Chapter 31
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Abel knew what an orcs' skill card was. He knew what it was, but the card had a power that was so strange that he had to take a closer look at it. For reasons he wasn't sure of, he was somehow attracted by it in ways that he couldn't describe.
Abel decided to use his Power of the Will on the card. He closed his eyes for a bit and decided to focus all his senses on the mysterious force that was lingering by. As his conscience began to enter the card, he felt an energy that was similar to the one that his body produced. It was the power of one's spirit. It was probably not a human spirit, though.
Without asking for Abel's permission, this energy began to draw itself closer towards him. It was trying to synchronize with him. Abel didn't want to, but it was too late before he could switch off his Power of the Will state.
Whilst trying to open his eyes, Abel realized that he had become a young worgen himself. It kind of felt like a movie for him, except it was much more realistic than a movie. He had no control over his body, but everything he saw was very much in detail.
The worgen (Abel) walked to the front of a mounted wolf. It placed its hand on top of the beast's head, then utter some very strange words from his mouth. It was not a language that Abel had learned about before, but bizarrely enough, he could understand every word of it.
As devoted followers of the beastly gods, the worgens would often include words of praise in their vocabulary. They would also use weird consonants to match the words that they were saying, which allowed them to communicate their thoughts with the mount wolves, kind of like what Abel was seeing here. The worgen could understand what the mount wolf was thinking, and so could the mount wolf to the worgen. The worgen would've sent a command to the mount wolf without having said anything, and the mount wolf would follow it after receiving it telepathically.
After riding on the mount wolf for a while, the worgen used its combat qi and gave it a full body massage. Things were looking very tranquil here, but the scene got cut off for some reason. Without being able to watch what happened next, Abel's mind was returned to his body.
There was a star at the bottom of the skill card. As Abel switched off his Power of the Will state, it started fading away and eventually disappeared. The card, too, was destroyed after that. Abel was afraid of it exploding like his heavy sword, so he threw it away into the air before he got injured by it. Luckily, the card didn't explode. Instead, it just kind of fizzled out and ceased to exist.
The skill card did a lot for Abel. Because of it, he learned how to speak the language of the orcs, as well as being able to use the mount enhancement technique on any rideable animal. Technically speaking, however, the card itself did not have the function to teach Abel another language. He only learned the orcs' tongue because he was reading it with his Power of the Will state on, which synchronized his psyche to the young worgen that he saw.
Despite regional differences, the orcs spoke a common language, which was also the one that was used to make the skill card's content. Through the acts of worshipping beastly gods, they would transfer whatever skills they possess into the cards, with the mount enhancement technique being one of them.
By now, Abel's pretty much had a full understanding of what the skill card was. It was something that was used by the Orc Empire. Unlike the orcs who used their blood to activate it, Abel used his Power of the Will. While there were upsides with using this method, it was also risky in its own ways. If the priest who made this card were in a higher rank, there was no telling of what would happen to Abel's mind.
Having learned the language of the orcs, Abel picked up the parchment map and started reading it. It was a map marked with times and locations of where the invasion troop would be rallied. Abel was very excited to recognize it, because by doing so, he could, very easily, stop the invaders from entering into the realms of humanity.
Honestly, though, such important intel should've never been brought by a regular orc. The humans got lucky this time. If Simon didn't leave his team to wait for the mount wolf to give its birth, he would've never had to draw a copy of the map while in hiding.
It was getting late now. After realizing so, Abel finally remembered that his horses were still in the worgen's camp. He then walked back slowly to where he came from.
While the two horses were still there, there was also a mount wolf that was sitting next to them. As the worgen had killed off any wild beasts nearby, the horses remained calm as they chewed on the grass that was below them.
The mount wolf stood up at the sight of Abel. Realizing how long its master had gone, it raised its head in a worrisome manner. What a shame. An adult mount wolf could only recognize one master for the entirety of its own life. With the worgen being killed, there was no longer a cause for it to be alive.
Abel slowly walked towards the mount wolf. He revealed his ice magic sword from his back and slowly approached the beast. The mount wolf wasn't looking to fight back, though. If anything, there was a very strong sadness that was displayed in its eyes.
Master didn't come back, but it was an enemy that had come to end its life. The mount wolf began to wail, almost as if it was trying to beg for mercy. Abel felt kind of confused to see this. While the night was near, he could still see a small shadow, struggling its way out of its dying mother.
Whilst going against what Abel has learned before, the mount wolf was giving off birthright here, out in a battlefield that was extremely close to the enemy's territory. The Orc Empire was supposed to be very strict in controlling their livestock. They were not supposed to let any pregnant mount wolf be in any sort of danger, let alone letting it inside the human world. What Abel was witnessing now was an outlier, a phenomenon that was, by all means, not supposed to be.
Since the Orc Empire was the one that controlled the mount wolf population, most humans would've never seen one in their whole life. That being said, humans knew very little about how they behaved. It wasn't like they were completely clueless, though. For starters, it was rumored that mount wolves recognize the first living thing they see as their masters. They were also known to be extremely loyal and would go to extreme lengths to protect the ones they thought to be important.
Because of their intelligence and extraordinary speed, mount wolves were regarded as one of the most valuable animals to be owned in this world. For people in this world, a good animal to ride on was the same as a racing car. The fanaticism behind was pretty much the same, even more so when the opportunity to see one was so rare.
As Abel stood where he was, the mount wolf began to focus back on giving off birth. Despite being in a lot of agony, it didn't make any sound as it was afraid of being a hindrance to its stillborn offspring.
Eventually, the little thing came out and rested beside its mother. The mount wolf, as it had fulfilled in its role, was too tired to even keep its eyes opened. It laid right where it was at and tried to have some rest. However, such things were a luxury in the presence of a foe.
The mount wolf raised its head to look at Abel. It then looked down its head and began licking the furs of its own child. Through this very fact, there was a very strong love and a sense of satisfaction that was being conveyed.
Suddenly, the mount wolf stood up from the ground and ran towards an old tree, which was about fifty centimeters in its width. Abel thought that it was trying to attack him and quickly readied himself for defense. However, there was no longer a reason for conflict.
The mount wolf had crashed its skull against the tree. Without bothering Abel, it had ended its own life in the quickest way possible.
What boldness and loyalty. The mount wolf loved its child, but nothing stood in the way for it to devote everything to its master. Not even its own child, and not even its own life.
Abel raised his ice magic sword and started digging on the ground. Within no time at all, he's dug up a hole that was big enough to bury the mount wolf in. It was just an animal, yes, but it was a dignified spirit that was deserving of respect. He didn't want the other beasts to ravage on its remains.
After the burial was done, the baby pup began to cry, as if mourning for the being that gave it its own life. Upon hearing this, Abel picked it up from the ground and wrapped his arms around it.
It was a very light puppy, covered in black furs that were drenched from being licked. It was soft, so soft that Abel had to try very hard not to hurt it. It was an innocent life which, for reasons Abel wasn't sure of, made him felt like he was its own father.
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Chapter 32
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As though having found its mother, the mount wolf pup kept on rubbing its head against Abel while it was in his arms. For Abel, it felt kind of itchy for him, in a good way—sort of. He started patting the pup on its head which had responded by rubbing its head against Abel even more.
Abel carried the pup towards his horses. Now that he's found himself a new partner, he was even less keen on spending the night in the forest. There was nothing he could feed it here. For that reason, he had to go back to Harry Castle now.
Just when Abel was about to approach his horses, they started panicking at the scent of the baby mount wolf. Understandably enough, wolves were a natural predator for beasts such as them. While this particular wolf was just a puppy, their instincts were telling them very much otherwise.
After patting the horses on their backs, Abel was able to calm them down enough to proceed his way back home. He held the reins in one of his hands and used another to hold onto the baby mount wolf. He wasn't riding the horses, though. It wasn't safe to ride horses in the middle of a forest. Besides, the sky was starting to turn dark, so the only way he could go home was on foot.
As he held onto the baby mount wolf, it started raising its head to lick his face. Its crystal eyes were looking straight at him, as though it had already decided to follow him for the rest of its life. And it did, indeed. Mount wolves were loyal beasts. While such a tendency was uncommon for other animals, they decide their masters from the moment they were born.
With one of his hands holding onto the mount wolf, Abel placed another on top of its head. His rank wasn't high enough for him to transfuse his combat qi into it, but he did remember the spells for mount enhancement. By uttering the same enchantments as the orcs would praise their beastly gods, he could forge a spiritual pact with it.
It's good that no one else was around. If they heard Abel speaking the language of the orcs, he would've been sent to a temple to be executed. Well, that's if they understood it in the first place. Actually, who cares? Abel was in a forest. No one was going to see him breaking any taboos.
On a side note, most of the abilities that the orcs possessed had something to do with their faith. They had great admiration and respect for the gods that they worshipped, and would often include words of praise in the spells that they used.
As Abel enchanted the magical words, a green light began to flash on the hand that was placed on top of the mount wold's head. It started flashing bigger, and eventually surrounded everything that was around them. While the light was too bright for Abel to see, he could hear a weak cry that was calling out to him.
It was a cry of happiness, of a love that was so pure that even the strongest forces couldn't break it apart. Abel felt it. He felt it from the bottom of his heart and was moved to allow it into his soul.
Eventually, the green light became so thin that it vanished in the air, but the bond that was built only grew stronger by the minutes. Just by being around the mount wolf, Abel could know what it was feeling.
Come to think of it, Abel hadn't named the mount wolf yet. Since it was covered in black furs, the first thing he's thought of was "Black Wind." When the pup reached its adulthood, he wanted it to run as fast as the wind.
"Your name is now Black Wind. Is that okay with you, Black Wind?"
Abel wanted to tell explain his thoughts behind this name, but the pup was too young to understand something so complex as symbolism. Anyways, "Black Wind," it shall be.
"You're not against it, are you? I don't sense that you have anything against it. Alright, I'll call you Black Wind from now on, then."
Having named the mount wolf, Abel walked back the battleground and saw the dead worgen lying on the ground. If he was just going to leave it right there, no one was going to believe that he had killed worgen by himself. Not wanting to let his achievements go to waste, Abel carried the dead worgen and put it on top of his horse. He then continued his way back to Harry Castle.
It was getting kind of dark in the forest. After stopping for a bit, Abel made a torch from a branch he picked up from the ground. Luckily for him, apart from a few snakes that he encountered, there weren't a lot of large beasts on his path back. Things were kind of going well for him.
After walking for a few more hours, Abel came out of the forest and went back to Harry Castle. Oddly enough, the front gate was looking different from what it used to be. There were torches hung on the wall and a lot more guards who were patrolling around.
"Who's that?" one of the guards called out as Abel approached the front gate. In just a few seconds, more guards came and had their arrows pointed towards him.
"It's Abel," Abel raised his torch so that it was closer to his face, "Open the door so I can go in."
"The young master's back!"
"Master Abel!"
As the guards began cheering for Abel, they lifted the castle gate and allowed him to enter. To Abel's surprise, he saw a lot of tents when he had just come in. Every time he was about to pass by one of them, people would come out and say hello to him.
"Good night to you, Sir!"
"Sir Abel!"
"Master Abel!"
From what Abel could see, these were all farmers who lived in the Harry Knight's domain. They came inside Harry Castle because of the orcs' invasion. The Knight of Marshall must've sent them in during the daytime.
Speaking of the Knight of Marshall, he didn't have any sleep at all. He was getting so worried that Abel hadn't come back, so he just stayed in his office whilst having his armor on. He did hear that Abel was out to test his new weapons, but because of how late it was, he's already sent a few men to search in the forest.
For the Knight of Marshall, it was a difficult thing for him to not know where Abel was. Besides helping out his good friend, the Knight of Bennett, he took Abel in because he wanted a heir to take on his family name. In that sense, Abel didn't need to do anything to be helpful to him. However, what this child did over the past few months was simply far beyond all expectations.
Because of Abel's achievements during the invasion outside Harvest City, the Knight of Marshall was rewarded with his weapon store. Because of Abel's ability to make magic weapons, Harry Castle was now one of the most fortified castles around Harvest City. Because of Abel's status as a master blacksmith, the Knight of Marshall was a celebrity figure whenever he went. Abel was a phenomenon kid, and he was bound to be so much more than that.
Whilst thinking about everything that Abel had done for him, the Knight of Marshall became even more worried about his disappearance. If the butler Lindsay didn't come in on time, he would've gone to the forest himself to look for Abel.
"Master, Sir Abel is back!" the butler Lindsay said with a rushed tone. It was rare for him to be this intrusive, but understandably so.
"He came back!" the Knight of Marshall exclaimed and ran to the Harry Castle's front gate. As happy as he was to see that Abel was alive, he found it strange that there was a corpse on one of the horses.
The Knight of Marshall widened his eyes, "Why did you bring a dead worgen back?"
Just after he said that the Knight of Marshall began to notice something even stranger. Abel was holding a mount wolf pup in his arms. It wasn't supposed to be here, but somehow, it was right here and it was looking straight at him.
The Knight of Marshall said with a shaky voice, "Is-is that a mount wolf you're holding, Abel? Wait, wait a second. Oh my, it is a mount wolf! Where did you found it, Abel? Has it found a master yet?"
As a knight who survived the war against the orcs, the Knight of Marshall was very much in awareness of how precious a mount wolf was. That being said, it was a miracle for Abel to bring back one that was just yet born, and an even greater myth for it to be collected with a dead worgen.
The worgen must've been at least rank six for it to appear next to a pup, but who could've had killed it? There was no way that Abel could've killed anything that was at rank six, but who or what else could've done it?
Whilst facing the mountain of questions that were thrown at him, Abel was at a loss for words. He didn't expect such a strong reaction from the Knight of Marshall, so it was hard for him to start explaining the things that he saw. For now, though, Black Wind was hungry, so the first thing he did was to ask for some sheep milk from the butler Lindsay.
Chapter 33
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Once returned to the Harry Castle's main hall, Abel told everything that he saw to the Knight of Marshall. At the same time, he's also brought the map that was drawn on the parchment paper.
Thankfully enough, the Knight of Marshall was able to read some of the characters that were used by the orcs. He had recognized some of the locations marked on the map and was able to point out some of the more crucial routes for those invaders.
The Knight of Marshall walked around the room whilst having an extremely intense expression on his face, "This map is way too important for us, Abel. With this in our hands, we can effectively stop these orcs from ever entering into the realm of mankind."
"I don't think the orcs are going to be too easy to fight off this time," Abel said with concern, "I'm not sure about the exact numbers, but the wolfriders I've faced are all at least above rank six. We won't have enough archers for them if they keep coming at this pace."
The Knight of Marshall wasn't too worried. If anything, he was very optimistic about this whole situation, "Why, of course, we're not going to take on them all. Here's the deal: I give this map to the Lord of Harvest City, and we do fend off the invasion this time and have enough dead orcs on our hands, Abel, you are going to be anointed as a Lord."
The Knight of Marshall then said with a more serious tone, "For now, Abel, you are not allowed to be out without a company. Whenever you leave the castle, you must let someone know first and bring some guards with you. As for that mount wolf you've picked up…well, um, don't tell the others about it. I'll tell the others to keep their mouths shut as well."
"Once they've reached a certain rank, mount wolves tend to stay loyal to their owners," the Knight of Marshall sighed, "Same with that one. That being said, there's always going to be someone who would try to take it back."
"Whatever you say, Uncle," Abel said without complaint. For all intents and purposes, the Knight of Marshall knew a lot more than he did about how the nobles were like. Besides, Black Wind was still a puppy. Once it had reached full size, Abel would've grown so strong already that no one could take anything away from him.
To be honest, however, this kind of thought process just showed how little the Knight of Marshall and Abel knew about the Blacksmith Guild. If Master Bentham was here, he would've warned these scoundrels about the severe consequences of crossing a human with the title of a "master blacksmith."
"Do you still have those large beast traps with you?" the Knight of Marshall asked. While he was well aware of how terrifying the wolfriders were, he was very interested in finding ways to slow them down.
"I don't have them with me now," Abel replied without expecting to be asked about his traps, "I've set up all ten of them in the forest behind the castle. I did mark them, though. If you want to, I can retrieve them by tomorrow."
"Can you have the other blacksmiths make it for you?" the Knight of Marshall asked urgently.
Abel shook his head, "Probably not, I think. There's a special technique that I've used to make one of the parts."
Having become a master blacksmith himself, Abel knew how far technology had progressed in this world. That being said, not many people could make a metal spring the same way as he did. To produce the special metal that was needed to make a spring, one would have to use a large amount of carbon to reduce the steel's durability, meanwhile ensuring that its elasticity was maintained. Forget the humans, only masters dwarves could handle work as delicate as this.
"Can you make a lot of these traps for me, Abel? I know they are meant for hunting, but they could also be great defense tools if we lay them around the castle.
"Yes," Abel affirmed, "all I need to do is to make the more complex parts. You can have the other blacksmiths make the simpler parts."
"Sure, sure. Make as many of those crucial parts. Do it whenever you have free time. I want those traps in place as early as possible," the Knight of Marshall said impatiently, "Go tell the patrol squad where you've set up the trap, and they will get them for you. And don't go out for the next few days. I've already moved the blacksmith shop into the castle. Things are going very dangerous outside the castle."
At night, after returning to his bedroom, Abel got some warm sheep milk from Lindsay and fed it to Black Wind. In order to not spill it, he's also asked for a sheet of gerbil skin.
A gerbil was kind of like a rat. Because of how thin and soft its skin was, it was often used to make all sorts of small textile objects. With that mind, Abel asked the maid to make a pacifier for him. While the resulting product was not very aesthetically appealing, he did get himself a very useful feeding bottle in the end.
With the pacifier next to its mouth, Black Wind started suckling for some sheep milk. Its premature teeth bit hard onto the bottle, and its tiny face looked very satisfied when it was doing so.
Abel never had a pet when he was living on Earth. He didn't know the feeling of having a pet, and he's never understood the people who would treat pets like they were their own children. For a while, though, he's really thought of Black Wind as his own baby.
Meanwhile, the Knight of Marshall had sent the parchment map to Lord Dickens. To fully earn Lord Dickens's trust, he even had his men sending a whole dead body of a worgen. To be honest, if it wasn't because of how urgent things were, he would've paid the visit himself in person.
The next morning, after waking up from his bed, Abel came to the de facto blacksmith shop that was set up in the castle storage. With the help of Master Bentham and the other men, he gathered up all the blacksmiths and began instructing them on the parts that were to be made.
By now, Abel had become quite familiar with creating his beast trap. For the large, thick springs that were essential to this piece, he would spend a whole day making fifteen replicas of them. He did this for three days. The other blacksmiths were quite fast, too. Under Abel's instructions, they, too, managed to make all the other parts after three days.
Having assembled all the parts together, Master Bentham started filing the edges of all the teeth on the traps. This was so that the blades would dig deeper when the prey had fallen for it.
Thanks to how experienced the patrol squad was, the other ten traps were also retrieved back from the forest. There were now twenty-five beast traps ready for defending Harry Castle.
To test the effectiveness of his new trap, Abel threw a branch on top of the pressure pad, which, in a blink of an eye, was penetrated by its razor-sharp teeth. If the branch was the leg of a mount, then the worgen riding on top of it would've immediately lost the ability to move. All in all, it was a result that the Knight of Marshall was very satisfied with.
And that should've just about end the invasion right there. To begin with, orcs would've never attacked a castle with just a few squads on their side. The walls were too high for their steads to have any use, and a forced pushed would only result in unnecessary casualties. They were not technologically advanced enough to develop any sort of siege engine. With all that out of the way, the only asset that they had were their wolves, but even a rank seven wolfrider couldn't jump over a castle gate.
As powerless as the orcs were against a fort, the Knight of Marshall had everyone concentred to the center of the Harry Castle. He reinforced some of the castle's weak spot with the large beast raps, especially in the forest somewhere thirty meters behind the fort. If the orcs were looking for an invasion, he would need to stop them from having any access to a large amount of timber. If the traps were activated, the scouts would know the direction of the attack right away.
After finishing the traps requested from him, Abel was finally spared with some free time of his own. Instead of taking a break, though, he decided to reminisce about his last encounter with the worgen.
Looking back, that fight with the worgen had really made he understood his difference to someone with an official occupation. Yes, a rank five Novice Knight was only a rank away from an official occupation holder, but a rank five Novice Knight could not multiply his powers with combat qi.
Despite its injury, that worgen had completely outpaced Abel in every conceivable way. Honestly, he was being completely dominated at the time. If it wasn't for his luck, he wasn't even sure if he would stand where he was right now.
Once having reached the rank of a beginner occupation holder, one could utilize his combat qi to increase his physical strength. On the other hand, an intermediate occupation holder could channel his combat qi to his weapon. It was the same technique as the one that the Knight of Marshall had used outside of Harvest City. By loading his energy onto his heavy sword, both the power and the sharpness of his weapon were increased by double. That just showed how insane this technically was.
Things didn't stop there, though. After becoming an advanced occupation holder, one could essentially launch mid-range attacks with his combat qi. On the battlefield, he could even overpower an army of about a hundred men.
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Chapter 34
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With the free time that he had, Abel decided to use it for some power-up first. By "power-up," he would like to start with his weapons. Thinking back to his encounter with the worgen, he did remember himself wanting some sort of long-range weapon in his hands. Even if he couldn't make the right aim, he could've at least slowed it down.
Abel had spent a great deal of his time thinking about making projectile weapons. He did do his research on the kind of bows that were produced in this world, but his main interested lied in something a little different. He wanted to craft a 70-pound compound bow, the same one he had used during his time on Earth.
The greatest thing about compound bows was how energy-efficient they were. To put it mathematically, if you were to save up 80% of your total strength, you would only need about 14 pounds of force to hold the string while it was being pulled. Conveniently enough, all that remaining strength would be used for improving accuracy and adjusting the wielder's postures. If you were to save up 60% of your total strength, you would need about 28 pounds of force to keep the bow in its fully-pulled state. When you do, the shot would be a lot faster and much stronger.
With the blessing of the Power of the Will on his side, Abel could recall memories with an extraordinary level of detail. That being, he had a very clear memory of what a compound bow should be like. He knew what parts were essential to make one, and he knew all the sizes of these parts.
Let's see. Idler wheel, cam, upper and lower limb, grip, arrow rest, string slider, string stabilizer, handle, buss cable, cable, limb pocket, string silencer, and cam. Apart from the main pars, there were also parts such as an attachable arrow rest, sight, release aid, a stick for reducing vibration, a peeping hole, and a wrist rope. That's pretty much all the parts of a complete set of a modern compound bow.
While this world was not blessed with technology, the people living in it were much stronger than the people on Earth. It wasn't hard to figure that out. As far as Abel knew, he's never heard of someone slicing a human and a horse in half with just one swing of a word. And remember, the Knight of Marshall was an Intermediate Knight. As insane as his achievement, there was no telling what people stronger than he could do.
If anything, Abel was already stronger than most people on Earth. At a ridiculously young age of thirteen, he was able to release a total of 400 pounds of force with just his raw strength. During his time on Earth as a bodybuilding trainer, the tightest bow he could pull was only about 70 pounds in total.
While it was impossible to find the same raw ingredients here as one would on Earth, Abel was free to craft the bow in however ways he desired. That being said, he could use some very sturdy materials with little to no regard for the resulting weight of the bow. He was a strong kid, and everyone was pretty strong in this world.
Having made a list of the things he needed to make, Abel started drawing sketches on multiple pieces of paper. When he was done, he would label the size of these parts and think about the sort of materials he would need for them.
For the idler wheel and the power wheel, Abel thought that he would use one bearing to support both of their rotating motion. There were a couple of reasons to do this. Reducing friction. Improving the accuracy of the spin. While it was a crucial part of the bow, he would have to make the two wheels by treating them for a hundred times.
Because of how much time the upper and the lower limbs would take, Abel decided that he wasn't going to make them himself. So how was he going to get them? Simple. He would go to the storage room and take them out of two heavy bows. There were a few 200-pound bows in the storage room. While they were the finest bows in Harry Castle, almost nobody in the castle could use them properly. For starters, one would at least have to be above being a rank four novice to pull the bow's string. And even if one could manage to do that, he would have to use the same amount of force to aim at his target. In this sense, you would, technically, need about 300 pounds of force if you want to use the bow properly.
If Abel could get his hands on these heavy bows, he would have himself a bow limb and two extra strings. He was going to make a massive limb for his new bow, which would use up to two whole limbs of a heavy bow for its upper and lower limb.
For the stabilizers, Abel would use the same timber as the ones he could take apart from these heavy bows. For the handle and the arrow rest, he would make from bases of one hundred skills.
Abel commenced his work after he did all of his blueprints. Having taken two heavy bows out of the storage room, he found himself a bowmaker to help him make the compound bow. While he was not very confident in his bow limb, he decided to have a professional checking it for him.
The bowmaker, being a professional in his area, had a sad, "what a waste this is" look on his face when he took apart the two heavy bows. He cut the wood into the sizes that Abel had drawn on paper and glued the limbs together with some fish gel. Abel was very pleased with the resulting product.
For the stabilizers, Abel found himself a carpenter, who followed his instructions and made the parts as requested.
After every other part was done, it was now Abel's turn to make his bearing.
While it was not known to many people, the bearing was the most important part of every machinery on Earth. A bearing would consist of three parts: the inner race, the outer race, and about several balls that would roll around the space between the inner and the outer race.
As difficult as it was to make bearings, they were mostly made in factories by mechanical beds. Abel didn't have access to a mechanical bed, of course. He would have to rely on himself only which, even for a master blacksmith like him, was not an easy job to do.
Abel started with the balls. He made himself a Vernier scale, and after hitting small pieces of iron into little spheres, he would use it to make sure that he's got the exact measurement that he wanted. It was a very, very exhausting process. For a single small ball, it would take him about several hours to make.
After making his first ball, Abel used some clays and water to build himself a molding model. It was kind of like the wet sand casting process, which was used to replicate pieces of metal from liquid form. By making one ball with his hands, Abel was able to make thirty copies of it with just his clay mold.
While only twelve balls were needed for one bearing, Abel decided to make some spares in case he needed them. With that mind, he got himself some iron so he could melt them for casting. He had expected this to be the most annoying process, mainly because he would have to use charcoals to slowly liquefy the metal pieces. Luckily, Master Bentham gave him this ointment for raising a fire's heat. With just a few drops into the flame, the metal pieces started melting in a very short time.
Abel poured the liquid iron into thirty of his clay mold. Once they had all cooled down, Abel took them and filed the edges for a bit. Once he was done, he's got himself thirty perfect small iron balls.
Next up, Abel had to combine the inner and outer race with the iron balls. Whilst looking back to the many physic lectures and documentaries he had watched in the past, he got out some pieces of ice and stuffed them into the inner race. He took the outer race and put it inside the stove. That's right, he was using the thermal expansion and thermal contraction to combine the three parts in order.
After he was done making his bearing, Abel made his idler wheel and power wheel and attached them all. Soon, he's got himself the first compound bow of the history of this world.
Realizing how late it was, Abel hid away the compound bow and went back home.
The next morning, after playing with Black Wind for a while, Abel went for some testing in the shooting. He got himself fifty arrows with the intention of shooting them all in one practice.
Abel took out his first arrow, placed it on the arrow rest and pulled on his release aid. Unlike what he had imagined, the tightness of the string was unlike anything he saw before. With the combined power of two heavy bows, the compound bow would take more than 400 pounds of force to be pulled. As hard as it was for Abel to pull on the string, it was a lot easier for him to hold it after he did. That's the beautiful thing about a compound bow. Once having pulled it apart, you wouldn't even 100 pound of force to keep the arrow in release mode.
Abel aimed towards his target, which was about fifty meters away from where he was standing. With a light press of the trigger on his release aid, the arrow was fired away at a pace that was not visible. It shot right through the center of the target and continued to fly for thirty meters more into the back wall before it finally stopped.
Damn. This shooting range was already the longest one in the entire Harry Castle. Abel did confirm that there was no problem in the bow's release and aim, but he didn't have a chance to test its maximum range of fire.
Still, just look at that clean whole in front of him. For all his experience with archery, Abel has never heard of an arrow that could still fly straight after fifty meters. Anyways, one thing was for sure, though. No matter how bizarre his compound bow was, it was the most technologically advanced in this world.
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Chapter 35
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Upon hearing the urgent noises of the bell, Abel readied himself whilst picking up his compound bow and quiver. Then, he ran his way to the castle's front gate. When he was just about to pass through the town square, everyone seemed panicked to see him. None one knew what was going on.
Having climbed a ladder on the side of the retaining wall, the first thing that Abel saw was the sight of the Knight of Marshall in his full set of armor. He was standing right on the edge of the castle with about twenty of his own guards standing beside him. All of them were holding a long spear in their hands.
The Knight of Marshall got worried when he noticed that Abel was here, "What are you up here, Abel? Go back inside the castle. It's dangerous around here."
Without listening to the words of his adoptive father, Abel probed his head out of the retaining wall. He wasn't able to get a good view, though. An arrow was just shot at him the moment he drew his head out. Luckily for him, he was quick enough to dodge with his head and managed to shot the thing down with his own bow.
As fast as that was, Abel did see about twenty orcs outside the wall—some of them were riding on top of wolves while others were using inferno bovine as their stead.
"Why are the orcs here?" Abel asked in surprise.
"There are two or three squads of them here. That's how many of them they need to take down a fort," the Knight of Marshall replied, then said with a sneer, "Not this one, though. Not with that."
"Where are our own archers?" Abel asked in frustration—he was just being fired at a few seconds ago, "Are we just going to let them stay there?"
"There are only five archers in the castle," the Knight of Marshall pointed towards a bunch of injured soldiers over the distance, "Two of them were already injured. The rest… they are no match for their wolf-riding opponents. I have ordered them not to fight back."
As undesirable as that sounded, the Knight of Marshall continued to mock the invaders, "These imbeciles have picked the wrong place to attack. They are no match for the walls that hold us here. Wait, is that a bow in your hand?"
Realizing that there was a bow in Abel's hand, the Knight of Marshall began to have a puzzled look on his face.
"Yeah," Abel said smugly, "This thing has pretty nice firepower to it."
To be honest, Abel wanted to talk so much more about his compound bow. He wanted to show off about how he had invented a quick, easy-to-use and long-range weapon in this backward timeline. However, since he couldn't explain it within anyone, he decided to stop after one sentence.
With a quick skim of his eyes, the Knight of Marshall quickly understood the mechanism behind this compound bow. He took an arrow out of Abel's quiver, placed it on the nock of his bow, and started laughing when he saw the shape of the release aid that Abel had just made.
"It's a good design that you've made," the Knight of Marshall commented, "Instead of using just your fingers, you use this so you can use your entire arm's strength." He then said after seeing the small lever on the release aid, "No wonder they call you a master blacksmith. With this little thing here, you can shoot an arrow very easily without hurting your fingers."
Archers were one of the most difficult soldiers to train because they had to rest after they've practiced for about 30 to 40 shots. Besides, the fingers were the most delicate parts of a human's body. If a bowman injured his fingers, he could no longer use a bow and arrows for the remainder of his life. Even without these said reasons, it was already pretty hard to find someone with the right talent. This was why despite the fact that there were so many guards within Harry Castle, only a handful got to learn how to shoot arrows.
The Knight of Marshall began to use the release aid on the bow. Once he pulled on the string, a white aura flashed out of his body before the arrow was released. To his surprise, he couldn't pull the bow's string completely but was only able to hold it for a while after stretching it a little.
This was a very tight bow. After using about 80% of his strength, the Knight of Marshall had almost immediately failed to hold the bow in its place. If he didn't release his combat qi on time, he would've lost so much face in front of Abel. The Knight of Bennett would've laughed so hard if he learned how hard it was for an Intermediate Knight to even pull a bow.
Strangely enough, once you've pulled the string and hold it there for a while, it was not very hard to keep it in place. The Knight of Marshall widened his eyes when he took notice of this.
"What is up with this bow, Abel?" he asked without even having an idea of what the question should be. As far as he could tell, this piece that Abel made was nothing like any bow he had seen before. Actually, screw it. With so many living targets outside the fort, he might as well just test the bow's effectiveness right away.
The Knight of Marshall quickly stood up. Having locked his arrow to a wolfrider, he quickly released it from his hands. It didn't hit, however. Instead, it very quickly flew over the wolfrider's head.
The orcs saw the shot, too. Just when they were about to dodge it, the arrow had already went past them and flew further beyond.
"Hargh Hargh!" The orcs laughed as they pointed their fingers at the Knight of Marshall. Then, one of the taurens threw an axe at him. Unbothered by ridiculing noises of his enemy, the Knight of Marshall caught it with his bare hand.
The Marshall Knight asked as he threw the ax to the ground, "What can't I shoot with this bow, Abel?"
Abel pointed towards the marking on the bow, "That's because I've just made it, Uncle. The only testing that I've done with it was at a 50-meter shooting range. If you are firing from here, you'd have to shoot the arrow in a straight line."
That was all that the Knight of Marshall had to hear. During his past experience with archery, he'd always have to point directly above the target that he aimed to shoot. In other words, he had to shoot in curved lines. Now, he had to use a different technique because of the "firepower" he was given.
The Knight of Marshall pulled the bow again. This time, it was aimed at the tauren that was laughing the most. On click of the bow, and its skull was crushed the moment the Knight of Marshall had released his finger. It didn't stop there, though. After punching a hole with the size of a fist, the arrow went through the tauren's head and was plunged into the heart of a wolfrider.
The orcs got pretty panicked after that. They would never expect an archer to hit a double kill. No, not right after a complete miss.
"Arrow!" Marshall Knight reached his hand out to Abel, to which Abel responded as he quickly took an arrow out of the quiver.
Having reloaded himself up, the Knight of Marshall began to look for a new target. The distance between the orcs and the wall was about 50 to 60 meters. With that mind, a shot was guaranteed as long as the bow was directly aligned to its target.
The Knight of Marshall pressed the trigger again. This time, it was an orc that had fallen to the ground.
Without doing much talking, Abel passed another arrow into the Knight of Marshall's hand. Three shots were fired after that, and six of the orcs were down on the ground. The surviving ones saw this and retreated as fast as they could.
The Knight of Marshall wasn't sparing them, though. Unlike the orcs, the taurens remained on the battlefront. It wasn't because they were braver. If anything, it was because their steads were much slower than that of the wolfriders.
Having readied his arrow, the Knight of Marshall aimed the bow towards the tauren who was the last one in line. As relatively slow as its stead was, it still ran a ten-metre distance within a short amount of time. With that in mind, there were about 70 meters between it and the Knight of Marshall.
Without thinking too long on it, the Knight of Marshall aimed his bow horizontally to his target. If he held the bow slightly lower than it should be, he could still hit the stead even if he missed. Without something to ride, there was no way a tauren could've ran out of his range.
It was headshot from 70 meters away. It was clean shot towards the tauren, and the poor thing fell to the ground on the spot.
Another one from 80 meters away. It was another tauren. It got down, too, after the triggered was pulled.
90 metres away. Another one down. 100 meters? No problem. Another down.
The last tauren was about 110 meters away from the Knight of Marshall. Once again, he released the arrow and succeed to hit his target. It was in the neck, though, which was a tad off from being the perfect shot. It was now the time to use the sight on the bow.
All the taurens were pretty much gotten rid of. Even the slowest wolfrider was about 150 meters away from the Knight of Marshall. Unfortunately for that one, though, the Knight of Marshall could still hit a headshot whilst using the sight on the bow. In fact, the hit was so impactful that the wolfrider was thrown off after that hit.
Realizing how frightening the archer that was the Knight of Marshall was, the wolfriders quickly covered their heads with their bare hands. The wolves they were riding on, on the hand, covered their master with their whole body. As the threat of death was imminent upon them, the beasts decided to shield their masters as a means of displaying their loyalty.
The Knight of Marshall decided to stop after that. For a knight such as him, eliminating the enemy's stead was not something that should be done when the victory was already taken. For now, he was more than satisfied with the result of this battle.