Master Zhang let loose a torrent of curses, but this time nobody bothered to respond.
He turned around and found that everyone had gone still, their eyes fixed in the same direction: the metal Arthur had just finished forging.
Every gaze in the hall snapped to that single ingot. Up on the main platform, the assembled grandmasters stared in disbelief.
It was undeniably a Hundred Refinements.
But the purity, the density, every measurable quality had been pushed to the absolute ceiling of what Hundred Refinements could achieve.
One fraction further, and it would have crossed into Thousand Refinements.
Someone immediately called for a referee to bring Arthur's ingot over.
"This... this is really a Hundred Refinements?" one of the grandmasters murmured after examining it up close, his voice barely above a whisper. "The purity, the density, the soul power conductivity. Everything is perfectly calibrated."
"The force control is precise to the last hair. Every single strike landed exactly at the Hundred Refinements threshold. One iota more and it becomes Thousand Refinements."
Put another way: if Arthur had slipped even slightly, the ingot wouldn't have been a Hundred Refinements. It would have become Thousand Refinements.
That kind of control was terrifying.
Blue Pregnant Copper was already notorious among smiths for how difficult it was to work. A second-rank blacksmith could technically achieve Hundred Refinements with it, but what Arthur had just done was something that very few of the masters present could have replicated.
Master Zhang stood frozen, all the anger drained from his face.
He had just been accusing Arthur of cheating, and yet this technique of stopping precisely at the limit was a display of mastery that surpassed Thousand Refinements.
Thousand Refinements was about accumulated effort, but holding precisely at the threshold demanded absolute command over force, material, and soul power alike. It was a simultaneous demonstration of both raw talent and hard-won skill.
"Cen Yue, your Eastsea Association has been hiding more than anyone!"
Tang Wulin, having finished his own forging in short order, tossed his piece aside and jogged after Arthur. "Hey, Arthur, wait up! I want to eat too!"
Mu Xi watched them go with envy. Her skill wasn't quite there yet. She still needed more time.
They found a noodle shop nearby.
Arthur and Tang Wulin attacked their bowls with great enthusiasm.
Tang Wulin shoved an enormous mouthful of noodles in, cheeks bulging, and said with muffled admiration, "Arthur, your forging is seriously incredible."
It was the first time he'd watched Arthur forge in person. The impression it left was simple: Arthur did exactly what he intended to do, and it worked every time. Absurdly, effortlessly consistent.
"Eat up," Arthur said, taking a sip of the broth. The heat of the spice slid down his throat and warmed him through. "Can't fight in the individual rounds on an empty stomach."
Just then, a chubby kid wandered over.
"You two eat here too, huh."
Xu Lizhi set down an enormous bowl of noodles and planted himself nearby, slurping contentedly. "I checked every restaurant in the area. This one's the best."
Arthur glanced over, recognized him as Xu Lizhi from Shrek Academy, and gave a nod. "It's pretty good. The broth has real depth, and the noodles have a good bite to them."
Tang Wulin said nothing. He'd recognized Xu Lizhi too, as one of yesterday's Shrek competitors, and wasn't sure what the boy was after.
They chatted for a bit before Xu Lizhi got to the point. "Arthur."
"Hm?"
"So, after we lost yesterday, a lot of our teammates weren't satisfied. They signed up on the spot to compete again, same format as yours: a seven-person team event."
"You're not done getting crushed?" Tang Wulin stared at him. Who goes looking for a second beating?
Xu Lizhi waved a vague hand. "I don't really understand the reasoning either. Somehow they decided they needed one more match. Don't ask me."
He scooped up the last mouthful of noodles, wiped his mouth, and looked at Arthur with genuine sincerity. "Arthur, when the time comes, could you maybe go a little easy on Xinglan?"
Arthur paused mid-slurp and raised an eyebrow. "Ye Xinglan?"
"Yes, yes, exactly!" Xu Lizhi nodded eagerly, his round face full of pleading. "Xinglan cried for a really long time yesterday."
Good grief. The devotion on this kid.
Arthur said nothing. He finished eating, then stood up with Tang Wulin to leave.
Before heading out, he gave Xu Lizhi a brief pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Yesterday was personal. Now that that's been settled, I'll treat this match the same as any other."
"Go back and warn your team though. Don't let them get hit even harder and fall apart over it."
Shrek had really lost the plot. They wanted a rematch already?
Yesterday was one thing.
This time, Gu Yue and Na'er would be on the field. He wondered if they'd survive with their spirits intact.
The competition hall was buzzing. In the junior division, contestants were capped at three soul rings each, so the individual matches were held on circular platforms thirty meters in diameter, with soul skills from adjacent stages constantly overlapping in a dazzling spectacle.
After parting with Tang Wulin, Arthur made his way to the platform assigned by the draw.
A soul-powered defensive barrier enclosed the stage.
When the referee caught sight of Arthur, he blinked, composed himself with visible effort, and ran through the rules in a measured voice.
"The rules are simple: fight freely, no need to hold back. I'll step in when appropriate to keep things safe. A contestant who forfeits or is rendered unable to continue loses. If the gap becomes too wide, I'll call it myself. You have thirty seconds to prepare. I'll count down the final five."
The opponent who stepped onto the stage was a slightly heavyset boy. When he saw that his opponent was Arthur, he went completely blank.
Arthur was famous now.
With the official publicity machine behind it, his name had spread across nearly the entire Federation in a matter of days. But nowhere was the buzz stronger than here in Skysea itself, where he had become an overnight idol for young soul masters from every city in the alliance.
A moment later, the boy jabbed a trembling finger in Arthur's direction. "You, you, you, you're—!"
The countdown hit zero.
"Begin!"
Arthur stepped forward and restrained his opponent with ease.
Strangely, the boy didn't resist at all.
His face had gone beet red, but he was visibly, unmistakably overjoyed. "Oh my god, I just got beaten by Arthur!"
"Arthur, I'm your idol! No wait, you're my, you're my fan—"
He managed to force two fingers into a V-sign toward the audience, pointing in a direction where someone appeared to be taking a photo, grinning from ear to ear.
Arthur couldn't keep a straight face. He let go.
Was he being mobbed by a fan right now?
The boy had zero fighting spirit. He hadn't even released his martial soul. He turned to Arthur with eyes that practically sparkled. "Arthur, can you pose with me? Just for one second!"
Arthur gave up and played along, resting a hand symbolically on the boy's shoulder. The boy snapped to attention immediately, beaming at the camera with the full force of his happiness.
"Alright, alright." The referee couldn't take it any longer. He cleared his throat and announced in a loud voice, "Arthur wins! Next match, get ready!"
The morning rounds wrapped up quickly. The team event wasn't until the afternoon, so Class Zero gathered back at the hotel.
"Everyone made it through, right?" Tang Wulin asked with a grin.
"Obviously! With my skill level, the first round is practically a given!" Xie Xie said, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
Gu Yue shook her head. "It's been easy enough. I just hope I don't run into Arthur until later. Ideally the finals."
Since they'd already agreed she would throw the match, the finals, being the most watched round, was the ideal stage for it.
"Hmph. You're that sure you've already beaten me?" Na'er gave a cold sniff.
Gu Yue just smiled and said nothing.
۞۞۞۞
~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones