Exposed?

Aethelria had always had a tradition of holding competitions and celebrations before the winter hunt began. These contests had evolved from ancient knightly challenges.

The real rise of all kinds of competitions came after the Chosen arrived in Aethelria. These novel forms of contests from Earth caught the nobles' interest and then spread from the top down.

By now, all manner of competitions had formed dozens of leagues, large and small.

The most authoritative of them were undoubtedly the three major events of the Super Competition League, including the premier Second World tournament—also the only competition most real-world fans followed and knew about.

However, this competition seemed to be a small local event in Elpaxin, initiated by the Elpaxin Artificer Guild, so Fang Heng had never even heard of it before.

He had little interest in the challenge matches themselves, but he was extremely interested in the rewards. He could not help asking, "What exactly is the Golden Flame Ring?"

"It's a ring imbued with magic," Luo Yu replied.

"It's a craft of the Numenor Elves, Brother Ed," Jita took over softly. "The Numenor Elves are exceptionally skilled at precise magical control. Through forging, they infused faint magic into rings, giving them very special powers. Modern artificers inherited this technique. These items aren't as powerful as Magic Devices, but their greatest feature is that ordinary people can use them without relying on the power of a Core Crystal."

"What kind of power does the Golden Flame Ring have?" Fang Heng had never heard of such a thing before and could not help asking curiously.

Jita shook her head.

Then Tianlan's voice came from beside them. "No one knows what abilities the Golden Flame Ring possesses. All anyone knows is that it was one of this place's owner's proudest works. Legend says it was carved from the golden eye of a dead dragon and possesses tremendous power."

Fang Heng turned around and only then saw that Tianlan and Etila had returned at some point. The two made their way through the crowd and came over to them.

With a clang, Tianlan tossed a brooch onto the table. The others instinctively looked over and saw a black brooch engraved with half the head of a fire-breathing evil dragon. Its raised surface had been plated with silver, glittering in the firelight.

"What is this?" Luo Yu could not help asking.

The reason it was only half a dragon's head was that part of its jaw and one of its horns were missing. The moment Fang Heng saw the emblem, his heart began to pound. He subconsciously looked up and saw that the massive dragon horn was still hanging intact from the hall's vaulted ceiling. It swayed in the firelight, showing no sign of anything unusual.

Only then did Etila answer, "The Black Goat found this at the scene."

"They gave this to you?" Fang Heng asked.

"Was this all they found, Sister Etila?" Jita asked as well.

The elven girl nodded. She looked somewhat exhausted.

Tianlan looked at her worriedly, then turned back and asked, "Do you recognize this thing?"

The others shook their heads.

Only Jita picked up the brooch and held it to the light. Then she said apologetically, "There are too many organizations that use dragons as symbols. My level is too low, and my analysis ability isn't sufficient to filter the clues, Sister Etila."

"It's all right." The elven girl forced a smile and shook her head to show that she did not mind.

Jita put down the brooch, but then said seriously, "But... but it isn't hopeless. Fortunately, we're near Elpaxin. Elpaxin has a great library in the Silver Tower that might be able to help us."

"Then we'll go to Elpaxin," Tianlan decided at once. "Brother Ed is going there too, right?" She turned to look at him.

Fang Heng naturally understood what she meant and hurriedly nodded—besides, he had already planned to go to Elpaxin.

Etila was deeply moved, though she also looked somewhat embarrassed as she looked at the youngsters. "But what about your trainee assessment?"

"It's just submitting a report. That won't be due until the middle of the Moon of Shaking Cages, and the final-stage mission still has to wait for the obelisk to appear. There's plenty of time." The French girl looked utterly unconcerned, and Jita and Luo Yu nodded along.

Etila took a soft breath, then nodded and said no more. She pulled out a chair and sat down.

Tianlan sat down as well, then asked curiously, "What were you discussing earlier?" The thick wooden table was round, and even with six people seated around it, it did not feel crowded.

The hall was brightly lit, with people constantly coming and going.

In the distance, a barefoot dwarf hugged a lute and sang and danced atop a table. The instrument chimed brightly, while adventurers burst into laughter from time to time, drowning out every other sound.

Fang Heng's attention was irresistibly drawn over there, and he looked in that direction curiously.

Jita answered honestly from the side, "W-we were discussing the challenge matches, Miss Fuli."

"Oh, that!" Tianlan looked enlightened, then suddenly turned back with great interest. "Come to think of it, Brother Ed, you're a Combat Artificer too, right? Aren't you going to give it a try?"

As she said this, Luo Yu also looked at Fang Heng as though he entirely agreed. Fang Heng froze for a moment before turning back to ask, "Didn't you say it was already in the finals? How can people still join?"

Another round of cheers came from afar, drowning out the French girl's answer.

She frowned and shouted, "Private competitions aren't that strict! In fact, apart from the finals, there are also some exhibition side events."

"Side events?" Fang Heng shouted back, but this poor fellow's focus was clearly not on the competition itself. "Do they have rewards too?"

Tianlan could not help laughing. "Of course. There are three side events in total, and the final winner gets fifty thousand Liselle. And the final winner also has a chance to challenge one of the seeded finalists. If you're lucky, you can even enter the grand finals."

"Of course," she added, shaking her head as though she knew all the inside details, "you can only dream about that chance. The seeded finalists are all future stars trained by Major Guilds. The so-called challenge match is really just a disguised exhibition match—"

But Fang Heng had only heard the first half. "How much is the prize money?"

Tianlan spread five fingers and waved them at him. "Fifty thousand Liselle."

"Where do I sign up?" Fang Heng immediately asked.

The French girl could not stand his money-grubbing look anymore and rolled her eyes. "It hasn't started yet. Just wait for the food first. I'm starving."

Even Fang Heng had to agree that this was an excellent suggestion.

Only then did Etila press the bell on the table. Its sound traveled along a thin wire through a pipe buried underground, all the way to another hall. There, a dwarf with a beard dragging on the ground glanced at the densely packed bells hanging on the wall, checked the long scroll in his hand, and shouted:

"Table seventeen, third row!"

Behind him was a huge kitchen in full swing. A group of brownish-red goblins immediately scampered out from the back, carrying covered silver platters in a disorderly procession.

Goblins were ugly creatures, but they were not bad-hearted. Some believed their brownish-red skin meant they had infernal blood, but that was not the case. That coloration was merely camouflage from living in the brown-earth desert of the Ausch Empire.

They were a hardworking race. In the past, they had been slaves in the Ausch Empire, but after the Battle of Bayne, large numbers of goblins fled into Corin-Ishurian and began living carefree lives here.

At least, that was what they believed.

Goblins were generally not very intelligent, so they often messed things up. For instance, one little fellow carrying a soup bowl on its head bumped into a companion amid the chaos, turning the scene into a complete mess and nearly staining Jita's robe.

The dwarf supervising them immediately began shouting abuse, frightening the little fellow until it trembled. But the other adventurers in the hall were already used to this and burst into laughter. Tianlan giggled at the sight as well.

As though she had not ordered the spilled soup herself—

Only Etila went over and patted the little fellow's shoulder, signaling that it need not worry. She then gently told the dwarf that it was fine if there was no soup; they did not mind such a small matter.

The dwarf bowed to her.

An adventurer saw this, stood up, and raised a cup to Etila. "A toast to you, kind elven lady!"

Etila raised her own cup in response. "To Lady Ameya, mistress of the forest and guardian of nature. May she remain forever young—" Rumor had it that Ameya was a lady who loved beauty, and this was one of her favorite blessings.

Then Etila raised the ale in her hand, tipped back her head, and drained it in one gulp. She set down the completely empty cup and displayed it for everyone to see.

Those who witnessed it in the hall could not help breaking into loud applause, their cheers rising like waves.

It was rare to see such a forthright lady.

Tianlan clapped along too, until her palms turned red.

Fang Heng sometimes felt that Etila and Miss Scarpe were very alike. Both had generous, open-hearted personalities, though Etila was clearly gentler. Miss Scarpe really would hit people when she got angry.

People said that forest elves who followed Goddess Ameya's teachings were warm and friendly, and the elven girl was a living example.

Today, Traveler's Respite offered two famous dishes from Taren as its main courses. Among them was smoked silver trout, a preparation discovered by sky-sea sailors of the Sea of Clouds—during long voyages, sailors found that fish preserved with salt and smoke could last for a very long time, giving rise to smoked silver trout.

By now, smoked silver trout had become an important appetizer in Corin-Ishurian. Taren silver trout differed greatly from the silver trout on Earth: its flesh was a rare silver color, like thin moonlight.

After smoking and curing, the fish lay in layers like silver foil across a snow-white porcelain plate, garnished with horseradish leaves and celery. The dwarf chefs of Traveler's Respite had ingeniously decorated the silver flesh with black olives. The contrast of black and white was exceptionally beautiful.

Roast venison, on the other hand, had a rougher, bolder style.

Once cut open, the tender pink steaks were stacked layer upon layer like a tower. A coat of honey had been brushed over the golden juices bubbling with oil, and the fragrance was intoxicating. Grill marks remained on the thick meat, while the fat, like pine amber, slowly dripped from the crisp golden skin. The silver platter beneath had been heated specially, and every drop of juice sizzled when it landed.

The heavy scent of spices washed over them.

Etila took the initiative to stand and carve meat for everyone, but Tianlan was an extremely picky eater. Like a pampered little princess, she picked at this and that and barely ate anything.

As a result, Etila lightly tapped her on the head and frowned. "Don't be picky."

"But it's nowhere near as good as Miss Etila's cooking." Tianlan instead begged the elven girl to make something special just for her.

Unable to refuse her, Etila could only nod in agreement.

"Sister Etila spoils Miss Fuli too much." Jita looked a little unhappy as she spoke with a frown.

Fang Heng, meanwhile, was quite curious about Etila's cooking as he wiped the grease from his mouth.

At that moment, an intense argument erupted behind him. Fang Heng froze, then turned around and discovered that people in that direction were discussing the conflict between the Jefflitte Redcoats and the Silverwood Spear.

Fang Heng was curious because they were discussing what had happened in the Elven Ruins the day before yesterday.

Since he had not yet gone on the community forums to follow the aftermath of the incident, their conversation felt quite novel to him. It turned out that the Jefflitte Redcoats and the Silverwood Spear had returned to the ruins not long afterward and had a minor clash.

The cause was a dispute over the Giant Construct called Cerberus.

Although the Giant Construct was a product of the previous era and had all sorts of flaws, it was at least powerful enough—and the Ice Feldspar inside it was genuinely valuable.

However, what Fang Heng truly cared about was a name that occasionally came up in their discussion.

Miya.

She had snatched the Sea Forest Crown right under the noses of two Major Guilds, so she had naturally become the focus of attention. Unfortunately, the dwarf bard in the distance reached an exciting part of his song just then. Cheers rose without end, once again drowning out the discussion.

Amid the noisy crowd, Fang Heng only vaguely caught a few words: "witch," "Holy Covenant," and "wanted notice."

After the cheering died down, those people's discussion shifted back to Dawnstar—but mainly to Fang Heng himself. They were talking about that genius youth who had appeared on the community forums.

Someone swore that Fang Heng was actually an illegal entrant and had therefore already attracted the military's attention.

The claim made Fang Heng break out in a cold sweat. He nearly dropped his fork onto the floor. Etila caught it from beside him and asked with concern, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Fang Heng answered guiltily. "...I-I choked a little."

"Slow down." Etila looked at him gently and handed the fork back. "No one's going to take it from you."

But Fang Heng was practically on the verge of tears.

He continued secretly listening to their discussion. Fortunately, not many people believed that man, because someone was refuting his "absurd claims." His argument was quite solid—illegal entrants did not have systems.

If someone without a system could dual-control, then wouldn't someone with a system practically soar into the heavens?

The man stubbornly insisted that this was exactly why the military took him so seriously.

But he was met with a burst of laughter.

On one hand, Fang Heng desperately wanted that man to shut up. On the other, he could not help feeling a young man's urge to show off, almost wanting to stand up and tell them that he was the person they were discussing. His feelings became utterly complicated.

But then Luo Yu suddenly spoke. He seemed to have heard the discussion too. "Come to think of it, I watched that video as well. Whether he's an illegal entrant or not, he's really impressive."

"Oh?" Tianlan challenged him. "Isn't it just dual-control? At most, it means he has some talent as a Combat Artificer. He might not even be as good as Brother Ed."

"Right, Brother Ed?" She even looked over at him.

Fang Heng nodded, not knowing how he felt.

But Luo Yu shook his head. "It's not that simple. I looked into Dawnstar's information afterward."

Fang Heng's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly asked, "What did you find?"

The boy gave him a strange look before answering, "They left a personnel registration form when they accepted the Descendants of Flor's employment. There wasn't any Combat Artificer listed on it, but there was an alchemist traveling with the team."

Fang Heng's heart thumped heavily.

It's over, he thought. I actually forgot about that. At the time, he had been nothing but an unnoticed nobody. How could he have expected so many things to happen afterward? That was why he had left his real ID on the registration form.

Fang Heng felt as though his hair was standing on end.

But Luo Yu continued, "That alchemist's age and background are both very close, but there's one strange thing—he's only a level-two apprentice alchemist."

"You're not making this up, are you, Luo Yu?" Tianlan said incredulously. "A level-two apprentice alchemist? That's even lower than us. How could he possibly dual-control Clockwork Sprites?"

"I'm only saying it's possible."

Tianlan frowned. "Fine, then. What's this strange fellow's name? I'll get someone to help you look into it."

Don't answer! Fang Heng screamed inwardly. This is Trisolaris! Don't answer!

At that moment, he felt like a condemned prisoner. The gallows stood before him, and at most three steps remained before death.

But unexpectedly, Luo Yu shook his head. "That's unclear. The Descendants of Flor didn't disclose any names."

"Hmph." The French girl snorted softly. "Makes sense. They suspect the Sea Forest Crown may still be in the hands of Dawnstar's survivors, so naturally they wouldn't hand over the list."

Fang Heng let out a long breath, suddenly feeling as though he had survived a disaster.

But life's ups and downs could sometimes come that abruptly.

A considerable commotion broke out at the entrance to the hall. Everyone stopped talking almost instinctively and looked in that direction. A group of people dressed in black coats marched in from there in neat formation.

Fang Heng's mind was still a little dazed at the time, and he did not react immediately. He even thought to himself, These uniforms look pretty familiar.

But someone beside him nearly blasted him out of his chair with a single remark. "Aren't those people from the Stargate Special Operations Team? What are they doing here?"

Fang Heng nearly fled on the spot.

Today's chapter is five thousand words.

And while I'm at it, I recommend the book Secret Pact. The author is a cute guy. Also, the books I recommend tend to be fairly niche—some people may like them, while others may not—so please don't be too harsh.