Korean girl is really skilled,” the long-haired young man who had previously lost to Vikki said: ”On our side, I’m afraid only Wu Di can match her.”

”Wu Di?” Mu Xue shook her head: ”I don’t agree with that. Don’t we have Liuli? Liuli might have some weaknesses, but he is competent, and he’s Wu Di’s partner.”

She turned her head to look at Liuli Yue next to her: ”Am I right, Liuli?”

”Shut up.” Liuli Yue rolled his eyes with annoyance. However, despite his bad temper, he wasn’t arrogant and clearly knew that he benefited from partnering with Wu Di. Between the two, he was no match for Wu Di.

This time, the guild chose Wu Di instead of him to go to Charter City, which spoke volumes.

Nevertheless, he also cast a suspicious glance at Vikki on the platform. Could this woman really be a match for Wu Di? He didn’t believe it. Usually, only a partner knows the partner’s ability, and in this guild, he was probably the only one who could truly see Wu Di’s level.

Yet, this time, he rarely stayed silent.

Because the voice in the crystal seemed eerily familiar as though he had heard it somewhere before.

Vikki eventually chose a skydom map. She didn’t want to take advantage of the opponent. This was the map with the smallest disparity of advantage and disadvantage on the board. The top of the grid board was a vast skydom, while the bottom was a fully flat grid with no undulations.

This map was mainly designed for aerial battles but posed no hindrance for ground-based flexible constructs either.

As for Fang Hong, he didn’t think much upon seeing this map — or rather, he didn’t know what else to think, as he hadn’t seen what other maps looked like. Clasping the crystal, his palm felt slightly sweaty.

It wasn’t because he feared the opponent was too strong but because he worried about being disqualified due to not understanding the rules, which would be quite embarrassing.

He wanted to ask about the rules, but the situation on the field changed too quickly. Over there, Vikki closed her eyes and envisioned her flexible constructs. There were seven in total, including an Annihilator QV700, two Walkers, two Clockwork Fairies, a Shield Bearer, and a Fearless One.

The flexible constructs looked like miniature models, semi-translucent, flickering with a faint silver light on the light web.

Seven flexible constructs, comprising air and ground, short-range and long-range, light and heavy units, making a perfectly balanced team, forming an independent army. Of course, in reality, she couldn’t control so many flexible constructs, but under these rules, these miniature pieces didn’t require as much calculative power as real flexible constructs.

Seven was precisely her limit.

While more was possible, it would affect performance, so fewer and fitting numbers were preferable.

On the other hand, seeing Vikki’s seven flexible constructs, Fang Hong decided to mimic the approach — thinking that following the opponent couldn’t be wrong, right? So, he quietly calmed himself and also envisioned seven flexible constructs.

But Fang Hong’s experience was evidently somewhat limited.

The most familiar construct that surfaced in his mind when he closed his eyes was a roundish, copper-colored multipurpose flexible construct made for embarrassing situations — the Clockwork Fairy.

By the time he realized it, a succession of one, two, three, four, five... seven Clockwork Fairies had already appeared on the field.

”Wait a moment,” Ande Ulriel, holding the astrolabe, continually reminded himself not to interfere with the competition. However, seeing this scene, the elderly man couldn’t help but loudly ask: ”What are you doing?”

Fang Hong was equally bewildered.

It wasn’t his fault. He had merely imagined it, not expecting the board to automatically materialize it for him.

Seven Clockwork Fairies.

The hall erupted in commotion.

Vikki’s face was stern, saying nothing, clenching her jaw — if this wasn’t considered mockery, then perhaps nothing in this world would be.

If she could, the girl almost wanted to crush the crystal in her hand to pieces — how someone planned to use seven Clockwork Fairies against her was beyond her imagination.

Even Sonan Steelbrow couldn’t help coughing and awkwardly asked: ”...um, Old Blacksmith, your student doesn’t only know how to control Clockwork Fairies, right...?”

The words of the Old Dwarf drew a ripple of laughter among the hall.

Everyone clearly understood that winning with Clockwork Fairies in this kind of competition was almost impossible.

Ande Ulriel, on the other side of the crystal, was biting his teeth, glaring at Fang Hong, who looked innocent, almost ready to throw the astrolabe — if not for the sake of the Little Princess of the Albert Family.

Only Vikki took a breath and said, ”Let’s begin.”

She was determined to see how the other planned to beat her with seven Clockwork Fairies.

Ande Ulriel looked at Fang Hong for a while until the latter felt a little scared. However, it was too late to cancel the match, and he didn’t want to embarrass himself, so he could only silently toss a coin with the Old Dwarf to determine the order.

Both Fang Hong and Vikki let out a sigh of relief that Vikki’s side got the first move.

Vikki exhaled with relief because she knew she absolutely couldn’t lose. Fang Hong sighed for a more subtle reason, as he didn’t know how to act on this board.

He decided to watch the opponent’s actions first.

Vikki raised her hand, first letting her Clockwork Fairy advance a step — just one step, the Clockwork Fairy passed through a grid, then stopped in the next grid, hovering in mid-air.

Seeing this scene, Fang Hong was slightly taken aback.

He realized it was the Margin Technique — identical to the training Shana had given him.

...