This time the competition didn't take place at the open air auditorium.

Instead, they went to the forges of the Thor academy. The audience has lessened a lot. Only the elders and enthusiasts of the weapon making trade came to see. Still, it is a large audience and is only relatively smaller compared to the other competitions.

Whether they witnessed this or not, almost everyone is feeling excited for this.

Because after this is over, the solo combat will start. Usually, group combat is done first and then the solo combat. But now it changed for some reason.

Sam arrived at the forge assigned to him.

In previous years, there is only one test for the weapon making competition. Like the one Sam participated in the inter academy tournament.

Five or six weapons, a time limit and some score requirement. But now they divided even this into three rounds.

In the first round of preliminaries, the test is also a bit unique compared to the previous ones. In the worktable assigned to Sam, there is a worn out rusted weapon. It is something he is very familiar with, as it was part of his collection in his last life. A katar.

Back on earth, it was an old Indian weapon. A thrusting dagger from India with a distinctive horizontal grip, allowing the wielder to punch and stab with great force. Once stabbed, you can trigger the blade to open up. That means, within the hollow blade, there is a straight blade. Once inside the body, it will open up like scissors, tearing that person apart.

It is a close combat weapon and it is very hard to master and even harder to forge one properly.

It might not too versatile, but the range of the weapon is pretty controllable, since it will be attached to the fist. A great weapon for slaughter.

Sam looked at the rusty katar and then to the table next to his. There is also a similar worn out katar there. He could guess what the competition is.

As if to validate his guesses, the elders came and took their place on the stage.

"Welcome everyone.

Let me start with congratulation everyone for making it here. I hope the best smith wins the competition.

Now, let's not waste any time and get to the point. The first round of the weapon making competition is actually, a weapon restoration test. On your tables, you can find a worn and torn weapon. Many might not be familiar with it, but this is Katar.

It was primarily used in realms dominated by the Sanatan beliefs.

The weapon itself is a great representation of a smith's abilities. And it is a great weapon of slaughter. Even for the people who have seen the weapon all their lives... forging it is a difficult task. To the point that a well made katar is a rare sight in this day and time.

So, for our test, you need to restore the katar.

The elders will suppress their cultivation level and wield the katars on the training dummies. After that, they will be placed in the analysis formation, that will determine how durable it is, basically we are going to evaluate the damage to the target and the damage to the weapon.

Adding up both of those scores will give your score for this round.

The thirty-two people with the highest score will move to the next round.

You can only use the materials placed on the table. They are enough to restore the katar to the perfection. The time limit is three hours. You can use the specially modified furnace as well as the quenching formation.

But you cannot use any inscriptions or formations, even if they are ingrained into the surface while being forged, they are a violation.

We are focusing solely on your abilities as a smith. Any other expertise you have should not be involved in here.

Now, you may begin.

"

Everyone immediately jumped at the katars and started analyzing them. Some even went ahead and started dismantling them. Sam also worked a bit quickly. For some reason, this excited him more than the formations and inscriptions.

Ever since he came to the academy realm, he has barely seen anyone excel greatly in those trades. The only thing he is satisfied about the people here is that the level of forging, puppet making and other artisan traders are really developed, compared to the combat, inscription and formations.

Even the test this time is unique.

Most of the smiths don't like to restore the weapons made by someone else. Some really prideful ones even find it insulting to be told to do work like this. But right now, none of them had those thoughts.

The Katar is such a weapon.

Even Sam felt impressed by the weapon of choice. He worked fast, but also gentle as well. After everything was dismantled, he started examining the damage of all the parts. The metal used to make this weapon seemed like an alloy. Except for the inner blade, the hollow blade, the handle seemed to be made of the same metal.

If he has to restore it, he has to use the same alloy and he guessed the materials on the table are enough to do it.

Anyway, first things first, he needs to remove the rust.

He injected his spiritual energy into the parts one by one and used his manipulation ability to remove the rust at a granular level. Once that is gone, even though the weapon is not shiny, it looked pretty new.

Now, with observation, he understood the alloy composition and then he used his fire and metal element to melt these different metals to test the ratios. After around twenty minutes, he managed to get the alloy the way he wanted.

However, he paused before using it to restore the weapon.

After all, the alloy might bring the weapon to its original state. But that doesn't mean, it

would be the best state.

So, he took his sweet time to make the necessary improvements only in terms of alloy and the reforging method.

Unlike the previous competitions, Sam worked slowly with a faint smile on his face. He was sweating, hammering it down properly, taking care of every detail gently.

He neither shocked anyone with some instant trick, nor did he try to show off. He just

carefully crafted the weapon.

He remade it, sharpened it and until the last moment, kept on polishing it. He submitted the weapon with the same smile on his face.

"Now, for the evaluation... we are going to use the original version of that katar.

"

The elder took out a shiny katar and stabbed it into the training dummy.

"1000

"

The score was shown. A clean perfect one thousand. Then, he triggered the blades.

"1520

"

The score changed. One for the stab and another for the blades opening. It is a lethal weapon

alright.

The evaluation began.

"890

"

"1300

"

"921

"

"1341

"

"1023

"

"1290

"

The scores kept pouring in. Sam is actually impressed by them. They are decent scores that too considering that most of them don't really have much experience with a weapon like Katar.

Amidst all of it, Sam came across a familiar face.

"1390

"

"1789

"

Those are the scores of Manson's Katar. He knocked it out of the park. That immediately made

him the highest scorer yet.

After a few more tests, Sam's turn came

Manson turned to look at Sam and he had a smirk on his face.

"1440

"

"2340

"

Even the elder stopped for a moment and took a look at Sam.

When he was about to place the katar away, Sam raised his hand and asked.

"Can I have it? I can pay if needed

"

"You can have it after the durability test.

"

Sam nodded and stepped back.

After the evaluations for the damage are done, the durability tests started, in the same order.

"35%

" That is the first score. Kind of bad. For just one attack it lost 65% of its durability.

"42%

"

"24%

"

"01%

"

Manson's turn came.

"85%

"

Once again, the highest yet.

"94%

" And that's Sam's score. He beat everyone else. Once again. The elder looked at the

Katar and felt it with his fingers.

"This is a really good weapon. With your expertise in the other professions, I didn't really think much of your forging skill.

But you are as good at this as you are with them.

"

Sam is surprised by the generous praise, particularly when he realized that guy is from Hel

academy. He just caressed the Katar and walked out of the venue. The thirty-two are decided and this time not just one gambler academy candidate, but two of them took the cake.

Sam and Manson are in the first two places.

Sam appeared at the entrance and he didn't leave immediately. Instead, he walked down the

steps and walked slowly in the streets.

He still had the Katar in his hands. After walking for a few minutes, he arrived at a spot. Spiritual energy raged in his body and spread to the Katar in his hands.