Chapter 60: Qualifying Battle (5)
Unedited*
They had decided to create a mace-like tool; it was enormous. It had a tip with protrusions that gave it a grotesque, gothic look.
The shape was well-crafted, though a bit ugly for the spectators’ taste. For a tool that had taken them four hours to complete, it had turned out hideous.
However, whether it was pretty or not didn’t matter. What mattered was whether it was useful in combat.
Both magical tools were placed in front of the referee.
The referee swallowed slightly and proceeded to test the Class F tool, since it had been finished first.
He picked it up, expecting it to be very heavy, and indeed, at first it was. However, as soon as the cold structure of the spear touched his hands, the magic tool sensed his mana and immediately changed its weight.
Suddenly, even he was able to lift it. And not only that, he was able to maneuver it.
That made many of those standing on the sidelines—and even Class E itself—frown.
"That weighs nothing. There’s no way an Iron Golem could feel comfortable with that," exclaimed the leader of Class E.
He wasn’t the only one; many others thought the same.
Even the judges sighed and shook their heads. "In the end, he failed at something as simple as the weight," they muttered.
However, the referee spoke up at that moment. "Sir, come take a look at this for a moment," he said, calling over the eldest and strongest of the judges.
"What is it? I’ve already seen what I needed to see," said the judge. "Bring her over here, and I’ll test her."
"No. If you come over, you’ll understand," replied the referee, insisting that he come closer.
In the end, the old man frowned, but he didn’t refuse. He stood up and walked toward the stage.
"Please hold this so I can see." The referee handed him the spear.
As the flow of mana through his mana veins changed, the spear returned to its natural weight and began to feel heavier and heavier.
It fell to the ground as the old man was taken by surprise, and he stared at it in shock. "How can you balance something so...?" His eyes sparkled before he could finish his words.
"Wait... this is..." The change in weight was noticeable, and he was able to begin balancing it once more. It weighed enough that he could balance it with his strength, but it wasn’t a weight that the little referee could move as easily as he had seen.
They were familiar with this concept.
The old man turned to stare at Lucius. When he saw him, he couldn’t find the words to ask him anything or say anything to him.
He simply remained silent.
"Is something wrong?" Lucius asked.
"You... I mean, Student Lucius, is this... Mana Weight?" the old man asked, in shock.
The students in Class E trembled. So did the judges behind them. Many of the people in the stands didn’t understand, but those who did were paralyzed with shock.
Lucius nodded. "It is. Its initial, natural weight is 30 kilograms. However, for better performance and greater dexterity when the Iron Golem uses it, I decided to add Mana Weight. Those protrusions connected to the mana veins are for that purpose," he replied as if it were perfectly normal.
"But how did you manage to add Mana Weight in such a short time?" asked the old man, confused. Still, he soon realized his mistake, so he began to cough. "You’re at a higher level than we thought. You should be at least in Class B. Why were you deliberately placed in Class F?" He tried to correct himself.
However, the Class B students in the stands were already trembling.
"He really knows how to add Mana Weight to a new tool..." one of them whispered.
"Hey, Mana Weight is Lord Kael’s specialty. Maybe that’s why Lord Kael respects him so much?"
"Mana Weight..."
The three or four of them there exchanged glances.
They felt the urge to run over to Lord Kael to tell him, but what if this kid pulled off the impossible and won this?
They were about to witness a historic moment.
Class F, advancing toward Class E...
In the end, they stood rooted to the spot. They couldn’t move in the face of such a historic moment.
This time, it wasn’t the referee who tested the tool, but the judge himself. He took it upon himself to check it and nodded.
Then he examined Class E’s...
Both he and the referee could only shake their heads.
"This is terrible," they exclaimed at the same time.
Their words shattered Class E’s already shattered hearts. From the moment they confirmed that the tool created by Class F actually possessed Mana Weight, they knew they were going to lose.
Perhaps if they had seen Class E’s tool first, they wouldn’t have called it horrible. Because their standards wouldn’t have been set so high. Unfortunately... they went last.
Despite both of their assessments, they still presented the tool to the judges.
The Class E tool was thoroughly reviewed. Some people who weren’t fond of Class F still tried to find something good about it, but they shook their heads as soon as they examined the Class F spear.
It received every possible compliment.
"Wow, not only does it have Mana Weight, but those protrusions also let you make the tool smaller or larger..."
"Plus, the addition of the mana mark on the tip is meant to further increase its power and speed. Golems are slow, so this is an impressive way to make up for that lack of agility..."
"Even though its design is simple, I’d go so far as to say this is a Level 1 tool, capable of rivaling Level 2 tools..."
With every compliment that came out of the judges’ mouths, Class E sank deeper into despair.
They even hunched over, wishing they were turtles so they could hide in their shells.
Even more so when it was announced that Class E had earned just 30 points, while Class F had earned a whopping 100 points, plus a 10-point bonus.
The judges wanted to give them more, but unfortunately they couldn’t.
At the end of the test, Class E finished with 130 points and Class F with 210, marking the greatest humiliation Class E had suffered in many years.
Their leader stood firm in the face of adversity. He accepted defeat without looking back and then returned to his seat to prepare for the Final Phase.
All the students could see that he was furious, so they decided not to bother him.
But he was the first to speak.
"We lost this round," he said. "And miserably."
His teammates hung their heads.
"I’m not scolding you," he interjected. "It’s my fault, too."
"Besides, we still have a chance to win."
They looked up. "Against a guy who knows how to embed Mana Weight into his tools?" one of them said, half-mocking himself.
The leader was furious, but managed to control himself.
"It’s hard to beat someone like that, but we’re not competing one-on-one," he said. "There are 30 of us. They have 13." He looked at the teacher who was their instructor. "Even though the teacher can’t interfere, I’m sure he wants to win, too."
The professor nodded, but stared intently at his student. He knew him very well. "Jake Lakeside is a tough guy. But we can beat him. Even so, we won’t use any illegal tactics."
"I know, Professor. I’ve already left that life of lawlessness behind." The leader smiled. "We’ll beat them with our specialty—that Agility Golem. In this final phase, we have complete freedom and aren’t bound by any unnecessary rules. So we’re simply going to stand out, just like we did when we almost beat Class D."
"That..." The teacher swallowed hard. "That bordered on illegality."
"But it didn’t cross the line," the leader retorted immediately.
The two stared intently at each other for a full minute before the teacher smiled.
"Beating a Lakeside team is always something to celebrate. And Jake is very well-liked back home, so let’s work on it. I’ll do my best to lead even better than last time," the teacher replied.
Everyone came to an agreement... though there were still some pessimists.
-
Over in Lucius’s part of the room, he paid little attention to what was happening around him.
His teammates were excited. For starters, they didn’t understand at what point they had worked on adding "Mana Weight" to it.
In fact, they had built the entire tool, but they had no idea it was meant to have such amazing effects!
Lucius didn’t plan on telling them how he did it, either. That was precisely why he’d told them earlier that there were things he would handle personally, and that was why he’d focused all his attention on teaching them how to craft different parts.
"Phase 3 is about to begin. You don’t need to worry too much about it. Creating a golem that can fight isn’t an easy task, but it’s not too difficult either," he said.
"In this regard, most classes have their own specialties. I heard that Class E’s specialty is an Agility Golem; in one of their battles, they even created one that bordered on illegality. We don’t have that."
"But we have this." Lucius grabbed the support-type magic tool they had restored earlier, as well as the spear. "If they create that Golem that borders on illegality again, we’ll destroy it with a single blow. Because thanks to all of you, we’ve created the perfect combination."
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