The sudden waves of gasps from the crowd made Jita frown.
He covered his ears with his hands. Meanwhile, the Paparal crossbowman walked beside him, somehow having escaped Tianlan's clutches. He took a crunchy bite from the apple in his hand and commented, "Why does this seem even livelier than the main event?"
Luo Yu also looked curiously toward the arena, but all he could see were layers upon layers of backs blocking whatever was happening inside. Not far ahead, Tianlan was waving at them. "Come on, over here!"
Over there, Etila was frowning at the French girl.
Only then did Tianlan cautiously turn around. She grabbed Etila's hand in a somewhat ingratiating manner and shook it coquettishly. "Parker's awake, Sister Etila."
Etila could not help but laugh.
Though she still put on a stern face and said, "Don't use Parker as a shield," the smile in her clear emerald-green eyes could not be hidden beneath her gently furrowed slender brows.
Tianlan secretly checked her expression and knew she had gotten away with it. She threw herself into Etila's arms, rubbing her little face against her soft, fragrant body as she murmured, "Hooray, Sister Etila!"
Etila shook her head helplessly and affectionately patted her hair.
"Where's Brother Ed?" Tianlan asked, looking up.
"He goes by Shaya now." Only then did Etila turn to look toward the arena.
Fang Heng was walking up from the contestants' area with a Clockwork Sprite in each hand.
Since there were seven people in the second group, he, as the last contestant to take the field, was effectively competing alone. Thus, nearly every gaze in the vast arena was fixed on him.
Tianlan watched the scene curiously. "Look, it's Brother Ed," she whispered to Luo Yu, who had just come up behind her.
Luo Yu nodded to indicate that he had seen him.
"But why does everyone seem so quiet?" Tianlan looked around in confusion.
Etila did not answer.
In the arena, although Contestant Number Six's earlier performance had stunned everyone, people had not forgotten Fang Heng's even more breathtaking display before that. Nor had they forgotten his spectacular Short-Range Takeoff and Four-Winged Dance, or the enchanting Sprite Dance amid the thorny brambles.
Not to mention that ridiculous deliberate loss. It had truly left a deep impression—
Everyone was looking forward to Fang Heng delivering something even more surprising. Some had even opened the Chasing Sprite function in the Chosen System.
But Fang Heng knew nothing of this. He was passing Contestant Number Six when the latter paused before him and quietly looked up at him. Beneath the low brim of his hood and his silver hair was a cold, beautiful gaze that made Fang Heng freeze.
"Um..." He was about to ask something, but the other party had already passed him. A strange, lingering fragrance hung in the air, like roasted dragon's bloodwood. Only the Forest Dwellers of Luotao liked wearing such ornaments.
Fang Heng looked back, but the young man had already disappeared into the crowd.
Only then did the referee signal for him to prepare. Fang Heng had no choice but to set aside his doubts and nod. As usual, he prepared to link the Core Crystals of the Clockwork Sprite Type IIs, but at that very moment—
His heart skipped a beat.
Fang Heng suddenly realized that he had forgotten something.
After the dial, Silver Rails, and Core Crystal from his Flexible Control Gloves had been dismantled to make the Walker, only two Silver Rails remained. Since two had always been enough, he had somehow overlooked this problem.
But using two Silver Rails to control two Clockwork Sprites?
What kind of joke was this?
Fang Heng's mind buzzed, and cold sweat immediately broke out.
He did not want to draw attention, but that did not mean he did not want the prize money. He had planned to use it to repay Miss Etila and the others. Winning the qualifiers had been his goal.
And this was not merely about winning. Two Silver Rails simply could not control two Clockwork Sprites. Given his earlier performance, if he suddenly could not even manage dual control now, would anyone believe him?
Wouldn't that be more like trying to hide something and attracting even more attention? Fang Heng had caused that earlier misunderstanding because he could not gauge the skill level of First World artificers, but that did not mean he lacked analytical ability.
Just as he was considering what to do, the gnome referee blew his whistle.
His mind went blank. On the Rail Control Panel, each vertical rail represented a Clockwork Sprite's pitch, while each horizontal rail represented its horizontal posture. Four Silver Rails to control one Clockwork Sprite was a fairly common setup, while two Silver Rails was the minimum requirement for controlling a single Clockwork Sprite.
Any less than that was not something skill could make up for. It was simply impossible.
If anyone else had stood there in a daze, the crowd would have erupted in boos. Yet at this moment, everyone inside and outside the arena merely waited quietly for his next move.
Fortunately, Fang Heng had some quick wits. With a light lift of his hand, he sent one Clockwork Sprite into the air first. In an instant, he had formed a plan—he recalled Blood Night Demon Moon's earlier trick.
He would rely on System Custody—
The construct with its gleaming brass shell vibrated its four wings and took off. Before it could even reach full height, it suddenly traced a sharp downward curve.
The crowd gasped, thinking it was an operational error—but in truth, the system had taken over the Clockwork Sprite's flight posture. Because Fang Heng's calculation attribute was too low, the system could not independently operate all four wing surfaces, which was why it began to descend.
Using Fang Heng's limited calculation attribute, it did its best to adjust the Clockwork Sprite's flying posture. Fang Heng watched as the calculation attribute under Intelligence on his status panel fell from 47... to 39... 22... 13, before finally dropping to a single digit.
A warning appeared at the upper left of his vision:
Warning: Insufficient computational resources. Flexible Construct A (Clockwork Sprite Type II) flight posture is about to lose control.
But Fang Heng had already finished what he needed to do.
His middle, ring, and little fingers rose one after another like spreading wings, allowing the other Clockwork Sprite to take off steadily from his hand.
Then he immediately switched control targets and pulled up the falling Clockwork Sprite, wrenching it back at the very last moment before it struck the ground. At the same time, he silently called out, System, place the second Clockwork Sprite under custody—
The first Clockwork Sprite skimmed the ground in an arc before suddenly climbing, crossing paths with its companion that was descending toward the ground—
Then the process repeated over and over.
Two golden trails interwove in the air like undulating ripples, leaving everyone dumbstruck. They did not know what Fang Heng was facing. They only instinctively felt that his dual control was unstable. The Clockwork Sprites were even swaying and wobbling, constantly on the verge of disaster.
Yet they followed an astonishingly regular rhythm, always maintaining the same rising and falling frequency. One rose while the other fell, never making a mistake, and each was pulled up at the final, perilous instant, keeping everyone on edge.
At first, people thought Fang Heng was hiding his true ability—after all, he had a history of doing that. But after watching for a while, someone noticed the glittering sweat covering his neck.
"What's going on?"
"Could it be that he actually can't do dual control?" People began discussing it in confusion.
Boos even rose from all around.
The fat Eternal Worm had been watching Fang Heng's operation intently. He had clearly regarded Fang Heng and Contestant Number Six as major threats in the upcoming competition. But upon seeing this, his sparse brows rose, and the flesh on his face relaxed.
"Ha ha!" He became arrogant again and laughed loudly. "So this guy only knows single control. What kind of Combat Artificer only knows single control? With his calculation ability, he probably can't even operate something as simple as a Walker!"
"Shut your damn mouth!" Hudi, who was standing nearby, could not help snapping at the fat man's loud nonsense.
"Ha, isn't this Mr. Trash Combat Artificer?" Eternal Worm laughed smugly. "Can't you see for yourself? This is the first time I've seen someone whose dual control is even worse than yours. Tsk, tsk, tsk."
The two seemed fairly well-known here, and the people around them could not help but laugh softly at the fat man's words.
Hudi clenched his fists so tightly that his whole body trembled with rage.
Yet among the laughing crowd, only Mazak did not laugh. Zhang Tianmou did not laugh either, and his aide had already vanished. The man who stood like a giant tower turned around at that moment and asked again, "Is it him?"
This time, Zhang Tianmou shook his head. He did not understand why Mazak was always concerned about this young man. He merely glanced at Fang Heng and paid him no further attention.
These people did not know Fang Heng's level, but he did—
A level-three Combat Artificer who could achieve dual control to this extent was certainly not bad. But to someone like him, who had seen countless geniuses, it was nothing remarkable. Besides, with the "target" already before him, he had no energy to spare for a Combat Artificer who was merely "decent."
Leave him to the Major Guilds. It depended on whether they had the eye for talent.
Only Mazak's silent gaze remained fixed on Fang Heng as he answered in a deep, steady voice, "That's good."
"That's good?" Zhang Tianmou was slightly taken aback and turned back to him.
Mazak shook his head and quietly said, "You don't need to interfere in this matter." With that, he took a step back and placed his right hand over the bone pendant on his chest.
A calm, solemn voice seemed to emerge from beneath his chest. "The long winter approaches. We swear here—"
A deep rumble swept over the hall, as though a massive shadow were passing overhead.
But no one noticed.
In the arena, the control rails hummed and spun beneath the covering cloth. Fang Heng was completely focused, not daring to relax in the slightest. He did not know whether anyone had ever faced the same situation as him—but this was undoubtedly the harshest challenge he had encountered since entering this world.
Sweat poured down like rain as the two Flexible Rails constantly shifted positions, always controlling the flight paths of the two Clockwork Sprites.
It might not have been dazzling or elegant, but it was the ultimate clash of calculation and judgment. With every shift, Fang Heng had only a fraction of a second to make his decision.
There was no room for even one mistake.
And at that very moment—
He seemed to hear an illusion, a piercing shriek from the depths of his soul. The mark on the back of his hand suddenly became scorching hot and even began to glow. Fang Heng groaned, and the Clockwork Sprite in the course suddenly lost control, spinning forward—
It was about to crash into the wall of the course.
Fang Heng could no longer worry about anything else. He shouted in his heart, Miss Tata!
Blue light bloomed across his vision, and a line of text appeared:
Dragon Knight System activated—
Eternal Worm was still commenting smugly to the others. "Time's already running out. Hoh—he even made a mistake. Now this is getting interesting. Looks like your friend is only at your level too, Mr. Trash Artificer."
Hudi simply ignored him and watched Fang Heng nervously.
Not far away, Tianlan cried out in alarm and instinctively covered her mouth.
Everyone saw the moment Fang Heng's Clockwork Sprite suddenly spun out of control. Eternal Worm was about to add a few more mocking remarks, but the instant he opened his mouth, he could not close it again—
The spinning Clockwork Sprite suddenly hovered in midair in an almost impossible posture. It reversed its spin and adjusted itself back into a normal posture in a bizarre manner.
Eternal Worm could not even understand how its wing surfaces had operated. It seemed to violate the fundamental laws of physics in this world.
There was only one thing in this world capable of such calculations and reactions.
The Clockwork Sprite stopped in midair, and Tata's calm voice sounded in Fang Heng's mind. "If we want to place in the top four, we must make up the time. Knight, follow me—"
The Clockwork Sprite suddenly became a streak of golden light and shot forward.
"So fast..."
Even Fang Heng could not help thinking that.
He knew that an Artificial Dragon Soul possessed the strongest computational ability in this world. It was the natural operator of the most complex Dragon Knight Constructs, so controlling a tiny Clockwork Sprite should naturally be effortless.
But he had not expected her to be this incredible.
Instead, it stirred the young man's competitive spirit. He gritted his teeth and shut out every sound and distraction around him, including the burning mark on the back of his hand. "Miss Tata, I'm coming!"
The four wing surfaces of the Clockwork Sprite suddenly spread wide.
It followed as another golden streak, chasing after the first. One after the other, they flew around the bend. Everyone saw only two rays of light shooting out from it.
"One minute and eleven seconds." The gnome referee pressed his brass stopwatch.
The first half had taken fifty-four seconds, while the more difficult second half had taken only seventeen seconds.
The venue fell deathly silent.
If Fang Heng had been a top combat professional from the Second World, perhaps people might have considered one possibility—Dragon Knight.
But he was only a newcomer.
Thus, even Eternal Worm could only stand there in a daze and mutter, "Cheating... This is definitely cheating... It's impossible to recover from that posture!"
Everyone else felt the same.
The moment the two Clockwork Sprites crossed the finish line, they tumbled to the ground. Fang Heng was nearly exhausted, as if he had been pulled from the water. He could not even control the Clockwork Sprites well enough to retrieve them.
Supporting himself against the table, he caught his breath and immediately pulled off his glove to inspect the mark on the back of his hand. But the mark looked perfectly normal. It was neither glowing nor hot.
Fang Heng looked around in confusion. It seemed no one had noticed what had happened earlier.
"An illusion?" he wondered faintly.
Only then did he see Hudi waving to him from not far away.
"Well done!" Hudi was the only person in the crowd looking completely vindicated as he shouted, "Your opponent in the next match is that dead fatso. Teach him a proper lesson for me!"
Only then did Fang Heng realize that he had passed the second round. But out of habit, he checked his equipment, and his heart sank slightly. He moved his Flexible Rail Gloves and discovered that one of the last two Silver Rails had broken.
The pressure from the earlier operation must have been too great, far exceeding its original workload.
Fang Heng stood there, looking at the glove that was essentially scrapped. For a moment, he was at a loss. What was he supposed to do next? He did not even hear Tianlan excitedly shouting at him from the other side.
Then, at that moment, an abrupt and suicidal voice rang out:
"Cheating!" The fat man had been watching Fang Heng's every move. He suddenly screamed, "There must be something wrong with those gloves! Referee, I demand that you inspect his gloves!"
Fang Heng turned around and stared at the man in disbelief.
Before you continue