Hearing the general motive behind the second round, most of the participants in front of the raised platform could not help but murmur as they looked at each other, slightly nervous as they wondered whether they had what it took to innovate on an existing blueprint. Of course, the three top contenders were an exception to this, with Nathan and Shadow having solemn expressions while Denise approached the second round with a large grin on her face.
After all, the reason why she had become a top contender in the tournament was due to her feat of improving the result of a Common grade blueprint to Uncommon+ grade.
Aside from those three, a few more participants listened to Hyun's explanation without any changes in expression, being confident in their ability to innovate beyond the specifications of blueprints. Naturally, Valyr also fell under this category, already knowing what he had to do in order to achieve such a feat.
Watching the reactions of the remaining participants, Hyun could not help but let out a light chuckle before explaining the overall mechanic of the second round. "For this round, the participants are free to choose a Common grade blueprint of their liking from the selection of blueprints, courtesy of the Blacksmith Guild, that everyone can see in front of me."
As he said that, a volunteer had coincidentally brought out a bulletin board for all of the participants to see, with the blueprints they could choose from already being attached on the board.
Just as everyone was about to start choosing the blueprints they would like to forge during the second round, Hyun told them to stay where they were, informing them that his explanation regarding the second round's mechanic still wasn't over. "All of you will have the chance to choose your blueprint later. For now, listen to what I have to say."
"So, as I've said mentioned earlier, the participants are free to choose a blueprint of their liking from the bulletin board in front of them. Now, this blueprint that they have chosen shall be the blueprint that they would have to improve upon, the goal of which is to forge an enhanced version of the specified item on the blueprint," he said, nodding in satisfaction once everyone had gone silent.
"Now, you might be wondering: what separates an enhanced output from a normal output?" He looked at the participants, his expression slightly playful. "Well, for this round, we have enlisted the help of one of the Blacksmith Guild's item appraisers, Marion."
"Marion, would you take it from here?" As Hyun asked this question, a man in his prime had appeared beside him, emanating a scholarly aura around him as he nodded at the former's words.
"The minimum threshold for an output to be considered 'enhanced' is for it to have a plus modifier," Marion started to explain. "For those in the audience that still don't understand, say for example that we have a Common grade blueprint. Now, a normal output with that kind of blueprint would be Common grade equipment. With that in mind, an enhanced output from a Common grade blueprint would be Common+ grade equipment."
"Of course, the word 'enhanced' is a catch-all term, which means that plus modifiers are not the only indicator that the result from forging a blueprint is enhanced," he continued. "An enhanced output could also appear in the form of an increase in item grade. For example, a Common grade blueprint creating an Uncommon grade output."
"Hopefully that enlightens our audience, as well as our participants regarding the objective for this round of the tournament." With that, Marion nodded at Hyun beside him before turning around to leave. Taking in a deep breath, Hyun focused his gaze at the participants in front of him before lightly nodding.
"Are there any more questions?" he asked, to which he obtained no response.
"Alright, since it seems all of you understand what you need to do for this round, please form a line in front of the bulletin board and choose a blueprint from the selection one by one." Nodding in satisfaction, Hyun then instructed the participants on what they needed to do. "One of the volunteers shall be recording the blueprint that you have chosen, so make sure to choose your blueprint wisely."
Hearing Hyun's words, everyone in the area lined up in front of the bulletin before choosing a blueprint out of the multiple ones posted on the bulletin board. While waiting in line, Valyr pondered over which blueprint to take, only for his train of thought to shift as Hyun belatedly gave them more information regarding the second round.
"I almost forgot to mention." Hyun had an apologetic smile on his face. "Unlike the first round, where all of the equipment you forge shall be given to the Blacksmith Guild, anything you forge during the second round… you can keep."
Naturally, a bit of clamor was raised after the announcement, with those that have already chosen complaining that they hadn't been informed of that fact beforehand. In response, Hyun gave them a brief apology before giving them a chance to choose another blueprint if their decision regarding the blueprint they would forge had changed.
With a few hiccups here and there, the line eventually started to once more, with Valyr's turn eventually coming up. Standing in front of the bulletin board, Valyr pointed at the only spear tip blueprint without hesitation, prompting the volunteer beside the board to nod before recording the decision Valyr had made.
'Since Hyun said that we're free to keep the equipment we forge during the second round, well I don't see why I shouldn't craft a metal spear tip,' Valyr thought to himself, walking towards the forge he had occupied in the first round after being told by the volunteer to head to his respective forge.
'After all, a metal spear tip is far sharper than a wooden one. Plus, given that the spear tip I'll use to modify my spear with is Common+ grade at the very least, there's a chance that the spear overall will be upgraded to Uncommon. Who knows?' With those thoughts in mind, Valyr pondered over his forging process for the second round while he waited for all of the participants to choose their respective blueprints and head to their respective forges.
Once the last participant had arrived at their respective forge, Hyun signaled the start of the second round without hesitation, earning a round of cheers and applause from the audience as all of the participants read through the blueprints that they have chosen.
Being one of the earlier ones to arrive at his forge, Valyr went ahead and chucked the metal the blueprint asked for into the furnace as he recalled what he had done during Tristan's quest where he had forged an improved version of the copper dagger. 'As long as I utilize [Gambler's Discerning Eyes] properly, it wouldn't be a problem for me to craft a Common+ grade spear tip.'
With that in mind, Valyr confidently took out the metal from the furnace once it had reached the optimal temperature for forging, placing it on the anvil as he started to hammer at it. At some point, he had found a rhythm to hammer the metal into a spear tip, activating the hyperfocus ability of [Gambler's Discerning Eyes] once the metal had roughly taken on the shape of a spear tip.
At that moment, multiple inconsistencies on the surface of the metal had been revealed, prompting Valyr to try and hammer out these inconsistencies while heating up the metal from time to time to maintain its malleability. Eventually, after checking that there were no more inconsistencies he could find through [Gambler's Discerning Eyes], he heated up the spear tip in the furnace one last time before quenching it in a nearby barrel of oil.
Ding!
Hearing the notification sound echo in his mind, Valyr wiped off the excess oil dripping from the newly crafted spear tip as he looked at the notification he had received.
[You have successfully forged the item: Exquisite Spear Tip. Quality has been rated at Great.]
Nodding in satisfaction, a light smile soon appeared on his face when he noticed that a prefix was added to the original name of the blueprint. Soon after, he went ahead and used [Analysis] on the spear tip, curious as to what its grade was. However, once he found out, he could not help but hiss out in surprise, letting out a sigh soon after.
'Well… this is definitely unexpected.'
