All eyes present turned toward the sweet voice. Samuel and Polly were as shocked as everyone else in the room.


    It was Queenie who had spoken. At that very moment, she was holding up a newly-refined weapon of Mortal Level, which resembled the one Samuel himself had worked on before.


    One could have heard a pin drop in that room. No one had expected Queenie and her team to accomplish such a feat as this. In fact, it should have been impossible for beginners.


    "You succeeded?" Saying this with a frown, Samuel made his way through the crowd to the weapon refining table which had become the center of everyone''s attention.


    "See for yourself, Master Samuel!" replied Queenie excitedly. With that, she offered him the weapon.


    Samuel dispassionately took it in his hands and took a moment to inspect it. Gradually his eyes widened and his face hardened. When he finally spoke again, he was fighting to keep his voice from trembling. "You really made this?"


    Queenie''s proud look didn''t waver. "Of course we did. Is something wrong?"


    Standing beside her was Zachary, silent and reserved as if it was none of his business.


    "Yes," Samuel said angrily. "In fact, there is something seriously wrong here."


    Queenie''s look of confidence wavered. "What do you mean, Master Samuel?"


    "This is obviously a two-star weapon," he explained, "but you just began to learn weapon refining. What you''ve accomplished is impossible, literally. You must have cheated."


    These words seemed to send the other disciples into an uproar. Angry comments and sarcastic whispers simmered in the air.


    "And here I thought the disciples from Celestial College were really good. Turns out they''re frauds."


    "They said they were masters at this. Masters of cheating, maybe!"


    "What a disgrace! Not only did they cheat, but they''ve been caught on the spot, in front of everyone! How are they going to explain this away?"


    "We didn''t cheat," Queenie retorted indignantly. "We did refine this on our own. How could you say that?" One might have thought twice about speaking this way to a m


    doubt.


    But Zachary himself didn''t speak up. This whole business was child''s play to him. Had he known that it would cause so much trouble, he would have pretended to be a rookie.


    Meanwhile, Tracy''s critical eye was bearing down on him. Somehow her look was far more imposing than even Samuel''s. "Did you really refine this?" she asked.


    Zachary hesitated for another long moment, and then nodded. The last thing he wanted was to draw more attention or stir up trouble, but he had to clear up this whole mess. If he didn''t, it would be a serious blow to Celestial College''s reputation. People would think that all of its disciples were cheaters and frauds.


    Tracy raised her voice then, making sure that everyone present would hear what she said next. "Well then, you may as well refine a new one, and prove that you''re telling the truth."


    At this, everyone stared even harder at Zachary, certain that this demonstration would bring out the truth for certain. Still, they all felt sure that the man had cheated, and there was no way he could actually refine such a weapon.


    Beside him, Queenie nudged Zachary with her elbow. "Well? Show them how good you are!" She had seen him refine the first weapon and had every confidence in him.


    "There''s no need for that," Zachary said.


    As soon as he said that, the crowd thought he admitted that he had cheated, and went berserk.