What kind of divination am I doing?

Lu Qiao only then realized that the projectiles had dissipated before hitting him.

When the metal weapon came into contact with the magic-suppressing stone, it turned into white mist.

The magic-suppressing stone on the crab's claws worked; that's right, it could suppress even physical effects as long as they were magically produced.

Lu Qiao remembered something; it was the black cat's words.

"It's your duel, not mine. You've got a lot of tricks up your sleeve, haven't you? If all else fails, just go for it!"

Lu Qiao then realized that the black cat knew the anti-magic stone was effective; it knew all along, it just wanted to see him rack his brains. What a stupid cat!

Lu Qiao then struck his crab eye with the anti-magic stone and transformed back into human form.

Covered in white mist, Lu Qiao held the anti-magic stone in his left hand and the red gem in his right, pressing them onto Charlotte's head.

Charlotte's blue and white dress fluttered down, and Charlotte transformed into a white frilly mouse as she fell to the ground.

The ancient book then slammed down beside Charlotte and hit her on the head, making her feel incredibly dizzy.

If Charlotte weren't a dragon by nature, and not powerful enough, she would have fainted long ago.

The dimensional rift closed, and no more weapons flew out.

It was all over; only the white smoke still lingered.

The sword in the stone floating behind the bridge, and the floating stone that the black cat was stepping on, lost its magical support and fell.

The black cat leaped down first, and before the white smoke completely dissipated, it meowed, "Put on your clothes, stop being a pervert!"

Lu Qiao, who was inside the white mist, immediately understood what the black cat meant and turned back to pick up his clothes.

Charlotte, a fancy mouse, had no idea what was going on when she saw something about to emerge from the white mist.

The next second, the black cat covered Charlotte with the parchment scroll bearing Lu Qiao's portrait: "Little girl, stop looking! Lu Qiao, go retrieve the jewel!"

"Don't look around" was meant for Charlotte, while "pick up the jewels" was meant for Lu Qiao.

Once dressed, Lu Qiao happily went back to collect the gems—they were all treasures. He examined them carefully, afraid of damaging them.

At this moment, the black cat distracted Lu Qiao and slapped Charlotte's tail with its paw.

The fancy mouse's tail was tugged.

"Ahhhhhh!!" Charlotte, now back to her original form, sat on her clothes and screamed in agony.

Hearing Charlotte's shout, Lu Qiao turned around, only to find an earthen wall blocking his way.

Lu Qiao then realized why the black cat had just asked him to pick up the gems.

Moments later, the space began to shrink, and the earthen walls collapsed completely.

Lu Qiao felt a sudden tug on the ground; he had been quite a distance away just moments before.

Once the space collapses back to its original position, the 500 square meters will return to 3 square meters.

At this moment, in front of the road and bridge, Charlotte was sitting in a duck-like position.

"I lost! Lord Aini, I understand! I used low-level magic, and you fought me with even lower-level magic. You and Lord Black Cat probably conspired to have it infuse magic into the gem, while you fought me with your mortal body!"

Charlotte shared her thoughts.

Clearly, these are all Charlotte's fantasies; dragons naturally possess their own pride.

As a dragon, it cannot tolerate other animals.

Below the level of earth magic is this kind of shape-shifting magic.

Therefore, even without low-level magic, the earth dragon can defeat high-level magic with low-level magic.

Lu Qiao was stunned. Had it actually been installed?

The next moment, Charlotte prostrated herself on her knees: "Lord Aini, please accept me as your disciple! The Dragon Clan Tournament is still three days away, and I hope you can help me with special training!"

"I don't accept apprentices!" Lu Qiao said helplessly.

"I know I'm being unreasonable, but please! I need to convince the other earth dragons. Only if I beat you will I be qualified to fight for them. If I lose, I can only become your apprentice and that's how I get a spot!" Charlotte knelt on the ground and refused to get up.

Lu Qiao looked at the black cat, who sighed helplessly, "Why are you looking at me? Solve it yourself!"

Just as Lu Qiao was about to speak, the cellar door in the distance opened again.

This time, a group of more than a dozen girls emerged, dressed in various colors of princess dresses and carrying all sorts of crystal balls and magic wands.

Their clothes clearly indicated they were dressed like adventurers. Upon seeing this, Charlotte hurriedly stood up and instinctively shielded Lu Qiao.

As the group of girls walked this way, several small groups naturally formed.

The three at the front huddled together, followed by six others surrounding them.

The last three, lacking confidence, followed at the back of the group.

These eleven people were not all the adventurers; the tavern doors were still open.

People, both men and women, emerged from the cellar, standing in rows from a distance.

At this rate, the courtyard will probably be packed with people.

It was obvious that the people in this group were dressed one or two classes lower in class, and they didn't even dare to mingle with the group of women.

The girls who were leading the group spoke up:

"Charlotte, you did this on purpose, didn't you!"

"We'll report what you did as soon as we get back!"

"Even if you are Lord Oran's daughter, this is going too far!"

The girls spoke aggressively, blocking Lu Qiao and Charlotte from entering.

Lu Qiao leaned over and whispered in Charlotte's ear, "What did you do? Are they all dragons too?"

"They're all earth dragons. To be the first to come to Earth to find you, I used some tricks to block the passage! A ninety-nine-story underground labyrinth was formed on the only way for the earth dragons to reach the Outer Realms Tavern!" Charlotte explained without any attempt to hide her true feelings.

"Why are all the strong ones among you earth dragons girls?" Lu Qiao asked rhetorically, indeed, the male adventurers seemed a bit weak.

"Dragon women are stronger than men in both physique and magical power, so women are responsible for combat, while men are mostly responsible for defense, construction, and development," Charlotte replied.

"Oh, so it's a matriarchal society!" Lu Qiao exclaimed in realization.

So Charlotte's decision to duel herself in exchange for a spot in the dragon tournament was actually an internal conflict with these earth dragons!

Lu Qiao had a bad feeling at this moment. If this group all wanted to compete with him, what would happen!

At this moment, a dragon also took out the parchment scroll and started looking at it. Realizing what was happening, it excitedly shouted, "He, he is Lord Aini!"

After one of them spoke, more than a dozen girls immediately shouted excitedly, "Lord Aini, please duel us!"

The sound was deafening; sure enough, they were all here for a duel!

Luqiao didn't want to try again; he was just an ordinary human being and couldn't withstand such torment.

The earth dragon men and women who were standing at a distance also came closer, all wanting to see what Lord Aini looked like in person.

Charlotte spread her arms, blocking Lu Qiao's path, and said, "I've already defeated Lord Aini! Right?"

Charlotte was clearly panicking. She lied to secure a spot for the earth dragon in the battle.

But Lu Qiao had promised, and nodded, "I lost to Charlotte!"

Upon hearing this, everyone present gasped in surprise. But since Lord Aini had already admitted it, there was nothing they could say, no matter how much they felt something was amiss.

At this moment, all the earth dragons only felt that Lord Aini was not strong, and did not think that this proved that Charlotte was strong.

"Your victory over Lord Enni proves nothing!"

"That's right, let's decide who's number one internally right now!"

"Exactly, let's decide who's first!"

……

The earth dragons aimed their spears at Charlotte, and behind each of them appeared the figures of earth dragons, some large, some small, some tall, some short.

It felt like a major battle was about to erupt, and Lu Qiao had a bad feeling. If a fight really broke out here, the entire city of Boston might be razed to the ground.

This is just the Earth Dragon Clan. If other dragon clans come in the future, aiming to defeat us, and everyone has to fight each other, the scene would be unimaginable.

We must strike first to avoid a hundred blows!

Lu Qiao then walked up to Charlotte and said, "Listen to me, everyone! I did lose to Charlotte, and I believe she is qualified to replace Earth Dragon in the battle!"

A chorus of boos erupted; everyone thought Lord Aini was weak, and naturally no one thought Charlotte was strong.

Lu Qiao, unable to discern what everyone was thinking, turned to Charlotte and said, "Open another arena and let everyone in!"

Charlotte slammed her hands on the ground. This time, a space of over a thousand square meters appeared. This time, several layers of U-shaped soundproof walls ensured that no sound would escape, no matter how noisy it was.

Lu Qiao stood in the middle and spoke: "You all know who I am, right? Your dragon race competes in magic! Well then, I'll show you my strength first. Everyone, use the magic you're most familiar with to attack me!"

After Lu Qiao finished speaking, he specifically reached into his pocket to check, and the anti-magic stone was still there.

The dragons were stunned for a moment, and the next second they thought the person in front of them was a fool.

Just as Lu Qiao finished speaking, countless stones, dirt pellets, gravel, and dust came hurtling towards him.

But the Demon-Suppressing Stone is the Demon-Suppressing Stone, its authority unshakeable.

As the massive cloud of dust dissipated, all the earth dragons believed they had killed Lu Qiao.

After all, it was Luqiao who asked him to do it; he had never heard such an unreasonable request before.

But after the smoke cleared, Lu Qiao stood there unharmed.

The earth dragons were stunned. They had taken all the earth dragons' attacks head-on, yet they were completely unharmed and their defenses couldn't be broken!

"You are too weak in my eyes, but even so, I lost to Charlotte. Do you understand now?" Lu Qiao explained.

Often, combat strength needs to be highlighted.

The earth dragons couldn't break through Luqiao's defenses, yet Charlotte managed to win! This left the earth dragons with no excuses, even if they were unwilling to accept it.

"Everyone, listen to me. I know you all want to help the Earth Dragon erase the shame of the dragon race! So shouldn't we give this opportunity to Charlotte?" Lu Qiao asked rhetorically.

Although the dragons were still unwilling, they all lowered their heads.

Charlotte stood excitedly behind Lu Qiao, tears welling in her eyes, and whispered, "Thank you, Lady Aini."

In Charlotte's eyes, her position was entirely due to Lu Qiao's efforts to secure it.

Luqiao clearly won, but in front of everyone, he said he lost.

This is what secured my spot in the battle for the Earth Dragon, and I must repay this kindness!

Lu Qiao spoke again: "Everyone, your earth dragons have indeed chosen the strongest among me! But I hope you can keep this a secret. If you go out and say you've all defeated me, I will admit that you have!"

Why is that?

"Yes, Lord Enni, we simply can't beat you!"

……

"You know my true strength, so Charlotte, who can beat me, is your real trump card. If you all say I won and you lost to Charlotte, then won't the other dragons come and try? Even if I deliberately admit defeat, they will still be wary of Charlotte," Lu Qiao asked.

The dragons didn't speak, but they all nodded subconsciously, agreeing with Lu Qiao's logic.

"What you want is to rid yourselves of the shame of the dragon race. I, Lord Aini, am on your side, the earth dragons. Even I, an outsider, have high hopes for you. You must unite as one. If word gets out of today's events and the other dragons become wary of Charlotte, how much of a chance do you think you have?" Lu Qiao retorted.

Lu Qiao's words were meant to conceal Charlotte's true intentions; he actually wanted everyone to perceive him as weak, so that other dragons wouldn't challenge him to duels or use him as a benchmark.

Seeing that none of the dragons objected, Lu Qiao began to pump himself up again: "You either have to be the last trump card, or you have to win by surprise, right?"

The dragons nodded in agreement, and some even echoed Lu Qiao's words.

"Alright, let's change the venue back to normal and everyone disperse!" Lu Qiao said.

Charlotte took control of the area, transforming it back into the castle's front yard.

The dragons then realized the gap between themselves and Charlotte, and began to acknowledge that Charlotte truly deserved her title.

"Charlotte, we thought you only had a talent for terrain, but we didn't expect you to be so strong!"

"Whether we can shake off the shame of the dragon race this year depends on you, Charlotte!"

"We'll keep your trump card hidden!"

……

The dragons then changed their tune and began to cheer Charlotte on.

But only Charlotte herself knew that she hadn't won at all.

The dragons began to chat with Charlotte, encouraging each other and believing that this year was the most promising one.

"Everyone, as a hidden ace, I've been hiding here with Lord Aini for the past month, undergoing secret training. You've all seen how powerful Lord Aini is; my victory was purely by chance. I still have much more to learn from Lord Aini." Charlotte immediately seized the opportunity to back down.

The dragons naturally had no objections. Charlotte had won, but they couldn't, so they had no objections to Charlotte staying.

"I won't see you off!" Lu Qiao pointed to the castle's cellar.

The earth dragons departed one after another, and Charlotte saw off the last one before closing the cellar door.

The matter was finally over, and Lu Qiao breathed a sigh of relief.

Charlotte ran to the loop bridge, knelt down, and kowtowed again, saying, "Lord Aini, thank you!"

Lu Qiao waved his hand, saying, "No need to thank me. I can't represent the Earth Dragon in battle anymore. Go back!"

"Lord Aini, I know you're angry. I didn't win at all, and I lied. I'm so bad, but so that the earth dragon will no longer be a disgrace to the dragon race, please take me as your disciple!" Charlotte lowered her head, then reached into her chest and rummaged around as if remembering something.