"Hey, isn't that brat having it too easy in this?" One of the many Frost family opponents in the vicinity of the 8th platform asked the people in the surrounding area.
At the same time, that previously noisy place had become somewhat quiet, with the few voices sounding out asking questions full of doubt regarding Lothur.
"That..."
"That person has no trouble inscribing his codes into his formation!"
"He is already above the 1-star rank of formations master!"
Some of the experts in that profession in the area made their comments, while those who did not understand the subject so well were more and more surprised.
Among them, Kai was looking at Lothur with his mouth open, not understanding how this person devoid of qualities could be setting up a formation right in front of him.
"That fellow is very good..." Kai's competitor said this while sensing Lothur's abilities that were beyond the ordinary. "You guys told me that he was not a formations master... Maybe he tricked you?"
The dark-skinned man next to Kai was just as surprised as his boss, but thinking about the possibility that Lothur had tricked them all this time put him in an even more doubtful state.
'It can't be! How would he distinguish himself as worthless so well when he has above-average skills? It's not easy being a zero to the left!' He exclaimed in his mind, looking at the smooth, quiet movements of Lothur's brush.
At that instant, Lothur had just finished inscribing the codes for his first formation and immediately began preparing the defensive item he would use against Hartmut.
'That's a wooden shield, so here's what I'll do...' He thought about many memories from his time on Earth and created the rules behind his defensive formation.
While Lothur did his work with a smile on his face, his opponent was sweating to finish inscribing his first formation. But from time to time, Hartmut would look at his opponent due to the comments in the surroundings, feeling even more pressured that this person was taking everything so easily.
'Damn!'
'That bastard is doing better than me! How is this possible? Will I have my reputation thrown in the trash by him?' He thought as drops of sweat formed on his forehead.
Seeing this from afar, Lina smiled, sensing that Lothur would easily win this first contest on behalf of the Frost family.
'His opponent is good, but Lothur's skills have already reached 2-star rank. The only thing he lacks to develop a Bronze-grade formation is the inscriptions...' She pondered in silence, considering what she saw in the silver-haired young man's manners.
The referee of Lothur and Hartmut's match was also impressed since he was also a formations master and knew how difficult what the silver-haired young man was doing was.
'Inscribing laws into a formation using two hands is like reading in two languages simultaneously... But still, this fellow is doing his job without much difficulty.' He pondered, noting that Lothur's talent should be close to the 4th rank, Yellow grade.
'This boy can become a 3-star formations master in the future!' He saw the talent needed for Lothur to reach the level of the best specialists in that profession in Leopoldine!
Leopoldine was a mid-level state in Concordia, so the best experts of the spiritual professions were ranked 3-star.
So for that man, Lothur's talent was already impressive enough to put him among Leopoldine's hopes of nurturing more formations masters to develop the local technology!
Considering this, he could not help but look at Lothur with a glint in his eyes, already changing his opinion about this fellow who reminded him of someone...
While everyone around him was still shocked by Lothur's far superior performance, the sand in the hourglass above that platform had already reached three-quarters of the time of the test.
At this instant, Lothur stopped what he was doing and stood up after putting away the formation flags he had used.
"I'm done." He said as mouths opened all around, and Hartmut looked at him angrily.
'Damn it!'
'Come on, Hartmut! Don't make me lose even more of my face!' Cedric's uncle thought to himself as he looked at his man, feeling that Lothur's performance had been much better than his nephew had told him, but there was no use complaining now.
As such, he could only give mental support to that individual, his only hope that his reputation would not be further tarnished.
'I hope no one in the association finds out about this...' He thought as he looked to the side and saw a person waving in his direction.
'Philip?'
Philip continued smiling at that fellow, feeling good about seeing someone making such a foolish mistake.
'Idiot, I told you not to believe everything your nephew says!' The old man who was there to observe Lothur thought to himself, already wondering what it would be like when he spread this to his fellow members on the council of the Formations Masters Association.
Anyway, as Cedric's uncle hid his face, the time trial ended, and Hartmut was able to finish his formations.
At that instant, the match referee merely looked at the two young men and nodded, saying they could enter the match with their items.
Lothur then said in a humorous tone. "If you want, I will give you the chance to attack me first..."
"Oh?" The audience in that area reacted with surprise at Lothur's magnanimity.
But Annaliese frowned, showing her sister that something was not right.
"What is it, Anna?" Viktoria asked her in a low voice.
"I don't know. Lothur is not the type to give the enemy a chance..."
But Hartmut did not know what Annaliese knew, so he smiled at this possibility, feeling that this was his chance to redeem himself.
'Bastard, you may have finished before me, but my attack formation is not weak!' He picked up what looked like a cannonball and placed it on a support.
Next, Hartmut used what looked like a stick and spun until one end of this artifact hit the ball in question and sent it toward Lothur.
The moment the end of the stick touched that ball, it glowed in various wavelengths, which started from the point of contact with that artifact and fired a strong pulse backward.
Then the ball gained speed, quickly becoming as fast as a 38 revolver bullet from Earth.
However, while all this was happening, Lothur was standing there with a blue circular-shaped shield on his right arm, with a ball similar to that of the enemy in his left hand.
The items offered to the competitors in this test had to be identical to ensure that the best formations master would win. So, Lothur's and Hartmut's attack items were identical.
And so, as Hartmut watched his attack unfold, the collision finally happened!
...