Upon entering a room of about 30 square meters with gray walls, Vicente immediately ignored the things there. He looked at the man sitting next to a small table.
This person was dressed in the traditional overcoat the Association’s blacksmiths wore. In this man’s case, there were two stars above his left chest, something that indicated his classification as a blacksmith.
He had a serious look on his face, while he had a large book in front of him in which he was writing something.
“Vicente Fuller…” He muttered as he turned the page and saw Benson King’s newest student. ‘Is this brat his disciple? Didn’t the rumors say this guy only took people with green talent or higher?’
He looked at Vice’s forehead for a moment and asked. “How long have you been under the elder King’s tutelage? Do you come from a forging family, Vicente?”
“A few weeks. And no, I don’t have a forging background, senior.” Vicente replied, standing in the middle of the area he needed to use, where there were some tools and instruments useful for what he was about to do.
‘Weeks?’ The bald man frowned, the only part of his face with hair. Thinking that this young man was just there to be tested or to show off his talents, the man didn’t give it much thought and said. “Very well, you may begin. For this first test, you need to make a shield-type defensive item. 𝑜𝘷𝑙.𝘰𝑟𝑔
You have 30 minutes to develop something that exceeds the minimum requirement, Vicence.”
With these words from his assessor, Vicente immediately grabbed his materials from the area and got to work with a hammer.
The only items that could be used in the Association’s tests were those provided by the organization. To prevent cheating with high-level resources, this institution didn’t allow people to use their personal items.
However, they could use their skills and spells, which were considered inseparable characteristics of magicians.
Vicente had no intention of showing his powers to anyone other than Benson. That would be too risky, as it might expose his powers to more people than he thought acceptable.
With Benson, he could be carefree because his master wouldn’t harm him by revealing this information. But with people he had no control over, like the members of this association, he didn’t want to take any chances.
Picking up the hammer from that area, he made his first move by using a body balancing technique and positioning his body appropriately to move the heavy object.
When he made his first move against a metal bar, Vicente immediately made the evaluator, watching him without much interest, change his expression.
‘What?’ This person opened his eyes wider, not only because he felt that the mana was too dense for a young man who had only awakened his powers a few weeks ago but also because he saw the refinement of Vicente’s technique.
Unlike the youth early, this evaluator knew Vicente’s exact age. Not only did he know that this young man was more talented in his magic cultivation than the color of his gem would suggest, but he could also sense the sophistication of this young man’s technique.
‘How could that be? Is this the Three Hearts Technique?’ He clenched his fists as he saw a 14-year-old youth using an essential technique for 1st and 2nd-stage blacksmiths with ease.
The Three Hearts Technique was a breathing and body control technique in which one used one’s calves to increase the power of one’s movements as if one had three hearts working in one’s body.
It facilitated the blacksmith’s mastery of the hammer but also increased the magician’s sensory ability to perceive changes in the metal they were working on.
Vicente used it for his first moves, drawing the attention of the blacksmiths watching him from behind a false wall on one side of the room.
Three men were behind this false wall, which was actually a pane of glass that made its area invisible to the people in the testing area.
One of them was obviously Benson, while the other two were a member of the council and one of his students.
“Oh? It seems that this young man is really talented. Not only has he reached the level of Senior Apprentice so quickly, but he has also managed to master the first level of the Three Hearts Technique.” The man who had been talking to Henry earlier said as he watched Vice’s movements with interest.
He hadn’t expected someone with a yellow talent to be so special!
‘No wonder this cunning fox accepted this young man.’ The level 5 Acolyte, next to his master, looked at Benson out of the corner of his eye. ‘He really only accepts monsters as disciples!’
Benson heard his fellow council member’s comment and laughed, pleased that his disciple was attracting attention.
He wasn’t particularly interested in other people’s opinions. But some of the old men on the council doubted his abilities and some of his old promises.
It was always delightful for him to see them behaving like such a Mage!
“Isaac, don’t be so impressed yet. You’ll see something impressive at the end of this exam.” Benson said, making the guy look at him.
“What are you talking about?”
“Haha, just watch and see. Vicente is the most talented blacksmith I’ve ever taught. One day, he’ll even surpass Elliott Preston.”
“Elliott?” The level 5 Acolyte looked at Benson, doubting that this would come true.
Who was Elliott? This was the greatest blacksmith in the Seidel Kingdom, the current First Elder of the state Blacksmiths’ Association.
While Isaac wondered if his colleague was joking, Vicente used everything he could without using his unique ability and worked hard for 30 minutes until he finished his shield, 1 minute before his time ran out.
When he stopped moving, Vicente was sweating like a pig about to be slaughtered, breathing so hard that people on the other side of the false wall of this room could hear him.
But while he was exhausted, no one there paid attention to him. All eyes were on the silver shield on a table in the room.
This shield wasn’t stunning, but in tests like this, blacksmiths usually didn’t care about the design of their products. The important thing was that it worked.
When the evaluator saw such a shield up close, he couldn’t say that he was shocked because of Vicente’s movements in the last 30 minutes, he would surely produce something efficient. But when such a man analyzed the shield, he couldn’t help but open his mouth in surprise.
“98% efficiency!” He said out loud, not believing that he had such an excellent 1st-grade item in his hands.