Chapter 59: Qualifying Battle (4)
’An attack weapon capable of being wielded by an Iron Golem.’ Lucius already had a mental image of what it would do the moment he saw it.
There were several types of weapons an Iron Golem could wield, all of which had to be massive and heavy. However, the moment he saw the mana mark it was supposed to bear, even he frowned.
A tool capable of being wielded by a Golem but using an eagle-type mana mark was a bit contradictory. Eagle-type mana marks grant flight magic or magic focused on burst attacks.
They don’t usually deal much damage, nor are they as powerful as a three-meter-tall Iron Golem. Even though this was a low-rank tool, the two weren’t very compatible with each other.
However, Lucius found a quick and effective way to solve this, so he looked at his companions.
"The mana mark will be on the tip. And we’ll make a spear," he declared.
"A spear?" Clara frowned. "Why a spear? Iron Golems work better with heavier magical tools."
Lucius nodded. He agreed with her. "Although I understand what you’re saying, other magical tools aren’t suited for an eagle mana mark. Those mana marks don’t work well with such heavy tools because they rely on speed."
Clara nodded. It made sense.
"And why put it on the tip?" Joao asked, curious about the engineering behind it.
"Hehe, we’re just going to increase the weight with speed spells, that’s all. After all, they don’t require the mana mark to be used for anything specific, do they?" Lucius smiled.
.
The judges were genuinely surprised by the outcome.
"These kids have incredibly bad luck," one of them said.
Another nodded. "I never thought they’d end up with that option. It looks like Phase 2 will remain unresolved, and they’ll play in the final phase to see if there’s a tie or a winner."
"Well, the final round for Class F will be more complicated. I predict it will end in a tie, with a crushing defeat for Class E in the end. Maybe it’ll be so crushing that we’ll have to give Class E a few more points," said another.
However, one of them laughed.
"Don’t you have any confidence in that kid from Class F?" he asked. His voice was hoarse and aged. He was the oldest of the judging teachers, Andrew.
Everyone turned to look at him. "Do you think he can do anything?"
The old man nodded. "I think this kid is quite a bit more talented than we thought."
In fact, the teachers agreed.
"However, he’s on his own. Maybe that girl, Clara Thorne, can keep up with him, but it’s no use if his other classmates can’t actively participate in the creation. In the end, they’ll be disqualified."
That was true. Even the old man couldn’t argue against it.
’I still think that boy can do it,’ he told himself, but he focused on watching. He didn’t look at Class E for even a second, as he considered them unworthy.
They had already made several mistakes in the first five minutes. That was the problem with creating a tool. It wasn’t as easy as repairing one.
.
In Class F, Lucius finally divided the students into the groups he had designated three months earlier.
Each group had three members, and Lucius acted independently, leading the entire group alongside Jake.
Individually, each group took charge of a part of the tool, following basic blueprints they had purchased earlier. However, all the teachers quickly realized that this group was moving too fast.
In 5 minutes, they had already completed 50% of the entire project.
And in another 15 minutes, they finished most of the pieces!
Even the judges stood up, in shock.
Lucius finished assembling the tool just 24 minutes after they had started!
The head judge looked at the stopwatch in complete shock.
"24 minutes and 13 seconds..."
Then he looked closely at the tool they had created.
Its structure was there, and it was astonishingly simple, yet incredibly well-made.
There were no embellishments; the structure was plain. However, it gave off a rugged feel. It was a heavy tool.
It was more than a meter and a half long and 45 centimeters wide. It possessed magical properties, as two veins of mana ran through its entire body, connecting to other protrusions.
No one understood what those protrusions were for, or why they were connected to the veins of mana, but the fact was that they ended at the spot where a tiger’s mana mark would be.
Lucius swung it a few times and aimed it directly at the professors...
Even though it had no mana mark and therefore no aura, they could feel as if a ferocious tiger were watching them and roaring at them.
24 minutes and 13 seconds after the start of the second phase, Lucius communicated with the outside world.
His words through the microphone were simple: "The tool has been created."
This snapped the teachers and judges out of their shock.
But it also caused Class E to jump.
"Huh?!" Even though the microphone wasn’t on, almost everyone could hear that shout from Class E.
And the leader couldn’t help but rush toward the microphone. "What the hell are you talking about? You’re trying to distract us!" he exclaimed angrily.
Lucius looked at him as if he were an idiot. "Is it allowed for someone to complain like that to someone who’s already finished their test?" he asked.
Just then, as the leader of Class E was about to yell again, the judges turned off his microphone.
"Cough." The oldest of them cleared his throat. "My mistake. If you’re already done, just wait there. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait the four hours for each Phase to be able to study the tools," he said.
’Unfortunately?’ Lucius smiled and nodded at the old man.
So there was already someone interested in his creations... Well... He didn’t care.
The only thing that mattered to him was what was right in front of him at that very moment.
[Milestone Achieved: Create a tool with a Group in less than 1 hour.]
[Time: 24 minutes and 13 seconds.]
[Since this is a Secondary Career Milestone, it stacks.]
[Accumulated Milestones: 2.]
’Good. If I manage to accumulate a few more milestones, the system’s reward will be substantial when I move up in the rankings.’
Patiently, Lucius sat down to talk with his group.
"I worked so hard and didn’t even look at the clock—for a moment, I thought we were running late..." said one of the students, in shock.
"Was it really 24 minutes?"
"That seems impossible..."
"But stopwatches don’t lie," said Joao, staring intently at Lucius. "We really did it in 24 minutes."
Although saying they did it didn’t feel right to him. All of this was thanks to Lucius.
Everyone knew it. Even the professor couldn’t earn that credit, even though he was bound to get it sooner or later.
"24 minutes..." Clara was still staring at the stopwatch displaying that number, as her chaotic mind settled into silence.
’Not even my elders could do something like that.’
Completely certain of this, she could only look at Lucius with a mix of astonishment and admiration: Who was he?
"Don’t look at me like that," Lucius said suddenly. "It’s just not that difficult, considering the tools are barely rank 1. Besides, we used a lot of prefabricated materials in the previous phase."
"Oh, right. The teachers didn’t notice that," Clara interjected at that moment. There was so much material that using a little bit to create such a large weapon went unnoticed.
"They’ll notice it in the third test," Lucius was certain of that.
She noticed something in his tone of voice that made her frown, and she asked, "Are we going to do something big?"
Lucius just smiled and shrugged.
"Tsk, you’re being so mysterious."
The wait felt like an eternity.
Having finished in 24 minutes—something that might take other classes days or, at best, hours—turned into an agonizing, never-ending wait.
Lucius was patient, but the other students began to taunt Class E, taking advantage of their moment of glory and the constant mistakes the others were making on the other side.
They thought the judges were going to silence them, but contrary to their expectations, the chief judge let them taunt as much as they wanted.
Thanks to that, Class F had its moment to show off in front of a huge coliseum and a crowd, making the faces of Class E turn red with shame and anger.
However, after a while, they did silence them to let Class E concentrate.
The four hours finally passed.
"We’re done!" the leader exclaimed a second before the four hours were up. He looked flustered, angry, and even worried.
His classmates were in much the same state as he was. It was the first time they’d been so hard pressed.
They never imagined that the first time they faced an F Class, it would end like this. Even though most of them are new students, they’re much better than everyone in the F Class!
At least that’s what they thought...
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