"Time to hunt!"

Taking advantage of the Hand and Foot Winged Dragon’s departure, Li Wei left the nest.

Using the visual feed from his Illusory Body, Li Wei stood at the edge of the nest and locked onto his target.

He leaped down.

The Shadow Attendant emerged from his back, grabbing his body and unfolding into a glider.

WHOOSH!

Li Wei glided in a swift dive toward his target.

A monitor at the Mage Association exclaimed, "We’ve found the Armored Man!"

"Oh no, he jumped!"

"Huh? What is that? A glider?"

Amidst a chorus of startled cries from the monitors, Li Wei flew steadily toward his target.

SWOOSH!

Hardy looked up as a powerful gust of wind blew overhead.

He saw a dark shadow flash past.

"What was that?"

While Hardy was still wondering, a dark shadow closed in on him unnoticed.

THUD!

Li Wei descended from the sky.

Hardy froze for a moment before instantly becoming alert and preparing to fight.

Li Wei looked at him and said, "Surrender. You’ve already lost."

Hardy felt a chill on his neck and glanced down.

A sharp claw rested against his throat, a hair’s breadth from killing him.

"What the hell is this thing?"

Hardy was completely stunned.

Once he came to his senses, he gave a wry smile. "I surrender," he said.

"Here are my Magic Cards."

Hardy took out three Magic Cards and tossed them to Li Wei.

Li Wei looked at him. "Two more," he said.

Hardy’s expression faltered. He couldn’t understand how the other man knew exactly how many Magic Cards he had.

Resigned, he had no choice but to hand over the remaining two Magic Cards.

Li Wei made a grasping motion, and the Magic Cards flew into his hand. He then turned and left.

After he vanished from Hardy’s sight, the Shadow Attendant also silently disappeared.

Hardy unconsciously touched his neck and sighed in resignation.

"What kind of monster is that?"

"Exit Secret Realm."

He was done struggling.

With Hardy’s five Magic Cards, Li Wei now held a total of twelve.

His rank rose from sixteenth to ninth.

That wasn’t a secure enough lead. Li Wei continued to search for prey.

He didn’t want to be overtaken at the last minute and lose his spot in the third round.

Using his overpowered abilities, Li Wei quickly found his second target.

A single Fireball Skill shattered their shield, and his Shadow Attendant closed in to tie them up, forcing them to surrender.

He obtained three Magic Cards.

Now holding fifteen Magic Cards, his rank rose to seventh.

"The Armored Man is making his move!"

"His rank is shooting up! Is he just robbing all the other contestants?"

"Fifth place. Has he stopped?"

Li Wei had robbed four people, bringing his Magic Card count to nineteen.

He was ranked fifth.

Fourth place: Savis, with 21 cards.

Third place: Lilith, with 23 cards.

Second place: Willie, with 26 cards.

First place: Russell, with 32 cards.

Willie was a dark horse who had only just started his explosive rise in the last two days.

His strategy was the same as Li Wei’s: hide his strength early on, then spend the last two days outright stealing Magic Cards from others.

A strategy like that required supreme confidence in one’s own strength.

The reason Li Wei’s rank had stopped climbing wasn’t that he’d stopped hunting other contestants.

He had run into Willie.

Li Wei looked at Willie, his expression one of surprise.

He had met Willie before.

Willie was the Enchanter who had enchanted his Invisibility Cloak for him.

Seeing Li Wei, Willie was also taken aback.

He recognized the Invisibility Cloak Li Wei was wearing.

Willie didn’t remember Li Wei’s name, but he knew he had been a customer.

Willie smiled. "Hey, what a coincidence. Didn’t expect to run into you here."

"Aren’t you an Enchanter?" Li Wei asked.

Willie replied, "My primary class is Mage. Enchanter is my secondary class."

Li Wei looked at the dark red Armor Willie was wearing. It felt incredibly familiar.

’Isn’t that my Ant King Armor?’

Li Wei asked, "What’s your relationship with Troska?"

He had previously sold the Ant King Armor to Master Blacksmith Troska.

Willie looked surprised. "You know my father?"

The corner of Li Wei’s eye twitched.

’Did I just arm the enemy?’

Seeing Willie’s Armor covered in Magic Patterns, Li Wei guessed this must be the Magic Armor Troska had spoken of.

’The Defense Power of a Tier Three Ant King.’

Li Wei had no desire to fight Willie.

’I could probably win, but it would be too much trouble.’

It dawned on Willie as well that the Ant King Armor might have come from the Armored Man.

At that thought, he also gave up on the idea of fighting the Armored Man.

’The Armored Man didn’t necessarily kill the Ant King himself. But anyone who could get their hands on it had to be incredibly strong. At this stage of the competition, there was no need to go head-to-head with someone that powerful. He still wanted to make it to the finals.’

So Willie said, "The competition’s still on. I should go look for Magic Cards. See you around."

Li Wei nodded in return. "See you."

The two parted ways, each going in a different direction.

This left the audience, who had been anticipating a huge battle, thoroughly disappointed.

"Fight! Why aren’t you fighting?!"

"Disappointing. So disappointing. Is this what I came here to see?"

"Damn it, why won’t they fight?"

These comments came from Mages who had been robbed by the two of them.

Gu Ze commented, "A wise move. Both are confident they’ll make it to the finals, so there’s no need for them to risk it all right now."

Rota said, "But they can’t see the rankings. The odds of them fighting should have been pretty high."

"Since they didn’t fight, there must be another reason," Rota analyzed.

As Li Wei searched for new prey, the rankings continued to change rapidly.

Every contestant was beginning their final sprint.

Half a day later, only fifteen contestants were left.

The lineup for the finals was becoming clear.

Li Wei was ranked second, behind Russell in first.

After his encounter with Willie, Li Wei deliberately slowed his hunting pace.

He wanted to avoid arousing suspicion from the observers.

If he managed to accurately find other contestants every single time, it would be glaringly obvious that something was wrong.

There was only one hour left before the end of the second round. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Li Wei looked up at the sky, watching the adult Hand and Foot Winged Dragon fly off into the distance.

The corner of his mouth curved into a slight smile.

’The competition’s almost over. I can’t just leave empty-handed, can I?’

Taking advantage of the adult Hand and Foot Winged Dragon’s absence, Li Wei climbed up into the nest.

Seeing an intruder, the three hatchlings instinctively spread their wings and bared their fangs, ready to attack.

But when they got a clear look and saw it was Li Wei, they flinched and huddled together, not daring to get any closer.

Li Wei paid the three hatchlings no mind and walked over to the Hand and Foot Winged Dragon egg.

"Object Control Skill."

A faint blue light enveloped the giant egg, and Li Wei left the Hand and Foot Winged Dragon’s nest, taking the egg with him.

Seeing Li Wei taking their unborn sibling, the three hatchlings managed to muster their courage and charged at him.

But one glare from Li Wei was enough to make them instantly lose their nerve.

They stopped in their tracks, hesitating to move forward.

They could only watch helplessly as Li Wei departed with the giant egg.

They let out helpless, mournful cries, calling for their mother.

WHOOSH!

A furious gust of wind swept in.

RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE!

The leaves overhead rustled wildly, and it seemed as though the great trees themselves would be blown away by the gale.

’I’ve been found.’

Li Wei looked up to see the adult Hand and Foot Winged Dragon returning to its nest.

Discovering its egg was missing, the Hand and Foot Winged Dragon went berserk.

"ROOOAR!"

The Hand and Foot Winged Dragon soared through the sky, searching for the little thief who had stolen its egg.