After the voice of the judge fell, everyone began to work. They separated the materials, and the arena's temperature increased with the sound of ovens starting.
A formation that covered the ground activated and cooled down the air. The temperature would make the arena an extra big oven if there weren't a formation with that function.
Andrea wore a white dress that Yasenia asked her to wear. She didn't know why, but her love loved making her wear in a feminine manner. Andrea would always chuckle when she wore something with a short skirt, and Yasenia's eyes would shine while looking at her up and down.
However, the dress was not appropriate to forge. First, her forging clothes had a few augments that helped her with her chores. Then, Andrea was reluctant to damage this dress Yasenia created for her with Evelyn's help.
Therefore, she changed into her working clothes.
The process was easy and practically instant. She first searched for the clothes in her ring, then thought of putting them below her dress.
The clothes materialized perfectly, and then Andrea stored her dress inside the spatial ring.
Andrea wore a tight-fitting cropped tank top with a low cut. It clung to her curves, and the waist area she showed revealed the marked muscles and lines. Her pants were also tight and covered her until mid-tight, revealing her muscular thighs, marked calves, and long legs while lifting her plump ass.
Her perfectly toned arms and tall body looked delightful.
Andrea gathered her curly hair into a ponytail and breathed deeply. 'Okay, let's do this.'
Meanwhile, many women and men in the stands were already drooling. Yasenia looked around, and her tail slapped the ground continuously because of her bad mood.
Tatyana and the other girls looked at her and almost burst into laughter. They didn't know exactly why, but Yasenia was very possessive of Andrea.
There were times in the past when someone would approach Andrea with clear intentions, and Yasenia would come and lean into Andrea's embrace while looking at those people.
'I have to punish Darling later. She can't be showing off like that in the future!' The double standards were on full throttle here. If anyone would have to complain, weren't Yasenia's dears the ones who had to do it?
Either way, feelings were most of the time irrational, and trying to look at everything logically was not a healthy thing.
Andrea seemed to feel her little dragoness's gaze and turned to the side. She spotted the jealousy right away and laughed. 'She is so cute. I must pamper her when we return.'
Andrea's smiling face was similar to a barrage of arrows that pierced many hearts.
A few younger females screamed excitedly, and many young boys couldn't help but shift uncomfortably in their seats.
Jorey was stunned when she heard the people scream. However, the other thing that surprised her the most was Andrea's attractiveness to the female population.
"She always wears armor or that loose white dress, so I never realized there was such a stunner below it. My heavens, Andrea is built like a War Goddess. She is like a female fatale but for other females."
Yasenia's tail slapped the ground vigorously, creating a loud bang sound. "She is mine, so don't get strange ideas. Tsk, I shouldn't have allowed her to participate."
Jorey and many others were startled by the tail slap, but after seeing Yasenia's sour face, a few couldn't help but laugh.
"I wouldn't dare steal the dragon's girl, so don't worry." Laughed Jorey
"Lady Yasenia being jealous is a surprisingly cute image." Elder Song chuckled.
"Well, Andrea is certainly built differently. I can understand Lady Yasenia's fears." Commented one of Elder Song's female juniors, looking over almost without blinking.
Meanwhile, Andrea had already begun the metalwork.
Her forge blasted the fires at high temperatures as she heated the metals and transformed a few into liquids.
Then, using extra items like [Alloy Enhancer] and similar, Andrea mixed a few metals into a more sturdy and pure alienation.
Spiritual Minerals had impurities created across the millennia of their formation. The rank of a mineral was usually determined by the number of pureness and ability to continue to absorb energy.
A standard metal could evolve slowly into a Transcendent grade metal in the right environment.
Andrea didn't work with her own technique but used the one her Harpy blacksmith companions showed her.
Andrea's comprehension of blacksmithing was extraordinary, so adapting to new methods would only affect her if she wanted to create high-level items. However, the arms and armor she needed before the final challenge of the tournament were all Earth rank and below, something Andrea already considered low-level.
Distancia's continent method was different in the sense that instead of creating Spirit Veins for the item to make it accumulate and develop, the blacksmithing here would be more brutish.
The method was increasing the material's strength and quality while forging and giving it a "Body" instead of a "Spirit Vein." The hammering would realign the internal structure and make it better, sturdier, and more resilient.
It changed the metal's properties without changing the metal and its main qualities.
There were drawbacks to both methods, but Andrea thought the Sky Continent method was much more flexible and also would not need many requirements to be a blacksmith.
One had to have adequate strength to realign and change the material's properties with Distancia's method.
Therefore, while Andrea could potentially practice with Transcendence Realm items before reaching the Transcendence Realm, blacksmiths in Distancia would need to reach those levels to work with such high-quality materials.
Andrea's thoughts swirled with these ideas while constantly working. 'It's interesting. Then, in Lost Town, the method is different once again. Instead of giving it a body or veins, because of their lack of strength, they managed to create a method that manipulated energy and poured it inside the metal to give it properties.'
Andrea kept hammering, heating, streamlining, and working as she thought about these three methods.
Her mind began making comparisons, her body moving fluidly and beautifully, and her work being observed by many.
Elder Yu said with clear surprise. "It has been a while since I saw such a clean and proper hammering technique."
Jorey nodded. "It looks really aesthetic. I wouldn't say I like the loud and noisy forges, but I could watch Andrea forge for hours. Even someone like me who knows little can appreciate her skill."
Andrea's work speed was constant, and instead of rough workmanship and hammering as if she wanted to smash the metal to a pulp, it felt like Andrea was shaping it like an artwork.
Andrea lifted her arm, her back straight and her elbow bent. Then, she used her body to lower the hammer and collide it with the heated metal piece. The melodious clang resonated above other sounds as the metal slowly formed into the intended shape.
With each clang, a few hearts skipped a beat.
Yasenia bit her lip and was about to smack a hole in the ground with her tail. 'Ugh, why is my darling so charming while working!? I want to eat her and also punish her!'
The time went by slowly, and Andrea finished after forty minutes went by. Twenty minutes before the hour mark, the judge asked for.
The dagger gleamed beautifully as if it were carved out of gemstones. The eagle-shaped pommel was beautifully carved.
Andrea took the dagger and made a short dagger dance. Her streamlined body moved swiftly and elegantly as she slashed around her. Her feet moved lightly, and her body twisted with excellent flexibility.
Andrea stopped and thought. 'Perfect. After the last touches, it is balanced and can cut through the air easily. It feels as if I'm holding nothing but…."
Andrea took a Magic-level metal plate and slashed it.
As if it were a heated knife slashing through butter, the metal separated in two, and half of the plate fell onto the ground.
"Perfect. This should be more than enough to overcome the first test."
The judge heard her words, and his eagle eye twitched. 'With that dagger, you can almost win the whole tournament, human.'
One of Elder Yu's disciples also created a middle-level Earth-rank dagger and looked at Andrea impressed. His work, however, was clearly inferior, even if the quality should be the same.
If someone asked him to test the two daggers, he would honestly place his vote on Andrea's blade.
Moreover, he had sneaked a glance or two and couldn't feel Andrea struggling for a second.
With such strength, the elimination rounds weren't a challenge.
During the forging, there was a slight change only the highest-level blacksmiths realized while looking at Andrea.
Many realized that her movement changed slightly as Andrea forged, becoming more efficient and fluid by the second.
It was a gradual but noticeable change that became more prominent as time passed.
Tatyana, Mirror, Valeria, and Yasenia felt their eyebrows jumping. 'No way, now?'
Yasenia stood up, and feeling her urgency, the other girls followed. Yasenia felt helpless as a smile appeared on her lips. 'Darling, you are so problematic. Here? You will do that here?'
However, her eyes didn't have a speck of blame. They were shining with eagerness and expectation.
Elder Song asked. "What's wrong?"
Yasenia was not in the mood to answer as she had to intervene the second it happened.
Cecile answered for Yasenia. "Lady Jorey, we ask for a moment of silence. Lady Yasenia is trying to do something. From now on, we ask that no matter what we do, you will not freak out or stop us. We know what we are doing."
They all were surprised at that answer, and many wanted to ask what was happening.
Cecile's freezing aura surrounded them, giving them a short chill. They decided not to interrupt and observe what would happen next.
"Now, the final challenge. This will decide the position of the last ten blacksmiths. Let the customers enter."
Of the ten, four of them were Elder Yu's juniors. The others were from other top powers. They wanted to approach Andrea and speak to her, but there was a passive aura around Andrea.
The aura felt profound, and they could feel Andrea's focus.
Andrea didn't move and waited, her focus unflinching.
The customer arrived before Andrea and frowned. "A human? I didn't pay for this to have a shitty human as my blacksmith!"
Yasenia felt an uncontrollable wrath rising inside her as a menacing growl left her throat, startling everyone around her. 'If my darling loses focus because of your bullshit, I swear in my Dragon race I will torture you and your soul for eternity!'
However, Yasenia didn't move since she knew her presence would be much more distracting than random bullshit for an unknown person. She wanted to minimize the risk, and sadly, she couldn't intervene yet because Andrea was still not there.
She was on the verge of enlightenment.
Tatyana had to grab Yasenia's hand because the people around Yasenia were starting to feel out of breath because of the passive aura around the dragoness.
Because of her anger, a silver of her bloodline pressure was escaping her body, and her eyes were golden-red.
Meanwhile, Andrea didn't answer and waited for the judge to intervene, completely ignoring the man.
The judge looked over and sneered, his beak arching in a disdainful arc. "Is your brain malfunctioning? Do you think it is easier or harder for a human to reach the finals of a competition with supreme powers within it!? You should feel lucky you got the human! If you don't want the human, change with one of the other nine customers. I can promise a few of them would like to!"
"Is that the way of treating a customer!?"
"As if I care about your status. Begin to ask or scram!"
The man was humiliated and looked at Andrea. Seeing that she was not even looking at him, with her eyes closed as she muttered a few things, he snapped.
"Since she is so good, I won't hold back with the demands. Oy, human, open your eyes and listen!"
*Bang!*
The man looked toward the sound and saw a dragoness with her long black hair flowing around and her tail moving behind her.
Fear invaded his body because this imposing, murderous-looking woman was staring at him with clear killing intent.
The sound had come from the floor cracking and railings blowing apart because of the aura.
He didn't scream in fright because Yasenia's aura had strangled even his scream.
The judge sneered. "That's her master. You decide if you want to continue to be an asshole or you become dragon food."
Andrea's deep voice was heard next. "I don't care. Please tell me the requirements you want. I'll deliver my best work to you."
The tone was calm with an ethereal echo in it.
Only now did he realize that the human before him looked extraordinary, to say the least. He had focused too much on the human aura before looking over.
Even then, he was a petty man, so swallowing the fear and nervousness inflicted by the two of them, he began making outrageous demands.