Living Life As A Game: Through And Through 121 Sneaking Suspicion

As soon as the interviewer stopped speaking, the announcer came through the public announcement system once more and began bringing contestants up to take their rewards. Those that ranked 100 to 51 only received the artifact they turned in for the final stage back along with the reputation of having made it this far into the first Wushi Tournament of the Shuguang Era.

Everyone that made it to the top fifty also received a Peak-tier Monster True Core of their choosing, and those reached the top ten were also given the choice to pick out a material from a selection of rare spiritual treasures. Those ranking in the top five were given double the aforementioned rewards; each higher-ranking competitor received their rewards one factor greater than the person ranked lower than them, i.e. fifth place got two cores and materials, fourth place got three cores and materials, and so on until the champion received six core and materials.

Lastly, those that entered the top three each got a reward that only appeared more and more ridiculous than the last. Third place was offered a voucher that could be used to request for any secret smithing technique from the entirety of the Martial Society, without being obligated to enter that school of smithy. Though Dave was barred from sharing the technique redeemed with absolutely anyone, a special type of contract would ensure that remained the case before he learned the technique.

The Event's runner up received an entire Forging Station the likes of which was suitable for elder smiths that were already in the Spirit Realm. Even the previous smithing king, Daniel Cherkovski, couldn't blow off such an amazing bestowal as smithing forges of that level were nigh impossible to come across before the Dimensional Upgrade moved Earth into a new paradigm. Even now, when the materials to attempting forging Smithies of that level became more widespread and easy to find, elder smiths weren't exactly fighting each other to create more competition for themselves. Rather, almost all the ultrrare ingredients went into making powerful artifacts to increase their faction's strength during these turbid times.

Usually, rising smiths would need to conquest for decades before they scoured up enough materials to attempt making their own Spirit Grade Forge. Then they would need to prepare themselves for a long and pray their attempt didn't go to utter ruin, thereby causing them to need to look for even more mythically-rare materials.

As for Elizabeth, the Smithing Champion? Not only did she received all the rewards already mentioned. Additionally, she was given a special status within the entire Martial Society. Along with the formal title of "Smithing Demon," it was revealed that the various 1st place contenders of the Events held in today's tournament would each receive similar treatments. No one knew exactly what the status represented, as this was the first time it was being used publically. However, the announcer mentioned that by midnight, after the main Martial Event concluded, there would be an announcement by the higher-ups which would shed light on what made the title and status special.

When all was said and done, with the Event finished and the spectators beginning to leave, while all the other competitors left to retrieve their rewards by following their attendants, Elizabeth's attendant lead her in a completely different direction. Instead of the resources department where he initially went to pick up her materials for the Final Stage, he took her into the VIP area to fulfill Lady Keter's request. Bringing her through a room filled with several curious elders, the attendant did as he was tasked and quickly excused himself with a bow.

Now left alone and with no one prompting her, Elizabeth was left not knowing what to do. She could see that several people within the room wanted to talk to her, but it was like there weren't allowed to…

DOOM! For a second, that horrifically ominous sensation that she felt whilst walking through the streets struck again. This time, the sensation was much less hard-hitting, also lasting for a much shorter time; about a fraction of a second. But before Elizabeth could think through what would trigger such a reaction, she heard a female's voice address her from behind, "Ms. Ultimatia, If you could please come over here, I have your rewards~"

Taking a second to recover from the dooming sensation, Elizabeth put the thoughts to the back of her head as this had been the second time today that she went through the experience. Oblivious to Lady Keter's status, she calmly walked over and took the various Storage Enchanted beads before giving a taciturn, "Thanks..." In her heart, she wondered why this masked woman had brought her the rewards earned when she would have followed the crowd to do the same without bothering those in the VIP section.

Fortunately, her thoughts remained unanswered for the briefest of moments as Lady Keter volunteered the information without being asked. Laughing, she said, "Hahaha… You have no need to thank me… Instead, we should be thanking you for taking time out of your busy schedule!"

After looking through her information, everyone in the VIP section knew of her absurd schedule. Although their natural inclination led to thinking that such a schedule could only be conceived by a psychotic idiot, after watching Elizabeth dominate the first of her events, they were of the mind to lie in wait for what the demon before had left to offer.

Continuing with her train of thought, Lady Keter grew serious as she said, "Now about your question… You mentioned the Founding Principles of Forging. Before I give you any wrong information, I want you to describe what these Principles of Forging are..."

Failing to conceal a disappointed look, Elizabeth thought, 'It really seems like these people don't know what Occupational Principles are...' She didn't even need to search her memories to explain what the Forging Principles are, instantly replying, "Forging as a secondary occupation to cultivation has six principles. Control being the foundation for the skill, each of the various parts of the forging process also makes up a principle and namely, they are Refining, Engraving, Synchronization, Tempering, and Melding. These six principles make up the entirety of the forging process, but even outside of main crafting, I also know of one Supplementary Forging Principle; Sharpening."

"Mhmm… Follow me into a private room. I have something I want to confirm..." Having almost assured herself of what was going on, Lady Keter picked up on some of the subtleties of Elizabeth's words and pulled her out of the public to discuss things that could set waves within the entirety of the Martial Society.

'Private?' Inwardly, Elizabeth's body was sending countless "DANGER" messages as subconsciously, she felt there were infinitely many more bad outcomes than good that could come from following this executive into an isolated space. Although only Mortal Realm practitioners dared investigate her on stage whilst the Event was running, it didn't escape her mind that perhaps some of the higher-ups in the Martial Society had similar thoughts, but wouldn't act in public to save their image. From her various encounters thus far with the people in the Martial Society, she knew how badly the upheld the sanctity of respect and doing something as petty as bullying a junior in the Mortal Realm while they had Spirit Realm prowess would probably reflect poorly on their image.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Elizabeth helplessly smiled. She followed Lady Keter to a private room, all the while prepping her Gateway Magic in expectancy of a worst-case scenario unfolding. Strangely, apart from the initial sense of danger she felt from making her own conclusions of the masked woman, Elizabeth didn't feel "true" danger or doom as she had when Ominous Passage activates. This remained the case even after entering the fated isolated room. However, even if there was no ill feeling, Elizabeth didn't hesitate to keep the proverbial finger on the trigger as her Gateway Magic to the Shadow Realm could activate within microseconds.

Once alone, Lady Keter took a seat within the private room and said, "Please, take a seat." As Elizabeth followed along with the suggestion, Lady Keter materialized a large cauldron and began speaking. As she materialized what Elizabeth thought to be alchemical ingredients, Lady Keter said, "I'm sure you must be confused as to why I've gone out of my to do this, but please trust that this… this will definitely be worth the time lost. Anyway, The principles you mentioned earlier have benchmarks and rankings, right?"

"Uh… yes?" As she responded, Elizabeth couldn't help but think, 'She really shouldn't keep repeating herself...'

"How many benchmarks and rankings have you learned of?"

"Mhmm… After learning the ways of forging, you become a Mortal Smith. Mortal Smiths should strive to possess Basic-tier of proficiency. After that is the Master Rank who usually embark on the path to reaching Novice-tier proficiency when applying forging principles."

Nodding her head, Lady Keter lit up her cauldron and began processing a bunch of different pills. Somehow, the process of pill concocting didn't require the full scope of her focus as she talked to Elizabeth whilst manipulating several ingredients at a time. Lady Keter took out the first batch of pills she concocted and tossed one at Elizabeth, saying, "Now, I'd like to give you a demonstration of why this matter is of critical importance… You see, up until now, the Martial Society has only come into contact with Alchemical and Formation Principles. Even then, we only recently discovered them after the Celestial Phenomenon took place a couple weeks ago and even now, we're still trying to make sense of them."

By now she had finished another batch of pills. So, as she tossed another pill at Elizabeth, she said, "Even if you're not an alchemist, if you take these two pills which I've refined with varying levels of application of the Alchemical Principle of Refinement, you'll see a stark difference. Go ahead, eat them. They're just a bunch of low-level recovery pills for Qi and though the toxicity level of the first pill is undesirable with my standards I want you to understand the impact the Principles make."

Ignoring the demands of the lady before her, Elizabeth first used her status to check if the pills were safe to consume. If they weren't, she would vaporize them with a Magical Fire in her stomach…

Chapter end