Chapter 16
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Master Bentham grabbed a 30-pound hammer from the table. Whilst throwing a base into the stove, he looked into the flames and said to Abel, "Abel, you are the most talented child that I've ever seen. What I'm about to show you, I will only do it once. You see how much you can learn from it."
After saying that, Master Bentham took out the base and placed it on an anvil. He held his hammer up high and for a few seconds there, he took a careful look at the base before he dropped his hammer on it. The way he swung the hammer was very slow, but the power he put in was, nevertheless, more intense than most men could produce. It was so intense that the whole workshop was shaking for a bit.
"Once you treat a base for about 80 times, it becomes so hard that you wouldn't be able to shape it with a hammer. Even if you can, though, all you're going to do is to destroy its interior structure. So, with that in mind, we're going to use a big hammer from now on. Be careful, though. You need to be very precise in the spots that you're hitting, but you must always maintain a high level of force that you put in."
Master Bentham instructed Abel as he demonstrated, "You're a strong boy, Abel. If you put in the effort, I'm sure that you'll learn to do this correctly."
Abel was paying very close attention to the base. Whenever Master Bentham dropped the hammer, it was always towards the spots with this soft, almost invisible lining. He could just barely see them because the base was glowing in dark red. Somehow, however, Master Bentham was able to strike the linings without failing a single time. Even more impressive, every one of his strikes had changed the shape of the base, and every time this happened, he would have to relocate the linings.
After treating the base for the 81st time, Master Bentham threw it back to the stove and said to Abel. "Try it," he ordered as he passed over the hammer.
Abel took out the base and started looking for the linings on it. It was hard to find it at first, so he stared more intensively at the bases' surface. The more he stared at it, the less he became aware of his surroundings. It was a weird sensation to have. Everything else just vanished from his line of vision, and all that remained was the base itself, which became larger and larger in Abel's eyes. Even the most minute details were ingrained into his photographic brain cells.
Ah-ha, there you are
Abel celebrated in his mind and immediately proceeded to drop the 30-pound hammer. The banging noise was extremely loud, but that didn't affect him for a bit. As soon as he found the next spot of the linings, he raised his hammer and continued his forging.
It was like playing with a new toy. Whenever the base turned into a new shape, the linings would reappear at completely different spots. Abel was getting better at this the more he tried. Eventually, he was smashing the thing at the same pace as Master Bentham.
Master Bentham was petrified by this. Whilst unintentional, Abel made him feel jealous. Yes, a master just got jealous of a child who spent no longer than a month learning how to forge.
"It's the Power of the Will," Master Bentham called out repeatedly in his mind. He knew exactly what drove Abel to be so successful in his forge. His own teacher, Robin, was a forging master who was blessed with the same kind of ability. Unlike Master Bentham, who only got his title because of his reputation within Harvest city, Master Robin was a "genuine" master who was acknowledged by the entire continent.
Because of his lack of "the Power of the Will," Master Bentham had to go home after learning from Master Robin for ten years. As unfortunate as that was, he did improve his skills with hard work and experience. This was why he could continue to treat a base when it had already been treated for more than eighty times.
When Master Bentham started his quest to be the best blacksmith he could ever be, he saw how Master Robin used his "Power of the Will" to locate the linings on a base. It was the same method as the one that Abel used. He knew it all too well.
Master Bentham didn't stop Abel after that. As he slowly left the workshop, he decided in his mind. He would let Abel help him fulfill a dream that he couldn't accomplish himself.
Abel was in too much focus to notice any of that. He just kept on putting the base in the stove, taking it out of the stove, and repeating the whole process for another couple of hours.
82, 83, 84…98, 99, 100.
Abel came back to his senses after treating the base for the 100th time. All of a sudden, he felt sick and tired at every spot of his body. His mind, too, felt extremely drained out. It was like having your brain plucked out of you, which was not a good feeling to have at all. As the urge to vomit came to him, the hammer slid out of his hand and dropped on the workshop table. After that, his right hand was spasming like a duckling on a Winter night.
He tried to remember what it was like to be in that "zone" back then. On the one hand, it felt like he had no control of his own body. On the other hand, he felt like he was acting purely out of his instincts. Whatever the case was, it was a condition that was too much for him to handle.
Abel turned on his senses for a while. To his surprise, there was a massive amount of qi circulating near his meridian. It was like nothing he had ever seen before.
Without paying attention to how dirty the floor was, Abel quickly sat down for a knight's breathing session. He was on his way to forming the fifth meridian.
"What are you doing, Abel?" Gedon came in and asked. Just when he was about to lift Abel, Master Bentham stood in the way threw a stare at him.
"Don't move him." Master Bentham scoffed at Gedon, "Why are you so clumsy with everything that you do?"
When the other apprentices were about to come in, Master Bentham quickly shooed them away with his hands.
"Tell the Knight of Marshall to come here," Master Bentham turned towards Gedon.
"Yes, Sir," Gedon complied and ran out of the blacksmith shop.
"Fucking Marshall and his bullshit luck," Master Bentham cursed to himself as it was just him and Abel now, "Would you look at that. His adopted son just had another rank up."
In Master Bentham's defense, he had every reason to be annoyed by the progress Abel was making. It was a very rare thing to become a rank five Novice Knight in just half an hour.
That being said, even Abel didn't know why he was so successful this time. He didn't take any potion this time, and it was only a month since his last rank up.
With so many questions in his mind, Abel stood up from the ground and found that everyone was standing very far from him. Well, except for Master Bentham. At least he had the decency to not make a child feel isolated. As unbothered as Abel was, he did appreciate that.
Bang.
A large shadow came in as the front door was kicked open. "What happened to Abel?" it asked with a loud roar.
It was the Knight of Marshall. After running for a few minutes, his long golden hair was half-drenched in his own sweat. After seeing how well Abel was, he gave a loud, angry yell towards everyone in his sight.
"Gedon! How dare that lad trick me! Come out now, I'll teach you a lesson right here!"
Master Bentham ground his teeth at the lucky bastard who took Abel in, "Who's trying to mess with my disciple?"
"Um, Uncle Marshall," Abel said timidly, "I just had another rank up."
"What rank up? Just you wait for me, boy. Let me have a word with Bentham first…. Wait, you had another rank up?"
The Knight of Marshall was about to have a chat with Master Bentham, but what Abel was saying had him frozen on the spot. He scanned his eyes across Abel from top to bottom. Then, as he pushed Abel with one of his hands, Abel responded by releasing his newly-found power.
"What! What?" the Knight of Marshall cried out loud, "That doesn't even make sense! You can't just rank up like that! What were you doing back there?"
Abel replied after thinking to himself for a while, "Nothing much. I was busy treating my base in the workshop."
"You ate anything today?"
Abel replied compliantly since he was just as puzzled, "I ate my breakfast with you, Uncle Marshall. I skipped lunch because I was busy forging my base."
"How's that even possible? You ranked up by hitting some metal with a hammer? What, how about I come here to hit some metal tomorrow?"
The Knight of Marshall pointed a finger at Master Bentham, "That's ridiculous! If forging is all you need to rank up, this fellow would've been a master warrior years ago."
Master Bentham said sarcastically, "Yeah sure, just come here and do some forging for me tomorrow. Of course, you can rank up by hitting some metal. You just need to be in the right condition when you're doing it."
"Oh really?" the Knight of Marshall widened his eyes, "Hey Abel, why don't you forge another base right now? Go be in that "condition" or whatever you call it, and you'll be the youngest knight in the Duchy."
Both Master Bentham and Abel had to cover their faces after hearing that remark.
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Chapter 17
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Although Abel graduated to a level five novice knight, he still felt very low in energy. Seeing Abel looking like this, Mater Bentham immediately told him to get some rest. With the help of Knight of Marshall, Abel left the blacksmith shop
As soon as they left the blacksmith shop. Abel noticed Knight of Marshall's private carriage rushing towards them from a distance. At that moment Abel immediately looked down at the Knight of Marshall's boots, it was full of dirt. Normally it would have taken the carriage around 20 minutes to get here from the castle. Therefore Knight of Marshall must have run here by himself as soon as he heard the news.
Knight of Marshall was a royal, and the owner of a fiefdom. Therefore, if anyone found out that he was madly running around like this, it wouldn't do any good to his dignity. However, because of Abel, the Knight of Marshall was willing to take this risk.
After seeing the Knight of Marshall with a face full of joy, Abel also began to feel warm inside. He could not believe a famous knight such as Knight of Marshall, was not only happy for his level up but also willing to go through all of this. At that moment Abel couldn't help but said softly, "Uncle Marshall, thank you for everything you have done for me."
"Don't think too much kid". Said knight Marshall as he patted Abel on the head. After they settled on the carriage, the carriage immediately began to set off towards the sunset.
"Ding. Ding. Ding." The early next morning Abel had already arrived at the blacksmith shop. He asked Master Bentham if he could have a training room all by himself. Master Bentham knew that today Abel would try to forge a big sword for the first time and wanted to remain in focus, so he had agreed.
However, Abel's intention was not only to remain focused, but he also didn't want anyone to find out how he forged the sword. This is because he would be using some techniques that no one had ever seen in this world before. It was the carburizing and quenching techniques he learned on a science TV programs from earth.
To achieve this, during the forging process the back of the blade needed to be continuously refined to reduce its carbon content. The lesser the carbon content, the higher the quality the back of the blade could become. However, once the blade had formed its shape, if you used the carburizing technique to add some carbon back into the edge blade, it would greatly enhance its toughness.
Afterward, Abel placed the already formed big sword into a specially made crucible and buried it with some charcoal, soybean paste, and soil he had prepared a few days ago. It fit perfectly. Then, he sealed up the crucible and put it in the furnace for heating.
Charcoal and soybean paste were naturally used for carburizing while the soil acted as a dispersing agent. The advantage of carburizing technology was that the carbon would be distributed very evenly throughout the sword. On top of that, the carbon potential would also be high. Therefore, this technique was not only effective but also very efficient. This technique was still being used on modern earth today, it was called the "Steel method."
When it comes to quenching, this world also had a similar method, which was throwing the sword into cold water for cooling. However, due to the rapid thermal expansion, it could also increase the number of waste products, which could throw the concentration of the metal. Therefore, it could sometimes cause a crack on the sword after being quenched.
However, the quenching method used by Abel was a bit more unique. According to the science program, it was an ancient sword forging technique.
After the sword had cooled down, Abel took it out of the quenching bucket. He flicked the face of the sword with his finger. It made a crisp sound. Although it was still hard to tell if the sword was high quality, it was complete never the less.
Abel then immediately called the servant to clean up the mess in the operation room, he did not want to leave any trace for people to discover what had done. In this world, inventions or creations like this could cause a disaster.
"Gedon, can you find someone to make a sword handle for me?" Abel asked embarrassingly to Gedon, who was busy doing his work.
Sword handles were made out of all kinds of material: iron, wood, and horns. Abel had never learned the art of sword handle engraving, so he could only ask Gedon for help.
"Is this the first big sword you made?" Asked Gedon took the big sword from Abel's hand and looked at it carefully. Suddenly he said in an excited, hoarse voice: "Is this a sword of hundred skills? On my god, this is the sword of a hundred skills."
Gedon had followed Master Bentham for five years, but could only forge a sword of 60 skills. Forging a sword of a hundred skills had always been his dream.
"Young master Abel, you are a genius." Gedon sincerely praised Abel with all his heart, he then gently stroked the back of the blade with his hand as though as he had found something. He then put his ear against the back of the sword and flicked it with a finger to listen to the echo.
"No way, this is impossible!"
Although the performance of this sword seemed like the sword of a hundred skills, it was a lot tougher than those that he had seen. Master Bentham would normally forge a sword of a hundred skills every month, and they were the main sources of income in Harry's Castle. Gedon not only closely watched the master make these swords, but he was also responsible for maintaining the condition of these swords. Therefore he was a lot more familiar with swords on hundred skills than most people.
However, the surface of the big sword Abel made was strange. It was very different from the one's master usually forged. Gedon couldn't specifically pinpoint what exactly was the difference, but from his experience, he knew this sword was much higher quality than the ordinary sword of a hundred skills.
To verify this, Gedon used the big sword to cut a piece of wood that was ready to be used as fuel. It was almost effortless. The big sword slid over the wood like a hot knife on cream, silently divided the wood piece into two.
"How did you make this big sword?" Gedon was anxious to know more about the sword.
"I just forged it according to your guidance, and Master Bentham helped me when I encountered difficulties," Abel explained.
Gedon had been lied to. He thought the reason why the sword was so great was all because Master Bentham had helped Abel complete it. Therefore, he could not help but make up his mind and double down his training hoping one day he could also forge a weapon like this.
"I have collected some very good horns, perfect to use it as the handle for this big sword. I will help you install it tonight along with a scabbard. Can you leave this sword with me?" However, Gedon had another intention. The way this sword was forged was way too strange—he wanted to spend the night closely inspecting it, hoping he could also improve his skills.
That night Gedon did not sleep at all. He installed a sword handle made with the best horns and found a crocodile skin scabbard. Afterward, he inspected the strange sword in great detail under the oil lamp.
By the morning, Gedon came back to the blacksmith shop holding the big sword. He was astonished by his nighs inspection. If it wasn't for fear of breaking Abel's sword, he would have liked to strike this sword with another sword of a hundred skills in the master's warehouse to see which one is tougher.
"Gedon, what's wrong with you?" asked Master Bentham suspiciously after seeing the redness of Gedon's eyes. How could an honest man like Gedon not sleep for a night
"Master, I've been thinking about the sword you made for Abel, and I could not understand," said Gedon scratching his head while looking at Master Bentham in embarrassment, he wondered if he was just too stupid.
Master Bentham took the big sword from Gedon and pulled it out. He said, "This is the big sword that Abel had forged yesterday. I only guided him on how to refine the thickness of the sword the day before yesterday. When you reached a bottleneck at 80 skills, I will teach you as well."
"So this is the big sword, the one that Abel forged?" Master Bentham was also a little bit surprised. Master Bentham's experience was of course much higher than Gedon's. He guessed the technique applied in this sword could very well be a secret technique passed down by a family to enhance the weapon's hardness and sharpness. Although the master was very tempted, he also knew that trying to spy on a family's secret technique was making that family your biggest enemy. It didn't matter if the technique was from the Harry family or the Bennett family.
Well, that explained it. No wonder why Abel asked for a separate operation room yesterday. It turned out that Abel was using a family secret technique to refine the big sword.
Therefore Master Bentham warned Gedon to stop asking Abel about the sword and pretend that nothing had ever happened.
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Chapter 18
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At Bennett Castle.
Today was the last day of the year, and tomorrow would be the New Year.
During dinner, the Knight of Bennett took out a letter—a rectangle parcel and handed them over to Zach "This is a new year's gift from Abel. Look how good he is to you. Even Mother and I did not get any."
It must have seemed like Knight of Bennett was being salty, Nora rolled her eyes and said: "our son had only been gone for a month and he has not stopped writing letters to us. Do you really want a present that badly?"
Zach took the letter and parcels. But as he was opening it, he realized that within the parcel was a large sword.
"Wow. This is a master level sword of a hundred skills." Zach immediately recognized the sword as he took it out of the cover. A Sword of a hundred skills had always been a demanding piece in the market. Although it has a crazy price of 1,000 gold coins, there were still countless wealthy people rushing to buy it.
Big Swords were a knight's most significant possession.
Despite just being made fun of by his wife, seeing the Sword of a hundred skills when he only had a sword of 80 skills. Knight of Bennett couldn't help but exclaim "I really do want a present"
"Let me have a look." As a knight, the Knight of Bennett could not resist the temptation for good weaponry. He took the sword from Zach's hand and began waving it in the middle of the dining room. "This kid Abel… he hasn't even fully settled down at Harry's castle, and he's already begun to take random things from it—making it gifts. Next time I will write him a letter giving him a good lecture about this."
"That's not the case." Said Zach as he opened up Abel's letter "In the letter, Abel said that this is the first weapon he ever forged and decided to give me a New Year's gift."
The Knight of Bennett suddenly stopped waving the sword in mid-air. He stared at Zach's letter and asked, "Did you say Abel had forged this sword himself?"
"Yes, father, Abel said it very clearly in the letter" Zach answered with certainty.
"Impossible. Marshall has also learned how to forge in the past, but the most he could make after a whole year of training was a table knife. You are telling me that Abel could forge a Sword of a hundred skill after one month?"
The Knight of Bennett felt like he made a big mistake for giving Abel away. At first, he thought he would only regret this decision after a few years, but now, he was completely lost for words.
It had been a very unusual new year within the Bennett castle with Zach's surprise, Bennett's regret, and Nora's sentiment. Yet, Abel was unaware of this In Harry's Castle.
At Harry's Castle, the Knight of Marshall and Abel were sitting in a carriage on the way to Harvest City to attend the New Year cocktail party hosted by viscount Dickens. The party was supposed to start at night, but the Marshall Knight and Abel had already set off early in the morning.
The road from Knight of Marshall's castle to Harvest City was constructed very well. The entire road was made out of small flat stones with a slight curve bulging out of the middle. Therefore, you could barely feel any vibration on the carriage, and in only an hour they had already traveled for more than 100 kilometers.
From afar, Harvest City looked just a crouching tiger. However, one could only feel its majestic grandeur from up close. It was the largest city in Duchy of Carmel. It's surrounding walls were up to 20 meters high with dozens of cannons penetrating from the sides. All of this just showed how well guarded the city was.
"Uncle Marshall, why is Harvest City so strictly guarded?" Abel asked as he stared at the 20-meter-high wall and the countless numbers of defensive weapons.
Abel elaborated his question, "Harvest city was located in the southernmost part of the Holy Land, which was once a territory that belonged to the humans. It was also said to be separated from the orc empire by one of the safest duchies. So why does the city look like it's about to be in a war?"
"Abel, there is at least one official knight in every block of Duchy of Carmel, and Harvest City is no exception. It's city owner, the honorable viscount Dickens, was also the leader of the city's knights."
The eyes of the Knight of Marshall had become somewhat dreary. He seemed engrossed in his memories. "It's all because of the Orc Empire," he sighed.
"The Orc Empire is located in the far north. It was guarded by one of mankind's greatest alliance, who were the Miracle Cities defense guards". Abel knew about the Miracle City defense guards. If it wasn't for their efforts to fight off the orcs, Humans would've lost a great amount of land to live on.
The orcs were the most bloodthirsty beings in this world. Due to their insanely high birth rate, they were always in a constant food crisis. As a means to avoid starvation, they would wage war against other races for food—at the same time, this would also effectively reduce the number of mouths they had to feed.
There were always humans who had lived near the Orc Empire. As they were an easy target to be pillaged, they gathered themselves up and built a military fortress alongside the passage of the Budapest mountains, separating the human civilization and the orc empire. That construction was known as Miracle City.
"As long as the Miracle City is there. We don't need to worry about an orc invasion," the Knight of Marshall said.
"In the past few decades, the orc empire has developed a new way of attack. They used flying beasts to carry them over the Budapest mountains and destroyed our back force". He said in a somewhat skeptical tone, "it's destruction indeed… But I believe it's more like a trial attack."
As they were speaking, the carriage reached the gate of Harvest city. There was a long queue in front of a 10-meter-high gate. Next to the gate, there were a bunch of soldiers checking and charging the visitors one by one. They seemed to operate at a very slow speed, and from the length of the queue, Abel thought it might be another hour before they could get in.
But the carriage did not stop. Instead, they entered the city directly from the other side, passing by the people standing in the queue, looking jealously at them.
Whether he was in the Bennett Castle or the Harry Castle, Abel had always felt that he was just a bit wealthier compared to the people around him. Yet, this was the first time he had truly experienced the privilege of being a royal.
Abel was still getting used to how things work in this new world. In his old world, if a person tried to jump in the queue, others would look at you with contempt. But in here, Abel did not even get called off the carriage and went straight into the city.
The carriage arrived at a courtyard. It was Knight of Marshall's temporary residence in Harvest City. The moment they reached the gate, the housekeeper, Robin, immediately came out and greeted them.
"Robin, Abel will be staying here for the next two days. Clean up that independent house and make a place for Abel to stay" said knight Marshall to the housekeeper as he got off the carriage.
"Yes, Master."
Housekeeper Robin knew that the Knight of Marshall had an adopted son and soon he would become the inheritor of the castle. However, it was only after hearing these commands by Knight of Marshall, that Robin could fully understand the importance of the young master.
Besides the master's private house, the best place to live was that independent house, yet Knight of Marshall had offered it to Abel without hesitation.
"Abel, do you want to come with me to visit my friends or go to play in harvest city."
Seeing Abel's look of hesitation, The Knight of Marshall couldn't help but smile, "Of course, I will arrange Robin as your accompany to explore Harvest City."
The Knight of Marshall did care about Abel. Not only did he understand Abel's choice by just looking at his expression, but he would also always respect his decision and never force him into doing anything he would be uncomfortable with.
Abel rejected the company of housekeeper Robin. He just went off with his horse and began exploring the different shops in the street. Even though the streets of Harvest City were very wide, because of the New Year, there were people everywhere.
Suddenly, Abel came across a noisy group of people arguing. The voice seemed very familiar, so Abel decided to lead the horse forward. It was Zach. He was arguing with three young men wearing leather armor. There was also a young girl with blonde hair, probably the age of 17 or 18, standing on the side watching the argument intensely. She seemed like a witty and playful type. When she laughed, there was a touch of cunningness in her eyes.
"Big Brother!" Yelled Abel's excitedly. It was such a surprise to see his family here. Abel jumped off his horse and ran towards Zach.
"Abel!" Zach replied as he gave Abel a tight hug.
Afterward, Zach turned toward the three men and introduced them to each other "This is my brother Abel."
"And Abel… This is Martin, Joshua, and Bob"
The young girl gave a slight bow to Abel, and introduced herself with a chuckle, "Hello, my name is Emily" as she curiously scanned Abel.
Abel returned to the bow and saw the big brother Zach sneakily glanced at Emily's expression. It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on here. Zach was a young adult, after all. Abel laughed on the outside, but he wondered if he should write a letter to mum about this.
Martin had never have guessed that Abel would be so young. He was lost for words for a moment there, "Are you the one who forged the Sword of a hundred skills for Zach?"
Abel smiled and nodded, " Yes."
"Wow, really?!" Martin immediately gave a passionate bow and said, "it was such a pleasure to meet you! I didn't expect you to be so young!"
Martin seemed to be a talkative and straightforward person. Must be a nice guy to hang around , Abel thought
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Chapter 19
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A tall, thin man named Joshua grinned, "Martin, I think we've been fooled. There is no way this guy could have made that sword of a hundred skills."
"The Sword of a Hundred Skills?" Abel turned to look at Zach, who had been showing off his present ever since he's got it.
Zach was kind of embarrassed. He started rubbing his palms together, made quick eye contact with Emily and said, "the topic just came out of nowhere during my conversation with Emily. These three guys won't believe that my brother had forged a sword of a hundred skills for me, so we started arguing"
Abel's father always told him how grounded and mature his older brother is. But as he looked at his older brother, deeply trapped in the romantic spell of Emily, and losing all his dignity. Abel was speechless
"That sword was just my practice piece," Abel explained faintly.
Thins got kind of tense after Abel said that. The three other guys didn't know how to respond, but the looks on their faces were very worried. This was a sword of a hundred skills. Who the hell would ever call it a "practice piece?"
"Which forging masters did you learned it from?" Emily looked at Abel with her big, sparkling eyes.
"Oh, I learned it from Master Bentham," Abel replied, meanwhile trying to be polite to the person who could very well be his future sister-in-law.
Martin interrupted, "Master Bentham is very well known in the Duchy. How long have you been following him?"
"One month."
Martin, Bob, and Emily were in shock. "My God, that's incredible," they all said simultaneously.
"Ok. Even if his teacher is Master Bentham," Joshua said with a sneer, "do you believe that this kid can make a sword like this?"
"Hey, don't be rude!" Emily called Joshua out. Both Joshua and Zach were trying to please her, and she knew that much at least. That being said, it's not right to have a go at someone else's little brother. Also, she thought that Zach was an honest man, which meant that this accusation was all the more offensive in her eyes.
Joshua glanced at Abel and snorted. He said in a threatening voice, "Abel, you shouldn't claim the work of your teacher."
Zach was starting to get irritated as well, "Joshua, you better stop that nonsense talk right now. You wouldn't want to make me your enemy."
Martin stood up and separated the two, "Hey, if you really want to know who made this piece, there's a Giant Hammer weapon store nearby. It's easy. We can just go there and have someone examine it for us."
"Of course," said Zach as he turned to look his little brother, to which Abel responded with a cool nod.
"That's a lot of faith coming from you, Zach. If you're so confident in your little brother, why don't we make a bet on it?" Joshua laughed out loudly.
After saying that, Joshua took out the big sword on his back. "I don't know about that one right there, but the one I have here, this is a real piece made by Master Bentham. If your brother's sword is not the work of Master Bentham, I'll give my sword to you. If it is, though, you give that sword to me instead. Are you on, Zach?"
Martin intervened, "Let's not escalate the situation. Guys, we're just going to have an authenticity test. We don't have to make any bets."
Even Bob, who had remained silent during all this time, came forward and tried to calm down the tension, "We are all friends, aren't we? If we're going to bet on something, how about the loser pays for the dinner tonight?"
Joshua said, "You chickening out, Zach?"
Emily, unlike the others, was not aware of how serious the situation was getting. She was getting too thrilled by the upcoming match.
"I'll be the judge," she volunteered, "Whoever the loser is, he has to give up on what he has betted on, okay? If not, I'll let him have a taste of my punishment."
Looking at the overly excited Emily, Martin and Bob could not help but sigh. Women made men do stupid things, don't they?
Abel was starting to frown a little. Ever since they met for the first time, Joshua had been contradicting everything that he said. If no one told him, Abel would have just guessed that Joshua was an enemy of Zach.
"Sure, I'll bet," Zach said angrily. He had enough of Joshua making fun of his little brother. In front of Emily, too. What a dirty way to gain an advantage over him.
The Giant hammer weapon shop was a shop specialized in selling weapons and armor. When customers come in, the first thing they would see would be the huge counter made entirely out of ironwood. Because of how big and heavy everything was in this world, only ironwood could suffice to hold the weight of the items for sale.
"Welcome, lady and gentleman, to the Giant Hammer Weapons Shop, I am the store manager, Ted. Is there anything you are after?" Asked a thin, middle-aged man.
"Ah, yes, Mr. Ted, we are here a heavy sword examined. Please, have your best appraiser come here and help us take a look at it." Said Joshua in an unbearable hurry.
"Wait for a second, I am the referee here," Emily protested with an "I'm a taking this very seriously" look on her face, "Give me the two swords, you two. I will be in charge of this."
Without saying anything, Zach took out his sword and passed it over to Emily. Joshua was kind of reluctant at first, but after seeing Zach giving his sword to Emily, he was left with no choice but to hand it over as well.
"You are naggier than a woman," Emily said as she saw how hesitant Joshua was being. It was weird for a woman like her to say something like this. But anyway, she snatched the sword away from Joshua.
Meanwhile, Ted just called out a long-bearded old man, "This is the chief appraiser of the Giant hammer weapon shop. All you need to do is to hand the swords over to him. For each piece that you are examining, we will charge you at a price of 2 gold coins."
Emily took out 2 gold coins and put Zach's big sword on the counter. "Okay. Can you identify this weapon here, please? We want to see if it is the work of Master Bentham."
The old Appraiser got excited about that. He didn't expect to have the chance to examine a piece that could be made by a master forger. He took the big sword and inspected it carefully.
Slowly but surely, the old appraiser's expression became more and more feverish. He started stroking the blade with his fingers, as though as he was about to make fire with it.
"Whoever's made this masterpiece, it is a work of perfection." Murmured the old appraiser, "What witchcraft would you need to make this sword of a hundred skills? Just look at how sharp the edges are! It's unbelievable."
The old appraiser was completely lost in his own world. For a while there, he had probably forgotten that he was here to do his job.
"Uh, hmmph," Emily coughed twice to get the old appraiser the attention again. "Is this the work of Master Bentham, mister?"
"Oh, no. Of course not!" the older appraiser said affirmatively, "I don't know who's made it, but it is definitely not the work of Master Bentham."
"What… how is this possible?" Joshua threw a blank stare towards the ceiling. He figured that something was wrong when he saw the expression on the old appraiser's face. But the way that the old man denied the piece being a work of Master Bentham. It was almost like the piece was too splendid to made by someone even of that level.
Joshua was getting more anxious by the seconds, "Are you looking this properly, sir?" he said to the old appraiser, "You know, things won't go easy for you if you don't tell us the truth right now."
The old appraiser threw a cold look at Joshua, "If you are not satisfied with what I'm saying, go to the mayor and sue me. Remember this, though. The Giant Hammer Weapon Shop is the property of the city owner. If you want to cause any trouble for him, make sure you are ready for the consequences."
Emily threw a disgusted glance towards Joshua, who was trying very hard to not lash out at the old appraiser. She picked up the two swords, gave them to Zach, and walked away like she had never known Joshua in the first place.
Before Emily left, the old appraisers suddenly spoke. "Is this a big sword for sale?" He said in a sympathetic voice, "I will offer 1200 gold coins."
It was a very confusing offer. Emily couldn't believe what she was hearing, so she asked, "From what I've heard, a sword of a hundred skills would cost about 1000 gold coins. Why are you making the deal at 1200 gold coins?"
The others were also very curious. Even Abel, too. Despite having lived two lives, this was the very first sword that he has made. Just how the heck was it so valuable?
"1000 gold coins are for ordinary swords of a hundred skills. The value of the finest ones can be far greater than the ordinary ones. This piece right here, you can say that it is the finest of the finest. With a few strikes, I'm sure that it can easily destroy an ordinary sword of hundreds of skills. Equipping something like this is like having a double-up of one's sword-wielding ability.
Joshua had lost the bet, and after the group left Giant Hammer's weapons store, he walked off by himself. He was too embarrassed to stay with the group.
"Hey, Zach, why don't you shout us the dinner tonight?" Martin and Bob said as they fixed their eyes on Zach's new sword. Emily, on the other hand, spent a great deal of her time throwing this curious look at Abel. Fortunately, though, she didn't ask him any specific questions. Whatever Abel's secret was, she was polite enough to not ask too much about it.
Emily asked, "Abel, can you forge a sword for me? I will pay you money."
"I only forge weapons for my family." Abel quickly refused,
For Goodness sake. If he said yes on the spot, Martin and Bob would've been his next customers.
"Hey!" Emily cried out as she switched her eyes between Abel and Zach.
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Chapter 20
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"You, follow him. Tell me where he is going. If he leaves the village, immediately report to me," Joshua said in a gloomy voice to his servant who was following by his side.
The servant quietly agreed and began to follow Abel from a distance.
"I will make you regret what happened today." Joshua knew that Zach was a rank four Novice Knight. It wouldn't be easy to find a person to rob him. Plus, he was the heir of the Knight of Bennett. The consequences of harassing him could be very severe.
Not his little brother, though. Abel was a blacksmith. It didn't matter how gifted you were, or if you were the follower of Master Bentham. At the end of the day, you were still a blacksmith, and no one would be bothered if you died.
Little did Joshua know, he was only stepping further onto a road of no return.
After Zach had won his bet, a few men were getting ready for a celebration at a luxurious restaurant. But Abel did not go with Zach. When they arrived at Harvest City, he departed from the group since he wanted to buy something.
Abel counted the coins in his pockets. Other than the 20 gold coins he originally had, there was also the 50 gold coins that the Knight of Marshall gave him for entertainment at Harvest City. There were 70 gold coins in total, and he decided to spend it all on 138 little gems. However, to avoid attracting attention, he went to 4 separate jewelry stores to buy those gems.
His wallet looked deflated. Only two coins left. Still, Abel no longer had the nerve to use his Horadric Cube out in the open streets. So, he found a hotel, booked a single room and used the Horadric cube to slowly combine the gems.
It was like a walk in the park. In a short amount of time, Abel had combined the gems into 20 red gems and 26 blue gems.
Abel was trying to remember the combination formula of the Horadric cube as he stared at the gems. He wondered which category of darkness 2 gems were the ones he had just combined. As he kept on staring, he suddenly had an idea. Why don't I combine two this time?
He took out 3 blue gems and put them in the Horadric cube to combine again. By the time he took it out, it had become a large, round, transparent blue gem with countless cuts on the side.
"Let's try to level up again," thought Abel. He turned the remaining 6 blue gems into 2 more large round blue gems. Then put the 3 large round blue gems in the Horadric cube and pressed combined. This time it had turned into a droplet-shaped gem. Abel was certain that this was it. This was the perfect blue gem, the ultimate blue gem in Diablo 2 looked exactly like this. The Horadric cube had forcefully turned the blue gems into the ones in the video game settings.
The droplet-shaped gem shined in a shade of blue that reflected a hint of melancholy. As Abel stared at it in his hand, he wasn't planning to sell such perfection. The Horadric cube possessed the great power to combine such perfect gems, which was big enough reason for Abel to be extra careful during the process of selling those normal blue gems. Luckily, Harvest city was a very developed region. Gems with such quality were not that hard to come by.
Eleven thousand gold coins. While it was the amount that Abel sold his gems for, there was no way he was going to carry so much cash on him. So, he went to the Shrine of the Goddess of Wealth and exchanged parts of it into one hundred unit coins. He threw it all into the Horadric cube, luckily it only showed a single-digit so it didn't take up any lattice. But when he decided to take it out, it turned in to one hundred gain. How convenient.
One hundred unit coins were most commonly used within large banks. They were a bit larger than normal gold coins and filled with the engraving of every goddess of protection. These goddess engraving needs to pass through the shrine to get made, so these one hundred unit coins are very secure.
With a cheerful look on his face, Abel began to plan on how he could spend all this money. Little did he know that someone had been stalking him this entire time. Funnily enough, it wasn't a good day for Joshua's servant, who's spent his whole day following a young man who would just never stop walking. He had been to almost every jewelry shop in Harvest city riding his horse and by that point, the servant was almost too tired to continue. He only wished that Abel would soon find a place for rest.
Above his head was a signboard reading Edmund's Boutique shop. This familiar signboard Abel couldn't help but remember the Qi condensing potion he had bought at Edmund's boutique shop. He already used up all the Qi condensing potion he had, soon he would be attacking the knight's level. If he slowly trained by himself, it would have taken him years of effort until he could have gained enough Qi to condensed his core.
After using the master's "Qi condensing potion" he had leveled up by 2 levels. Abel had always worried if any problems were progressing through the levels with such speed. Because immediately, he had leveled up by 2, which was not what he had expected. As it turned out, drugs were not the only way to level up in short periods. There were other options. There was quite some evidence that this was true, as both Master Bentham and the Knight of Marshall were not shocked to see how fast he had attained another epiphany. If anything, they didn't seem surprised in any way, which could potentially mean that there was an alternative supplement for his training.
According to Abel's knowledge, if there wasn't any problem leveling up with other methods, taking the no side effect "Qi condensing potion" definitely shouldn't be too harmful to him. That being said, now was probably a good time to get himself some supplies.
The moment Abel stepped into Edmund's boutique shop, a familiar voice came out to greet him.
"Welcome to Edmund's boutique shop, how can I help you today?" the voice stuttered as its owner did not expect Abel's visit, "Oh, welcome! Didn't expect to see you here, young and handsome gentleman."
"Ms. Yvette! what are you doing here?"
Yvette gave out a small laugh and proudly said, "I got promoted from Fort Lee to the vice manager of Harvest City."
"Congratulations, Ms. Yvette" Abel cheered.
Yvette must have been very capable to become the vice manager of a large city sector such as Harvest city. Abel had great respect for outstanding people like her.
From the look on her face, it was clear that Yvette liked being congratulated by someone she knew. Since there was a lot of stress after she got promoted to this position. Unlike a small city such as Fort Lee, even the position as a vice manager has 3 slots in here.
"What would you like to buy today?" said Yvette softly.
Abel pondered for a while and gave out a number "I want 162 bottles of lesser "Qi condensing potion."
Yvette was excited by this a large transaction of lesser "Qi condensing potion". This deal would make her look really good in front of her boss.
"It's 1620 coins in total… Let's settle the deal for 1600 coins" Yvette said after she applied the discount.
Abel saluted to Yvette "Please wait."
Abel took out 16 100 coins from the Horadric cube and inserted it in his wallet. Then he pulled out his wallet and gave the coins to Yvette.
After a short period, the shop assistant brought out a medium-sized box, inside was tightly packed with 162 lesser "Qi condensing potion".
After Abel rode his horse back to his place, he immediately went to his room and combined 162 lesser "Qi condensing potion" into 6 masters "Qi condensing potion". Watching as those "Qi condensing potion" shone in its amber glow, Abel knew he was getting a massive power-up soon.
As Abel was putting the 6 master's "Qi condensing potion" in the Horadric cube, he remembered his transaction with Yvette today. Ms. Yvette never asked him for his name and the past 2 transactions had been quite smooth. Also with the name Edmound's boutique shop, plus Yvette's cautiousness. Abel decided if he had anything inconvenient to sell in the future, he will leave it for Yvette to handle.
Meanwhile, out on the courtyard, the weather was still freezing even though it was already a new year. That servant curled up in a dark corner, his eyes rigidly starred at the front gate. This place was the Knight of Marshall's temporary house and not many people knew about that. If the servant realized this was the resistance of a royal family, who knew if he would still have the nerve to continue spying. Ignorance, sometimes, was the only thing that was necessary for a disaster to happen.
After dark, the gate of Harvest city had been shut so the servant decided to continue spying. However, little did he know that the Knight of Marshall and Abel had already got on a carriage to join the new year cocktail party in the city palace.