The food piled up around Na'er into a small mountain, and more dishes kept coming without end.
Xu Lizhi noticed the "mountain of meat" in front of Na'er too, his eyes going instantly round with astonishment, as though he'd witnessed a miracle.
"A god!"
Na'er raised an eyebrow, picked up a golden-roasted leg, and swallowed it whole, meat and bone together, in a single bite.
She glanced at his plate and said breezily, "Just enough to take the edge off my hunger."
At those words, everyone around went quiet for half a second, and the students couldn't help muttering to themselves: Na'er could eat that much, could she really be a dragon?
Tang Wulin looked over enviously and swallowed hard. He wanted to eat that much delicious food too. But his appetite wasn't what it used to be.
Ye Xinglan and Xu Lizhi transferring into the class hadn't stirred up so much as a ripple.
Perhaps if this had happened in another grade, everyone would have seen it as two future rivals arriving.
But in Arthur's class.
It just meant two more pairs of hands to put to work.
In the classroom, Ye Xinglan's voice was full of disbelief. "What do you mean there's only one group?!"
Arthur explained, "Exactly what it sounds like. The entire First-Year Class One is one big group. Everyone works together toward the goal of every single person having their own set of Battle Armor within two years."
He pointed at the students not far off, already deep in heated discussion again. "The design team handles the blueprints, the forging team handles the materials, and the manufacturing team builds the Battle Armor. The repair team stands by on call, filling in wherever people are short-handed."
Ye Xinglan froze. She'd assumed it would be small teams of a few people each, never expecting Arthur to be running things on such a massive scale.
Beside her, Xu Lizhi's eyes lit up. "That's not bad at all, more people means more fun, and the food tastes better too..."
Ye Xinglan shot him a fierce glare, then turned back to Arthur, her brow still furrowed. "So how does the division of labor work? What happens if someone slacks off?"
"Slack off? Hmph." Arthur called out loudly, "Everyone, what happens if someone slacks off?"
The moment he finished speaking, the whole classroom's noise cut out for half a beat, and then a wave of shouting rose up, one voice after another.
"Dock all their contribution points!"
"Blow up his backside!"
"That's letting him off too easy, make him get slaughtered by Sister Na'er as punishment!"
Ye Xinglan was stunned by the sheer force of it. Looking at all those faces burning with fighting spirit, she suddenly understood: Arthur wasn't just shouting empty slogans, he had genuinely united this group of freshmen.
In all her time at Shrek Academy, this was the first time she'd seen a class this united.
Xu Lizhi couldn't help chiming in too. "And also... ban him from the food-scarfing party as punishment!"
"So then, what are your two secondary vocations?" Arthur looked at the pair of them, getting down to business.
Ye Xinglan straightened her back reflexively, a touch of pride in her voice. "Level Four Manufacturer."
Arthur played along, sounding impressed. "Oh, impressive. We're exactly short on talent like you."
Though the forging class had the fewest blacksmiths, with him around and Gu Yue leading the design side,
what they were actually short on was manufacturers.
"So then, Xu Lizhi, what about you?"
Xu Lizhi scratched his round head. "I'm about at Level Four in mech repair."
"Repair, huh..."
Arthur's face fell with disappointment. "That's a pretty high level, but it's not much use to us."
"Go help out the manufacturing team."
Wu Siduo from the repair team shot him an unfriendly look. "Hmm?"
Na'er just gave a silly, goofy grin. "Heh heh heh."
Class started, and Arthur slipped away right on schedule. But this time it wasn't to go annoy Cai Yue'er.
His target was clear. He headed straight for the Blacksmith Association in Shrek City.
"Where'd the class president run off to?"
one of the students wondered aloud.
Tang Wulin, who seemed to know something about it, thought for a moment and answered, "Probably off foraging for food."
"Foraging? Didn't he just finish eating?"
"You'll find out tonight." Tang Wulin sounded mysterious. "Better get ready, it's going to be a long night."
The Blacksmith Association of Shrek City had just met its natural predator.
Arthur strode in without a shred of hesitation.
He pulled out a sack and started foraging.
Every piece of metal he laid eyes on along the way, Arthur swept straight into the sack without a second thought.
"Clink, clank, clatter..."
The sharp clang of metal on metal rang out nonstop through the association's hall, startling the staff on duty into snapping their heads up.
Arthur strode along briskly with a sack half his own height slung over his shoulder. As he passed a shelf, a flick of his wrist swept several bundles of refined iron ingots and two chunks of raw dark steel into the sack, as casually as if he were in his own home.
"Hey! Kid! What do you think you're doing!"
The staff member finally snapped out of it and rushed over in a panic, trying to stop him. "These are all the association's reserve materials, you can't just take them!"
Without even turning his head, Arthur pulled out his Sea God Pavilion token and gave it a shake, his voice booming loud enough for the whole hall to hear.
"Put it on the tab! Charge it to Sea God Pavilion! Have your chairman go ask the Holy Spirit Douluo for the money later!"
The staff member was thoroughly cowed.
His hand froze in midair, his eyes locked onto the Sea God Pavilion token in Arthur's hand, the words stuck in his throat.
What was Sea God Pavilion? It was a power that could sway the entire continent, to say nothing of the name Holy Spirit Douluo. Across the whole Federation, who would dare not show that person face?
Just then, a familiar voice called out.
"You little brat, the way you're robbing this place is the spitting image of that old bastard."
Mu Chen walked over.
The staff member immediately bowed his head. "Chairman."
Mu Chen waved a hand. "Go on, I'll take it from here."
"Master?" Arthur said, startled. "What are you doing here? No wait, since when did you become the chairman here?"
"What about the Eastsea Association?"
"Just transferred over." Mu Chen's eyes narrowed. "What, is there a problem?"
The reason Mu Chen had requested the transfer himself was simple.
He'd gotten lonely.
Not to mention his daughter had already come to Shrek Academy long ago, and this year his disciple had come too. Then his good buddy Agravaine, in order to protect Arthur, had also taken up a post at the Spirit Pagoda headquarters in Shrek City.
Leaving only his wife to keep him company.
But that was precisely the most terrifying part!
Unable to bear it, Mu Chen had simply chosen to transfer to Shrek City.
Arthur immediately gave a sly grin and leaned in close, fawningly brushing off nonexistent dust from Mu Chen's shoulder. "How could there be a problem! Master, you're so skilled, transferring to Shrek City to be chairman is exactly what you deserve!"
Mu Chen swatted his hand away irritably and pointed at the half-man-tall sack on the ground, his eye twitching.
"Enough with the sweet talk! Out with it, what do you need all these materials for? Are you planning to clean out my whole association?"
"How could I possibly!" Arthur laughed it off, pointing first at the sack, then at himself. "It's for household use. All for household use."
A whole crowd of kids was waiting on him, mouths open like hungry chicks.
"Besides, it'll be paid for." Arthur toyed with the Sea God Pavilion token in his hand. "When the time comes, Master, just go get it reimbursed from Ya Li."
Using Shrek's money to raise his future soldiers, an excellent bargain indeed.
Mu Chen sighed helplessly and reached out to flick Arthur's forehead. "Fine, take the materials. Just remember not to slack off on your forging practice."