Infinite Realm

Just as Sato had expected and as Kolin had said, most of the contestants, including the players, found it difficult to forge the Halocles' Scythe. Even with the detailed explanation of the process, many had already wasted one material and were lost on what to do.

Of the designated 3 hours meant for the test, the players had spent almost 2 hours with a majority of them having used the first set of materials only to create a failed product. Following this trend, it meant that no one would be able to succeed in forging the Halocles' Scythe.

"Why is this so hard? What am I missing?"

Many players began to get worried and anxious.

As they saw it, since it was very difficult for everybody to forge the weapon, -considering that this is the last round too- successfully forging the scythe would mean that their ranking would surely increase and not by a small amount. Someone in the top 50 could easily get into the top 30 so long as they complete the weapon ahead of the others.

The knowledge of this fact had boosted the morale of the players but realising that the difficulty involved in forging the weapon was something else, most players had begun to feel the intricacy and perplexity of the task.

"Welcome once more ladies and gentlemen to Acorns and Walnuts live-stream. To those who are just tuning in, I'm your host Pine Dog and this is my POV of the Blacksmith tournament going on in Black Rock City, Fallen Heart Kingdom. Currently, this is the last round and the rankings are as thus."

Following that, the camera changed to glance at the floating scroll in the air which held the rankings of the apprentices.

"As you can see, the number one remains the famous Cloudsmith with the popular 'flagship' figure of the NPC side, Handel, following closeby. In 3rd place is the mysterious and unknown Green Thorns. 4th place is the NPC Zeke and finally, 5th place is the head of the League of Hammers, the self-proclaimed safehouse for all blacksmiths in the region, Floating Mirage."

Just before the tournament had begun, members of the League of Hammers had claimed that their leader would surpass the Cloudsmith soon and labelled Sato a 'betrayer' for not coming under their banner. They had also said that once their leader steps out as the recognised best player blacksmith in the region, that the Cloudsmith should now admit his inferiority and come join them. Of course, Sato paid no heed to this but it became a source of gossip for other players.

'The Cloudmsith vs the League of Hammers' had been the talk of the day before the tournament and with the tournament's progress so far, the winner was obvious. Therefore, even the live-streamer, Pine Dog, didn't mind jabbing the fallen figures with his words.

"The difficulty of the 3rd round exceeds the previous ones by far and even though the contestants are expected to make just one weapon out of two tries, no one has succeeded despite almost 2 hours of the allocated 3 hours gone by. Oh wait, there are some improvements over there."

"!!!" 

Just like with Pine Dog, the audience had also noticed the anomaly. Handel's furnace had changed from the normal orange-red flames to a blue fire.

"That's…!"

Since this was a test of skills, everyone was provided the same equipment and resources without any tampering done on any. Therefore, everything, including the furnace was basic and the same.

The furnace had a fiery orange-red flame as the core. There was nothing special about the flame other than it was a bit hotter and calmer than normal fire. But the blue flame currently before Handel was much different. Not only was it more than twice as hot as the orange-red flame, but it was also less violent and vigorous. This meant two things; either Handel had done something to the flame to change its internal structure or he had simply switched flames.

"It's a different flame." An astute blacksmith in the crowd exclaimed.

Among the NPC audience weren't just the regular folks but also a few Practitioner rank blacksmiths who were hoping to take some of the remarkable contestants in the tournament as their students. There were also some 2 -star and 1-star Master blacksmiths in the private area but compared to the practitioners, they were few and far between.

"And 'it's not just any simple flame." The blacksmith said as he gazed at the blue flame in Handel's furnace. 

"That's the 2-star flame, Lazuli flame."

Astonishment filled the place alongside confusion as those who were aware understood the meaning of the blacksmith's words while the majority were left in a haze.

"What's that?" A player instinctively asked.

The blacksmith glanced at him for a while before he replied, "It's a type of mystery flame."

"A mystery flame?"

"Yes, a mystery flame. Just as materials and elements have different ranks, so do flames, and they're similarly ranked in stars; from 1 to 6, with 1-star being the lowest and 6-stars being the highest. The Lazuli flame is a 2-star flame, and to tell you how precious it is, regular flames aren't ranked and only special flames can be called mystery flames." The blacksmith explained.

"The Lazuli flame…" Sato glanced at Handel who was just a couple of metres away. The blue flame was too dazzling that it even attracted his attention.

Mystery flames, just like materials from 3-star and above, required the interaction of mana or special energies in certain environments and sometimes, certain flames. This was even more so for mystery flames ranked 2-star and above. In general, mystery flames could increase in strength(heat and intensity) by feeding them more fire-type materials, but they can't surpass the limit of their rank and as a result, a miniature ranking system was developed for their growth. In other words, a 1-star flame can never be upgraded to a 2-star flame. But if carefully raised, it could either rival a 2-star flame, albeit a weaker one, or be evolved into something of similar strength as a 3-star flame but different in structure from the original.

The subdivisions in growth were prenatal period, young, matured, and venerable stages. A prenatal mystery flame was one that had just begun taking form. Its power was weak and could only be compared to regular flames, except with a few special abilities.

A young mystery flame was a mystery flame that had just exited the prenatal stage and began to show the features of a mystery flame, surpassing a regular flame in both strength and intensity. As for a matured one, it would begin to show the prestige of its rank and be more powerful than ever before. 

At the venerable stage, a flame was at its strongest in its rank and could jump ranks to match another. An example would be a venerable 2-star flame matching a young 3-star flame in burning intensity. The venerable stage was the result of properly raising a mystery flame and feeding it lots of high-quality fire-type materials and rare treasures over a long period. Due to the requirements needed to achieve this, there were very few instances where a flame had successfully made it to the venerable level.

The Lazuli flame was a 2-star flame that was born when fire-type mana interacts in a special manner and pattern with a Lapis Lazuli[1], which was a special type of gem that was quite rare to find, hence the name, Lazuli flame. The exact process of the formation of the Lazuli flame was complex but in a simple form, the interaction of fire-type mana in the material within a certain environment over a long duration of time would give birth to the flame at the core of the gem. By feeding the little flame more Lapis Lazuli and fire-type materials, it would grow in strength and heat intensity.

The one under Handel's control was at the young stage, but while it wasn't as overbearing as the matured stage or heaven-defying as a venerable stage mystery flame, it still displayed the features of a true mystery flame and gave him an advantage against the others.

'However, should this be legal?' Sato wondered.