The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Dejected, Oscar returned to the assembly hall, where all the spectators and fellow dropouts gathered to watch the remainder of the Clash of Metal. Oscar looked around and found William, his head hung down in shame like Oscar.

Oscar came up and patted William's shoulder, showing some consolation to his junior. "William."

William staggered for a bit because his mind was elsewhere and caught unaware. He realized it was his senior, Oscar. "H-hey, Oscar. You failed, too, huh."

Oscar sighed and stared at the largest image on the assembly hall's wall. He could see sixteen people with hammers by their sides, standing ready by their workstations in the main hall. The winners from each block waited for the final round to begin.

"I wish I could have been there…." William sounded very sad, unlike his usual energetic self.

"What happened in your block?" Oscar asked.

William seemed hesitant and cracked his shoulders to release the tension. He stared at Oscar under his visor. "When it came down to the part when I had to overwhelm the core with my Ein, I failed to overcome the sabertooth's will."

Oscar understood why William was hesitant earlier. It was because Oscar had lectured him on progressing his strength as an Exalt, but he failed to heed that advice, which led to his downfall in this Clash of Metal.

"I had experiences with much weaker Exalt Beasts in the past, but I could not even handle a remnant." William seemed to be crying from his tone. "I know I focused most of my efforts on my fabricator work, but I've neglected normal Exalt training for too long."

Fabricators usually focused on their craft but kept up on their Exalt progression, collecting Ein and advancing so they could get to the next step of fabrication; they were not combat-oriented but had some power they could use. William was the type that put everything into fabrication and not much effort into basic Ein meditation. It helped make him a consistent creator of armaments, but now he faced the wall that came from his choice.

"Chin up. It's only a matter of time for you since you're a Grade Six Exolsia. Just remember that a fabricator cannot only be that; they are, at their core, Exalts." Oscar comforted William.

William felt better from Oscar's words and nodded. "You're right. I still have much to do later. Thank you."

Oscar smiled, seeing William's spirits lifted.

"But Oscar, how was your block?" William asked.

Oscar looked down with a frown. "I made an armament, but the formation was average. The four winners had better formations." He explained how the process went and how he was kicked out of the top four.

"I'm sorry." William tapped Oscar's arm. "I couldn't help explain formations well enough."

"It's alright. Like you, I have much time to learn and find the style that fits me. I can't create formations as you do, but I'm sure I can reach your level if I keep practicing." Oscar spoke almost to comfort himself.

William smiled. "That's right. Besides, you're also training a lot in missions and combat, but you still created a spear that was fifth place. That's incredible! We're both still starting our long journey as fabricators. Let's get into the top sixteen next year."

"I'll take you up on that deal." Oscar smiled. They may have lost, but Oscar felt renewed determination by talking with William. He was glad to have met this friend and rival in the Foundry.

"Looks like they're about to start!" William noticed the image shifting to a large fabricator, who Oscar recognized as his former proctor for the one-star examination.

His voice boomed over the assembly and main halls. "Welcome to the final round of the Clash of Metal. This final round will consist of each of you creating your own armaments. The entire process from start to finish."

"The materials are all here." The large fabricator waved his hand at a large pile of raw ores, beast materials, and even neatly arranged cores with descriptions written near them. "You can select the things you need. Make any armament. The armaments will be judged, and the one who creates the best armament shall be the winner of the one-star Clash of Metal."

"Now you have six hours. Begin!"

At the sound of the hammer fall, the sixteen fabricators rushed toward the pile of materials, looking for what they needed for their armament creation. Some got into arguments that were settled quickly by the elders. But in the end, everyone got their own set of materials to forge whatever they thought of.

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"Interesting," Oscar remarked to William. "Some ores and beast materials are much tougher to work with, but if they are successfully refined, the armament will be better."

"So it's a matter of perhaps taking the lesser materials to safely craft a good armament or take the risk of wasting time with higher quality stuff?" William asked to affirm.

Oscar nodded but crossed his arms. "That is correct. However, they all chose the toughest sort of materials. They could create a great armament with the normal stuff, but they're all striving for the best."

Once an armament was forged, its properties were determined by the skills of the fabricator and the materials used. An armament created from Greater Apprentice Exalt Beast parts had a slight edge over the ones from lesser beasts, but the difference wasn't so wide to warrant dividing up the grades of armaments even further.

Oscar's original buckler was made from Lower Apprentice Exalt beast materials until he added the Rainbow Didus beak. Still, it held on for a while, even against Greater Apprentice Exalt Beasts, showing armaments' capability. The formation and mixture of materials were what made it that much better.

"They're making their moves." William was in awe.

All of the sixteen fabricators had either hammer animas or crucible animas. Oscar watched in wonder as one fabricator beat on their materials with two hammers, one real and one anima, like a pair of drumsticks. The ore flattened into a thin plate in a short amount of time.

Another had a rather large hammer anima that needed to be held with two hands. Its wide surface on the head allowed the fabricator to squash the materials easily.

"Small wonder how they achieved such good purity in refinement." Oscar could tell that their Eins were controlled well and moved naturally through their animas. From what it seemed, the ones with the crucibles didn't have the same level of refinement, but their mixture methods were unique and gave advantages.

Oscar and William could only watch in awe at the incredible skills of their fellow fabricators. What truly took Oscar's breath away was how they created their formations.

The ones who had crucible animas laid fewer nodes and lines, but even from the image, Oscar could tell their armaments were strongly bound with the core's formation in the center–far stronger than his formations.

The ones with the hammer animas worked fast and created a complex network that made Oscar's head spin while looking at them. The fabricators had no pause between their swings as though they already understood like master artists who already had the complete painting in their heads. Oscar couldn't help but shake his head, for these fabricators were on a whole other level.

"No wonder Master wanted me to watch. Simply watching these people at work gives me many questions and insights I can glean from them."

The winner was someone who crafted a beautiful sword anima. The halls of the Foundry cheered for the one-star fabricator champion. Oscar and William also clapped as they had no hard feelings toward the winner; they were outmatched, simple as that.

"William. Next year, let's not fail." Oscar exited the Foundry with William.

"Of course. I'll see you later, Oscar. Good luck." William wiped his sweaty black hair, but his blue eyes gleamed with a fiery resolve.

"Good luck to you as well," Oscar said his farewells and returned to the Inner Hall. There was still a lot of noise coming from the Inner Hall stadium. "The Grand Gathering isn't over?"

Oscar looked up to see it was nighttime. He went to the well-lit stadium to see many people still gathered to watch the remaining matches.

"Oscar!" Charles called out to Oscar.

"My prince." Oscar kept up his manners in public. "How was the Grand Gathering?"

Charles seemed indifferent and said, "I won. It's as expected from me. It might have been a different story if you were competing. How was the Clash of Metal?"

"I lost in the prelims. There are some amazing fabricators out there. I still can't get the image of how they created their armaments out of my mind." Oscar said and switched the topic. "What is going on? Why is everyone still here so late?"

"Nothing much. The battles took longer than expected. The Middle Elite Exalts are almost finished, but the Greater Elite Exalts are still far from done." Charles explained with a sigh. "That pest is still bothering my sister."

Oscar knew what Charles meant by pest and could only sigh along with Charles. But then a delighted voice called out to him, making Oscar feel even more tired.

"Oscar!" Serena ran toward Oscar, with Mary following from behind.

"Hey, Serena." Oscar felt tired, but he was still happy to see Serena and Mary. But his feet slowly retreated in case Serena took things too far.

Serena noticed and whispered, "Oh, don't worry. I won't put you in a rough spot in a wider public. That time at the tundra was because the elders already knew, so I might as well. By the way, you smell quite nice. Did you just come from a workout?"

Oscar chuckled weakly, not feeling any comfort from Serena's words. That meant if they were in a more private setting, whether with friends or not, she'd hold nothing back.

"Good evening, Oscar." Mary seemed tired as well and dragged Serena back.

"Hello, Mary." Oscar felt more at ease.

"Oscar, you're acquainted with these two?" Charles stepped in.

"The prince?" Serena and Mary were shocked. They quickly bowed and gave their greetings.

"Do you know them, my prince?" Oscar asked.

"They were my opponents during the Grand Gathering. Not bad opponents, but very few can stand up to me." Charles winked at Oscar.

"Oscar, how do you know the prince?" Serena was shocked since she knew Oscar was a commoner, so getting acquainted with the prince was a big deal.

"Charles and Oscar. What are you two doing here?"

Oscar and Charles snapped their heads to the source of this voice. Celestina stood there with Phillip and Eleanor by her side. Her appearance was a bit ragged from the battle she had just fought, but her emerald eyes still shone as her silver hair fluttered with the breeze.

She looked at Serena and Mary. "What's happening here?"

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