By the time Valyr had entered the waiting area and sat on a vacant seat, while continuing to watch the second round unfold, a carefree smile gradually crept up his face, his body feeling somewhat relaxed for some reason. Letting out a light sigh, this smile soon turned into a chuckle, thinking about the reaction Tristan gave him in response to the feat he had just done.
"It really feels nice to have people you know find out that you can actually do more than they think you do," Valyr muttered to himself, cognizant of the fact that the worst-case scenario in his head was highly unlikely to happen. Nevertheless, a wry smile soon appeared on his face, reminding himself to hide his abilities once he and Tristan returned back to the village.
"Well, since I've already gotten this far, why not see it to the very end?" With that in mind, Valyr took in a deep breath before letting out a sigh, his expression solemn as he remembered a promise he had made to himself at the beginning of his journey. In his mind, it would be in his best interest to act like a newbie while he was in Astarto Village, given the fact that he was Level 1.
Of course, there were many ways for him to increase the speed at which he was leveling since he had a treasure trove of knowledge in his mind. Unfortunately, it would be difficult for him to explain to others in the village how he had such a great amount of knowledge while still being at Level 1. With that, it was just better for him to not let others know that he knew of such things instead.
Naturally, it would be unwise for him to act like a newbie for his entire journey to the top while having such vast knowledge. And thus, he added an addendum to his promise, telling himself that he would drop the act once he left the village for good.
Continuing to watch the second round unfold, Valyr could not help but ponder over how he was going to approach the third round of the tournament, thinking that the third round would probably need him to show more than what he was currently doing. Eventually, after recalling the pride Tristan felt from what he had done in the second round, he came to a conclusion.
'Well, it's a given I'm going to fade into obscurity after this. After all, it'll be a long while till I do something like this again,' he thought to himself. With that, he cracked his fingers and grinned, his competitive flame rekindling back into existence.
'It wouldn't hurt showing a bit more of my skills one last time.'
…
Eventually, by the time the sun had passed its peak, the second round was officially declared to be over, with Valyr surprisingly being one of the only few that had forged an Uncommon grade variant of the blueprint they've chosen. Realizing this, Valyr could not help but have a wry smile on his face as some of the participants that had passed the second round went to him and asked for some tips regarding the feat he had achieved.
In response to the multiple rounds of questioning, Valyr decided to stay humble, telling those that asked him that he had just gotten lucky to be able to craft that product. In fact, he had also said the same thing to Denise, who went out of her way to also ask him regarding the feat he had achieved.
Naturally, Denise didn't buy it. "I feel like you're hiding something."
With this thought in mind, she tried every method she could think of to try and have Valyr tell her his secret, curious if they had a similar skill. Unfortunately for her, Valyr didn't even budge a single bit under her incessant questioning. Eventually, Denise grew tired, prompting the latter to inwardly let out a sigh of relief after she turned around and headed to another part of the waiting area. "Fine. Keep your secrets, then."
"What's her problem?" As her silhouette gradually disappeared from his field of vision, Valyr could not help but have a slight frown on his face, wondering why she was forcing him to spill his secrets. Coming to the conclusion that it might be related due to her rise to popularity, he swiftly placed the matter at the back of his head. "If that's the reason behind her questioning… how narrow-minded."
Thankfully, after that small incident, not much else happened aside from a few more people sincerely asking him for tips. With that, he was able to face the third round with a tranquil mind as him and the other participants that passed the second round stood in front of the raised platform once more.
"These blacksmiths standing in front of us have passed through the past two rounds, showing everyone that they have what it takes to become great blacksmiths." Being the one who informed the participants and the audience regarding the mechanics of every round, Hyun decided to shift the limelight to the remaining participants for now, earning a round of applause from the audience thanks to his words.
"However, only a certain few have what it takes to go beyond great and stand on a league of their own. With that in mind, this third round would allow us to find out just that." Hearing these words, almost everyone went silent, curious to hear what Hyun would say next.
"The first round tests the blacksmiths' ability to follow blueprints and forge equipment in general. On the other hand, the second round tests the blacksmiths' ability to go beyond the blueprints, allowing us to see if they have what it takes to think outside the box." At that moment, most of the participants had a feeling of what the third round was going to be, having bitter expressions on their faces as they hadn't gotten much practice in that aspect of forging yet.
Noticing the bitter expressions on the remaining participants' faces, Hyun had an apologetic smile on his face as he announced the third round's mechanics. "With that in mind, the third round tests the blacksmiths' ability to not rely on blueprints at all, essentially returning to the essence of forging in general."
"To forge something from scratch."
Hearing Hyun's words, the bitter expressions on most participants' faces had become despondent, accepting the fact that their possibility of claiming one of the top spots had become next to nil. But of course, there were still those who had confident expressions on their faces, such as the three top contenders, and those who were inwardly confident, such as Valyr.
'What I'll do during this round will rely on the mechanics Hyun tells us,' Valyr thought to himself, a bitter smile appearing on his face after he thought of a few outlandish rules Hyun could say. 'In any case, I hope the mechanics don't force me to go overboard.'
"For this third round, all of the participants are instructed to create a blueprint from scratch that outlines the new piece of equipment they shall make. As long as the equipment that the participant forges is something that has never been seen before in some way, then they pass the third round."
When the participants heard this, a few of the people's faces lit up in response, thinking that they would just substitute one material for another on an existing blueprint before claiming it as a new one. But of course, Hyun already knew something like that was going to happen. "Of course, changing the materials or the dimensions of an already existing blueprint doesn't count as a new piece of equipment. So, if you're thinking of doing that for this round, stop it."
"What the Blacksmith Guild wants to see in this tournament is the creativity the pioneers of the new generation of blacksmiths have. And I do hope you show us that," Hyun said with a solemn expression.
"Show us your new creation."
