As he read through the description of the spear tip he had just forged, a wry smile could not help but appear on Valyr's face.
Ding!
[Exquisite Spear Tip] (Level 5)
Rarity: Uncommon
Attack: 11 - 19
Originally a normal metal spear tip, the person who forged this has placed great care and attention to detail towards the overall feel and balance of the spear tip, allowing it to transcend the shackles of its original blueprints and unlock a portion of the latent potential hidden within.
As the person who forged this is considered a true prodigy, this unlocked latent potential is transformed and realized into actual power, allowing it to ascend to a higher rank, befitting of a craft made a true prodigy.
Remarks: It's very useless in its current form, unless if you used it as an improvised dagger. Turn it into an actual spear.
"I'm pretty sure I did all of the things the way I did them back when I was crafting the dagger for Tristan's quest," Valyr muttered to himself, watching as the others gave their forged works to the volunteer proctors, the latter having the item's grade verified. "If so, then the output should have only been a Common+ grade spear tip. How the hell did I end up making an Uncommon one?"
Scratching his head in slight confusion, Valyr closed the screen before him as he heard some of the participants' works not being an enhanced version of the item they've chosen to forge. As he continued to ponder over the main reason why his spear tip had ascended to the next grade, he called for a volunteer proctor.
Once a volunteer proctor had arrived, he gave the spear tip to the former for it to be verified by one of the multiple item appraisers on standby for the second round. Eventually, once his spear tip had arrived at one of the item appraisers, Valyr had finally figured out the reason for the change.
"To think I've forgotten to consider the fact I've ascended to Rank 1…" With that in mind, Valyr went ahead and perused through the list of skills he currently owned, finding the one that caused the increase in grade not too long after.
Ding!
[True Prodigious Forging Mastery] (Level 1/10)
Rarity: Common
A normal prodigy takes the norm and ascends it to a level few can reach. On the other hand, a true prodigy takes the norm and transforms it into something greater, becoming something even prodigies yearn to achieve.
This skill allows the user to be more familiar with forging, as well as the various techniques that go into forging, increasing the user's success rate in forging an item by 3%, as well as increasing the user's chances of crafting an item of a higher grade by 0.1%.
"A one in a thousand chance, yet it still happened." Closing up the screen before him, Valyr could not help but let out a bitter chuckle, thinking that the spear tip being Uncommon grade would definitely attract the attention of others.
And unsurprisingly, it did.
"Hmm?" As one of the item appraisers identified the spear tip Valyr had crafted with [Analysis], their eyes could not help but widen in surprise, thinking that the most the participants could do in this round was to add a plus modifier to the equipment's grade.
Wanting to make sure they weren't seeing wrongly, the item appraiser used [Analysis] on the spear tip multiple times after that, verifying with their own eyes that the spear tip was indeed at Uncommon grade. However, rather than call a volunteer proctor and end it there by announcing Valyr's eligibility for the third round, the item appraiser instead gave it to the most important appraiser among all of them.
"What's this?" Receiving the spear tip given to him by one of the volunteer proctors, Marion could not help but look at the item with a hint of dubiousness, wondering why such an item had been given to him. However, similar to the reaction of the first item appraiser that had identified it, when Marion used [Greater Analysis] on the item, his eyes widened in surprise as his mouth went slightly agape.
"U-Uncommon grade!" Marion exclaimed all of a sudden, causing most, if not all of the participants to stop what they were doing and sharply inhale a bit of air in shock. In their minds, the chances of them being able to produce an item with a plus modifier was already incredibly low… yet someone among them was still able to produce an Uncommon grade version of their chosen blueprint?
"Is it through sheer luck?" Naturally, as her reason for being a top contender was the fact that she had greatly improved an equipment's grade, Denise could not help but raise her eyebrow in curiosity while she continued to forge her equipment. "Or… does the person have a skill that allows them to do that like me?"
Realizing what he had just done, Marion cleared his throat and quickly composed himself, his shocked expression to the stoic one he had earlier. Taking in a deep breath, he then announced to everyone, "The creator of this spear tip is eligible to move onto the third round of the tournament."
Hearing that, Valyr inwardly let out a sigh of relief. At first, he was fearful that his name would be mentioned by the item appraiser, or perhaps the number of the forge he was occupying. But with how the item appraiser phrased it, such a dilemma had quickly disappeared from his mind…
Only to appear in his mind once more not long after.
"Congratulations on becoming eligible for the third round. You may head to the waiting area, sir." Just as Valyr thought he was safe from being recognized, a volunteer proctor had come up to his forge and told him that he may head to the waiting area. Naturally, with how the two events seemed to have happened one after the other, it did not take long for many of the participants there to put two and two together.
Of course, even the audience had connected the two events together, prompting most of them to look in the direction of Valyr as he slowly made his way towards the waiting area for the participants that had passed the current round. Unsurprisingly, such a feat had caused the audience to cheer for what Valyr had achieved, though the latter did not acknowledge the cheer at all, instead continuing to walk with his head down.
However, while he was walking, he heard a familiar voice resound from the crowd, prompting Valyr to stop in his tracks and look in the direction of that voice, only to find Tristan cheering him on with great fervor and enthusiasm. Seeing that, Valyr could not help but have conflicting emotions stirring up inside him for a bit, wondering whether he should continue to try and ignore the feat he had done to stay low-key, or respond to the feat somewhat.
Eventually, just before he had truly entered the waiting area, Valyr flashed a thumbs-up in Tristan's direction before grinning, showing how proud he was of his achievement to the latter.
