Chapter 282: That's her! Part2

The gentle rays of the morning sunlight gradually became warmer and, soon there was some movement in the royal courtyard facing the Central Square.

A group of dwarves leisurely walked over, some wearing the royal regalia, whilst some wearing austere robes.

The Grandmaster blacksmiths had finally arrived, and accompanying them, were a dozen or so dwarven royal family members.

Of course, much to Tang Yue's dismay, there were also a couple of elves among that group.

The numerous clan elders gathered in the central square might not receive special treatment from the dwarven higher-ups, but the Crown Prince of Eldoria and his elder brother most definitely did.

They were seated right next to the blacksmith grandmasters and were enjoying rich delicacies and spirit wine.

However, the two groups only exchanged superficial pleasantries and nothing more.

And since the important guests had now arrived, the numerous participants of the contest didn't dilly dally any longer and promptly started their meticulous smithing routine.

The row of blast furnaces roared and crackled, whilst the anvils produced earth-shattering bangs.

Since this was already the third day, every single one of the contestants was extremely serious and was completely focused on their task at hand, including Tang Yue.

Rhythmic sonorous sounds echoed from all directions and the experienced eyes of the old monsters scanned the crowd periodically.

Though they were chatting with each other and discussing some concepts most of the time, they still took care of this main business.

They observed the talent level of each and every smith on the ground with their keen and sharpened senses, analyzing everything down to the last detail.

They looked at their form, strength, cultivation base, concentration level, their affinity to the earthen elemental essence, and even their mental fortitude.

With the almighty Grandmasters carefully observing their every move, all the dwarves were extremely invigorated and worked with extra care and attention.

A couple of hours later, the first talent was identified and one of the dwarves was called aside.

It was a bald guy who was slightly chubby and had feminine features.

The examiner had received a direct order from one of the Grandmasters and he, in turn, pulled aside the dwarf to convey him the good news.

Others, obviously, could see the shock and joy on the young lad's face and silently gritted their teeth in jealousy.

The man hadn't even finished the refining process, and he was already selected as a direct disciple! What a monster!

But one cannot cook grains with jealousy, so everyone ducked their heads back into the game and busied themselves.

Soon, a few more hours passed and only that single dwarf had been called out since that morning.

It was an extremely depressing result. But then again, in the past, there have been lunar cycles when no one had been selected at all.

So this was still a better outcome.

Most of the participants by now had also lost their initial vigor and energy.

They knew that the Grandmasters typically returned back to their seclusion at the beginning of dusk and there was nothing more that could be done to change their minds.

They could only work harder and train more before trying their luck again in the next lunar cycle.

Unlike these dwarves, Tang Yue knew that she had absolutely no chance since the start, so she was a lot less nervous and she calmly and steadily worked on her refining process.

And luckily for her, this contest itself somehow proved to be extremely fortuitous.

Not only could she keenly observe and analyze the techniques of the other Master blacksmiths surrounding her, but she could also activate her skill 'One with the Earth' and feel the rhythm of their movements.

Based on these new insights, Tang Yue slowly and steadily adjusted her own method.

She even ended up improving her technique by leaps and bounds in this short interval.

She could almost feel the invisible barrier that had prevented her from progressing to the next level.

These past few weeks, Tang Yue had worked extremely hard to break through this same barrier.

She might not have succeeded just yet, but she had definitely chipped away bits and pieces of the barrier.

And now that she was able to actually witness and learn from other experienced masters, she quickly comprehended the things which were previously confusing.

The veil that had been obstructing her vision had been torn apart and Tang Yue could now cleanly sense the elemental essence impurities and other energy impurities deeply embedded within the high-grade materials.

The metal amalgam that she had been busily refining since morning was finally showing signs of improvement.

Every single one of her hits was now cleanly and smoothly targeted at the right spot and at the right angle, with just the right amount of mana contained within it.

A bright smile appeared on the young dwarven girl's face as she hurriedly repeated her movements to fully capture and memorize this feeling.

Coincidentally, the dwarven princess, also participating in the contest, finally threw her towel in and gave up.

Her entire body was sore from non-stop rigorous training and practice and since the day had almost ended, she felt as if there was no point in continuing anymore.

She didn't even bother cleaning up her station and began to walk away when she glanced upon Tang Yue's small figure and realized that she had completely forgotten about this pest.

The frown on her face, from the disappointment of not getting selected quickly disappeared, and a wide grin, replaced it instead.

She still continued to leave the area, but before leaving, she casually walked past Xyla and nudged the woman slightly.

Master blacksmith Xyla nodded at her in understanding. 

She didn't want to make a ruckus while the Grandmasters were still there, but now that they were about to leave, this was the perfect time to teach the imbecile a lesson!

Once Layla left, Xyla continued walking around casually and attending to the participants if and when they needed her.

She took a big loop around numerous contestants and when she finally arrived near Tang Yue, her footsteps halted.

She saw the young dwarven girl working sincerely, and a slight trace of hesitation crossed her face.

But then, she noticed that Tang Yue was still stuck in the refinement process and a look of contempt surfaced on the woman's face.

Almost everyone standing around had already completed their refinement step and had thoroughly removed all the impurities from the metal amalgam.

The entire forging process will obviously take a while, maybe even a day or two, but all the contestants, well except for Tang Yue and a couple of other stragglers, were well past the initial refinement step.

This in itself clearly showed the disparity between their talents.

The dwarven woman Xyla walked closer to Tang Yue, clicking her tongue, acting as if she was very disappointed with whatever she was witnessing.

"This is a very bad display of the Hundred Bangs Refinement." She loudly commented.

A few heads turned her way and some of the crowd and even the participants started staring at the scene.

Xyla, being a Grandmaster's direct disciple, held a very high status in the dwarven society and so no one dared to question her behavior.

Everyone subconsciously took her side and watched as she continued lecturing the young dwarven girl.

"A bang is only counted when it removes an energy impurity from the ore."

"So technically you have accomplished nothing since morning."

"Your metal amalgam is still trash grade."

"You are only wasting your time and everyone else's time here."

"How can you be this disrespectful towards your elders and esteemed teachers?"

"There is a reason why we are arranging the contest in this format every lunar cycle."

"What is the use of taking advantage of a loophole and now wasting other people's time like this?"

"Are you simply here to show off and seek attention?"

The woman didn't even stop to take a breather and started hurling insults at Tang Yue left and right.

"This won't do. You are not fit to be a smith."

"Do you know what is the most important trait in order to refine impurities?"

"Your mental state. You need to be pure and clean in your thoughts."

"Someone like you who is trying to use a loophole and win using these backhanded methods will never amount to anything."

It looked as if the Master blacksmith Xyla was determined to make an example out of Tang Yue and disciple her strictly.

And moreover, since whatever she said perfectly hit the spot, the crowd also agreed with her.

The other participants standing around looked at Tang Yue in complete and utter disdain.

Every single one of them had worked and continue to work and train extremely hard in order to stand here and the appearance of the young girl simply ticked them off.

Especially when the girl was obviously not a prodigy and was not in the least talented.