While Mo Tan didn't particularly believe Cordova possessed such noble and rigid character, the last message he received still shocked him quite a bit.
It could already be said to be blatant shamelessness!
However, no matter what, the idea of getting Cordova to fill out the numbers seemed unfeasible. After all, the system's restrictions were there, and even if he wanted to participate, there was nothing he could do.
"Why don't I watch you guys play first?" Ji Xiaoge, however, smiled at Mo Tan, saying indifferently, "Anyway, I don't have much combat power. Even if I team up with everyone, I'll mostly just be a burden."
This was the first and last time she would say such a thing. It wasn't that the girl became arrogant in the future due to various reasons; it was mainly because at that time, she really couldn't bring herself to make any more statements like 'I don't have much combat power'...
Mo Tan shook his head. He felt that although Ji Xiaoge said she didn't mind being a substitute, she actually quite wanted to play with everyone. After all, he had seen her eagerness just now, and besides, he didn't think Ji Xiaoge had no combat power.
In fact, in some sense, her combat power was not weak at all.
So, even though he didn't know why the girl, who was devoted to cooking, was so interested in fighting in the Arena, Mo Tan still didn't agree to her suggestion. Instead, he shook his head slightly, rested his chin on his hand, and began to ponder.
A moment later, his eyes suddenly lit up!
"Everyone, wait a moment, I have an idea," Mo Tan suddenly said, then immediately opened his friends list and sent a message to someone.
And soon received a reply from the other party~
'Hmm, thank you for inviting me! But is it really okay...? I feel so weak...' — Lu Jiang
Mo Tan immediately expressed that he had no objections, then nodded to his companions beside him and said with a smile, "I've found a teammate. He'll be here any moment..."
"I'm here~ Ah!" A particularly unconfident voice rang out in front of everyone, then, accompanied by a startled cry, it vanished.
Ji Xiaoge turned around immediately, blinking hard. "There's no one there."
Indeed, there was no one at the place where the startled cry had come from, nothing but the large pit Cordova had dug earlier... Wait, a large pit?!
Mo Tan quickly rushed to the edge of the pit, then leaned over to look down.
A completely emerald green 'giant' dragon, the size of a mouse, was desperately flapping its wings, hovering in mid-air, staring wide-eyed at him.
"Lu Jiang, you're so fast," Mo Tan reached out and picked up the dragon in front of him, then turned and gestured to everyone. "He's here."
Jia Deka's jaw dropped with a 'snap', and he quickly patted Ya Ya's shoulder hard.
Ya Ya nodded, then delivered an elbow strike to Jia Deka's face. With another 'crunch' sound, Jia Deka's jaw was fixed, but his face was swollen.
"What the hell is this!?" The Old Mage, clutching his aching face, pointed at the little dragon in Mo Tan's hand and asked, sucking in a cold breath, "Is it premature, damn it?"
Ya Ya, meanwhile, darted in front of Lu Jiang, who had transformed into a dragon, wrinkling her little nose and sniffing around him, then tilted her head in confusion. "Woof Woof?"
【This girl has a keen nose!】
Mo Tan and Ji Xiaoge, who knew the other party's identity, couldn't help but think simultaneously.
"What 'Woof Woof'?" Jia Deka was still in a daze. He stared blankly at Ya Ya. "You know this... I mean, this... Okay, this dragon?"
Mo Tan helplessly shook the mini-dragon in his hand, which was struggling and howling in front of Ya Ya's nose. "It's no use screaming your head off; no one understands. Change back first!"
Lu Jiang had been shouting 'I don't taste good', 'men and women should keep their distance', 'humans and dogs are different species' for a long time, but because the sound he was making was a dragon's roar, only Mo Tan could understand him.
The mini-green dragon instantly stiffened, then flapped (you see how we describe it) its wings and flew out of Mo Tan's hand, struggling to hover in mid-air for a long time before flopping onto the ground with a 'splat', turning into a constantly churning green gelatinous blob.
"Uh..."
Jia Deka also reacted at this point, turning his head to Mo Tan and asking blankly, "Is this Lu Jiang?"
Ji Xiaoge, standing beside the latter, nodded cheerfully, pointing at the constantly wiggling thing and saying, "Yes, that's Lu Jiang."
"Under my suggestion, he's currently learning the High-Rank Druid shapeshifting spell," Cordova said loudly, hands on his hips, with a proud expression. "It's already showing initial results!"
Mo Tan gave him a look that said, 'I think you're just screwing him over.'
Then Cordova, citing that Lu Wei still needed him, jumped into a nearby hole and ran away.
As the floor was gradually repaired by some force, Lu Jiang finally managed to transform back into human form.
"Hello, everyone..."
The boy with a girl's appearance and a girl's heart, in a very girlish way, softly greeted the four people in front of him, blushing inexplicably for some reason. "I... I accidentally fell into the pit just now."
"And then you turned into a dragon?" Jia Deka, who seemed unusually excited for some reason, asked impatiently, "Did you really learn how to turn into a dragon?"
Lu Jiang uncomfortably adjusted her dark blue dress, stammering, "I can manage, but there are still many flaws."
"It's normal to have flaws; you've only been learning for a few days!" Jia Deka shook his head vigorously, saying decisively, "As long as it's strong enough! Tsk tsk, Tian Zhu Mountain is really amazing!"
Lu Jiang lowered her head and whispered, "It's not strong at all."
Jia Deka looked disbelieving. "You're too modest. In the past few centuries, the number of Druids who could transform into dragons combined doesn't exceed a hundred, and they're all very powerful!"
Lu Jiang held out her hands, indicating a distance of a few centimeters. "Only this big..."
"There's no helping that, after all, there are more people here, so it's not very convenient to display it," Jia Deka smacked his lips, then chuckled happily, "But the Arena's venue is very spacious. You can get as big as you want then."
"Can't get big..."
Lu Jiang was so anxious she was almost crying.
Jia Deka reacted for a moment. "Huh?"
"Lu Jiang has indeed learned how to transform into a dragon," Mo Tan explained with a dry laugh from the side. "However, he can't control the size after transformation. Yesterday, we tried with him for a long time, but he couldn't break through 7 centimeters."
Ji Xiaoge also nodded, adding, "In terms of combat power, he's probably a two-eight split with Lu Wei's harmless experimental hamsters, he's the two."
"I'm not the two!" Lu Jiang protested softly. "And later, I could barely manage a four-six split."
Jia Deka: "..."
One minute later
"Adult Cordova didn't come today either?" The Dwarf Miss asked Mo Tan with extreme disappointment, her tone full of grievance and resentment. "Didn't he already return to Tian Zhu Mountain?"
Mo Tan nodded with a dry laugh. "He seems a bit busy, but I've already told him to visit often when he's free."
"Alright, maybe Adult Cordova is just a little shy," The Dwarf Miss stroked her neat, clean beard and smiled sweetly. "Unexpectedly a bit innocent..."
A bone-chilling coldness, like autumn winds sweeping fallen leaves, brushed over them. Even Ji Xiaoge couldn't manage a smile.
"Ahem," Mo Tan cleared his throat, quickly getting to the point. "Well, the five of us want to play a team battle, so we'd like to ask for your help with registration."
He had already learned the rules for multi-person battles from Jia Deka and Ya Ya: simply register a nominal team, complete some paperwork, and that was it. Everything else was similar to solo battles, with no other requirements except that they also had to start from the Noob Arena.
"Forming an Arena team, right? No problem." The Dwarf Miss nodded crisply, operating the magic crystal board in front of her with lightning speed, then looked up and asked, "The members are the five of you, correct? And those two little girls, you haven't been here before, so please register your basic information first."
She was referring to Ji Xiaoge and Lu Jiang.
Half a minute later, the skilled Dwarf Miss had quickly completed the registration for both of them, then looked at the magic crystal board in front of her and read, "New five-person Arena team, members are Engineer Ye Ge, Druid Lu Jiang, Mage Jia Deka, Warrior Ya Ya, and Knight Mo Tan, correct?"
All five nodded in unison.
"And the name?" The Dwarf Miss gently tapped the table.
Mo Tan looked at the four people around him. "I'm fine with anything, as long as it's normal."
Lu Jiang whispered, "I'm fine with anything too."
Ji Xiaoge spread her hands. "My naming talent is inherited from my dad; it's terrible."
Jia Deka also expressed indifference.
Ya Ya was spacing out.
"Hurry up and decide. If you're all indifferent, just say something," The Dwarf Miss began to urge them, seeing a few people queuing behind.
Everyone looked at each other...
"Silver Hand.", "Forest Watchers.", "Edge Walker.", "Jia Ya Ge Lu Mo.", "Woof?"
And gave five completely different answers.
The Dwarf Miss rolled her eyes. "You guys need to be consistent."
"Forest Watchers."
"Edge Walker."
"Jia Ya Ge Lu Mo."
"Edge Walker."
"Woof?"
Aside from Ya Ya, everyone else mentioned names previously brought up by others, but unfortunately, they still weren't unified.
"Hurry up!" The Miss started to get impatient. Her sharp little eyes swept over the somewhat awkward group one by one, then she picked the calmest one. "You, you're the one! Tell me what the name is!"
Ya Ya, who had been chosen, looked bewildered. "Woof?"
"Woof?" The Dwarf Miss was also bewildered. She looked down at the magic crystal board in front of her, muttering, "I remember a one-character team name isn't allowed, right? Oh, wait, where's my rulebook...? Hmm, anyway, do you want to reconsider?"
Mo Tan and the others were already petrified.
Ya Ya also reacted at this point, quickly shaking her head vigorously. "Woof!"
Anyone with eyes could tell she meant 'Don't let me do it!', but...
The Dwarf Miss, who was busy rummaging for her manual, had her head down at this moment!
So...
Unable to find the rulebook, she showed a relieved smile, then, before Mo Tan and the others could object, she quickly completed the operation on the magic crystal board, immediately grabbed a blank piece of paper beside her and slapped it onto the board. After imprinting a few simple lines of data, she picked up the stamp beside her and pressed it down!
"Done!"
Mo Tan, Ji Xiaoge, Jia Deka, Lu Jiang: "..."
Ya Ya: "Woof?"
The four large characters for 【Wang Wang Squad】 on it were exceptionally glaring.
Mo Tan, at this moment, felt like he was going blind.
"Alright, take these badges and go fight," The Dwarf Miss quickly put the registration data into a nearby cabinet, then pulled out five adorable little chicken badges from inside and placed them on the table, calling out with great amiability, "Next!"
...
Ten minutes later
Tianzhushan Grand Arena, Basement Level 1, Noob Arena
Mo Tan looked at Lu Jiang and Jia Deka in front of him, then at Ya Ya, who was pulling her ears and looking pitiful, and said with a wry smile, "I think this name is actually pretty good~"
"Pfft ha ha ha... Yeah... Hahahaha, I also think it's quite unique, Wang Wang Squad, pfft ha ha ha!" Ji Xiaoge, who had been laughing since just now, was quite open-minded. This girl was always cheerful.
Lu Jiang sighed. "I'll go learn how to turn into a dog later; that should make it more fitting."
Jia Deka complained with extreme sorrow, "How could that receptionist be so irresponsible! I clearly said 'Jia Ya Duo' back then, and she gave us 'Dentures', and this time it's even worse than last time..."
"Woof, I was wrong..." Ya Ya mumbled dejectedly, "Woof, I'm sorry."
Ji Xiaoge quickly put her arm around the beast-eared girl's shoulder and began to comfort her.
After fussing for a while, Mo Tan saw that everyone's spirits had improved slightly, so he motioned for everyone to gather by the crystal in front of them, pulling out their badges to prepare for matchmaking.
【Three sets of opponents have been matched for you all】
【Please choose your opponent: Fu Lu Five Babies Team / Silver Elbow Team / We Just Want To See How Long A Team Name Can Be Team】
【This crystal is touch-operated, please don't be silly and stand there reading out names】
Mo Tan, Ji Xiaoge, and Lu Jiang exchanged glances, then simultaneously pointed at the team with the longest name: "This one!"
"I have no objections," Jia Deka swung his arm, laughing, "Any opponent is fine!"
"Woof, no Woof-jections!" Ya Ya also laughed.
And so...
A few seconds later, a soft, pleasant voice echoed throughout the Noob Arena.
"A new five-on-five team match is about to begin, featuring the Noob Arena rookie team... Holy crap... Ahem, I mean the 【Wang Wang】 Squad, against the 【We Just Want To See How Long A Team Name Can Be】 team, with fifteen wins, eight losses, one draw, and six losses."
In the not-so-crowded audience stands, the big-nosed Goblin who was previously keen on running the side bets jumped up again, shouting, "Bets are open, bets are open! Rookie team versus that ridiculously long-named team, odds 5:2, hurry up and place your bets... Oh wait! Aren't those two the 'Dentures' who played the self-mutilation style before? Odds 2:5! 2:5!!!"
At the same time, Mo Tan, Ji Xiaoge, and Lu Jiang all heard the system prompt sound in their ears.
【Special Quest Activated: Win a team match in the Tianzhushan Grand Arena. Quest Reward: Optional EXP ???, Excellent Quality Equipment * 1.】
Chapter 148: End