Target Appears

Fang Heng sat obediently in his seat, fidgeting like a child who had made a mistake.

Hudi circled him, looking him up and down curiously. "That's Four-Winged Dance, you don't know it?"

Fang Heng looked at him and shook his head blankly. What Four-Winged Dance? Hudi professionally pushed his glasses up, the lenses flashing with a reflection. "How could you not know? Didn't you just use it?"

"Use, use what?"

"The technique of activating four wings simultaneously to make the Clockwork Sprite take flight."

Fang Heng suddenly understood and retorted, "Are you talking about the 'Flap Wings' technique?"

'Flap Wings' was the academic name given to this skill by Roken J. Rodlinka. It was also the name of a beetle species in Luotao language. Incidentally, Ms. Rodlinka was a highly sought-after cat-person woman and an entomologist in her time.

Hudi lowered his voice. "It's all the same. That's a skill only professional Combat Artificers know. You didn't know?"

Fang Heng blinked.

He looked a bit innocent.

He had learned this technique from a video by 'King of Ash.' FOX had said it was a basic introductory skill—Fang Heng had never doubted that.

However, at this moment, he realized he might have made a cognitive error.

As the tactical captain of North America's largest club, the C-E Club, and ranked fifth in the Second World as a Combat Artificer, 'King of Ash' FOX's understanding of basic introductory skills clearly differed from the average person's.

The average person's basic introductory skills referred to the introductory skills for Combat Artificers, which were written in black and white in the Chosen Combat Artificer Handbook.

But FOX's basic introductory skills were the introductory skills for top-tier Combat Artificers in the Second World.

After realizing this.

Fang Heng immediately understood how 'reliable' his previous performance had been.

He only had to imagine the scene to wish he could disappear into a crack in the earth.

He had even felt good about himself, holding back—under everyone's watchful eyes, he could imagine what kind of gaze everyone in the audience had given him.

Yes, he could completely imagine it.

That feeling was all too familiar.

Because Miss Scarpe often looked at him like that—that was probably what people called embarrassing.

No wonder Hudi had looked at him with such a strange expression after he came down.

Fang Heng felt like he could cry without tears.

He couldn't help but look around, suspiciously believing that everyone's gaze was fixed on him, and that people were still whispering. This made him feel even more ashamed, his face burning. He rubbed his face vigorously before calming down slightly.

He asked somewhat stubbornly, "...Was my previous performance very noticeable?"

"It was alright," Hudi replied. "You didn't see the referee's expression. That short guy almost swallowed his whistle."

He couldn't help but laugh as he said it, patting Fang Heng's shoulder. "But you're really something else, man. You didn't see how ugly that fat guy's face got, haha, he probably never got shut down like that before."

"He even threatened you, you know," Hudi said, imitating the Eternal Worm's expression vividly. "Don't wet your pants from fear later—"

"Haha," he almost doubled over with laughter. "Do you know who scared whom into wetting their pants?"

Fang Heng looked speechlessly at the mischievous guy.

After a while, he asked, "Hudi, let me ask you another question..."

"Ask away, man," Hudi replied, patting his chest. "Not just one question, ten questions are fine."

Fang Heng wasn't in the mood to joke with him and asked, "Do you know the Star Gate Commando?"

"Of course, why?"

"Hypothetically, let's say a tourist snuck out and was discovered by them, what would happen?"

Hudi couldn't help but touch his forehead. "Are you feeling alright, man? Of course, they'd be repatriated. Does that even need asking?"

"Oh—"

Hearing the unsurprising answer, Fang Heng gulped, his heartbeat skipping a beat.

He couldn't help but subconsciously glance around—fortunately, he didn't see any military personnel.

Even more fortunately, Hudi didn't dwell on the topic, as the organizers were already preparing the venue for the second match. Everyone walked over, gathering to listen to the dwarf referee explain the rules for the second round.

The second round was an elimination match, with stricter rules than the first assessment round, more points to note, and a time limit—the match had to be completed within three minutes.

The second round was also divided into groups, but only two groups. The qualifiers from the previous A and B groups were merged into one group, totaling nine people; the qualifiers from the C and D groups were merged into the second group, totaling eleven people. Although the number of people in each group was different, since it wasn't an official competition, the organizers didn't bother with balancing them.

There were a total of four spots to advance from the second elimination round, with the top two from each group qualifying. Due to the fewer spots, the prize money was increased to five thousand Sels.

However, this news didn't make most people happy.

Because the dwarf referee had just finished explaining the rules, and the last one immediately caused a stir among the contestants.

This round required contestants to control their Clockwork Sprites in a dual-control manner to complete the course—

People immediately began to complain:

"This is too outrageous..."

"Yeah, this is supposed to be a competition for Tier 2 and below..."

Fang Heng could actually understand their complaints. While dual control wasn't difficult for him, below level fifteen, Combat Artificers who could dual-control Clockwork Sprites were definitely among the best in their profession.

In fact, most Combat Artificers wouldn't truly master multi-control abilities and initially form combat power until level seventeen or eighteen.

However, complaints clearly wouldn't make the organizers change the rules. After their protests failed, those without dual-control abilities could only voluntarily withdraw from the competition. The number of people who withdrew slightly exceeded Fang Heng's expectations: seven in total.

After subtracting from the previous total, only thirteen participants remained on the field.

What surprised Fang Heng even more was that Hu Di was among them. Hu Di had previously bragged to him about his solid fundamentals. It seemed that his boasts weren't baseless; dual control, and even multi-control, was indeed an ability that heavily tested one's fundamentals.

After confirming the numbers, the organizers immediately cleared the arena. Due to the significant increase in operational difficulty, the arena for the second round of the competition was considerably simpler. Unlike the three stages in the first round, the second round had only one winding, transparent pipe. Participants simply needed to guide their Clockwork Sprites through the entire course within the allotted time.

Finally, their completion times would be recorded as their scores.

However, to speed up the competition's pace, two such arenas were set up, allowing two people to compete simultaneously. Among the first pair to compete, one was a somewhat thin man with a mole on his cheek, looking rather unsavory.

Fang Heng remembered this person; he was one of the three qualifiers from Group A, and his skill level was quite average. Honestly, his presence here was somewhat surprising to Fang Heng; this person's control skill was even inferior to Hu Di's.

The other competitor was the woman named Blood Night Demon Moon. Her entrance drew a round of whistles. She nonchalantly shook her hair and walked forward with great poise.

However, this woman did possess some skill. When the referee blew his whistle, she quickly made her Clockwork Sprites fly, one in front of the other, and successfully entered the pipe.

This brilliant maneuver naturally drew cheers.

But only Fang Heng saw a glint in his dark eyes at this moment. He noticed that the woman had actually taken a shortcut. Her own ability should have been insufficient for dual control, but she had utilized the system's assisted control function, controlling two Clockwork Sprites sequentially, one after the other, to barely achieve the effect of dual control.

This kind of dual control was meaningless in actual combat but was sufficient here.

Moreover, her control transitions were seamless, clearly indicating she had practiced for a long time. Outsiders might not have noticed it. If Fang Heng hadn't been so familiar with the movement trajectories of Clockwork Sprites, he wouldn't have noticed it either.

The other competitor, however, performed quite poorly. After making the first Clockwork Sprite fly, the man struggled for a long time to make the second one fly and ultimately had to concede.

Thus, in the first match, Blood Night Demon Moon became the first person to complete the course with a time of one minute and seventeen seconds.

This result drew a round of whistles.

Hu Di quietly told Fang Heng that such a time was not only remarkable for tonight but also for the entire past month. Fang Heng saw several people outside the arena who were companions of this woman, waving desperately and cheering loudly.

Blood Night Demon Moon also nodded to them before confidently returning to her seat with her Clockwork Sprites. She also cast a glance in Fang Heng's direction.

Fang Heng pretended not to see it.

He didn't dare to seek the spotlight now.

The loser, after dejectedly returning his Clockwork Sprite to the organizers, left the arena without looking back. This somewhat bleak scene undoubtedly cast a somber mood over the competition, even quieting the hushed whispers of the contestants.

The second match saw Hu Di take the stage. Fang Heng had been worried for him, but unexpectedly, Hu Di performed quite well, successfully completing the competition with a time of one minute and forty-seven seconds.

However, this time was unlikely to place him in the top two of his group. Hu Di knew there was a "fat guy" after him and shook his head after watching.

He walked back somewhat dejectedly and said to Fang Heng, "It's up to you now."

Fang Heng looked at him, unsure how to offer comfort, and could only nod.

Seeing his expression, Hu Di couldn't help but chuckle, "Buddy, you're really not modest at all—I know your single-control ability is good, but you must have heard that saying, right? 'The skill of controlling a single Flexible Construct doesn't represent your multi-control ability.' This is a widely circulated famous saying among Combat Artificers in the Second World."

Fang Heng had indeed heard this saying.

However, he didn't know how to explain his situation to Hu Di and could only nod helplessly again.

"You've got a good temper," Hu Di said, shaking his head as he sat down beside him.

Next was the third match, and both Hu Di's and Blood Night Demon Moon's records were indeed broken. The one who broke Blood Night Demon Moon's time record was naturally Eternal Worm. Although Fang Heng found him a bit mentally unstable, his skill was undeniably the best in Group A and B.

Unlike Blood Night Demon Moon, he was a true dual-controller and naturally completed the race with an advantage, finishing nearly ten seconds ahead of her.

As for the other participant, he also surpassed Hu Di's record with a time of one minute and thirty seconds. However, compared to the first and second-place times in the first group, his time was insignificant.

So, one minute and seven seconds remained the highest record from the first group's matches.

Without much further waiting, the fourth and fifth matches of Groups C and D followed. However, there was a minor incident in the fifth match, where both contestants collided with the pipe walls and were eliminated, drawing a round of boos from the audience.

These boos only subsided when the contestants for the sixth group entered the arena.

Because the contestant for the sixth group was the "Contestant Number Six," who was wrapped up from head to toe. People hadn't forgotten the spectacular battle between him and Fang Heng's Clockwork Sprites earlier.

He was also the top qualifier for Group D, though people at the time only remembered who the third-place finisher in Group D was.

The young man walked to the front with his Clockwork Sprite, quietly waiting for the referee's whistle. Then, he gently lifted the Sprite in his hand—two Sprites simultaneously flew up in nearly identical, graceful arcs, as if dancing side-by-side, twirling in mid-air.

They maintained a perfectly synchronized frequency, flying along the shortest path, tracing a beautiful arc into the pipe. They were so synchronized that to onlookers, they appeared as two golden trails merging into one, almost indistinguishable.

Silence fell.

People stared at the scene, stunned. It took several seconds before they reacted, erupting into a thunderous roar of exclamations—not because they were easily impressed, but because this time, they saw more than just Four-Winged Dance.

Nor was it just short-path takeoff.

It was the same maneuver under dual control, two instances of Four-Winged Dance and short-path takeoff.

Because the precision of the operation itself occupied the operator's focus, this meant that if this precision were omitted, the young man might have had spare capacity to control a third Clockwork Sprite—even if it was just a barely adequate control.

But triple control—

People were dumbfounded.

Triple control wasn't unheard of in the First World, but it shouldn't have occurred below Tier 3. As for those who could achieve triple control at Tier 2, one only needed to count down from the top of the Chosen ladder:

Every Combat Artificer within the top five hundred was one.

And beyond that, it might not be possible.

"That guy... doesn't look very old..."

After a long while, people seemed to finally register this fact.

Everyone's eyes sparkled, as if they had just witnessed the birth of a genius.

When Mazak parted the crowd and walked to the very front, this was exactly the scene he saw. Zhang Tianmou and his deputy squeezed in behind him, their gazes also falling on the young man.

When the latter saw this, his gaze immediately froze.

Three controls, this was absolutely not a coincidence.

"You didn't check this person before?" he immediately turned to ask his deputy.

The deputy shook his head in confusion, "I haven't seen him before. Where did this guy crawl out from?"

Zhang Tianmou immediately pulled out the crystal pendant from his collar, clenched it, and then relaxed—after the communication page popped up, he lowered his voice and said, "All units, pay attention, the target has appeared—"

At this moment, Mazak suddenly asked, "Is it him?"

His voice was very slow, as if slightly trembling.

Zhang Tianmou was about to say yes.

But then he stopped.

Because he realized that the man beside him, who was as towering as a giant tower, was not looking at their target.

He followed the other's gaze and saw the young man standing in the contestant area, preparing to enter the arena—judging by his movements, he was just a somewhat green, naive big boy.

If it weren't for the peculiar mask on his face.

He might have really thought so.

"Captain, it's that idiot," his deputy whispered beside him, "...He actually made it to the second round of the competition."

Zhang Tianmou nodded.

And at this very moment, the dwarf referee was holding a megaphone and shouting in a shrill voice:

"Contestant Number D12, please enter the arena quickly!"

Behind him, a little imp was hanging Contestant Number Six's result—forty-nine seconds.

Gasps of astonishment echoed.

Sorry, sorry, I was chatting too late in the group last night, so I'm embarrassed to ask for votes today. Alright, I'm being reasonable.