The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

In the Abyss Prison, within the Warden's office.

"That wretched disciple of mine." Draven had a live image of the Clash of Metal playing in his office when he noticed Oscar in the participant area. Although Oscar wore the fabricator uniform, becoming indistinguishable from the others, Draven still singled him out from all the others. The pot of water for his tea continued to boil and whistle with steam, but Draven ignored it, keeping his attention on Oscar. "If that's what you wish for, then go for it. Impatience is a part of being young."

He took the boiling pot frothing at the lid from overboiling, not minding the scalding drips of water dripping onto his hand. Draven poured and made his tea. "It hasn't been that long since he left this place. How much could he have improved in that time?"

…….

The Foundry was oddly quiet. There were still the sounds of furnaces burning and the bubbling of molten metals, but not a single sound of a hammer or quenching could be heard. It was as though all the fabricators had vanished, leaving behind a running workshop with no workers.

The entrance to the Foundry was closed shut and locked with a sign saying no outsiders allowed. The Foundry always had its doors open for business, except for today. The reason for the odd disappearance of the fabricators and the closed doors was because of the year's end and the grand event that occurred on this special day, the Clash of Metal.

The Clash of Metal was the Grand Gathering for the fabricators of the Blue Ocean Pavilion; its counterpart for alchemists was the Cauldron Festival. The contest was held for all the fabricator students, having them bash their hammers against each other to see who could forge the best armament. Each tier of fabrication competed in their sections, one star, two stars, and a few in the three stars level.

Oscar and the other one-star fabricators gathered in a large assembly hall underneath the Foundry. The higher star fabricators were placed somewhere else underneath the Foundry. Oscar stood by in the center of the assembly hall, meant for the participants; off to the side, he saw the fabricators who chose to watch instead of participating.

"This place is amazing." William was next to Oscar. They were all in fabricator uniforms due to the hot streams of molten lava that flowed down the walls. William was quite animated.

"Calm down, William." Oscar remained stoic. "We'll be going against some stiff competition. We need to be focused."

William stiffened up and stood at attention. "No problem, senior."

Everyone waited as a fabricator stepped on the stone podium, sporting a medallion on their chest with four stars on the hammer icon. The four-star fabricator cleared his throat and banged his hammer on the stand like a gavel, speaking with a rough tone. "Welcome to the Clash of Metal for the one-star fabricators. The ones standing here are the ones who felt confident enough to compete."

Oscar and the others remained silent.

"If any of you gits think about cheating or causing a ruckus if you lose, I'll smash my hammer on the crown of your head myself." The four-star fabricator spoke very harshly. "You shall all be split into four rooms from block A to D. Only four people can pass from each block and compete in the finals."

Such news would have disturbed the ones who didn't know the rules. Some fabricators, who were fresh and unknowing, started to clamor slightly. The four-star fabricator slammed his hammer to silence them.

"Didn't I say no ruckuses? If you aren't one of the four winners of a block, you should reflect on how you become one of them. Now separate into your blocks."

Four elders of the Foundry stood by four doors, calling out names one by one. With each name called, a student came out of the crowd and entered the door by the elder who called for them. The onlookers who weren't competing could watch the competition through the large images on the four walls of the assembly hall.

"Oscar Terr."

Oscar heard his name and strode ahead with his hammer in hand. He entered Block B and looked around to see his competitors. All of them stood by their individual workstation set up by the Foundry, providing an anvil, furnace, and quenching oil.

Oscar went to an open workstation and rested his hammer on the anvil. Time passed until finally, no one else entered the room except for the elder, who directed them inside, closing the door shut. Oscar's tubes let out hot streams of steam from his long breath.

The elder waved his hand, and ores of green metal appeared on everyone's anvils. "Allow me to explain the contest for those who do not know. The four blocks are like preliminaries before the main event. The prelims are done in different stages to thin out the crowd until four remain."

"The first stage is to refine this ore of viridium. It is one of the tougher ores for one-star fabricators to refine. Those who cannot refine it to 65 percent purity shall be disqualified."

The students remained silent, but each was sweating in their uniforms, partly from the heat but mostly from the cut-throat requirements of the preliminaries. Oscar picked up his hammer and stared at the viridium; he hadn't worked on this material yet, so this was already bad for him.

"If the viridium cracks, we will still judge it on the purity you managed to get it to become. But cracking it signifies your limit as a fabricator; thus, we cannot allow you to keep trying to refine it."

Oscar thought that might have been the case. His master, Draven, also would stop him every time he cracked it, saying that was not how a master of fabrication does it. A crack during refinement was shameful and an insult to the material.

"You have two hours. Then, let us begin!" The elder's voice boomed across the block.

Quickly, everyone put their viridium in the furnace to heat up. Oscar watched the green metal while tapping his hammer on the anvil to get into the rhythm. The viridium started to glow red, but there were still traces of green in it; for a pure color type of metal like this, it had to be heated until every part of it was glowing red.

"Now." Oscar took his tongs and pulled out the red molten metal, no longer having a hint of the green it had before. The blue swirls on his specialized hammer glowed as his Ein flowed in. With a spin of his feet, Reis traveled up and merged into his hammer.

The powerful strike made a clear sound like a single bell ring. Oscar was happy to see a large dent in the viridium but didn't let it get to his head. The tricky part would come later as it got thinner.

With each hammer fall, the viridium let out showers of sparks as it lost its impurities. It became half as tall as it was at the start and twice as wide. Oscar continually tapped the metal to see if it was time to think about the formation within, but no response came.

So, Oscar continued hammering until it became a third of its original height. Finally, his tapping gave feedback, giving him a mental image of the formation within the ore. The configuration of nodes and edges was complex, and Oscar paused to think about it.

Crack

Oscar glanced at a nearby workstation where a fellow fabricator was staring at two cracked pieces of viridium. He couldn't see the fabricator's face, but Oscar knew they were losing their mind. Suddenly, an elder appeared and judged the ore.

"45 percent pure. That is a failure. Leave to the assembly hall." The elder said coldly.

The student looked like they wanted to say something but kept their mouth shut. Causing a stir would land them in further trouble as it might disrupt the other participants. With their shoulders hung down, they left the block.

"I should focus on myself." Oscar put the image of the dejected fabricator out of his mind and continued to judge the next point to hit carefully. His strikes were done without hesitation and to great results as the viridium continued to shrink. "Master did praise me for being talented at breaking things apart."

Finally, the viridium was quite thin, near the point of complete refinement. But as his master, Draven, told him, there were always a few impurities that were hard to get unless he knew how to force them out.

"If I turn this in now, I'll probably pass with flying colors. But that's not what I want." Oscar slammed down his hammer, stopping right before hitting the viridium, sending out his 'Shattering Wave' with Ein. A few sparks of impurity sparked out of the viridium. "I want to do the best possible job I can."

…….

"That's quite like him," Draven swirled the tea around his cup. "That's right, Oscar. It doesn't matter if it's a competition. Only idiots consider meeting the standards a victory; true masters go above and beyond for their craft."