161: While others are busy purifying, he eats a chicken drumstick first
Forging Master Guild.
“Autumn Leaf, hurry and enter the arena, it’s time.”
Autumn Leaf’s grandfather reminded her in a low voice from the audience.
“Old Master Qiu, Autumn Leaf knows you’re bound to lose. Are you perhaps too afraid to even step onto the stage?”
“Ah… the Qiu Family isn’t capable themselves, and they don’t have any external help. Why not just forfeit directly?”
“Exactly. Saint Master Lukas supports the Lin Family. What’s left for your Qiu Family to struggle for?”
But it still drew a burst of laughter from the Lin Family members.
Many people’s eyes showed an expression of waiting to see a good show, as if they had already witnessed the Qiu Family yielding their position and the Lin Family taking the stage.
Even more people had already begun to extend olive branches to the Lin Family.
“Hmph! Whether we can win or not, we’ll only know after competing!”
Old Master Qiu snorted, though his heart was filled with bitterness, he still refused to back down verbally.
Autumn Leaf looked at the countdown, which had less than 20 seconds remaining, and a wry smile appeared on her face.
She slowly turned around, intending to enter the competitor’s area.
However, just then, a voice suddenly sounded behind her.
“Sorry, I’m late.”
This voice was nothing short of heavenly music to Autumn Leaf.
She spun around abruptly and saw a somewhat disheveled Lin Ling standing behind her.
“Not late, not late, please hurry into the arena.” Autumn Leaf said excitedly.
Lin Ling nodded and strode in.
His appearance immediately drew a chorus of questions.
“Who is this person?”
“Where did this kid come from? This is a grand event for the Forging Master Guild. How did a disheveled kid get in?”
“Guards, why are you letting just anyone in?”
A clamor of voices rose, and a guard immediately ran in from outside.
“Everyone, his identity has been verified. He is the Qiu Family’s specially invited Forging Master, and he flew in on a Dragon Nest ace fighter jet.”
The guard wiped sweat from his forehead and said.
“Hiss…”
At these words, many people gasped.
“Flying a Dragon Nest ace fighter jet?”
“That’s at least a Dragon Nest elite.”
“No wonder he’s wearing a military uniform. So he’s from Dragon Nest, maybe even a prodigy from the War God Hall.”
Many in the crowd cast benevolent glances towards Lin Ling, clearly intending to befriend him.
Seeing this, Lin Fan, the head of the Lin Family, immediately darkened his expression.
“Hmph!”
“So what if he’s from Dragon Nest? What if his main Professional talent is strong? This is the Forging Master Guild’s election competition. What can a soldier do here?”
As soon as these words were spoken, many people immediately came to their senses.
“That’s right, this is a Forging Master competition, not a martial arts contest.”
“Kid, if you’re here to cheer on Miss Autumn Leaf, you should be in the audience.”
“Little fellow, you might have also cultivated the Forging Master profession, but the weakest ones present now are all Fourth Rank Forging Masters. You’d better not get involved.”
Several family heads in the audience spoke tactfully.
However, what they didn’t expect was that Lin Ling merely cupped his hands slightly towards them, then strode towards the competitor’s area.
“Thank you all for the reminder. I am representing the Qiu Family in today’s Forging Master competition.”
Lin Ling’s actions immediately made some audience members shake their heads, but they were too lazy to say more.
At the referee’s stand, President Tang smiled and looked at Qiu Duanhong, “President Qiu, is this perhaps your trump card?”
However, he soon realized that Qiu Duanhong’s eyes were filled with confusion, clearly, he also didn’t know what act this was.
Lucas shook his head, choosing to ignore Lin Ling’s appearance entirely.
“Time’s up! All competitors, begin purifying your enchantment stones. You have 30 minutes. Within the allotted time, whoever purifies an enchantment stone with higher purity will receive more points.
The first place will receive three points, second place two points, and third place one point.
After three rounds of competition, the one with the highest points will become the champion of this Forging Master competition, and their representative force will become the new head of the Kyoto Blacksmiths Association.
Furthermore, the champion side can demand a high-grade item crafting blueprint from the losing side, or a skill demonstrated by the losing side during the forging process.
Alright, the competition begins now!”
As the host’s words fell, a huge countdown on the wall immediately began to tick.
The competitors also immediately began purifying.
But soon people realized that two people had not yet made a move.
One was Borg, wearing a Grandmaster’s golden robe.
He held a pot of tea in his hand, sipping it while observing the techniques of others purifying enchantment stones.
And in his seemingly calm gaze, there was a deep hint of disdain.
This was the contempt of a possessor of advanced technology for the backward.
Many in the audience saw this hint of disdain, and they felt very uncomfortable, but no one could do anything.
Since ancient times, the law of the jungle, where the weak are preyed upon and the backward are beaten, has been the unchanging truth of this world.
The other person who hadn’t moved was Lin Ling.
He directly took out a fried chicken leg and a can of cola from his storage space.
He was currently devouring them with great gusto, making a “wah-wah” sound.
He ate with such relish that many people’s salivary glands began to secrete rapidly.
“Is this kid here to be funny?”
“Did he start a live stream on his phone, intentionally trying to gain traffic?”
“Never mind him, in any case, it’s the Qiu Family’s reputation that’s being tarnished.”
Everyone shook their heads with wry smiles.
And while Lin Ling ate, his gaze also fell on the other people’s operating tables.
In a blink of an eye, five minutes passed, and Lin Ling finally finished a chicken leg and a can of cola.
“Burp…”
As his satisfied burp sounded, all the competitors couldn’t help but frown.
And on the big screen at this moment, many people had already completed their refining.
[First Place: Wang Defa (Wang Family) Loss Rate: 30%]
[Second Place: Qian Duoduo (Qian Family) Loss Rate: 31%]
[Third Place: Tang Ritian (Tang Family) Loss Rate: 33%]
Just then, Borg moved. He quickly began to purify the enchantment stone, rapidly engraving runes that resembled constellations.
Each rune had five dazzling stars.
In less than a minute, when six starry runes appeared on the enchantment stone, a red light instantly illuminated.
The first place position immediately changed to Borg’s name.