120 Ending The First Stage (1/2)
Sighing as her meditation was interrupted by the buzzing of the public announcement system switching on, Elizabeth wished to know how the people that made it this far would fare against her. Though she thought it was probable that she would win, she couldn't knock the advanced techniques of the various smiths that made it this far into the competition. After all, she only beat them when it came to laying the foundation. Her artifacts would only be boosted by the enchantment she engraved, but the same was not necessarily the case for the other competing smiths.
She didn't have to wait for long, as the announcer quickly came to address the arena after his mic connected. He said, ”Ladies and gentlemen, before announcing the results, let give a round of applause to all the competitors that made it this far.” The crowd was instantly brought to life as clapping and cheering consumed the entire arena. Several of the more enthusiastic spectators screamed out the names of the competitors representing their faction.
Yet only two figures loudly cheered for Elizabeth. Who else but her two undyingly loyal pals would dare express their affiliation with the forging demon? After all, before the competition came underway, Elizabeth Ultimatia was a name only known to a very remote corner of the Martial Society. Only the members of Atid's dojo and some of Jhan's cronies knew of her, but to the crowd, only those of her faction would openly support her. Then again, after all the bashing they did against her unworthy faction, the majority of people in Atid's dojo just kept quiet; not wishing to draw attention towards themselves.
There were some others that appreciated Elizabeth's talents and looked on with eagerness to see her results, but there was not a case where the spectators would betray their faction in support of others.
Returning to the mic, the announcer said, ”Now then, please turn to the screen to see the work of those that reached 100th to 11th place.”
[100th Place | #16: Hua Zong | Score: 5.23 | Refinement Rate: 80% | Engraving Score: 77%| Temering and Bonus: None
99th Place | #199: Tram Lee | Score: 5.36 | Refinement Rate: 85% | Engraving Score: 76%| Temering and Bonus: None
98th Place | #1207: Shantell Williams | Score: 5.43 | Refinement Rate: 86% | Engraving Score: 77%| Temering and Bonus: None]
Watching on as the creations of her fellow competitors came on screen, Elizabeth sighed. Compared to her relatively massive sword, everything shown on screen was an artifact of relatively small scale. Moreover, it was only after the screen started showing the top 60 that any tempering bonuses start showing up, and those temperings were mostly incomplete until the screen reached the lower 20s. Slowly, she started understanding that the competitors weren't ”that” bad. Rather, they were just insufferably slow when compared to her.
Eventually, the top ten started being personally announced by the announcer again and though it was to be expected, many were still in shock as the announcer said, ”Placing third in the Forging Event, Dave Mateo crafted not just one item, but a pair of arm guards! Forged from Double Refined Steel and Englewood Buffalo Hide, although Mr. Dave's entry only achieved a mere 85% refinement rate and engraving score, he thoroughly tempered his arm guards and blessed them with a fully functioning Combustion Bonus.”
Moving on to announce who took second place, the announcer said, ”As for our runner up, Daniel Cherkovski has actually be dethroned from his champion's spot! The smithing legend that has held his place as Forging champion for the last three years lost even though he crafted supreme dagger! Achieving a ridiculous 98% refinement rate and a 99% engraving score on a material as troublesome to work with as Stone-Diamond Titanium, whilst also completing a Bolt Streak Enchantment to equal levels of perfection.”
In general terms, the crowd felt two very contrasting thoughts. Whilst it was their initial reaction to sigh as it was a shame for a great smith to lose their streak, as they drew out of that negativity, the next thing left in store was to find out by how large of a margin Elizabeth trumped Daniel.
The announcer read the crowd like a book, as he deliberately prolonged the period off air to let the spectators build up hype in anticipation for what ”that demon” accomplished to beat the previous smithing champion. However, it would be erroneous to assume that the reason for the silence only ended there, as the announcer needed a series of moments to collect himself after reading the card containing the champion's information for that Final Stage.