The crowd fell silent when the organizing mentor began to walk towards where the liquids and lights were arranged on a table. An excited hush swept across the crowd as they waited for the results.
The mentor first walked towards Hanzhi’s platform. The latter took a welcoming step back, gesturing with a smile towards his creation.
The mentor nodded and picked up the spirit liquid, inserting the tempering measurement needle.
A few seconds passed.
The crowd was still eagerly silent.
“Bigswamp Villa, Hanzhi. Your spirit liquid has a tempering strength of… 66%,” the mentor announced with a broad smile of approval.
A loud cheer sounded, and those well-versed in the business nodded in approval. A four-star formula for a third-grade spirit liquid should have an upper limit of about 70%. Hitting 66% already qualified it as an excellent spirit liquid.
Of course, Hanzhi was able to achieve this because he was a fifth-grade resonance artificer. A third-grade resonance artificer should only be able to reach about 63%.
Which was also the average standard of the Bigswamp Villa’s Coarse Dust spirit liquid on the market.
After all, not even the Bigswamp Villa had the luxury to assign their fifth-grade resonance artificers to refine third-grade spirit liquids. It was not an efficient allocation of their manpower.
“Barring any sudden upsets, I think Hanzhi should be the highest scorer,” Gui Xu told the First Princess. She nodded slightly in acknowledgment. Upsets… they were precisely things you could not predict after all.
“And Li Luo?”
Gui Xu snuck a look at her sideways. Somehow, she seemed very interested in the boy. Could there be something going on between them?
Gui Xu considered it for a moment. “Their only selling point is the upper seventh-grade secret watersource. If Li Luo is using a three-star formula, no amount of genius will push him past 60%—that’s the upper limit of a three-star formula.”
“And if Li Luo uses a four-star formula?”
“I haven’t heard of the Suncreek Villa possessing a four-star formula,” Gui Xu said, surprised.
“Just because you haven’t heard of it doesn’t mean they will never have one,” the First Princess said with a slight smile. “Since Li Luo can pull an upper seventh-grade secret watersource out of his hat, who’s to say he can’t pull a four-star formula out of thin air too?”
Gui Xu rolled his eyes inwardly. The First Princess did not understand the liquids and lights industry. Formulas were worth millions of skygold. Each four-star formula was carefully tracked and monitored by the experts in the industry. A four-star formula pulled out of thin air? Impossible.
However, since the First Princess had pressed him for an answer, he had to reply, out of deference to her rank. “Even if Li Luo had a four-star formula, a third-grade resonance artificer like him would only be able to produce something between 60% and 62%. That’s the insurmountable difference between him and the other fifth-grade resonance artificers like Hanzhi.
“If Li Luo achieves 63%, I would see that as a huge victory for him already. He would have essentially proven that he simply lacks the experience as a resonance artificer. It would indicate that he can match their results once he reaches the fourth-grade, which is something only geniuses among artificers can claim.”
The First Princess nodded again.
Meanwhile on stage, even the organizing mentor could not resist a quick comment. “Congratulations,” he said to Hanzhi.
As a resonance artificer himself, he knew that this result was impressive. Even before he tested the other artificers’ products, he knew that Hanzhi’s was likely to be the highest.
Hanzhi nodded back in courteous acknowledgment before turning to look at Li Luo.
Li Luo was busy stretching out the kinks in his back. That had been a really tiring process.
Sensing Hanzhi’s gaze, he straightened up to look at him. “Hack you to death!” he mouthed silently.
Hanzhi’s eyes flashed with anger. “Oh, Li Luo, your words might be full of fire, but they will not save you from your loss today.” The mentor continued to test the creations of the other four fifth-grade resonance artificers.
“Ultraviolet Villa, Huangfu Xu. Tempering strength 64%.
“Arctic Blizzard Villa, Bing Ling. Tempering strength 65%.
“Inkwater Villa, Mo Tai. Tempering strength 64%.
“…”
The cheers rang out non-stop for them. Fifth-grade resonance artificers showing off their skills on a simple product had a charm to it, the pleasure of seeing a product finished to near-perfection. Of course, Hanzhi still remained at the top.
66% was still the highest so far.
After examining the other five artificers, the mentor finally reached Li Luo’s refining platform. All eyes were on him now.
Everyone knew that this test was the real highlight of this competition.
Was the president of the Suncreek Villa really that confident? Or was it all just youthful bluster?
If it ended up being the former, the Suncreek Villa might well emerge from this competition as the ultimate winner. If it were the latter, they would be laughed out of the Fair.
“Go ahead, Mentor,” Li Luo said casually, handing over his Budding Butterfly Spirit Liquid.
“Well, don’t be too stressed, young man. Take it as a challenge against fifth-grade artificers.”
Li Luo nodded breezily.
The moment the Budding Butterfly Spirit Liquid was placed in his hand, the mentor sensed something different. From the pale shine of the liquid, he could tell that this spirit liquid was something special.
His eyes widened in surprise.
The rising scent was pure and thick—far beyond the quality a three-star formula could hope to achieve!
Quickly, he dipped the tempering measurement needle in, and his eyes steadily grew rounder as the reading climbed.
63… 64… 65!
The needle slowed, but did not stop.
Finally, it climbed up to 66%!
That was on par with Hanzhi!
How was that possible?!
For one irrational moment, he thought that the tempering measurement needle was broken. But all of the tempering measurement needles he had prepared had been rigorously checked beforehand.
They were all custom-made, specially to avoid errors.
Which meant that Li Luo’s spirit liquid was truly at 66% strength! It was not a three-star formula at all!
With his years of experience in the industry, he knew that this was nothing less than a four-star formula!
Apparently, Li Luo had not brought a knife to the gunfight after all.
But that could not be right. Even a four-star formula should not have been able to reach 66% in the hands of a third-grade artificer!
All of these fifth-grade artificers had four-star formulas as well, but only Hanzhi had made it to 66%. What was Li Luo’s edge?
The mentor stood rooted to the spot, reeling from the shock.
“Mentor, your announcement? Everyone’s waiting,” Li Luo said affably.
He jerked back to reality and stared at the silver-haired youth before him.
“Kid, you sure know how to steal the show.”