After a nerve-wracking final of the third year, the atmosphere had finally calmed down a bit for the audience as the most important part of the tournament was over.
But in truth, for many, the most important part of the tournament was going to begin from now.
It was now time for Non-Combat course students to clash against each other.
It was not a clash of fights with punches and kicks rather it was a clash of craftsmanship.
It can be said more than half of the workforce of the Empire came from Non-Combat training courses because without them basically, we would lose of most important things which formed the backbone of society and support the heroes from the background
Equipment and technology which are used nowadays came from this genius who dedicated their lives to improving the lives of others.
Though they weren't able to awaken mana early and carved their names through their fist, they changed the whole world using the might of their brain proving that you don't need to be awakened to shake the world and get the glory.
The audience seats were quite different from the spectator stand which was full of comfort and luxury.
Lucas watched the show with great interest but someone disturbed him greatly.
Sniff...Sniff.
Beside him, sat James who seemed to be sad today for an unknown reason.
"James can you stop that."
"Moreover, why are you behaving like a guy who had been dumped by a girl," Lucas asked with an annoyed tone.
"Lucas, seeing these young souls makes me remember my youth which was not so youthful in any sense."
"Hero support courses are not as good as you think."
"We have to meet the deadlines in making things, undergo a constant torment of ticking time, trying to figure out the things."
"Moreover, the lives of the students in the hero support course are quite pathetic as most of them are commoners even the teachers treat them with disgust."
"And the noble students who dare suppress us and steal your research. I was one of those who suffered it. They treat us like slaves who are destined to work for them."
"Even if those days were quite bad, I miss those days. Moreover, I have been cooped up inside my research facilities for years and never got a chance to come here until I met you."
"So, thank you, Lucas, for pulling me up from drowning in grief." James whipped his nose and patted on Lucas's shoulder.
"Yuck!'Lucas closed his mouth trying to contain his urge to puke and stood up from the seat to run away as far as possible.
He can't handle James any more than this.
Today's quota of tolerating him had been filled. So, no more, it was enough for today.
Lucas looked at the stage where the potion-making competition was going on.
One had to make a low-grade potion under the stipulated time.
And after finishing it, the winner would be decided by the effectiveness of the potion and its purity level.
Lucas didn't need a potion maker for now as Fredrick and Charles' household had tons of them.
Moreover, he had his own potion factory with him from the beginning.
But he was looking forward to the next round of the competition where he had a selected candidate who is going to become his next slave....sorry, you might have heard it wrong, he meant his next friend who was going to be a great blacksmith in the future who destroys his enemies by throwing hammers.
...
The Inter-Academy Tournament Day 32nd.
The blacksmith production competition began. Originally, this seems to be minor even from the audience's point of view.
But for a noble, it was a hell of a situation to take that gifted blacksmith under their wing and use it to craft weapons and fill their storage.
The need for weapons never runs out.
So, it attracted great attention from the nobles who had already selected a batch of people to take under their wing.
The blacksmith's reputation was always at an all-time high and most of the blacksmiths always acted highly and haughty because of this.
Some blacksmiths were even able to get promoted to noble status because of their contribution to the war.
After all, no matter how much technological advancement had been made. It wasn't able to reproduce high-grade weapons and weapons made by blacksmiths.
So, they were an irremovable part of society enjoying high status.
A premium item produced by blacksmiths could lead to a war among the noble families to get the ownership of the material.
…....
[The time limit to produce an item is Four hours. One had to make a usable G-ranked sword within the stipulated time with the materials provided to you all. After the stipulated time, one's sword would be judged by its performance]
[The winner of the competition would be awarded a good level of materials and tools and an A-ranked ore along with a recommendation to learn from the greatest Blacksmith in Cyprus for a few days.]
[Moreover, you will also be recommended for the Royal Blacksmithing Association, a place designated to make weapons for the entire nation.]
With loud voices, many announcements were made in the series one after another.
The item to be crafted was an ordinary double-edged dagger.
The making of the sword was plain and simple, without anything special and the judges would also judge one crafting technique.
The Blacksmith heated the furnace and looked at the burning high flames carefully while putting the material in it, waiting for it to heat up carefully.
Out of all the contestants, Neil looked at the burning furnace with bright eyes.
It was his chance to prove himself and get the glory for himself and his family.
He was born in a poor backwater village and many children found him repulsive in the capital.
Most of the enrolled students here come from well-to-do families, while he was just considered a backwater and uncultured village boy.
His father was just a normal smith who made simple weapons without a rank for hunting beasts.
He grew up seeing his father hitting a hammer every day and the crisp sound of a hammer hitting the metal fascinated him greatly.
And from there, his dream to become one of the greatest blacksmiths began.
But on his way to Horizon, there were a few problems due to which he enrolled quite late which made him a social outcast.
Most of the students would cover their eyes and mock him that his existence is just a pain in the ass, to begin with.
The teachers in the Hero's support course do partiality while teaching nicely only a select few and he was just one of the unfortunate ones whose name had been crossed from the list of good students.
Through his hard work, he has tried to assimilate as much knowledge as possible and tried to accumulate experience in blacksmithing by himself, only to fail again and again.
Without good guidance and production methods, his improvement was stuck in one place.
Still, filled with determination to become a great blacksmith, he tried to overcome his weakness and used the library and smartphone to their max to furnish his lacking knowledge.
In his first year, he was just a trash blacksmith but in the second year he had grown up quite a bit and he was sure to do well in this competition and was confident in getting the third rank.
Apart from him, many blacksmiths hadn't been able to start smelting iron ore. Adjusting the furnace to the desired temperature wasn't as simple as it looked.
Many weren't able to handle the fire well enough and were quite sloppy in handling the materials even after being favoured by the teacher.
Neil shook his head while clicking his tongue and started to concentrate on the smelting of the iron ore. The impurities in the melted iron ore were filtered out, and the orange molten iron emerging from the furnace was brilliant and beautiful.
Many students followed the same notion and pulled out the molten iron.
Neil held the molten iron into a frame and waiting for it to cool down a little started to hammer the smelted iron.
Neil wasn't one of those who was talented in his work and was mediocre at best.
He worked hard to overcome the wall of mediocrity and break his limit. Though he knew quite well that he was far from overcoming his walls, nevertheless he was still trying his best to get closer to his goals.
The goals he had set for himself were hard to achieve even for a guy who might be quite talented in his field.
But he believed in himself and aspired to reach the peak by giving his best.
...
After finishing the crafting, each sword would go through a series of trials.
One was a hardness test where the sword would hit a metal block with a strength of G-rank by a machine.
Another was the sharpness test where the sword needed to cut the G rank monster carcasses.
Neil's blade performed splendidly and there was not a single chip or dent on his blade, unlike others.
Though it felt a bit short in the sharpness test, unlike others whose blades had small cracks after hardness.
There were only two individuals whose blades didn't suffer any damage.
One was Neil, another was the rank one blacksmith so Neil was confident in getting the second rank.
Alas!!!!!
A judge held Neil's sword while observing it.
" Neil, your sword is good there is no doubt in it. But it's due to your luck not because of the work. Your crafting techniques were a mess."
"Even the first year would use better techniques than you. So, I don't think you should be qualified for getting a place in the winner stands."
"What!!"
"Isn't the final result what matters? Moreover, my techniques weren't worse compared to others."
"Instead of arguing with me, you should focus on listening to the lectures in the class and understanding the core essence of blacksmithing. Your knowledge in this field is too shallow."
"You should learn from others. Your sword was just lucky that it didn't suffer any damage but who knows it may break after repeated strikes."
Neil wanted to protest but he knew it wasn't worth it as thousands of people were watching the performance and he will be seen in a negative light for arguing with the judges who only know how to boot-lick the higher-ups.
In the end, the rough diamond was buried again by the partiality of the teacher and all the winners were noble children.
Except for number one, the second and third places couldn't even properly hammer the metal, still, they were made winners whereas talented blacksmith like Neil was oppressed and thrown out.
