Pillar of Yita

Sophie couldn’t help but smile softly upon hearing: ”This is a competition, and in a competition, winning comes first, friendship second. Besides, anyway, he’s not from Ragnarok, so at worst, we can compensate him afterwards.”

”Oh——” the young girl elongated her tone: ”Compensate him——”

Sophie tapped her on the head, slightly irritated: ”Just treat him to a meal, since you’re so interested, you can foot the bill, Shuishui.”

”Ah, no, Sister Sophie,” the little girl immediately pleaded: ”I’m so poor I can’t even afford food!”

Fang Hong looked at the lively atmosphere on the opposite side and wasn’t too surprised.

After all, logically speaking, Silver Weslan has always had the upper hand against Ragnarok, so it’s understandable the opponent would be relaxed—though that was when MTT was still around—now with him as the main leader, it’s not so certain.

Soul Fingerprint mentioned this year is Ragnarok’s most hopeful year, aiming for fourth while striving for third is not an exaggeration.

He was a bit worried about Liuli Yue’s state, considering the latter is a Combat Artisan, not a professional artisan, but seeing the form handed over, he couldn’t help but breathe a big sigh of relief, which was exactly what he hoped for.

The staff had already set up the venue by this time and announced the official start of the first match, with the players entering the arena.

And the subject of the first round was Walker Type II.

Walker Type II, naturally, is much harder than the original version of Walker.

In fact, whether it’s the Level III Strength Plugin, Total Dissolution Elixir or Resonance Crystal, they all pose a much higher level of difficulty than the previous round. Whereas the previous creations could be managed by an artisan of around Level 8, this round’s challenges have been elevated by the tournament organizers to around Level 13.

Considering this, by the semifinals and finals, the difficulty level of the creations is likely between Level 18 to Level 23. Fang Hong then realized why contestants like Cui Yu, Mulan, and the others are generally around Level 20.

The maximum level limitation for the exhibition match is actually Level 25, which aligns with his prediction.

After figuring this out, Fang Hong turned back to Liuli Yue and said: ”Liuli, you’re up first for this round, handle the Walker Type II.”

Liuli Yue glanced at him and replied: ”It’s Liuli Yue.”

”Okay, okay, just get up there quickly.”

With that, she went up with a stern face. Her opponent, sent by the Silver Weslan side, was a short-browed, confident little girl.

The little girl froze upon seeing him, couldn’t help but ask instinctively: ”Wait, who are you? Where’s your Captain?”

Liuli replied with a touch of irritation: ”I am who I am, what’s it to you?”

”But...”

At this moment, the staff quickly reminded the two that opponents are not allowed to chatter on the field.

Shuishui entered the field filled with suspicion, wondering as Sister Sophie said, that she was going to face their Captain? But she didn’t check the sidelines, where Sophie also opened her mouth and couldn’t help but send a message to Fang Hong immediately:

”Ade, you tricked me!”

Fang Hong, receiving the message from the Communication Crystal, couldn’t help but feel baffled.

He looked up, puzzled, at the princess across not far away who was glaring at him, wondering what he had done?

...

Inside and outside the box, Su Changfeng and Phales were flipping through the lists in their hands simultaneously.

The expressions on their faces, however, were completely different.

Su Changfeng finished glancing through the list with a frown, but couldn’t find the name he wanted—after all, the list in his hand was incomplete, only containing the smaller teams like Ma Weilan and Eis who were eliminated in the previous round, and the only team going into the next round was that of Fenris.

In the box, Phales wore a look of anxiety. The Dwarf Guild President placed each page of the form handed over by the staff aside, then rubbed his tense forehead, realizing a problem—they didn’t know the name of the person they were looking for.

Helpless, he could only bear the impatience and find the earlier Dwarf Goblin, telling him: ”Do you remember that person from before?”

The Dwarf Goblin nodded repeatedly.

Phales handed the form to him: ”Go find him and have him point out the person from this form.”

”Hurry up,” he waved his hand: ”If you do well, I’ll double your reward!”

The Dwarf Goblin perked up, patted his chest excitedly, gestured exaggeratedly, and then dashed out like a gust of wind.

Phales watched him leave, returning with a look of apprehensive anticipation.

Ande saw his expression and couldn’t help but ask: ”What’s up with you, old buddy?”

”Nothing,” Phales sighed: ”Just looking for someone.”

”Looking for someone?”

Ande was slightly surprised by this.

While Phales closed the list, Su Changfeng also placed the thick stack of parchment he had down.

He looked up, a calm gaze sweeping across the arena—even if the name he wanted wasn’t found, it doesn’t mean the person is not on the field. Not to mention the list from the Grand Guild side which has yet to be delivered, there’s no guarantee the person didn’t use a fake name even on this list.

The received documents didn’t have photos of everyone either, he couldn’t help but sigh, manpower was still too thin. Su Changfeng lifted his head, merely hoping the Artisan Association could be a bit more efficient—

At this time, a voice from the Communication Crystal came through: ”Captain, Miss Sophie’s match on the Silver Weslan side has started, do you want to go check it out.”

Su Changfeng paused for a moment upon hearing this, knowing his daughter was leading the Silver Weslan team; although she wouldn’t be competing, he should support her. Thinking of his daughter, his expression slightly relaxed, he chuckled lightly:

”Alright, I’ll go check it out first,” he picked up the Communication Crystal and replied: ”But you need to clear the Grand Guild’s list, and complete the corresponding photos too.”

”No problem, Captain.”

He asked again: ”What is Sophie’s arena number?”

”In Arena No. 3, Captain.”

Su Changfeng nodded gently before putting away the crystal and heading in that direction.

...