Chapter 27: 2nd Monthly Exam (part 2)

Waking up the next morning, Izumi got ready for the testing portion of the [Monthly Examination].

Since today would also be the day of his falna update, Izumi felt excited, eager to see the results of his month long training both in blacksmithing and swordsmanship, under Zald's hell like training.

However, he also felt a sense of suspense, since today he could complete one of his quests; [4th pillar], the rewards of which, would all be very helpful.

Preparing a meal with Coco, They both ate a hardy meal together and Izumi went off to his class, on the way he ran into Eina as well.

''Good morning, Eina-nee. Busy?'' Izumi greeted the busy looking girl, who seemed slightly unkempt.

''Oh, Izumi! Good morning. Sorry, I'm a little busy because of the Evaluations today, so let's talk later.'' She said as she hurried away with a large stack of papers.

'She really needs to not work so hard…' Izumi thought, watching her retreating figure.

Turning back to his own direction, Izumi walked off to class, with a hint of anticipation in his eyes, for the upcoming events of today.

Getting to the classroom's door, Izumi entered with a few other classmates. Taking his seat, he looked at the time and noticed there was still 30 minutes left, before the evaluation began.

Turning his head towards the 4 large pillars sitting at the front of the room, with racks decorated with many weapons surrounding it. For a few moments he stared at the 4th and most intimidating pillar with a look of certainty with a hint of arrogance.

Izumi was determined to pass his current hurdle, clenching his fist, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to rid himself from the incoming suspense he felt creeping up on him.

Distracting himself for the remainder of the time, the remainder of the 30 minutes passed by quickly.

Slowly the sound of Eitr's calm steps filled the room as he punctually entered the room and ushered in the beginning of the evaluation.

''Alright, the evaluation will now begin.'' Eitr stated, closing the doors loudly.

''Today, we will begin the [Performance] portion of the evaluation. Assisting us with the test today, will be Mr. Bellerophon, a teacher of the Baldr class.'' Eitr said as he introduced a new teacher.

*Creek~*

As if on cue, the doors opened as a muscular man entered the room.

''Hello, I'm Bellerophon. Pleasure to meet you.'' He said with a jolly tone.

''Mr. Bellerophon will be the one to test your crafts. You will be called up in order and present your weapon to him, then you are free to explain your craft. All of this must be done under 2 minutes, failure to do so will result in an automatic failure.'' Eitr explained, causing a few students to gulp and tense up.

Many students were not prepared for presenting and explaining their craft, due to this some had begun to panic.

Looking around the room, Eitr shook his head and sighed, disappointedly.

*Sigh*

''Although, explaining and presenting your craft can increase your overall evaluation, giving an explanation on it is not mandatory. However, you must present them yourself.'' Eitr reiterated, but stated the last part with conviction.

''As a blacksmith, you must present your work with confidence and sincerity. When an adventurer uses your weapon, they entrust their lives to your crafts. For that reason, you must have pride in your work and present it with full certainty, that it will serve them well.'' Eitr explained with a deep look in his eyes.

''Ok, now we will begin the evaluation! But remember, the pillars are progressively more harder with each evaluation.'' Bellerophon said, ushering in the beginning of the evaluation.

And following it a process of Eitr calling a name, someone getting up and presenting their weapon after getting it from the rack and Bellerophon slashing the pillar began. This process was repeated a number of times.

However, no one noteworthy appeared, there were mostly simple weapons and very few people actually chose to introduce their craft. In the end, most students couldn't even cut the 2nd pillar and none could breach the 3rd pillar. In fact some couldn't even pass the 1st pillar and wore a blank expression, as they stared at the 1st pillar with hollow eyes.

Finally, Izumi's turn arrived,

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[Izumi POV]

Resting on my desk I watched as weapon after weapon was tested, many filled with impurities and hinted with mistakes. The weapons were passable, but due to my [Hotaru Haganezaka] template, they were novice in my eyes.

Although, [Hatoru] specialized in Nichirins, due to his extensive skill, experience, and talent, coupled with the [Innovator]'s effect, his template gave me the ability to understand and craft a wide variety of weapons. Because of this, he understood the mistakes and flaws in the blacksmithing of others.

''Number 39, Izumi.''

All of a sudden, I was pulled out of my thoughts by Eitr's loud voice.

Getting up, I walked to the stage towards the rack holding the crafted weapons. As I did so, many eyes landed on my back, with many different looks; some of envy, some of wonder, and even some of hatred. However, all of them had one thing in common, everyone had a deep sense of anticipation running in their veins, as the demonstration of my last weapon was clearly etched into their minds.

Their stares held many emotions, but to me they only brought up one feeling, pride.

Pride in my skills they envied, even though I was aided by my template, I had worked incredibly hard on my blacksmithing to reach this point and finally being acknowledged for the effort, felt intoxicating.

It might be arrogant, it might be stupid, but right now I didn't care. I simply walked with confidence in every step as I reached the rack of weapons.

Sitting atop the rack stood my ax with a blood red color and intricate design, among the other weapons, it stood out with an intimidating and majestic aura. Whether it be design or performance, with a simple glance, anyone could tell it stood in a league of its own from the other blades sitting on the rack.

Grabbing a hold of it, my hand was met with a cold sensation, as the cold metal handled my warm hand.

Picking it up, I presented it to the examiner, Bellerophon, who stood with an intrigued look at the ax.

But I spoke to him nonetheless, explaining the weapon with a steady voice.

''The name of the ax is Jormun, it's made from blood steal and enchanted with unbreaking. It's a single-blade and single-handed ax, it's mostly red with a gold edge and black grip, designed with serpents engraved into it.'' I explained, with a fitting amount of praise towards my own work, then stepped back to allow the examination to begin.

Getting a feel for the weapon, Bellerophon grabbed the handle and took a light practice swing. After getting adjusted to the weapon he took a stance in front of the first pillar and held it up.

Watching this I felt a light sense of tension, but I was sure it would pass through it like butter.

______________________

*Swoosh~*

And with a chopping sound, the ax cleanly went through the pillar, leaving a clean cut on the pillar's surface.

Moving on to the second pillar, Bellerophon once again took a stance in front of it and swung. The result unsurprisingly was the same, but no sound was made. Seeing the blade effortlessly pass 2 of the pillars, all the students watched suspensefully, they had come to terms that Izumi's blacksmithing, which they had witnessed the result of during the first examination, was not a fluke.

Eager to see if the ax could pass the 3rd pillar, everyone quietly and suspensefully watched, letting a tense and silent atmosphere slowly fill the room.

*Shiiiing~*

And with a slicing sound, another one of Izumi's work had passed the 3rd pillar, leaving a gash in the pillar.

As Bellephoron, held onto the ax and moved slowly onto the last pillar, everyone watched intently.

But out of everyone the one person most tense was Izumi, the weapon's blacksmith himself.

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[Izumi POV (Again)]

As Bellephorn took a steady stance in front of the 4th and last pillar, I felt my heart pounding loudly, my fist tightened as my eyes narrowed, watching Bellephorn intently.

As Bellephorn took his stance, he swung at the pillar…

*Cling-*

Instead of the cutting sound, previously present throughout the previous test, a loud clicking was heard as the ax rebounded off the pillar.

Looking over at the pillar, I quickly scrutinized the area of impact, but to my dismay there was no cut, no indent, not even a shallow scratch.

The ax didn't pass the 4th pillar.

But instead of shattering, like the previous sword I had made, the ax was still intact, a testament to the blade's [Unbreaking] enchantment.

Seeing this I felt a strange combination of emotions; pride in my enchantment but frustration in its inability to pass the final hurdle.

''That feeling of defeat, remember it, for it will act as the flames for your next blade.'' Eiter's calm and deep voice filled my ears, snapping me out of my dazed state.

Nodding my head in return, I retrieved my ax and walked back to my seat.

Although I couldn't reach my goal, my ax didn't break a testament to my growth in enchanting.

It should be considered a victory… but at the same time it was frustrating and I couldn't quite shake the bitter taste in my mouth.

'So this is the taste of defeat…' I mused, walking back to my seat with my head down.

______________________

As time passed the rest of the weapons were tested, not one had passed the 3rd pillar but a few succeeded in breaking past the 2nd. 

Finally the examination had ended, on the stage stood 4 different pillars.

1st ragged and broken, decorated by many cuts and gashes, the 2nd slightly ragged with a handful of cuts, the 3rd only decorated with one cut along its side, and finally the 4th pillar, standing solitary and intimidating having no scratches or blemishes to be found.

Dotted around the ground, decorated small bits of metals from the numerous shattered blades.

Taking a deep breath Izumi tightened his grip on the ax, but suddenly he was snapped out by Eitr's voice.

''Alright, now that the examination is complete, you will receive your falna update.'' Eitr said in his ever calm and deep voice.

''You will be called up and follow me to receive your update, after you are free to leave. One more thing, your growth will be considered in your results, but for privacy reasons, only god, , will be responsible for examining your growth and give you a score from 1-10 based on your growth.'' Eit explained, his voice igniting the once tense classroom as the students were eager to see their progress, Izumi too had brightened up slightly by the premise of discovering his progress.

And so, Eitr began calling the names of each student. Being called up the student would follow Eitr into a different room and would be dismissed, as Eitr went to get the next student.

Finally arriving at his turn Izumi was called to get his update. Getting up he started following Eitr into a hallway, as they did so, silence filled the room as both continued walking, however suddenly Eitr spoke.

''You're enchanting has progressed.''

''But I still couldn't even scratch the last pillar…''

''That may be so, but you've improved non the less. Now the only thing holding you back is your obsession with results.''

''Obsession with results?'' I asked back slightly taken aback.

''That's something you'll have to understand on your own, but let me point you in the right direction. There's a difference between determination and obsession, one makes flawed perfections while the other makes perfected flaws.'' Eitr said with a deep meaning that Izumi couldn't yet understand.

''What does that mean?''

''I read it in a book.''

Hearing Eitr's response, Izumi deadpanned at him. But before he could say anything they'd already arrived at Ilmarinen's office.

''We've arrived, go in first.'' Eitr started pushing Izumi into the room and closing the door behind him.

Walking in Izumi once again met with the god who'd granted him a falna.

''We'll who'd we got here…Izumi, if I'm not mistaken.''

''Yes, I wasn't expecting you to remember my name…''

''...Kid, you were the first person I've meet to have all SS ranked stats right after gaining a falna… it's pretty hard to forget that.'' Ilmarinen deadpanned.

''Oh, I forgot about that…hahaha…'' Izumi awkwardly replied.

''Ok, let's get your falna updated first! I'm interested to see how much you've improved.'' Ilmarinen said as he urged Izumi to lay down to get his falna updated.

Izumi, being pushed forward, didn't fight it as he himself was excited to see the results of his hard work and improvement over the month.

Lying down shirtless, Izumi waited for Ilmarinen to update his falna.

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[Izumi POV]

*Drip*

With a light dripping sound I felt a slightly wet sensation on my lower back along with the smell I recognized. It was blood, or rather Ichor as it was called by the gods. Unlike normal blood, Ichor had a sweet sense that radiated an odd aura.

Through the small bits of information I'd fished from my discussions with Seshat, I knew that the bodies of gods were special. Instead of having a physical body, gods were ethereal beings on levels much higher than spirits, therefore when they descended a god would take a small portion of their divinity and craft a body mimicking their ethereal form in genkai. This also causes the bodies they have in tenkai to become ageless. On top of that when returning to heaven, their bodies made up of their own divinity goes back with them.

It goes without saying, since their bodies are special, so too are their blood or Ichor. Holding a miniscule and bastardized sliver of the gods' divinity, Ichor allows gods to bless humans and allow them to surpass the physical limitation of normal humans. On top of that, since the Ichor comes from the physical body and not actually the god's real divinity, the Ichor can be replenished.

Focusing back on the sweat scented Ichor on my back, suddenly as if the Ichor had kick started my falna I felt a freeing sense on my body as if all my tiredness accumulated for a month had disappeared, replaced with a new found vigor and boosted strength.

'So this is the sensation of falna updating, it's addicting… but a lot less than when I had first been granted one. This time it feels…warmer and more comfy?' 

Allowing myself to sink into the soft cushioning beneath me, I allowed myself to succumb to the gentle and warm sensation of the falna update.

''Holy Shit!'' Suddenly however, Ilmarinen's voice snapped me out of my stupor.

Stretching my arms and rolling my shoulders back, I woke myself back up, allowing Ilmarinen to copy my status on a paper before getting back up.

Looking over the paper clenched within Elmarinen's hands, a sudden wave of excitement rushed over me.

Grabbing the paper within his hands I quickly looked it over and was truly flabbergasted by what I'd discovered.