113 The empire competition begins

Max ate breakfast with all the rest of the king and the queens of the empire. There were two different groups. The high level countries and the low level countries. Max did not care about it. He ate his meal and tried to enjoy whatever he could from this trip. The different rulers talked about different unimportant stuff that he did not care about. He did like the food served and the hall where they were located. It was a hall with high walls and a lot of decorations like you would see at the middle aged Greece.

After the breakfast the competition began. The rulers arrived into a huge stadium that had the capacity of around 100000 people to see the different fights and competitions. The stadium was huge and people came without end. The atmosphere was very good. People were excited to see the competition of the elites of the empire. There were constant cheers and chattering at the crowd. The rulers were sitting on a big stage, where they were located on the level that represented their country level. Max was seated on the lowest level sits. Max did not care about it at all. The competition will begin from the blacksmithing and alchemy competitions and than continue toward the fighting one on one and fighting in groups.

Max was interested in the level of the different countries to see where his country was in terms of power level in the empire. The first competition that happened was the competition of blacksmithing. The different teenagers from the age of 12 until the age of 16 were competing between themselves at stage. They were hitting the armors and weapons that they were heating up to random temperatures. It looked like apes hitting armors and weapons. It like those people pressed on randomize and went with the process. Even Max knew they will produce dog shit. Even if something better will be made it will just be dependent on luck. Luck is a good thing but it should not determine the result. It should be only a bonus. When Max saw it he just got bored. Everyone were looking at the prodigies of the younger generation with anticipation. Many rulers knew that Max's country was very strong in terms of blacksmithing and alchemy. Generally it was known that Max's country were on a very high level and everyone knew it. It was not a secret. Even forces from level 8 countries were demolished by Max's forces. One of the rulers of the second level countries that were sited close by asked Max: "King Max what do you think about the younger generation in terms of blacksmithing? Do you see someone that can get a better result or someone that his techniques are better than the other?"

Some of the other kings that were sited near by listened carefully to Max because his words did have weight in this type of competition. He had more knowledge about blacksmithing than them for sure.

Max looked at the guy and he could see he was a level two knight named Veronis. Max said: "King Veronis it is sad to say it but no one really stands out. They are all doing the same thing. Counting on luck, which is very bad. The person that will win be the one that picked the best material that is good with this speed of cooling and tempering. That's why there is no really a chance here to see who is better. It like you take a bunch of apes and give them anvils and hammers. It is sad to see such things happen and say such words about the younger generation that are competing now, but it is the truth."

Max did not hold back. He did not care about insulting anyone. This blacksmithing competition was a joke. The blacksmiths that would see it will turn around in horror in their graves. When Veronis and the others heard Max response there was a moment of silence. After it Veronis asked: "Then how should it be done? At least by theory?"

Max contemplated and said: "Well you should pick a certain materials with understandable physical and chemical effects. After that you should know to what temperature you should heat them up and in what phase they should be cooled down to achieve the best effect. If you cool it down to fast it can be brittle and break down on contact. If it cools down to slowly it will not be made of strong enough material to make the sword good for combat. They should understand how they should get rid of internal pressure of the materials so a good sword will not break on cantact and so on. It is a long subject. They should know about the materials and their properties before they try and do something with them. I am not a blacksmith, but an alchemist, but even I know about it. That's why I see it as useless. Even if someone wins it is luck, not skill."

After this answer the kings around went silent. A lot of them were not knowledgeable in terms of blacksmithing, and not all of them even got the explanation right, but it became apparent that the kids were doing everything wrong on stage.

Veronis asked again: "Do you have capable young men or women that know how to do blacksmithing in a better way? It would be interesting to look at them at work."

Max answered: "There are few, but you need to learn about materials in general and material interactions with each other, heat and other things to even understand what they are doing. It is the hardest part. The blacksmithing itself is the easiest part. The planning of the process is the most complex thing that will determine the quality of the product made. Of course, knowing how to hit the armor or weapon right will increase its quality, but it is secondary. I can tell you the same thing about alchemy. However in alchemy even when you understand what to do, it can still be not enough. Blacksmithing allow you to make mistakes and still get a final product. Even a good one, while alchemy will get the product ruined with even small mistakes. That's why brutes in my country that do not get along with alchemy because they are clumsy are directed to blacksmithing and most of the time they are doing well."

Max was not talking aloud, but he could tell a lot of the kings were paying attention to what he said. Even the ones that tried to get away from him. He had a badge of an alchemist on his chest and his country was already famous for its alchemical and blacksmithing products.

When Veronis heard this he sighed. He had one of the brats that was a prodigy at his country competing and when Max called him an ape Veronis got a little mad from the inside, but after the explanation that was pretty straight forward he did not really had anything to retort with.

Max sighed as well. He will most likely will not see anything worth watching here. At least not until the fighting will begin. He was not waiting for the alchemy part at all. If the blacksmiths were doing this horribly then the alchemists will do retarded stuff or just blow things up. Monkeys cannot do alchemy. That's for sure.