My Joker System: From Low Mana Trash to the Mightiest Wizard!
Chapter 62: Manaforge Initiate Competition: Main Event (3)

Chapter 62: Manaforge Initiate Competition: Main Event (3)

’Damn it! Those guys...’ Hal cursed inwardly.

He hadn’t anticipated the pace at which the Big Four would complete their links.

The bastards hadn’t even taken five minutes to complete one stabilizer weave!

His plan was to complete his Chaos Stabilizer Links, Extractor Links, and mana-woven Masking Links before the Big Four finished theirs, or at least at the same time.

Alas, even the experience and seasoned dexterity granted by the Novice Arcanist’s Tome of Knowledge were only enough for him to barely keep up with the Big Four.

He couldn’t understand how they were so fast, especially when his own speed was only possible thanks to the system’s rewards.

Perhaps this was why they were chosen as the masters?

Was this raw talent?

’Focus, Hal!’

If he wanted to keep up without messing up, Hal knew he couldn’t overthink things too much.

’Damn it, I’ll win first then think about things later!’

There was no sense in worrying too much if he didn’t win, anyway, as no one would pay attention to his craft should that happen.

Even if people noticed his weird inscribing style and the silvery-vermilion weaves, why would they care if it didn’t produce results?

Hal was able to sharpen his focus with this logical thought.

In the end, he finished exactly a minute after the Big Four did, and that was only the Stabilizers and Extractors.

He still hadn’t even started weaving the Masking Link.

There were bound to be a few eyes on him now, and Hal could only hope that it was less than expected, or better—none at all.

He didn’t even know if people saw him while he was inscribing the Chaos Links.

But Hal temporarily put the matter on the back of his mind and began to weave the Masking Link.

His hand movements would most certainly be strange even to the adepts, but at the very least, the weaves would be normal in color.

It wouldn’t be as risky as inscribing the Chaos Set.

Fortunately, not everyone was as fast as the Big Four, and even the majority of seeded candidates were still weaving their arcane links, giving Hal more time to finish his Masking Link.

The new type was quite complicated to create, however, and slowly, Hal’s cover began to thin as the other Arcanists finished the inscribing process one by one.

Around five to ten minutes after the Big Four, the seeded candidates completed their work and entered the final phase of the crafting process.

Only Hal and those from the preliminaries remained.

Of course, a select few somehow kept pace with the masters’ apprentices, like Dig Bick and Elron Porter.

The two youngsters were in the zone, completely unwilling to be outdone.

’Phew...just a bit more...’

Hal himself was almost done, but like the preliminaries, he was among the last to do so.

If he didn’t surpass the Big Four’s artifacts in terms of quality, then there was zero chance of winning the entire thing.

It was then that someone exclaimed, disrupting his focus:

"Huh? What is that Joker guy doing? I can’t recognize his link at all..." one of the adepts mumbled loudly enough for several nearby to instinctively turn toward Hal.

Hal simply took a deep breath in response and maintained his focus.

It seemed completely avoiding attention was impossible, after all...

Fortunately, someone couldn’t resist cracking the perfect joke for the situation, causing the others to chuckle and stop taking whatever Hal was doing too seriously, including the adept:

"Perhaps he’s...joking? Hahahaha!"

"Bahahaha! You beat me to it, brother!"

"Hahahaha, you’re right...my bad, my bad...maybe he’s indeed joking..." chimed the Adept Arcanist in the crowd.

Hal had already decided not to care what happened and was fully focused on his task.

He had done everything he could to prevent his strange links from being discovered.

Whether things would go his way was up to the gods.

What he refused to leave to luck, however, was the outcome of the competition.

Hal finally completed his masking link about two minutes later.

He then immediately began inscribing the regular arcane links without pausing to rest.

Like the Big Four, he finished in under five minutes, causing a few onlookers to stop relating his alias to jokes and start thinking of him as a wildcard instead.

They were genuinely taken aback by his speed and mastery, though also confused as to why he was weaving so many arcane links.

Did Joker mess up earlier?

None of them could really remember, as most had been focused on the Big Four and the other seeded candidates.

They could only settle on their made-up explanations.

Little by little, Hal gained a bit of reputation among the crowd, mostly from those near his workstation.

Still, his modest fame didn’t reach the level of the seeded ones.

He was ultimately just another slightly talented face buried in the unseeded section—exactly what he had hoped for.

Around two hours after the competition began, everyone was in the completion phase, except for the Big Four, who had finished a few minutes earlier.

Their elemental staves gleamed and pulsed with power under the awestruck gazes of the crowd.

The other seeded candidates also completed their artifacts as more time passed, followed by those from the preliminaries.

Hal was finally able to fully focus during the completion phase.

As a result, he wasn’t completely left behind, finishing at around 119th place in terms of completion time.

Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Hal took a moment to admire his work.

At this point, he didn’t care what happened next, as long as he won the competition, and Hal was confident.

The bright vermillion glow of his Fire Elemental Staff had exceeded his expectations.

He was sure that, at the very least, this weapon-type artifact was of high superior grade, possibly even bordering on mastercraft.

If he still lost, then it simply meant he had underestimated the competition.

After another dozen minutes, everyone had already stopped working—half an hour earlier than the time limit, proving that the participants of the Manaforge Initiate Cup were indeed among the cream of the crop of this generation of young arcanists.

Nodding in satisfaction, the old man ascended the stage.

"Our young arcanists have completed their crafts. We, the appraisers and organizers, will now rank them based on their quality and appearance."