On his way back from dinner, Emil saw an announcement on the monolith square.
"A competition? Already?"
Emil already knew about competitions and tournaments and whatnot.
They were the academy's way of providing the students with a competetive ground whilst also rewarding the winners with resources and encouraging its students to work harder, and win the competitions.
Tournaments were a bigger event than competitions.
They only happened once a year.
But competitions happened monthly, and kept the students active in hopes of winning rewards.
The rewards were usually rare resources students would have to spend months grinding to obtain.
Emil knew there was gonna be a competition by the end of this month, but he didn't think it'd be organized so quickly.
Upon seeing the announcement, he hurried to the monolith and clicked his badge with it.
'a solo competition, entry barrier of Second-Order of the Red stage, and the winner's reward is a Bone Tempering Elixir?'
Emil had seen this item on the merit shop yesterday.
A Bone Tempering Elixir worked exactly as it sounded.
It tempered your bones and increased their size, strength and density.
Emil looked at his noodle arms and dwarf-like height.
It was definitely something he needed.
There was only one problem.
The entry barrier was too high for him.
He'd have to breakthrough to the Second-Order of the Red stage in less than a month.
With his cultivation speed, he would take at least two months...
But not if he took Tablets!
However, buying pills required points, he'd have to do missions in order to buy them.
He could do lower level missions but that wouldn't grant him enough points to buy enough pills.
His only option would be hunting missions.
But he couldn't hunt with a broken arm... Or could he?
Emil remembered his nighttime cultivation's healing properties.
He could potentially heal within a few days through the help of that.
He would then have a bit over three weeks to grind missions, buy pills and breakthrough to the second order.
It was difficult but not impossible.
He could have a chance at getting the Bone Tempering Elixir.
The type of competition wasn't determined quite yet but be assumed it wasn't too battle focused considering it was solo type.
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If it wasn't combat, he'd at least have a chance of winning!
Drawing conclusions one by one, Emil made a clear goal in his mind as he headed back to his dorm.
He had less than a month's time.
He needed to breakthrough to the Second-Order by then and prepare for the competition.
He had one goal in his mind, and it was the Bone Tempering Elixir!
...
The next day arrived.
Like every night, Emil spent his time in pain, and also made sure to cultivate for the last few minutes or so.
A way of avoiding experiencing extra pain was leaving cultivation for the last five minutes, where the pain would leave his body by the time he was finished cultivating.
He couldn't time it exactly so he still suffered a few minutes of damage after finishing his session, but it was still better than last night.
Emil's first class for the day was Forgemastery, and to his dismay, the teacher was Osric.
Osric was the alleged Pashmak, the teacher from the Special Admissions Examinations.
He looked middle aged, had a short stature and was ridiculously muscular which made him resemble Arne in many ways.
If there were any differences between them, then it'd be Osric's brown eyes, long braided hair and large beard and mustache.
There was still some noise going around when Osric walked in.
"SILENCE!"
He bellowed, his voice reverberating in the class and shaking up all the students, silencing them in the process.
Osric looked around, staring into everyone's face for a few deathly silent seconds.
"I'm your Forgemastery teacher and your hell for the next year. The lot of you, will be calling me sir."
*Silence*
The students didn't dare utter anything.
"IS THAT CLEAR!?"
Osric's gut-wrenching yell came again, startling everyone.
"YES!
the class shouted in unison.
"YES WHAT?"
"YES SIR!"
Osric gave a satisfied nod.
The entire class was intimidated by him. Their new teacher had a temper, and it seemed like they were gonna have to deal with it for the entire year.
"Do any of you know a damn about Forgemastery? Who can give me an overview?"
One of the students shakily raised her hand.
Osric nodded in her direction, granting her permission to speak.
"F-Forgemastery is the art of combining traditional smithing with runes and inscriptions to create Magic Artifacts."
Osric nodded again, gesturing her to sit down.
"What's your name?"
"Brenna Lannister "
Osric scribbled on his tablet.
"Five points to you.
As for the rest of you."
He looked at the other students. The males specially.
"You call yourselves men? You don't have half her guts, Pussies."
He threw one last insult before begining his lecture.
"Forgemastery, the art of combining traditional smithing with runes and inscriptions to create Magic Artifacts.
Magic Artifacts come in different shapes, but I'll only be talking about the combat types in today's lesson."
Osric paced around for a bit and kept watch on the students, making sure everyone's listening.
"We have three types of Combat Magic Artifacts.
Weapons, Armors, and Accessories.
Normal weapons can't harm Magical Beasts, they're too fragile. Magic Weapons on the other hand are made out of Magic Beast parts and are many times more durable, allowing them to damage Magical Beasts.
Same goes for Armors. Normal Armors will get you killed just from one hit from a Magical Beast while Magic Armors can protect your life.
Accessories can boost your combat power in many different ways which I'll get to in a minute.
But first, which part of this concerns you now?"
Osric dished out a sword from his storage ring.
It looked ordinary to the eye but the aura it radiated was enough to pressure everyone.
"This, is a 1st Rank Magic Weapon.
Magic Weapons have six ranks, Common Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary and Mythical, corresponding with the Mana Core ranks.
Each rank is further divided into four grades of low, mid, high and peak based on their power within their respective ranks.
What you see in front of you."
Osric waved the sword, the wind generated by the swing sending students' hairs flying.
"Is a Low-Grade 1st Rank Magic Artifact."
Osric took in the students' reactions and grinned.
This was a part of his class he never got tired of. Showcasing his passion to others.
His smile only lasted for a second though, he had a class to teach.
"Magic Accessories don't have a Common rank, their lowest rank is Uncommon so you can't use them.
Magic Weapons and Armors on the other hand start from Common rank.
In their lowest rank, they don't have any special properties beside being able to attack and defend against Magical Beasts, but that should be more than plenty for you to start with.
Now, has anyone wielded a Magic Weapon before?
Hmm? Who wants to give this sword a try?"
Osric's teaching method was more on the straightforward side.
He believed there was no better way of teaching students beside letting them experience for themselves, and that was exactly what he was gonna do today.