Chapter 78: Ultra-Realistic Attire, Go!

"Congratulations, Miss Artoria. You performed very well, and I hope you can keep it up in the future." One of the judges handed a summoning token to Artoria.

Not only was this item only usable by Zhao Tianhe, but more importantly, Artoria’s performance was undeniably the best of the event. If this were a shooting game, it would be as if she got the first kill and carried the team without dying.

As for the summoning token, so far only Pixie, some high-ranking members of the Dungeon Association, and Geros knew what it truly was. Anyone else who received it would only see a string of question marks—nothing but a pile of useless junk to them.

By this point in the competition, there was less than an hour left for Artoria’s two forms to remain active. She could participate in at most one or two more rounds, and would at least have to miss the final speech and one more event, so the championship was out of reach.

Coincidentally, the next round was one that didn’t interest her at all, so she simply forfeited.

In the end, Artoria only took part in four rounds of the competition, but she was champion in three of them—even though there were over a dozen winners in the practical combat round.

Li Mei won the overall championship and was named Female Hero of the Year!

She hadn’t won any single event, but she had come in second in all of them, giving her the highest overall score.

Artoria might not have been the overall champion, but she had achieved the highest number of single-event victories, making her the focus of everyone’s attention. Quite a few people became instant fans.

Still, no matter how fervent the reporters and fans were, there was no way they could corner Artoria after she returned to her daily space.

Zhao Tianhe, full of excitement, returned to his hotel room, closed the door, pressed his palms together, and began to pray.

"Support! Support! Give me a support! Best if it’s some kind of cheat-level skill, a super support servant that can make me a superman! Teacher Merlin! Please save me!" With that, Zhao Tianhe chose to use his summoning token!

But then a golden border sent a shiver through his heart!

"Another secondary class? Don’t tell me my pool only has Artoria and Ereshkigal?" Zhao Tianhe thought, feeling a bit deflated and yet also a little guilty.

But reality proved something—how could there only be two servants in any pool?

The golden card gradually came into focus, but its strange shape left Zhao Tianhe utterly baffled.

On the card, a blue sky, white clouds, and a beach emerged, followed by a gigantic ice cream dessert platter sitting on a table. The enormous glass bowl, layered with vibrantly colored scoops of ice cream that looked like mountain ranges, took up most of the card. There was nothing else.

“What the…” Zhao Tianhe froze, staring blankly at the golden card as it shrank and landed on the ground. “A craft essence?!”

In the game FGO, servants—especially five-star SSR servants—are extremely hard to get. To fill up the card pool, unscrupulous game companies use these so-called craft essences, a type of equipment that adds some stats. Some craft essences have powerful effects that can even turn the tide of battle, with a few being more valuable than SSR servants themselves. But no matter what, everyone agrees on one thing: drawing a craft essence is a loss, it’s unlucky!

Zhao Tianhe suddenly recalled the bitter experience of spending a hundred pulls just to max out a limited craft essence, and he sighed as he began to examine the effect of this new item.

“Brilliant Summer Crown, Artoria Limited Craft Essence.

Special skill: Summon the ‘King’s Platter – Summer Crown.’ After Artoria consumes it, affection +10. Once it is fully eaten, she gains the special status ‘Satisfied Summer King.’

Skill cooldown: 48 hours.

Satisfied Summer King: Agility +5, Spirit +5, mana regeneration speed increases by 2 points per second, lasting for 10 minutes (switching job states does not interrupt this status).”

Zhao Tianhe looked at the craft essence, feeling both amused and curious.

“Should I summon it during tonight’s daily routine? Or maybe not—this special status is pretty powerful, best not to waste it. Even if it costs some affection, I shouldn’t use it frivolously.” He fused the card with himself, quickly discovering that he couldn’t actually use this craft essence; it could only be given directly to Artoria, binding to her.

However, only one craft essence can be bound to a single servant at a time, and if you remove it, you have to wait another twenty-four hours before rebinding. This particular craft essence could only be used if bound to Artoria.

"I absolutely cannot give it to her casually, or it’ll be wasted." Zhao Tianhe resolved that he would only hand over this craft essence before fighting a boss. "Fortunately, I have the privilege to detach craft essences at will—otherwise, this thing would only be good as a high-affection dessert every two days."

Though the result wasn’t ideal, Zhao Tianhe didn’t mind much—he’d seen plenty of good things today.

After going downstairs to the magic communication room to speak with Geros, he learned that their application for the B-rank dungeon had been approved. But he was still hesitating on which one to choose, wanting to investigate in person. Zhao Tianhe decided to stay in the royal capital for two more days to enjoy the once-every-five-years festival.

As for the sunken ship catacombs, another team of heroes had taken over the very day he set out.

In other news, after being examined by doctors and magical creature experts, it turned out Pixie really was about to evolve!

"I can’t believe she wasn’t just making it up…" Zhao Tianhe remarked with a smile. "But what will she evolve into?!"

"Who knows?" Geros also sounded incredulous. "You know, the ancestors of the elves were actually natural spirits who evolved incorrectly. The correct evolution would be the great spirits and spirit kings, but judging by her look, I’m afraid she’s going to evolve into a spirit pig… Hahaha!"

After the jokes faded, Zhao Tianhe ended the call and was about to go out for a date with Ereshkigal, but a staff member came looking for him.

It turned out that although Artoria didn’t win the championship, her overall score and performance earned her fifth place, qualifying her to take part in the airship parade three days later, which was similar to a float parade.

“Three days from now… is there any money in it?” Zhao Tianhe asked.

"Uh, well, it’s an honor…" The staff member was stunned, not expecting Zhao Tianhe to ask such a question.

The airship parade was the high point of the festival—so much so that it surpassed even the New Year’s Gala on Earth. Countless people would do anything to take part! To stand on those airships meant being the center of attention and having your image immortalized in the Royal Capital Memorial Hall—one of the easiest ways to make your mark on history!

Two hundred years ago, the airship parade was reserved solely for national leaders. Although times had changed and the event had become more commercial and accessible, it was still the grandest ceremony in the world.

And once you had fame, who would worry about money?

Besides, heroes probably weren’t short of cash anyway.

But how could he know that Zhao Tianhe had two wives to support, both of whom were skilled at spending?

Then again, thinking about it, it was Ereshkigal and Artoria who fought the monsters, so maybe it was more accurate to say they were supporting him.

"Forget it, she doesn’t like appearing in public for no reason," Zhao Tianhe said, waving his hand in refusal.

"Think about it—your name’s already been submitted. If you don’t go, it’s not a big deal…" The staff member shook his head, thinking Zhao Tianhe really didn’t know how lucky he was, then added, "Maybe you should ask someone about the significance of this event."

Zhao Tianhe nodded, but didn’t take it to heart. He had no intention of wasting Artoria’s precious summoning time on something so meaningless.

"It’s more practical to get some good food—she’ll be happier with that, I think." Zhao Tianhe strolled down the street, planning to wander on his own for a while and then summon Ereshkigal once he reached the bustling pedestrian area.