Just as Sato had expected and as Kolin had said, most of the contestants, including the players, found it difficult to forge the Halocles' Scythe. Even with the detailed explanation of the process, many had already wasted one material and were lost on what to do.
Of the designated 3 hours ant for the test, the players had spent almost 2 hours with a majority of them having used the first set of materials only to create a failed product. Following this trend, it ant that no one would be able to succeed in forging the Halocles' Scythe.
"Why is this so hard? What am I missing?"
Many players began to get worried and anxious.
As they saw it, since it was very difficult for everybody to forge the weapon, -considering that this is the last round too- successfully forging the scythe would an that their ranking would surely increase and not by a small amount. Soone in the top 50 could easily get into the top 30 so long as they complete the weapon ahead of the others.
The knowledge of this fact had boosted the morale of the players but realising that the difficulty involved in forging the weapon was sothing else, most players had begun to feel the intricacy and perplexity of the task.
"Welco once more ladies and gentlen to Acorns and Walnuts live-stream. To those who are just tuning in, I'm your host Pine Dog and this is my POV of the Blacksmith tournant going on in Black Rock City, Fallen Heart Kingdom. Currently, this is the last round and the rankings are as thus."
Following that, the cara changed to glance at the floating scroll in the air which held the rankings of the apprentices.
"As you can see, the number one remains the famous Cloudsmith with the popular 'flagship' figure of the NPC side, Handel, following closeby. In 3rd place is the mysterious and unknown Green Thorns. 4th place is the NPC Zeke and finally, 5th place is the head of the League of Hamrs, the self-proclaid safehouse for all blacksmiths in the region, Floating Mirage."
Just before the tournant had begun, mbers of the League of Hamrs had claid that their leader would surpass the Cloudsmith soon and labelled Sato a 'betrayer' for not coming under their banner. They had also said that once their leader steps out as the recognised best player blacksmith in the region, that the Cloudsmith should now admit his inferiority and co join them. Of course, Sato paid no heed to this but it beca a source of gossip for other players.
'The Cloudmsith vs the League of Hamrs' had been the talk of the day before the tournant and with the tournant's progress so far, the winner was obvious. Therefore, even the live-strear, Pine Dog, didn't mind jabbing the fallen figures with his words.
"The difficulty of the 3rd round exceeds the previous ones by far and even though the contestants are expected to make just one weapon out of two tries, no one has succeeded despite almost 2 hours of the allocated 3 hours gone by. Oh wait, there are so improvents over there."
"!!!"
Just like with Pine Dog, the audience had also noticed the anomaly. Handel's furnace had changed from the normal orange-red flas to a blue fire.
"That's…!"
Since this was a test of skills, everyone was provided the sa equipnt and resources without any tampering done on any. Therefore, everything, including the furnace was basic and the sa.
The furnace had a fiery orange-red fla as the core. There was nothing special about the fla other than it was a bit hotter and calr than normal fire. But the blue fla currently before Handel was much different. Not only was it more than twice as hot as the orange-red fla, but it was also less violent and vigorous. This ant two things; either Handel had done sothing to the fla to change its internal structure or he had simply switched flas.
"It's a different fla." An astute blacksmith in the crowd exclaid.
Among the NPC audience weren't just the regular folks but also a few Practitioner rank blacksmiths who were hoping to take so of the remarkable contestants in the tournant as their students. There were also so 2 -star and 1-star Master blacksmiths in the private area but compared to the practitioners, they were few and far between.
"And 'it's not just any simple fla." The blacksmith said as he gazed at the blue fla in Handel's furnace.
"That's the 2-star fla, Lazuli fla."
Astonishnt filled the place alongside confusion as those who were aware understood the aning of the blacksmith's words while the majority were left in a haze.
"What's that?" A player instinctively asked.
The blacksmith glanced at him for a while before he replied, "It's a type of mystery fla."
"A mystery fla?"
"Yes, a mystery fla. Just as materials and elents have different ranks, so do flas, and they're similarly ranked in stars; from 1 to 6, with 1-star being the lowest and 6-stars being the highest. The Lazuli fla is a 2-star fla, and to tell you how precious it is, regular flas aren't ranked and only special flas can be called mystery flas." The blacksmith explained.
"The Lazuli fla…" Sato glanced at Handel who was just a couple of tres away. The blue fla was too dazzling that it even attracted his attention.
Mystery flas, just like materials from 3-star and above, required the interaction of mana or special energies in certain environnts and sotis, certain flas. This was even more so for mystery flas ranked 2-star and above. In general, mystery flas could increase in strength(heat and intensity) by feeding them more fire-type materials, but they can't surpass the limit of their rank and as a result, a miniature ranking system was developed for their growth. In other words, a 1-star fla can never be upgraded to a 2-star fla. But if carefully raised, it could either rival a 2-star fla, albeit a weaker one, or be evolved into sothing of similar strength as a 3-star fla but different in structure from the original.
The subdivisions in growth were prenatal period, young, matured, and venerable stages. A prenatal mystery fla was one that had just begun taking form. Its power was weak and could only be compared to regular flas, except with a few special abilities.
A young mystery fla was a mystery fla that had just exited the prenatal stage and began to show the features of a mystery fla, surpassing a regular fla in both strength and intensity. As for a matured one, it would begin to show the prestige of its rank and be more powerful than ever before.
At the venerable stage, a fla was at its strongest in its rank and could jump ranks to match another. An example would be a venerable 2-star fla matching a young 3-star fla in burning intensity. The venerable stage was the result of properly raising a mystery fla and feeding it lots of high-quality fire-type materials and rare treasures over a long period. Due to the requirents needed to achieve this, there were very few instances where a fla had successfully made it to the venerable level.
The Lazuli fla was a 2-star fla that was born when fire-type mana interacts in a special manner and pattern with a Lapis Lazuli[1], which was a special type of gem that was quite rare to find, hence the na, Lazuli fla. The exact process of the formation of the Lazuli fla was complex but in a simple form, the interaction of fire-type mana in the material within a certain environnt over a long duration of ti would give birth to the fla at the core of the gem. By feeding the little fla more Lapis Lazuli and fire-type materials, it would grow in strength and heat intensity.
The one under Handel's control was at the young stage, but while it wasn't as overbearing as the matured stage or heaven-defying as a venerable stage mystery fla, it still displayed the features of a true mystery fla and gave him an advantage against the others.
'However, should this be legal?' Sato wondered.
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