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Chapter 1 - A Boy Under The Starry Night Chapter 1: A Boy Under The Starry Night Under the starry night, the great Bennett Castle stood to guard the plain that it was built on. Everything in this territory belonged to the Knight of Bennett. The king granted it to him. This territory was located at the southmost point of the Duchy of Carmel, right at the crossing border of the Earth-Dividing Mountain Range. It was a location far away from conflict, and it served as a crucial granary to the Duchy of Carmel. It was summertime now, and the crops were plentiful. Every time the chilling night breeze came by, the whole field danced in uniform to signify the prosperity of this land. A boy who looked to be around twelve was swinging a sword about the size of his body. As if it wasn’t heavy enough for him, this boy was also wearing a steel armor that was clearly oversized for him. He was about 150 centimeters tall, so the armor looked more like a belt as it was covered around him. As young as he was, this boy took his training seriously. The look on his face suggested that training was something sacred to him. Every time he swung his sword, he shouted with as much vigor in his lungs as he could. There were reasons for that. One, to breath in as much air as he could, and two, to squeeze out all the strength in his muscles. This boy was focused. His black hair was completely drenched in sweat, and those purple eyes of his were glowing with youthlike passion. Well, they were until he heard the sound of a horse coming his way. “Look what I’ve brought to you, Abel,” a young man of eighteen called out as he jumped down from his horse. He had blonde hair, thick brows, a tall, edgy nose, and eyes that were as blue as the sky. His whole body was covered in leather armor, and the boots he was wearing were made especially for riding. “Welcome back, big brother,” Abel welcomed his brother back. Unlike most children, he wasn’t particularly curious about what the gift was. Manners, for him, was something that came before his own personal interests. As Abel’s older brother, Zach was already used to seeing Abel like this. A year ago, Abel was severely injured after falling off his horse. He became much more mature after that. It was hard to get used to at first, but one year was more than enough to adjust to this sudden change of personality. For the sake of clarification, both of these young men were sons of the Knight of Bennett. The older one was Zach, a rank four novice knight who just got back from Fort Lee (a town). The younger one, who had been busy with his training, was Abel. It had only been two months since he began his training as a novice knight. As the oldest heir to the Knight of Bennett, everything his father owned would be passed down to him after he became a knight. He would have full ownership of the Bennett Castle and the estate it was built on. Abel, sadly, was not blessed with such privileges. He had to rely solely on himself if he was to make a living. As unfair as the rules might seem, Abel had a good relationship with Zach. Every time Zach went to town, he would always spend the little money that he had to buy presents for Abel. He was a good brother. He strived to make Abel happy. Abel, on the other hand, was considerate enough to not ask for any new training equipment from his father. Although the family’s estate was about 50 kilometers in radius, there wasn’t much income apart from what they used to buy food with. Worse yet, only 500 gold coins were left after they’ve paid for their taxes and day-to-day expenses. It was just enough to pay for the maintenance of Bennett Castle. If you were to then take out the tuition fee of Zach’s knight training, this family practically had no savings at all. The package Zach had for Abel was a long box. To show how much love that was put in this gift, Zach had it wrapped around in some very colorful paper. “What a beautiful dagger this is,” Abel exclaimed as he waved his gift around. This dagger was made with fine steel, something much heavier than what you use to make a regular steel dagger. Normally, a dagger like this would cost a lot more than a normal one. “Glad to see you like it. Lucky for me, the guy selling it didn’t know how much it was worth. He sold it to me for 30% off the price of a regular dagger, so I took it.” “Glad to see you like it.” Zach meant it when he said that. It had been a while since he saw his little brother smiling like a kid, and nothing was more precious than the expression Abel was showing just now. “You can keep training if you want. I’ll go back home now,” Zach said as he got back on his horse. He wasn’t planning on interrupting with Abel’s training, even if he was going to keep using the only steel armor that they’ve had. It was Zach during the day, and Abel during the night. It’s something that they’ve agreed between themselves. A novice knight’s training consisted mainly of the basics. One must keep practicing his sword techniques until he could effectively condense all the strength that could be exerted. In turn, a special power, namely one’s ‘qi,’ would start forming inside his body as a reward to the efforts that were given. The qi would then slowly gathered up and formed a meridian, and the total number of these meridians would represent one’s total ranks. (Having a total of one meridian would signify that you’re a rank one novice) After five meridians were in place, they would condense themselves again to form a core. A knight with a core would be considered a proper knight. They could use their combat qi in fights, and they could use their combat qi to perform various fighting skills. In other words, combat qi was an effective asset to boost one’s fighting capability. After millennia of research, it was found that the most effective way to forming one’s meridian was to have him wear heavy armor during his training. For this very reason, it became mandatory for knight families to have at least one steel armor set inside their homes. In order to be called a knight, one must have armor that he could engage in his training with. During times of conflict, he would also need it to provide for minimal protection. By decreasing or increasing the number of plates, the same armor could be shared even if the wielders were in different ranks. That being said, one did not have to own an armor to be called a knight. If he was to be seen wearing an armor (even if it wasn’t his) on a horse, he would be instantly recognized as a knight, no matter how low his rank was. “97…98…99…100,” Abel chanted as he made his final swing, then collapsed right on the grass field below him. His purple eyes were looking straight at the sky above him. “Which of these stars was my original home?” He asked himself. Unbeknownst to others, the original Abel fell off his horse and died about one year ago. His corpse was replaced by another soul that came from planet Earth, and unlike the original Abel, who was only about ten years old, the new Abel was about thirty years old in his actual age. Despite having behaved as carefully as he could, it was hard for the new Abel not to have others suspect him for his change of personality. Fortunately for him, however, everyone just thought that it was the aftermath of falling off a horse. This particular Abel had another name back home. The name he had on planet Earth was Lee Ya Bo. He was an experienced bodybuilding trainer who was always busy with his work. One night, at about ten o’clock at night, he came back to his apartment whilst not feeling so good about himself. Because of this, he decided to open up his laptop and open up Diablo 2, one of the few games he still had in reserve. He opened up his software, played Diablo 2 for a bit, and found that the quantity of his Tome of Town Portal was 0. He had the bad habit of forgetting to buy his Scroll of Town Portal, so he opened up his hacking software and modified his items for a bit. He hacked the game so that the quantity of his Scroll of Town Portal would regenerate themselves once every few minutes. Lee Ya Bo was having a time of his life, but a bolt of lightning struck and hit him right when he was inside his home. The lightning conductor did absolutely nothing. The lightning didn’t even bend as it was dropped straight down at him. And that’s pretty much it. After he regained consciousness, Ya Bo found himself to be the second son of the Knight of Bennett. Weirdly enough, though, his name was still Ya Bo (Abel). Whilst trying to get rid of the thoughts in his head, Abel stood up and headed back towards Bennett Castle. He was feeling quite good about himself on that day. If things went well for him, there was a chance that he would become a rank 1 novice knight on the same night. After coming back home, Abel decided to do something first before having dinner. There was still about half an hour before mealtime, so he was thinking about giving some care to his steel armor. Abel took cleaning very seriously. He never missed a spot when he was wiping the sweat off his steel armor and furnishing it with oil. It was a custom for knights to take care of their armor. Whether it was Abel, Zach, or even the Knight of Bennett himself, they had to maintain their armor in a way that they could pass it down to the next generation. After Abel was done with the armor, it was his giant sword that came next. It was relatively easy to clean it, mainly because of how simple its design was. Apart from the blade and the handle, there was no decoration or ornament whatsoever. Whoever made this weapon had only two considerations in mind: simplicity and practicality. After finishing his daily maintenance, Abel took a shower and joined his family in the dining room. As he came in, he found that his father, mother and older brother already on their seats.

Chapter 2 - The Horadric Cube Chapter 2: The Horadric Cube The Knight of Bennett was wearing a plain white calico as he sat at the dinner table. As usual, he had a serious look on his face. Abel never saw him showing much emotion at all. Actually, ‘never’ was an overstatement. The last time he saw any expression from the Knight of Bennett was about a year ago when he had just woken up from his coma. He could never forget the joy on his father’s face as he was brought into this world. Abel’s mother, Nora, was a kind woman. She was the one who fed Abel every time he was recovering from his injuries. If anything, she was the reason why Abel acknowledged to being a part of this family. Abel never got used to saying his grace before a meal. He had been an atheist for all thirty years of his previous life. It was only until recently that he had come to pray to the Holy Light, which almost everyone in this world would devote their worship to. Nobody talked during mealtime. The knights were the lowliest among royalty, but this family still adhered to their mannerisms even when alone. For the dinner tonight, it was a large piece of beef divided into four. Father and Zach received a larger portion, whereas Mother and Abel were supposed to receive much less. Since food intake was needed to increase the supply of a knight’s qi, there was simply no way to divide the food between everyone equally. But still, even as a bodybuilding trainer, Abel had never eaten so much beef during his time on Earth. There was about a pound of beef on his plate, and he was only twelve years old. There was also some porridge for him. It wasn’t like he couldn’t finish his food, though. He finished eating all of it in just a few minutes. “Here, have some more,” a gentle voice said. It was Abel’s mother, Nora. She just gave Abel more than half of her beef. The Knight of Bennett threw a quick look towards Abe, but he didn’t say anything to him. Instead, he just kept on eating. His hands were somewhat stiff. However, while he was trying to slice the meat with his knife. There was a slight cladding noise when his knife made contact with the plate, something very unusual for the master of this house. Zach took notice of it but was quickly hushed when the Knight of Bennett threw a glare at him. “Thank you, Mother,” Abel thanked Nora as he accepted a fraction of his mother’s meal. Since this was the way of Nora showing her love, the right thing to do here was to simply accept it. As a part of the family routine, the Knight of Bennett had Zach accompany him for some personal training after dinner. Abel, on the other hand, wasn’t allowed to attend until he was a rank one novice knight, which he might just become before tomorrow arrives. Whilst wasting no time to become a rank one novice knight, Abel headed straight back to his room for a knight’s breathing session. He had a full meal just then, and the amount of qi he accumulated throughout the day were very much sufficient for his training to make progress. A knight’s breathing techniques was the most crucial part of his skillsets. Whether it was passed down from the family or learned at a knight’s academia, every knight had their own special breathing techniques. If a knight was to make a lot of contributions on the battlefield, he could transfer his war efforts in exchange for improvements in his breathing techniques. After sitting himself on a rugged floor, Abel calmed his mind to commence his breathing session. The pace at which he inhaled the air went from slow to fast, and his stomach gradually became filled like a drum. He exhaled a streak of white, misty essence, which vanished into the air like an arrow that’s just been fired. The food in his stomach was quickly being digested as he was doing this. After breathing for about twenty times in a row, the qi Abel acquired during the day was now passing through the food he ingested, and it slowly started to form into a single meridian channel. This meridian channel was quite unstable at first, but just when Abel thought that he had failed himself again, a power suddenly emerged from his meridian all the way across his body. He wasn’t sure quite what it was, but both his body and his mind were like he had just gotten out of bed this morning. He had finally become a rank one novice knight. A year ago, after seeing his father slicing a large trunk of a tree, he had come to realize the existence of supernatural forces in this new world. Unlike his home back on planet Earth, strength was very much crucial for survival here. When Abel asked his father to train him to become a knight, he was given a detailed explanation of the family’s circumstances in response. From what the Knight of Bennet told him, a second son should only train himself without interfering with the progress of the eldest son. Zach was the priority of the family, basically. All the resources should be given to him first, and Abel would only have what was spared. That being said, though, he would still have access to learning the Bennett family’s ways of being a knight. Despite his unfortunate circumstances, Abel still learned quite a lot under his father. For the several months that he had recovered from his injuries, he was taught the ways of tending to horses, giving maintenance to his weapons, as well as the handling of a bow and arrow. He was also taught the proper etiquette of a knight, and he was taught many other things he had to prepare for before commencing his official knight training, which only happened at about two months ago. Whilst still cheering for the progress he made just then, Abel noticed that the meridian in his right arm was quickly losing its presence. Good thing that it stopped after a few seconds, though. If this kept on going, Abel would lose all his progress without being able to do anything about it. The breathing session tonight didn’t result in complete failure. Abel lost some qi at the end, but he could easily regain them after a day or two of training. He was not going to lose his rank as an amateur knight. But still, having qi drained out of him was a somewhat bizarre phenomenon. To satisfy his curiosity, Abel pulled back his right sleeve and found a light shadow on his arm. It was kind of difficult to notice it at first sight. Abel took a long, close look at this mysterious shadow. He wasn’t sure why, but it sure did look kind of familiar to him. “It’s a Horadric Cube,” Abel jumped out of the ground after he figured it out. This thing was a Horadric Cube, there was no doubt about it. As an avid player of Diablo 2 for so many years, he would’ve never mistaken an important item like this one. “It followed me to this world?” Abel walked around his room in excitement. There was not a thing that he was familiar within this world, and seeing a Horadric Cube here was like finding a water bottle in the middle of a desert. From what it looked like, the Horadric Cube had probably always been there. The reason it hadn’t appeared before was because there wasn’t any energy to activate it. Since Abel became a rank one novice knight tonight, some of the qi he lost just then probably went inside the cube. The Horadric Cube was just floating on his right arm. Abel touched it with his finger, and his vision was suddenly filled with a window showing his inventory slot. There were twelve slots in total, and two of them were occupied by a single blue book. It was the “Tome of Town Portal.” Abel recognized it on the spot. It was the same copy as the one he modified before being struck by lightning. From what he could see inside his head, the quantity of this Tome of Town Portal would regenerate itself once every few minutes. “I’ll take this Tome out of the Cube,” Abel thought, and the Tome of Town Portal quickly appeared inside his hand. It was quite a big book, almost as big as a magazine you would find on Earth. Its opaque blue cover was decorated with dark golden fringes, which would give off an occasional spark to signify how valuable this item was. “Can I go home if I use this Tome of Town Portal?” Abel’s heart started beating very fast. He wanted to see his real parents. He wanted to get a taste of his mother’s cooking, and he wanted to get a smell of his home town. For the entire year that he was in this world, Abel had never been so homesick until just now. After slowly opening up the Tome of Town Portal, twenty different Scrolls of Town Portal appeared. These scrolls were written on white wool sheets and were strapped in blue ribbons. All Abel needed to do to open up a portal was to pull the ribbons away. Abel tried placing his hand on one of the scrolls, but for some reason, his finger bounced off whilst he was trying to make contact with it. After trying again with a bit more force, he was able to successfully take the ribbon out of the scroll. To his dismay, no portal appeared in front of him. It was a fireball that had emerged, instead. Abel instantly threw it out of his hand the moment he saw it, which made a burn hole on the rug that he was standing on. It was irritating, of course, but at least it didn’t burn the entire house down. Why didn’t it work? Why did fireballs come out? Abel tried a few times more, but the results were always the same. Every time he tried opening up the Scroll of Town Portal, flames would come out and incinerate its content into a pile of ashes. Abel cried after that. He cried for a while, then went to sleep as he got tired of crying. Whilst Abel was asleep, a shed of moonlight shined through the window and lit upon his face. The tears on his cheeks were gradually blown away by the night breeze coming in, which made him feel kind of cold even in his bedsheets. ”Ba Ba, Ma Ma,” a young, vulnerable voice called out in the night. It was the desperate call of a son to his parents. No one would understand it, though, as it was spoken in a language that belonged not to this world. It was Mandarin. The language was Mandarin, the common tongue that used back at home. It was the language that a son would speak in when he was far away from home.

Chapter 3 - Shadow Panther Chapter 3: Shadow Panther Under the bright dawn light that shone across the plain, the Bennet Castle, once again, revealed its grandiosity for the whole world to see. Compared to other castles owned by knights of the same rank, the Bennet Castle was actually a much more extravagant piece of architecture. It was, in a way, what you’d call a ‘work of an era’. It took about ten years for the First Bennett Lord to finish constructing it. And if it wasn’t for the diligent maintenance of those who came after him, there wouldn’t be such a magnificent landmark standing here to this day. Due to the incompetence of its successors over the last few generations, the Bennett family was demoted from one of the most prestige Lords in the kingdom to just a family of knights. This was why the Bennetts were always so ashamed when they talked about their past. As the current ruler of the house, the Knight of Bennet was very regretful to have accomplished so little during the war. He fought bravely and persistently against the orcs, but the achievements he made were not sufficient to change his family’s status. This was why he was so keen on educating his children. Zach, especially. If Zach could become a knight before the age of thirty, the Bennet bloodline would have no concerns with being cut off. After that, it was up to Zach’s ability to decide his own future. Abel, though, was not placed with such responsibility. If he never volunteered to become a knight, the Knight of Bennett was going to have someone teach him mathematics. Abel was supposed to find an office job in town when he got older. The Knight of Bennett was very worried about his younger son’s future. Abel was not going to have his own castle. He was not going to have his own warhorse. He wasn’t even going to have his own armor. Once Abel became older, he would become a wandering knight, and wandering knights were not recognized by the nobles in this country. He would have to spend a great deal of his life just to be able to afford the basic gear. If he could find a stable living before the age of forty, that would be considered more than lucky. “You ranked up?” the Knight of Bennett asked Abel. Abel took about two months to become a rank one novice knight. The same process took his father four months, and his brother four and a half months. Abel wasn’t given the same amount of resources. The attention he received was nowhere near the same as other men, but raw talent alone gave him an advantage at the very start. “Yes, Father. I became a rank one novice knight last night,” Abel replied, and Zach quickly ran over to give him a hug. “You’re a genius, brother, my most dear brother!” Zach span his little brother around. He would’ve liked to compliment him a bit more, but Abel didn’t seem to like being waved around like a ragdoll. “You’re a genius,” Zach said once more as he put Abel back to the ground. “Shame. Shame,” the Knight of Bennett watched with a complex look on his face. He was happy, but kind of sad at the same time. If Abel was his oldest son, he would probably make more income than Zach would as a knight. That being said, Zach’s training was already in progress. The Bennett Family did not have any money to spare. Abel got his Horadric Cube yesterday. He couldn’t use the Scroll of Town Portal in it, but it was always nice to possess an item this valuable. In fact, after he woke up this morning, all he was thinking about was the formula he used to craft the cube. Even though there weren’t a lot of formulas that he could use now, he might find something useful in town. “Father, I want to go to Fort Lee today,” Abel requested. As usual, he was very direct to make this request. He wasn’t used to talking this way before, but knights were supposed to be assertive in their speech. The Knight of Bennett nodded, “Sure. You just became a knight last night. It’s better if you take a day off from your training today.” “I’ll help you get a horse,” Zach said, then ran off to the stable. He got an inferior horse for Abel. After helping Abel to get on it, he even snuck a gold coin inside his pocket. The Knight of Bennett saw it, of course, but he didn’t point it out. He was very happy to see it, though. After all, a brotherly bond was a rare thing to find from those of noble birth. Every horse that was not a warhorse was considered to be what was called an ‘inferior horse.’ A warhorse would be fed wheat and beans, quality feeds which would’ve cost at least 10 gold coins every month. Without receiving this kind of treatment, a warhorse would quickly lose its speed and become a regular inferior horse. The horse Abel was riding was an inferior horse. It was a two-year-old pony, but it was born from a warhorse that belonged to the Bennett family. If the Bennett family could afford to give it the proper nutrition, there wouldn’t be a problem to raise it as a warhorse. While Abel was riding on his inferior pony, he had his bodyguard, Norman, following him at his back. Norman was wearing a full set of leather armor. He was carrying a long sword on his back, but he didn’t have a horse with him. Since the horse his master was riding was a pony, he had no problem following it with just his two legs. Norman was a retired soldier who became back from war with the Knight of Bennett. As an underling to the Knight of Bennet, he lived with the rest of the family in the Bennett Castle. In a way, it was the way of a servant showing his gratitude and loyalty to his lord. Norman was a very skilled swordsman. He became a rank six warrior after being trained directly under the Knight of Bennett. He didn’t possess any kind of special techniques, but his swordsmanship alone was enough to make him a trustworthy bodyguard of Abel. “Hold on for a second, Young Master,” Norman drew a sword from his back and scanned the trees on the side of the road. It would take about half an hour to go from here to Bennett Castle. It was also half an hour away from Fort Lee. If something was to happen to Abel, it was virtually impossible to call for back-ups. “What did you find?” Abel pulled the rein on his pony, then drew his new dagger from his waist pocket. While Abel was a lot taller than Norman on a horse, he couldn’t see anything that was in the trees. What he could hear, though, was a loud growling from over the distance. That’s when the shadow appeared. Abel could see it now. It was a shadow panther, and it was leaping straight for the pony’s neck. The pony wasn’t afraid in the least, however. As the offspring of a mare that survived the war, it was more than ready to take on a defensive stance. Snap. Within less than a second, it quickly jumped back and dodged the deadly bite of the shadow panther. The panther missed and was immediately punished by Norman and his long sword. Usually, a shadow panther wouldn’t appear during the daytime. It liked being in the dark, and it liked ambushing its prey while hiding at the side of the road. An encounter like this was rather unusual, in a way. This panther must’ve been starving to go so far away out of the forest. Norman already had his sword ready. The shadow panther, though, was by no means an ordinary feline. As ineffective as its bites were against Norman’s blade, it still managed to dodge every single one of his attacks. Abel jumped down from his horse to join the fight. The shadow panther didn’t attend to him. Judging from past experience, the larger human was the only thing that was stopping it from getting a full meal. The shadow panther was right. Well, partly, at least. Abel didn’t make a direct approach. Instead, he just circled around in the distance for an opportunity to strike. He didn’t want to be a nuisance to Norman. It wasn’t like he could do much harm if he just charged forward, either. It took a while for Norman to make his first contact. He was aiming for the shadow panther’s neck, but it was fast enough to make the blade hit its back, instead. Worse yet, the sly beast exploited this chance for a counterattack. While Norman was off guard, it used its tail for a surprise whip attack at one of his legs. Norman was suddenly at a disadvantage. Pain started showing on his face, and his feet were moving slower as he tried to re-adjust his position. While watching from the side, Abel knew he couldn’t wait any longer. Abel quickly drew a long, deep breath. He wanted to concentrate all his qi into one powerful attack. If he could release it towards the shadow panther, this should be over in an instance. He had to be very careful, though. The technique he was using was meant for novice knights to train themselves to exhaustion. If he was to miss and make another attempt, he would probably end up destroying his meridian to the point of no recovery. In a blink of an eye, the shadow panther leaped towards Norman for a finishing strike. Since there was a momentary pause as it stayed in mid-air, Abel took the chance and took his bet. He ran towards the panther from its back, his dagger pointing forward in his hands. A painful growl from the shadow panther. It was aware of Abel’s presence the entire time, but the injury Norman inflicted still had an effect in delaying its movements. It was a close call, essentially. If Abel didn’t step in, the outcome would be very different now. Having dug his dagger inside the shadow panther, Abel quickly let go of his grip and took a few steps back. The panther, on the other hand, started violently jerking its body as it laid on the ground. It didn’t have the energy to keep up the fight, but the bloodlust would just never leave its conscience. It took a while for the shadow panther to die. The more that it growled at Abel and Norman, the weaker its voice slowly started to become. Once it stopped making any noise, that’s also when it stopped moving at all. Abel wanted to make sure that the panther was dead, but Norman pulled him back when he took a step forward. “Be careful,” he said, as he threw the sheath of his sword towards the shadow panther. Just when Abel thought that the shadow panther was dead, it suddenly clashed away the sheath with its claws. Even on the brink of death, its reflexes were still much faster than the vast majority of humans. Now that the shadow panther was certainly dead, Norman still wouldn’t let Abel go check on it. Instead, he went ahead to pick up the sheath that he threw. “Young Master,” he pointed towards the claw marking on his sheath as he picked it up, “As you can see, most beasts prefer killing their prey instantly.” Norman picked up the shadow panther’s corpse on the ground. Then, with a smile on his face, he removed the dagger from its backside and returned it back to Abel. “How would you like to deal with this, sir?” Norman inquired, “This is your prize, after all.” “Let’s carry it and sell it in town,” Abel ordered as he looked towards the injury on Norman’s leg, “Take the horse from here on. Take the panther with you as well.” Despite his role as a humble servant, Norman didn’t hesitate to take his young master’s horse. He would give his life away if it was for the Bennett family, but none of that was contradictory to what he was doing here. Right now, he was an injured man. The most he could do for Abel was to not be a liability. Since there was only one horse available, the fastest way to travel was to have him stop walking on his two legs.

Chapter 4 - Fort Lee Chapter 4: Fort Lee Fort Lee. It was supposed to be just the name of an old fort, but people started building a town around it and made it into a densely-populated town. Right now, the old Fort Lee was used as a residence for Lord Rex, who was the current mayor of this town. It was about noon when Abel and Norman arrived at Fort Lee. After a brief discussion between themselves, the two decided to go to the church for some treatment first. For the priest to perform a ‘healing for light injury’ on Norman’s leg, they spent a total of ten silver coins. Something stood out to Abel while they were walking out of the sanctuary building. As it turned out, holding a church was actually a very profitable business. Ten silver coins were enough to feed a family for a month, but a priest could ask for the same amount for performing one divine act. Actually, just look at how tall the church was built. Under Norman’s guide, Abel came to a leather store on the eastern side of town. It was, frankly, the right place to sell the shadow panther they killed. The store manager was shocked when the two brought the animal in. It was hard to bring down a dangerous predator without doing too much damage to its body. That was exactly what Abel and Norman did, though. Apart from the long streak of the wound on its backside, every other part of the panther was left untouched. That being said, the shopkeeper was more than happy to buy it for ten gold coins. While Norman seemed pretty content with this deal, Abel just nodded with him. He didn’t know how the leather market was like, but the ten gold coins sounded like quite a good sum. Ten gold coins. Along with the one coin he got from Zach and the other five he had in saving, Abel had a total of sixteen gold coins. Just like in the previous world, having gold meant great purchasing power. This meant that Abel wasn’t exactly penniless now. Just to be clear, he didn’t come to Fort Lee for a day off. He came here to do some shopping. Some of which he had sent Norman to retrieve, and some of which he must buy without letting others know. Which was why he decided to head to the center of Fort Lee. After sending Norman away, Abel came to the Fort Lee Shopping Centre, which was a large shopping place marked with a logo of the old fort. It was about noontime here, so there wasn’t a lot of people. Abel wasn’t sure what he could buy here, so he went to ask at the counter. From what he could see, this was kind of a more high-class version of a general store. There were daily commodities, jewellery, clothes, etc. He wasn’t sure if he could find the stuff he was looking for here. “You must be sir Abel,” a fat, middle-aged man walked out from the counter. While wearing a big grin on his face, he greeted Abel with a bow. It was a weird bow, and the timing was pretty weird as well. Despite the unconventional (and somewhat inappropriate) display of etiquette shown towards him, Abel returned the favor with a formal greeting of his own. He knew how hard it was for commoners to learn the proper etiquette, so he wasn’t going to ask too much here. ” I am. Do you know me?” “Forgive me for calling out your name, Sir. My name is Tim. I’m the owner of this establishment,” Tim bowed again, but still in a very bizarre manner, “I’ve noticed the Thorned Shield on your attire. Your brother Zach had the same mark on him, and I happened to know him some time ago.” The Thorned Shield was the coat of arms that represented the Bennett family. To be a competent royal, one must learn to memorize as many coats of arms as possible. It was a mandatory part of Abel’s knight training, along with literature, music, and other talents. “Do you have any single pieces of gemstone here, Mr. Tim?” Abel inquired. Now, Abel didn’t have to but referring to Tim as ‘mister’ was quite a respectful thing to do. Judging from Tim’s reaction, he must’ve been extraordinarily pleased by this act of acknowledgment. “You’ve come to the right place, Sir,” Tim responded with a wider grin than when they had just met, “Yes, we provide a variety of gemstones here in Fort Lee. What were you after, Sir?” On his command, Tim ordered his men to unlock a big box stored in the counter. There were several rows of gemstones inside this box, all of which were very small pieces. Most people in Fort Lee couldn’t afford jewelry. Plus, the bigger gemstones were to be moved to somewhere else. They had other uses than being sold off as luxury accessory items. “How much do I need to pay for these, Mr. Tim?” Abel asked as he picked up six evenly-sized rubies from the box. “Just six gold coins, Sir Abel.” It was a reasonable price. After all, no esteemed merchants would swindle a customer from the same region. Also, Abel might be young, but he was still the son of a knight. It was a fair deal made with six gold coins. Plain and simple. Having received the cash from Abel, Tim went to put six ruby pieces inside a woolen bag. He led Abel out of the store after that. In the most respectful way he knew, of course. Having left the shopping center, Abel ran off to an isolated alleyway. There, he took out three ruby pieces from the bag and placed them in his Horadric Cube. If he remembered his formulas correctly, three of the same gemstones could merge into one bigger, finer gemstone of the same kind. Having withstood his feeling of excitement, Abel tapped the crafting slots with his finger. He inserted the three rubies in, which quickly vanished in a flash of light. He then saw a big ruby in the uppermost slot of the Horadric Cube. What a thing a beauty this was. After putting it out in the daylight, every side of this piece was glistening with a clear, red flash. Whether it was the size or the quality of this piece, it was definitely a rank higher than the three other rubies combined. Abel couldn’t tell for sure, but he knew this was worth more than three gold coins. Having crafted his second larger gemstone, Abel was starting to think of a good place to sell them. He knew he couldn’t go back to Fort Lee Shopping Centre for this. If he came back to sell them to the place he had just bought jewelry from, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that something was wrong here. Abel walked around the town for a bit more. After walking down the main street, he could see that there was a boutique shop in front of him. It was Edmund’s boutique shop, the biggest business of its kind in the entire duchy. From what Abel could remember, every town in the Duchy of Carmel had Edmund’s boutique shop somewhere. It was a very renowned brand, with a history of 500 years since it was first founded. Every year, the Edmund Business would host a big auction event that would attract aristocrats from all over the duchy. Even those from the neighboring duchies would come to bid on the exquisite items on sale. “Welcome to Edmund’s boutique shop. How can I help you?” It was a young woman who greeted Abel as he made his entrance. She had blonde hair, a standard oval-shaped face, large eyes, and her skin was fair and spotless. The fine dress she was wearing was made of oriental silk, a material that originated from the Far East. She spoke in a soft, gentle voice as she gave Abel a noontime bow. “Good noon, young and beautiful madam,” Abel greeted, “I’m looking for someone to verify a gemstone for me.” Unlike that fat man earlier, this lady knew exactly the right way to demonstrate her etiquette. She spoke politely, but not in an unnecessarily-wordy kind of way. Her bow was proper and well-timed. As mentioned before, it wasn’t easy for most people to learn the proper etiquette. The Edmund business must’ve done quite an investment in training its employees. “Please, call me Yvette, my young and handsome sir. You can talk to me if it’s about verifying your gemstones. I’m the manager of this shop. Please, come with me for a chat upstairs.” Just from a first glance, Yvette could tell that Abel was someone of noble birth. This was precisely why she would have a talk with him herself. The two went upstairs to have a seat in the guest room. The moment Abel sat down, he was immediately served with a cup of fresh coffee. Abel didn’t want to appear rude, but walking for several hours in town made him very thirsty. He went to have a sip before they even started talking. It was good coffee. Abel wasn’t exactly an expert, but his tongue wasn’t completely numb either. Wherever the beans were from, it wasn’t something that the Bennett family could easily make a purchase of. Abel was a very young boy. So young, Yvette could just refer to him as ‘boy.’ Age, however, was by no means what signified the reputation of a nobleman. This notion was commonly acknowledged among aristocrats, and it was also something that their servants followed by when they served. “How much is this gemstone worth, Madam Yvette?” Abel took out his bigger ruby and passed it to Yvette. Having taken over the gemstone, Yvette started examining its interior through a small lamp. Then, after a few minutes had passed, she raised her head with a somewhat delighted look on her face. “This is a perfect piece! The carvings. The structure of it. Transparency. Honestly, I can’t find any flaws in it. How about I buy it from you for 300 gold coins?”

Chapter 5 - Edmund'S Boutique Shop Chapter 5: Edmund’s Boutique Shop Abel knew how perfect his ruby was. His Horadric Cube was literally incapable of crafting something flawed. It didn’t matter if the gemstone was only worth 3 gold coins before. The price was now increased to one hundred times worth of that. If someone else knew about Horadric Cube, it would surely bring a lot of trouble to Abel. Edmund’s boutique shop was a pretty trustworthy business brand. Plus, the price Yvette just offered was very pleasing from Abel’s perspective, so he decided to take out the second gemstone from his bag. Abel passed over the ruby as he folded his bag in half, indicating that he only had two in total, “I have another one. Please, I will sell it at any price you offer.” “Red and Passionate,” Yvette exclaimed in a tone that could be heard from a noble, “Now there’s two of them, and they are just as perfect as each other.” “I need some supplement for my knight’s training. Is there anything you recommend?” Zach used supplements for his training every month. He liked to drink a special potion that would increase the flow of his qi before exercise. If Abel remembered correctly, the name of the potion was called a ‘qi condensing potion.’ He wasn’t sure about it, though. No one bothered explaining it to a child like him. “The Edmund’s boutique shop can provide you with the lesser qi condensing potion. It is priced at 10 gold coins per bottle,” Yvette smiled, then paused for a sip of her coffee, “Telling you this may be bad for business, but there are a lot of unclean residues in the lesser potions and the side effects… Usually, if you take the potion for a month, you’d have to spend another month before your body can recover.” “How effective is the lesser potion?” Abel asked. From his perspective, what mattered was that the potion could do what it was made to do. While Abel was a complete amateur in the use of potions, Yvette knew every detail there was to it, “The best way to take the lesser potion is to have five bottles every month. With training, course. The five bottles can essentially double your performance results, which means that a month’s training will be the same as that of two. After that, you will have to take a month off before you can repeat the whole process all over again.” “If there is a lesser version of this potion, there must also be a greater version.” “Of course. If you take the greater potion, you’ll only need to take two weeks off after every five bottles. Five bottles of the greater potion are worth about four months of training. If you want something better, there is also what we call the ‘greatest potion,’ and the monthly dosage can produce the same results as that of five months’ worth of training. You can take it without any break because of how pure it is, but they only come at three bottles per month for one person.” Abel had his eyes wide open this entire time he was listening to the explanation. Yvette didn’t want to appear rude, but the boy sitting across her was simply being way too cute. “Sorry for the inconvenience,” Yvette chuckled, “but if you’re looking for the qi condensing pill, the best ones we have in this store are just the greater potions. We sell them at 50 gold coins per bottle. If you’re looking for the greatest potion, you’ll have to visit our main headquarter.” Abel wasn’t going to pay for a potion that was 50 gold coins per bottle. He wasn’t even going to ask how much the greatest potions were. To his knowledge, there weren’t a lot of rich people in Fort Lee. Most would’ve had to sell their homes to afford a bottle of the greater potion. Out of a mysterious affection for the boy in front of her, Yvette leaned in to share some secrets with Abel. “A lot of people don’t know about this,” Yvette softly whispered near Abel’s ear, “According to the potion master in our main headquarter, if a novice knight decides to take the qi condensing potion, it will actually be harder for him to advance his ways to become an official knight. It doesn’t matter if the potion is lesser, greater, or greatest. The more you take these supplements, the more residues you will have inside your body, and that’s going to counteract with your breakthrough process when you try to become an official knight.” Abel didn’t know why Yvette would be so kind to him, but he did realize how lucky he was to have her teach him so much about training with potions. All in their first meeting, too, so not only was he feeling very grateful, but he also began to develop more respect towards this very goodhearted girl. “Thank you for your reminder, Miss Yvette,” Abel spoke in an even more formal tone, “What you just told me will be very crucial to me. If you don’t mind answering to this, is there any potion that doesn’t produce a side effect?” “Why, there is, of course,” Yvette nodded her head, “Sometimes when they are in the mood for it, the potion masters would make something called the ‘master’s qi condensing potion.’ There is no guarantee on the number of these master’s potions, but one potion master is said to be able to produce ten bottles of it every single year. Once the potions are ready, they are either given off as gifts for friends and families, or they are bought off by the rich and powerful.” Yvette continued in an admiring and proud tone, “In our annual auction event, our own potion master would put up five bottles of the master’s qi condensing potion for sale. They are priced at more than 1000 gold coins per bottle, and one bottle is enough for a novice knight to skip an entire year of training.” If he didn’t have his own Horadric Cube, Abel would’ve never considered taking potions for his training. Based on his previous performances, his talent looked more promising than both his father and brother. He was a genius, and it didn’t matter if he was only twelve years old. With enough time and effort, he could easily become an official knight. Still, the idea of using a master’s qi condensing potion sounded very attractive to Abel. A year worth of training without any side effects and all it would take was some money? It was the perfect job his Horadric Cube! Having come to a decision, Abel raised his head to make his purchase, “I’ll take 54 bottles of the lesser qi condensing potion. Actually, with the money that’s left, can I also get a small crossbow? Maybe something I can hold with just one hand?” Abel knew how dangerous this world was. He could be ambushed by a starving beast just by walking on an open path. It was true that he was smart enough to kill that shadow panther back then, but it was best not to rely on luck in every single fight. That being said, it was always good to carry some gears with him while going to places. Abel wanted a sword and some armors, too, but his budget was way too low for that. Actually, even if he had more money with him, he probably still wouldn’t use it here. He was nowhere good enough to hide his own secrets (his cube) yet. If he was going to spend money on equipment, he’d like it to be something that people couldn’t see. By this logic, a small crossbow seemed like a decent option. Just like that dagger Zach gave him, Abel could easily hide a weapon like this somewhere on him. Come to think of it, it would be nice to be able to perform sneak attacks both within close range and long-range. “How about this small crossbow? It was crafted by the dwarves,” Yvette went and placed a grey crossbow on the table, along with the potions Abel had ordered. Abel tried lifting the crossbow with just one arm. It was a very delicate piece of work, with a little less than a kilogram in weight. He didn’t quite like its appearance, though, since every part of it was just painted in plain grey. Besides, there were some very ugly holes that were punched through the handle. “This is a second-hand item,” Yvette explained in a bemused way as Abel had a very questionable look on his face, “I know what you are thinking, but the dwarves did a pretty good job when they first crafted this. Usually, a brand-new crossbow with this kind of craftsmanship would’ve cost more than 500 gold coins. There were supposed to be some gems on the handle, but someone else decided to chip them off to make extra profit. Besides, no one liked this color. No wonder it would be in the store for this long.” “I’ll take it,” Abel stated. He knew Yvette was being good to him. He wasn’t sure why she was willing to go so far to help him, but he knew she wasn’t the type to lie. “Be careful when you take these lesser potions. You have a long road ahead of you,” Yvette said as she placed the qi condensing potion in a box. She also grabbed some ammunition for Abel’s crossbow. “Thank you, Miss Yvette. I’ll make sure that I take these potions with caution,” Abel responded with sincerity. He wanted to appear reliable in front of Yvette. Once Abel had gotten out of the store, he had 54 bottles of the lesser qi condensing pill, one small crossbow, and 5 crossbow arrows. Yvette, on the other hand, was sitting next to the window on the boutique shop’s second floor. While watching as Abel slowly made his way back, she couldn’t help but think about her little brother who had left the family for two years by now. If she could see him now, he would probably be just as big as Abel.

Chapter 6 - Master'S Potion Chapter 6: Master’s Potion It was quite late when Abel caught up with Norman. The Sun was slightly leaned towards the west by the time they saw each other. If they didn’t go back to the Bennett Castle right away, they would’ve had to travel during the night, which was not safe at all. Norman saw the box Abel was holding, but he didn’t say anything about it. As far as he was concerned, what mattered wasn’t how much money his young master had spent or what he had bought. He was a bodyguard, and the only thing he cared about was his master’s safety. That being the case, Abel still didn’t want to let anyone see his box. He was going to put it in his Horadric Cube before, but there were far too few slots for him to put in his qi condensing pill. It was one bottle per slot, so the most he could store was ten. He needed two more for his Tome of Town Portal, meaning that the only way to go was to carry most of the stuff with his own hands. Fortunately, the two got back without facing any danger on the way, and Abel picked the right time to arrive at home. Zach was just practicing horse-riding with the Knight of Bennett. No one — not his father, his mother, or his brother—no one was going to ask him what he had bought in town. This was a family of royals. They respected each other as royals. Every member, regardless of age, had rights to his or her own privacy. Abel was loved by his parents, but the love he felt was very different from the one he experienced on Earth. During his life back on Earth, parents showed love by interfering with every aspect of their child’s life. They had to have a say in the child’s education, social life, romantic life, marriage and anything else. Any secret that a child had was considered a violation of the trust between them. The rules were very different here. Every time there was an important choice to make, Abel’s parents would always listen to what Abel wanted, no matter how drastic the consequences were. As the second son of the family, the path ahead of Abel would be nothing but harsh for him. Now, the Knight of Bennett knew this. He knew this all too well, but he decided to agree with his love for his son. It was a different kind of love, different from the kind that Abel experienced from his previous parents. They were equal in their weight, however. Abel knew that, and he was grateful to be so blessed in his two very long lifetimes. After coming back to his room, Abel quickly opened his box and took out a bottle of the qi condensing potion. Whilst facing the sunset, he could see that the bottle was surrounded by arcs of white light which, in ways that were inapplicable to normal physics, kept on flashing and sparking as they swirled around. It was only a lesser potion, yes, but by appearance alone, it would be worth so much if it was found on Earth. Speaking of Earth, Abel missed his home now. He never had a nostalgia for the whole year that he came here, but something kicked in when he saw that Tome of Portal yesterday. Whatever. Just don’t think about it he forced himself. Right now, the important thing was his experiment. If Abel’s hypothesis was confirmed, his training speed would be much faster than where it was currently. Abel inserted three lesser potions into the Horadric Cube, then lightly pressed onto the transmute button. After a white light flashed by, the three bottles of the qi condensing potion emerged into just one. It was not surrounded by white arcs of light, however, but a beautiful ray of blue. It worked. Abel had never seen a greater qi condensing potion before, but this should be it. There was no doubt about it. The Horadric Cube never got its formulas wrong. It wasn’t like he cared too much about it, but a smirk suddenly emerged on Abel’s face. If three bottles of the lesser potion cost 30 gold coins in total, and a bottle of the greater potion costs 50 gold coins, he just made 20 coins worth of profit. It was a weird thought to have in a serious time like this, but it was kind of funny in a way. Abel inserted three more lesser potions into his cube. For reasons he himself wasn’t sure of, he was already feeling like a potion master, or an alchemist figuring out the right proportions for his concoction. As excited as he was, Abel’s hands never stopped. He just kept on transmuting the lesser potions into greater potions, then lined up the finished products on his table. Pretty soon, 54 bottles of the lesser qi condensing potions were turned into 18 bottles of the greater qi condensing potion. Abel was about to scream at this point. Even if he couldn’t turn the greater potions into the greatest potion, he was pretty much guaranteed a way to afford his living now. If he wanted to, he could head into the potion-brewing business at any time he wanted. He could become a renowned potion master by selling large quantities of the greater qi condensing potion. Becoming a knight was his topmost preference, of course, but it was always good to have some sort of back-up plan. Abel calmed himself once more. Then, he inserted three bottles of the greater potion into his Horadric Cube. Without any failure this time, the three greater potions were mixed into one. It was a bottle surrounded with golden arcs of light. Inside was a potion that could only be produced by an expert. It was the greatest potion which, although makeable given the right amount of experience, was not something that could be sold as a regular item. The greatest potion was inferior to a master’s potion, but the creation of both required the brewer to be in the right “zone.” There was something special about this potion. Abel didn’t know how much it was worth exactly, but his guess was just as good as anybody else’s. Well, there wasn’t a lot of potion masters in the Duchy, he knew at least that much. Soon, 18 greater potions were turned into 6 bottles of “greatest” potions. Abel was right. It was the right choice for him to spend all his money on potions. He put the three bottles of the greatest potion into the cube, and just like all the times before, everything in the slots vanished when a white light flashed out. What came out was a bottle of a master’s qi condensing potion. It was surrounded by arcs of dark, golden light, and there was a thick texture to the liquid that was inside. The liquid itself was amber in color. Strangely, though, it was not translucent like all the other potions. With a gentle shake of its container, Abel would see that it was a little bit sticky. One more time. At the end of the day, Abel produced two bottles of the master’s qi condensing potion. He produced two bottles of the ultimate potion, which would bear no effects whatsoever to its user. Now, what should he do about these potions? He could consume it right here, but that would expose the existence of the Horadric Cube. He couldn’t allow that to happen if he was to survive in this world. The better option was to store it somewhere safe. Whatever Abel was planning to do next, safety always came first. The more Abel knew about this world, the less safe he began to feel. While everything could be explained by science on Earth, the logic seemed to work very differently here. The injury on Norman’s leg should take a few months to recover, but a lesser divine act was enough to treat it on the spot. Knowing something like this was actually more worrisome than relieving, the more you think about it. With that in mind, if Fort Lee was just a small town, what kind of unexplainable, unthinkable things could Abel see if he went to a bigger town? A bigger city, maybe?

Chapter 7 - Father'S Teachings Chapter 7: Father’s Teachings The Bennett Castle always held its dinner on time. Since there were knights in the house, the time to eat was set at eight o’clock at night. The meal, as always, was limited to three things: beef, porridge, and mashed potatoes. Due to financial issues, the beef was not flavored with anything at all. Spices were restricted to only the very rich nobles. They had to be harvested all the way from the Double Moon Forest, which was a faraway territory ruled by the elves. The further a product was from its place of origin, the pricier it was. This was especially true when there were so many merchants involved in the transportation process. Like always, it was a quiet, yet heart-warming dinner with the family. After a whole day of workout, combat, and adventure, Abel wanted to go back to his room for a shower. He didn’t like the sewage system here, though, so he decided to make one himself. The Bennett Castle relied on one underground stream for its water supply. Like most castles built in this world, no resource could be sent in the fort if it was surrounded by invaders, so the water was crucial for self-subsistence. If it was a castle built for a higher lord, the sewage system would probably be big enough for a few thousand people. The Bennett Castle could provide enough water for a few hundred people, which was quite a lot in itself. There were less than a hundred residents living here, guards and servants included, so the water was not an issue at all. To build his own irrigation system, Abel decided to find the carpenter of the Bennet Castle. He ordered the carpenter to build a water wheel. It was meant to be powered by the underground stream, and there would be some pipes connected to it to let the water flow inside a big wooden box, which would be stored on the top floor of the castle. Then, using some bamboo hardened with fire, pipes were built to let the water into the bathroom. Abel had bronze in mind at the start, but metal was far too expensive. There was no mine inside the castle. No blacksmith for hire, either. The Bennett family couldn’t even use iron to make the pipes. After a long, hard thought to himself, Abel came to the conclusion that bamboo was the best option available. Once heated up with fire, it could be bent, hardened and used for a variety of construction work. Most importantly, it was extremely cheap. After the pipes were ready, Abel had the carpenter make him a full-size wooden bathtub, a wooden washing basin, and even a flush toilet with seat. For once, things were starting to look a bit modern. Lumber was worth almost nothing in this world. Apart from some of very rare species, anyone with an ax could get some wood from the forest. Speaking of which, the Bennet Family owned all the trees within a hundred-mile radius from the castle. Lumberjacks and carpenters were hired, of course, but their main job was with planting crops in the field. You wouldn’t get paid much for chopping down trees. Thanks to Abel’s innovative suggestions, every room of the castle was renovated with the same design plan. The carpenter, after being paid a generous sum for his work, was ordered to sign a contract with the Knight of Bennett. Without his master’s permission, he was restricted from making the same system again for anyone else. Hence, the blueprint of the wooden irrigation system was locked inside the Bennet family vault. As a nobleman who grew up knowing a fair share of things, the Knight of Bennett knew how life-threatening this device could be. If some high lord happened to know about it, he would most likely keep it all in his own family collection, meanwhile killing anyone who happened to know something about it. The Knight of Bennett was all too familiar with this sort of thing. Which was why Abel didn’t invent anything afterward. Without the right status and strength, any creative ideas could bring catastrophe to him and his family. For the thousands of years of this world’s history, there had been no change to the way society was structured. It was a very different story to that of Earth, which was very easily influenced by instability and interferences. Rules could vanish and remerge within a span of a few centuries, and nothing could ever be referred to as “constant.” “Abel, come stay with Zach,” the Knight of Bennett commanded as Abel was about to head back to his room, “You are a rank one novice knight now. You are now worthy of my tutoring.” After coming to the training room, Abel could see that the servants had already prepared the wooden dummies for him. There were some wooden swords hanging on the wall, and the Knight of Bennett grabbed one to give it to him. “I have heard about what you did,” the Knight of Bennett stared at Abel, “You killed a shadow panther with the strength of a beginner knight. You surprised me, Son. Even if you did it with Norman’s help, I am still very surprised about it.” “For my whole life, I have seen countless knights with are more talented than I could ever be. They were stronger than me, faster than me, but none of them lived to be as old as I am now. Do you know why?” To Abel’s surprise, the Knight of Bennet was suddenly giving him a lecture. For all the time he had been in this world, he had never heard so much word coming out his father’s mouth before. “How did I survive to be standing here today? It’s because a knight’s strongest shield is his sword. The fastest sword is also the sturdiest shield there is. If the knight is fast, he can charge when he’s on a horse. When he gets down the horse, he can pull on a heavy bow with a blink of an eye. Now, there are a lot of geniuses in this world. Some of them decided to become the fastest men they could be. Some of them decided to become the strongest men they could be. Now, I am not the strongest man there is. I’m also not the fastest man there is. However! I happen to be the heir of our family, and what our ancestors have left for us is a full training routine dedicated to knights. Because of my heritage, I became the strongest man among the fastest man, and I became the fastest man among the strongest men.” The Knight of Bennet widened his eyes, called out in a rather emotional tone, “What our ancestors gave us is the most complete system there is. Generation after generation, they passed it on to me without making any sort of adjustment. In the near future, I will fulfill my role and passed this treasure onto you both. Remember this: no gold, no renowned weapon, or armor, none of these will be ever as precious as heritage! Heritage, my sons, heritage is the most precious treasure there is!” “Zach, show your brother how to form an attack,” the Knight of Bennett threw a wooden word towards Zach, to which Zach responded with a glare of a beast. He pointed towards the dummy with his sword, drew a light breath from his mouth, and instantly changed into his charging position. Abel could just barely see it. The dummy was sent flying in an instance. And while it was still in mid-air, Zach quickly went to stab it at three different spots. It was the thigh, the waist, and the throat, all executed in one sequence of movement. It was like something coming straight out a textbook. “You are faster than this,” the Knight of Bennett said. The father was always strict in his demands. Zach understood that, so he quickly responded with a nod. “Can you see this clearly, Abel? This is a classic knight’s attack. You break through your enemy’s defense with a charge and finish the fight with a quick slash to their vital spot. Every part of this sequence takes thousands of years to refine. Your role is to execute these movements as perfectly as you can. There is no need to make any kind of adjustment. Countless blood has been spilled to come up with what you are looking at right now. The Knight of Bennett continued with a slightly ridiculing tone, “There are always some so-called “geniuses” who try to be creative with this. None of them are alive now. Listen here, Son. What you should be doing is to remember these movements. Turn them into your instincts. Use them before you have any second thoughts.” Abel felt so proud to have killed that shadow panther back then, but looking at Zach was a real wake-up call for him. He could be as smart as he wanted to be with his tricks, but they would always be futile against a properly trained knight. Even Zach could dominate him without any resistance. For the remaining days, Abel continued on his training routine. He practiced combat techniques during the daytime and improved his muscle strength with the metal armor at night. Before he went to bed, he would always practice his knight breathing techniques. There was a lot more beef on the dinner table that night. From that point onward, Abel was starting to receive the same meal size as Zach. While the Knight of Bennett hadn’t said anything about it, he felt like his father had come to some sort of decision.

Chapter 8 - A Shocking Decision Chapter 8: A Shocking Decision Being a gym trainer probably had something to do with this. For reasons he wasn’t sure of, Abel learned how to fight as knight fairly quickly. He had good reflexes and forms. What he lacked in experience and strength, he would certainly make up for as he got older. The Bennett Family system taught the use of multiple types of weapons. There was archery, lancing, sword-and-shield play, heavy shield, etc. After about half a year of non-stop training, Abel learned all there was to learn. It was kind of unfair for Zach, in a way, so much so that he had often made complaints to the Spirits. “But that took me more a year!” He would often cry out, and the Knight of Bennett would always wear an ominous look on his face. Abel wasn’t sure what his father was thinking of, but he knew something was about to happen soon. Over these past few months, Abel did not take a single drop of his master’s potion. After learning about the importance of heritage from his father, he decided that it was only right to take supplements after he knew all the right techniques. Still, in a very short period of time, he managed to become a rank two Novice Knight with just his raw talent. On one particular night, Abel knew something was wrong when he sat down for dinner. He noticed how red and swollen Nora’s eyes were. He also saw a very resolute expression on his father’s face. “Abel, my son,” the Knight of Bennett stood up as Abel had just picked up his fork, “You are the most talented child I have seen in all of my life. The Holy Light has granted you wisdom and courage, but the Bennett Family does not have the resources to raise you to your full potential. This is a great loss to the family name and a disgrace to one who guides us all.” The Knight of Bennett threw a glance at his wife, then back to his two sons. He continued on in a coarser voice, “I have made an agreement with a fellow knight of mine. His name is Marshall. For the next few years, Abel will train to be a knight under his teaching. If Abel manages to meet his expectations, he will be inheriting the unicorn symbol, which is the coat of arm of the Harry family.” Abel knew who the Knight of Marshall was. The Knight of Marshall was his father’s best friend. They fought alongside each other during the war against the orcs. During the most desperate times, they saved each other’s life and came back home together. Unlike the Knight of Bennett, the Knight of Marshall never had a child. His only wife died in an incident, and he was never married after that. For all the years that the Marshall family had been without an heir, he just kept on staying in the castle where his wife was buried. It was no easy choice for the Knight of Bennett to send Abel away. Abel wasn’t just going to have his surname changed. As a matter of fact, he was going to cut his ties with his real family. He would be wearing a different coat of arms on his clothes, his armor, and his flag. That’s probably how it was going to be for the rest of his life. Having a talented child was a very troubling thing for the Knight of Bennett. He had thought all kinds of different options before, including sending him to his wife’s father, Keith. Still, it had been a long time since he last contacted Keith. Besides, Keith was a merchant. He had money, yes, but simply having money was not enough to raise someone to be a knight. Also, Keith lived all the way up at Koror Duchy, which made it very hard to keep in touch with Abel if he was sent over there. Seth Bennett. That was the real name of the Knight of Bennett. He was commonly referred with the Bennet title because, well, he was the only one of his kind living on this plain. Two centuries ago, his ancestors became royals because of their contributions to the war. They were also rewarded with a piece of land. Its name was originally the “Bennett Honorary Lord’s Domain,” but now it was just the “Bennett Knight’s Domain.” The direct descendants of the Bennett family lived in Bakong City, which was a major city located inside Carmel Duchy. If Abel was sent there, it was very likely for him to become a regular knight. There was a trade-off for doing so, however. It would mean that Abel would become a bodyguard for a direct descendant of the Bennett Family. He would have to sacrifice his own personal freedom, and if the circumstances called for it, his own life. There was no way the Knight of Bennett would let that happen to his second son. There was another reason, the Knight of Bennett wouldn’t want Abel to lose the status of a royalty. It was something that he had already decided, long before Abel was even born. As the proud Knight of Bennett, he would only make a request from his kinsmen if the Bennett Knight’s Domain were to regain its old title as the territory of an Honorary Lord. It was a crucial way of him maintaining his pride, so to speak. Marshall Harry was a different man to the Knight of Bennett. First of all, his family had a very prestigious name in Bakong City. With the help of his family, Marshall Harry was also rewarded with a Knight’s Domain after a war. It was land just 300 miles away from the Bennett Knight’s Domain, mainly because of his ties with the Knight of Bennett. Everything there was newly built, apparently. Even the castle was made of new bricks and stones. The Harry family had a long and fine history to it. A few Elite Knights came to be because of them. And while their philosophy was different from that of the Bennett family, the two had great respect for each other’s achievements in the past. Marshal Harry had always wanted to adopt a son. He had said it on many occasions, but it was hard to find someone with the right conditions. He wasn’t just looking for a child that he could look after. He was looking for an heir that he could pass his family name onto. That being said, the child he would adopt must have royal blood inside of him. Ironically, though, most royal children already had their futures planned ahead of them. Suppose a man had three sons. Even if the eldest was to become the heir, it was very easy for him to disqualify after, say, a lost duel or a common disease. Whatever might take away his life, the next child would always be a back-up solution. And there really wasn’t a royal family with just one child. Everyone wanted more kids. The only problem, really, was with how much wealth was distributed to educate them. Abel was a genius. The Knight of Bennett was very certain of that. He knew how talented Abel was, and there was no way he would let that talent go to waste. Yes, even if such a decision comes with a cost. Sending Abel away was a great loss to the Bennett Family. All because there wasn’t enough money in the family. No wonder everyone was so grim during dinner. Zach kept having his beef sliding out of his fork, which was an act that would usually receive the immediate condemnation from the Knight of Bennett. Strangely, however, the Knight of Bennett just kept on eating his food in silence. Nora was the only one who didn’t hide away her emotions. She barely ate anything during dinnertime, and instead spent of her time sobbing and wiping away her tears. After dinner was over, the Knight of Bennett had Abel come to his study for a chat. As the place for storing some of the family’s most important documents, the study was usually locked up for anyone except the Knight of Bennett himself. That being said, it was the first time that Abel had laid his eyes on it. Just by a first glance, Abel could tell that it was a very big room. On one side of the white wall, there were portraits of previous owners of the Bennett Castle. The other side was stuffed with tall bookshelves, which contained various sizes of red or black books. In the middle of the study was a big, wooden desk. From what Abel could see, it had a very smooth surface to it, which was most likely due to the years of paperwork that were signed on top of it. This was, in other words, the core of Bennett’s Knight Domain. All commands, big or small, were officialized at this very spot right here. The Knight of Bennett walked over towards the desk. He dragged out a big box made of oak wood. It was a fancy box, laced with deer hides and had a red bronze handle on top of it. As the Knight of Bennett opened it, Abel could see a tidy set of armor inside. A half-body Cuir bouilli. Both the front and back were decorated with small, shiny square pieces of metal. From the shoulder to the wrist were multiple layers of galvanized iron. This was quite an unusual set of armor, which was a mix between a leather set and a metal set. Not only was it cheaper than a full steel gear or chainmail, but it was also more resistant than something purely made of animal skins. “I got this cuir-bouilli during my battle against the orcs. After I killed an inferno bovine, I carried its corpse to an armorsmith and had him craft an armor set from it,” said the Knight of Bennett as he took out the lower half of the armor from the box. It was a pair of leather jeans with galvanized iron as the knee guard. “Here is a light longsword, a pair of leather boots and a pair of gloves. I don’t have a lot of previous things to give you, my child.” Abel’s eyes were starting to swell it. He noticed this armor set now. It was his father’s back-up set. As it was impossible for a knight to have possess only one set of armor, he had to have a back-up to wear when the original was sent for maintenance. If the original set was elsewhere, the Knight of Bennett would have to fight without protection. But there was no hesitation. No refusal, either. As Abel took over the box, he was starting to feel the weight of a father’s love. There was no other gift that could be as precious as this. After Abel came back to his room, he saw that his mother had already been waiting for him. Unlike the Knight of Bennett, her parting gifts were much simpler. There were jackets, shirts, a training suit, formal suits and several pieces of handkerchiefs. It was clothing, more clothing and nothing else. Nora didn’t cry this time. She just held onto Abel’s hand and talked to him. She spoke slowly and patiently. It was mostly about how Abel should get along with others once he was in the outside world. The night was quiet, but the Bennett Castle remained alight. Nobody had slept.

Chapter 9 - The Ranks Just Keep Ascending Chapter 9: The Ranks Just Keep Ascending It was until dawn when Nora had left Abel’s room. After his mother was gone, Abel sat quietly on a chair and contemplated his life over the last two years. Despite his appearance, Abel was a forty-year-old man on the inside. It wasn’t like he didn’t know what the Knight of Bennett was thinking. He agreed very much with the decision that was made for him. If he wasn’t so gifted at such an early age, everything could’ve been normal for him. Instead of leaving to an unknown place at an age as early as twelve, he could’ve left the family when he reached adulthood. Abel saw what was coming for him, and he was ready to take it. He took out his Horadric Cube, revealed a bottle of the golden qi condensing pill, and opened its cap. He wanted to save it for later, but the challenge ahead would not let him delay. Not long ago, the Bennett Castle was a safeguard that protected Abel’s safety. Without it, he had learned to protect himself with whatever he could lay his hands on. As the amber-colored liquid slid inside his throat, Abel could feel his inside filled with a vigorous essence. The qi kept on channeling through his muscles, but unlike most regular potions, it did not take away any of the food that he had eaten before. It quickly materialized and was turned into his third meridian. It was doing this at a very steady pace, too. Unlike most times, when he had tried to do it on his own, Abel didn’t have to worry if the process was going to fail. Abel practiced his breathing techniques every night, but he was never so successful as he was now. On a regular night, he could do twenty sets at most. He would have to take breaks between each one of them. Things were very different tonight. He was going very strong. Even the curtains were moving at the rhythm of his breathing. It took about half an hour for the potion to wear off. By this time, there were three stabilized meridians inside Abel’s body and some excess qi which could’ve filled in half more. Abel was surprised about this, of course. As it turned, the master’s potion was much more powerful than what Yvette had told him. Were the rumors wrong, then? Well, not exactly. Technically speaking, a master’s potion was still far from being a “perfect” potion. As skilled as a potion master might be, human craftsmanship still had its limitations. The Horadric Cube was free from such a flaw, though. Since Abel was crafting his qi condensing potion mechanically, every little detail—proportions and such—were all taken into consideration and was in respect to the “Power of the Rule.” this was, to put it simply, was a force that belonged to the gods. As a divine item, the Horadric could utilize a fraction of this power to transform whatever item that it contained. This was the reason why the Master’s potion Abel created was much more potent than a regular one. It was like asking a God to help with a novice knight’s training, and what kind of god would be so bored to do that? It was hard to resist the temptation once it started to kick in. After leveling himself up in just half an hour, Abel decided to take in another bottle of his master’s potion. And there it was again. In virtually no time whatsoever, qi quickly emerged and became Abel’s fourth meridian. The effect of the potion quickly vanished after it had done its job. Abel quickly stood up from the ground. He noticed that his entire body was covered in dark, stinky stains. After enhancing his bodily function in such a short period of time, all the dirty substances inside of him were quickly excreted out. Abel quickly ran to the bathroom to clean himself up. Having used three bucketfuls of water, he tried as hard as he could to scrub away the stench off him. After he was done, he opened up his room’s window and tried to let the wind take the smell away. Abel was half-naked while he was doing this. He had grown 10 centimeters over the past six months, putting him at 160 cm in height. He was just a kid but the muscles on him were already pronounced. As buff as he was, Abel was still very humble. He had great respect for the fighters in this world. Whether it was a mercenary or a knight, anyone with a weapon could pull off a very impressive fight. That being said, though, most of them wouldn’t know how to fight properly with their own bodies. If two men were to fight against each other with nothing but their bare fists, they would simply throw straight punches at each other and watch who went down first. As a former gym trainer, Abel was acquainted with the use of several types of martial arts. He knew boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, and Tai Chi. He wasn’t an expert, so to speak, but the knowledge he possessed has made him a very formidable opponent in any type of hand-to-hand combat. If it was hand-to-hand combat, Abel could easily defeat Zach, who was, obviously, much taller and stronger than him. Strength wasn’t everything, so they said. With the power of sports science on his side, everyone in this world seemed clumsy to Abel when they fought with nothing but their bare fists. And very rightly so. In this world, there was hardly any need to develop any hand-to-hand combat system. The humans’ biggest foes were the orcs. Brawling with those monsters head-on was just suicide. What about against other humans, then? Well, royals solved their disagreements with sword duels. Fighting with no weapon was considered foul and in some way, very disrespectful to one’s opponent. As Abel practiced a few reps of his standard punches, he could felt a significant increase in his power and speed. It was good and all, but such an improvement was kind of hard to get used to. Just when he was grabbing his wooden cup for a sip of water, his fingers snapped it into shreds. Too much progress could have their downturns, so it seemed. But that was fine. Abel was twelve years old now, with only one month left before his thirteenth birthday. By that time, he would’ve already made the same achievement as Zach did when he was eighteen. Abel readied himself for his Tai Chi practice. While he was repeating the moves that were taught to him, he tried to remember what his instructors used to say. From what he could remember, the instructor said that Tai Chi was the best martial art for holding back one’s brute force. Tai Chi was about reserving one’s power, moving in an unending sequence of movements, being able to both escalate and deescalate at the same time and having a natural rhythm while fulfilling all these conditions. It was about harmonizing one’s entire being into a collected whole—which was much easier said than done. Abel had to calm himself down after taking that second potion. After stabilizing himself from a state of excitement, he began to act out all 74 postures of his Tai Chi sequence. It was the beginning posture, the vajra pounds mortar, grasp and tuck clothes, all the way until the 74th posture. The Sun was very much up high after he was finally done. As it turned out, Tai Chi didn’t make you have a weaker punch. It just made you appear weaker than you were. With his Tai Chi techniques activated, Abel noticed that he was much weaker than he truly was when he was looking at himself in the mirror. If he was to tone down his Tai Chi, he was a rank four Novice Knight. But if he was to activate it, he could appear in whatever rank which he so desired. He could not pretend to be at a level that was higher than what he was actually at. This was very convenient. It was hard to make up a reason to explain why he had ranked up for two in just a single night, but having a camouflage meant that there was no need in doing so. Abel could just keep putting himself at rank two while he was packing up his luggage.

Chapter 10 - Departure Chapter 10: Departure It was a cold morning at the start of December. As things were starting to get busy for the Bennett Castle, the servants had to start cleaning the stables right after they woke up. The stablemen fed beans to the two chariot horses. The cleaners brushed all the swords, armors and boots inside the house. There was even a new rein for the Knight of Bennett’s steed. While Abel and his servants came out with the luggage, six lancers were waiting for him in front of the castle gate. While not necessarily grand in any way, they were standing very neatly around a line of chariots. It was a small farewell parade designated for the young master’s leave. These men were all wearing blue leather armor. They had boots as high as their knees and wore blue woolen hats on top of their heads. Apart from their three meter-long lances, everything they had on them was sown inside the Bennett Castle. While the wool might not be protective against arrows, they did make it easier to pull one out of a soldier’s wound. There weren’t many decorations in the parade. Apart from the two soldiers hanging up the Thorned Shield flag on the tip of their lances, there wasn’t anything that stood out in particular. Since blue was the base color of the Bennett Family’s coat of arms, every fabric in this parade, costumes and curtains and so on, all had to have the same uniform tone. Just while Abel was carrying the box onto his chariots, the Knight of Bennett rode his battle stead outside of the castle gate. Behind him was Abel’s mother, Nora, who had eyes full of tears as Zach held her The Knight of Bennett was looking especially solemn. Under the bright shine of the Sun, every plate of his silver-white armor was glowing in shivering light. He wasn’t wearing his helmet, for some reason. His helmet and weapons were all hanging on one side of his saddle. His long hair was tied up in a simple tail, which kept moving around as the cold wind went by. Nora didn’t say anything to Abel. She just kept looking at Abel, almost as if she had already told him everything last night. It was like she was looking at the most precious treasure in the world. One way or another, Zach always knew that Abel was going to leave the castle. It was a tradition that no one could go against, which was why he was always so loving towards his only brother. He didn’t expect Abel to leave so early, though. “This is your home, Abel. Come back when you have the time to.” Zach came to hug his little brother. Technically speaking, Abel was just as strong as him, but the grasp was so tight that it felt more overwhelming than intended. Abel was quite calm this whole day, but he felt like he was going to lose it at this moment. The morning sun didn’t feel quite warm during winter. And, because of how loud the wind was howling, every flag in the parade was waving around like they were out of control. Abel didn’t sit inside the chariot cabin. Instead, he was riding on top of a three-year-old mare right in the middle of the parade. Because of how oversized his father’s cuir bouilli was, he was now wearing a leather armor covered in wool. He was carrying a light sword on his back. So light, in fact, that it felt almost useless for a rank four novice knight. Abel turned around for a final look at his mother and brother. He couldn’t do it for too long, however. The moment he turned his head around, he felt like tears were immediately welling up his eyes. Since the headquarter couldn’t be unguarded, not a lot of people joined the farewell parade. Apart from Abel and the Knight of Bennett, there were about 9 people in total who left the Bennett castle. As the second-best fighter in the Bennet Knight’s domain, Norman was left with the task of being the Bennett Castle’s temporary headmaster. Knights were the lowest amongst royalty. That being said, not just anyone could be qualified to serve them. Loyalty, reliability, competence in combat, and being of noble birth were all crucial features to being qualified as a knight’s underlings. Take Norman, for example. He had been a brother of the Knight of Bennett ever since the war. He was only granted the status of a knight after he had his loyalty confirmed, and was taught the Bennett Family’s secret techniques at a much later time. It was a rewarding journey for him, to say least the least. For the years of his devotion, he was promoted from a regular guard to being the honored underling of a noble knight. Many wandering knights were desperate for a master with his own territory. Once accepted, the head knight would be responsible for all their day-to-day expenses. This included weapons, armors, and even the housing of the underlings. With this much at stake, one had to be extra careful in choosing his most trusted underlings. The parade went on for a total of six hours. Apart from the half-hour break during lunchtime, the men didn’t stop their feet at one single time. Thankfully, no one was bold enough to be a disturbance. Even the beasts could tell how dangerous the Knight of Bennett was. This was the furthest Abel had been from home. He could vaguely recall the eleven years of the “real” Abel’s childhood, and it was truly his very first time to be this far away from home. Sadly, though, there wasn’t much scenery to lay his eyes on. Apart from some evergreen plants lying on the side of the road, everything just looked kind of gloomy and dull around here. Thank the Spirit that it wasn’t snowing. As dusty as the soil road might be, it was a much more preferable choice than trekking on wet, mushy ground. From what Abel had heard from others, roads in the big cities were all paved in large, smooth stones. For some reason, it kept reminding him of the concrete roads he had remembered from planet Earth. How nice would it be if there were concrete roads in this world? Abel was about to extend on his imagination, but he also remembered his oath to not make any inventions. Like the irrigation system he had built for the Bennett Castle, creativity without protection would only bring disaster to him and those around him. As a grown man who had received modern education behind everybody’s back, Abel could think faster than the “real” Abel could. He was also smarter than the version of himself on Earth. Whether it was fighting, etiquette, or anything culturally-related, he could pretty much understand in a snap of a finger. It was almost as if he had received a “buff” when he arrived in this world. After a while, the roads were going from soil to Portuguese pavements. The Knight of Bennett wasn’t surprised at it. If anything, he knew exactly why this was the case. “This is what’ makes the Marshall Knight special,” the Knight of Bennett said to Abel as he pointed to the ground below, “He’s all about not losing face in front of others. If there was a mountain to mine around here, he would’ve used giant boulders to pave the roads here.” While staring at his father’s shiny armour, the newly-sown decorations on his horses, and the brand new gears of the six accompanying lancers, Abel really felt like saying: “Father, if you are just a little bit richer, I’m sure that Marshal Knight would have nothing on you if it’s about losing faces.”

Chapter 11 - Adoption Chapter 11: Adoption The Harry Knight’s domain was 300 miles west of the Bennet Knight’s domain. In between them was another domain of an honorary lord. If there wasn’t a need to go around this region, there was no way that Abel’s trip would’ve taken as long as six hours. Despite being a royal who was granted his own land, the Knight of Bennett was in the “middle-high” class, which was still a bit far from being an aristocrat. Besides, he wasn’t quite good at socializing with the other nobles. He tried his best to keep a polite distance from the other upperclassmen. This made it quite difficult for him to request his own army to make a direct pass into another domain. The parade made its way to the Harry Knight’s domain at around three in the afternoon. From over a distance, Abel could see a very big castle in front. On either side of this castle, red banners were depicting a rearing unicorn. Needless to say, they were the family symbol of the Knight of Marshall. From what Abel could see, his father clearly wasn’t pleased to see this. The Bennett Castle had its own banner, but that was only three meters tall and two meters wide. It was something that the Knight of Bennett had inherited from his own father. While it was unfinished back then, he had to spend quite a bit of money to add the final touches to it. “It’s a treasure for the next generation,” he would always say. “He’s doing this on purpose,” the Knight of Bennett ground his teeth, “I’ve told him about the banners.” Abel saw this, of course, and decided to slow down his horse for a bit. As upset as his father was, he didn’t want to bring himself too close to any sort of trouble. At the front gate of the Harry Castle, a middle-aged man was wearing a full set of golden armor. He was accompanied by two of his bodyguards who, for the sake of rubbing it in just a bit more, were also fully equipped with some very fine leather gears. The Knight of Marshall had a carving of the god of sun on his left chest and the crest of the white unicorn on his right. For someone of his age, he was much sturdier than most would expect. He was very tall, too. There were quite some wrinkles on his face, but instead of making him look old, it somehow gave off this mature and refreshing aura about him. “Marshall!” With a growl of a bloodthirsty tiger, the Knight of Bennett jumped down his horse and quickly walked towards the Knight of Marshall. The ground below him trembled every time he had taken another step. “Seth!” The Knight of Marshall responded with a roar that was just as loud and angry. With his golden hair flying in the air, he approached the Knight of Bennett with the menace of a fully-maned lion. No one knew how to react to this. The two were meant to be best friends, but they looked like they were about to beat each other up? The two just kept on walking towards each other. They were so close to each other that their fists were perfectly in range for a knockdown punch. They didn’t stop at that point, either. Instead, when their chests were an inch apart, the two jumped at the same time and collided themselves right into each other. No fist. No kicks, either. Just two men pushing against each other with their armored chest. If Abel were to describe it, the noise that followed was almost to that of a car crash at full speed. What a strange but impressive exchange of raw strength. Both the Knight of Bennett and the Knight of Marshall had to take several steps back. The Knight of Bennett cursed as he steadied his two legs. “You became an Intermediate Knight? Why the hell didn’t you mention that in the letter?” “Well, the same could be said for you!” The Knight of Marshall replied as he caressed the bruise on his golden armor, “You didn’t say you’ve become an intermediate knight!” The Knight of Bennett, too, felt the urge to look at the dent on his own breastplate. After figuring out the cost that was needed for repair, he gave another shout towards the Knight of Marshall. “You play dirty, don’t you? Yeah, I did become one! If I didn’t, I would be on the ground right now!” “Dirty? Look who’s talking?” The Knight of Marshall threw a dirty look and at the Knight of Bennett. The Knight of the Bennett did the same, and the two just kept on staring at each other in silence. Just when everyone thought that there was going to be a fight, the two suddenly slapped each other’s armor with their fist. Then they started laughing and hugging each other. Apparently, none of that etiquette nonsense was important at this moment. The two brothers were glad to see each other, and that was all that mattered. As someone who held a secret so great he couldn’t tell anyone about it, Abel could only hope to have a friendship this close. The adoption ceremony was very formal. They even invited a priest from the Temple of the goddess of harvest. As the ceremony was being held, Abel received a suit directly from the Knight of Marshall. The suit was marked with the symbol of the unicorn coat of arm, which signified that Abel had been officially accepted into the family. The welcome banquet commenced after the adoption ceremony ended. If a Lord had no heir under his name, his property would be claimed by the Duchy once he had passed away. Such a change would be devastating for everyone who depended on their livelihood under the family’s name. That being said, while it was rather tragic for Abel to leave his original home, it was also something truly worthy of celebration for the ones who took him in. The Knight of Bennett didn’t participate in the welcome banquet. He wasn’t interested in celebrating his son leaving. After the adoption ceremony was over, he hastily went home with his men. Out of understanding for what the Knight of Bennett was feeling, the Knight of Marshall spent no effort in trying to make him stay. After the day was over, the Knight of Marshall took Abel to a two-story-tall building on the left side of the Harry Castle. “This will be your room from now on,” the Knight of Marshall opened the door and welcomed Abel in, “I hope you feel at home here.” There was a lot of space on the first floor. The floor was made of some very hard rocks. At the edge were a table and some chairs for the guests, but that was about the only regular furniture here. The wall was stacked with a rack full of weapons. There were heavy swords, shields, bows, and lances. There was even a heavy ax that was only supposed to be wielded by the orcs. To be honest, this place felt more like a mini-training room than a living room. As the base for a novice knight like Abel, pretty much all his daily needs could be fulfilled here. Credits could be given to the Knight of Marshall. He had put in his thoughts when he decorated this whole building. The bedroom was up on the second floor. There was a very big, feathery bed that was almost too clean. Whether it was the oakwood wall or the wool carpet on the floor, everything had a glorious tone of white to it. As if this wasn’t grandiose enough, the window was stretched from floor to ceiling. If you look outside, the view was much prettier than what you’d expect from regular homes. The Knight of Marshall liked the color white. It must have something to do with the unicorn on his family’s coat of arm. Even the big closet in Abel’s room was made of white oak timber. “Don’t you worry about what to wear here,” the Knight of Marshall opened up the closet, which had all kinds of new clothes inside, “These are all yours. It’s going to be a while before your welcome party. Get some shower now. After you’ve got yourself some good rest, a maid will come to help you change into your formal attire.” The Knight of Marshall was a kind man. When he smiled at Abel, there was a certain warmth that felt both genuine and comforting. “Is there anything else that you want?” he asked once more before he went downstairs, “Don’t hold back. This is your home from now own.” “No, sir. This is already more than what I could ask,” Abel said in a slightly anxious tone. As much as he appreciated the generosity of everyone in this castle, it was hard to get used to being this cared for by so many people at once. While alone in his new bedroom, Abel took a look outside the floor-to-ceiling window for some night-time scenery. There were multiple dots of light flashing over the distance, most of which belonged to the guests who came over to the welcome banquet. All in all, the Harry Castle was very close to Harvest City, which had a scale far greater than a small town like Fort Lee. This was Abel’s new home from now on. He had just begun to acknowledge his new family, but fate decided to bring him out of his home, and here was he was. A new family. A new life. Abel couldn’t help but shake his head and let out a deep sigh. Once he became old and strong enough, he swore that he would do anything he could to help out his parents and brother. There were sounds of footsteps coming by the stairs. It was a maid, and she had just opened the bedroom door and came in. She was about twenty years old, and her face was round like a bun. “Your bathwater is ready now,” She said humbly as if she didn’t want to bother Abel too much, “Do you want to wash now?” With the maid leading his way, Abel came to a bathroom that was only meant for the Harry Castle’s masters. Strangely, everything was made of timber here, and that gave off this unique fragrance like what you would find in a sauna. The bathing tub was made of marbles, and there were dry flower petals sprinkled on top of the steaming hot water. Just when the maid was about to go in with Abel, she was ordered to stay where she was at. Abel might not look like it, but he was raised to follow the customs of the modern age. Having a female wash his body was not something he would feel comfortable with. Once he had washed, Abel had the maid help him get into his formal attire.

Chapter 12 - Welcome Banquet Chapter 12: Welcome Banquet While standing in front of the castle gate, the servants were busy welcoming the guests who had been invited by the Knight of Marshall. From lords of neighboring lands and royals living inside Harvest City, everyone who paid their visit tonight had some type of reputation to their name. This just showed how resourceful the Knight of Marshall really was. The banquet was to be held in the castle’s main hall. There were hundreds of giant smokeless candles being lit across the building. For the supper tonight, there were some fine wine transported from Bakong City and some freshly cooked beasts that were just hunted from the forest. As the night approached, almost all the guests had made their way into the ballroom. No one would be late for an event like this, of course. While night-time entertainment was plentiful on planet Earth, things get pretty dull in this world at night. The poor couldn’t afford lanterns, so they would just sleep when the Moon had made its appearance. The rich, on the other hand, had nothing else to do but to read books in their basements. The theatre was an option if you lived in the city, but the shows were not displayed at every single night. It was very expensive to hold a banquet as big as this one. Most noblemen could only afford one or two in a year. Their wallets would be empty if they decided to go any further. Come to think of it, there was no banquet back at the Bennett Knight’s domain. Abel didn’t know how the Knight of Marshall managed his finances, but there was probably a lot the Knight of Bennett could learn from him. Since Abel was the star tonight, he and the Knight of Marshall had to wait on the second floor before making their entrance. They would only come out after the butler Lindsay had introduced them to the guests. “Thank you all for coming here,” Lindsay called out in his fancy black suit, “Please, let’s welcome the honorable owner of this estate, the Knight of Marshall. And let’s welcome Abel, who is our new master of the Marshall Family.” The guests all started clapping as the Knight of Marshall and Abel came down the stairs. While Abel just kept on nodding his head to greet them, the Knight of Marshall seemed much more composed in this kind of situation. He held his head high, had a confident, wide grin on his face, and rose his cup to for a celebratory toast with everyone. The Knight of Marshall was the only one that Abel recognized. Besides, as a young boy of thirteen, it wasn’t like he was going to be invited to dance with any girls. The guests would say hello to him, but that was about it. The most he could do was to greet back at them and carry on. “Look at that lucky kid with his dark hair.” “Yeah. He’s really lucky, isn’t he?” “Hey, why is it him and not me?” “You? Come on, it should’ve been me. I look better than you on any given day.” As Abel turned to the source of the noise, he could see a bunch of young men joking amongst themselves. They didn’t seem to notice him, though, until he came a bit closer. Things started getting awkward real quick at that point. A young man in white suit bowed and apologized, “Sorry, we didn’t notice that you’re here.” “No need for apologies,” Abel greeted back with a bow of his own, “I was the one who interrupted your conversation.” Abel was technically a middle-aged man. Upon his arrival at the Harry Castle, he had already prepared himself for any gossip that could go behind his back. Besides, these boys were just having a chat. There was no big deal about that. From what it looked like, these few youngsters took a liking in Abel’s cool demeanor. They started dragging him into their little group and started talking about gossip together. At one point, they discussed how a lord found himself a new lover. Another time, it was about someone who caught some kind of prey. The man in the white suit was Isaac, the oldest son of Baron Victor. He was the one who brought up Abel back then. Being adopted by an heirless knight was considered as “extremely lucky,” and Abel happened to be one who has won the jackpot. Baron Victor, who was one of the many barons living inside Harvest City. Overall, barons lived a comfortable life wherever they were, but most of them still had to work for their lavish expenses. To be a nobleman, one had to spend quite some gold for all sorts of things. This was why noblemen tended to engage in the trading business. While such practices were considered lowly to the eyes of the aristocrats, they had no other choices but to learn to live with it. They had no lands of their own. Even someone like the Knight of Bennett was considered better than them because—well—at least he owned his piece of land. No land, and no castle. This was why the barons could only live in the city. Life was convenient here, but nothing could be freer than living in your own castle. Besides, owning a piece of land was the same as having a secured source of income. It would mean securing the funding of your own troops and being able to grow your own crops. No wonder Isaac sounded so sour back then. As long as there was no ill intention behind it, Abel didn’t mind being the target of jealousy. While sipping his wine, Abel listened to the conversation between these young men. He would occasionally say something as to not appear unsocial to them, but he also tried not to be too intrusive while doing so. Everything was seemingly well until he felt a menacing stare. Abel wasn’t sure what was going on, so he just pretended to not notice it. His eyes were scanning across the crowd, though, and his hands still waggling onto that wineglass he was holding. It was a young man. He had an upright stature, a handsome-looking face, and blonde hair that was combed as neatly as it could get. His eyes were rather slanted, however, and that somehow made him look more feminine than he should be. Abel lightly tapped Isaac on his arm, “Who is that?” “Him?” Daniel threw a quick glance at the boy, but quickly turned his head back in disgust, ” Oh, his name is Daniel. If you ask me, he’s as slimy as it gets.” “Why would you say that?” Abel asked in curiosity. “Well, his father was a merchant, but his older sister got married to Lord Walker, and makes him half a nobleman. You’d think he’d be satisfied with that, but oh no. After hearing about how the Knight of Marshall didn’t have an heir, he started begging his sister to help him get adopted. His sister couldn’t do anything about it, of course, so she asked Lord Walker to talk directly with the Knight of Marshall. He did, and the Knight of Marshall turned him down right away.” Isaac seemed keen to talk about this kind of stuff, “You know what the other nobles say about this? It’s been a real hot topic amongst themselves lately.” Isaac paused for a bit more of his wine. He wanted to see some sort of reaction from Abel but was slightly let down by how calm this young boy was being. “They’ve been saying that ‘good boy’. Daniel doesn’t know his place. Can you believe that? Not just him, everyone’s been making fun of Lord Walker. He kind of deserved it, too, to be honest. What kind of knight would take in the son of a merchant? Even if the Knight of Marshall said yes, his whole family wouldn’t agree to that!” Thanks to how gossipy Isaac was getting, he pretty much told Abel everything he knew about Daniel. Because of him, Abel was starting to understand why Daniel had such a dislike for him from the very start. But still. Abel didn’t like talking behind other people’s backs. He thought it was boring, and to be fair, most of the information that was thrown around was nothing but rumors. After spending a few more minutes with these youngsters, he said goodbye to them and went to the toilet. Oddly enough, Daniel saw this and went to the toilet as well. Abel didn’t go in the toilet. Instead, he went to a nearby window for some fresh air. His twelve-year-old body was not quite used to having liquor yet. While the chilling night wind was blowing on his face, he reminded himself that he wasn’t going to have any alcohol from here on. For crying out loud, he was a former bodybuilding trainer. He knew better than to engage in underage drinking. As the host of today’s event, it would be rude to be absent for too long. But just as Abel was about to walk back to the hall, someone suddenly started charging towards him. Abel was fast enough to react to this, so he started activating his level four Novice Knight power. Whoever this fool was, he didn’t make Abel flinch. If anything, after running into him, he was bounced back three-meter from where he came from. His body flew in the air for a while, and his body started sliding for an extra two meters before he finally stopped. Realizing that there was a situation going, people started coming over for a look. “It’s Daniel,” a knight came and turned over the body of the attacker. A young woman in fluffy skirts starting running over, “Oh my! Dear Daniel, what happened to you?” “Abel! What just happened?” the Knight of Marshall came and demanded an explanation. “I’m not sure either,” Abel opened his arms to feign ignorance, “He started charging at me. Next thing I know, his whole body started flying away.” The Knight of Marshall didn’t see it himself, but it wasn’t hard for him to figure out what actually happened. Abel was a newcomer to this castle. He barely knew anyone, which meant that he had no motive to hurt anyone. And even if he was trying to show Daniel who’s boss, it was unlikely for him to do it on the day of his welcome banquet. As for Daniel, the Knight of Marshall knew who he was. After rejecting this young man’s imprudent request, he remembered being mocked by his friends for turning him down so quickly. If it wasn’t because of Lord Walker, he would very much like to teach this young man a lesson in proper etiquette. And here they were. The Knight of Marshall didn’t want to cause anything big, but what Daniel had done was unforgivable. At a banquet held by the Knight of Marshall, he decided to assault the future heir of the Marshall Family. Abel was already a noble now which made the crime twice as severe than it already was. While paying no attention to the crying young woman nearby, the Knight of Marshall called out to Lord Walker, who was still standing back in the crowd. “Sir Walker. So what is the purpose of you bringing Daniel to my castle? Is this an attempt to ridicule the Harry Family? Or are you trying to set up a duel with me on behalf of your family name?” Lord Walker had quite a displeased look on his face when he saw Daniel on the ground. Honestly, he would’ve never brought Daniel here if he knew how feral the boy would be. Daniel was begging him to let him have a look at the next heir of the Harry Family. That was the only reason he was allowed to tag along.

Chapter 13 - Morning Call Chapter 13: Morning Call Lord Walker gave a deep bow to the Knight of Marshall, “I’m sorry for this, Sir. Someone like him should’ve never been allowed to attend an event like this. Please, settle this in whatever ways that you see fit.” Whilst acknowledging the apology with a nod, the Knight of Marshall pointed his finger towards Daniel, “Guard! Send him to prison. I want him to be trialed in Bakong City by tomorrow.” “No! You can’t do this!” the woman cried even louder, but she was quickly dragged away by Lord Walker. The two left the castle before the banquet had even ended. While watching from the side, the butler Lindsay rubbed his chin with his hand. He witnessed the confrontation from start to finish. There was a good chance that he had discovered something. The banquet went back to normal quite quickly after that. No one was going to pay too much attention to the sad bastard who offended a knight, especially when that bastard wasn’t even a nobleman. Once the banquet was over, all the guests were led to the guest room. The butler Lindsay then came to the Knight of Marshall, who was busy cleaning his armor. “What?” the Knight of Marshall dropped his cherished armor on the ground, “Abel is a rank four Novice Knight? Are you sure about this?” “Yes, sir,” the butler Lindsay asserted, “While I am only a rank five warrior, the energy sir Abel released back then was, without a doubt, something that would only belong to a rank four Novice Knight.” “Ha, haha!” the Knight of Marshall laughed frantically as he started slapping the table with his hand, “Seth is going to be so pissed about this! If only he knew that his son was a genius! Oh, but he doesn’t know, does he? Why else would he give Abel to me?” “From what I’ve heard,” Lindsay lowered his voice for a reminder, “the eldest son of the Bennet Family is still a rank four Novice Knight, and he is eighteen right now.” “Yes,” despite being wrong about Abel’s intentions, the Knight of Marshall felt moved by Abel’s decision to hide away his real power, “Abel is a good child. He didn’t want to discourage his older brother, so he’s been hiding his real potential this entire time.” “Send a letter to the old men at Bakong City. I want them to know about this,” the Knight of Marshall commanded, then took a look at the armor he had just dropped, “Another thing. I want a full set of the blazing sun armor. When I left the place years ago, what they gave me was fake. Now I’ve brought a super genius into the family. They ought to do more to reward me this time, no?” “Yes, master,” the butler Lindsay replied. He didn’t mind if his master sounded a little brash there. For the Knight of Marshall, his passion for the blazing sun armor was just as strong as his love for his deceased wife. The blazing sun armor was the standard military equipment of the Blazing Sun Empire—an ancient empire known for its spectacular army. Whenever the Sun shone on a piece of the blazing sun armor, its surface would glow with a red identical to blood. Not only was it gorgeous to look at, but its defensive power was also, in every practical sense, something that every knight would want to lay their hands on. After the Blazing Sun Empire had lost its former glory, most of the armor was lost. The few that remained were collected by noblemen as antiques, and they were rarely found as items to be sold. It was now the second morning upon Abel’s arrival. Having brushed himself off with the help of a maid, Abel came to the dining room for some breakfast. After seeing that the Knight of Marshall was already waiting for him, he quickly came to apologize. “Sorry for making you wait, Sir.” “That’s okay. How’s your sleep last night?” the Knight of Marshall asked casually. “Very good. The bed was very comfortable when I slept on it.” “It’s good to hear that,” the Knight of Marshall gestured Abel to come, “Here, come have a seat.” The servants started handing out the dishes after they’ve said their grace. Surprisingly enough, there were a lot of different things in Abel’s plate: eggs, sausages, bacon, and green vegetables. Actually, there shouldn’t be green vegetables this season. How did they get them here? Realizing the surprise on Abel’s face, the Knight of Marshall explained, “It’s the work of the druids. They used their special powers to grow these vegetables. The prices they sold these for are, well, very befitting of their status.” Abel’s heart started churning after hearing this, “What other casters are there apart from the druids?” Seeing how interested Abel was about this topic, the Knight of Marshall put down his knife, “You’re talking about the wizards, aren’t you?” “Wizards!” So maybe that’s why Abel couldn’t use the Scroll of Town Portal. Maybe magic scrolls were limited for the wizards. If Abel wanted to go home, he must find a chance to learn about the wizards. Once breakfast was over, the Knight of Marshall told Abell to come to his study. He poured a cup of coffee for Abel, and only spoke once Abel sipped it. “Abel, you are already a member of the Harry family.” “I-uh,” The Knight of Marshall paused for a bit to find the right words, “I think I should be honest with you. The power you released yesterday belongs to a rank four Novice Knight.” Abel raised his head in shock. He didn’t expect to be exposed to this quickly. In his defense, he only used his real power for only a few seconds. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” the Knight of Marshall held onto Abel’s shoulder, “I know that you were watching out for your older brother. You didn’t want to make him feel bad about himself, right?” As far as that guess was from the actual truth, Abel didn’t bother to give his explanation. If anything, that was a more reasonable explanation than talking about the Horadric Cube and all that other nonsense. “I’m going to be straight with you. I don’t know how you’re doing it, but it’s not a good idea to suppress your powers. Knights are supposed to be fiery and explosive. Once you decide to hold it back, you start to lose your primitive drive. Do you know what I’m saying?” From what the Knight of Marshall was saying, “power” seemed to be defined differently in this world. Back on planet Earth, one would be considered powerful if he could control his strength, but here, only untameable powers were considered the strongest. What Abel learned on Earth was about relaxation—conserving one’s life forces. It was about surviving and living as long and healthy as possible. Since guns weren’t invented yet in this world, nobody was looking to live as long as possible. The only thing they were thinking about was to outlive their enemies, which meant being better at killing than anyone else. “How should I control my powers, then?” Abel asked. “I was in the same shoes as you many years ago. Luckily, I’ve found a solution already.” The Knight of Marshall placed a long sword on the table, “Look at this blade right here. As you know, swords are the most important weapons for a knight. How much do you know about this blade right here?” Abel replied after handling the sword for a bit, “This sword is one meter and five. Its weight is around twenty pounds.” The Knight of Marshall swung the sword for a bit, “This long sword is designed for a knight. It has been forged for a hundred times before it is in the shape that it’s in now. The length of this piece is precisely 1.58 meters, and its weight is 21.2 pounds. Do you know why I know so much about it?” “Because it’s yours,” Abel said softly, to which the Knight of Marshall could hear very clearly. Seeing how unconvinced Abel was getting, he couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. The Knight of Marshall grinned, “How about that light sword you have on you? Do you know how long and heavy it is?” For a moment, Abel didn’t know what to say. He just rubbed his nose for a bit. “Estimate by sight. If you work for an armorsmith for about a year, you can do just as well as I can. You will have a better grip on your weapon than most trainers. At the same time, you will be able to release all that power and frenzy within you, meanwhile still maintaining the same amount of control that you would normally. “Alright, you’ve convinced me. So where should I learn to make swords?” The Knight of Marshall raised his cheek, “You ever wondered how I got so rich?” From what Abel could see, the Harry Knight’s domain was no bigger than the Bennet Knight’s domain. Frankly enough, though, the standard of living between the two was miles apart from each other. That being said, Abel wanted to ask about it since day one. “You see, there is an iron mine on my property,” the Knight of Marshall said proudly, “I happened to found it right after I was given this piece of land. If it wasn’t for that, I would’ve never built this castle the way Emma wanted me to.” The Knight of Marshall seemed rather sad when he talked about his wife, “When Emma was still with me, she drew the construction plan of this castle, but our savings alone were not enough for the job. We had a lot of faith, though, so we started building it anyways. And just when we were short on money, we happened to found that mine and thank the heaven, we managed to fulfill our dreams together.”

Chapter 14 - Master Bentham Chapter 14: Master Bentham The blacksmith was not located inside the castle. It was right next to the iron mine, which took Abel and the Knight of Marshall twenty minutes to arrive by chariots. Even from over a distance, Abel could hear the sound of iron ore being smashed by iron hammers. There was a pile of stone houses, all of which were made by some neatly-chiseled boulders. There were chimneys on top of each of them. Right now, four out of six had dark smoke puffing out. Just by looking at these stone houses, Abel could tell that the Knight of Marshall paid a lot of attention to his blacksmith business. The boulders they used were the same as the ones they used for castles. Forget about their actual cost, it would’ve already cost so much just to carry them all the way from the mountains. The Knight of Marshall instructed Abel carefully, “We’re going to pay a visit to Master Bentham today. Remember to be respectful when you see him. I’ve invited him over because he’s the best man I could find in Harvest City. If he wasn’t trying to let his son take over his shop business, we wouldn’t have a chance to see him today.” “Please to see you here, Marshall,” Master Betham greeted the Knight of Marshall with a simple nod. He was a very big man, standing at 2 meters tall. He had a very solid build. Even at fifty-something of age, the big beard on his face gave a no-nonsense aura around the man. “Hey there,” the Knight of Marshall smiled without getting too much into formality, “I’ve brought a young man to you today. Apparently, he’s interested in becoming your disciple.” Master Bentham looked quite perplexed when he laid his eyes on Abel, “Are you talking about this child, Marshall? Please, I know the difference between a “young man” and a “child.” This boy is not even fourteen yet, and you want him to be one of my disciples?” Suddenly, a lot of people started coming over to see what was going on. “Master Bentham, this is Abel, my new adopted son. He is currently a Novice Knight, and he wants you to teach him how to control his powers.” “Nice thinking. Sorry though, I’m not taking him in, “Master Bentham said grimly, “My training is not something a young nobleman can bear. Besides, I don’t think a boy as young as he has the stamina to swing a hammer.” Abel reached out his arm and flexed for a bit, “Don’t you worry about that, Master Bentham. I can work very hard if I want to, and you aren’t the only muscular one here.” “Ha!” Abel was about 1.6 meters. He did have some muscles, yes, but that was nothing compared to Maser Betham, who stood at a bear-like height two meters. The stark contrast alone was enough to make everybody around laugh. “Two more years, Abel. Once you are a bit taller and stronger, I promise that I will teach you how to forge,” Master Bentham said patiently out of respect for the Knight of Marshall. “How strong do I need to be to train under you?” Abel pressed on stubbornly. Master Bentham turned back towards the backyard. “Come with me,” he said, to which Abel did with the company of the Knight of Marshall. The other bystanders, too, came in to see if Abel was ready for the challenge ahead. “How many do you think he can lift?” “I’d be impressed with one.” “Nah, two. He’s a Novice Knight. I’ll go with two.” “I bet one.” “I bet two.” As rowdy as the crowd was getting, both the Knight of Marshall and Abel paid no attention to it. When they arrived at the backyard, they saw a bunch of iron pieces being lined up on the ground. There was an iron bar in the middle, and varying sizes of iron pieces on each side going from small to large. They were essentially barbells. It was not very refined compared to the ones that Abel was familiar with, but the design was nevertheless the same. As it turned out, the cultural background had nothing to do with understanding how the human body functioned “I use these locks to train my disciples’ strength. You see, they come in different sizes. The smallest ones are 50 pounds, the biggest ones 500. Whenever you go one size bigger, you increase the load by 50 pounds.” “Get over here, Gedon,” Master Bentham pointed towards a man in the crowd. While he was pretty strong himself, this particular fellow was not much different in terms of stature. “Master!” Gedon explained anxiously as sweat streamed down his dark face,” I-I I wasn’t being lazy! I was throwing out the metal waste!” Everybody started laughing. Gedon was a familiar face here at the blacksmith shop. He was recruited after Master Bentham came to the Harry Castle. Whilst originally an apprentice, he quickly became a disciple because of how hardworking he was. There were a lot of differences between an apprentice and a disciple. Apprentices had it much worse because most of their work was centered around intense physical labor. Usually, it involved cutting and burning timber for the entire day. Even worse, there was no pay. Disciples, on the other hand, had the privilege to learn from their master directly. At the end of the month, they would also receive a wage that was equivalent to the quality of their work. Gedon was a very likable student to Master Bentham. He was honest, hardworking and willing to learn. Once Master Bentham retired, he would be the go-to person to continue serving the Knight of Marshall. “No, Gedon, I’m telling you to come here so you can show Abel how to use the locks. Go ahead and teach him what it takes to be my disciple.” “Yes Sir,” Gedon smiled modestly as he rubbed his hands together. He then walked to the third lock and turned his head towards Abel. “Watch me closely, Abel.” With his hands grasping both ends of the iron bar, Gedon let out a big shout and raised the 150-pound thing from the ground. Because of how easily it went over his head, it almost felt like he was picking up a straw or something. “Nice one, lad!” With everyone cheering out for him, Gedon dropped the iron lock onto the ground. As Gedon turned to his master for some feedbacks, Master Bentham nodded his head in approval, “Keep going, Gedon.” Yes Sir. Gedon proceeded to the fourth lock, which was roughly 200 pounds in total weight. It wasn’t that hard for him to lift it, though. He readied himself, grabbed onto the thing and picked it up. No drama. It wasn’t so easy when he tried out the fifth one. Still, he managed to raise it over his head after a bit of hesitation. Things got tense when he walked over to the sixth lock. It was a 300-pound lock. Most people couldn’t even hold one end for more than three seconds, let alone pick it up from the ground. Gedon didn’t start right away this time. For a few seconds there, he closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing for a bit. Once he was ready, he let out a roar and veins started bursting out of his neck. His face was red like a tomato, except it looked like it was about to explode from the inside. Nevertheless, the lock went over his head. Everybody was yelling in celebration for him. “Very well, Gedon,” Master Bentham gave a proud look, “Even with the strength you have now, you are still making progress every single day. It wouldn’t be long before you can surpass even my limits.” “Really?” Gedon scratched his head as he shied away from the compliment, “Aw, you’re being too kind, Sir! There is still a lot I need to do before I can get to where you’re at.” “Your turn now, Abel,” Master Betham turned his head towards the boy who dared to challenge him. Contrary to what he had expected, Abel didn’t back down after laying his eyes on Gedon’s performance. Abel was already walking towards the third lock. To be clear, Abel did approve Gedon of his strength. That being said, there were absolutely no skills in the way he lifted those weights. For the millionth time, Abel was a former bodybuilding trainer. The barbell was one of his favorite pieces of equipment back on Earth. It was his job to be good at using it. If Gedon’s maximum was around 300 pounds, he could probably lift to 350 pounds if he knew the right techniques. There were a lot of things that were wrong about his form. If he wasn’t so strong already, he would be severely injured right now. Even if he wasn’t injured, there was bound to be a lot of damage in the long term. “He’s going for the 150?” “Good grace. He’s not going to do it.” “Is-is he mad?” The crowd started being noisy again when it was Abel’s turn. Abel frowned a little because of that. He didn’t like being watched like he was some clown in a circus. “Out, thank you,” Master Bentham shooed the crowd away. He could tell that Abel didn’t like being watched. As for the reason for this, well, he just thought that Abel didn’t want to be a laughing stock. Realizing that they’ve angered Master Bentham, the crowd started rushing out of the backyard. “Try your best, but don’t push yourself too much,” Master Bentham said.

Chapter 15 - Learning How To Forge Chapter 15: Learning How to Forge Since there was no drying powder here, Abel rubbed his hands with some mud he found on the ground. His mind might have been old, but his body still belonged to that of a child. With that being the case, it was very important for him to take care of himself in whatever small ways he could. Whilst standing in front of the 150-pound lock, Abel had his legs parallel to the middle of the bar. When he tightened his grip, his thumbs were separate from his other fingers. When he picked the lock above his head, he did it in one motion and had his arms completely straight while doing so. It was a beautiful lift, smooth and well-coordinated. The lock was only 150 pounds, yes, but in Master’s Bentham’s eyes, Abel clearly did it better than Gedon. Not only was he faster, but he also seemed more effortless when he was doing it. The Knight of Marshall, on the other hand, was more focused on the way Abel used his muscles. He began by setting his feet up as a base, channeled his power through his thighs, waist and upper back, and executed the movement with his whole body moving in one with his arms. Abel might not know yet, but what he did was the same as strength conservation, which was an advanced technique of the knights. For a child to have such a good understanding of muscle movement, Abel was truly blessed with talent. After dropping the 150 pounds, Abel walked towards the 200 pounds and easily raised it. His form was the same as last time, and his speed was just as fast. 250. Easy. And just like that, as Master Bentham and Gedon watched in total shock, Abel was already standing in front of the 300 pounds. This time, Abel had his hands closer to the middle of the bar. After doing a few prep hinges without any weight, he raised the lock and had it locked near his shoulder, meanwhile standing up with his legs slightly bent. His forearms were bent whilst pointing forward, and his chin was parallel to the bar. Then, slowly and steadily, he straightened his arms and raised the lock on top of his head. As though woken up from a dream, Master Bentham turned to the Knight of Marshall, “Where did you find this monster, Marshall?” The Knight of Marshall wasn’t too pleased with what Master Bentham was saying, “Hey, who are you calling a monster here? He’s a rank four Novice Knight, goddammit! If he can’t even lift 300 pounds off the ground, what kind of rank four Novice Knight is he?” “Oh, my spirits!” Master Bentham exclaimed as he looked towards Abel, “A rank four Novice Knight? How old are you, child?” “Turning thirteen soon, Sir,” Abel replied. “You’re twelve? You’re a twelve-year-old, rank four Novice Knight,” Master Bentham threw a dirty look at the Knight of Marshall, “Marshall? What kind of madman would send a genius like him to be your son?” “Why you looking at me like that?” the Knight of Marshall cried out loud, “Hey, you. I’m an Intermediate Knight myself!” “Yeah, but didn’t you just become one? Marshall, isn’t it better to send him to a commander? Actually, for someone as talented as him, you reckon we can send him to the head commander?” “Just… Ugh! Don’t you worry about it. Just let him stay with you and teach him how to forge, okay friend?” The Knight of Marshall was a good friend with Master Bentham. If it wasn’t for that, he would’ve never had him come over to the Harry knight’s domain. That being said, however, Master Bentham was quite a loudmouth. His “straightforwardness” has caused a lot of headaches in the past. “So be it, then,” Master Bentham agreed but decided to keep on talking, “I’ll let Abel stay, but are you sure you’re the right man to teach Abel how to be a knight, Marshall? I’m just saying, the kid’s got a bright future ahead of him.” “Alright Abel, be a good boy for me. Stay here and learn from Master Bentham during the day. At night, You’ll learn the techniques of a knight inside the castle.” Having said that, the Knight of Marshall rushed out of the blacksmith shop. For a second there, he looked like he was trying to escape the scene here. Master Bentham, too, started walking back to his workshop. “You should’ve taught him the basics first, Gedon,” he said before he left. Gedon said to Abel as it was just the two of them now, “Wow Abel. You’re pretty strong, aren’t you?” “You are pretty strong yourself, Gedon,” Abel replied. Even without being trained as a knight, Gedon was already strong enough as a normal human being. Gedon rejected the praise, “But I’m so much older than you. I’m already nineteen, and you’re just twelve. And look at how easy it was for you to lift the 300-pound lock! You seemed so confident when you were doing it. I’m sure you can lift more if you wanted to.” “You know, you can lift more if you know how to use all of your strength. If you want to, I can teach you how to lift those locks as I do.” “Wow. Are you sure?” Gedon almost jumped from where he was standing, “You think I can learn those techniques? Hey, how about we share what we know with each other? You teach me how to lift, and I’ll teach you everything I know about forging. Not just forging. Feel free to ask me about anything that I might know.” …… It was about one month since Abel’s arrival at Harry Castle. There were about three days before New Year’s Eve. For all the time he’s been here, Abel pretty much spent all his time learning at the blacksmith shop. Thanks to Gedon, it wasn’t hard for Abel to learn about the fundamentals of forging. He was actually in the middle of crafting a heavy sword for Zach, his beloved older brother. It was meant to be a new year gift for him. Whilst holding onto a red hot base with a pair of tongs, Abel smashed it into shape with a 10-pound hammer in his other hand. Since the base would start to cool down after a few minutes, Abel had to heat it in the stove every once in a while. Since this world was not yet industrialized, blacksmiths had to rely on very primitive techniques to forge their metals. To put it simply, their job was nothing more than heating metals, smashing them with a hammer, letting it cool down and repeating the whole process. As dull as that sounded, however, it was, by no means, something that anyone could do. The long sword Knight of Marshall had was treated 100 times before the final product was finished. At best, an average blacksmith could only treat a base for about 30 to 40 times. Gedon was the disciple of Master Bentham, so he could do about 60. Only a master could make a base that’s been treated for 100 times. Having read a few scientific catalogs himself, it wasn’t hard for Abel to understand the theory behind such forging methods. By repeatedly hammering the base, it essentially eliminated the amount of carbon inside. This meant that the more it was treated, the purer the resulting metal would be. Having used a hammer for about a month, Abel was already pretty skilled with the art of forging. For a child as bright as him, he could now pinpoint the exact spot he needed to hit. Speaking of which, the base he was working on had already been treated for 50 times. At that stage, it became very difficult to shape the base into its desired shape. Not only would the base be extremely dense to mold, but the blacksmith would also be too tired to swing his hammers. Not Abel though. Even after treating the base for a total of 50 times, he was still swinging his arms at a very steady pace. Master Bentham knew about this, of course. Even without having taught Abel anything directly, he’s been keeping a close watch this whole time. Master Bentham didn’t teach Abel himself because there wasn’t a need to. Abel was bound to be a knight, so the most he ought to learn about forging were pretty much just the basics. Besides, Gedon had been learning from Master Bentham for about five years already. In that sense, he was qualified to be supervising a young apprentice like Abel. Whenever Master Bentham saw Abel forging a base, there was always a bizarre sense of harmony lingering in the air. Abel wasn’t fast. It would take about one second for him to swing once with his hammer. Technically, this wasn’t too hard to do. Anyone could swing a 10-pound hammer for a few hundred times. But to treat a base 50 times? That would take about tens of thousands of continuous swinging from morning to noon. You’d have to keep doing this without any time for rest. Truth be told, Abel came up with this way of hammering the base. He got his idea from boxing. To throw a heavy punch, one could not just rely solely on the power of his arms. It was about using every part of your point and concentrating all that power into one point. This was exactly what Abel was doing. For every swing of his hammer, he was channeling his strength from his feet to his arms. And when the hammer hit the base, he would use the reaction force to his advantage and raise to hammer back to its original height. As energy-efficient as this technique was, it was difficult to perform it. Abel, however, had more than enough time on his hands. With the right amount of practice and knowledge, he soon found himself the ideal ways to forge a metal base. “Why does this child have to be a Novice Knight?” Master Bentham would often ask himself. Someone as talented as Abel should’ve never been learning how to fight on a battle’s frontline. With Abel’s ability to learn and the level he was currently, he would be a master blacksmith if he was to spent a few more years in the workshop. It was sad, yes, but that was just how things were. Having forgotten to eat his lunch, Abel was finally able to treat the base for a total of 80 times before two in the afternoon. He decided to stop after that. After a base was treated for 80 times, he could no longer hammer it with—even all of his strength.

Chapter 16 - In The "Right Condition" Chapter 16: In the “Right Condition” 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.

Chapter 17 - A Hundred Forge Sword Chapter 17: A Hundred Forge Sword 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.

Chapter 18 - Harvest City Chapter 18: Harvest City 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

Chapter 19 - A Bet Chapter 19: A Bet 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.

Chapter 20 - Combining One More Time Chapter 20: Combining One More Time “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.

Chapter 21 - A Boring Banquet Chapter 21: A Boring Banquet The city palace was a lot more luxurious than Abel had initially imagined. In the center of the garden, there was an enormous fountain. Its spring water danced as mysterious beams of orange light sparkled upon its surface. Every servant in the city palace who guided the visitors were dressed in all black uniforms with impeccable manners. The surrounding guards were all dressed in half-body armor holding a long sword in each of their hands. They all gave out the imposing manner of a professional with level 4 or above training in combat qi. The place was manifesting the extraordinaire of the royal viscounts. There were three main occupations in the city palace: warriors, knights, and assassins. Regardless of class, their training was centered around practicing their combat qi, which had the potential to bring out some very extraordinary abilities. Warriors were among one of the most common occupations, mostly because they took a large proportion of combat qi practitioners. They were well trained to use almost any weapons including swords, hammer, and long spears. Knights harnessed the greatest fighting ability out of the three occupations. Their resourcefulness enabled them to receive well-rounded training at a young age, allowing them to receive the best equipment there was. Unlike the other classes, they would ride on war horses and wear helmets on top of their heads. The least common occupation was the assassin because, on top of the practice of combat qi, they also needed to practice large amounts of hiding techniques. Assassins have the most intense combat qi explosion. However, it would often take a toll on their stamina. It was hard to earn a title in the Duchy of Carmel. Every generation of kings continued to suppress the number of nobles through a series of regulations, such as the prohibition for females to inherit powerful statuses. Another big one would be the rank lowering of lords who did not possess their own lands. For every time that a title was inherited, a landless Lord every title inherited would be lowered by one rank. Worst of all, however, was the claiming of territories of heirless Lords who have passed away. Due to all sorts of interferences by the nobles, many lord families have ceased to remain to this day. There was only one condition to attain a title, and that was to do a great service for the duchy. It was especially hard in peaceful times like these, so that’s why countless nobles would be willing to be on the frontlines whenever it was called for. In recent years, tensions were strained between the king and the nobles. Major noble families continued to increase their power, while the king looked for every chance he could to execute anyone who dared showing his desire to seize power from him. If you want to know how low the status of nobles was in Duchy of Carmel, just compare it to the city owner of Harvest City. Such an enormous city could be owned by a viscount, while other similar-sized cities such as the neighboring Duchy of Thunder were at least owned by someone with the title of a duke. Of course, these things were still way too far fetched for Abel, and Knight of Marshall had already gained his fiefdom through his outstanding military service, so he did not care about things such as a title. When they were on the horse carriage, he only casually mentioned it to Abel out of interest while they were on the topic of the city owners. After Abel had seen the guards in the city palace he couldn’t help but remember how the Knight of Marshall had told him that the major nobles were becoming more powerful to resist the king. Every single one of the hundreds of warriors here was a professional. Even the ones with the lowest ranking, one hundred of them could easily be just as capable as an army of one thousand. The crowd had gathered in the hall. However, Abel was disappointed with the food offered by the city palace. Because it was winter, the buffet table was only filled with cakes and roasted meats, but the wine was only supplied adequately. Before the cocktail party officially began, Viscount Dickens stepped out and commenced his speech. Even though the hall was crowded with people, viscount Dickens was able to deliver the sound of his speech to everyone’s ears through the power of his combat qi. According to the knight of Marshall, this annual event was a way for the viscounts to showcase their wealth and military power, and that they were well capable of managing this enormous land. It was the most boring cocktail party Abel had ever been to. He did not know a single person here. After the knight of Marshall had introduced Abel to a few of his friends, Abel soon returned to the corner of the hall quietly looking over this top of the world gathering. No wonder there was not much food prepared, most people only stood around chatting with a wine glass in their hands, rarely did anyone shown interest in the food. Abel had dashed around the streets all day, and all the dreary chatters in the hall just sounded like a lullaby. By this point, Abel’s eyelids were getting heavier and heavier and slowly he drifted asleep. It was only after the party had ended that Abel was woken up by the shake of the Knight of Marshall. Knight of Marshall continued to make fun of Abel as they were going back to their temporary house. A level 5 novice knight had dashed around the streets all day and fell asleep during a cocktail party, how could any knight believe this. Early next morning knight of Marshall took Abel on the carriage to return to Harry Castle. As the housekeeper Robbin was sending the carriage out the front gate, Abel stuck his head out and waved goodbye. It was at that moment, the spying servant who had been frozen in the courtyard for the entire night realized Abel was about to leave. So immediately, he rushed back to his owner to report. “What? They are heading towards South Gate? Are you sure?” Said Joshua after he heard the servant’s report, “If it’s true, immediately gather the men” Joshua’s father was a lord because he was good at managing businesses. He owned more than 10 stores on the main road of harvest city and held more than 50% of the shares from the harvest city clothing market. He was a true royal businessman. Because of this large amount of wealth his only son, Joshua had been able to receive the highest quality of education. At age 19 he was already a level 4 novice knight, and father had always dreamed that he could one day win a battle and gain a fiefdom. Because of this, Joshua’s father was never hesitated to invest in Joshua’s development. For example, just look at the sword of a hundred skills his father bought him for his education, and upon losing the gambling bet, Joshua had no intention to tell his father. The first thing that came to his mind was to seek revenge and then find a chance to tell his father in the future. He gathered 12 of the most powerful servants in the family, each equipped with their own warhorse and long sword. Joshua was on a blazing red warhorse, and they set off to strike in a team of thirteen. The Knight of Marshall sat in the carriage, enjoying the wine his friend gave him during his time in Harvest City. Despite the vigorous movement of the carriage, the Knight of Marshall was able to move leisurely, so the wine glass did not budge a single bit. Abel, on the other hand, was trying his best to copy this knight’s riding position. However, the carriage these days were just too shaky. There was virtually no means for any sort of shock absorption. When the seats began to vibrate, Abel had no ways to stop the wine from falling out of his cup. Still, the boy was not going to be demotivated by a small drawback such as this. Instead, he observed the Knight of Marshall as closely as he could, meanwhile preparing to imitate the same kind of skills that were displayed right in front of him. The carriage horse was old and slow. Its speed often did not coordinate with the speed of the carriage. Therefore the 13 men had caught up to the carriage in no time. A malevolent smile began to emerge from Joshua’s emotionless face. “Interesting, our carriage is being followed,” said the Knight of Marshall. He lowered his wine glass with a cold smile on his face. Abel had also felt something odd from the vibration of the ground. He looked at the Knight of Marshall. Since he did not bring his long sword to the cocktail party, he could only put arrows on his bracelet and use it as a bow. “Go ahead, stop the carriage. I’ll take care of the people inside” Joshua ordered the 12 servants. If Joshua saw the carriage from the front, he would have noticed the royal engraving and would not have proceeded with his plan. The twelve servants raised their long sword and charged towards the carriage, the carriage driver knew that Knight of Marshall was inside so he was no worried. He only shouted, ” this carriage was owned by the Harry family, attackers will not be punished lightly.” However, the 12 servants did not know that Knight of Marshall’s surname was Harry. Therefore, they continued to charge and stopped the carriage. After Joshua had caught up with them, he saw an eye-catching white unicorn engraving in the front of the carriage. It sent shivers from the back of his spine to the top of his head. He realized he had attacked a noble’s carriage and from the calm expression of the driver, he knew the other party must have held great power. By this point, Joshua was on the road of no return. Nothing could change the fact that he had attacked a noble’s carriage. The desire to kill continued to rage in his heart, if he just killed this driver and that little blacksmith inside, who would have guessed he was a murderer. “Kill them all,” Joshua spat out the words viciously. The twelve servants hesitated. They never killed someone, and they didn’t have the will to. The most they’ve done were things like abusing their master’s adversaries, maybe chopping off their limbs if things went bad. However, since it was a direct order from their master, these pitiful souls had no choice but to charge on with their long sword in hand.

Chapter 22 - Sneak Attack Chapter 22: Sneak Attack In a blink of an eye, a dark figure holding a long sword suddenly burst out through the waving curtain of the carriage—It was the Knight of Marshall. The second before the servant’s swords made contact with the carriage driver, a powerful flash of combat qi shot out from his sword, cutting the servants and their horses into two. Fresh blood exploded from their bodies meters above the ground. The place was raining in blood, and the few servants up the back were drenched. The servants were terrified, yet the Knight of Marshall did not show mercy. He hopped from the carriage and slashed a servant head off with his long sword in mid-air. Before the servant even had time to react, his brain had already flown out his skull and landed in front of Joshua’s horse. Joshua was stunned by this horrific scene. His body started to feel weak, and he fell from his horse on the spot. In a split second, the Knight of Marshall had already annihilated 10 servants. The other 5 were no longer on their horse holding their long swords, but shivering on the ground. Their opponent was an official knight that understood how to use combat qi. After witnessing the fighting power of a knight, these everyday servants would remember this traumatic experience throughout the rest of their lives. Abel was also stunned by the Knight of Marshall’s viciousness and directness. Normally, the Knight of Marshall always wore a smile on his face, but what had just happened gave Abel a completely new impression of him. “Sir…. you are a great knight. I am the eldest son of lord Joel. I demand to be granted the title of Noble prisoner of war,” stuttered Joshua to the Knight of Marshall. The title “Noble prisoner of war” as a way to treat nobles who had committed war crimes during that period. According to the knight’s system of rule, winning or losing a battle was not the most important factor. What mattered was that they gave their best performance and faced their opponent with glory. Therefore, being a prisoner of war for a knight was not such a shameful thing. On top of that, most knights held great economic and political power. After they became a prisoner of war, all they need to do was to pay a ransom to be released. For example, if a higher ranking knight high-level lord had been captured, the lower lever knights were obligated to turn themselves into hostages in exchange for ransoms. Lastly, these battles were common back in the days, so being captured as a prisoner happened often. Therefore prisoners of war were often treated kindly and released only on based the condition of a ransom. Knight of Marshall sneered at the hopeless novice Knight who was shivering on the floor in front of him before even giving a fight. The Knight of Marshall wondered if he should deal with this situation according to the noble treatment of granting him the title of noble prisoner of war. “Joshua?” Said Abel as he hopped off the carriage. Looking at Joshua on the floor, Abel never could have guessed this noble brother had gotten people to attack him because of such a small conflict. “You know him?” Knight Marshall asked. He had vaguely sensed the reason for this attack, but even if there were conflicts in the city, a knight would rarely gather a bunch of people and planned an unexpected attack. After thinking to himself for a while, the Knight of Marshall decided to let Abel have the say on what happens to Joshua. It would also be a good chance to trained his decision-making skills, or so it was intended. “Able, how do you want to deal with him?” asked the Knight of Marshall. Abel didn’t care if Joshua was dead or alive. Whatever the decision was, there wouldn’t be a benefit in harming this pitiful prick. That being said, Joshua wasn’t completely useless. Abel decided to take advantage of this, and by “take advantage, ” he was hoping that the Knight of Marshall wouldn’t mind him making some extra money. “Let’s bring you back to the castle, Joshua. I’ll let you enjoy the title of noble prisoner of war” After the Knight of Marshall had heard Abel’s word, he gave out a faint smile of satisfaction. Abel did not act according to his anger but decided to take advantage of Joshua’s wealth to contribute to the development of the castle. Abel’s train of thought was pretty simple, Joshua’s flighting abilities were miles behind him. If Joshua was a real knight and was able to pose a threat to him, he would have chosen otherwise, because an enemy is always better when dead. Abel then took the 5 surviving servant’s belts off their waist and tied it around their hands. Other than that unlucky horse who had been chopped into 2 pieces by the knight of Marshall, Abel and the carriage driver threw Joshua and the captivated servants on the 11 surviving horses. After the horses had lined up, they began to move while Abel sat on Joshua’s blazing red color horse following from behind. Joshua was tided to the first horse in the line. Although his belt had also been taken off much like the other servants. Abel internationally did not use it to tie up his hands. This is because if he tries to escape, his pants would fall off. But Joshua was not stupid, he would not dare to escape in front of an official knight. It was only until now Joshua had realized he had attacked the owner of Harry’s castle, and that person whom he called “little blacksmith” would inherit all of Harry’s castle. At that moment Joshua knew, the first thing he would do after he returns to his castle was to kill the servant responsible for spying Abel. After they returned to Harry’s castle, Abel gave the captives to Lince the housekeeper. Housekeepers were responsible for settling the ransoms. Other than that, they would not question a single thing since it was the noble’s problem. All they need to do is to identify the captive’s status and negotiate the amount of money they need to pay with the other party’s housekeeper. Soon, Abel had resumed his daily schedule. Every morning after breakfast, he would exercise and forge metal at the blacksmith shop. At night, he would return to the castle to practice the knights breathing techniques and follow with a good night of sleep. Just like this, another month had gone by. Abel had forged over 5 long swords of 100 skills only using the technique of this world. He did not use any special carburization or dipping fire techniques. This is because the only rule of forging in here was to make master Bentham happy. No matter how good your secret techniques are, the fundamentals were the most important. Thus, through Abel’s respect for fundamentals techniques these past months, he had been greatly praised by master Bentham. One morning when Abel was at the blacksmith shop, he was called by master Bentham to go to the master’s private office. Abel followed master Bentham into the room within the office, and from the top corner of the room, master Bentham took out a thick heavy book from a metal box. “My teacher was the dwarf forging master, master Robin. During the time dwarfs and human allied to combat the Orc, thus every day I was sent off to practice forging with the dwarfs” said master Bentham. Master Bentham’s eyes began to sparkle as he recalled the good old days. It seemed as though as he was mumbling to himself as he told Abel the stories about his past. “Those were the best days of my life, every day I could learn something new. The dwarfs were some of the most gifted beings when it comes to forging, and through thousands of years of perfecting their forging techniques it is was truly unlike others. Legend has it the most powerful dwarfs were used to responsible for making artifacts for the gods.” “Other than making normal weapons, Master Robin could also make magical weapons. I remembered when I saw magical weapons for the first time. I knew I would dedicate my life to be a blacksmith. I remember telling my self that, one day, I would also want to make weapons like this.” “I tried very hard to master all the things master Robin taught me, and only on the day I mastered all of it, I asked master Robin if he could teach me how to make magical weapons. he rejected me without a second thought, said I didn’t have the talent for it.” Master Bentham got a bit emotional from his speech, “However, master Robin did give me one last hope when I finished all my studies, and that is this magical weapon forging guide.” “After I searched around in the guide, I realized that the reason why I could not make magical weapons is because of spiritual power. A person’s spiritual power is the main thing when it comes to unleashing the magical force within a weapon. Yet, most people who possessed spiritual power would become a wizard. No one would want to be a blacksmith… until I met you.” Abel had suddenly been moved by these words from master Bentham. All this time, he had been seeking information about wizards, and it is the first time he had heard a person directly talk about magic to him. “Abel, I am already old. I know I could never be able to forge a magical weapon in this life, but you are my student, I hope you can one day be able to forge a magical weapon.” Said master Bentham with eyes full of hope. “Master, I will try my best” Abel nodded earnestly. Master Bentham picked up that enormous Magical weapon forging guide in an almost ritualistic manner and passed it on to Abel’s hand The book felt heavy on Abel’s hand. Just like the legend has it, even though dwarfs were short, they always believed they were the descendants of the giants. Therefore they tried to make everything as big as possible, and this book is a beautiful manifestation of that. When Abel opened the book, he realized the information was very straight forward. First page: fire magical weapons. In the middle of the page, drawings were depicting both sides of a sword. On the top, there were strange markings, while on the handle of the blade there was a concave area with marking saying “put fire magic gem here”. At the bottom of the page, there was information about the function of fire type magical weapons. Fire potion’s formula and the fighting power of the weapon. The second page: ice type magical weapons. The layout was the same as the first page. Drawing of depicting both sides of a sword in the middle, and explanation and formulas about ice magical weapons at the bottom. The third page was about lighting magical weapons, and the fourth page was about toxic magical weapons. There were only 4 pages in this book. Abel thought to himself self “the dwarfs are ridiculous, they must be stupid to make such an enormous book with only 4 pages of information.” But looking back at master Bentham’s sincere expression Abel did not say it out loud.

Chapter 23 - Runes Chapter 23: Runes “I have all the materials you need. Although I had been collecting them for many years, it is only recently that I’ve found the perfect fire magical gems and ice magical gems.” Master Bentham said. Meanwhile, he opened a box that contained all the things that he had just mentioned. “Is this it?” Within those materials, some somethings looked very familiar to Abel. It was three red gems and three blue gems. He took the six gems out of the box and inspected them carefully. They were the ones he sold at Harvest City earlier. “These are the fire magical gems and ice magical gems I was talking about. It was so hard to find such perfect ones like these, but luckily I had found these in Harvest City.” Looking at how excited master Bentham was, Abel wondered if the price of these gems were much higher than the price he had sold them for. If he mistakenly sold magical gems as normal gems, what would be the actual value of magical gems?… but Abel decided not to ask. He did want to regret his decision even further. “Your task in the future will be sketching out those runes, make sure the angle, force, and the thickness of the strokes are the same.” Master Bentham repeatedly emphasized as he took out a brush from a box. “Is this an ink brush?” Abel was shocked once again. Ink brushes were one of those things that Abel was all too familiar with. From the tip of the brush to the body of the brush, this brush that master Bentham was holding looked exactly like an ink brush from Abel’s original world. Master Bentham explained as he handed the rune brush over to Abel, “Ink brush. Hmm. I like that name, but it’s called the Rune brush, boy. The body of the brush was made out of a kind of wood that is resistant to magic, which prohibits other external magical force interrupting the Runes writing process. The tip of the brush was made out of the softest handful of fur located in the very back of a wind wolf’s head. The wind property of a wind wolf allowed the brush to deliver runes ink more efficiently.” “This rune brush is very difficult to master. There are lots of training and learning you need to do until you can draw the lines of the rune correctly. Here, give it a try.” Said Master Bentham to Abel as he took out a bottle filled with normal ink. He opened the lid and placed it on the table. Then, he took out a piece of lambskin parchment and also placed it on the table. Abel held the rune brush by gripping it between his middle finger and the ring finger, while his thumb pressed against the body of the brush. He then proceeded to dip the brush in the ink bottle and gently whipped off the excess ink. A glanced at the runes in the book, in one take he wrote down the entire first page. Master Bentham was stunned as he watched by the side. The master himself had been practicing to use a rune brush for more than 20 years. Yet, his position and control of the rune brush were not even as good as Abel’s first attempt. Even basic things such as grasping the amount of ink the brush needed to be dipped, had taken Master Bentham countless trial and errors. Although there was still a bit of disparity when it came to Abel’s replication of the runes. He was able to recognize when the lines should be smooth, straight or curled. These runes were no worse than the ones written by Master Bentham. As long as Abel kept on practicing, he could have surpassed his master in no time. Master Bentham could not help but feel the waves of jealousy sprung up from within as he lamented on the god’s bias from the inside. He had never heard of a person of Abel’s age becoming a fifth-level novice knight. He had also never heard of a person who was able to forge a Sword Of Hundred skills after only a month of training. Even The Power Of Will he had so deeply desired was possessed by Abel. Now when it came to writing runes, Abel had also excelled. His first attempt was already on par with those who dedicated decades of effort. Master Bentham could not take it anymore, he waved his hand at Abel and said. “Ok, You can go back to practice by yourself now” As that been said, Master Bentham took Abel out of his room. He needed time alone to lament with his injured soul. After Abel sensed that maybe Master Bentham dissatisfied. He packed up all his things and went back to his room in the castle. There was not a quiet place in the blacksmith shop for Abel to practice writing runes in peace anyway. If Abel knew what Master Bentham is thinking, he would have told him “oh no, you are overthinking it. I only know how to use an ink brush, and this amusing thing is a rune brush.” In Abel’s previous world, he had been systematically learning how to use an ink brush since the beginning of elementary school. Even after he got a job, he did not give up on this hobby. From time to time, he would take out an ink brush and wrote down a few characters to enhance his mood. After a week of training, Abel was able to completely master the four magical rune characters. The sizes and proportions of the strokes were perfect. However, during the process, he also realized that the fire magic rune character seemed very familiar to him. It looked very similar to the 8#Ral rune in Diablo 2. However, there were a lot of connecting lines in this fire Magic Rune. Some were responsible for connecting to the hilt of the sword, and some were responsible for connecting the entire body of the sword. Overall the structure of the rune as a whole still very similar. The purpose of the 8# rune was +5, -30, fire damage, which was also similar to this fire magic rune. Could it be that the rune of this world was related to the runes of the Dark World? Legend has it the Dark World’s rune system had been long lost. To create a rune system, the only way was to use an ancient Runestone to realize the power of each rune. Therefore, since the runes still existed in this world. If one had mastered more runes in the future, maybe they could also turn all the rune of Diablo 2 come into reality. But for now, it was still too early to say. Abel had only mastered 4 runes. To establish a rune system, it required the combination of the entire 33 rune characters within Diablo. As for the four runes Abel had mastered, after careful analysis and identification, Abel had corresponded them to the runes of Diablo 2. They were individual, the Fire Magic 8# Rune, Ice Magic 10# Rune, Electric Magic 9# Rune, and Poison Magic 7# Rune. However, there was 1 rune system that Abel could remember from memory. If it wasn’t because this runes system was generally ranked at the top, out of the many rune systems, Abel wouldn’t even remember that it had even existed. The rune ability in this rune system was terrible in Diablo 2. It wasn’t even as good as any ordinary low-level dark gold. This rune system was called The Ancient Vow. The Ancient Vow: material required: 3 Kong shield rune required: 8#+9#+7# Ability of the final product: General defense +50% Ice defense +43% Virus defense +48% Fire defense +48% Electricity defence +48% 10 % of damage could be converted to magical power Abel though it might be doable. Although its attributes were not that good in the game, it would be a powerful shield in reality. So Abel had decided after he had mastered all the single rune weapons, he would proceed to make this shield. The next day, Abel returned to the blacksmith shop with the rune brush and the ink bottle. He found Master Bentham and said, “Master, I have mastered the four runes, I want to start making magic weapons today.” By this point, Master Bentham had been shocked by Abel’s speed of mastery way too many times. He had become completely immune to It. Even if Abel were to master the rune brush a few more days faster, he wouldn’t be any more surprised. Master Bentham took out a sword of a hundred skills that had Abel forged a while ago. This was because the Knight of Marshall had stipulated long ago that Abel have the right to possess all the weapons he forged himself. Since Abel would one day inherit the castle, he should be able to use the iron as resources as well. Upon completing these swords of hundred skills, Abel would often carelessly leave them in this operation room, which was assigned by Master Bentham as Abel’s private room. If an ordinary person had entered this room, they would go insane. The floor was scattered with more sword of hundred skills than all the weapons store combined in Harvest City. There were only 3 masters with the ability as high as Master Bentham, supplying their weapons to the weapons stores in Harvest, and Master Bentham could only forge 1 sword of hundred skills in a month at most. Therefore, the limitations of masters can be clearly seen. To progress from forging 80 skills to a hundred skills weapon, if one did not possess The Power of Will, the only way was to rely on experience and a large number of mental calculations. Masters would normally start from 80 skills, and slowly forge 1 or 2 more skills on to the weapons each day. Only a blacksmith who possessed The Power of Will such as Abel could forge a weapon from 80 to 100 skills in one take. However, these days, master Bentham no longer needed to send his weapons to another weapon store to sell. This was because, in exchange for Joshua, Lord Joel had given The Knight of Marshall a weapon store, located in the most prosperous part of the Harvest City. While as for the five captured servants, they had also been generously sent back. That weapon shop, which was worth more than tens of thousands of gold coins, was now bringing more than 500 gold coins per month to Harry Castle.

Chapter 24 - Ice Magic Sword Chapter 24: Ice Magic Sword Abel removed the decorations from the sword of a hundred skills’ handle, leaving only the metal part of the handle, hilt, and gauntlet exposed. Therefore, the gauntlet was now the only part where the magical gem could be placed. Abel placed the hilt of the sword of hundred skills into the furnace. After a while, he took the burning red sword out with a clamp. Then, took out a hammer drill and trimmed a suitable hole. When master Bentham saw the sword, he was very pleased with Abel’s proficiency in his forging foundation. One of the main reasons that Abel wanted to learn forging was to master his own power. During his spare time, he would practice different forging skills in the operation room. Each forging skill that he practiced had their very own unique powers. After all the training Abel did, he could control and maintain his skills firmly and steadily. “Master, I want to forge an ice magic sword.” Due to issues with materials, Abel had to choose between fire and ice magic weapons. In his understanding of the ice magic weapons, It could slow down his opponent’s speed alongside the damage caused by the ice magic. The finished product would be a devastating nightmare for anyone who encountered it. Master Bentham remained silent as he nervously watched Abel took out his runes brush. After Abel dipped it in ink, he began to write the runes onto the sword. Due to many years of using a normal ink brush, Abel’s hand muscles were very well developed. Therefore, he did not find it too hard to use these soft rune brush. However, the ink used to write runes were different from the ones normally used to write on ink paper. The process of writing ice runes on the sword of a hundred skills was a lot more difficult. With every stroke Abel wrote on the sword, he could feel waves of resistance. This was the case despite that the brush was made with wind wolf fur, which was supposed to limit the resistance force by at least half. Sweat began to flow down from Abel’s head. Not only writing the runes required strength, but it also required high energy consumption from his heart. This was because the writing had to be done within one breath, and it could not be paused anytime during the writing. If there was a pause, the thickness of the ink would be different, and the magic being transmitted would have gone out of Abel’s control. Despite having taken half an hour—Abel’s writing runes on the sword of a hundred skill took almost three times longer than normal writing would—ultimately, the deed was done. Abel took out a blue gem and carefully placed it into the hole. He reinforced the hole with different tools so that if the hole began shaking, the gem wouldn’t accidentally shake or fall out. “Let me see.” Master Bentham asked Abel for his sword of hundred skills. He carefully examined it and said, “you can write runes even faster than me. They are perfectly drawn, and the magical stone has no problem with it. I think we can proceed to the next step.” Being able to see Master Bentham’s affirmation of his capabilities, Abel’s face began to express joy. The process of drawing these runes was difficult and it had taken a lot of Will power out of Abel. So he sat down on the ground and rested for almost an hour before he was fully recovered his energy. Abel carefully used his will power to draw from the blue gem to the edge of the ice magic stone according to master Bentham’s instruction. An ice-cold force rushed back at Abel as he continued to use his will power. He then began to guide this ice-cold force carefully into the strokes of each rune. This process could not be too fast, or else the ice-cold force would be left behind, thus returning to the blue gem. However, it could also not be too slow, or else the ice-cold force would freeze his will power. On the fifth attempt, he finally successfully used his will power to guide the ice-cold force onto the middle of the rune. Suddenly, the sword of a hundred skills shined with a dazzling light. Abel seemed to hear the sound of the sword blade shattering. Without a second thought, he threw his sword of thousand practice outside while master Bentham was concentrating behind the huge iron controlling desk. Suddenly, there was a loud “bang” sound, and all Abel heard was the sound of fragments and splinters shattering everywhere through the air. It was then followed by the sound of objects being hit with a sound of “ding ding”. After a while, the sound came to complete silence and everything was suddenly quiet. Abel slowly poked his head out and glanced at the area where the explosion happened. The operations room was in complete chaos and disorder, the walls inside the room were filled with holes. Fortunately, the operation room was made of boulders and the tools inside the room were all made from fine quality Iron which meant that most of the equipment inside the rooms wasn’t damaged with the only damage being a large pit on the ground. Master Bentham recovered from the scene with a shocked face. He looked directly at Abel in the eyes and the two individuals suddenly felt as if they were of survivors of a close-call disaster. ‘What’s the matter?” “Master, are you all right?” All of a sudden, there was a loud noise coming from nowhere. Then the door of the workshop was promptly opened, and everyone in the blacksmith shop rushed and crowded inside. That “bang” noise that occurred has shocked and frightened everyone that was near. The room was filled with gasps and dreadful looks on people’s faces, and for a moment the crowd stared astoundedly at Master Bentham and Abel. They thought to themselves: “What they were doing here that could’ve been so powerful and devastating”. “All of you better keep your mouth shut. Nothing happened here, alright? Now, get out of here before I make you! ” Master Bentham roared like a bear. He was kicking everyone out. The crowd. The gardener. Even his own apprentices—Everyone. “Why did this happen?” Abel was a little surprised by this failure because he thought he did very well this time. The process was very smooth, so why did it fail in the last moment and also caused a last-minute explosion. Master Bentham picked up the ink carefully and examined it. He carefully sniffed it with his nose and twirled it with his hand. Finally, he said firmly to Abel, “There is nothing wrong with the ink, I have produced this ink for many years now and it was made in accordance with the same formula. There’s no way it would’ve been like this.” “Then that means something went wrong in the process.” Abel thought back to his own production process, and nothing was missing except that it took three times longer than usual to draw the runes. With that in mind, Abel said firmly, “Maybe the runes were drawn for a little too long.” “Yes, after a long time, the first and the last ink may be exposed to the outside environment for too long. The ink properties of the two periods may have changed, followed by an unstable magic transmission which may ultimately lead to the explosion,” Master Bentham analyzed carefully. He had spent his entire life studying the material when Abel was making assumptions for the reason of the explosion, he had already found out the cause for the explosion. “Can you use your Power of Will to draw the runes? Wouldn’t that be faster?” asked Master Bentham, who, as he did not possess such powers, couldn’t do anything to help apart from making suggestions. Abel thought for a moment and answered, “There shouldn’t be a problem. It’s just that my Power of Will was a little bit depleted. It’s going to take up a lot more time for me to rest before I can use it again.” Once again, they picked up another sword of hundred skills found from the ground and punched a hole into it for the gem. this time was much faster than the first time since Abel now acquired some experience from his first attempt. It was time to draw the runes again, and Abel closed his eyes while emptying his mind. As he slowly opened his eyes this time, he began to zoom in on the sword with his sight. Every detail on the sword was magnified multiple times larger than it’s original size. When the runes were drawn on the sword with ink, the two continued to fuse very tightly. It created a special coating which was why the resistance was so strong when the runes were being drawn. The speed of Abel’s will power corresponded with the speed of his runes brush perfectly. There was already a night and day difference comparing this to his first attempt. The whole thing was finished in ten minutes. Abel returned from his Power of Will state, and by that point, he was already fully exhausted. It took Abel two hours to recover from his exhaustion. Now he had gained experience of how to guide the ice-cold force with his Power of Will without any pauses or interruptions. Next time, he could lead the cold force into the middle of the runes at a much quicker and steadier pace. The sword of a hundred skills flashed with a glaring ray of light. This time, the light was not dazzling, and the sword covered by the runes began to shine. Slowly the lights began to dim, and the rune disappeared from the surface of the sword and the sword returned and to its original appearance. In addition to the sword handle’s hole slot, there were no differences between the newly crafted sword and the original sword of hundred skills. Master Bentham took the sword of a hundred skills with his trembling hands and tapped it with his fingers. The sword flashed a cold light, and Master Bentham’s fingers were covered with frost. Abel saw the frost on Master Bentham’s finger and immediately asked, “Master, are you all right?” “Ha-ha!” Master Bentham laughed wildly, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes. He began to mutter words.”I-I, agh! I never thought that I could live to see the day where one of my disciples… could be making magical swords. Finally… I can die without any more regrets.”

Chapter 25 - Master Blacksmith Chapter 25: Master Blacksmith Abel used a few normal gems to redecorate the big sword’s handguard so that no one could see the internal magical power of the gems held within the long sword. He repolished handguards, along with a curved decoration strip made as well as adjusting the small and shattered gemstones of the sword. This transformed the sword from a normal sword of hundred skills an ultra-luxury, deluxe edition of an Ice magic sword of hundred skills. The explosion that occurred on the other day had dispelled Abel’s plan to create The Ancient Vow rune. The defense power he possessed was nowhere as strong enough to withhold its power. It would be very dangerous if it exploded again during his second try. Time flew, and in a blink of an eye, three months had already past. Nowadays, Abel was living a very fulfilling lifestyle. He has already forged over twelve swords of a hundred skills, one of them being the ultra-luxurious, deluxe edition of the ice magical sword of hundred skills. He even produced five shields of hundred skills, made of rough iron. These shields were made as preparations for his future plan to make The Ancient Vow in the rune system. It was already April, and the weather was becoming warmer and warmer. People who worked in the forgery had already begun forging weapons right from the morning. “Abel, you and I are going to the Blacksmith’s union in Harvest City today.” Said Master Bentham as he looked towards Abel who was still recovering his energy to make another one of his One Hundred-skilled bases. “Why are we going to the blacksmith’s union at Harvest City, and what are we doing?” Abel questioned Master Bentham with a strange look on his face. Master Bentham replied to Abel’s question with an excited tone; “After you made the magic sword, I have requested a swordmaster from the blacksmith union to assess your sword. I got the news from the blacksmith’s union yesterday, and they notified me that they will be assessing you tomorrow.” “Congratulations, master!” Abel knew Master Bentham was only called the blacksmith Master Bentham by the locals. Being able to make a hundred-skilled rough iron was only the fundamentals of becoming a master. In order to truly be approved by the blacksmith union as a Blacksmith Master, one would need a very diverse and profound skill set. Therefore, Master Bentham was only a competent master, but not a blacksmith master. “Why are you congratulating me?, I am only the person who helped you apply.” Bentham gently padded Abel’s head, “For my entire life, I have been trying to forge magical weapons. I will never succeed to make one, though, and that’s why I could never become a real Blacksmith Master. However, the fact that you can make magic weapons, it shows that you are already worthy to surpass what I’m capable of.” At first, Abel doesn’t seem to have a lot of interest in becoming a Blacksmith master. However, when he realized that he could learn more runes if he becomes a master, as well as on the strong recommendation from Master Bentham, he agreed and said: “I will go and prepare now.” Abel loaded nine normal swords of hundred skills, and one luxurious, deluxe edition of the fire-magic sword of hundred skills onto Master Bentham horse carriage from his private operating room. Abel decided to leave 2 of those normal swords of a hundred skills at his own “Harry’s Weapon Shop”. The rest of them were being sold in Edmund’s Boutique Shop for money. If all the swords were being sold through Harry’s shop, it would hugely impact the prices of those swords in the local market, which would also lead to suspicion from other weapon shops. Ultimately, this could bring a huge disadvantage to his shop in Harvest City, which was just taken recently off the hands of Lord Joel. One of the main advantages of trading it to Edmund’s Boutique shop was that they have distribution shops all around the country. This meant that they could easily sell off the seven swords. The luxury sword, on the other hand, could be auctioned off by the boutique shop which would generate a large amount of profit for Abel. The carriage trip to harvest city was bumpy as usual. Abel already had plans of crafting a vibration-damping carriage so that the ride won’t be as bumpy. At around 10 am in the morning, the horse carriage finally arrived at the Blacksmith’s Union which was located in the center of the town. The Blacksmith Union was a multinational organization in the mainland. The organization was created three thousand years ago by a couple of humans and dwarfs, who were all blacksmith elders three thousand years ago. After all these years, even the Orcs have joined the organization. This ultimately formed the blacksmith union that was known today. The unions mainly assessed the blacksmiths’ ability and handed out medals according to their skill level. However, they also provided protection for those blacksmiths who had joined the organization. The moment Bentham and Abel entered the Union’s hall, a dwarf with a large beard walked towards them. This was the first time that Abel had seen a dwarf in his life. He tried his very best and controlled himself from not staring at the dwarf. “Bentham, my old friend, the union notified me to host as soon as they heard about your application.” The dwarf then held his arms wide opened and Bentham lowered his body to give him a hug. When they finished hugging each other, Bentham laughed and said, “I can’t believe the union is telling you to host the assessment, I still remember the days where we were being taught by Mr. Robin. After so many years, you still look so young.” Abel was a little speechless as he looked over at the dwarf with his face covered with his large beard. He couldn’t imagine what Bentham meant when he said that his dwarf friend was young. “This is my student, Abel, and Harry.” Bentham pointed at Abel who was standing on the side and introduced him to the dwarf. Bentham then turned around and said to Harry, “This is master Sorin Oakshield, a junior who studied with me.” Sorin Oakshield jumped in and yelled, “I am your senior, mind you! ” “Back when we studied together, when I was a young adult, you were still a child. So, of course, I am your senior.” Bentham laughed. “Oh, I am older than you, yet I was still a child?” Master Sorin yelled as he waved his fists around. Abel finally understood the argument between the two of them as he watched from the side. Dwarfs generally had a longer life span, usually about 500 years. But normal humans could only live for around 100 years, so that’s why they were having this banter with one another. Master Sorin knew that there wouldn’t be a point to continue to dwell on this topic, so he quickly turned his head and began talking about Abel, “So is this the person that will be assessed to become the new blacksmith master? he is way too young! You only have one chance in your lifetime to apply for an assessment to become a blacksmith master and you gave it to him?” These questions clearly showed that Sorin did not trust Abel’s ability. Every skill that a blacksmith acquired, needed time to perfect and master. I am almost 60 years old, and I am losing my essence, I am afraid that I cannot become a blacksmith master anymore. I would never have the chance to use this application, but-,” Master Bentham looked directly towards Abel and said: “Ever since Abel became a student of mine, he had created miracles again and again. I believe that he has the ability to become a Master Blacksmith, and that’s why I brought him here for an assessment.” “Ok, up to you, then. Let us begin the assessment,” Master Sorin lead both of them into the workshop. There were 3 mirrors placed on the wall, there was a blacksmith workbench in the middle with all the tools that they need and there was also a blacksmith furnace on the side that was burning. Sorin then took out 6 red gems and placed them on the notch of the wall. All of a sudden, the mirror’s surface began to shake. Three figures including, a dwarf and two humans began to emerge. Master Bentham then proceeded to bow to the three figures in the mirror, “Hello masters. Sorry for interrupting your time.” Abel seemed to be quite amazed and shocked at the same time. Then, Master Sorin began to explain the procedures of the assessment to him. Master Blacksmiths had 5 chances to apply for a grandmaster assignment. A top tier blacksmith was a once in a lifetime chance. After the application was passed, there would be a grandmaster here to be the witness, and the other 3 will be remotely assessing the processes of the procedures through a magical array. This type of magic array was made by the Array master of the elves. It could only transfer images, but it cannot transfer sound. “Let’s start,” Master Sorin said to Abel after explaining the rules and procedures. Abel remained silent, he first bowed to Master Sorin and the three masters on the mirrors. The raw materials on the workbench were very high quality. Abel took a piece of the material and threw it into the furnace. After a short period of time, he took out the material and hammered it back and forth. Due to his highly trained proficient skill and speed, it only took a little over 2 hours to forge the material to the 80 skills. Now he only needed to further forge them from 80 skills to 100 skills Since he was using up his Power of Will, the speed of him forging the material from 80 to 100 was even faster than before. Master Sorin began to look at Abel in a new light. The skillful use of his Power of Will when it comes to forging was not very common among the masters. Instead, most masters would use their experience to forge the martial from 80 skills to 100 skills. It didn’t take long for the materials to be forged to 100 skills. After taking a small break, Abel began to shape the sword. The time flew past quickly, and the sword has taken its shape. Abel did not stop there. He proceeded to use the chisel to open a small indent on the handguard. This move suddenly grabbed Master Sorin’s attention. He immediately turned to Master Bentham with a look of doubt. But Master Bentham nodded back to Sorin confidently, confirming his belief in his student. Master Sorin knew that although Bentham had been trying to forge a sword like this for his entire life, Bentham had failed. However, now it seemed that his student was able to complete his cherished desire. The moment Abel took out his rune pen. Master Sorin’s confirmed his suspicions. Magical weapons were some of the highest tier weapons. It was considered precious even from the master tier weapon perspective. Seeing That Abel was in a state of deep focus as he drew the runes. The 3 masters in the mirror immediately knew what weapon it would be. Therefore, they began to pay even closer attention. The final process of embedding the blue gem and the guidance of The Power of Will went smoothly. Soon, an ice magical sword was completed. Although it was not decorated, the masters agreed—this ice magical sword was fabulous, and it had well surpassed the blacksmith master examination standards. Master Sorin turned around and looked at the 3 figures in the mirror. After all the masters nodded in confirmation. Master Sorin took out a medal from his chest directly and spoke to Abel with a serious tone, “Congratulations, Abel Harry master, you are now the 36th blacksmith master in the blacksmith union.” After these words, Master Sorin placed the medal in front of Abel’s chest. He then stepped up and gave Abel a hug. Just like Master Bentham, Abel also bent down to return Master Sorin’s hug. This gesture of kindness shown that Master Sorin was now treating Abel as an equal. The three masters from the mirror have also bowed at Abel. As soon as Abel finished returning the bow, the figures vanished from the mirror.

Chapter 26 - Second Visit To The Boutique Shop Chapter 26: Second Visit to the Boutique Shop Because Master Bentham and The Knight of Marshall had businesses to discuss together, the Knight of Marshall had arranged it so that he would come to the council to pick up them up back to the castle after two hours. In the meantime, Abel sat on his carriage and went off towards Edmond’s boutique shop. When Abel entered Edmond’s boutique shop, Yvette was nowhere near in sight, so Abel went towards the counter and asked the male assistant “I’m looking for Ms. Yvette, have you seen her?” Since Master Bentham had just dropped off Abel in Harvest City directly coming from the blacksmith shop, Abel was still wearing grey cotton overalls. It was stained with traces of burnt fabric and sparks from the master blacksmith examination. Alongside with Abel’s young age, he looked as if he was just another normal civilian. Surprisingly, the male shop assistant did not discriminate against Abel since he saw that Abel had arrived on a horse carriage. No matter how Abel looked or who he may be, the shop assistant knew that anyone who arrives on a horse carriage was probably someone who he couldn’t afford to offend, else he could risk losing his job. Therefore, the shop assistant politely assisted Abel to wait at the chairs in the reception hall. Before the waiter left, he gave Abel a cup of coffee then promptly went upstairs to find Yvette. Suddenly, a shrill voice came out from somewhere. “Who do you think you are? How could a peasant like you sit down at a boutique shop? Are you here for the free coffee, is that it?” Abel looked around hesitantly for a few moments before finding out that it was himself who was being called a peasant. Abel had already accustomed to his identity in this world. Ever since he came here, no one has ever made such an insult to him. He looked at the man with a frown on his face and spoke to the man directly. The man who called Abel a peasant was a skinny thirty years old man with a face as dry as the desert. He was wearing a black dress like a stick in his body with a posture like a bent shrimp. “Are you talking about me? Abel questioned the man in an unimpressed and dissatisfied tone. “Nice try, in pretending to be someone you will never be,” The man then glanced over towards Abel. He then laughed at Abel as he saw the Blacksmith medal that he, not even once, had seen in his whole life. “If you’re going to bring a blacksmith medal. At least bring one that looks real, not some shady fake pieces like these! Guards, get this guy out of here,” The man said with a mocking tone. “Sir, please exit the store.” Said the two guards as they approached Abel. “If Edmond’s boutique shop doesn’t give me what I’m looking for, I will forward this matter to the Noble tribunal for my rights and authority to be here,” said Abel as he took out a white unicorn coat of arms from one of the pockets. He immediately displayed it in front of the guards. When the two guards saw the coat of arms from Abel’s hand, they frantically ran away in panic. The man who doubted Abel suddenly became pale and shocked. No one in this world dared to fake the coat of arms. This was because that faking the coat of arms was a sin and it would often lead to a death penalty. Moreover, the coat of arms represented the status of a noble. Only the noble and his successors would have had the rights and eligibility to use their family coat of arms. The noble arbitration court was built to protect the noble’s rights. When the noble’s dignity was violated, the noble arbitration court would step in and defend the noble’s legitimate rights. This may sound a civilized thing to do, but the noble arbitration court and their course of action were extremely cruel. According to past events, every time a noble arbitral tribunal was dispatched, for violating and insulting the dignity of these high-classed noble, someone was bound to be burned to death. “What’s the matter? Yvette hurried down the stairs at a brisk pace and saw the situation and what was happening. When two guards saw her, they slowly walked back with their body shrinking backward. Yvette quickly glanced over and saw Abel’s clothes. She quickly realized the situation and she spoke apologetically, “Hello, I apologies on behalf of Edmond’s auction house for all the inconvenience caused to you.” At the same moment, Yvette’s eyes froze as she witnessed the medal on Abel’s chest. “Are you a Master Abel? The 36th blacksmith to passed the blacksmith master rating?” said Yvette with an astonished and shocked tone. “Ms. Yvette, you are correct, I am Abel. I didn’t realize that the news would go around so fast.” Abel lamented on how fast the new has spread. Rumors were just as widespread as it was on earth. “Master Abel, we have just received word from headquarters that you have passed the assessment at the Harvest City Blacksmith Guild. Headquarters has specifically requested that our division follow closely onto you.” Yvette then quickly glanced over to the man who doubted Abe, and followed up with an apology to Abel, “Our boutique shop will give you an account of your injustice.” When the tall and thin man heard what Yvette had said, he suddenly became paralyzed on the ground. These words from Yvette’s had sealed his fate. But at the same time, he knew how insignificant his fate is in the eyes of others Abel had a special intention when he wore his blacksmith master medal to Edmond’s boutique shop. This was because he wanted to auctions his Sword of thousand skills, and also a deluxe version of a Fire Magical Sword of hundred skills at Edmond’s boutique shop in this identity. By doing so, not only it was easier to sell the swords, but it could also attract more publicity to this auction. Therefore maximizing the value of these weapons. “Ms. Yvette, I’ve brought some of the forged weapons that I’ve made, and I’d like Edmond’s boutique shop to help me put it up for auction.” When Yvette heard what Abel had said, her eyes lit up and suddenly shined. This was a wonderful opportunity for her to be putting up the newly titled master blacksmith’s weapons for sale at Edmond’s auction house. As Yvette was in charge of this matter, this could well be an immense achievement for her and it would boost her future career and promotion tremendously. “Thank you for your trust in Edmond’s boutique shop and we will sell your work at the highest standards within our auction.” “Said Yvette excitedly. Abel made a preposition. “On one condition only, these weapons will not be auctioned at Harvest City.” At first, Yvette was confused by Abel’s preposition, but then she immediately understood his reasonings. This was because there was a new weapon shop called Harry’s Weapon shop in the same town, and Abel’s last name was Harry as well. Therefore Abel must not want people to misunderstood that all the weapons in that store were also owned by his family. “No problem, Master Abel.” To Yvette, It didn’t matter where she sold the weapons, as long as she was in charge of the selling, she would’ve been able to take all the credits regardlessly. As the guards unloaded some of the weapons from Abel’s carriage at the front door. Abel pointed to the seven swords of thousand skills and said: “These are just the weapons I made during my training, they are just ordinary weapons of hundred skills.” He then pointed towards the deluxe version of fire magical sword and said: “This variant was made with the use of dwarf technology, after some decorations, I named it the ‘Deluxe version of fire magic sword of thousand skills ‘”. “Wait, Is this a magical weapon?” Of course, Yvette had heard of magical weapons before. That being said, though, they were classified as extremely rare and high-end weapons. Even the headquarters of the Edmond boutique store could rarely see one. Curiously, Yvette drew the large sword from its sheath, but the sword was too heavy for a lady. So she held the large sword with both her hands and attempted to place it on the counter for a closer inspection. Suddenly Abel’s heart skipped a beat as he what Yvette was about to do, he quickly shouted; “Be careful!” But it was too late, the fire magical sword had slipped from Yvette’s hand. The moment that the body of the sword touched the floor, a red light flashed from the body of the sword. “Dong” the sword had hit the ground. In that split second the area where the sword was dropped had become fully blacken, and the atmosphere of the boutique shop was filled with a burnt smell. Abel quickly picked up the sword from the ground and placed it back into the sheath, Yvette was in complete shock and frightened by what had just happened. The sword would have put a huge hole on the counter if it was directly placed there. Let alone thinking of the consequences burning down such an expensive counter, Yvette could not help but pat herself on the chest. At the same time, she had now truely experienced how terrifying the fire magical power of this sword was. She couldn’t imagine what would be the consequence if this sword was used to attack people. “Master Abel, I will only charge a commission of two percent of the total value of your weapons.” This was the lowest commission that Yvette could’ve offered to anyone, and she offered it to Abel for thanking him earlier for his warning. “Thank you, Ms. Yvette.” Abel had understood all the details and procedures of the auction, and thankful for Yvette’s kind intentions. Then, Yvette signed the contact with Abel. Therefore, the 7 swords of hundred skills and the deluxe version of a fire magic sword of hundred skills were left at Edmond’s boutique shop for auction. Afterward, Abel went to Harry’s weapons shop and handed 2 more swords of hundred skill to the manager. The manager did not ask any questions as he was an experienced businessman. Seeing that the two hours were already up, Abel called the driver and headed back to the blacksmith shop to pick up Master Bentham and go back to the castle.

Chapter 27 - Wolfriders Chapter 27: Wolfriders 30 minutes had passed… The two were well on their way now going back to the castle. During the journey, Abel and Master Bentham were exchanging knowledge in their forging experiences with one another. But for most parts, Master Bentham was mainly teaching and mentoring Abel. Although Abel was a quick learner and had already become a blacksmith master, he was nowhere near as experienced as Master Bentham. While they were chatting away, Abel suddenly felt that the carriage had come to a stop. So, He then lifted the curtain of the horse carriage and asked the driver, “What’s wrong?” The cart driver was in shocked as he spoke with a sense of astonishment, “Something seems odd with the village ahead. Maybe something had happened.” Abel then spoke directly to Master Bentham, “Master, you stay in the carriage while I go take a look at what’s going on.” Master Bentham laughed and said. “I’m a level five fighter myself. You don’t need to worry about me.” For someone who was only a level five fighter like Master Bentham, Abel was extremely skeptical about his capacity to fight. Even The Knight of Marshall himself had to keep training every single day to maintain his fighting ability. As for Master Bentham, Abel had never seen him practicing his fighting skills a single time, ever since the day they met. But Abel did not insist on Master Bentham staying. As the two got out of the carriage, they immediately saw the distant village rising in clouds of black smoke. “I’ll go ahead and take a look.” As Abel pulled out the great ice magical sword that had been forged during the blacksmith union evaluation, from the trunk of the carriage. The sword was not yet decorated, so it looked ugly, but it certainly would not affect its defensive capabilities and functions. “Be careful,” Master Bentham warned. Abel waved his hand, signaling that he understood Bentham’s goodwill, and promptly walked towards the village. The closer he got to the village, the more Abel sensed that something was wrong. It wasn’t just a small fire, it was the entire village and its’ houses being burnt down. When Abel arrived at the village, he was in shock from what he had just witnessed. The ground of the village was littered with dead bodies of the innocent villagers. Not only that, but some of the dead bodies were mutilated. It seemed as though as they have been bitten by an animal of some sort. The most disturbing thing to Abel was the sight of the multiple corpses of children. These bodies were scattered in almost all parts of the village. It was obvious that what happened here was an unjust slaughter. Only a group that had absolute power could have planned a massacre like this. In Abel’s knowledge of this world’s history, it would be extremely rare to see the slaughtering of innocent civilians even if it’s an invasion of another country. As Abel walked around the village, there was not a single survivor. It seemed that the killers were highly trained and experienced. They might even possess special abilities. The places where the people hid had been completely abolished, and those who had hidden were killed without mercy. Abel had never felt such so anxious, it was almost indescribable to him. Even though this area was not a part of his family’s territory. As a human being, he couldn’t help but felt a sense of sympathetic sadness and sorrowfulness for the victims of this massacre. When Abel came to this world, he thought he saw a peaceful image. Even though he had been attacked by people before. he thought that no world could be perfect, there would always be criminals out there. However, what he had witnessed today was the first time something has shocked him to his soul. Maybe this world was not as peaceful as he had imagined. People were being slaughtered in their own home! What would’ve happened if that was his own family? What if it was the Bennett family? As Abel didn’t return for a long period of time, Bentham was starting to get worried. he quickly hurried to the village, when he saw the scene of the massacre and the bodies, he was also in a great deal of shock. “God, what happened?” Master Bentham quickly went over to the bodies of the victims and examined it carefully. “Orcs,” he said grimly, “It was the orcs.” Master Bentham then pointed towards the wounds of the corpses and said. “These were the bite marks of wolves. No wonder there were recent reports of Wolfriders being seen around here.” The Wolfriders were the dominant unit of the Orc empire’s military, which were mostly trained by the werewolves and worgens. The Wolfrider troops were extremely strong when it came to their speed, agility, flexibility and their stance of direction. All these characteristics made the Wolf cavalry one of the strongest armies here in Mainland. Not only were they strong, but they were also extremely adaptable to even the toughest environment. During long battles, they feed off from the slain enemies allowing them for maximum efficiencies in continuing their battles. “We better go back immediately! The Knight of Marshall needs to know about this” Suddenly, something occurred to Master Bentham. He realized that there must be still some werewolves nearby, and with the speed of these werewolves. All the villages and castles nearby around here would be in great danger. Abel and master Bentham quickly returned to their carriage and hurried back towards Harry’s Castle with the driver driving as fast as he can. … Simon was a Worgen. Or, rather, a wolf rider in the Wolf cavalry. His wife was a female wolf, named Black Wind Simon’s home was in a barren plain that had experienced a great deal of poverty. His home had around two hundred acres of land and he had nine brothers and sisters. As Simon was the second child of the family, their two hundred acres of land not providing enough source of food for their entire family’s need. So, his parents decided to use up the majority of their resources on Simon, as he had the potential of becoming a member of the wolf riders. But by doing so, this meant that all his brothers and sisters would starve. In order to gain more land for his family, Simon made up his mind. He would participate in the trial of death. In the past, every participant who could survive the trial of death would be rewarded with a piece of land. Besides that, most of them could often be brought back a large number of gold coins and gems, which were more than enough to buy a whole lot of land. Simon tried his best not thinking about the consequences of the annual trial death. He tried not to remind himself of a large number of people who would not make it back alive. He only wished to be one of the survivors. Simon felt that he was out of luck the other night when he was passing through the Budapest mountains. He allocated his wife, Black Wind, to rest a shed within the barracks. There were a lot of other male wolves in the shed. One of them had sexual interaction with his wife. After riding the flying beast through the Budapest mountains, the small group of cavalry troops, which consisted of ten members set off and began their journey. Everything was going smoothly as they progressed forward. They avoided towns and only attacked small villages, although the rewards from raiding these small villages weren’t massive, these successive raids on the small villages allowed Simon to gain a significant amount of confidence throughout his journey. But one day, Simon found out that his wife was pregnant. Wolves were extremely loyal creatures. Their loyalty to their master was unprecedented among all animals. When a baby wolf was born, the first creature it sees would ultimately become its master. Normally, the pregnancy of a wolve was a very happy event and deserved to be celebrated. Whether if it was to give his brother the right to claim his title as the master, or to give up the privilege of being a master in exchange for a large number of resources, it was just a beautiful thing within the wolves culture. But since this was a world where humans lived, Simon would have to fight here with the current situation on hand. A pregnant wolf meant that it would greatly affect Simon’s ability to use his power during the trial. Even though the villagers in the previous siege did not resist their attack, but the gore and excessive violence of their attacks, it gave Black Wind a lot of damage during her pregnancy. This meant that she was unable to keep up with the squad, and the other Wolf cavalry team members weren’t willing to put themselves at risk for Simon’s problems. The only reason that the wolves are able to launch multiple attacks in different villages was because of their speed. The speed of the wolf cavalry determined their fate during the trial of death. Simon stayed behind while the others left. He was the only one that stayed with his wife. He didn’t dare to enter towards the open, the only thing he could’ve done was to hide in the forest and wait for Black Wind to give birth. Every day Simon was hunting in the jungle, and every time he went out and hunt, there was just enough food for him and his partner to eat and survive. He often thought to himself, when would he be able to own land like these, to have more food than he could ever eat. The wealth of humans in this world often attracted countless Orcs like Simon himself. They all have one common goal – grab it and occupy it. Every day, Simon carved a line on a tree to count off the days. All he wanted now was to spend his remaining two months safely in this jungle. Then, he could travel back to meet up zone to return home, to his Orc empire.

Chapter 28 - Preparation Before Battle Chapter 28: Preparation Before Battle “Uncle Marshall, when I was on my way back from Harvest City, I witnessed a village that was attacked by the Orcs. It was located between the Castle and Harvest city.” When Knight Marshall heard about this affair, he immediately notified his steward Lindsey, “Lindsey, ring the alarm bell now and get all the villagers from all of our territories to enter the Castle for shelter now. When they are inside, make sure you verify their identity as well.” “Yes, my Lord,” Lindsey quickly said and promptly hurried out. “Uncle Marshall, I’ve prepared a present for you. I originally intended to give this present to you later for your birthday. But with the current circumstances, we have on our hands, I think you should have it now so that it could increase your strength.” Abel then brought out a deluxe version of an ice magic sword of hundred skills directly from his bag… When they returned to the castle, Abel went into the operations room and took out another piece of the deluxe ice magic sword of hundred skills which was also originally prepared for Marshall’s birthday. However, he decided to give the deluxe version of the ice magic sword of hundred skills directly to Knight Marshall right now. This was a crucial move for Abel since increasing their fighting strength was what mattered the most right now. Once again, Abel took out another piece of the deluxe version of the ice magic sword of hundred skills. There wasn’t much time left to lose, so Abel also handed it over into the hands of Knight Marshall. “A magic sword!” The Knight Marshall pulled out the sword as he gently touched the sword with touched it his fingers. He then hastily shook off the frost on his hand and said excitedly; “Wow, this is a magic ice sword! That’s the good stuff!” He then turned around and looked undeviatingly at Abel and stated; “Bentham had been researching the forging process of magic weapons for a long time. Looks like his hard work has finally paid off!” “This was my gift to you. How could you say that it was forged from Master Bentham?” Abel felt a sense of speechlessness to see that the gift that he made was being said to be made by someone else’s. Knight Marshall couldn’t believe it. He was speechless for a while. “Abel, you made this sword?” Knight Marshall questioned him with a sense of disbelief. Abel remained in silent, he then pointed directly to his own master blacksmith’s medal on his chest. It was then that Knight Marshall has finally just realized that Abel had an extra medal carried on him. “You’re a Master Blacksmith?” After hearing what Abel said, Knight Marshall was suddenly in doubt of the entire world and his whole existence… Since when could a 13-year-old novice like you can become a Master Blacksmith? “The trip that I took to Harvest City was for evaluating the weapons I’ve made,” Abel said “Was this true?” Knight Marshall’s facial expression immediately shifted from being astonished to being wildly excited. He then began to laugh frantically in joy, “Ha, Ha-ha-ha, BWAHAHA! We have a Master Blacksmith here in our own home! Hey, Abel, I want the best magic armor, the strongest magic shield, a magic knight firearm… Oh, I almost forgot, I also want a magical bow too.” Abel looked at the already overly-enthusiastic Knight Marshall. He headed out of the room without even bothering to look back. According to what Knight Marshalled had requested, it would’ve required all the best blacksmiths in the blacksmith union. All for a silly dream such as this… All of a sudden, the bell rang heavily, there were 20 soldiers wearing leather armors and equipped with long guns. They rode their horses as they gathered in front of the castle, The Knight Marshall immediately changed into his imitation Blazing sun armor as he jumped onto his personal white warhorse. His horse was way more powerful than any other ordinary warhorses, it was tall and equipped with the deluxe edition of the sword of hundred skills (Abel’s gift). On his hand, he was carrying a knight’s rifle as he stood in front of his squad of cavalry soldiers preparing to give a speech. “Those filthy Orcs had appeared again. My soldiers, let’s get our weapons ready, together we will defend our homeland from these Orcs!” After hearing Knight Marshall’s motivating address, the soldiers were all aroused and were all ready to go into battle to fight bravely. If anyone managed to slay an orc himself, it would be considered an Outstanding Military Service. In the past, the only way to achieve an Outstanding Military Service was to serve as a guard in Miracle City. Now, this opportunity was everywhere. To Abel, he thought the soldiers at Harry’s Castle were brave and steadfast. An entire platoon of twenty horses, along with the costs of training for these soldiers… Only the wealthy and powerful people like Bentham’s masters could have afforded such a group of well-trained elite soldiers. … At the Bennett Castle, a sweaty messenger quickly approached The Knight Bennett and handed him a parcel. He quickly told the butler to give a small reward to compensate the messenger as he returned immediately back to his room with the parcel. When the Knight Bennett opened the package, he spotted a large sword and two enclosed letters. One of the letters was from Knight Marshall, informing him about the recent attacks that occurred on the villages as well as to raise their awareness and to scout out for any future Orc attacks that may occur. The other letter was from Abel, which read “Your birthday present came early.” When Knight Bennett pulled out a large sword from his package, he immediately recognized that something was different about this sword. The value of the sword he had just pulled out was immeasurable… When he found out that the sword was an Ice magical sword, The Knight of Bennett immediate felt a heart full of sentiment. Even though Abel had become the adopted son of someone else, Abel was still willing to spend a large amount to purchase an Ice Magical Sword as a present for The Knight of Bennett to protect himself after he realized the Orcs were now roaming around. These days, The Knight Bennett was already filled with regrets for letting Abel get adopted. If had realized that Abel had forged this sword himself, who knows how much more regretful could he get. … When Abel traveled to the blacksmith store earlier today. Everyone who saw him including his apprentices was all gazing at him differently. They all seemed to obtain a sense of respect for Abel. People were now addressing him as Master Abel, but he seemed to be stressed whenever he heard people calling him by the title of “Master”. However, Abel was no longer an undistinguished ordinary blacksmith, he was now a “Blacksmith Master” which required him to be less humble and modest about his identity as he was now representing an entire community, the highest of the Blacksmith Union. When Abel went back into the store, he went into his dedicated operations room and locked himself inside… Ever since he started forging weapons, he always had a low requirement for his equipment. Although he could forge a sword of a hundred skills, he had never truly forged a customized weapon for himself. The only sword that he had with him was the magic ice sword which was forged during the blacksmith examination. Why didn’t Abel forge weapons for himself? Firstly, Abel himself was not in any particular danger back then. He had never thought that it would be in use and it would be wasteful to leave it there to rust. Secondly, his body was growing speedily due to puberty. This meant that the equipment that he made now would be wasted as the equipment that he crafted would not be able to fit him as he grew even one year older. However, in the current situation, the chances of a battle happening were extremely likely. So Abel finally decided to forge a few pieces of protective gear just in case. By doing so, the new equipment would greatly enhance Abel’s chance of remaining alive… The upcoming battle looked as though it would determine the life and death of Abel and everyone he knew. Firstly, Abel had to experiment a little bit with his current concept. He then wore some very thick gloves and placed a ceramic bottle into the furnace. After it was burning for a while, he took out the ceramic bottle with iron clamps, then directly threw a bucket of iced water at it. Almost at the same time, Abel stuffed the ceramic bottle in the Horadric Cube and pressed start. Although Abel saw that the ceramic bottle had entered inside the Horadric Cube. There was not a change ever since Abel took it out of the furnace. After remaining silent in deep thought, suddenly Abel realized that the body of the Ceramic Bottle seemed to have some cracks them. As soon as Abel moved a single heartbeat, the ceramic bottle appeared on his hands. At the same time, he slammed the Ceramic bottle into a pile of debris and as it fell to the ground, everything was shattered to pieces. “It worked! Abel rejoiced and immediately felt a sense of relieve and satisfaction in his heart. Now, Abel had to forge a piece of a large magic sword, the current pace he had right now was considered very quick already. Normally it would take around 5 hours on average to forge a magic sword. He was fast enough now to take 5 hours to make a big magic sword. With the magic sword now in the process of being forged, Abel intentionally wanted to write a few runes differently. He added a lot of useless strokes connecting in the most complicated way. During the final step when he was leading the magical power of the blue gem to the center of the Runes, the moment before the white light flashed, he shoved the sword into the Horadric Cube. With the leftover time, Abel worked extremely hard to create an oversized shield of hundred skills. The shield was as thick as 30 centimeters, if Abel wasn’t a level 5 knight, he wouldn’t even be able to lift this gigantic shield. Abel then took the failed magic ice sword that he just made from the Horadic Cube. This time Abel had learned his lesson, the moment he took out the sword, he threw it outside and he counted slowly”1,2,3” in his head… When Abel counted to 3, he heard a loud Bang outside the shield, followed by a chaotic noise of “Ding Ding Dong Dong” it sounded like the shield being strike by a thousand spears. After the noise had stopped, Abel peaked his head from the back of the shield. The explosion was much larger this time. The large stone wall was pierced with countless scattered pieces, some even seemed to have made a small hole on the wall. When Abel saw his shield, he was so deeply shocked that his entire body felt like they were drenched in cold sweat. There were holes everywhere on his shield and the holes looked as if they were hit by bullets, it was even deep enough to put a finger through. If Abel wasn’t holding an extra thick shield, he might have been heavily wounded from the blast of the sword. Abel couldn’t believe that by adding a few runes circuits, the effect of the explosion would’ve increased by such a significant amount. “What would have happened if a sword like this were thrown in the middle of a crowd?” Abel thought to himself. Abel could only imagine the catastrophic accidents it would’ve caused. No one could’ve survived a blast that strong. Of course, such a highly dangerous weapon had to be stored in the horadric cube, so a weapon like this could only be Abel’s secret weapon. The Horadric Cube was the most important secret of Abel his success was entirely aided it’s with the assistance. Therefore, Abel would not let anyone who had a glimpse of it remain alive In the evening, Abel did not return to the castle to rest. He stayed up the entire night to forge three pieces of exploding swords to be stored within the Horadric Cube. In the meantime, Abel had also learned self-defense and how to properly protect himself. Abel suddenly thought about the grenades in the original old world. The explosion that had just occurred was similar to the explosion of grenades. According to what Abel learned from the era of the explosion, the safest place to survive after a grenade exploded would be on the ground even though there would be shockwaves. Based on the original world’s concept of the tank cannon-bounce shells, Abel built a much smaller shield that could be hung around the waist. During the explosion, the person could reduce the number of damage in an explosion by lying on the ground, and then using the small shield to bounce off the pieces of debris at different oblique angles.

Chapter 29 - Large Beast Traps Chapter 29: Large Beast Traps Abel returned to the castle the next morning. After he had breakfast and rested for two hours, he returned to his private operation room in the Blacksmith’s Guild. For the trillionth time, Abel was a bodybuilding trainer in his previous life. He was used to going hiking with his friends in the wild, which made him have a lot of experience in hunting. This time, Abel wanted to make a giant bear trap according to his memories. As Master Bentham suggested, the wolfriders were very fast and flexible. They would often implement a hit-and-run strategy during battle. If they didn’t have a large number of soldiers to surround them, it would be very difficult to annihilate them. However, things would be completely different if we could make a large bear trap. If a wolfrider stepped on it, it would at the very least injured their leg. This could hugely reduce their speed, therefore they will no longer be a threat. The beasts and humans of this world were both much stronger than the beasts and humans in the previous incarnation of earth. Thus, Abel thought that he needed something special to stop these wolfriders. The components of the gigantic bear trap consisted of a large compression spring, two charm clamps, a clamp trigger, a button, and a chain. After the compression spring was flattened with force, it was gently held secured with the clamp trigger. If someone stepped on it, the two sharp clamps would be released instantaneously—catching the prey with a tremendous amount of rebound force. Since the two sharp clamps were not fully enclosed yet, the more the prey struggled, the tighter the grip would be. It would be easy to imagine if the mount wolf of a wolfrider was caught by this gigantic bear trap. With the speed of the wolfrider. the mount wolf would be in excruciating amounts of pain. Therefore, the wolf rider would most likely be shaken off by the mount wolf. This world did not have such a large bear trap, therefore the placement of the traps should not attract too much attention to the orcs, especially if we add some more camouflage to it. The process of making the trap was simple. The only trouble was the compression spring. According to Abel’s memory, the steel used in the spring must require a high carbon content, to maintain the steel’s elasticity. Abel practiced by forging a rough model with a hundred skills. After several attempts of carburizing, a lot of small samples were made according to different carburizing ratios. After testing, he decided on the best sample, and the production process was finally determined. Then, Abel began mass production. After he made ten compression springs, there were still a lot of materials left. He then made several large spiral springs which could be used as shock absorbers when he decided to upgrade the carriage in the future. Abel did not make any other accessories of the gigantic bear trap him since that would take too much time. The compression springs were the component that mattered the most. The other parts could let other blacksmiths in the blacksmith shop take care of it. Abel called his senior, Gordon, who gave him a drawn blueprint and dimensions of the bear trap’s other components, and requested it to be forged in 2 days. Gordon did not have a problem with the request since he ordered a few of the most capable blacksmith to work extra hours, to complete it as soon as possible. Early next morning, when Abel arrived at the blacksmith shop, Gordon told Abel with a pair of tired red eyes, “Master Abel, all the parts are made according to your requirements, and they are placed in your operation room. ” Abel was very surprised. He thought that it would have taken at least two days, but it was finished in one night. Looking at the tired red eyes of Gordon, He could not help but say, “Why didn’t you sleep last night? I don’t need these parts in a rush.” “Since the blacksmiths heard that it was your command, they refused to delay it and worked overnight.” Gordon did not mention himself. He only gave the credit to the other blacksmiths, who was standing in front of Abel. “Next time, when I forge a sword of hundred skill, the blacksmiths and you can watch on the side. Now, go to rest” Abel said with a smile. “Thank you, Master Abel, I will let them know,” Gordon thanked Abel and ran off. When Abel walked into the operation room, he saw a pile of accessories placed on the ground. It has been divided into ten parts. From these details alone, it was enough to show that Gordon was a very attentive person. It took some effort to assemble such large bear traps, but Abel had always been a tough person, in half an hour, ten large traps were fully assembled. Two horses were brought in, and each of them was strapped with five large traps. After it was secured, Abel waved a hand, signaling that they were ready to go. Behind Harry Castle was a forest. Since Abel has been busy ever since he settled here, he never had the chance to explore this forest. He has heard that there were large beasts roaming around in there, Therefore Abel decided, this would be the place to test out his giant bear trap. Although the castle has now begun to be on guard, when Abel left the castle with the 2 horses, no guard dared to ask anything. Abel’s current status was completely different from that when he first arrived. Everyone knew that Abel has now become a blacksmiths Master. In this world, the title of master could be attained by the elites of that particular profession. Therefore, they would be respected no matter where they go in the Holy Continent. It was the sunniest part of the afternoon. The sun was shining through the gaps of the trees, scattering patches of lights over the fallen leaves on the ground. It made a dull crunching sound as Abel continued to walk. The horses were not very fond of the forest environment ether, as their nose began to make snorting sounds. After he walked for about half an hour, Abel felt that he had arrived at the center of the forest. Although he did not see a single large beast along the way, he found a large pile of beast dung, which suggested there must be large beasts around here. The place was deserted, the last sign of civilization had already disappeared 10 minutes ago. Abel immediately knew this was the perfect place to put the bear trap since the trap was so powerful, it could not be placed anywhere close to humans. Abel squatted down to looked for a beast’ s route on the ground. Beasts would always like to travel on the same route, and they would often leave some footprints behind. Therefore, experienced hunters would always know where the best place to set their traps Although Abel didn’t have as much experience, he was still trained in this aspect. So after careful observation, he found a beast’s route. He immediately took out two gigantic bear traps from the horses. Then, he opened the clamps by force and secured the trigger. There were many techniques when it came to the placements of bear traps. You had to inspect the beast’s route properly in order to speculate the steps they would take. Even if the beast could dodge the first bear trap, it would not be able to escape the second one. After the installation, Abel made an arrow marking on a tree. This mark was a reminder of where Abel had placed the trap and would make sure he wouldn’t step in it, himself. However, since there were arrows on the marking pointing towards different directions, it also allowed Abel to less likely get lost in the forest. Abel continued to move forward. Every ten minutes, he would find a place to put the bear trap. Slowly, he walked for more than an hour, and all the large traps were placed. The sky began to get dark. Abel was packing up his things, preparing to go back to the castle. There were still 2 hours before the sky was completely darkened. Until then, he could still see his way back. At that moment, suddenly he heard a painful, yet angry scream from the distance. A beast must have fallen for his gigantic bear trap. Only a beast could have made a noise in this forest. Abel strapped his horse next to a tree and rushed in the direction of the sound. As Abel was running, he was constantly observing the surrounding environment, and the marking he made. It would be hilarious if he had fell for his own trap. After running for ten minutes, Abel found the marking that he made. He slowed down and walked gently into the trap. Although the sharp clamps had been triggered, there was no prey to be found anywhere. Abel squatted down and touched sharp teeth of the clamp with his hands. There was blood. What triggered the trap might not be a beast after all. Although Abel doesn’t know what else could have triggered it, a beast definitely would not have the intelligence to free itself from it, especially without the help of a human hand. If the beast was very powerful, at most, it would just destroy the trap, not leaving it enclosed like this. Could it be human? Abel shook his head. The voice he had just heard was clearly not human. That, he could be certain of.

Chapter 30 - Simon The Worgen Chapter 30: Simon the Worgen Not far from where the gigantic bear trap was placed, Abel spotted even more bloodstains on the ground. As he resumed his search following the directions of the blood trails, he suddenly stumbled across another spot of bloodstains which wasn’t too far from the original directions that he had come from. Abel continued to follow the blood trail. From the looks of it, the prey didn’t seem to be injured badly. It was probably just a leg. However, as he continued, he thought that maybe the wound on the prey’s leg might be quite serious since it bled continuously. Abel’s hunting instinct and experience in his previous life had taught him that when prey was injured, they instinctively sought the most secure and safe place for themselves to recover from the injury. This would probably be the case with this prey as well. After following the blood trail for around thirty minutes, Abel suddenly saw lights from a fire in front of him. Abel felt confused and found it strange. Humans would never have survived or habited in a place like this. As he slowly approached the fire, Abel saw in the distance, a creature that he had never seen before treating its’ own leg wounds. The creature had a head that looked like a wolf, two canine teeth protruding from the outside, alongside with a body that resembled a human. However, it had a slightly more curved back with a height of around a little over two meters. Next to the creature was a huge mysterious wolf resting on the ground. The belly of the wolf seemed to be so large that it looked as if it was pregnant… Abel was now certain that the creature in front of him was the Wolf Troopers, that attacked the village that he saw earlier, and the wolf that was resting near it must be the legendary mount wolf. … Once again, Simon was out of luck… He hid in the jungle, away from the humans. Every day, he hunted for food to keep himself and the mount wolf well fed. One day, he went out to hunt just like any other ordinary days, he had already familiarised himself with the environment during these days, therefore he had lowered his awareness when moving around the forest… It was an everyday routine for him. During his hunt, he went onto a route that he was extremely familiar with, it was the route that he had took many times and it was the safest road to him. But suddenly, he stepped on something strange, it looked to be two giant elephant’s teeth that clamped through his legs. The pain that he suffered when he stepped onto the trap made him furious. It was so painful that he screamed repeatedly… He didn’t know what it was, but he was certain that it belonged to the humans. After a while, he realized that even though the trap looked scary, it wasn’t particularly painful, and it only injured him a tiny bit. It didn’t even break the bones of his leg, it was just a sharp serrated tooth that tore his skins with the muscle of his lower legs. Most importantly, the trap was easy to break, too. All he did was to gather up all his strength and pry it open with his hands. However, his injured legs still needed to be treated. All the precious medical supplies were left back in his camp. Therefore all he could now was to limp back slowly to his camp, so that he could treat his wound. As Simon treated his wound, he thought to himself… There have been sightings of humans around this area, and it was no longer safe to stay here. It looked like they may have to move to another area. With Simon’s mount wolf Black Wind having to give birth in these upcoming few days, the best time to move away would be tomorrow. To Simon, the quicker they moved, the better. With the birth of a small mount wolf, they will lose all their mobility… All of a sudden, Simon’s nose picked up a different scent in the air. It was the scent of humans, Simon then ferociously stood up with a worried facial expression on his face and looked around carefully to scan for any danger. … Abel observed with extreme caution as the wargon got up and peeked around. Suddenly, Abel realized the wargon must have sensed his presence from a distance. As a wargon, Simon had an extremely strong and terrifying sense of smell. The moment he picked up the scent of Abel, Simon knew that this human was the one who injured him. These inferior humans would need to use such despicable methods to injure him. He was ready to do anything he could to find the bastard who did this and wipe him out the surface of the Earth. When Abel realized that he was spotted by the wargon, the wargon was already dashing directly towards his direction from afar. At that moment, Abel knew he was in big trouble. From the vigorous look of this wargon, it at least possessed the fighting ability of a novice knight, which to say this wolf rider was at least level 6 While Abel was only a rank five Novice Knight, he was only one rank away from being in rank six. However, the probation between knights that were level 1 to 5 only had one combat qi force. The power of the force was determined through level-based, Level 1 being the weakest while level 5 being the strongest. However, their combat qi was only available to fire once at a time, since novice knights did not have a core to generation more combat qi. Therefore, once they used up all their qi in their meridian, it would require at least a few days for them to recover before using it again. The combat qi was like an amplifier for power. If a professional could produce around 500 pounds of force, his combat qi would be capable of doubling that power to a thousand pounds. For level 6 professional, they can use the Combat Qi multiple times, thus multiplying their attacking strength. However, level 5, or below only has one shot to double their strength. Therefore, their difference in strength could not be matched no matter how good the weapons and accessories are. If Abel used his large sword against Simon the wargon, the only outcome would be that Abel being excluded by the force of the sword. While Simon only slowed down a bit by the ice magic of the sword. When Abel thought about it, he suddenly had an idea. He wasn’t going to fight the wargon. Since he saw the injury on the wargon’s legs, maybe he could have a chance to escape. When Simon saw that the man, not only was he unwilling to engage in combat but was turning around and running away, he thought to himself, “What a coward that human was”. With little regard to his injury, Simon began to make a chase after Abel. Originally, Abel thought that since the wargon’s leg was injured, he surely would’ve run faster than the wargon. However, the wagon was still the fastest predator in the Holy continent. Ever since Simon began to chase after Abel, he had been catching up closer and closer to his speed at every second. Abel estimated his current distance to the wargon. If he used the exploding sword with a three-second wait time, he could cause severe damage, or even kill the wargon. However, with all these forests nearby, with the speed of the wagon, it could use these trees as cover and dodge the majority blast. The exploding sword only had one attack, the best chance for Abel would’ve been when the wargon was unprepared for his attack. However, if the first attempt was unsuccessful, the second attempt would be even less likely to succeed as the wargon would’ve raised his awareness. Abel took out a crossbow, which was already loaded with an arrow. He immediately looked back and aimed at the head of the wargon and fired. The wargon had extremely precise reaction time, he instantly dodged the arrow. The wargon was now even closer, Abel realized he didn’t have any time left to reload his crossbow, so he made a quick decision. Abel threw his crossbow directly at the wargon who was rapidly catching up to him. The wargon’s paws caught the crossbow in the air and within seconds, and the crossbow became a pile of trash on the ground. With not much time left, Abel lastly took out the crossbow made by the dwarf. However, he only got the chance to fired it once before it became useless again. With no more ranged weapons equipped with Abel. The only option now was to use the trees to distance himself from the wargon. Abel kept changing directions, by doing so, he could slowly keep his current distance against the wargon. As Abel sprinted, Abel quickly caught a glimpse of a familiar sign with the corner of his eyes. He realized that It was the trap he had set earlier… Simon became more and more frantic. The blood of the Orcs seemed to boil within him. He gave a great shout, and his muscles were immediately all ferociously tensed. It even transformed him from 2 meters large into 2.5 meters. Simon’s speed seemed to change significantly too, Abel suddenly felt the wargon’s breathing behind him. When he looked at the sign again, he was already at his trap that he set earlier, he lunged forward as he held his ground between the two traps that were placed on the ground. The front hand of the trap flipped, which turned over the second trap. This allowed Abel to escape the attack from the wargon claw from behind. The wargon screamed with a cry of “OW ~~”, Simon’s legs were caught again. As he ran, the chain of the gigantic trap was tied to the tree pole at one end, and the strong pulling force caused Simon to fall onto the ground. Abel saw the wargon lying down on the ground, and before the wargon’s hand could pull open the clamp, Abel had pulled out an exploding sword from the horadric cube. Before the white light flashing in the explosion of the sword, Abel was already on the ground taking cover and the light shield at the waist was tilted in front of him to protect him from the explosion. Simon saw a bright, shining white sword flying towards him. It was not moving very fast, which surprised him. But at the same time, an instinctive sense of fear arose from the depths of his body. Then immediately the sword exploded, there was a loud bang, and Abel’s shield jingled in front of him. When everything became quiet, he stood up and the trapped wargon was covered in blood. Particularly in the middle of its fear-filled eyes, a hole was gushing out blood, A piece of debris had directly struck the wagon on its head. Abel approached the wargon. The wargon, who was 2.5 meters in shape, had transformed back to 2 meters upon its’ death. Due to the transformation of the wargon earlier, the clothes made from the fur on its’ body have broken open and something was protruding outside. As Abel took out that something from the blood-smeared wargon. It was a sheepskin paper. On the paper was some kind of Orc’s text with a map and some strange piece of branding. On the brand was carved with a long-curved horn and a lion’s face. The lion looked to have more developed muscles of the body than a normal human, along with sharp claws on its hand followed by a pair of toe shoes. The lion was the god of the Orcs. As Abel investigated further, he found that at the bottom of the brand, there was a star. If there were orcs here, they would’ve known the importance of this sign. These were special Orc ability skill cards. Each sign was sealed with a powerful ability. Because most of the orcs had no written language, the Orc gods used this method to preserve these skills, and the Orcs learned their skills through these signs. The sign that Abel found had another star, this meant there’s still another opportunity the special to learn the special Orc ability. Even though It was not known where Simon had gotten the special Orc sign, but the rarity of this orc sign was beyond doubt even for ordinary Orcs.

Chapter 31 - Orc Skill Card Chapter 31: Orc Skill Card 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.

Chapter 32 - Abel’S Own Mount Wolf Chapter 32: Abel’s Own Mount Wolf 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 - Going Back To The Castle Chapter 33: Going Back to the Castle 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.

Chapter 34 - Compound Bow Chapter 34: Compound Bow 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.

Chapter 35 - First Shot Chapter 35: First Shot 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.

Chapter 36 - Stealing Under Broad Daylight Chapter 36: Stealing Under Broad Daylight Looking at the bow and arrow in his hands, the Knight of Marhsall would never imagined in a million years, that the castle’s crisis could be solved by only shooting some arrows. He wondered, could this be this the true power of a blacksmith master? As Abel looked at The Marshall Knight, deeply drawn by the composite Bow, his facial expression became very familiar to Abel’s. It was the same expression when the knight was looking at his beloved armour. Abel hoped that the Knight of Marshall would returned the composite bow to him. After awhile, Abel reached out his hand. He wanted to take the Bow back from the Marshall Knight. However, the composite bow remained glued to the Knight of Marshall’s hand. Even when Abel had pulled on it a few times, it did not budge a single bit. “Abel? Your uncle’s been good to you this whole time, hasn’t he?” The smile on the Knight of Marshall’s face reminded Abel of the wolf’s expression in Little Red Ridinghood. It sent shivers to Abel down to his spine. Abel lowered his head and said “Uncle Marshall is very good to me.” “Your Uncle Marshall has never had a good bow. You know, as an intermediate knight, I was always embarrassed to take my ugly bows out on the streets …. until now.” The Knight of Marshall said pitifully. Abel rolled his eyes. Every time the Knight of Marshall went outside, he would wear the most expensive clothes, carry a magical sword and put on the shiniest armour. Even the horses were stronger than the average war horses. Therefore, why would he carry a ordinary bows and arrows around. In the Abel understanding of the knight of Marshall, equipment were the most important things to him. Unless it was necessary for combat, he would not carry any ordinary equipment with him. The Knight of Marshall knew that this bow might be very difficult to make. However, how could he return something he had already revived, that was not his style. Today’s military service had been over achieved. 12 orcs were killed outside the castle, but these were not just ordinary Orcs. If they were just ordinary Orcs, The Knight of Marshall would not have hidden inside his own castle and not dared to fight. These Orcs were at least level 6, and every single one of them knew how to flight with combat Qi. The Knight of Marshall was only an intermediate knight. He could defeat these orcs if they were having a one to one battle. However, the orcs were often more powerful than the human of the same level. This was because of their stronger build and years of battle experience. It made them machines for war. The Knight of Marshall did not remember when was the last time he had felt this thrilled. He stood on the defence wall, shooting an arrow for each orc. This bow was like a messenger of death, killing anything that got in the way. Seeing the forty-year-old Marshall Knight trying to act cute in front of him, Abel felt defeated. He hopelessly glanced in sorrow at the composite bow in the hands of the Knight of Marshall. He felt this 400-pound super composite bow drifting further and further away from him. At last, Abel waved his hand and said: “Uncle Marshall, since you like it so much, you can take it.” Marshall Knight let out a huge laugh. He pulled on the bow and made an archery stand. He then proudly looked at Abel and said, “Only the most powerful knight can use a godly bow like this!” “Uncle Marshall, if you pull on the bow too hard without an arrow, it can badly damage the bow, and I don’t have any spare parts to repair it for you.” Abel ignored the Marshall Knight’s pretending to be cool, and ruthlessly pointed out the main weakness of the bow. The Knight of Marshall stopped laughing. He carefully retracted his force and slowly began to restore the bowstring in to its original position. However there were also some obvious differences between this bow and any ordinary bows. When a person pulls on the bow, it requires their full force. However, once the boystring retracts, the more force it requires. A white light of combat qi appeared from the knight of Marshall’s body as he was restoring the bow, finally the bowstring flattened. The Knight of Marshall wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, and anxiously observed the bow. He had only just received this godly bow, so pretending to be cool was definitely not worth the risk of damaging it. Abel sighed. He depressingly left the guarding wall. He would now need to go back to the blacksmith guild to make a second composite bow. He need to make 2 new ones in total, one for himself, and one for his father, the Knight of Bennett, Abel understood very well that, since he gave the composite bow to the Knight of Marshall, it would not take long until he show it off in front of the Knight of Bennett. Therefore, if he didn’t also make one for the knight of Bennett, he would have felt very sorry. Although his father, the Knight of Bennett would not say anything to him, Abel knew deep down, his father would feel very sad. “Open the gate of the castle! Drag the dead bodies back, and also don’t forget the mounts,” the Knight of Marshall shouted at the cavalries waiting inside the castle gates. After the gate of the castle was opened, ten of the cavalry rushed out. There were two grieving mount wolves remaining in the battle field. When they saw the human appearing, they immediately rushed forward and prepared for their last fight. However, the two mount wolves only got the chance to took a few steps, before arrows pierced their skull from the guarding wall. The cavalries looked at their their leader, the Knight of Marshall in shiny armour with adoration. Their leader signified the safety of the estate and their families. Other than the two mount wolves that were shot, there were also four inferno bovine outside the castle. All the other surviving mounts had ran along with the orcs. However, the inferno bovines were often not very smart and not that loyal ether. Therefore, since inferno bovines were often worth quite a lot of money, they could be sold in the market after domestication. After the cavalries dragged the the dead bodies, and the four inferno bovine back to the castle, the Knight of Marshall had already decided the fate of these bovines. He would convert his horse carriages in to bovine carriages. He would keep two for himself, and the other two for Abel. This way, the Knight of Marshall could feel less guilty for taking his adopted son’s weapon. However, the Knight of Marshall actually didn’t felt that guilty for taking Abel’s bow. He knew if Abel could make a bow of this kind, he could make a second one. Also, the Knight of Marshall thought that, if didn’t take the bow from Abel, maybe Abel would not have the motivation to make another bow again. The crisis had been resolved. There shouldn’t be anymore more orcs who would dare to seek death at Harry Castle. Therefore, The Knight of Marshall ordered the guards to patrol while he could have some rest. These days, the Knight of Marshall had been very stressed, and he had never taken off his armour. He had to be the leader of the castle. If the orcs had appeared near a castle, the nobels of that castle could no longer leave their castles. This was a rule of war established for all mankind. If a common enemy of human had appeared in a nobel’s estate and the nobel left his estate, it would signify that he had given up his estate. This rule did not include the conflicts between humans. If two humans were battling against each other, and if one party knew that they couldn’t win, surrender was always approved. Furthermore, because of the Noble Prisoner of War rule, no one would really want to take such a risk and pick a fight with a nobel, unless they really possessed a deep hatred towards them. After returning to the Blacksmith Guild, Abel began his repetitive work again. He was making another 2 composite bows. He gathered the last 4 heavy bows in the warehouse, but since the knight of Marshall knew what Abel was doing, he did not became dissatisfied. This time, Abel had made a lot more than last time. He made 4 bearings, and even made a few extra the large springs in preparation for upgrading his carriage. Abel was traumatised every time he rode on a carriage. He was too accustomed to the smoothness cars in his previous life, while the carriage of this world felt like it was dancing on rocks every time it moved. In the next 2 days, Abel spent all his energy on making the composite bows. Since he had gained the experience from his last attempt. The 2 composite bows he made this time had been further refined. Because the orcs were now all driven away, Abel decided to go outside to test out the range of his new bows. Abel perfected the scale of the sighting device, it was divided into 100 meters, 100 to 200 meters, 200 meters to 400 meters. Abel realised when shooting beyond 400 meters, the power of the arrow would be greatly reduced. So Abel estimated that the maximum range of these composite bow was within 400 metres. Any range beyond that would be impossible to kill anything, at most it could only badly injured the enemy. Further more, the speed of the arrow would also be greatly reduced after 400 metres. Therefore, the enemy could easily avoid it. Upon completing the two composite bows, Abel was eager to send the bow to his father. Therefore, he had proposed to the Knight of Marshall to visit Bennett Castle.

Chapter 37 - Giving Out Bows As Presents Chapter 37: Giving Out Bows as Presents “Are you heading towards Bennett’s castle now? I really don’t suggest going because It’s extremely dangerous out there right now.” The Knight of Marshall was hesitant to let Abel venture off during the current situation since he would be vulnerable to the attacking orcs outside. Even if Abel had brought a few guards with him, it still probably wasn’t going to end well if they were forced into a fight. The orcs that had appeared were all above level 6. The guards were no match against these orcs, and if they were to fight, they probably couldn’t even fend off a single orc. “Uncle Marshall, I have to get to the Bennett Castle. You saw the power of my bow. I need to deliver the newly forged bows to the Bennett Castle. Otherwise, my family wouldn’t stand a chance against those orcs,” Abel explained, trying to persuade Knight of Marshall to let him venture off to the Bennett Castle. “Why are you willing to risk your life to give them the bow, when they didn’t even ask for it? You know, I had to ask you before you would even give it to me…” the Knight of Marshall said with a hint of bitterness and jealousy on his face. After hearing what the Knight Marshall said, Abel immediately spoke in an extremely serious manner, “Well, this attack made me doubt the safety of the Bennett Castle. Just look at the power of these orcs… I must go and deliver the bow to them before it’s too late!” “Alright, if you insist to head towards the Bennett Castle. I’ll go with you.” The Knight of Marshall felt that he had no choice. He grudgingly decided that he would head out to the Bennett Castle with Abel. For him, however, he was more concerned about Abel’s safety than the safety of the castle. Since the castle had already killed off at least half of the attacking orcs, he was certain that the orcs wouldn’t dare to come back and attack the castle unless if they wanted to commit suicide. “Uncle Marshall! Are you sure you can come with me?” Abel knew that it would’ve been extremely difficult for his uncle to leave the castle with the current situation. Even though Bennett’s Castle wasn’t too far away from them. If the Knight of Marshall was found wandering out with Abel, he would’ve lost all his estate because he went AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave). Besides that matter, the castle also needed the leadership and commands from Knight of Marshall to effectively defend against any attacking orcs. “Don’t worry about it, Abel. It’s fine. I will go to Bennett’s Castle with you. Just let me change into some different clothes so that people can’t recognize me that easily. If we take the horses and ride as fast as we can, we should be able to return within half a day.” The Knight of Marshall knew exactly what Abel was worried about, but to him, if he had lost his estate to someone else, he could always get it back in the future. If he lost Abel, however, he would’ve never been able to get someone’s life back. The Knight of Marshall knew that, as long as he stayed with Abel and educate him well, their potential together would be limitless. They might even gain a bigger territory and a higher title than what they have now. It was already afternoon by the time they finished arguing. Shortly after, Abel equipped a leather armor suit and got onto a warhorse. For Knight Marshall, he wrapped his silky gold hair and swapped his eye-catching helmet into a less flashy one. Moreover, he also wore a hat that was capable of covering his face and took an ordinary warhorse so that no one would’ve noticed him during their trip to the Bennett Castle. Before the two began their journey, both warhorses were fed with oats, which helped maintain them within their peak performance as well as maximize their powers. Without notifying anyone, Abel and Knight Marshall quietly sneaked out of the castle, when everyone inside the castle was celebrating in their successful attempt in defending against the Orcs. Without taking any detours, the two horses galloped towards Bennett castle in a straight line. By this time, there were no visible signs of life anywhere in the Lord’s land between the Bennett castle and Harry’s castle. This was because, during a battle, all civilians that were resided in these lands would’ve evacuated and gathered inside the castle for safety measures. This would’ve explained why Abel and Knight Marshall had not stumbled across anyone during their trip to the Bennett Castle. After two hours of traveling, Bennett’s castle was finally visible within their eyesight. Abel could not help but feel a sense of relieve as he took in a deep breath. In the distance, Bennett’s castle stood firmly and quietly in the setting sun. The castle’s entrance was shut tightly, and the guards of the castle were vaguely visible on the outskirt of the castle walls. Everything looked to be perfectly fine, and the Bennett Castle seemed to be unharmed. It didn’t seem to be attacked by Orcs. As Abel and Marshall approached closer and closer towards the castle, their arrival caused the emergency bell of the castle to ring rapidly. As they got closer to the entrance of the castle, they were met immediately with soldiers equipped with bows aiming down at them from the castle walls… “It’s me, Abel. Open the door.” Abel shouted. “Holster your weapon guards, it’s Master Abel!” Someone yelled loudly. “Open the door.” Suddenly, there were deep voices of Knight of Bennett coming from somewhere. Shortly after, the door of the Bennett Castle was slowly opened. When Abel and the Knight of Marshall entered the castle, the door was quickly closed for security to prevent any potential of attacks. “Abel, how dare you come to the castle during these dangerous times?” the Knight of Bennett said reproachfully towards Abel in a rather serious tone. “Father, I need to talk to you privately. Can we find a quiet place to talk? It’s an urgent matter.” Abel said quietly, as he glanced over towards the Knight of Marshall, who took cover closely with Abel as he tried to prevent anyone from spotting him. For Abel to travel across to the Bennett castle during these dangerous times, the Knight of Bennett certainly knew that there must’ve been something important. Else, Abel wouldn’t have taken such a big risk to get here. The Knight of Bennett pitched a suspicious look at the mysterious knight (Knight Marshall) that was next to Abel. But without hesitation, he led the Abel and the mysterious knight into the guest room. He then told the guards to not disturb them as he closed the door once Abel and Marshall went inside. “Father, this is…” Abel was about to reveal the identity of the mysterious knight. The Knight of Bennett recognized the Knight of Marshall at first glance. He then immediately spoke up and said, “Marshall, have you gone out of your mind? You’re leaving your territory during these dangerous times? You better have a valid reason for coming along with Abel…” “Hey! Do you think I want to come here? Your silly boy said he had to come here, I couldn’t just let him come here by himself. I had to follow him. Otherwise, he would’ve for sure ended up dead.” Knight Marshall took off his hat, wobbled off his suppressed golden hair that was wrapped throughout the entire trip as he replied back to the Knight of Bennett in a rather angry attitude. “God damn it, Marshall, you always cried when things went wrong.” The Knight of Bennett helplessly shook his head while looking at Marshall. He then turned around and asked Abel, “What’s the matter? Why do you have to act so mysteriously all the time…? Did you think about the consequences if Marshall was caught leaving his territory…? If he was caught, it would’ve been extremely inconvenient and troublesome for all parties involved.” “Father, I knew the consequences, but I’ve come all the way here from Harry’s Castle was to give you this.” Abel took out a composite bow and passed it over to his father. Knight Bennett took the composite bow with his hands and started to fiddle with the bow. Promptly after, he asked Abel with a surprised tone; “You came all the way here just to give me this?” “What do you mean “this” Bennett? This is the “Harry’s bow”, a name that I’ve made for this special bow.” Knight Marshall said with a sense of dissatisfaction since he was very upset with Bennett’s attitude and his lack of appreciation for the special bow. Abel could not help but remain silent and covered his head. He knew that Marshall declared the name of the bow without consulting or even bothering to tell him. What’s worse was that he even took his own name to classify the bow… Even though Abel had the same surname as the Knight of Marshall, he was certain that his uncle’s intention of naming the bow “Harry’s bow” was because he wanted it after his own name. “Bennett, it’s not just an ordinary bow like you think it is. Here, try shooting an arrow and see for yourself.” The Knight of Marshall then enthusiastically took out an arrow and handed it to the Knight of Bennett. As he enthusiastically instructed Knight Bennett on how to aim and how to operate the spreader; “Okay Bennett, let’s shoot at the wall over there” As Knight Marshall pointed towards the wall. The guest room was massive, it was nearly a 40 square meter room. The wall that Marshall told Bennett to shoot towards was more than 20 meters in distance, and without saying anything, Bennett released his hand and the arrow immediately disappeared on the bow. Within a split second, there was a harsh shrill sound and when they looked towards at the wall, the arrow had already pierced through the wall that was made from boulders. Knight Bennett looked at the arrows on the wall, shocked and astonished of the power of the bow. He couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. He quickly walked over to the wall and knocked the wall a few times with his bare hands, confirming the bow’s legitimacy. He was stunned so that he didn’t even realize that the wall that he had just broken was his own guest room. He then pulled out the arrow from the wall using a substantial amount of force. As he glanced at the wall, the arrow had made a hole that was 2 points/meters deep… When he looked over to the arrow, the arrowhead’s shape had already deformed due to the incredible strength of the impact when the arrow strikes through the wall. “This b..b..bow.? Knight Bennett looked at Abel as he said in complete astonishment and curiosity in how his son has acquired such a powerful weapon. As Abel was about to speak, the Knight of Marshall interrupted the conversation between the two and said, “Abel became a master blacksmith recently, did you know that?” Then he was silent… When Knight of Bennett heard that his son had become a master blacksmith, he regretted giving Abel to Marshall as an adopted son. When Marshall repeated once again that his adopted son had become a master blacksmith, the facial expression on Bennett’s face immediately filled with sorrow. Marshall was not able to understand Bennett’s expression, so he continued speaking; “Abel designed Harry’s Bow for me so that I could withstand the Orcs. Just today, I used the Harry Bow to swiftly take down 12 orcs. All of them were level 6 and above too!” Knight Bennett felt a sense of uncontrollable shock and amazement as he gazed at Harry’s Bow that was on his hand. He now began to understand the reason why Abel had taken such a big risk to bring Harry’s bow all the way from Harry’s Castle. In terms of what Marshall had said to him, knowing him for so long already, if half the things that he said were true, it was already good enough… However, what his old friend Marshall had done for Abel was beyond anyone’s capability. Marshall risked his territory just for the sake of Abel’s safety. Bennett knew that it would’ve extremely difficult for him to make such a decision and to risk it all. The Knight of Bennett drew the bow once again. This time, he had discovered the advantages of the bow. The bow was hard to pull, but it was easy to aim at, and also it had a terrifying amount of power and destruction. Knight Marshall then looked directly at Bennett with a sense of mockery, and said with a smile; “I forgot to tell you smarty pants, Harry’s bow cannot be used without any ammunition.” By the time that the Knight of Bennett had restored his bow, using a large amount of his combat qi, Knight Marshall was already laughing so hard, as if he had already forgotten that he had also made the same mistake before. Abel and the knight Marshall did not stay long in Bennett’s castle, and after instructing Knight Bennett on how to operate Harry’s bow. The two quickly set off to go back to Harry’s Castle before anyone realized that they were missing. When they departed Bennett’s Castle, it was already dark. However, the two individuals were so familiar with the road, especially with Marshall who had journeyed on this route countless times. Alongside with guidance of the moonlight in the night sky, the warhorses were also quite fast as they traveled back to their castle.

Chapter 38 - Matthew Castle Chapter 38: Matthew Castle As Abel and the Knight of Marshall were traveling back towards Harry’s Castle, Abel suddenly noticed a fire from a distance. Abel immediately informed the knight of Marshall, “Look, uncle Marshall, there is a fire there”. The Knight Marshall glimpsed over towards the direction of where the fire was and said, “That’s the direction of Lord Matthew’s castle.” Lord Matthew’s fiefdom was sat within the middle of the knight estate between Knight Marshall and Knight Bennett. The relationship between Knight Marshall and Lord Matthew wasn’t too great. This was because Lord Matthew did not acknowledge knights as a noble position. Although in most parts of the world where humans lived, the knights were considered as nobles. However, in some rare parts of the world, some people did not consider them as nobles. Lord Matthew was one of them. Although Lord Matthew and Knight Marshall were neighbors, the relationship between them was pretty much limited to ceremonial meeting and saluting. Now that the Knight Marshall acknowledged the fire was originating from Lord Matthew’s Castle, he began to hesitate whether he should try to help them or not. There were a lot of reasons that caused Marshall to hesitate in assisting Lord Matthew’s castle. Firstly, he could not expose his own identity. If he was caught and found to have left his territory, he would’ve been in big trouble. Secondly, he had to protect Abel. This meant that he was not assured that he could save Matthew’s Castle as he had to stay alongside with Abel to guarantee his safety. Abel remained in silent, he gazed directly at Knight Marshall and thought to himself. He was going to let the Knight of Marshall decide this himself. Abel had never met Lord Matthew before. He had never heard his name being mentioned by someone else. Frankly, he didn’t know what kind of person he was, and he didn’t even know what he looked like. To Abel, he wasn’t going to risk his life to assist a castle that he had never heard about before. Unless he was guaranteed that he was completely safe, then he would’ve gone and helped them. However, Knight Marshall decided to assist Lord Matthew’s Castle, “We will go and help them, but you must stay with me at all times. I cannot expose my identity in there, that’s why you must step in and use your status as a master blacksmith. “As Knight Marshall carefully instructed Abel with a serious tone. Abel quickly obeyed Knight Marshall’s order and said “Okay, Uncle Marshall. I will do as you say.” Abel then took Harry’s Bow out of his horse saddle… Although he struggled with using Harry’s Bow due to its’ tough laborious efforts, shooting only around three to four shots should’ve been fine for him. At the same time, Knight Marshall was holding his very own Harry’s bow. As he placed an arrow onto his bow and was about to draw the bowstring, he quickly discovered another superior advantage of Harry’s Bow. The bow was especially suitable and advantageous when riding on a horse. When using a regular bow, one must use both legs—each on one side of the body to properly control the horse. Then, the majority of energy and strength was needed to continuously pull the bow, while all at the same time trying to aim and shoot. However, Harry’s Bow was capable of holding the arrow with very little effort. By doing so, it allowed the operator to allocate more power to control their horse as well as being able to have sufficient time to aim and shoot at their target without ease. The two warhorses that Abel and Marshall rode were very agile. As the two approached closer and closer towards the castle, Abel was the first to notice that the castle was in complete chaos. He saw that four wolf troopers were attacking the people who are trying to escape. When the four wolf rider heard the sound of hooves from the horses, they immediately shouted very loudly and two of the wolf rider equipped with long knives instantly began charging directly towards Abel and Knight of Marshall. “Watch out! There’s one right in front of you, and there’s also one behind me.” Knight of Marshall said. Abel aimed with care and precision at one of the Wolf troopers that were charging directly towards him and immediately pulled the trigger… The bow was so powerful that it instantly shot through the wolf trooper’s brain and created a hole. Shortly after, the second wolf trooper was promptly shot down by Knight of Marshall. The two wolf troopers who were still chasing the people down realized that their allied troops were shot down by Abel and Marshall. They then started to howl extremely loudly… Abel knew exactly what they were doing as he understood the Orc language… The wolf troopers were summoning their allies inside the castle to come out and prepare for battle against Abel and Knight Marshall. Abel and the Knight of Marshall continued with their killing spree, as the two quickly killed the other two wolf troopers that were hunting down the people who were trying to escape. The wolf troopers did not stop charging towards Abel and Knight Marshall when they saw their allies being shot down. Instead, they charged furiously and madly towards them. The Knight of Marshall calmly shot down another four wargons. He then turned around to look back at Abel and said, “See, that’s the nature and personalities of these wargons. They are very loyal. Abel nodded his head and promptly replied; “Alright Uncle Marshall. Thanks for letting me know.” As he glanced over towards the four wargons that had been shot by Knight Marshall. For Abel, he wasn’t shooting at the wolf troopers and the wargons since he felt a sense of resentment but also couldn’t bear the cruelty of killing these Orcs. However, he held his trust in Uncle Marshall and believed that he would take care of them. Suddenly, 6 wolfriders were rushing out of the Matthew Castle who were all hanging large packages on them… When Knight Marshall saw the six wolf riders coming out from the castle, a light flashed in his eyes and he hummed; “Your all dead.” These wolfriders who were charging towards Abel and Marshall were still carrying the valuables from the Castle, and their greed ultimately led to a much quicker death since they were much slower. Abel’s and Marshall’s knights’ had both shot their arrows towards their enemies, and the last arrows that had been shot were around 30 meters away from them. The six wolf troopers were all killed while they were charging towards them, including their wargons. As Knight Marshall watched the wolf riders, who have died on the way from charging towards them. He sighed and said, “This was a party of ten. These Orcs are very strong, but they lack the protection of Armor…” He then glanced back at Abel and explained; “The blacksmith union had strictly forbidden anyone from the blacksmith union to forge armor for these Orcs. Moreover, the Orcs themselves had no skills or experiences in forging armor, so the only option they had was to use their bodies to block our arrows.” The frightened crowd from Matthew’s Castle slowly discovered that all wolf troopers who were attacking them had been killed. As the crowd slowly gathered together, a middle-aged man who wore a suit approached Abel and Knight Marshall… Knight Marshall acted as if he was only assisting Abel as he stood behind him so that Abel would’ve looked like the person who had killed most of the Orcs and he would’ve just been an assistant for him. “Hello, Sir Knight, thank you for saving our lives. My name is Ken, Matthew’s butler .” Although he looked frightened while he spoke, the deep etiquette that Ken possessed made him appear extremely polite and full of courtesy. He then gave Abel a grateful salute… “I’m Abel Harry and I accept your gratitude. May I ask where your master is?” Abel was very displeased and disappointed that Lord Matthew did not appear to thank them for their effort after their rescue. He and the Knight of Marshall risked their lives to assist Lord Matthew, but Lord Matthew did not even appear. Such a response seemed rude and puzzling to them. “Master Abel, my master has… ” When the butler heard Abel’s question, he was already too shocked and tearful to even speak… The manner and courtesy Ken had displayed was suddenly gone, which was extremely peculiar for a noble classed butler. Abel’s name was spread so quickly throughout Harvest City that even the nobles knew that there was a young master blacksmith who lived in the area around Harvest City. When Abel heard the butler answering his question with tears, he already knew that something has happened to Lord Matthew. Abel then got off his horse and supported the butler with his hand to prevent him from falling. Currently, Abel’s appearance was far beyond his age. He was 13 years old with a height that was nearly 1.7 meters tall. As Abel had just saved the nobility of Matthew’s Castle. He was able to temporarily act as the director to issue orders and various commands. This was one of the noble regulations, it applied when there was no noble to command a castle, and if the castle was rescued by other noble. Alright, I’ll need you to arrange men for law and order to be kept within the castle. Lord Matthew’s message will be sent to the Lord of Harvest City. The Lord there will decide what happens after that.” Abel said directly to Ken. “As you will.” The butler Ken, held back his tears while Abel decided to keep Matthew’s castle safe and stable from the evil and theft. Abel’s command also meant that there wouldn’t be anyone robbing, murdering and stealing from the castle during these terrible times. Abel did not stay for too long. Within an hour or so, Matthew’s castle was all quiet and peaceful again. The orcs ‘bodies were all piled up in the public square in the middle of the castle. The bodies of family members of the Matthew family were placed in the hall, and the other civilians that had deceased were placed in the side chambers. Everything within the storeroom was added with an additional iron lock to ensure that it was well protected and safe. Abel appointed the butler and five intact bodyguards to securely protect Matthew’s family valuables and belongings until the owner of the property come forward and deal with the situation here. All the members within the Mathew family were killed during the orcs’ attack. As the orcs rushed into the castle, they always looked for the most valuable and gorgeous room to rob and kill. The Matthew family was the owner of the castle, so it meant that they were the first noble victims of the attack. All of them were massacred. Since everything has been arranged by Abel, he had asked Ken to depart from the castle. Although Ken wanted Abel to stay until a new ruler was sent by the capital city, he didn’t dare to oppose or criticize Abel’s decision to leave, since Abel was a master as well as a noble too… As Abel departed Matthew’s castle, Abel and Knight Marshall looked directly at each other in the eyes… The event that occurred here today made both of them very emotional. A long-continued generation of the Matthew family was all gone in one attack. If something like this happened to the Knight of Bennett or Knight of Marshall, Abel didn’t even want to think about or imagined the consequences of that. From this event, he was now more acutely aware of the true cruelty of this world. The figure of Abel and Marshall knight gradually was slowly disappearing into the night as they rode back towards the Harry Castle. Ken, the butler, watched Abel’s back from a distance and his heart was filled with gratitude for Abel and Marshall’s assistance and rescue during these current circumstances and conditions. Abel thought to himself, “These were the true and real knights that the world needs.”

Chapter 39 - A Knight’S Secret Techniques Chapter 39: A Knight’s Secret Techniques Due to the recent attack of the orcs, the city owner Viscount Dickens had been feeling stressed. As a great knight, Viscount Dickens would much rather take his sword out and slash the team of orcs that had entered Harvest City. He would like it much more than sitting in the City Palace, hearing news about his citizens or other castle owners being attacked by the orcs. Yesterday, Viscount Dickens had received a dead body of a Worgen and a map, sent from Harry Castle. After a bit of investigation, he found that the maps depicted the gathering location of the Orc squad. The orc squad would gather up in a few days and get ready to leave the human world with their flying beasts. This meant that the attack was almost over. If Viscount Dickens did not take action now to seek revenge, as a Viscount of the duke, he would be badly embarrassed. It would affect his status. This morning, Viscount Dickens had already ordered a troop of a thousand to ambushed at the location marked on the map. This time, Viscount Dickens had dispatched 3 elite knights and 30 knights. This small troop of a thousand was an elite troop. They possessed enough fighting power to withstand a small-scale battle. According to the Knight of Marshall’s letter, this information was obtained by his adopted son, Master blacksmith Abel, after killing a wolfrider with a bear trap. Viscount Dickens was very intrigued by this new Master Blacksmith of Harvest City. As far as he knew, this Master Blacksmith was awarded the title of ‘master’ through forging magic weapons. Viscount Dickens has been considering whether he should ask this new Master to forge a magic weapon for him. “My Lord, someone from Mathew Castle wants to come in and report a funeral,” said the butler. When Viscount Dickens heard these words, he knew that another castle had been attacked. He then said to the butler “Let him in.” After a while, a lost and frighten servant entered. He cried as he came in, “My Lord, Lord Matthew and every single member of his family had lost their lives in the orc’s attacks. ” The abolishment of a noble family was not a trivial matter. Viscount Dickens knew about the Mathew family. Although they were very small, with only inherited around 100 square miles of land, they still had around 100 years of history. “Quickly, tell me what happened,” said Viscount Dickens. Perhaps it was because of trauma or the lack of experience, but the servant had not explained the matter clearly. He continued to speak with a stutter. It was no use. Under normal circumstances, if Lord Matthew wanted to report something to Viscount Dickens, he would send his butler Ken, or he would even direct go to the city palace himself. As a result of this attack, the butler could no longer leave Matthew Castle. Therefore, they could only send a more well-spoken servant, one who was capable of reporting the current situation. The servant understood the intent of Viscount Dickens. At this time, he also remembered what butler Ken had told him. It was said that “Upon arriving at the city palace, get to the point as soon as possible. The city lord would not have time to slowly listen to you”. The servant proceeded to explain, “In the evening, a group of wolfriders attacked the castle. The gates of Matthew Castle was opened, and the wolfriders entered. When they began their massacre, Master Abel was passing by, and he helped us defended them together. After Master Abel made sure the castle was organized again, butler Ken ordered me to report to the lord of the city.” Finally, after all that mumbling, the servant was able to explain the situation clearly. Master Abel again? Viscount Dickens did not expect that at all. These kinds of actions, such as rescuing a noble family in danger were appreciated and respected by all nobles. Although Abel failed to save the life of Lord Matthew, the castle was still completely preserved. If an orc attack was successful, they would kill all the people they could find and burn the castle down. Master Abel must be rewarded for this deed, as well as for providing the orc’s gathering map. If the ambush was successful, these 2 deeds combined would be enough for extra rewards from the king of the Duchy. These military service rewards were very difficult to be called off by anyone. Because even if the king was daring enough to reject it, he would have to risk having his citizens give up on fighting for him in the future. All the nobles and the king understood this by heart. Although throughout these years, the king had tried to suppress the influence of the nobles, if they were qualified for an outstanding military service reward, they would always be rewarded in a way that was equitable to their service. “I will send people to Matthew Castle. You can go back now”, Viscount Dickens said calmly. After the servant left, Viscount Dickens thought of Master Abel again. He must repay Master Abel well. A young master of his age must have extraordinary achievements in the future. If Abel needed any help, Viscount Dickens would definitely do his best to help him. By doing so, it would definitely yield a good return in the future. In fact, normally a native person who had attained the title of Master Blacksmith, such as Abel, would at least be given a lord position to persuade him to serve the Duchy. However, Duchy of Carmel was a bit different when it came to that regard. Its king had always hated the nobles. The king could not care less about gaining or losing a lord or two. When Abel returned to Harry Castle, the first thing he did was play with Black Wind for a while. The small mount wolf, Black Wind, had recently gained a lot of weight. it has been eating very well, and every day it would enthusiastically run around in Abel’s room. Abel did not want to bring it out to the public square, due to the recent attack of the orcs. Since the public square was full of people, many of whom would despise being near a mounted wolf. Due to the recent events, Abel never had the chance to have dinner with the Knight of Marshall—until tonight since the orcs had now be driven away. The knight of Marshall could finally relax, and sit down to have dinner. After the two had finished their meal, the Knight of Marshall called Abel to his study room. The maid poured and delivered 2 cups of coffee into the room. She added some spices to the knight of Marshall’s coffee. However, when she was about to also add it to Abel’s cup, she was stopped by Abel. “Abel, sometimes you have to tell yourself, it’s your decision.” Said The Marshall Knight as he began to smell the aroma of the coffee, and took a sip. He closed his eyes blissfully, enjoying the taste of coffee mixed with the spices in his mouth. Abel couldn’t bear the sight of the Knight of Marshall enjoying his spiced coffee. Just how were spices so trendy amongst the nobles? Luckily for Abel, the chefs in Harry Castle didn’t add too much of it to his plates. If the taste got too extreme, he might even consider cooking his own meals from now on. Actually, no. Just to teach them a lesson, he might even start his own restaurant business. “Whatever you say… Uncle Marshall.” “Abel, you are a Master Blacksmith now. Your forging ability has greatly exceeded my expectations. As you know, I am one of the oldest sons of the Harry family in Bakong City. Even I left my family since I got rewarded with a knight’s estate, I was still allowed to learn about my family’s inherent secret techniques of knights. You are my successor, I can bring you back to Bakong city to learn those techniques. But, of course, there are some techniques you can learn directly from me,” said the Knight of Marshall seriously. Abel had already learned some secret techniques of knights inherited by the Bennett family. However, since he was not an official knight, he could not apply most of those secret techniques. Moreover, if Abel was not already a level 5 novice knight, the knight of Marshall would not have told him any of this. The only secret technique that Abel had learned to apply from the Bennett family, was the knight’s breathing technique. Which allowed the qi to be generated faster from to core, and form a meridian. The other 3 pearls of wisdom he learned but he couldn’t apply included: The knight’s acceleration technique, which was using combat qi to lift the speed of one’s body. The knight’s outbreak technique: which was enhanced one’s outbreak power by 3 times, but the core would be weaker the following one hour. The solid defense: which could only be applied with a shield. It uses combat qi to connect the shield with the ground, creating an ultra-strong defense in one direction. “Uncle Marshall, what secret techniques can you teach me now?” Abel was not afraid of overloading himself with secret techniques. Since he processed the power of Will, he could learn almost anything much faster than anyone. “So far, I’ve only known two secret techniques. One was the knight charging technique, and the other was the knight’s mount acceleration technique,” the Knight of Marshall explained, ” These 2 secrets can only be used on a mount, and that’s why I am so different from the Knight of Bennett. The Knight of Bennett believes that the most important characteristics of a knight are balance and diversity. That’s why he spent his time mastering all kinds of common knight weapons such as big swords, shields, bows, long spears, and axes. On the other hand, I am an expert in horsemanship, big swords, and long spears. I believe that horsemanship is the only essential characteristic of a knight. For the weapons that I use, all I need is a big sword for close distance battles, medium distance battle I’ll use long spears, and for long distances, I’ll use a bow. With the mastery of these three weapons, I managed to attain enough outstanding military service to receive my own knight’s estate. The Knight of Marshall did not deny that the Knight of Bennett’s military service was not outstanding. This was because back then, the requirement for gaining the title of a Lord was too high. As beginner knights, both the knight of Marshall and the knight of Bennett were way too insufficient to obtain such title.

Chapter 40 - Some Rumours About Wizards Chapter 40: Some Rumours About Wizards “Uncle Marshall, I will try to learn these secret techniques. I have Black Wind, so these 2 secrets techniques should be very easy to master.” Of course, Abel understood the importance of horsemanship. Since he already owned an elite level mount, all he needed now was the adequate skill set to match it. The Knight of Marshall did not avoid Abel’s curiosity, He pressed the back of a Knight biography novel on his bookcase. The knight biography novel fell inward, followed by a noise of mechanical gears triggering. The bookcase split into two, revealing a secret room. “C’mon, you have to know about this place. These are all the collections of Harry Castle,” the Knight of Marshall said with a touch of pride, “I’ve collected everything here through decades of hard work. Usually, I wouldn’t even let anyone know this secret room, let alone showing it off.” To a person who loved to show off, hiding things away was very difficult for the Knight of Marshall. But finally, today there was someone he would share it with. This secret room was huge. Countless weapons were hanging on the walls, which included those from both the orcs and humans. There even seemed to be a traditional elves bow. As the Knight of Marshall saw that Abel was intrigued by the weapons on the wall, he began to sigh in awe. “These are all from the enemies that I’ve slain throughout the years.” After defeating an enemy, it didn’t matter if you decided to kill them or not, keeping their weapons was a common practice among nobles–especially knights. They were trophies. Besides, every knight would most likely adore their collection as well. In the middle of the secret room, there was a huge long table. On the table, there were a few thick books with bold titles, including geography, agriculture, and some non-combat related secret techniques. For example, Abel was drawn by a book about how to use cleansing water. Abel had heard of cleansing water before. It was a potion often used by women to maintain their skin. But for a grown man in his forties to use it? Abel frowned just by thinking about it. After the Knight of Marshall saw Abel’s distaste towards the clearing water secret technique, he thought that he had to make an explanation, “This is not just an ordinary formula for clearing water, it is the noble elves cleansing water formula. Can’t you see how good the elves’ skin is? I spend good money on this book back in the days” Abel wanted to challenge the Knight of Marshall by saying that, the elves’ good skin was because of their genetic, not because of a beauty formula. Abel was very disappointed by this collection of the Knight of Marshall. Finally, Abel saw the 2 Harry’s heritage secret techniques of knights guide placed at the very corner of the table. From the placement of these books, the cleansing water formula seemed much more important to the Knight of Marshall than his heritage’s secret techniques. Upon picking up the 2 secret technique guide, Abel was getting ready to leave the secret room. Suddenly, a square sign attracted Abel’s gaze. The sign was engraved with some patterns that seemed very familiar with Abel. He was one hundred and ten percent sure this was a rune but did not know exactly which order was this rune. Abel walked towards the square sign and picked it up. He looked towards the knight of Marshall and asked, “Uncle Marshall, where did you get this from?” “This was sent to me by a wizard friend. He said if I crushed this sign when I am in danger, it can help me shake off the enemy,” the Knight of Marshall said after recalling for a while. “Wow, you have a wizard friend?” Abel widened his eyes. Abel had always only heard about wizards, but no one ever described them to him in detail. “Yeah, when I was still in Bakong City, I rescued a wizard in a mission. At that time, his magical power was exhausted, and there were a few wolves nearby.” When the knight of Marshall thought of a wizard in such an embarrassing situation, he gave a small chuckle. He then proceeded to say “The wizard and I later had become friends. He was still a novice wizard at the time, and since he knew I would be going to the battlefield. He paid a big cost in exchange for this rune sign, to save my life when the time comes.” “What is the difference between a wizard and a knight?” Abel asked. “The difference? The wizards can only use magic, so their power doesn’t have many practical uses, but the best thing about being a wizard was longevity.” Marshall Knight’s eyes flashed a hint of envy and then went on to say “The lifespan of a lesser official wizard can reach up to 300 years, and each time they level up, it will further increase the life expectancy. But knights like us, even if we became an elite knight, we can only increase our lifespan for 50 years.” “300 years old!” Abel’s eyes were burning with intense yearning. He immediately asked, “How can I become a wizard?” “It is not easy to become a wizard. First of all, there must be a middleman. The wizards are disconnected from the people of this world. They are not your down-to-earth average citizens. Things like family, country, and ethnicity don’t seem to concern them a single bit. Ordinary people have no way of approaching them, let alone being a part of them. To become a wizard, you have to process the right aptitude, it’s the most important thing. Therefore every person who wants to be a wizard must pass an examination. The Knight of Marshall saw the yearning in Abel’s eyes, he couldn’t help but smile “When I first discover that the lifespan of an official wizard was 300 years, I also asked my wizard friend to help me become a wizard. But, I didn’t pass the examination.” The knight of Marshall was a bit stunned, but soon he began smiling again and said: “If you want to participate in the wizard examination, you have to wait until you are 15 years old. By that time I will bring you to my wizard friend to ask for advice. If you can pass the examination, your achievements will surpass all Knight. ” This was the most gratifying thing Abel had heard these days. If he became a wizard, he could not only live longer. He could also be able to use the Tome of town portal from the Horadric box, which required magic, and the only way to use magic was becoming a wizard. “Why must I be 15 years old before I can take the examination ?” Abel asked, eagerly. “I heard that it is because no one below the age of 15 can understand the mystery of magic. Also, your body isn’t developed enough to absorb magical power.” The Knight of Marshall knew what was on Abel’s mind. He then went on to say: “I will take you to the examination as soon as you turn 15. It should take some time before we can get to Bakong City, and by the time you finished learning some of my heritage’s secret techniques, you should be around 15 years old.” Through these words of the Knight of Marshall, Abel understood how much the knight’s concern and cherish him, even little times like this was taken into account. Abel was preparing to put the rune sign back on the wall. The knight of Marshall waved his hand at him and said “Since you seem very interested in this rune sign, you can keep it. All these years it had just been sitting here, I never have the chance to used it, so let’s not let it goes to waste”. “Thank you so much, Uncle Marshall,” Abel happily put away the rune sign, which would also be very helpful when it comes to studying runes. “No worries!” The knight of Marshall patted Abel’s head intimately, and the two left the secret room. When Abel got back to his room, he realized the Knight of Marshall’s birthday would be in 10 days. The present he prepared initially had already been received early by the Knight of Marshall. However, Abel would still feel very sorry if he didn’t show any appreciation during the knight’s actual birthday. He had to start preparing another present now. Abel practiced a bit of the knight’s breathing technique for a while in his room and analyzed the battle he had today. The orcs had to be mobile and kept a fast pace in the human world. They could not wear any heavy armor, let alone carrying a shield. Therefore, that’s where the composite bow, or the so called “Harry’s Bow” could shine. To forged a bow according to the methods of this world, other than using some extraordinary material, it was impossible to forge a 400-pound bow. This was because no material with the length and thinness of a normal bow arm could withstand 400 pounds of tension. The composite bow, on the other hand, had a shorter bow arm, and all the other parts were made with steel. It was an extraterrestrial technology, a device that was meant for mass murder in a world in its cold weapon era. Unless if a wolfrider possessed extreme power, if they didn’t have armor or shields, they would most likely be killed by the Harry Bow. The only downside was that the force required to pull on the Harry’s Bow was very demanding. Even a Level 5 novice knight such as Abel could barely do it. That aside, the most important thing was that Abel had finally gotten the information he wanted about wizards, and he would soon be able to participate in the wizard’s examination. Although he still needed to wait another 2 years. He decided to dedicate these 2 years to double down his effort on becoming a knight. It didn’t matter if he was going to become a wizard or a blacksmith in the end. Whatever his future might be like, a strong body would always be appreciated.

Chapter 41 - A New Rune Chapter 41: A New Rune Abel took out the rune sign from his bosom. According to The Knight of Marshall, the rune sign was designed to repel away enemies. Only the #4 rune, Nef, fit the description to cast such a special ability. The 4# Nef was meant for chasing enemies away. Once cast, it would deal +30 defense against ranged attacks. This was the first time that Abel had seen a rune in this kind of form. Both runes had a very different method of usage, It was very similar to the runes in Diablo 2. However, the runes from Diablo 2 were required to be equipped onto the equipment before it was able to function. On the other hand, the runes in front of Abel needed to be crushed before using them. Abel picked up the rune sign and studied it carefully. He didn’t know what material it was made from. The rune sign looked like it was made from stone or wood, but as Abel inspected closer, they weren’t. So Abel couldn’t even uncover what it was made from, and there wasn’t anyone to ask. The runes above were written in pretty much the same way as the Dwarf’s spell-forging book, except that it was missing some kind of runic circuits. Furthermore, it wasn’t powered by any gem, so Abel couldn’t even figure out how the rune was gaining its’ power from. At first, Abel had looked down on the technological advancements of this world. However, now that he had once again witnessed the purpose of these runes, as well as discovering the legendary 300 years lifespan of the wizards. Abel began to realize, this world’s civilization was developing in a direction completely different from his old world. Abel realized something here. In this world, technology was not meant to be convenient nor helpful for the average people. Even the smartest researcher was more focused on theories alone, let alone focus on things that could raise the standard of living of the society as a whole. Just think about it, almost everyone on Earth had ways to make fire. But in this world, the wizard could stretch their hands make fire with a spell. And since that was the case, no one bothered to find better ways to do things. Even if the “elites” managed to innovate, all the benefits would just go to themselves and not anyone else. From what Abel had heard from The Knight Of Marshall, the wizards didn’t question what ordinary people could do, and ordinary people often had a very hard time communicating with wizards. What Abel didn’t realize was that the runic sign he despised was a very valuable item to that novice wizards. These wizards were known for using such expensive items. As Abel slowly traced the runes from the rune board onto the sheepskin with his rune pen, he carefully contrasted every detail to perfection and precision. The next morning, Abel completed his basic knight training and handed Black Wind to his Butler Lindsey. After he had his breakfast and headed out directly to the temporary blacksmith guild. The Knight Of Marshall decided to wait until the orcs gathering time on the map to finally announce the end of the orc attack. As Marshall hasn’t made the announcement yet, the castle was full of leaders. During these times, the servants of the castle were very busy as they had to prepare two meals for so many people. In this world, most people other than the wealthy and nobles, usually only had two meals a day. After paying a large amount of tax on the exports of the land, there wasn’t much left for themselves. With Harvest City being the fiefdom’s primary source of the granary as well as Knight Of Marshall being the Lord of the castle, he had to distribute a large number of provisions for the general public around the area. As Abel passed through the public square, people bowed to him from the side of their makeshift tents. He always nodded back to them with a smile. These kind gestures and actions from Abel ignited rumors that Master Abel, the successor of the Lord was a kind, peaceful and loving man. As a result of these rumors, it filled the leaders with hope for the future. After Abel entered his operations room, he took out a forged sword of hundred skills that already had a groove on the sword handle. According to the Magical Weapons Forging Guide, the fundamental material required to make the 4 main magical runes ink was similar. The only difference was that Fire magic runes ink were mixed with fire type plants. Ice magic runes ink were mixed with ice type plants. Electric runes ink were injected with electric eels blood, and toxic runes ink were injected with venomous snake venom. As for making the runes ink that was capable of repelling attacks, Abel wanted to keep the same fundamental materials in all 4 of these runes ink but removed all the other materials that had special properties. There were all sorts of materials within the operations room since Master Bentham has collected various materials for many years, and after Abel had successfully forged the magic weapon, Master Bentham was able to post material requests from the Mercenary Union which allowed him to gather even more fresh materials. This wasn’t the first time Abel was making the rune ink, but this time there was no detailed configuration description. He was only able to create this ink according to the previous configuration experience while exploring new variants. By subtracting several materials as would’ve changed the balance of the configuration process. To precisely and correctly configure the new ink, Abel needed to find out the new balance point of these materials. One portion of lost spirit grass, one portion of breadfruit, 20 drops of bitter almond oil, 12 drops of Holly oil, 10 drops of jungle frog blood, 8 drops of rosemary, 12 drops of eucalyptus, 5 drops of lemon essence, and finally pure water. As all the materials were taken out, Abel had to think twice about each of the material that he put in –The fusion time of the front material, the release time of the back material, and the intensity of the fire. It was easy to determine the success of the ink, this world had a wizard characteristic formula. Abel’s magic ink was one of them, if the configuration was successful, there would be a faint white light during the split second of the moment of success. As long as you saw the white flash, it meant that the ink had been successfully configured. After continuous tries of experimentation in attaining the successful configuration, Abel conducted a method commonly used by previous generations of scientists. Which was to record his every move of the steps he made and timed himself with an hourglass and recorded down any useful or related information. Abel was very patient with his research. Every attempt after the previous, a small change was made according to the previous record. In one day, although the configuration of ink was not successful, Abel’s configuration level had made great progress. He had improved tremendously throughout the day. When Abel realized that he only had enough materials for tomorrow’s experiment. He went forward to his Steward, Lindsey, and asked him to arrange some mercenaries from the Mercenaries Guild to collect some materials back for him. The second day of the configuration with the runes went comparative smoothly. At the 86th attempt of Abel’s experiment record, there was a flashing white light on the rune pen. Abel could not help but admire those who have studied and researched the four runes. This was because Abel didn’t invent a new formula. Instead, he removed some of the materials from the original formula and compared it with the previous formula, all while conducting scientific experiment methods. It took him 86 times to finally succeed and he took more materials to attain the correct configuration as well as he didn’t compare them. But he could hardly imagine how much time did they took to research to get these results. Looking at the ink on his hand, Abel was filled with a sense of accomplishment. If the experiment is successful, the value of the rune ink in his hand would worth even more than the 4 main types of rune ink. This was because the ink in his hand had no special properties and could be used more widely. Abel took out his rune brush and began to draw the runes, it was like a walk in the park to him at this point. He expended his power of the will, the sword of a hundred skills had been magnified multiple times in his eyes. The rune brush moved smoothly on the back of the blade. This time, he even added a few extra rune energy routes to the old rune formula to maximize the energy delivered. Throughout these months of forging the sword of hundred skills and writing magical runes, Abel realized his Power of Will had increased a little. Normally, Abel’s power of the will would be completely drained after completing a magical rune, but this time he still had a little bit left. However, the difference was so insignificant, ordinary people can’t notice it. Abel was very excited by this discovery. He always relied on this mysterious power of the will, yet he never knew that he could increase it. If it kept on increasing in the future, it would be very beneficial to his study of runes. Abel knew that these runes in front of him could be combined into the rune language “Ancient Vow”. However, one challenge he faced was that all 3 runes in the rune language “Ancient Vow”, always had to be drawn in one sitting. Abel always thought he won’t have enough power of the will to do it, but now, he finally had a glimpse of hope. Abel knew deep down in his heart that he was only 13 years old. The Power of the will would gradually increase as he gets older. Especially now that he had discovered a way to exercise his power of the will, he would be able to draw the rune language “Ancient Vow” For the choices of gem to be put onto the sword handle, Abel picked a diamond that was made from three steel gems. Diamonds were known to be one of the most beloved stones in this world for women. To them, it was a symbol of love and fidelity. However, for Abel. He chose the diamond because it had no attributes, and it was the purest gem out of the bunch.

Chapter 42 - Attribute-Less Sword Chapter 42: Attribute-less Sword The crucial part would come when Abel placed the gem into the gap. Yes, once he did so, he would have to guide his own Power of the Will through the energy path. There were only 2 exploding big swords and a scroll of Town Portal in Abel’s Horadric cube. During his battle with Simon the worgen, he used one exploding big sword, and he hadn’t made a new replica ever since. Luckily for him, if he failed this time, he could just throw the product into the Horadric and fuse the three swords into one big sword. By this point, Abel gained a lot of experience when it came to guiding the force of the gem to the center of the rune. After about half an hour, however, this rune he drew didn’t seem strong enough to do the job. The outer strokes of the rune began to turn red, and soon it melted and vanished. After it had melted off, the power of the gem began to disappear as well. It wasn’t like it was the first time that Abel had failed. Oddly enough, though, the problem seemed to be with the rune ink this time. But it shouldn’t have been. When Abel was mixing the rune ink, it was shining in white sparkles, which meant that the ink formula was right. Was it because the rank of the rune ink was not high enough? Was the gem simply too powerful? Abel evaluated for a bit. He was already using the best ingredients for the rune ink. It didn’t seem possible to find any better ingredients. Abel kept on thinking. In the dwarf’s magical weapon forging guide, there was rune drawing instruction and rune ink formula for weapons of every attribute. Actually, not for the attribute-less runes. Abel could not figure out why. After all, they should be the easiest ones to make. But actually, even the dwarfs could not help it. The ingredients required to make attribute-less rune ink were too hard to obtain for ordinary people. Hardly anyone apart from the wizards could supply them which was why the dwarves wouldn’t even bother putting it in their magical weapon forging guide. Ordinary runes ink only drew its energy from one attribute source. However, these so-called attribute-less runes ink had multiple sources. In other words, it was a mixture of all the existing attributes. It was also much more potent than other types of runes. Therefore, normal ingredients for rune ink could not withstand it, and that’s why things like the runes strokes melting off had happened to Abel. Abel took out the rune sign from his chest pocket. It was said that this sign could evoke the attacking power of an attribute-less rune, which meant that these attribute-less runes could be used. However, the only problem was that Abel didn’t know what kind of ink was used to write this rune. Furthermore, this rune seemed to be its source of energy. Since the rune was still visible in the sign, it had to be supported by some unknown energy that Abel was unaware of. Abel had an idea. If the normal potion could be combined to make a potion of higher ranking, could he do the same with rune ink? At that moment Abel felt a passion burning within him. If it was about the two exploding sword within his Horadric Cube, he wanted nothing more than to throw them somewhere far away. They were useless to Abel since all they did was waste space for him to make new things with the Horadric Cube. After he had confirmed on his idea, he dug a deep hole outside the castle, and carelessly thew the two exploding sword inside. BANG. It was like a walk in the park. Abel thought that he should’ve just done this earlier. After Abel had returned to his workshop, he took out the Scroll of Town Portal from the Horadric cube, and carefully placed it in a metal box. These are the most important possessions of Abel. If he wasn’t in need of combining something, Abel would often keep the Scroll of Town Portal in the Horadric Cube. That way both of these treasures could stay in the same spot and be safe. Abel took out some more ingredients. He made 3 attribute-less ink according to the formula and threw them into the Horadric Cube straight away. In a flash of white light, these 3 rune ink disappeared without a trace. In the top left corner of the Horadric Cube, a new bottle of the rune ink began to appear. It was a success. This opened up a large potential for things Abel could do with the Horadric Cube in the future. But little did he know, the value of this rune ink was so much higher than most things available for purchase in this world. The dwarves would be willing to trade countless exotic gems for something like this. Abel picked up this new bottle of rune ink and dumped it into a darkness style crystal bottle. The bottle was shimmering in blue sparkles. From past experience of combining potions, Abel knew that this was an intermediate rune ink, and all the ones he had used before were all basic levels. Abel took out an almost finished modal of a sword of a hundred skills and began to draw the rune on it straight away. He had gained experience in drawing this rune from the last attempt, so this time it was a lot faster. However, using intermediate rune ink required a lot more power of the will. After he had completed, he once again felt that knees weakening lethargic feeling, it reminded him of the time where he drew his first rune. Abel rested for a while. As soon as his power of the will was recovered, he immediately placed a gem into the sword handle. He then used his Power of the will again and guided the energy from the gem to the rune. This time, Abel was actively guiding the energy throughout the rune. It wasn’t like he had full control of it, however. He did not expect the speed of the energy to travel so fast. A large amount of it shot out from the gem towards Abel’s power of the will, like a car speeding on a highway. Luckily, Abel reacted on time. He also sped up his reflex in using the Power of the Will, and almost finished the guiding process with a little less than ten minutes. Abel’s eyes were fully fixed on the magic sword in front of him. It was shimmering in blue sparkles, but it was not the type of blue from those ice magic swords. If you looked at it carefully, you would notice it was actually the same blue sparkles as the bottle of intermediate rune ink. The blue sparkles swam around in the strokes of the rune for a while, and slowly faded away. Abel stared at this magic sword in his hand. “These blue sparkles. Does it mean that this magic sword had a higher rank than all the other ones?” Abel thought to himself. No one could give him a straight answer for that. Up to this point, Abel had been the only one who was doing the investigating and experimenting. Abel waved this attribute-less magic sword around. It felt just like the normal ones, and its uses should be the same as well. He then chopped up some firewood with the sword. Again, it felt just like all his other swords. Nothing special really happened. Abel put the Scroll of Town Portal back into his Horadric Cube and left the operation room caring for his new magic sword. “Have you seen the Knight of Marshall?” Abel stopped and asked steward Lindsey, who was busy with his own tasks. “Young Master, the headmaster was in the training room,” Lindsay replied, to which Abel thanked him and headed for the training room. The butler Lindsey smiled as he watched Abel walked away. He was very proud of this young master. With only 13 years of age, Abel was unlike other noble youngsters who only cared about living a lavish lifestyle. Everyone knew that Abel was a genius but who knew just how much effort and dedication this young master had put into his work. Steward Lindsay had seen many noble youngsters throughout the years, and none of them had the dedication of young master Abel. After the young master became a Master Blacksmith, all he did throughout the days were making things in his workshop. Not many people other than Steward Lindsey knew about this. Also, not a lot of people knew that the Knight of Marshall’s favorite ice magic sword, the castle savior Harry’s bow and the two gigantic bear trap that captured a few giant beasts trying to enter the castle, were all handiworks made directly from the young master himself. Maybe when Abel had become an adult, Harry’s knight estate would already become Harry’s Lord estate. WIth Abel in the house, there was no limit in the potential he could bring to those around him. Abel, on the other hand, didn’t seem too concerned about what Lindsay was thinking. Now, all that he could think about was to test the new magic sword with the Knight of Marshall. The moment when Abel had entered the training room, he could already hear the sound of a big sword slicing through the air. It seemed like the Knight of Marshall was practicing his basics. Abel did not interrupt the man. Instead, he simply watched from the side and wait for the Knight of Marshall to finish. The Knight of Marshall was practicing the basics. Yes, the basics, but Abel could feel the impact of the swings from several meters away. The Knight of Marshall was putting his entire strength into his swings, which was contradictory to the “never go all out rule” he had often heard on earth. While he continued to watch the Knight of Marshall practicing his moves, Abel started imagining inside his head. He began to imagine what would happen if he was standing in front of the Knight of Marshall.

Chapter 43 - Rumbling Off The Enemies Chapter 43: Rumbling Off the Enemies When the Knight of Marshall’s strikes reached peak performance, his imposing manner had fully captured Abel’s attention. Abel just couldn’t’ take his eyes away from the Knight of Marshall. As he watched the Knight of Marshall drawing a perfectly straight line in the air with his sword, he knew that he had only 2 options to react to his attacks. He could try a counterattack. Or, he could take a step back to make a retreat. Abel was reimagining the fight for about a hundred times with his Power of the Will. It didn’t matter how many times he had tried. Whatever he thought his moves were, he would always be smashed into pieces within one move. After surrendering for countless times, Abel gave up and focused himself back to reality. As it turned out, there was a major difference in the ways that fights were waged between planet Earth and the world he was in. Due to long years of cold weapon uses and physical battle, they had become very acclimated to using these simple weapons and making simple moves. Yet, every one of these moves they made was applied with full force. The orcs were the biggest enemy to the humans in this world. It should be very clear by now. If humans didn’t apply full strength to their attacks, it would be very hard for them to penetrate the thick skin of their rivaling species. Since the orcs were much faster and more flexible than the humans, the humans had to make their attacks as direct and simple as possible. When Abel realized that he had become a rank 5 novice knight, he was still not quite familiar with the ways that different sword striking techniques were performed. After seeing the Knight of Marshall practice today, Abel gained a new perspective on how he should go about his training. “Abel, were you looking for me?” the Knight of Marshall called out and stopped waving his sword. “Oh,” said Abel, coming back to reality through The Knight of Marshall’s voice. “I am here to test out my new sword” The Knight of Marshall suddenly became excited as he stared at the sword Abel was holding. He asked “Is this the sword? What’s its ability?” The Knight of Marshall was well aware that Abel could forge two kinds of magic swords, but his favorite was still the ice magic sword, although the striking power was a little stronger on the fire magic sword. When fighting against a stronger opponent, slowing down their moves were much more helpful. Since Abel was coming to test out a new magic sword. It shouldn’t be either a fire or ice, it should be a completely new type of magic sword. The Knight of Marshall was thrilled. The ice magic sword and Harry’s bow that Abel gave him had already raised his fighting ability. Abel thought for a while. The ability of the rune was to rumble away from his enemies. Since chopping wood didn’t make any difference, maybe what he need was a physical opponent. So that’s why he found the Knight of Marshall. “Uncle Marshall, I’ll strike with my sword and you try to defend it with your sword. Let’s see what happens.” “No problem,” the Knight of Marshall was very confident in his ability, and Abel’s power should be too strong anyway. “Ready?” Abel lifted the big sword above his head. Since he had just witnessed the Knight of Marshall’s strikes, the scenario that he had imagined with his power of the will had become prevalent again during that split second. His power of the will pun widely, as though as the sword had become one with him. The expression of the Knight of Marshall immediately changed. He felt a gigantic sword pressing above him. Was this the sword impose? Only experts who spent years of training could have the sword impose. The first time that the Knight of Marshall had attained a sword impose was about 5 years ago. Abel had only practiced his sword skill for a short while. When he adopted Abel from the Knight of Bennett, Bennett already told him everything he needed to know about Abel’s ability. Abel had entered a state similar to the first time he used a hundred skills model. Combat qi began to fill his entire body, and soon it began to flash with glory. Abel felt like he had become a sharp gigantic blade. When the energy reached their peak, Abel felt all his combat qi rushed towards the big sword. However, since his rank was still too low, the combat qi could not travel into the big sword. Yet, it still sped up the big sword as he strikes down. It chopped through the air like a piece of sheepskin, making a cracking sound. The Knight of Marshall was speechless. As an intermediate knight, he could counteract this strike, but it also required him to use his own combat qi. He knew that once he used his combat qi, he would go all out and it would be very hard to not hurt Abel. The Knight of Marshall jumped back and dodged the strike. After making this empty strike, Abel had used up all his energy, he couldn’t even hold his sword and it fell straight towards the floor. Abel immediately sat down, relentlessly inhaling huge breaths. Novice knights could only use combat qi once at a time. When they used it, it wouldn’t damage their core, but they still need a few days of recovery until they could use it again.” Abel had just tried to imitate an advanced sword striking stand. It had ignited all the combat qi in his body to explode at once. “What happened?” Abel asked. He sat on the floor, still feeling dizzy upon waking up from his flash of realization. The Knight of Marshall felt so stupid. It was like he was a pig or something. He spent decades, only until he was in his 30s he learned to do the sword impose. However, this 13-year-old teenager in front of him learned how to do it just by going through a flash of realization. As a grown man, the Knight of Marshall had never experienced a flash of realization before. But this kid, Abel had already experienced it twice. How come the disparity between people was so big. The Knight of Marshall suddenly had a change of mind. He was reminded that this kid was actually his successor. Suddenly, he’s felt kind of happy about that. After all, the Harry family hadn’t had a real heir. “Did you had another flash of realization?” The Knight of Marshall said, clutching his teeth. “No wonder why I feel so weak. Does it have to be like this every time?” Abel said. He felt a bit helpless, as though the flash of realization was troubling him. The Knight of Marshall stared coldly at Abel, he cracked his knuckles. He wondered if he should go to Abel to teach him a lesson. It seemed like he didn’t even appreciate how gifted he was. “Why did you step back? Or… did you get knocked back?” Abel said surprisingly. He realized the Knight of Marshall had changed position. “Are you crazy? I stepped back myself” the Knight of Marshall replied directly to Abel. He couldn’t understand where the surprising tone in Abel’s voice could have stemmed from. Abel stood up disappointingly after he regained a bit of energy. His combat qi has been completely drained, only an empty shell left in his meridian. But he was not planning to use his combat qi again anyway. “Again, this time I’ll just use the force in my body. So just try to defend with your sword,” said Abel as he lifted the big sword above his head again. Since his energy had not fully recovered his energy, the movements seemed to be a bit slow. The Knight of Marshall got into his defensive position, placing his sword horizontally across his chest. He gave Abel an affirming look, suggesting he was ready. The big sword strikes down. As expected, it traveled slowly through the air. The Knight of Marshall felt like he doesn’t even need to try to counteract it, he could just remain still. The moment when their swords made contact with each other. it didn’t make a loud sound since there wasn’t much force in the first place. When the Knight of Marshall was about to laugh at Abel, for this atrociously weak strike of his. Suddenly, an unstoppable force expelled from Abel’s big sword. This force did not hurt him, but it seemed to hold the weight of a mountain. The Knight of Marshall couldn’t help but get knocked backward. 1 steps.. 2 steps.. 3steps.. the Knight of Marshall got knocked back 10 steps until he came to a halt. The cocky expression in the Knight of Marshall’s face completely vanished, and it was replaced with a shocked expression. He was 100 percent certain that this force could not have come from Abel since Abel was so weak. This force made the Knight of Marshall felt very insignificant, the last time he felt like this way, was when he met a commander a long time ago. But still, it was nothing compared to the force he felt this time. Actually, this unknown force was coming from the rune that was marked on the sword. That rune has the ability of “rumble off enemy”, which states that it could knock your opponent backward. Once rune was ignited, the reality would be set in stone, no matter how powerful your opponent was, they had to step back. It was a powerful force that both the Knight of Marshall and Abel could not comprehend. “What.. what’s the ability of this sword?” asked the Knight of Marshall, his eyes completely locked onto the blade. He was clearly thinking about snatching sword away from Abel’s hand. “Rumble off the enemy? Seems like you had just been rumbled off,” Abel said as he happily stared at the sword in his hand. He succeeded again.

Chapter 44 - Swordtesting Chapter 44: Swordtesting The Knight of Marshall grunted loudly. He filled his entire body with combat qi. However, since he didn’t want to hurt Abel with the rumble, he didn’t let the combat qi affect the big sword in his hand. “Again!” The Knight of Marshall was a bit unsatisfied that he got knocked backward by Abel’s strike last time. He had underestimated the power of Abel’s sword, but the Knight of Marshall didn’t lose any motivation. An intermediate knight had to have faith in his own combat qi. Abel watched the Knight of Marshall flashing with a body full of combat qi. He wondered if he could produce another rumble with this strike again. Even though Abel’s body was feeling very weak, as he stared into the affirming eyes of the Knight of Marshall, he took a deep breath and lift the sword above his head once again. This time Abel, felt so weak that he did not apply any force in his strike. He felt a little intimidated by the Knight of Marshall’s combat qi. Abel knew by heart this the fighters of this world were different from the ones on earth. They went all out in move, so getting injured was unavoidable. Abel’s big sword traveled downward with the force of gravity towards the Knight of Marshall’s sword. By that time even the Knight of Marshall had felt that Abel was getting weaker. Their swords made contact with each other once again. Since Abel did not apply any force, his sword barely bounced off. It only lightly landed on the Knight of Marshall’s sword. The Knight of Marshall wanted to shout at Abel, asking him what’s the matter, but suddenly that unstoppable force of energy had rushed towards him from Abel’s sword again. The Knight of Marshall wanted to withstand the force with his combat qi, but no matter how hard he tried, he was still human. No human could withstand the force of a mountain. 1 step, 2 steps, 3 steps… 10 steps This time, the Knight of Marshall had been knocked back another 10 steps by the rumble. It was like his combat qi had made no difference. How could this be possible, Abel didn’t even apply any force to his strike. It’s like the Knight of Marshall was destined to be knocked back. “Abel, you know… I am actually very good at using double swords”, said the red-eyed Knight of Marshall in a creepy tone, like he was alluring children. The Knight of Marshall thought this sword must be very helpful to him in battle. If he knew that the enemy would be knocked backward regardlessly. He could plan in advance to execute his final strike, thus increasing his chance of taking the life of his enemy. In another scenario, if the Knight of Marshall had encountered a very powerful opponent, if he could just knock them back 10 steps, he would be much more likely to escape. This magical sword could be the lifesaver of a knight. Even if he didn’t use it normally, he would carry it around just in case if he needed to escape or kill someone. The weight of a big sword was nothing to an intermediate knight anyway. “Uncle Marshall, you…” before Abel had even finished his sentence, he decided to just throw the sword directly towards the Knight of Marshall. The rune on this sword was provided by the Knight of Marshall anyway. Since the knight has helped Abel so much, a magic sword wasn’t really a big deal. Abel then proceeded to speak, “The rune on this magic sword was made according to the one on the rune sign you gave me a few days ago. I know how to apply it now. The result wasn’t too bad.” The Knight of Marshall was filled with confusion, he had kept the rune sign in his secret chamber for over 10 years. He had only given it to Abel a few days ago, and already he had created a magic sword with the same power? Unbelievable. But was the rune on this sword exactly the same as the one on the rune sign? The rune sign must be smashed in order for its power to be effective, so it could only be used once. However, the power in this magic sword could be affective every time it strikes. On top of that, this magic sword held immense power. Although the knight of Marshall knew that magic weapons could have all kinds of effects, most of them still revolve around the attributes of ice, fire, electricity, and poison. The Knight of Marshall had never heard of one that could knock people backward with rumble throughout his decades-long journey as a knight. The Knight of Marshall stared at Abel. He was shocked that this kid could create such powerful weapons by only copying the rune from a rune sign. Calling Abel a genius could no longer justify his abilities. The Knight of Marshall was lost for words, all he could do now was to keep reminding himself, I have to send Abel to the wizards. An out of the world genius like this doesn’t belong in the human world. “Uncle Marshall, have fun with the sword. I’ll get going now”, as Abel saw that the Knight of Marshall was deep in thoughts. He didn’t want to bother him, so he turned and left. “Abel, make sure you rest well. No matter what, don’t use your combat qi for the next few days. Ok?”, the Knight of Marshall warned Abel as he slowly came back into reality. When a novice knight used his combat qi for the first time, they would expel all the qi from their meridian. Afterward, only the empty shell would be left. Therefore they need to rest for a few days in order for the meridian to recover. However, if they decided to use their combat qi during these days of recovery, they would be drawing energy directly from the meridian. Then, even that empty shell would be used up. If the empty shell was gone, recovery would no longer be an option, the Knight had to train from beginning all over again. Of course, Abel knew about this. He was not even planning to leave his room for the next few days. He just wanted to make good use of this time, quietly practice writing runes by himself to increase his power of the will. After Abel had left, the Knight of Marshall continued to stare at the attribute-less magic sword in his hand. He felt overwhelmingly powerful, as though he could battle an entire army. This gave him an urge to rush to Harvest City and have a sword flighting competition with Viscount Dickens. But of course, this could only be a fantasy of the Knight of Marshall. The rank of Viscount Dickens was still miles above him. As a commander, Viscount Dickens could also easily best the Knight of Marshall’s to death. Therefore, no matter how powerful was your weapon, it still won’t make much difference if you were fighting against someone who was much more powerful than you. As a commander, one could use combat qi to form armor around your body. Therefore, it could weaken the power of every powerful attack. Normal attacks would not even budge this combat qi armor in the slightest bit. For example, Harry’s bow might be a nightmare for lesser ranking soldiers. But to higher-ranking ones, it might not even pose a threat. The Knight of Marshall started to wave around the attribute-less magic sword in his training room again. He began to gain a grasp of the ability of this sword. The rumble would only come out when striking an enemy. The Knight of Marshall really liked this mysterious ability about his new sword. He then placed both of the magic swords he had on to his back, one on each side, forming a cross. The Knight of Marshall couldn’t wait until the orc attack was over. He was desperate to go to the Knight of Bennett and have a sword fighting competition with him. Meanwhile, Abel had returned to his room. As he sat on his chair, he wondered if he should forge a super magic weapon. Since he had now been able to increase the ranking of his rune ink to the greatest rank, he should be able to forge a super ice magic sword with that last perfect perfect blue gem he had. After Abel had this idea, he had an urge to go back to the blacksmith guild immediately. However, he knew his body was still too weak. He needed a good rest before experimenting again. Abel took out his rune brush, dipped it into some rune ink, and proceeded to draw runes on to a long block of wood. This was the only way he could think of to increase his power of the will, and only real rune ink could perfectly provoke his power of the will. Normal ink could not achieve this effect at all. It’s a waste, but whatever. Steward Lindsey had already gotten some new ingredients from the Mercenary Union, and he had 5 figures worth of gold coins in his Horadric cube. Abel couldn’t help but curl his lips, I’m too rich anyway. Abel’s brush strokes were sometimes vicious like a snake, yet sometimes smooth like a river. He drew his familiar fire rune on to the wood. The rune ink continued to drain his power of the will. When Abel felt like he had completed the rune, suddenly the rune on the wood began to turn black. It was like the rune was attracting some unknown substances from the atmosphere. Soon the wood began to burn and turned in to charcoal. Runes could absorb energy from the atmosphere. It was the first time Abel had drawn a rune on something nonmetal, he did not expect things like this would occur. Runes were actually very unbalanced magic symbols. If a sense of balance wasn’t achieved by applying the suitable rune ink on to a corresponding surface. The energy it attracted from the atmosphere would continue to build up until it damaged the surface of whatever material it was on. Sometimes it would even end in an explosion. All the rune inks Abel had were only suitable for metal surface, he didn’t even know rune ink for other types of surface existed. But at the same time, he couldn’t care less. He was only using it to increase his power of the will anyway. He was not expecting to create anything.

Chapter 45 - Unwanted Scenario Chapter 45: Unwanted Scenario Abel felt something biting his leg. As he looked down on the ground, he saw Black Wind playfully gnawing its teeth on his pants. He picked up the puppy, held his arms around it, and began to caress it on its soft, furry back. Black Wind looked like a miniature dog now. While it was still small enough to be picked up, the money that was spent on its feed was already the same as that of an adult horse. After being disturbed by the Black Wind, Abel no longer had the motivation to practice with his Power of the Will. Pretty soon, he picked it up and went straight to bed. While Black Wind wanted to play, it just kept on struggling while it was in Abel’s arms the entire time. It didn’t get to escape until Abel was completely asleep. In the afternoon the next day, Abel felt an itch near his face and opened his eyes. It was Black Wind, and it was licking Abel’s face with its little tongue. As Abel opened his eyes, it greeted him by barking at him twice. As the two were bound by soul, Abel could tell that Black WInd was looking for some feed. Usually, the servant would come to feed Black Wind in the morning, but Abel had slept in today, so no one bothered to knock on his door. A maid came in after Abel pulled on the bell near his bed. Usually, Abel wouldn’t have any servants to accompany him because of how busy he was. Besides, he was just a child, and all the other maids got their own tasks to do. If he was living in another family, he would have his own personal maid, and it’s usually someone who was young and pretty. After ordering the maid to look after Black Wind, Abel washed for a bit and called for the butler Lindsay. “How can I be of service, Sir?” the butler Lindsay greeted Abel with a bow. “I want you to do something for me,” Abel said, and handed over his bag of 2000 coins, “I want you to buy me the best carriage you can find me.” Lindsay looked kind of perplexed for a second. The castle was not in a shortage of carriages. One of the two carriages was reserved for the Knight of Marshall, and the other one was a spare. “If you need a carriage, we do have one available right now,” he said. Abel explained, “Oh no, this is for a project I’m working on. I need to get my hands on a luxury carriage as soon as possible. I need to get it done in ten days if you know what I mean.” “Ten days? Oh, okay. Yes, Sir. I’ll have someone prepared” Lindsay smiled as he had understood what Abel meant, “Yes, I will arrange for someone to buy it, and it will be quietly delivered to your workshop.” “Thank you, Lindsay,” Abel thanked Lindsay as he left to prepare for the Knight of Marshall’s birthday present. After the housekeeper had left, Abel stretched his waist and punched the air a few times. He was pretty much recovered by this point. As long as he didn’t use any combat qi, his body would mostly be in good shape. With the amount of stamina he had, he decided that he was going to test an idea he had before. He was thinking about forging a super ice magic sword. Abel came to the blacksmith shop inside the Harry Castle. After greeting everyone, Master Bentham included, he went inside his personal workshop and started drawing his blueprint. The door to the workshop was closed. Ever since Abel came a Master Blacksmith, no one was to enter this place without his consent. Yes, not even Master Bentham. Abel was a figure of respect now. While everyone would distance themselves from interfering with his work, they wanted to receive his guidance in their craftsmanship. Master Bentham actually wanted to have a talk with Abel today. When he saw the Knight of Marshall carrying two new swords on his back this morning, he knew Abel had just made some more masterpieces. Knowing the Knight of Marshall, if he was willing to carry two large swords on his back, the quality of the swords themselves must be high enough for him to use them to make fun of others. Master Bentham had a lot of questions, but when he saw how stressed Abel was when he greeted him, he decided to let his former student focus on his work. From what it looked like, Abel was at the peak of his craftsmanship. As the rumors had it, whenever someone becomes a Master Blacksmith, there would be an outbreak of high-quality weapons for a period of time. This phenomenon was commonly known as the “outburst after accumulation” phase, with better and newer technologies coming out at once simultaneously. The “outburst after accumulation” phase was probably what Abel was having. That’s what Master Bentham thought, at least. As it was a one-time glory thing, he didn’t want to ruin the young blacksmith in the midst of his prime, despite the fact that Abel was only thirteen years old. Right now, Abel was making a lot less of the purer swords of a hundred skills. The magic bases he used to make them were rough and were mostly half-finished products with grooves inside of them. He didn’t bother to draw any runes for them, either. Abel took out three ice rune inks and placed them inside the Horadric Cube. The resulting product was one intermediate ice rune ink, one which was glowing with a blue arc of light. After making his magic sword base, Abel dipped his rune pen in the ice rune ink. Luckily for him, he finished drawing the rune right before he ran out of his Power of the Will. Things were pretty easy after that. After resting himself for a bit, he was pretty much recovered. Abel examined his Power of the Will for a bit. Apparently, there was a very subtle increase in his total capacity of the Power of the Will. If it wasn’t for how much he had exercised his abilities, Abel wouldn’t have been so sensitive to such a change. After making sure that no one was around, Abel took out his perfect blue gem and inserted it into his card slot. He then stabilized it with some tools that he had. While doing this, he was very careful not to put too much force into the gem. With his Power of the Will completely recovered, Abel read into the rune so that blue gem’s energy path was identical to that of a perfect piece. As he had his fair share of gem forging, he knew that he had to be very careful when he was doing this. The more energy there was inside, the faster the energy would travel inside the gem. One bad move and everything would fall apart. As the gem was close to becoming a complete piece, a blue ray of light began to flash out of its inside. A chilling power rushed towards Abel’s conscience. While there was a bit of distance between Abel and it, he could already feel his life being threatened. Forget about making direct contact, Abel wasn’t going to let his Power of the Will touch the thing. Instead, he was just going to let it chase after him as the rune was being activated. Abel was sweating like a cow right now because of how anxious he was getting. The speed of his Power of the Will was traveling at two times of its normal speed. The chilling energy behind him, too, wasn’t slowing down any time soon. Abel guided his conscience into the rune’s center. As the energy, too, followed him to the exact same location, it was suddenly trapped by the rune itself and became less volatile by the second. Eventually, after waves after waves of direct shock, it was stabilized and held still on the spot. Another blue light flashed by. Just when Abel had thought that it was a success, the sword of a hundred skill started crackling up from multiple spots. It was almost like the chilling energy was too much for it to contain. As he heard the sound of the sword crackling up, Abel threw the ice magic sword into his Horadric Cube right away. While he wasn’t trying to fuse it with something else, everything that was thrown inside a cube would lose its flow of time. Abel touched the cold sweat on his forehead. He was betting his life on the line here. If a normal gem would knock him unconscious when he was making the explosion sword, imagine the amount of damage a perfect blue gem (made from nine of its original copy) was capable of. What kind of shield could block dynamite? What about a wall? The more that Abel had thought about it, the less he thought his chance of survival was if he just let the sword break apart. For crying out loud, it a sword of a hundred skills. It was made by the most resistant materials Abel knew of, but it was not strong enough to without the impact of a perfect blue gem. Speaking of which, should Abel just let the sword stay inside the cube? If he decided to take it out, he would have three seconds to guard his body with something. Three seconds wasn’t short, but it wasn’t that long, either. Abel had thought about digging a giant hole before, but he didn’t think it was going to work this time. If the explosion was too strong, even the flying soil and rocks could break his face within seconds.

Chapter 46 - Ambush Chapter 46: Ambush Abel acted as if he was drifting off as he came out from the Blacksmith Guild. As soon as he got out, he sprinted directly towards The Knight Of Marshall’s study room. This was because he wanted to take a look at the map to check to see where he could safely dispose of that super exploding big sword that was inside the Horadric Cube. For normal exploding swords, even steel of hundred skills couldn’t resist its power. Who could’ve imagined the power of this super exploding big sword? If he wanted to have mutual destruction, maybe even a group of elite knights would not able to hold off the power of this toy. Abel was wondering that if he threw this super exploding big sword on to a commander, how long would his combat qi armor be able to withstand it. Abel’s brain was all gobbled up trying to think of a solution. As he continued searching the map for potential disposal locations, suddenly, he came across a place called the Ansa Valley. The place was perfect, it’s distance was around a day’s ride from the castle. There were cliffs marked on the map which meant it was perfect to destroy this exploding big sword that he had on him. After two days’ of rest, when Abel’s meridian had fully recovered, Abel told the Knight Of Marshall that he would be leaving the castle for an affair. In terms of Abel’s safety, The Knight Of Marshall wasn’t particularly worried. Abel was equipped with Harry’s bow, so everything should be fine as long as he didn’t stumble across any intermediate occupation holder. Besides, Abel was already a Master blacksmith. This meant that he had his own rights in spending his spare time as he pleased. Moreover, there wasn’t any information related to any orc attacks during these two days. The attacks had seemed to come to an end. The Knight Of Marshall did not stop Abel from going out on his trip. He only specifically demanded him to be more careful. For this trip, Abel prepared two horses with him. Abel rode one the war horse and the other warhorse was equipped with all the foods necessary. The horse’s food was all high-quality beans and oats. At the same time that Abel rode out of the castle. An ambush was unfolding in the valley of Neuilly which was in the directions of the Ansa valley that Abel was heading towards. The Knight of Saroyan was an elite knight and a Lord at the same time. For many years, he had been following and serving under Viscount Dickens, owner of Harvest City and the leader of an elite brigade of 1000. Although he held a royal identity since there were fewer wars these days, it was hard for him to gain any outstanding military service. Therefore, he was only a Lord without fief. This was why he has been extremely eager to take part in wars for more military service. With Harvest City being the heart of the human world, it was a very safe place. Except for some small battles, it has always held its’ reputation of being a peaceful place without fighting. A few days ago, The Knight Of Saroyan received an order from Viscount Dickens to lead its’ troops of one thousand elite brigades towards the Neuilly Valley to ambush and eliminate any orcs that were nearby. Viscount Dickens organized two other Elite Knights alongside with 30 knights to execute this ambush. This made Saroyan extremely excited when he received his orders as it was most likely going to be a substantial amount of enemies in this upcoming fight. Elite knight Bernard and Elite Knights Hopper were both born in different crumbling royal families. By their generation, their family’s inheritance was already too relegated to be inherited. While they still had the talents of a knight, with the glory of their ancestor’s shield being extremely dim, their only option was to become a squire to serve under Viscount Dickens. These inherent knights were paid very generously but their wealth cannot be inherited to their next generations. However, these 2 Elite Knights have both been searching for their opportunity to restore the glory of their ancestors’ shields. When the 3 knights saw each other, they knew their chances of gaining an outstanding military service was finally here. Everyone that was apart of the ambush was all anticipated for the upcoming battle. All 30 knights and the thousand of elite soldiers who were ready to fight with a fire burning in their hearts. It was now three days since the brigade had arrived in the Neuilly Valley, all the scouts had all been sent out to investigate and explore for any potential incoming orcs. Everything had already been set up, now all they had to do was wait for the orcs to show up. The Knight of Saroyan was sitting on a rock, looking down at the map of Neuilly Valley map. The location was surrounded by mountains on all three sides, with two of the sides containing an extremely steep hillside. It was very difficult to climb, and also had a large number of thorns as well as the sides being dead ends. Now, all of Saroyan’s forces had to do was gathered at the top of the last slope of the valley which had a very gentle and to ambush the orcs when they come. “Report!” One of the scouts jumped off his horse and promptly gave a military salute. The Knight Of Saroyan turned his head and looked at the sweaty scout. “What did you discover?” he asked. “There’s a small group of orcs from the south and they’re heading directly for the valley. They’re expected to arrive in 20 minutes.” The Knight Of Saroyan waved his hand and replied, “Alright then, continue scouting ahead for us.” As he then looked back at his lieutenants and ordered, “Get all our men to use the masking powder.” The masking powder was a tool that covered the human smell which was invented during the great war between the humans and the orcs. As the orcs had a strong sense of smell, the human’s smell in the air was like the beacon of the sea. After countless years of war, there was a heavy amount of human casualties due to their exposure to the orc’s sense of smell. After this painful loss, the human developed the masking powder, which became an essential strategic material for the army nowadays. The army then began to move methodically, and without saying a single word. They silently dusted themselves and their horses with the masking powder. “Report!” Another scout spotted the situation and reported, “There’s a small group of orcs spotted in the east. ETA (Estimated Time Arrival) is 25 minutes.” “Report! Orcs spotted from the Northside. ETA is 20 minutes.” As the scouts kept coming back reporting more and more orcs sightings. The Knight Of Saroyan began to smile as he looked back at Elite Knight Bernard and Elite Knight Hopper After 3 days of waiting, he smiled and said towards the 2 elite knights, “It’s finally here, the city’s lord intel was real!” “Indeed, I can’t believe they even found out the location of where these orcs will be gathering.” Answered Elite Knight Bernal, smiling with a desire for battle burning in his eyes. At the mouth of the valley, there was already a party of orcs which consisted of wolf riders. As they arrived around the mouth of the valley, they scouted around and ensured that their surroundings are clear. When their surroundings were cleared, they commanded their allies through simple hand gestures and proceeded into the valley. At the top of the side of the mountain, the hidden army, soldiers covered with masking powder, held their breath in fear that they might frighten the wolf riders and potentially interfere with their ambush plan. To them, more orcs that entered the valley meant more military service for them. As time passed slowly, the presence of orcs was gradually increasing in the valley. As more and more parties of orcs entered into the valley, the valley slowly became a sea of joy. The orcs here all thought they were safe. They had already begun in setting up their bonfire and feasting on their barbequed meats while enjoying their stolen wine. Not only so, but they were also discussing their respective tasks loudly and chatting about their successes with their robberies. When there were roughly 160 orcs gathered within the valley, there were already no sightings of anymore incoming orc parties. It looked to be that the gathering number of the orcs was already at its peak. The orcs suddenly paused their chatting. They discovered that the number of orcs that survived was much less than in previous years. There were around 500 orcs that were deployed here for the annual event. Last year there were around 200+ orcs returning survivors here. But this year, there were only 160 orcs. This was the lowest number of survivors in the history of this event. A depressing mood began to spread for these orcs around the valley. Many of them began to realize that their friends and brothers did not come back. A valley that was bustling with noise and excitement suddenly a second ago suddenly transitioned into complete silence. But the orcs were a fighting race and the feeling of grief and sorrow only lasted for a short period of time. Afterward, the orcs were gathered according to their parties and waited. When the appointed time was about to come, there would be a flying beast to take them home. The Knight of Saroyan kept his eyes on the situation in the valley. According to the intel from the City’s Lord, this was a gathering point for the orcs. Saroyan then turned his head to his lieutenant and said, “Go and notify the team at the mouth of the valley and instruct them to seal off the valley exit. “Yes, sir.” As the lieutenant took out a piece of sheepskin, wrote the order and finally stamped it with the seal of the battalion. He then sealed the envelope with a block of ciphered wax and arranged for the messenger to deliver the order to the team allocated at the mouth of the valley. After messenger had been gone for around four minutes, suddenly there was a flock of more than 20 huge birds came flying down from the sky. When The Knight of Saroyan saw the beasts that were flying in the sky, he couldn’t help himself but exclaimed in a low voice, “Sky sparrows? Is that how these orcs return back to their home?” Then The Knight of Saroyan turned to his lieutenant and asked, “Is there still time to retrieve back the order we sent out?” His lieutenant then shook his head with a bitter smile and said, “The operation should’ve started by now.” “It would be a tremendous glory for them if they were able to bring down even one of these sky sparrows.” The Knight Of Saroyan then looked at the sky sparrows in the skies with excitement and desire. He never knew that the strategy of the orc empire was to use these flying beasts. Even if all the orcs below had escaped, just capturing one of these sky sparrows would’ve been an outstanding military service.

Chapter 47 - F Chapter 47: Assault and Defence The sky sparrow was a strategic weapon from the Orc Empire, and it stood out for Its impressive load capacity. Its wide shoulders had the capacity of carrying more than 5 heavy orc cavalry at a time. They were considered as the most valuable transportation assets for the Orc Empire. Had it not been for the sky sparrow’s cowardice, and its tendency to fly around chaotically when frightened, the orcs would’ve used them as giant flying mounts. Despite that, the sky sparrow played an irreplaceable role in the Orc Empire’s army due to its’ ability to carry a tremendous amount of weight. Besides, its flying range was also superb. These flying mounts were pretty much the same as how war horses were to humans. They were also similar to the wolf rider’s mount wolves, which were also important assets to engage in warfare. Unlike regular flying beasts, flying mounts could be used in direct combat, which made it all the more desirable for humans. Unfortunately, however, the only flying mount unit that was available to men was the vulture troop in the Duchy of Saint Alice. The reproduction of these birds sparrows was extremely difficult. Nowadays, it was very rare to see such huge birds. Any casualties of these birds would be a great loss to the orc empire. Meanwhile, the team had begun to seal off the valley. They rolled giant boulders down from 10 meters above. The sound of these giant boulders immediately startled all of the orcs. The joy of seeing the sky sparrow was suddenly interrupted. Then a small part of the orcs began to rush out to the mouth of the valley. A large amount of wood that was poured with oil, were also rolled down, followed by the boulders. When the orcs reached the mouth of the valley, a rocket set all of the wood on the fire, which completely sealed the mouth of the valley. The sparrows immediately paused its downward flight path towards the valley, as it saw the situation on the ground. Luckily, the orcs were quite far away from the mouth of the valley. If they were nearer, what would’ve happened to the sparrows? Would they be frightened? As the driver of these large birds tried to calm them down. Among the confused orcs, there was a party of 10 wolf riders that had a different reaction from the crowd. One of them stood in the middle wearing black siamese armor, and the other nine in full leather armor. “Lord, something’s not right. I think we’ve been ambushed by humans.” Said a wolf rider with a grim look on its’ face. “Take my token and make everyone listen to my orders!” said the Lord calmly. The current situation did not seem to have much effect on him. “I hereby present the Woolf family token. Now listen up everyone, gather up by your dedicated party!” As the wolf rider held up the lord’s token and shouted. Suddenly, the restless orcs were all silent. Then, they quickly found their squad and joined up according to their specific race. “I’m Fowler, the sixth son from the Woolf family, and all the orcs here are by my command. Now all of you, be quiet!” Fowler watched in satisfaction as he witnessed all of the orcs obeying by his orders. “We are the most powerful orcs within our kind and these despicable humans have surrounded us with their dirty tricks… Now, the only option we have is to fight!” As Fowler looked up at the birds hovering in the sky and yelled, “These flying beasts that will take us home are right over our heads. They can’t land until we’ve defeated our enemies. Do you want to make it back home alive? Then we must fight! May the beast gods be with us! May the orcs be victorious!” “The Orcs will be victorious! As the spirits of the orcs became extremely aroused with a desire to fight in their hearts. Although there were only 160 orcs, their voices were so loud that the echoes of “The Orcs will be victorious” were heard throughout the valley. The Knight Of Saroyan carefully assessed the situation in the valley said to the two elite knights beside him, “I thought we’d let them mess around for a while so that our attack would go more smoothly. But who knew they had calmed down so quickly, I thought they were experienced orcs in the battlefield!” Knight Bernal touched the handle of his sword and his face was brimming with a thirst to fight. “Can we attack them now, my Lord?” The Knight Of Saryoan then nodded to his lieutenant, who stepped forward and began to shout, “Shield brigade go forward, gunmen follow the shield brigade and archers, prepare to strike.” As Bernal announced the orders, the 800 soldiers that were stationed in the valley quickly began to form a battle formation. 150 shield hands who were all equipped with tall shields firmly pressed their shields onto the ground and held them with their arms. They were positioned in the front and were considered as the front line of defense Behind the shield hands were two hundred rifle brigades, these soldiers were equipped with a five meters long rifle. Their rifle contained a sharp, slender gunpoint that was crafted from fine iron that could’ve easily pierced through any light armor. The rifle brigades carried a gun on one hand and had the tip facing outwards with the tail of the gun resting on the ground with their feet. When you first see the brigade in the front line, all it looked like was a turtle who had grown spikes. However, the main attack in this formation was the archers, who used a longbow, which was a simple and practical weapon for all purposes. By this time, the orcs had already organized themselves into a charging formation of 160 which were all level 6 and above. At the front line were the thick-skinned bear men who rode on their gigantic bear starting with the rough-skinned bear men on the bear. Then there was the Tauren who rode on their raging inferno and there were the wolf riders, who surrounded Fowler to keep him safe. When the orcs’ charging formation reached the humans’ defensive formation within 150 meters. The deputy had already raised his left hand, and the archers automatically split into three lines and kneeled to load arrows into their bow. “First row, fire! At the command from the lieutenant, 150 archers in the first row stood up and shot their arrows into the sky. “Second row, fire! As soon as the first row of archers had fired their shots, they crouched down to retrieve more arrows for their next shot their quivers. Immediately, the second row of archers stood up and shot their arrows into the sky, then crouched down. “Third row, fire! The third row of archers rose to shoot their bows and crouched down. Just like this, the three rows of archers were able to fire their arrows simultaneously. There were barely any intervals between these arrows as the arrows were like rain. As the arrows rained down onto the orcs charging formation and their toll began to rise. There were constantly orcs falling off their mounts and ended up being trampled into mush by the mounts that followed. Now, the only chance that the orcs would be able to win was if they increase their speed so that they could get closer to their enemies. Within a short distance of 150 meters to 50 meters, the team of orcs had left behind more than 40 members. As the orcs came closer, the rifle brigades in the front row could already begin to see the sharp teeth from the orcs. The collision between the two teams was about to begin. “Combat Qi!” Said Fowler. As he and the rest of the orcs drank it, they began to glow white. The two sides finally collided. The humans’ main focus was to stab the orcs with rifle point into the orcs body. Some rifles were broken into pieces due to excessive force. The first line of shield brigades took the most damage. Since the orcs already possessed good charging power, many shield brigades had been knocked flying away by the rebound of their combat qi. At that moment, the scene of the battle was a bloodbath. It looked just like hell. There were orc blood and human blood interwoven together. With orcs howling, humans shouting and also a variety of screams and groans coming from both sides. The orcs rushed directly into the defensive formation. Although they had made significant progress, they lost more than 30 orcs already. In this kind of short distance battle, the orcs had an immensely more powerful advantage. Their strength and speed, as well as their ranks, were much higher than humans. This made the next part of the battle almost a complete one-sided slaughter. Under the command of Fowler, the orcs rushing out from the siege. They did not stay for long, but instead, they quickly moved forward and kept pushing. The lieutenant stood on the left of the three rows of archers as he watched the battle in front of him without any emotion on his face. Suddenly, with a wave of his hand, he shouted, “Change to the knives!” The archers then proceeded to drop their defunct bows and arrows and drew their swords from their belts. They had the look of certainty of death in their eyes as their main task was to use their lives to exhaust the orcs’ fighting power. The lieutenant took out his military saber from his waist. At this time, the orcs had already broken through the first line of the defense formation and were charging directly towards the archers. The orcs were stimulated by the blood, their natural fighting instinct was fully incited. Their eyes highlighted their strong desire for blood. The archers in their eyesight were like lambs for slaughter. Their eyes shone with a strong desire for blood, and the archers before them were like lambs for slaughter. Before the orcs rushed up to them, the archers in the front had already rushed directly towards the orcs. As they held the orcs’ legs with their bodies which would slow down their charging speed as well as allowing other archers to attack them. The lieutenant had also rushed up, he was followed by the last two rows of archers. However, the archers’ frantic war rage did not stop the pace of the orcs. At last, the human defense was completely penetrated by the orcs.

Chapter 48 - The Knight Brigade Charging Formation Chapter 48: The Knight Brigade Charging Formation The orcs cheered with excitement as they penetrated the defense line of the humans. However, as they ran towards the direction of the sunset, the team of 33 knight brigades had already begun to increase their speed the team had reached their peak speed. As the arrowhead of the knight brigade charging formation, the Knight of Saroya was at the very forefront. The Elite Knight, Bernard, and Elite Knight of Hopper closely followed behind. The Knight of Saroya shouted “LOYALTY!” A white glow of combat qi began to rush out from the body of the Knight of Saroya. Soon, all the knights who were following closely behind also began to unleash their combat qi. The Knight of Saroya then shouted “HONOUR!” This large amount of combat qi began to merge. Even the 30 lesser knights at the back were trying their best to unleash their combat qi. “SACRIFICE!” More and more combat qi shifted from the back of the charging formation towards the forefront. “COURAGE!” Now, a large amount of combat qi was concentrated on the bodies of the 3 Elite knights. “HUMILITY!” A combat qi armor that was exclusive to head commanders began to appear on their bodies “SPIRIT!” As the knight brigade continued to accelerate. The white color combat qi armor on the 3 elite’s body knights had shone even brighter. At last, they had merged, forming an arrowhead. “HONESTY!” The 30 lesser knights at the back continued to supply more and more combat qi towards the forefront. The arrowhead became bigger and bigger. “JUSTICE!” At last, a gigantic arrowhead had formed at the forefront of the charging formation, shielding the 33 knight brigades. The Knight’s charging formation were some of the most powerful force humans could create in this world. It congregated the spirit of knights. In order to achieve a knight charging formation, it required a minimum of 10 official knights. However, if more knights were in the formation, the more powerful it became. The holy contention had a legend. It states that when the words, “Loyalty”, “Honour”, “Sacrifice”, “Bravery”, “Mercy”, “Spirit”, “Honesty” and “Justice” were collectively being said together, the knight brigades would become unstoppable. As described by countless enemies, The only way to defeat a team of knights brigades in a charging formation was to wait for it to stop charging. Actually, it was planned all along. Those warriors who were initially in a defensive formation to withstand the orcs. They were only there to create extra time for the knight brigade to complete their charging formation. Although the charging formation was very powerful, it could only be used in an actual battleground. Since the formation would often take a long time to complete if they’ve been spotted during the process. The enemy would gain enough time to plan a response. “It’s the knight charging formation. Run! Quick!” Fowler loudly warned the other orcs. His calmness completely vanished. He was frightened by the most powerful attacking formation of humans. The orcs had already been slowed down by the human defense formation. There was no way they could escape this already formed knight charging formation. The giant arrow of combat qi rushed towards the frightened orcs, like a sickle about to harvest its crops. “Protect the Lord!” Since the wolf riders were near the back end of their formation, they preserved most of their fighting power. They madly rushed towards the front, using their bare body to protect the escaping Lord Fowler. Fowler had already lost 2 out of 9 personal wolf riders in the previous batter. The 7 that remained were closely guarding Fowler by his side. “For the glory of the Woolf family!” A wolf rider roared as he directly rushed towards the knight brigades. Although is sacrifice had made no difference, there were still many wolf rider shouting, ATTACK! “Go to hell, humans. One day, I will call my lead troops to kill you all”. Fowler swore, but it couldn’t change the reality. The orcs were different from humans. For human royals, the oldest son would inherit the family’s assets. While for the orcs. The most powerful son would be the inherence. Fowler was the 6th son of the Woolf family. In order to gain a chance to inherit his family’s assets, he had to work very hard. That’s the reason he had decided to join this new member trial. Every year, the orc empire sent a large number of young soldiers to the human world. If they could survive for more than three months, they would be awarded. The main reason was that the orcs were too good at reproducing, and the orc empire doesn’t have enough resources to meet up the demands. Especially for these orc soldiers. Therefore not only could the orc empire gain more resources by sending these troops to steal, but they could also minimize their population. That’s why “the trial of death” was created. Of course, it had a better sounding name “the new member trial”. There were two elite wolf riders beside Fowler. These elite orcs were an important asset of the orcs empire, and they would rarely appear in these new member trials. However, since they needed to ensure the safety of their lord, they had also traveled to the human world. “Wooo…” an elite wolf rider viciously howled towards the sky. Under the influence of combat qi, his voice was clearly heard by a sky sparrow just flying above them. The driver of the sparrow understood the message. He knew that he need to pick up an orc that was very high status within the orc empire. It was commanded that no matter what happened, this orc had to return safely. The driver then lightly padded the neck of the sky sparrow. The sky sparrow then took a turn in the sky and began to lower itself to around 20 meters above the ground. The two elite wolf riders tightly held on to Fowler’s arms, one on each side. In a count of three, they unleashed all their combat qi and threw Fowler towards the sky. “I will take good care of your families!” Said Fowler in mid-air to the two elite wolf rider on the ground. Soon the sky sparrow swooped from below, catching Fowler with its giant body. Meanwhile, the knights charging formation was rushing directly towards the two elite wolf riders. The two wolf riders were flashing with intense combat qi. They felt gratified, at last. Their lord had been saved, and the Lord said he would take good care of their families. Everything was worth it. Just like sand being swallowed up by a powerful wave, the great charging force of the knights had soon turned the two elites wolf rider into smoke of blood. Since the 2 elites wolf riders also possessed great power, they had an even more tragic death under the rebound power of the knight charging formation. This scenery had frightened the sky sparrow which Fowler was on. It soon began to immediately accelerate towards the sky. The Knight of Saroya realized that sky sparrow was still in reach, so he once again gathered knight brigades, and unleashed a beam of combat qi towards the sky. Although the sky sparrow could accelerate very fast, it was nothing compared to the speed of the knight brigade’s beam of combat qi. Soon it had began caught up with the sky sparrow. Fowler sensed that he was in danger once again. He took out a rune sign from his chest pocket and smashed it. The rune sign turned into a white shield. However, the beam of combat qi produced by the 33 knights was still too strong. After a while, it had penetrated Fowler’s shield. Although Fowler’s shield could not stop the beam of combat qi completely, it still absorbed most of its energy. The beam only made a small cut on the sky sparrow’s body and vanished. The injured sky sparrow was traumatized. No matter how hard the driver tried to calm it down. It flocked around frantically and did not follow it’s an initial path at all. At the time, most of the sky sparrow drivers had realized that the orcs they were supposed to pick up were killed. Since their sky sparrows were also getting more and more irritated, they began to retrieve. “Damn, we let him got away,” the Knight of Saroya said with an annoyed tone. That orcs must be very high status. All the wolf riders had gone crazy to protect him earlier, even 2 elite wolf riders had sacrificed themselves. Moreover, it was unusual for a sky sparrow to take a risk flying at such a low altitude. All of these things just add up, that orc must be someone extraordinary. “Let’s clean up the mess”, said the Elite Knight of Bernard from the side. We had killed 160 wolf riders with rank 6 and above, two of which were even elite wolf riders. The military service we achieved today was already very outstanding. The 200 soldiers who were guiding the mouth of the valley had all been called back to clean up and give first aid to other injured soldiers. No matter dead or alive. Let’s chop off the heads of all the orcs. They represented our outstanding military service. “Master, the result has been calculated”, a lieutenant came out with a bandaged arm and said with a heavy tone. “Out of the 1000 warriors, other than the 200 who were guarding the valley mouth. We have 302 dead, 54 in critical condition, and 5 lightly injured.” “Ah, report it anyway. We’ll give a part of the spoils of war to their families”, the Knight of Saroyan helplessly said. People die in battles, this fact was unavoidable. These were all the bright soldiers that trained under the Knight of Saroya for many years, fighting against normal orcs should be a challenge. However, all the orcs in this battle were rank 6 and above. Since all they wanted to do was to penetrate our defense line, the result had to be like this

Chapter 49 - Big Reward Chapter 49: Big Reward As Abel was riding on his horse, the vacant horse that was carrying the high-quality horse stock was by his side. Both horses were extremely agile. Instead of admiring the scenery along the journey, Abel carefully observed if there were movements around him. He constantly took a map out from his chest pocket and cautiously compared it to the terrain. When looking at the maps of this world, the first thing you would notice was not the details. Yes, because there weren’t many details. Instead, there was a general line that was drawn which highlighted the nearby geographical features of the area. The map Abel had on his hand was already a special map made only for nobles. It was already considered the best map available in this world. There was a list of symbols and their explanations at the bottom of the map, which corresponded with symbols that were placed all over on the map. This river that Abel had just crossed was marked on the map with a symbol that read, “Be careful of the deepwater when passing through.” When Abel looked back at the river in front of him, it was more like a stream than a river. As he was constantly groaning about the map, he thought to himself that maybe the symbol on the map should change to “beware of getting your shoes wet” instead. He then looked at the map again, this time, the map marked there was a small hill ahead. As Abel looked up, he saw a small hill. Luckily it hasn’t disappeared yet. The map was finally accurate this time around. This was the first time Abel had traveled this far alone. So he carefully examined the surrounding environments since he didn’t want to lose his life through a trivial accident. Suddenly, there was a stirring sound coming from the air. Abel immediately looked up into the sky to see what was going on. To his surprise, a gigantic bird was crashing down towards the small hill ahead. Abel’s curiosity was quickly aroused. The bird was bigger than anything he could have ever imagined. He had never seen such a gigantic bird in this life or even in his past life. It was almost as big as a passenger plane. The Knight of Saroyan set off towards the direction of that small hill. Meanwhile, about 10 minutes later, Abel had gone down to the foot of the mountain and left the two horses there. He then took out his Harry’s bow, placed the magic ice sword on his back and went back up to the mountain. Unlike ordinary horses, these warhorses did not need to be tied up in the wide. They were trained to not leave the location where their owners had left them. Furthermore, these carnivorous warhorses could also drive out any potential threats which made it much safer when traveling with them. It took a lot of effort and time for Abel to walk from the foot of the mountain towards the top. Although this small hill didn’t look big from afar, it was only until now Abel had realized the definition of a dead horse running up the mountain. Then suddenly, Abel heard the sound of “goo..goo…,” as well as people talking in beast language. Abel’s heart dropped. He was not expecting the orcs to be nearby at all. As Abel carefully lurked around his surroundings, he remembered that he was caught by the wolfrider last time due to his scent. But this time he gained experience. He found a leeward region that should keep his scent from reaching the orcs. “How long do I have to wait before it can fly again?,” Cried a voice in the orc language. “It may take up to two days, my Lord,” Said a humble voice. “twp days? Are you serious that I have to stay in this human world for 2 more days? I will feel sick even if I have to stay another day. You better hurry it up and cure the thing.” As a voice lashed out from somewhere. “Yes, my Lord.” Abel carefully stuck his head out to peek at the current situation. Even though he was in a leeward region, he also held his breath for extra precautions. Who knew if the orcs could hear better than normal humans? The first thing that Abel saw was the gigantic bird, the bird had a huge wound on the side of its’ body. If the wound was measured to normal human sizes, it would account for the length of two people! However, a wound for these gigantic birds was considered only a small wound. As Abel continued looking, there was a worgen wearing leather clothing, who was carefully putting medicines onto the continuously bleeding wound of the bird. On the edge was a wargon that caught Abel’s interest immediately. It was not an ordinary wolfrider. This was the first time that Abel had seen an orc wearing armor. The fact that it was wearing a black armor was all the more peculiar. It didn’t have a shiny smooth surface, which meant it was no ordinary steel. Since only unpainted material would have a texture like this. This material was black in default. Abel had never seen such unique material in his life. This special worgen seemed to be extremely irritated, as he constantly urged the other worgen to hurry it up to treat the bird’s wounds. “Stay here and take care of the wound. I am going to find something to eat,” said the worgen in black armor. He then headed out towards the other side of the mountain. Abel took a closer look at the worgen who was working on the bird’s wound. It looked like it was going to take a while before the bird could fly again. Therefore, he abandoned his original idea of investigating the bird and wandered off to follow the wolf rider in the black armor. The wargon in black armor was Fowler. He had just escaped from the Neuilly Valley. Since the bird was injured and extremely tired during its long journey here, it should be able to fly again any time soon. The only option was to find a hidden spot around for the bird to heal up. Fowler’s loss was tremendous. All of his year-long guards and mount wolves had been killed. However, as long as he could return home, all of these things were trivial compared to his family’s wealth. Fowler suddenly stopped when he reached the bottom of the mountain. He carefully examined his surroundings. At this moment, Abel thought he was caught and he immediately hid behind a giant boulder. Abel had suffered a lot of hardships with his attempt in tracking Fowler. On many occasions, he wanted to pull out his bow and one-shot the wargon. However, Abel always had a feeling that it would be very hard to hit its armor. As Abel’s power of will increased, he became more confident in himself in taking the shot. Slowly, he poked out his head and saw the wolf rider taking off his armor. When the armor was removed, it was able to be easily folded into a rectangle. Then the rectangle seemed to be fixed after wolf rider had pressed the top for a few times. Afterward, the wolf rider picked it up and carried it behind him. As Abel placed the arrow back on harry’s bow and pulled backward, saying to himself, “You are just killing yourself. You can’t blame me for taking off your own armour..” What happened next shocked Abel. The wolfrider suddenly took out a necklace from his chest and uttered a spell. Abel had experience with spells. Since he was in a close range with the wargon, his power of the will was able to remember every single word the wolf rider had uttered. These kinds of spells were a typical orc style spell. These spells usually contained a large number of quotes that praised the orc god, mixed with some strange pronunciation. As soon as the wargon finished saying the spell. A soul-crushing force emerged from the sky, followed by a green beam of light. The light began brighter and brighter, soon surrounding the entire body of the wargon. By the time the light had dissipated, the wolf rider had fully transformed into a human’s body when he appeared in front of Abel’s eyes. The wargon’s unique arched back was gone, its’ height had dropped as well as his facial hair and pointed mouth looking completely like a human. “Wow, a treasure!” Abel was completely struck by this sight. Whatever that necklace was, it was a high-value treasure. On top of that, it was from an orc, so he could justify stealing it without feeling any remorse. As Abel pulled his bow to the maximum power and aimed precisely onto the wargon’s head. However, this was not a human, it’s an orc. Its head could be counted as military service. Therefore after a bit of consideration, Abel decided that shooting it at the heart was a more viable option With a bang, the arrow traveled faster than the speed of sound. The wolfrider was hit in the heart with almost no response. The necklace then promptly began to flash a few times and then suddenly the wargon’s appearance had transformed from human back to its original form. Abel stepped forward and approached the wolfrider carefully. When he confirmed that it was dead, he began to loot the body of the wolf rider. The first thing Abel took was the necklace, he carefully removed it from the wolf rider’s neck. The necklace was a circle made of unknown materials, on one side, it was carved with the beast god, and the other side was the human god of war. And the second thing he looted was the set of armor, Abel picked the armor up with his hands. The armor was extremely light. It was only around five pounds, which was almost nothing for a knight. Abel lightly poked the armor with his dagger, it did not make a mark at all. He poked it again with more force, still, it made no difference. After a few more times, Abel gave up. It’s better to leave it to a knight with combat qi to test out the defense power of this armor. A novice knight like him was too weak to do anything. Abel was so glad that he believed in his power of will and didn’t attack the wolf rider when it was wearing the armor. Luckily, the wolf rider got himself killed by taking off his own armor. Fowler didn’t deserve to be killed. All he wanted to do was to sneak inside a human village to get some food. He wasn’t looking to harm anyone. Since he didn’t want an entire troop of knights running after him, he used a family treasure to turn himself into a human so he could go steal some food. His armor was made exclusively for worgen, to transform into a human. Fowler had to take it off, and Abel took advantage of what he did. In the end, Abel found a pile of things from the wolf rider’s arms, including two rune sign, which was a surprise for Abel. Other than that, he had also found some jewelry, and finally a familiar orc technique sign.

Chapter 50 - Transformation Necklace Chapter 50: Transformation Necklace The runes were different on both rune signs. Although Abel was unable to identify which runes it was, he decided to bring it back to the castle first and test it out on a sword. Abel picked up the orc technique sign from the orc again. The structure of this technique sign looked similar to the one he had before. There was an engraving of a goddess of orcs on the top and a star at the bottom. It seemed like this rune sign was also for one-time use only before its power was completely drained. Of course, Abel wouldn’t let this opportunity slide. He injected his Power of the Will into the orc’s rune sign. He gained experience from last time, and he knew how he could search for the special technique within it. Abel’s sight became blurred. He felt like he had become a middle worgen on a mount wolf holding a long spear. From the message he was delivered, he knew that this rune sign had documented the long spear techniques of the Woolf family, an orc royal family. Their long spear techniques were different from the one of the knights. There was a brief spell attached to every move they had. Maybe it was because these were the techniques from a royal family. Anyways, the spell was written in very simplified terms. It did not include any words of admiration towards the orc gods. The middle-aged worgen struck out his long spear according to the motion of his mount wolf. After a bit of consideration, Abel executed the 11th long spear technique. It corresponded perfectly with the mount wolf. Every time the worgen said the curse, the long spear would make a sharp piercing noise through the air. From the information Abel gained through the orc’s technique sign, he understood that the power unleashed by these long spear techniques did not depend on combat qi. Since everyone has their combat qi limit, a person’s physical power still mattered the most. It was only at the time of necessity where they will ignite their combat qi. Moreover, this orc royal long sword technique didn’t have a time limit. You could use it as long as you still had energy in your body. Although Abel had learned both the Bennett and Harry heritage knight techniques. They all required combat qi to be executed. This was the first time Abel had seen a non-combat qi technique. By only saying a spell with a corresponding motion, it could continuously achieve a strike with twice the power. It seemed like Abel was bound with the worgens by fate. He had gained two technique signs from the orcs, and both times it was a technique from the worgens. Abel watched as the orc technique sign vanished into thin air. Although Abel could not grasp the value of this technique, he understood how important they were to the royals in the Orc Empire. Just like all royal families, their techniques were exclusive and should not let other people get a hold of it. There was also a shapeshifting necklace, but Abel did not have time to examine it. There was still another orc he needed to take care of. He put the necklace around his neck and shoved the rest of his things in his pocket. Abel was intrigued by the black armor. Once the buckles were taken off, it could be folded into a rectangle that was easy to be carried around. Such craftsmanship was not something you’d expect from the Orc Empire. Abel raised his big sword as he stared at the worgen corpse on the ground. Since he arrived in this world, he had killed many worgens and seen many dead bodies. However, It was still a bit hard for him to chop off the head of another individual. Although Abel’s perspective had changed a lot during the last two years, he was still very much attached to the social values of his past life. In this world, chopping the head off your enemy was a sign of power. However, in his old world, it was considered disrespectful. “Well, I’m strong enough to carry some extra weight anyways,” Abel thought to himself, and eventually decided to pick up the dead worgen on the ground. With its body in his one hand and the black armor in the other, he began to climb his way up to the top of the hill. When Abel reached the top of the hill, he still chose the leeward region. Therefore, he could keep his eyes on the condition of the giant bird from afar. At that time, the sky sparrow was no longer oozing out blood, and it’s wound has been treated. Due to excessive flying and bleeding, it had already fallen asleep. The worgen was setting up his tent as he was completely unaware of Abel’s presence. As Abel placed the dead body of Fowler and the black armor down carefully. He took out his harry’s bow and shot directly at the worgen’s heart. It did a turn, but not fast enough for it to escape its misfortune. However, the arrow did not hit the worgen directly in the heart. It only created a hole through his body. The arrows seemed to hit the lungs of the worgen with its’ spines being shot directly through. The fallen worgen did not die. Instead, he grasped to reach his hand into his chest pocket and took out a sign. When he was about to crush the medal, Abel recognized his move. He immediately shot the worgen once again in the brain. Its’ hand slowly released and the sign dropped onto the ground. After shooting the wolf rider, Abel looked at the bird. The action seemed to not bother the bird’s rest. Abel slowly went up to the worgen. He used his foot to kick it to ensure that it was dead. The vitality of the worgen was beyond the imagination of Abel, it was shot through the lungs and spine, yet it was still able to take things out from its chest pocket. The medal that was dropped by the rider wolf had three orc characters on it. Abel recognized the words which meant “sky sparrow “, with the number “36” underneath it. There were also some rune lines that Abel could not understand. It was stretched out from the diamond and surrounded the entire back of the sign. While Abel wasn’t sure how to cast the spell or how it functioned, he was a very curious boy that was eager to learn. Since there wasn’t a spell, he could use his Power of the Will to connect to the medal directly. Normally, these orcs technique signs required casting some complex spells that corresponded before using it. However, as Abel was experienced with these things, he could just use his power of will. It was like a walk in the park, Abel directly injected his Power of the Will into the sign. As soon as he got close to the sign. The diamond began to flash a beam of white light. Abel continued to swim towards the light, in a split second. The sign was surrounded by the lights. Abel’s Power of the Will also became intertwined with the lights. Suddenly, he felt an odd sensation, as though he was having a body scan. Afterward, he felt 2 orc letters appeared from the sign. It said, “rejected”. “What do you mean, Rejected?” Abel immediately understood that this sign was extremely important to the orcs. To the point where the last thing that was in that worgen’s mind before it died, was to destroy it. The experiment Abel had just did suggested that he could activate this sign with his Power of the Will. However, the sign had a safety mechanism. When Abel had that special sensation that he was being scanned. It seemed like the sign could detect that Abel was not an orc, so the medal refused to activate. Was there no other way? At that moment, Abel felt like his heart was being scratched by a cat. What a pity. If the medal could not be activated, Abel might have to give up on the spot. However, since he was able to activate it, he was just one step away from passing the detection. Abel then thought to himself, “If I was an orc, maybe I could pass the detection.” Suddenly, he was reminded of the necklace on his chest. If Fowler could transform himself into a human, could the opposite be possible? Abel decided to give it a go. As he took the necklace out from his chest and tried to remember the spell, he thought deeply for a second, he was certain, the spell was complete. Abel examined the surroundings around him to ensure that it was safe, The two worgens chose this spot for a reason. The hills were not high and there were a lot of trees. Especially those tall trees which could block out the top of the mountain. It was the perfect hiding place for a camp. Abel held the transformation necklace outside his sleeve. He pressed on top of it with his fingers and began to utter out the orc’s spell. Following Abel’s spell, a powerful force appeared again in the sky, as if the spell was connected to the transcendent life. A higher life that Abel could not comprehend. Abel immediately felt a little bit of pressure which made him gain a fear from the bottom of his heart. A flash of green light on the necklace grew stronger and stronger and soon wrapped around Abel’s body. He promptly felt that the necklace gave him three choices: orcs, humans, and elves. Abel imagined in his heart the look of the worgen Fowler that he had killed. Within the blink of an eye, he felt a throbbing muscle tear that made him gasp. His bones began to ring as he grew taller and taller. Then, grey-brown hair grew throughout his body. His face began to deform. His teeth grew wildly. With the disappearance of the green light, Abel had fully transformed into a worgen. He could even feel that his organs were different from before. It was magical, Abel couldn’t help but exclaim in his heart. After using the necklace, Abel had also learned a bit of information about the necklace.

Chapter 51 - White Cloud The Sky Sparrow Chapter 51: White Cloud the Sky Sparrow The transformation necklace was a treasure from the Woolf royal family. Back in the old days, it was a magical item made to facilitate the family’s members to travel through the Holy Continent. It was said that the orc god had to sacrifice a large amount to invite Great Druid, from the elves to complete the necklace together. Therefore it could only be used by the most important members of the Woolf family’s younger generation. The recovering spell of the transformation necklace was also inherited only by the Woolf family. Suddenly, Abel had realized that he didn’t know the spell of how to recover back into a human. He only knew the spell of how to transform into a worgen. Luckily, these magic items would often contain information about it’s using instructions within it. Therefore Abel could find the recovering spell by injecting his power of the Will. He told himself, he must be sure to pay closer attention to these spell casts next time. If he really couldn’t transform back into a human, the only option he would have left was to go and live in the orc empire. Once again, Abel picked up the sign with the symbols saying Sky Sparrow and connected to it with his power of the Will. He immediately felt the detective wave that occurred from the last test, he felt like he was having a body scan again. When the sign scanned Abel’s power of the Will, it passed and questioned Abel whether he was the owner. Abel looked directly at the dead worgen on the floor. He knew that it was the owner of the sign. If it was still alive, no one other than him should be able to use it. “Obey, I am the owner!” Abel answered with his power of the Will. Then there was a flash of white light. Abel immediately felt a sense of connection between the sign and himself. It felt much like the connection between him and the mount wolf Black Wind that he adopted. A bundle of messages was coming to him through his power of the Will. The sign was called the sky sparrow control no. 36, and it was under the command of the orc military of the heavy flying beast transportation brigade. Each sign was able to control one unique sky sparrow and only the owner of the sign was able to command the bird. According to the control information from the sign, these sky sparrows were very easy to feed and it ate mostly everything edible as its’ digestive ability was extremely strong. In normal circumstances, it was able to find itself food. The bird also had no enemies in the skies due to its enormous size and back in the orc kingdom, these birds were generally placed in the forest area. Whenever there was a transportation mission, they were directly recalled through this control sign. Abel then carefully inspected the no. 36 bird control signs and found diamonds on it. There was a very faint wave of soul. When Abel had connected with the wave of the soul with the power of the Will. Suddenly, the sky sparrow was awakened. When the sky sparrow was awakened, it ignored its original owner who was lying dead on the ground. Instead, it was looking directly at Abel nervously along with a sense of curiosity. Abel then used his power of the Will again to connect with the soul of the sky sparrow, he felt that it was curiosity yet nervousness. Abel couldn’t help but want to pat the sky sparrow on its head, but it was too big and tall. Although Abel wasn’t able to reach the bird’s head, the bird seemed to be able to read Abel’s mind. It slowly lowered it’s head towards Abel and closed its eyes, waiting for Abel to pat him. Abel gently patted the head of the bird and at that moment, the bird’s heart immediately felt a sense of joy. The bird seemed to have a lot of things that it wanted to share with Abel. Abel then continued to use the control sign no. 36 to communicate with it. The bird expressed how painful it’s wound was, how hungry he was, as well as it’s anger of being attacked. Although it wasn’t able to express the words clearly, through the power of the Will, Abel was able to understand most of the things it was saying. All sky sparrows had a master who was able to control them through a special control sign?. However, these birds were still animals, and they had their ways of thinking, emotions and needed their owners to care for them. Normally, worgen could not understand or able to directly communicate with these birds. Only a man like Abel was able to mentally connect to the soul it’s soul through the control sign. By being able to communicate with each other, the bird seemed to have developed a sense of good impression towards Abel. “You are so gigantic and pale” When you’re in the sky, you’re like a white cloud. From now on I am going to call you White Cloud!” Said Abel. When the bird heard the name, it seemed to like it very much. A sense of joy and approval was passed to Abel through the control sign. Looking at White Cloud, Abel couldn’t imagine the feeling of riding a bird-like this in the skies. In his past life, he had flown in an airplane and glided. But flying on a large bird was something that he had never thought of before. “It looks like we’ll be staying here for two more days. When you’ve recovered, we’ll be on our way home.” White Cloud nodded back to Abel. It seemed to be very happy to share his feelings with his owner. It had never been more excited in its life. “Wait for me. I’ll go down the mountain and get the horses.” The control sign revealed that the bird seemed to be not willing to separate from its’ owner. When Abel noticed its reaction, he couldn’t control himself but smile to appease the bird for a little longer. He only went down the mountain when the bird was quietly resting. When Abel saw his two warhorses as he was arriving at the foot of the mountain. The warhorses were immediately alerted and transitioned into a guarding position. Abel felt a little surprised, then he realized that he was in a worgen’s body. Luckily, he was only seen by his warhorses, not humans. Abel then quickly took out his necklace and cast the recovering spell. After a flash of green light, he transformed back into his human form. The two horses still slowly approached Abel though wondering how the strange man had just suddenly transformed into their master. When Abel traveled back to the top of the mountain with the two horses, he saw the big head of White Cloud rolling around. When White Cloud saw Abel’s returned, it was moving its mouth rapidly as it was extremely exciting and was in joy. White Cloud didn’t seem to care what Abel had looked like as it felt Abel’s presence through his soul. The horses seemed to have been frightened by the size of the bird. However, they had been trained so well that they had only stopped and did not run away, only kicking their front hooves a little impatiently. Abel then patted the two horses, and took out some of the fine horse food and fed some to both the horses. When the horses felt Abel’s presence, they were calmed again. They were here to stay here for two days. Luckily, the worgens had already set up their tents earlier. There were 2 tents. One was very ordinary which probably belonged to the worgen with leather armor. The smell inside was horrible. However, the other tent was very luxurious. It’s interior was very clean, though not too big, it was enough for three people to sleep side by side, Abel was not too clear what material was used, but it was for sure very expensive. While Abel was lying in the tent, he was thinking for an excuse on why he had gone for two days. No one could find out about White Cloud. Abel decided to leave his bird in the forest behind the Harry castle. He could summon it anytime anyways. Abel had gotten way too used to being in the blacksmith guild every day. Since he did not bring his rune brush or rune ink on this journey, he was bored out of his mind. Maybe it was time for Abel to be promoted to a beginner knight. He had already been a level 5 novice knight for quite a while. Abel pondered as he stares at the 6 bottles of the master’s ‘qi condensing option’ in the Horadric Cube. When he recalled what The Knight of Bennett and The Knight of Marshall said, to be promoted, it required to fill the qi in the meridian completely. The more qi you had, the higher the chance you would be promoted. The best way to maximize your chances was to prepare a bottle of greater “qi condensing potions”, conditional equipped with a bottle of greatest “qi condensing potion”, and drink them together. Being promoted to an official knight was not easy. That’s why so many knights were stuck at the novice rank. It was said that the younger the novice knight, the more likely he would be promoted. With the older the novice knights, they were the hardest to get promoted. As Abel touched his beardless chin. Was 13 young enough? Since all the “qi condensing potion” do was to fill up the qi in the meridian. Normally novice knights only need 1 greater and 1 greatest one. He got 6 master’s ones, so it should be more than enough. Abel thought about all of these conditions. He realized he had met, or even exceeded all of them. He then took the level 6 bottle of the master’s “qi condensing potion” out from the Horadric cube. After thinking for a while, Abel took out the control sign and sent a do not disturb to White Cloud. If anything appears, he could just retract the message. Finally, Abel was prepared to level up. With White Cloud being such huge and terrifying creatures, even the largest of beasts would not dare to approach them. Furthermore, it was also a long way from the nearest road, Abel thought he should not be so unlucky that other humans would be here to disturb his leveling up.

Chapter 52 - Promoting To Be An Official Knight Chapter 52: Promoting to Be an Official Knight Abel took a deep breath and thought about the 2 knight’s experiences again. Since he wanted his body to gain more and more qi, he decided to drink all of the qi condensing potions. Abel picked up a master’s qi condensing potion shining in dark gold and drank it without any hesitation. He poured more and more bottles of the qi condensing potion and emptied it all into his mouth. Altogether, he had drunk around 6 bottles of the potion. When he was finished drinking, he did a large burp. Only someone like Abel could be able to drink something as powerful as these and still be able to do burps. At this time, the “condensing potion” in Abel’s stomach began to resist the huge amount of qi rushing through his meridian. Abel had no choice but began to use the knight’s breathing techniques to continuously compress the qi in his meridian. But how was he supposed to keep up his compression speed with the large amount of qi rushing through his meridian? At that moment, Abel felt as if he had transformed into a pressure cooker as his stomach continued to bloat. If it weren’t for the strong physical restraint from Abel, his stomach would’ve exploded right away. At this time, the five branches of the meridian in his body began to shrink due to the strong pressure. As the meridian was being continuously compressed with higher and higher density. Then, a large amount of air that was continuously being poured into the meridian, made the empty parts of the meridian after compression filled up again. Once again, the pressure began to constrain Abel’s body. Abel was now like a balloon, which would burst with the slightest poke of an external force. Feeling in danger, he had been playing with the knight’s breathing techniques, and he had no other way but to rely on the knight’s breathing technique now. However, the effects of the knight’s breathing were already utterly inadequate. As the strong pressure on the internal abdomen was starting to hurt Abel’s internal organs with blood beginning to flow out from the corners of Abel’s mouth. The bones on Abel’s entire body began trembling and were making squeaking and shaking noises. When Abel knew that there was nothing more he could’ve done, he decided to remain here and wait. “No!” Alongside with a roar from Abel, his mighty power of the will began to rush out of. Through his power of the will, he imagined his meridian as a rough piece of steel and his power of the will as a hammer. He began to command the hammer with his consciousness and powerfully struck a meridian out of the 5 he had. The qi within had compressed more than half of its initial size, but with the speed of light, his meridian began to fill up with qi again as soon as the hammer was lifted. Abel did not care much about his meridians. Instead, he turned to his second meridian and continued to strike it without hesitation. By the time he finished striking his 5th meridian, the first meridian was filled with qi once again by the 6 master’s potion. As Abel continued to strike, this process of compressing and refilling the qi in his meridian created a strange sense of imbalance in his body. At that moment Abel couldn’t even felt his own body, all of his perceptions were fading away. This was because all his power of the will was focused on his meridian. This meridian was just a model of steels in his eyes. Also, he was not directly striking his meridian. He only struck the area where the qi was located, hoping to force it to the center where his 5 meridians were connected. If there was anyone near Abel right now, they would’ve realized that he had already entered into a state of realization once again. In this state, people would generally rely on the most direct instinct of their bodies. They had no concerns about the consequences, and would not hesitate around anything. It was a fascinating ability passed down by the history of humanity. After each stroke, the compressed part would rebound some strange energy back to Abel’s body. This energy was known as increasing energy. When a novice knight became an official knight, their bodies would go through a lot of developments, largely caused by this increasing energy. Not only could this increasing energy develop Abel’s body, but it could also increase his power of the will. When Abel continued to strike, he was improving himself in all aspects, which he did not even realize as he was in the midst of this state realization. As the increasing energy continued to rebound with every strike. Abel’s power of the will hammer was also becoming stronger, as though as it was being compressed. No one knew how much qi can be generated through 6 years of practice. However, when Abel was in his state of realization, he guesses maybe he could achieve it in 24 hours If he continued to revive the increasing energy rebound from each strike. So, it should ng be long. This was the longest that Abel had ever been in an insight before. Now, his power of the will was becoming a golden hammer, and the qi inside the meridian was longer being recharged. The effects of the 6 potions were finally over. His meridian had now become a crystal stone that was as big as his fist. As his body was being developed with the energy, his skin was shining with a light gold color. If anyone had seen Abel at that time, they would’ve seen through his bone marrows, which was pure as jade and as hard as a stone. Abel then opened his eyes and took in a breath of air. He thought that he wasn’t going to, but luckily he made it through the process, and it felt good to be alive. After Abel had woken up, the first thing he wanted to do was to find his father Bennett and uncle Marshall, to ask them what “the more qi the better” meant. He just drank all 6 bottles of master’s ‘qi condensing potion’ without any problem. Therefore, according to the logic of the two knights, he should also be ok if he drank 60 bottles. Standing up, Abel found a thick layer of black shell on his skin. It was the impurities generated from the increasing of rank through the energy in his body. As there was no one nearby, he stepped out of the tent and stripped off all his clothes. When Abel continued to stretch his body in all kinds of positions, the black shell continued to fall from his body. When they were all shaken off, Abel’s clear white skins were exposed. His training in becoming a knight and forging over the past two years had darkened his skin. However, his skins right now were the palest it had ever been. it was like a baby’s skin, and when he pressed his hand onto it, it was soft yet firm. Furthermore, when you looked at his skin carefully, it was almost looked like it was flashing in light gold color from time to time. To see how fast he could go, Abel tried to push and tread, he was so fast that he had already flown straight into a tree that was being held by a man. “Bang” as Abel had hit the tree and the tree was torn from where he had hit it. The trees within 10 meters + trees fell to the ground. White Cloud was immediately awakened from the sound. When it saw it’s owner, it stood up happily. The wound on its body seemed to no longer prevent it from moving. As its’ head gently approached Abel and wanted him to comfort it with his hands. Abel was extremely amused by the way it looked. It was very funny for such a huge creature to make such an expression. At this time, White Cloud saw the tree on the ground, could not help but brighten eyes. It looked at Abel, Abel couldn’t feel the meaning of White Cloud from the control sign, was it asking if the tree was for it to eat? Abel nodded, crying and laughing, and watched White Cloud happily eat the branches of the whole gigantic tree into his stomach. Not long after, what was a big tree had turned into only the tree trunk. Abel had also realized that his power of the will was many times stronger, it could communicate with White Cloud directly. Although he did not know the specific value of this power, he was certain that it would be no problem to draw three runes at the same time. Afterward, Abel continued to carefully move around, trying to get a hold of the drastic changes in his body. The first thing it noticed was that the Harry’s bow had become a lot easier to pull, it almost required no effort at all. Secondly, his ice magic sword had also become a lot lighter, holding it felt like a toothpick. He decided, the first mission he had when he got back to the castle was to make a heavier one. A knight should have weapons that suited his power. Abel could no longer use the tai chi from his previous to help him grasp the force of his own body. The perspective of power was completely different in this world. If his force was not explosive and vicious, it could hold back a lot of his attacking power as a knight. He tried to use tai chi once when he was a novice knight, but it has messed up his form and use of power. It took a long while until he could correct it.

Chapter 53 - Flight Chapter 53: Flight Finally, Abel had become a beginner knight. He awkwardly stared at the area of his body where his meridian had disappeared. It was replaced with a fist-size light gold color core, glistening like a diamond. The problem was that this core looked very different from the ones the Knight of Bennett and the Knight of Marshall had described. According to the 2 knights, the core of a beginner knight looked more like a peach size water ball. However, the core that Abel had, if we could take it out he could have very well be able to sell it off as a gem. Once a beginner knight had a core, they could proceed to build a qi pressure point. A beginner knight could build 5 qi pressure points at most. Every time they built a new one, they would be raised by a rank. When they reached rank 10, or in other words, completed building their 5th qi pressure point. They would become an intermediate knight. An intermediate knight could then start building qi pressure points on each of their limbs and skull. When their qi pressuring point had been formed on their left arm, they could directly deliver their combat qi on to their weapons. That’s why this ability was exclusive to intermediate knights and above. By that point, the intermediate knight would become very powerful. It could not only make his weapons sharper, but he could also more easily strike his combat qi directly into his opponent. A unique property of combat qi was that it had a strong excluding tendency. If it was in its owner’s body, it could make the person strong. However, it could be a disaster if it had got into another person’s body. It could nightmarishly corrupt and destroy every single organ. The only way to stop this was to exclude the other person’s combat qi from the body, which could be achieved by unleashing your own combat qi, using expensive drugs, or if you were lucky, a strong resistant body could also do the trick. When the intermediate knight had built a qi pressure point in their skull and all 4 of their limbs. They would have 10 qi pressure points in total, each connecting to the core through a combat qi network. From then on, the core of the Knight would become stronger and more secure. These network between the core and the qi pressure point was like a highway, allowing the much more combat qi to travel through the body. This allowed the elite knight to shoot out combat qi from his body. As these networks got stronger, the further he could shoot. Abel continued to stare at the light gold core in his body. Suddenly, a wave of combat qi shot up from his body. He was shocked to discover that his combat qi was also a light gold color. When he got back to the castle, he had to ask the Knight of Marshall about this. The color of the combat qi couldn’t be tricked. If he were to use it, it would attract a lot of people. Therefore, he needed to know what was going on first. Abel retracted his combat qi and decided to test out his control power on a tree nearby. At first, he overused his power a bit and knocked down the tree. But as he practiced more, he gained more control over his exploding power.if Abel took out the food off the war horse. Then, he started a bonfire and prepared some simple meals. It was funny how even if Abel had not eaten anything for two days, he had not felt a single bit of hunger during that time. Only, when he remembered it was time to eat, he realized his stomach was empty. White Cloud was not afraid of fire. When he saw the bonfire, he sneaked his head in to see what Abel was eating. Abel could not feed White Cloud directly, he only threw the food in its mouth. The food was gone before White Cloud could taste anything. After the meal, Abel took a look at the condition of White Cloud’s injury. Luckily it was not too badly injured by the combat qi. The only trouble was the attribute of the combat qi. However, since White Cloud’s body was so huge, and with the assistance of special medicines, most of the combat qi had already been excluded from its body. Now, the wound was beginning to heal. Abel thought White Cloud could fly again very soon. Just thinking about it gave Abel a burning excitement in his heart. White Cloud was also very happily making the sound of “goo.. gooo”, it was so sick and tired of lying on the ground. Other than eating, these sky sparrows normally spend most of their time flying in the sky. Abel discovered some seats specifically designed for orcs on White Cloud. The driver seat was located on the neck, secured with leather straps and equipped with a seat belt. There was a huge open carriage the back of White Cloud, within the carriage, there were 5 individual seats, each also equipped with a seat belt. It took him a bit of effort to drive the 2 war horses on to the body of White Cloud. The war horses of the human world were less flexible than normal orc’s mounts. Since Abel had already gained a lot of power, in the end, he just directly lifted the 2 war horses on to the back of White Cloud and secured them with seatbelts. Then Abel sat down at the driver’s seat. The view was the best. “Go on, fly. White Cloud”, Abel commended in his heart. White Cloud gave out a long shriek and stretched its wings. It’s gigantic wings almost blocked out the entire sky. It then began to flock up and down. It produced a powerful amount of air steam, blowing all the dirt and small rocks on the ground to aside. Since Abel was so small compared to White Cloud, he did not feel much acceleration force upwards. Before he knew it, he was already in the sky. After Abel had found his sense of direction. He decided to go to the Ansa valley, to get rid off the super exploding big sword in his Horadric cube first. As long as he has this toy in his Horadric cube, he could not combine any more rune inks. “Destination, Ansa valley,” said Abel as he pointed towards the direction of Ansa valley. Although White Cloud could not see where Abel’s hand was pointing, it knew exactly what Abel was saying through the power of the will. They took a turn and flew directly towards the direction of Ansa valley. White Cloud was flying very high. When Abel looked below him, he realized he could no longer see the small details on the ground. He could only make out large things such as rivers, large roads, and valleys. When he passed through the midst of the clouds, it was an interesting feeling. Abel realized he wasn’t feeling so well, his eyes were constantly irritated by the wind. On top of that, White cloud was flying very fast, which made the wind even stronger. Although the two war horses on the open carriage didn’t have it as bad as Abel, they were so frightened that they had hid below the carriage seats, not willing to lift their heads. The wind was the strongest on the driver seat. If Abel didn’t try to block it out with his hand, he wouldn’t be able to see a single thing. Abel thought to himself, he must make flying goggles when he got back. Also, he should make a telescope, that way he could see all the details on the ground when we were flying with White Cloud. As Abel was getting lost in his daydream, they had already arrived above Ansa valley. White Cloud tweeted lightly, reminding Abel that they had arrived at the destination. Abel looked down with his head to investigate the condition below. From a bird’s eye view, he saw the valley that was marked on the map. Abel was so grateful that he had White Cloud It would take much longer if he was to find this place himself. When Abel patted the neck of White Cloud, it understood Abel’s intention and began to land. When he hopped off the body of White Cloud, he felt very embarrassed. His hair had been all messed up by the wind, scattering all over his face. He tried to fix it up for a while before he sent a signal to White Cloud, telling it that it to fly away as far as possible. White Cloud began to flock his gigantic wings before Abel had even realized, it had already flown away. Leaving Abel with a face full of dust. Abel had just fixed up his hair, now it was all covered in dust again. An irritated expression emerged from his face, but who could he blame? As Abel saw that White Cloud had become a small white dot in the sky, he headed towards the cliff of the valley. He peeked his head out to look, the valley was so deep, even his incredible eyesight could not see the bottom. Abel gives all his limbs a good stretch. It was going to be life and death in a minute, he needed to make sure he could run as fast as possible. “3…2…1…” Abel counted in his heart. As soon as Abel he counted to 1, he took out that failed perfect gem super exploding sword from his Horadric cube, threw it, turned, and ran off immediately. Abel thought to himself, he had never reacted this quick in his life. All he knew was to run as fast as possible. He didn’t even count how long does it take for it to explode like he did with the exploding swords he made in the past. Around 3 seconds later, the thundering noise of an explosion erupted under the cliff behind Abel. He fell to the ground by the temporary earthquakes that followed. The explosion had sent countless tree branches and rocks into the sky, and with the force of gravity, they began to rain back. scattering all over the ground. As Abel was laying on the ground from the fall, he felt pieces of rocks continuously hitting his head. However, since he had become an official knight, his body had developed a lot. These little rocks felt like nothing to him. The explosion had stopped, Abel got up from the ground. He was covered with dust once again. Seemed like the dust really likes him today, already been all over his body multiple times.

Chapter 54 - Light Gold Combat Qi Chapter 54: Light Gold Combat Qi As soon as the explosion stopped, Abel felt anxiety coming from the sky. White Cloud swooped down at almost full speed in the direction of the explosion. When he saw the ground was a little roundup, but Abel was safe and sound, White Cloud mood calmed down. The sky sparrow was a very timid creature. That being said, White Cloud was able to rush towards the explosion because of how much it had cared for Abel’s safety, which must’ve been very difficult for it to do due to its instincts. Abel looked as White Cloud landed itself on the ground. He reached out his hands caress its feathers, and it also reached its head out to coordinate with his movements. The two seemed to be a great pair of partners together. Back to the edge of the cliff. At this time, the cliff has collapsed for about nearly ten meters, which was more devastating that what Abel has imagined. That explosive sword was a bomb. It was just as deadly as an aerial bomb back on Earth. If Abel could extend the explosion time to about 6 seconds or more, he could launch an aerial attack with it as he rode on top of White Cloud’s back. Abel was in the mood of some research now. “Go home!” Abel jumped to White Cloud back, sat down at the rider position and fastened his seat belt, White Cloud huge and lightweight body once again emptied, and the cliff was crushed into smaller and smaller pieces by every second. While the same journey would take about six to seven hours by horse, Abel would only have to take half an hour if he were to ride on White Cloud’s back. Abel instructed White Cloud to land in the forest behind the castle and found a space in the forest. After it has made a landing, Abel instructed it to move around freely. In the meantime, he strapped two werewolf bodies to the backs of one of the horses, then led them back to the Harry Castle. “Master Abel is back! ” When we arrived at the castle, the gate of the castle was open. It seemed that the panic caused by the orc attack had just ended. The village leaders had all returned to their homes, and the guards seemed to be quite energetic when they saw Abel’s return. “Abel, why did you come back so late?” the Knight of Marshall condemned as he walked out the door. “Nothing. It, uh it just accidentally took more time. I didn’t expect it to take so long for me to get promoted.” Abel had already figured out a reason on his way back. Although this reason wasn’t sufficient, per se, he wasn’t lying either. “You? An official knight?” An incredible look emerged from the face of the Knight of Marshall. This was not as simple as upgrading from a level 4 Novice knight to a level 5 Novice knight. Whenever there was a big promotion, the knights must be prepared physically, psychologically. They would need the aid of a large number of supplements, as well as an incredibly long time for them to ready themselves. The Knight of Marshall felt embarrassed now. He thought about how old he was when he first became a Beginner knight. Being compared to a genius was hurting his self-esteem right now. “What happened to the werewolf?” Knight Marshall asked, looking at the dead werewolves on the horse. “Well, I saw them. Had to kill them before they got me” Abel didn’t explain it too much. He wasn’t going to talk about how much of an advantage he had in that fight. The less information he gave, the more impressive the story would sound. The Knight of Marshall waved to the butler Lindsay, “Send these two corpses to the city’s mansion, and make it clear that Abel was the one who killed them.” “Yes, Master.” Butler Lindsay directed the men to lift the two bodies off the horse. Abel requested, “Can we please discuss your study? I have something I want to ask you, Uncle.” “Is it about your promotion?” the Knight of Marshall took Abel and hurried to the study room. The Knight of Marshall’s study room is the safest place in the whole castle. Since Abel proposed to talk in the study room, it must be said that he did not want to let others know. “Tell me, what’s the matter?” Entering the study room, the Knight of Marshall said after closing the study door. Abel remained silent and directly gather his combat qi. The pale golden combat qi burst out, reflecting the whole room into a golden color. The Knight of Marshall was stunned by Abel’s pale golden combat qi. He wanted to touch it with his hands, but his hands paused as they reached towards the air. “The legend is true,” the Knight of Marshall murmured, “there is such a thing as the golden combat qi” Abel asked anxiously, “Is there a problem with my combat qi? Why is it this color?” “What do you mean by “why is it this color?: This is a god-level combat qi. Gold is the color of the gods. Legend has it that the blood of the gods is golden, and only those who are favored by the gods will emit golden combat qi.” Having a god-level qi didn’t seem to shock the Knight of Marshall now. He just heard about Abel’s promotion a few minutes ago. Whatever talent this boy has yet to bring out, nothing seemed strange by this point. “What good is this combat qi?” Abel asked. He wasn’t sure if gold was a good color to have, but it sure sounded nice when the Knight of Marshall talked about how it was the color of the gods. “What good, you ask? Well, you’ll be invincible against anyone who’s in the same class as you. Does that sound good enough to you?” the Knight of Marshall replied impatiently. As overpowered as he was born to be, Abel just always seemed to want more talents than what he already had. “Was this good at all? I’m also invincible at the same level with the Harry bow.” Abel said with some disappointment. “You are way too greedy, boy. When you reach Elite knight, the current power of the Harry Bow is not enough. At the level of commander, Harry Bow will be useless. With the legendary power of the golden combat qi, you can increase the combat qi by four times. Seriously, how are you still not satisfied?” “Wait, so how many power-ups can I get with my golden combat qi?” Abel asked vigorously. “Just try it yourself. Don’t use your combat qi, hit me with half of your strength, and let me know how much the half of your strength is. After that, hit me again with your combat qi activated.” “It should be fine here, right?” Abel turned to look around the study room. The room was large, and the materials were placed in a bookcase on the wall. There was a huge space in the middle of the room. “It’s okay, give me all you got.” the Knight of Marshall said with confidence. “Here it comes,” Abel reminded the Knight of Marshall. Abel punched out with half of his strength. Within less than a second, the Knight of Marshall used half of his strength and blocked the hit with his body The Knight of Marshall quickly increased his strength. Only 80% of the energy was urgently added, but it was completely useless against Abel’s strike. For reasons he wasn’t sure of, he felt like a ball that was being struck into the air. Actually, he was flying for about ten meters back. The bookcase behind him made a huge crackling sound as his body crashed into it. “Abel!” the Knight of Marshall shouted. Fortunately, Abel did not use his combat qi. His strength did not hurt the Knight of Marshall, but it was going to take a while for the books to be put back into their original spot. As some of them were family secrets that could not be touched by outsiders, the Knight of Marshall would have to clean them up themselves. “I told you to use only half of your strength! Why did you do that for?” the Knight of Marshall growled. “But I’ve only used half of my strength, Uncle Marshall,” Abel said innocently as he rubbed his hands together. “What? I know you do get power-ups when you release your combat qi, but are you kidding me? There’s no way it’s as ridiculous as what you just did!” The Knight of Marshall looked unbelieving, and then asked, “How long have you upgraded your energy? “I am not sure?” Abel really didn’t know how long. He just knew that White Cloud was recovered after he got his promotion. “How could you not know?” the Knight of Marshall was already a little mad at this moment, and Abel’s innocent expression made him even angrier. “I think I had a breakthrough when I was promoted. You know, you can’t track the time you have a breakthrough,” Abel explained. The Knight of Marshall knew as soon as Abel brought up the word “breakthrough.” He knew that he was doing Abel wrong, but he just couldn’t stop being triggered when he heard the words “you know” coming from Abel’s mouth. Abel has made it sound like he knew what a breakthrough was supposed to be like, but he has never had a breakthrough for his entire life. “Take another punch with 10% strength. Remember, it’s 10% strength. Don’t get it wrong this time,” Knight Marshall warned carefully. “Rest assured, although I’m not too good in controlling my strength, it should not go wrong.” Abel’s tone was very serious. When the Knight of Marshall heard Abel’s statement, he silently increased the power he intended to use on defense from 60% to 100%. Abel’s fist seemed to be weak. Seriously, the strength of 10% was the strength to gently wave his hand. When his fist hit the Knight of Marshall, the Knight of Marshall’s body shook slightly.

Chapter 55 - Power Enhancement Chapter 55: Power Enhancement The Knight of Marshall secretly rubbed his back with his hand, “Very strong. Abel. That was about 200 pounds of force right there.” After a long period of body transformation, all of Abel’s skin, muscles and bones were now thicker and tighter than ever before. While 200 pound of force might not be a lot, it would hurt a lot more if it was released from an iron rod than if it was from a wooden stick. And that’s why the Knight of Marshall felt pain back there. Apart from the physical force that Abel used to hit him with, it had something to do with how tough Abel’s body was. “You monster,” the Knight of Marshall murmured behind Abel’s back, “That was just as strong as those giant beasts from the Orc Empire.” “Hit me once more with your combat qi,” the Knight of Marshall ordered. Then, as Abel stared at him with a dropped jaw, he grabbed a shield from the corner and placed it in front of him. As the golden combat qi started pouring out, Abel’s punch landed right in the center of the shield. This time, the Knight of Marshall stood right where he was at. His body flinched for a bit, but that was about it. Something was different, though. The Knight of Marshall was sure of that. The impact might’ve looked the same as the first punch, but something was different. The difference was with the shield. The first punch was blocked with Marshall’s bare hands, and no knights would fight with their bare hands. While the second punch didn’t send the Knight of Marshall flying, it did manage to make him budge behind a standard knight’s shield. “700 pounds!” the Knight of Marshall said with certainty, “You just increased your power by three-and-a-half times.” The Knight of Marshall continued with a slightly admiring voice, “You’ve got muscles and you’ve got your combat qi. All that’s missing is just a nice set of armor. If you’ve got yourself one, I don’t know what can stop you.” “Wait?” Abel felt so content to hear that. For once, he’s felt safe to be in this world. “Too soon, my boy,” the Knight of Marshall called Abel off, “I was comparing you with ordinary people. If you are facing a wizard right now, you’d wish that he’s too exhausted to cast any spells on you.” Abel asserted as he looked at the Knight of Marshall in the eyes, “I’m going to become one, Uncle Marshall. I’m going to become a wizard.” Without interfering with Marshall to pick up his paperwork off the ground, Abel quickly left the study after saying goodbye. He went back to his bedroom and was quickly accompanied by the little Black Wind. Poor Black Wind. It was worried sick because it hadn’t seen Abel for the last few days. As Abel picked it up from the ground, it quickly licked his face as a puppy would to its parent. Come to think of it, Abel was already a Beginner Knight. Since he could use the mount enhancement technique now, he could help Black Wind get stronger while it was still little. Abel held Black Wind to the ground with its belly up. As it was wiggling its tiny body, Abel chanted out a spell that made him aware of everything about its physical condition. He then injected his golden combat qi into his hand, then started rubbing Black Wind’s body with it. Black Wind closed its eyes as it enjoyed being massaged like this. Combat qi was a very volatile substance. Because of how erosive and destructive it was, it was not advised to be injected into any living creature other than its creator. That being said, the negative effects of combat qi could be neutralized when the orcs prayed to their gods. How such methods worked was quite complicated in itself, but generally speaking, what the mount enhancement technique could do was to synchronize a mount with its rider. This would make it harder for the combat qi to have much of a rejecting effect on its intended target. While the effect of such a method was not effective in the short, the long-term effect would be irreversible for the mount itself. The Knight of Marshall waved at Abel as he went to the dining room, “I forgot to tell you something. The Edmund’s Boutique Shop just sold off all the weapons you’ve put up on auction. When you have the time, go collect the gold that you’re supposed to receive.” “Yes, Uncle Marshall.” “Another thing. Viscount Dickens just asked us to visit his house. The intel we sent him was, well, it was very, very useful for us,” the Knight of Marshall continued with a laugh, “I think he’s inviting us over to talk about our rewards.” Abel asked in a worried tone, “Would that map be good enough to, say, be granted a Lord?” In this world, if someone’s war glory was falsely claimed by another, the act itself would be looked down upon and be punished by the state’s law. Because of this, Abel’s act of finding the parchment map was very clearly ruled out from the Knight of Marshall’s war achievements. That being said, everything that happened after the discovery of the map was up to negotiation. And that’s what’s so special about Abel. If he wasn’t a Master Blacksmith, Viscount Dickens wouldn’t have asked for his input on this matter. The Knight of Marshall would’ve been to collect all the rewards. The Knight of Marshall knew this, of course, and understood that Dickens was trying to avoid offending a prodigy like his foster son. “It’s okay, Abel,” the Knight of Marshall said in a reassuring tone, “Viscount Dickens is a fair man. I’m sure that you will get the reward that you deserve.” “Let’s go tomorrow, then. We’ll go to Edmund’s Boutique Shop on our way.” Speaking of the Edmund’s Boutique Shop, Abel remembered that he needed some supplementary potions for his official knight’s training. If drinking supplements could help him get through his novice knight’s training a lot faster, the same method could be applied to helping him get through his current training. Abel ate a lot that night. While he missed the diet inside Harry Castle, the Knight of Marshall was looking to change the family’s menu. Now that Abel was a Beginner Knight, regular meat wasn’t quite enough to help him advance to the next state. Fortunately enough for them, Harry Castle had a lot of income from the weapon store and the blacksmith shop. Feeding two knights wasn’t an issue here. The biggest expenses for a knight were the weapons and equipment. Since Abel was a Master Blacksmith himself, he could pretty much make whatever that he wanted to use. As for armor, that was even less of a problem for him. Since he was still growing, a new armor would just be unwearable after a few months. Luckily for him, it was a relatively peaceful time now. He could wait until he couldn’t grow any taller. The Knight of Marshall thought about his weapon collection and started laughing out loud. Despite how much income Harry Castle was making, he didn’t have to spend a cent to make his weapons. Technically speaking, he didn’t even pay for his two magic weapons. Once Abel came back, he could even have him make a new set of magic armor for him. As for the Blazing Sun Armour, he didn’t care if those old men in Bakong City kept it for themselves. If Viscount Dicken gave Abel the title of a knight, Marshall would’ve loved it Abel was also granted his territory. The more successful Abel was, the further the Harry Family’s influence would stretch. Just thinking about it made the Knight of Marshall want to sing a song. Meanwhile, Abel had no idea what his foster father was thinking about. He just thought that Marshall was getting overly-excited for no apparent reasons. Maybe Uncle was still recovering from that hit in the study, or so he thought. The two didn’t say much during dinner. Instead, they just sort of drowned in their thoughts as they chewed on their food. As Abel came back to his bedroom, he saw that the black armor that was on the war horse was delivered to him. He practiced his knight’s breathing techniques for a bit, but the qi that he gained was not quite in the amount he was looking for. Such progress was not uncommon amongst official knights. Once the rank of Beginner Knight was attained, it would take years and years of effort for one to move onto the next stage. It was like grinding a pin from a piece of rock, to put it simply. While it was getting kind of hot the next morning, the Knight of Marshall and Abel decided to ride off a lot earlier than they normally would. They were right to do this, as the sun was starting to get hot when they had reached the Harry Castle’s dacha inside Harvest City. The Knight of Marshall decided to stop for some clean-up. As he took Viscount Dicken’s invitation very seriously. He had already asked the butler Robin to prepare a bath for him. After he and Abel took a bath and changed into their suits, they then left off to the City Lord’s estate.

Chapter 56 - Reward Chapter 56: Reward With the hot sun shining above, the carriage began to make its way through the main road of Harvest City. The path ahead was flat and laid with carved boulders. While such a design looked nice on a regular day, the heat was making it hard to walk on top of them. Thankfully, the Knight of Marshall and Abel didn’t have to walk on their own feet. That being said, though, it didn’t take long for them to be drenched in their own sweat. Abel kind of missed his old car back on Earth. It wasn’t the best one, but least it had an air conditioner. It was a slow and agonizing trip. At last, the carriage had made its way to the Lord’s estate. “Master Knight, Master Abel!” the coachman called out, “We have arrived at the Harvest City Lord’s estate.” The Knight of Marshall tidied his suit for a bit. He then took out a towel and started wiping the sweat off his head. He passed over another towel to Abel, “Wipe your sweat with this. Remember, today is an important day. Don’t do anything rude when you see him.” When the Marshall Knights and Abel stepped off the carriage, the huge high wall of the city palace came into Abel’s eyes. The last time he came here at night, the city palace seemed more magnificent and aggressive during the day. “I give you my sincerest salute, the honorable Knight of Marshall, and the honorable Master Abel. I have come here to welcome you both on behalf of the Lord of this city.” Since Abel was the adopted son of the Marshall Knight, in this formal occasion, he was presented by the Knight of the Marshall. The Knights bowed slightly and said to the steward, “I’m very glad to see you. Abel and I are honored to be invited to meet the Honorable Lord. ” Abel bowed slightly following the Marshall Knight, thanking the steward. Under the guidance of the housekeeper, they went through the huge courtyard. Although the fountain in the middle of the courtyard was not as bright as at night, it seems that there was a little bit of coolness under the sunlight. After entering the hall, Abel felt the coolness from time to time. The huge rock-walled hall completely blocked the heat outside. Walked through a long corridor to a door carved with the goddess of the harvest. The steward stood still and said quietly to the Marshall Knight and Abel, “This is the reception room. The city lord is waiting for you.” When he saw Viscount Dickens again, Abel felt more deeply than when he came last time. The powerful force from Viscount Dickens’ body was like a volcano. Although it did not erupt, he felt heavy pressure just standing in front of him. “Did you rank up, Master Abel?” While Viscount Dickens was very aware of how threatening his combat qi was for the other knights. He didn’t expect Abel to be shocked Viscount Dickens’s combat is only aimed at the official knights, and those Novice knights should not be able to feel this coercion. Abel’s reaction has shown that he had become an official knight. “Yes, my Lord,” Abel bowed humbly and replied with a fancy gift in the air with one hand. Viscount Dickens secretly rejoiced that he did not mistreat Abel for his effort. Not to mention in Duchy of Camel, such genius was very rare even in the entire human world. He was being friendly with Abel because Abel was a Master Blacksmith, and now he found that Abel was not only talented in forging, but also talented in knight practice. Viscount Dicken pointed towards a knight on the side, “This is the Knight of Saroyan. He’s the one who led the orc extermination. Knight of Saroyan bowed to Marshall Knight and Abel. He always wanted to thank them in person for allowing him to contribute. This ceremony was heartfelt gratitude expressed by the Knight of Saroyan. Regarding the goodwill of the Elite knights, both Marshall Knight and Abel also responded quickly, and the atmosphere on both sides seemed very friendly. “He’s had a nice record to him. 159 official orc riders, with two of them as elite riders and wounded a sky sparrow.” Said Viscount Dickens with a smile. It turned out that the sky sparrow was wounded by the army. At this time Abel knew the origin of Bai Yun’s injury, but fortunately, it did not expose Bai Yun. Viscount Dickens turned to look at Abel and said, “Master Abel, the two corpses you sent yesterday were identified by the Knights of Saroyan. One of them escaped from the siege, had noble status, protected by Elite orc rider, I also sent this Meritorious service to the Bakong Headquarters overnight, and the headquarter had raised your reward. ” Large cities such as Harvest City had their own ways to transmit information in the Blacksmith’s Guild. Reports of battle achievements were given due rewards after verification, and for achievements reported by city Lord such as Viscount Dickens, the response would be very fast. Hearing the increase in the reward, Abel couldn’t help rejoicing. Fortunately, he didn’t bother to throw away the two corpses. Sure enough, the two corpses played a role. “Knight of Marshall, due to your heroic actions, Matthew Castle was rescued, and you killed several orc riders in the process of guarding Harry Castle. The Duchy of Carmel Principality awarded you the title of Lord!” Viscount Dickens announced solemnly. “For the Duchy!” the Knight of Marshall kneeled with a solemn look on his face. “As for the Knight of Saroyan, because of your leadership and killing 159 orc riders in the battle against the orcs, you will have your own coat of arm and 100 miles of land in the Duchy of Carmel.” Viscount Dickens subsequently announced. The Knight of Saroyan was half-kneeling with tears in his face. Being a Lord of his Land was very different from simply being a nobleman. From this point onward, the Knight of Saroyan formally stepped into the realm of the nobles and became a true noble. Lastly, Viscount Dickens threw a smile towards Abel, “Master Abel, you have provided accurate information for the orc siege, rescued Matthew Castle, and killed the orc riders several times. In view of your outstanding achievements, the Duchy of Carmel gave you the original Matthew Castle territory and grants you Lordship!” Abel couldn’t believe what he heard. The reward was simply too much to be true, but looking at the smile of Viscount Dickens. He understood that it was Viscount Dickens who had made great efforts in it, and it was possible that neither the army department nor the king wanted to offend a master. “For the Duchy!” Abel copied the Knight of Marshall whilst half-kneeling on one of his legs. The Knight of Saroyan looked at Abel enviously. The reward given to Master Abel was awarded according to the highest standards. Usually, only members of the royal family would be able to receive such high standards reward. It was rarely given to non-royal members. Viscount Dickens smiled as he helped Abel to stand up. “So, is it Master Abel or Lord Abel?” he inquired and started laughing out loud. To be fair, that was a good question. Indeed, for a master blacksmith like Abel, the master blacksmith’s status is far higher than that of a lord in the whole continent. But Abel was too young now and has not yet traveled to the mainland. His master’s reputation is only a medal of the Blacksmith Guild. Only when a lot of Abel’s works appeared on the mainland would this reputation really settle down and become Abel’s real fame. Abel replied with a smile, “Just call me Abel. I’m not sure about being called a master or a lord. To me, they are just nicknames.” “What a humble man you are, Master Abel! Indeed, with the pursuit of glory and fame in the way, no one could’ve made the same kind of achievements as what you’ve done. ” As Viscount Dickens applauded Abel for his integrity, the Knight of Saroyan, too, nodded his head to show his approval of the young master. Viscount Dickens continued, “It is the day of the Holy Birth two months from now on. Remember, all three of you will have to be in Bakong City for your anointment ceremony. Make sure you’ll be there on time.” In general, in the case of receiving the title of lord and fiefdom, After the reward, the title of lord and the fiefdom were already rewarded, but to truly gain official recognition, you must go to the capital city of Bakong, accept the honor of the king, express your gratitude to the king, and assert your loyalty to the Duchy.” When leaving, Knight of Saroyan grabbed the Knight Marshall and Abel, now it’s the Knight of Marshall be sure to find a place to celebrate with both of them. The Knight of Marshall couldn’t find a way to reject, so he agreed. Of course, the Knight of Marshall also wanted to associate with the Saroyan Knights, but Abel declined politely.

Chapter 57 - Supplementary Potions Chapter 57: Supplementary Potions Abel called for a carriage as he said goodbye to Viscount Dickens, “Please send me to Edmund’s Boutique Shop.” The coachman didn’t know who Abel was, but he was very respectful to him. He just saw the young nobleman came out of the city’s palace, and he knew that people who could go in and out there were all distinguished people. So, he carefully took out the footstool and let Abel step on the carriage. Although Abel could go up with a single jump, he accepted the good intention of the Lord and step on the footstool. He wasn’t sure when, but it appeared that he was now used to his status as an upperclassman. The carriage was running very smoothly. After getting out of the car, Abel threw out two silver coins and hinted that the extras were tips to thank the Lord for their service. Ever since Abel revealed the family Coat of Arm at the Edmund’s Boutique Shop, everyone at the Edmund’s Boutique Shop has remembered this young nobleman slash Master Blacksmith, so when he just stepped off the carriage, he had been entertained by the waiters that stepped forward to guide him to the VIP area and be treated with some good coffee. “Dear Master and Lord Abel, welcome to the Edmund’s Boutique Shop!” Yvette bowed to Abel with a smile on her face. “You people are very fast, aren’t you? You knew I was coming before even I did!” Abel laughed after getting up. “You are a distinguished guest to Edmund’s Boutique Shop, and our head branch has taken a special interest in you,” Yvette said, then informed the waiter on the side, the waiter walked to Abel’s side with a silver tray. On the silver tray was a money bag. Yvette pointed at the money bag and said, “Last time you commissioned us to auction weapons for a total of 22,000 gold coins. The headquarters waived the fees for you. Your weapons were a big hit in Bakong City. We have sold them at a record price that’s never seen before in these past few years. ” After receiving the money bag from the waiter, Abel found that the money bag was a bit small and light, and it was unlikely to hold more than 20,000 gold coins. Although he knew that Edmund’s Boutique Shop could not go wrong with this, Abel’s curiosity made him open the purse. Inside was a dark gold card with a pattern composed of numerous gold patterns, with 22,000 digits in the middle, and no other signs. He looked up and looked at Yvette questioningly, “What is this card?” Yvette explained, “This is a magic gold card, which can only be owned by those who have a distinguished status and have passed the review of the Continental Chamber of Commerce. You could use it to purchase or withdraw gold coins in all large stores across the continent. Please, leave a drop of your blood in it. This card can only be used by none but yourself. ” Wasn’t this just a bank card? Not only that, it was a card that could be unlocked with Abel’s blood. As his status increased, the quality of the service he was getting was now better and more innovative. It wasn’t like there wasn’t such a thing as magic, but magic services were not available to a noble knight like he used to be. After receiving the needle that Yvette handed over, Abel used some strength to break through the skin of his finger and drip blood on the magic gold card. The magic gold cards flashed a dark golden light, and successfully recognize Abel as the Lord. Abel put away the magic gold card and slightly bowed to Yvette, “Ms. Yvette, thank you very much for everything that Edmond auctioned me. I believe our friendship will continue.” Yvette’s smile grew wider as Abel reassured his friendship with here. For many years, Edmond’s auction house has worked hard to communicate with many blacksmiths across the continent. At least in the human world, magic weapons could only be forged by Abel, and they wouldn’t have the chance to have access to magic weapon that was forged by master dwarf because though they were considered quite powerful in Duchy of Carmel, but in the entire human world, they were only considered as second- and third-class auction houses. “Ms. Yvette, does your auction house provide supplements for official knights?” Abel thought of his own situation and had to take the wizard test in two years. Now, the most important thing was to improve his ability as much as he could. With that in mind, potions were now his hope to step into the next level. “There were three kinds of auxiliary training medicines that could be used by official knights: the blood fusing potions, the replenishing potion, and essence condensing potions.” Yvette introduced and took out a piece of parchment paper and said to Abel, “These are three kinds of Instructions for the medicament. Which one do you need? ” Abel took the parchment with the description and efficacy of the three potions. The blood fusing potion was a potion that was used during an official knight practice; it could convert the blood in the body directly into combat qi that store in the body. This potion was used to exchange blood for the combat qi and accelerate the speed of gathering the combat qi, but each time you used it you lost some blood. The second potion, the replenishing potion, was meant to be used in collaboration with the blood fusing potion. After using the replenishing potion, it would restore the blood lost from using the blood fusing potion, and there was a limit for the replenishing potion. For each bottle of blood fusing potion used, it was necessary to take the replenishing potion for 10 consecutive days, and then rest for 5 days before using the blood fusing potion. In other words, the blood fusing potion could only be used once every half a month, and the main usage for the replenishing potion was to restore the blood lost form using the blood fusing potion. The third potion, essence condensing potion is used to help to compress the combat qi. Although each knight would compress their combat qi during their training, it would take them a long time for this process. Essence condensing potion was a potion that accelerated the compression of the combat qi. After using the potion, it will save 30 days of compression, and the interval between each was 5 days. Abel thought he wasn’t sure if the essence condensing potion had any effect on his pale golden combat qi. He wondered if leveling it up to a master level could help him improve his combat qi. Although his combat qi was called god-tier combat qi, it was still quite far from being in the god-tier. Yvette saw that Abel was very concerned about essence condensing potion, “There is a legend about the essence condensing potion. If you drink a million bottles of it, you can raise your combat qi to the god tier level. Yvette chuckled for a bit after saying that. Honestly, no one could drink a million bottles of the essence condensing potion. First of all, it was simply too much of a waste of money. And even if one could (and was dumb enough to) afford for such an expense, he would probably be dead from the side effects. Just the time it would take to drink a million bottles. How many years would that take? “I will ask for some of the three potions at any price.” Abel decided to purchase each of the potions and go back to try the effect if it was effective then he would purchase more next time. “These three potions are lesser. Because of the materials, it is difficult for master pharmacists to make the potion for intermediate. Therefore, on the mainland, official knights are using lesser potions. Yvette explained very clearly that she did not want Abel to misunderstood for any reason. Yvette went on and said, “50 gold coins per bottle for the blood fusing potions, 10 gold coins per bottle for the replenishing potion, and 100 gold coins per bottle of Essence Condensing potions. Abel couldn’t help but stagger. The potions of these official knights were several times higher than the price of the novice knights. It seemed like reaching the Elite knight level through potions was not the affordable way for ordinary noblemen. “Give me 27 bottles of blood fusing potions, 270 bottles of the replenishing potion, and 162 bottles of essence condensate potions.” Abel was about to buy a one-month supply of potions. “27 bottles of blood fusing potion for 1,350 gold coins, 270 bottles of the replenishing potions for 2,700 gold coins, and 162,200 coins for essence condensing potion, with a sum total of 20,250 gold coins.” Yvette’ counted very fast in her mind and stated the value and total price of all three potions. Abel didn’t expect to spend all his gold coins on the magic gold card by just buying the potion. He took out the magic gold card from his arms and handed it to Yvette. Yvette took out the same magic gold card and docked both cards together. Abel felt a question coming from the Magic Gold Card, “Do you agree to pay 20,250 gold coins?” Abel said in his heart, ” I agree.” He saw that the amount in his magic gold card changed from 22,000 to 1750. He put away the magic gold card, Abel could not help but be full of longing for magic. This time, Yvette has prepared two large boxes for Abel. The boxes were lined with soft red silk to protect these potions.

Chapter 58 - The Matthew Castle’S Secret Passage Chapter 58: The Matthew Castle’s Secret Passage On the return journey, the Knight of Marshall and Abel went to Matthew’s Castle first. For the sake of clarity, the territory around Marshall Castle was already under Abel’s possession. As the entire Mathew family was no longer, the area that was 100 miles in between the Bennett Knight’s domain and Harry Knight’s domain was technically unclaimed. The same could be said for everything that was in Harry Castle. While Abel didn’t ask for it, he was granted the authority over these said properties. He could design his new Coat of Arms now if he wanted to, but he would have to wait for it to be approved after going to the ceremony in Bakong City. As the carriage approached Harry Castle’s front gate, Butler Ken brought a few guards and servants to welcome them in. They seemed quite eager to do something like this. After all, with their former masters gone, no one knew what their future would be like. The least they could get was the first impression of the man newly in charge of this territory. Yesterday, the city’s government sent someone to announce that the Lord Matthew’s estate was now the Lord Abel’s estate. What that meant was that the castle and all the land that surrounded this place was now Abel’s property. Abel could do what he wanted with this place, and that worried a lot of the servants, guards and even the senior staff here. They were genuinely in fear of getting kicked out to elsewhere. The Knight of Marshall said to Abel before he exited the carriage, “You are in charge of this castle, Abel. You should meet with the people who serve you.” Abel replied with a smile, “This is the land of the Harry family. There are two Coats of Arms that represent it, but it will still always belong to the Harry family.” Regardless of their influence or wealth, the nobles would always have a Coat of Arm to represent their family name. When a territory was lost, its Coat of Arm would be denoted from the territory that it has claimed. When a Coat of Arm was in place, one would have to learn all the history and meanings behind it to be recognized as a proper noble. There were nobles without their land or a Coat of Arms, of course. That being said, they were certainly considered inferior to those who did. Right now, Abel had the Coat of Arms of the Unicorn, which symbolized his linkage with the Harry Family. If his children were to reach adulthood, he would do the same as the Knight of Marshall and pass over all his inherited possession. This included the Coat of Arms, the Harry Family’s domain and of course, his title as an honorary lord of the region that he ruled over. The smile on the Knight of Marshall’s face stretched even wider. Abel was his foster son and also the son of his best brother. While this boy’s heritage remained ambiguous, he has spent no time hesitating to claim the new territory as the Harry Family’s. The coachman opened the door. Abel stepped out of the carriage first, and the Butler Ken bowed to him. “Dear Lord Abel, your castle welcomes you,” Ken said as he lowered his head. “Ken, I’m so glad to see you again,” Abel welcomed Ken with a smile, “Come on, take me around this castle. I’ve been waiting far too long for this.” “It is a pleasure for me as well. Follow me, Sir,” Ken complied, then proceeded to greet the Knight of Marshall with a bow, “It is an honor to see you here, Sir.” The Knight of Marshall waved and said to Abel, “Mind if I tag along? Matthew’s never invited me here before.” Ken didn’t seem to react to what the Knight of Marshall was saying. After all, Lord Matthew never got along well with the Knight of Marshall. It wasn’t like they were complete enemies, but Lord Matthews didn’t have much respect for someone like Marshall, who was a nobleman by the blood he spilled and not by his birth. The Knight of Marshall was the foster father of Abel, yes, but Ken wasn’t going to spend too much time appealing to someone whom his former master disliked. Abel kind of liked that about Ken. He seemed to have a sense of integrity about him and demonstrated his character without being disrespectful to the Knight of Marshall. It was very dark when Abel was trying to rescue Matthew Castle a few days ago. While he had arrived, some of the buildings were already burnt down in ruins. This was why when Abel had come here today, he was very surprised to see that everything had already been restored. Because the castle was built by giant carved boulders (not wood), it was able to withstand the fire that would have destroyed it on the spot. Besides, the servants have worked very hard themselves. Apart from the traces of fire on the outer wall, the disaster of that day was no longer visible. Whilst observing the sense of satisfaction that was on Abel’s face, Ken felt more determined to work hard for his new master. The efforts of these past few days have been recognized by the new owner. When Abel was checking the interior of the castle, Ken said to Abel humbly, “Here, Lord Abel, sir. Everything here has remained untouched over the past few days. The city’s government asked for all the property here to be sealed up. You’re meant to be the first one who was to examine them.” It was Lord Dickens who had sent the order. Abel knew at least that much. As the owner of his massive castle, Lord Dickens wouldn’t mind spending some more money to appeal to the new owner of the Matthew Castle. It was a win-win for everyone. In the storeroom, Abel saw a few huge wooden boxes made of iron and wood. The boxes were sealed by the city’s government. As for the content inside of them, Abel wasn’t sure. Abel turned to Ken, “Ken, can I trust you?” Ken knelt on one knee and said solemnly after hearing that “Yes, Lord Abel! I pledge my utmost loyalty to you.” “I accept,” Abel replied as he held Ken up, “You are the butler of my castle. You are a member of my family now.” “Thank you!” Ken’s eyes were filled with tears. He thought that he has lost everything before, but now, all of it was coming back to him. “The servants and the guards are now under your command. Whoever can stay is under your command. As for those who wish to leave, at least give 5 gold coins to each one of them. Now that Matthew isn’t here, I’ll be the one to thank them in his place.” Abel didn’t want to worry about the trivial things in the castle. For him, he would rather have someone professional looking after everyone here. “Thank you, Sir. I will arrange it properly, and the final result will be reported to you.” Ken was very grateful for Abel’s trust. In this world, the relationship between a butler and his master in this world was very, very close. A butler was like a bodyguard, but instead of simply protecting his master’s life, it was about spending his entire life looking after all the things that were needed and requested. Being a butler was the equivalent of being the second-in-command of a castle. With that being said, the status of this position was extremely high. Ken was a very lucky man in this regard. Better yet, a successful future was guaranteed if he was working for a gifted master like Abel. Without saying anything, the Knight of Marshall watched Abel on the side as he gave out instructions on how the castle should be managed. This was Abel’s castle. He didn’t want to get involved in Abel’s affairs. He was very clear about this. At the same time, he admired Abel’s ability to handle things and was at ease when he saw that Abel was able to find a suitable butler. When several people entered the study, Ken took a wooden box from the bookshelf and said, “There’s a secret room here. The opening method is in this box. I will leave first.” After Ken retreated from the study to the door, the Knight of Marshall was about to exit the study but was stopped by Abel on the way. Abel smiled, “Let’s visit Lord Matthew’s collection together, Uncle Marshall.” “Sure,” the Knight of Marshall nodded his head in compliance, “It’s a pretty rare opportunity for me. I don’t get to see how the other nobles have their collections.” Abel opened the wooden box. He opened the mechanism according to the records above. On the wall of the study, a secret door was opened and the two walked into the secret room. This secret room had a long staircase going down and the staircase was very dark, but it had no effect on the two knights. Whilst walking along the stairs, Abel and the Knight of Marshall entered a huge room. This room visual inspection reached 20 meters wide and 50 meters in length. Five legendary luminous pearls were engraved on the roof, reflecting the light in the entire room brightly. In the middle of the room, there were two neat rows of wooden cabinets filled with various items. The surface of these items was very clean, indicating that the owner took great care of these items. When Abel stepped forward, he found that every item had an individual description written on the parchment in front of the item. Looking at the 10 rows of display cabinets on the left and right, Abel was surprised by the Matthew family’s collection. Viscount Dickens did promise him the entire castle and everything that was in it, but he had no idea that the Matthews had so much treasure that was unknown to others. If Dickens had seen it… Who knows? Maybe he wouldn’t be so generous towards Abel. And let’s just talk about those five legendary luminous pearls. If Lord Matthew was bold enough to put them in the castle hall, all robbers on the mainland would’ve come within days. Abel didn’t know much about the history of this world. Still, he was fascinated to see all the historical items that were in this place. It was an eye-opener for him. Every time he looked at a treasure that could be dated back many years ago, he would always wonder if it was a treasure from a certain country or a weapon of a famous general. “Hey Uncle! Look at all this! Do you still remember what we have in Harry Castle? Hey, Uncle!” The Knight of Marshall threw a side stare at Abel, “Think about the years that have been put into this collection here. This family has been collecting for hundreds of years. What’s the point of comparing it to my collection?” The Knight of Marshall seemed pretty okay with it on the outside, but secretly, he’s already decided that he was going to make a new collection room when he went back. This comparison was simply too overwhelming for him, and it was making him more embarrassed than if he was wearing nothing but his underpants.

Chapter 59 - Iron Meteorite Chapter 59: Iron Meteorite Abel was getting more excited the more he walked around this place. A collection like what the Knight of Marshall had, which was about several decades old, could never be compared with a collection that had lasted for a few centuries. As close as Matthew’s family collection was to being a museum, Abel did not find any scrolls or anything that contained a secret knight technique, which showed just how scarce and precious the secret knight technique was. To protect themselves from having their status being challenged, the nobles would do everything they could to keep a monopoly on the ways a knight could be trained. Abel couldn’t estimate the value of all the valuable treasure in this room, but according to the Knight of Marshall, everything here would’ve been worth more than 100,000 gold coins. When reaching the innermost part of the treasury room, a round black stone with a diameter of one meter was placed in the corner. “What is this?” Abel hurried forward. He was familiar with the round black stone in front of him. It was one of Master Bentham’s important collections. It was said that it had been obtained during the study of the dwarves. It was a finger-sized iron meteorite, but its size did not stop itself from being regarded as a treasure by Master Bentham. Whenever Master Bentham talked about it, he would always brag about how rare meteors were and how and most of it was owned by dwarves. “Abel, what’s wrong? Isn’t it just a stone?” the Knight of Marshall asked strangely as he realized how much Abel cared about it. Abel grinned at the Knight of Marshall, “Just a stone? Did you just say that, Uncle Marshall? If Master Bentham was here, he would’ve broken your head immediately.” “Oh, only if he can beat me!” the Knight of Marshall chuckled, “So, what is it?” “It’s an iron meteorite!” Abel’s answered firmly. He was so strong on the word “meteorite” that he just couldn’t stress enough about it. “What does an iron meteorite do?” the Knight of Marshall asked, as he wasn’t a true blacksmith that understood the importance of an iron meteorite. Abel explained, “Iron meteorite is what the gods use to forge their legendary weapons. The master dwarves would also use it to make their legendary weapons and equipment.” The Knight of Marshall was opening his eyes so much that they could fall off right away. “How much is it worth?” he pointed towards the thing. “Well, when’s the last time you heard someone selling legendary weapons?” Abel asked. Oh, so that’s what it was. As a Master Blacksmith himself, there was just no way that Abel would spare the chance to craft his own legendary weapons. In this world, in addition to the artifacts used by God, the highest-tier weapons and equipment were the legendary weapons. Like the swords of a hundred skills that Abel forged, most powerful weapons were not meant to last forever. After a few decades, they would’ve lost the sharpness they had when they first came out of the blacksmith’s workshop. The weapons and equipment forged by the iron meteorite would not wear out after using it for even centuries. Whilst it could not last for an eternity, it could last for a few Millenium if Abel decided to make a magic weapon with it, it would likely become a legendary weapon in many years. “Take this iron meteorite back to Harry Castle,” the Knight of Marshall said eagerly as he himself hadn’t seen a legendary weapon before. Since there weren’t any forging tools here, they’d have to wait until they return to Harry Castle. The Knight of Marshall didn’t want to wait for that long. Whilst channeling his white combat qi, he wrapped his arms around the meteorite and lifted it off the ground. “My god, this is almost a thousand pounds!” the Knight of Marshall exclaimed with slight anger in his voice, “Take it back, boy. Just put it back to where it’s from.” Abel stepped forward and lifted the huge iron meteorite from the bottom with one hand. He pinched his hand and said with certainty, “Yeah, it is pretty heavy. You’re right, Uncle. It definitely weighs more than a thousand pounds.” The Knight of Marshall looked at Abel silently. He felt very uncomfortable with being humiliated like this. His total strength was about 600 pounds. After releasing his combat qi, he could reach a maximum of 1,200 pounds. If it wasn’t for the round shape of this iron meteorite, he would’ve just had enough strength to be able to carry it around. Only Abel, whose strength was much more powerful than the weight of iron meteorite, could hold this huge iron meteorite with one hand, and easily walk around with it on his hand. The Knight of Marshall hurried Abel out as he had lost his confidence for far too many times, “…let’s, uh, let’s get out of this place.” Abel’s footsteps were heavy. When he walked out of the secret room. He felt the ground tremble at every step. Fortunately, the castle was built of megaliths, and it was very firm and sturdy. Ken saw Abel and the Knight of Marshall come out of the study room. Although he was a little shocked by the huge stone that Abel was holding, he was polite enough to not be too expressive about it. Ken said to Abel, “Master, would you like to see the guards and servants in the castle next?” “It’s ok, you can arrange these things,” Abel replied. Right now, all his thoughts were on the rock he had in his hands. He didn’t have much time to care about his new castle. The Knight of Marshall said with a smile, “Ken, we still have other stuff to do today. I will leave everything about the castle to you, and I will arrange for the treasurer to come and assist you.” Ken understood the arrangement well. It was a normal state of noble management for the lord to rest assure to the treasury and steward to manage everything. Abel found that the carriage could not handle the weight of the iron meteorite. Fortunately, Ken was very experienced in his work. To pull the meteorite away, he has set up an ox cart and used two cows to pull it. If the weapon was forged and the weight was not reduced, only a huge flying beast like White Cloud would be able to carry it around. The ox cart was very slow, which meant that Abel and the Knight of Marshall’s carriage could only follow it at the same pace. While the distance they traveled wasn’t very long, it took about half a day for them to go back to Harry Castle. When they had arrived, it was already dark. After hearing about the meteorite, Master Bentham charged at Abel and demanded to have a look at it. Abel wanted to keep the meteorite as a secret, so he led Master Bentham to his new blacksmith workshop. To congratulate Abel for becoming a Master Blacksmith, the Knight of Marshall built a one-man workshop for him with an extra-large vacant storage room. As for the temporary workshop before, it was moved back to its original location after the orc invasion was over. After entering his new workshop, Abel placed the meteorite in the center of the room. Master Bentham was holding the light and carefully touching the surface of the iron meteorite with his hands. He took down the oil lamp from the lamp holder and shone back and forth on the stone. Master Bentham observed for a long time, meanwhile almost flipping the meteorite by its bottom. He finally murmured something after examining it for about five minutes. “Yes, this is an iron meteorite. I have never seen such a huge iron meteorite when I was with the dwarf. ” “What kind of weapon do you think this iron meteorite is suitable for?” Abel asked. He had some doubts about what to do with this iron meteorite. The most important thing in his mind was to forge a super heavy sword. which is almost unbeatable when he holds it on his hand. “In my opinion, your level is still improving now. You can’t find a second piece of iron meteorite, so you should forge it when your level is high enough.” Master Bentham knew very well about Abel’s potential. While the boy was still improving at a very rapid pace, it’d be better if he didn’t waste the meteorite right now. “I agree with you, Uncle Marshall. For now, let’s just leave this meteorite where it’s at.” Abel thought of his recent surge of his Power of the Will, and there was rune that he could discover from time to time. When he could master more runes and have a more powerful Will Power, by discovering the method of using rune language to forge equipment, and then use this iron meteorite to forge a very powerful rune language would be the best choice.

Chapter 60 - Drinking The Potions Chapter 60: Drinking the Potions Abel played with Black Wind for a while at night. After training it using the mount enhancement technique, he gave it a massage using his combat qi. Abel smiled as he thought, “Grow up quickly, be very, very strong, my little puppy. When you grow up, your task will be to carry me and my weapons around.” Black Wind suddenly shivered up its back. It widened its eyes, looked at its master in doubt, and wondered what made him have such a big grin on his face. Black Wind’s reaction was pretty amusing for Abel. Not only was it kind of dumb in a cute kind of way, but it was also growing a lot lately which proved that the mount enhancement technique had worked. If the priest of the orcs could see the growth of Black Wind, it will be surprised at the growth speed of Black Wind. This is because Abel’s golden combat qi is more powerful than ordinary combat qi, so the effect of the enhancement was more obvious. After settling the Black Wind, Abel asked Black Wind to play on his own, and he was about to start combining the potions. Abel took out 27 blood fusing potion, 270 replenishing potion and 162 essence condensing potions from the boxes. He placed them in front of him and merged them three at once with his Horadric Cube. As the potion was turned from beginner to a greater level, it began to glow with a shade of blue. The resulting product was nine bottles of the greater blood fusing potion, 90 bottles of the greater replenishing potion and 54 bottles of the greater essence condensing potion. Then, it was from greater potion to the greatest potion. As Abel merged the bottles into fewer yet more concentrated portions, the resulting liquid began to glow with a luxurious ring of gold. It was three bottles of the greatest blood fusing potion, thirty bottles of the greatest replenishing potion and eighteen bottles of the greatest essence condensing potion. Finally, it went from the greatest potions to the master’s potions. What remained was one bottle of the master’s blood fusing potion, ten bottles of the master’s replenishing potion and six bottles of the master’s essence condensing potion. All of them had a dark golden glow on the outside. As he was done with the fuse, Abel took the bottles away to a safe location. Abel took out the master’s blood fusing potion, Abel closed his eyes, poured the potion into his mouth, the knight breathing technique started, and he immediately felt the blood began to boil. As the blood inside of him began to boil, it started vaporizing and shrinking in volume. The golden combat qi in his blood began to gather up. While the quantity of it was not too much at all, it was about ten times better than what he gathered up under normal conditions. That being said, the progress he was making now was much more efficient than before. After about half an hour, Abel began to kind of weak from the inside out. The blood fusing potion was making him lose in blood. What a shock this was. This was not what the blood fusing potion was known to do. Wouldn’t his blood level just stop decreasing if it became too dangerous for him? Abel quickly poured a replenishing potion into his mouth. After the master’s blood fusing potion entered his body, it felt like his whole inside was burning like a lit oil barrel. It felt better later on, and he soon got used to this feeling. A new meridian did take form, but there wasn’t much combat qi inside of it. It was an empty meridian. If it wasn’t for the supplements he’s made, it would take years for Abel to fill them in with his qi pressure point. Abel didn’t expect a master’s blood fusing potion to be this effective. If he didn’t make any replenishing potion, he would’ve been the first knight to be turned into a mummy by a potion. Speaking from history, Abel didn’t know if there was anyone who had drank a master’s blood fusing potion before. According to Miss Yvette from the Edmund’s Boutique Shop, with the current amount of supplies the market could provide, the best blood fusing potion available to this world would only be in the “intermediate” level. Frankly, what that meant was that Abel had just turned himself into a guinea pig for a first-time-ever experiment. It was a very frightening experience, he thought to himself. From what Abel had noticed, the ratios used to make the blood fusing potion and the replenishing potion were the same. It was always a 1 to 10, but a master’s potion had none of the side risks that could be posed to its leaders. Better yet, it was effective after just one consumption. After drinking one bottle of the master’s blood fusing potion, Abel would have to drink ten bottles of the master’s replenishing potion to recharge his body. This kind of training would at least cost him 4000 gold coins, a sum he could buy a whole potion store with. If Abel kept doing this, he would’ve got to spend a tremendous amount of money to fuse his master’s potion. As for whether the Edmund’s Boutique Shop could have enough supply, or whether making such large purchases would bring any suspicion, these were all very practical issues that Abel would have to think about. After drinking the blood fusing potion and the replenishing potion, Abel took out a master’s essence condensing potion and drank it down his throat. Once its content had entered his body, it became this hot stream of energy that went straight into his qi core. If he used his power of the Will, he could even feel his qi core contracting at a strength that he wouldn’t normally notice. Abel took out another bottle that was crafted by his Horadric Cube. After he did, he felt a soft contraction in his qi core again. Four more bottles, Abel felt it with his Power of the Will. It would have to take at least 100 bottles of such potion to make any qualitative changes. These six bottles of the master class potion had cost Abel 1,600 gold coins, one bottle was 2,700 gold coins, and this number was multiplied by a hundred, so the total sum 270,000 gold coins. Abel felt like robbing a bank right now. Although he had a divine item like his Horadric Cube, there was just too much time and ingredients he would have to expend to use it. Besides, selling the finished product was not an easy task at all. It’d be difficult to explain their source. There would certainly be a lot of trouble for him if people started suspecting him. Abel decided that, in addition to some necessary training and experiments, the rest of his time would be used to forge weapons and sell them for money. The fastest way to make money was by crafting weapons. It was also the most non-controversial way to engage in trade. Drowned in his thoughts, Abel entered into his dreams and saw himself on top of a mountain of treasures. All the treasures were different potions that he had made. He was spending every hour making a master’s potion. The only time that he didn’t was when he had finished making them and falling asleep right on the spot. Without having a sense of time, Abel’s face felt kind of itchy. He opened his eyes and saw Black Wind licking his face with its stretched out tongue. “Ah dammit,” Abel called out. He didn’t finish making his potions. Even whilst sleeping, Abel worked hard all night to combine his potions. As a result, he didn’t get to drink a single bottle of them. Abel thought for a while, picked up Black Wind, and started scratching on the belly of the Black Wind, while Black wind twisted his little body as it felt itchy from the top to bottom. After playing with Black Wind for a while, Abel started his knight practice every morning. He ate his breakfast and came to the workshop that he’s built inside the castle. As there was simply too much of his creation that had to hide away, Abel had become even more cautious than when he first came into this world. He would often use the Horadric Cube in his forge, and while doing so, he would need to use a lot of special techniques, most of which he’d rather not let the others know about. From now on, he decided that he would only make tools inside his workshop. When Abel entered the operation room, he found a gorgeous carriage parked in the operating room. “Lindsay’s pretty fast, isn’t he?” Abel mumbled to himself. Abel stepped forward for a closer look at this carriage. Its entire structure was made completely out of wood. On the surface were engraved with the pictures of the heroic battle of the first king of the Duchy of Carmel. There were four such pictures on each side, each depicting a famous battle that was recorded in the nation’s history. Such art style was very common throughout the land. The interior wall of the carriage was lined with soft padding, and the outside was wrapped with animal hides. The seat was soft, too. With these features in place, it could be said that the designer wanted the carriage to have some sort of shock-resistant properties. The wheel of this carriage was made out of wood. The outer ring was surrounded by a layer of a thin iron sheet to protect the interior structure. The middle axle was all forged by forged steel. It wasn’t like Abel was unpleased with the design of carriage. If anything, he was very satisfied with it. The most he needed to add was some small modifications. As for decorations, there wasn’t a need for it. Compared to those car repairers back on Earth, the way Abel disassembled a vehicle was very simple. First, he loosened the buckle of the wheel. He then lifted the seat off of the wheel axle, and the wheels were unloaded automatically. Lastly, he took the parts apart and laid them neatly on the ground around him. Comment ( 0 ) COMMENT FIRST Rate this chapter Vote with Power Stone Chapter 61: Super Cow Cart The first he needed was to fix up the stability of the horse carriage. Abel added 4 groups of bulky springs between the wheels and the body of the carriage as shock absorbers. Abel was sure that the quality of these springs would be unmatchable. This was not only because Abel remembers how to make the spiral springs from his past incarnation, but it was also due to his incomparable strength. When it came to making these springs, one needed to through the spring iron into the furnace. Then slowly strike it until it became a thick stick of iron. Afterward, one needed to wrap the stick of iron around an iron rod. Since Abel did not have the equipment for this, that’s where his enormous strength could shine. Although these spring irons were not as strong as the 100 skills irons, it was still impossible for a normal human to bend. If Abel’s body did not develop in such a rapid pace in these past few days, there’s no way he could do this. There were 4 springs in a group. Every group was secured by a sheet of metal at the bottom of the carriage between the wheels. It took Abel a large amount of time and effort to secure this total of 16 springs. The shock absorbers had been completed. Then, it was the most crucial step. Before this, Abel had already forged 20 thick rectangle sheets of 100 skills iron. Only Abel would have used 100 skills iron to form an ordinary sheet. Normally, these type of iron was only used in the weapons of the highest value, such as a big sword. In fact, they were treated as treasures by all blacksmiths. Abel drew out a rough area on the sheet and proceeded to throw it in the furnace. after it was burning red, he took it out with a tong. Then he put a hole for the gem on the sheet with a hammer drill. After Abel drilled a hole in all 20 of the sheets, he threw them all into the water for cooling. After he whipped them dry, it was rune drawing time. He had prepared to draw some ice magic runes, which he was way too familiar with. However, this time he would be using the intermediate ice magic rune ink he had combined. The rune path created by these intermediate rune ink was often very fragile, so it was better to still be very careful. On top of that, Abel would be using this on his own carriage, so safety was definitely a priority. However, these rune inks were combined anyway, so it didn’t actually cost that much. Since Abel’s power of the will had increased, drawing runes were like a walk in the park. He had drawn 5 runes in a roll until he felt his power of the will depleting. He rested for 30 minutes before drawing another 5 runes. Just like that, 10 ice magic runes were complete. Abel then took out the intermediate fire magic rune ink and turned the other 10 iron sheets into fire magic iron sheets. In the hole of each of the sheets, Abel separately placed 10 blue gems and 10 red gems. All of these gems were combined by Abel, so the cost was low as well. Afterward, Abel used some normal iron to forged 2 large boxes. He then puts some small holes on it with a hammer drill and placed each of them on each side of the carriage. Then, Abel secured some fan arms on to each of the holes inside the cupboard. There were conveyor belts connecting the fan arm to the wheels, allowing it to spin. That’s where the 20 sheets of iron could show it’s power. He secured the 10 ice magic iron sheets on each of the 10 fan arms on one of the large boxes. Outside the cupboard, Abel added a handle. There were 10 different modes to the handle. If one pulled on the handle on the lowest mode, it would only ignite to 1 ice magic iron sheet, thus only unleashing a small amount of ice magic power. As the gears went higher, the more magic sheet it would ignite, thus the ice magic power would increase as well. When the carriage was moving, the conveyor belt would spin these sheets inside the large box according to the motion of the wheels. When the ice magic power was ignited, cool air would blow out from those small holes of the box. This was a special ice magic air conditioner designed by Abel. It used the same technology as those ice magic big sword of his. Since a big sword normally would be sold for 20 thousand gold coins in an auction. If each sheet of iron worth the same amount of a big sword, this air conditioner could worth more than 200 thousand gold coins. Of course, if you want to calculate the price of this thing, who could forget about the intermediate rune ink. Since the material for these ink was extremely rare, they were almost priceless. Therefore it was very hard to calculate the actual price. With the same method, Abel installed the 10 fire magic sheets into the other large box, thus creating a fire magic heater. This entire air conditioning system could cost well over 400 thousand gold coins. Abel wondered if he should mass-produce it. A mere air conditioning system like this could pay for the training fees for his entire life. Normally when a horse carriage was made, the gap between the wheels and the body of the carriage was only filled with some lubricants. This method seemed very outdated to Abel. Since he had now installed the springs on to each of the wheels, they could continue moving despite the bumpy roads. It would also go faster since it required much less effort for the bull or horse to pull. Abel also did some upgrades to the wheels of the carriage. He wrapped layers of orc skin on each of its rims, the outermost layer was equipped with the highest quality orc skin. These orc skins were found in the secret collection of the Knight of Marshall. Due to their small surface area, they could not be turned in to armors. Therefore they were just gathering dust in the storage, only until now, Abel had taken it out to use it as tires for the carriage. Just like that, the super luxurious horse carriage has completed its upgrade. Abel called in some carpenter from the castle. He told them to secure the 2 large boxes of the air conditioner with wood and turn it into 2 tables. Now, both the front and back of the carriage was equipped with 2 sofas, 2 tables on each side, and under which was an air conditioning system. Abel had sacrificed 3 days of effort to make this horse carriage, or bull carriage since it would be pulled by inferno bulls. He was sure that the Lord of Marshall would be very satisfied to receive this as a birthday gift. Abel then took out the 2 different rune signs he got from the wargon. Although he had never seen these runes before, according to the Knight of Saroya, who was the leader of the knight brigade that battled the orcs, a wargon had also taken out a sign like this when it was being attacked, it hugely reduced the impact of the 33 knight’s combined combat qi strike. As far as Abel could remember, there weren’t many runes in Diablo 2 that could reduce impact. If Abel’s train of thoughts was correct, these 2 rune signs could very well be the “12#SOL Thor” runes. 12 # SOL thor: +9 the lowest impact Offset physical impact 7 Abel didn’t know what “offset physical impact 7” meant in reality. However, he was reminded of the wound that was on a White cloud. Although it was long, it wasn’t too deep, Abel speculated the rune sign must have drastically reduced the power of the 33 knight’s combined combat qi. Therefore, “offset physical impact 7” should be around the force of around 30 official knights. Although Abel was unsure how much power a commander would have, this rune should be more than capable of defending against an elite, or below knight. Abel had an idea, he should make a shield out of this rune. Since it was still too challenging for him to make great defending weapons such as the “Ancient vow” with rune language. These single rune weapons should be doable. Although Abel was not used to making shields, he didn’t think it would be a problem because of his incredible strength and his increasing power of the will. Abel decided to make a knight’s shield, also known as the kite shield. These shields were flat on the top and sharp at the bottom. They were very commonly used by knights. Its surface was often color painted with the knight’s family’s coat of arms. It was practical and functional. Abel picked out the best iron from the iron ore. He decided to start from scratch, it was the first time he would make a rough iron model since his strength has developed drastically. This time, he struck the iron with a 100-pound hammer, he couldn’t help it. The 30-pound hammer he used before felt like a toothpick in his hand. Although this 100-pound hammer still felt a bit light, it was already the heaviest one he could find. He started from 1 skill and forged it into 80 skills with almost no effort at all. He realized he didn’t even need to utilize his power of the will to do this, he could just use his brutal force. As he kept striking the iron with this nonsensical method, soon it had turned in to 100 skills. By this point, he was no longer satisfied with a 100 skills model of iron. If he had used his power of the will on top of this, who knows how many more skills could he forge?

Chapter 61 - Super Cow Cart Chapter 61: Super Cow Cart The first he needed was to fix up the stability of the horse carriage. Abel added 4 groups of bulky springs between the wheels and the body of the carriage as shock absorbers. Abel was sure that the quality of these springs would be unmatchable. This was not only because Abel remembers how to make the spiral springs from his past incarnation, but it was also due to his incomparable strength. When it came to making these springs, one needed to through the spring iron into the furnace. Then slowly strike it until it became a thick stick of iron. Afterward, one needed to wrap the stick of iron around an iron rod. Since Abel did not have the equipment for this, that’s where his enormous strength could shine. Although these spring irons were not as strong as the 100 skills irons, it was still impossible for a normal human to bend. If Abel’s body did not develop in such a rapid pace in these past few days, there’s no way he could do this. There were 4 springs in a group. Every group was secured by a sheet of metal at the bottom of the carriage between the wheels. It took Abel a large amount of time and effort to secure this total of 16 springs. The shock absorbers had been completed. Then, it was the most crucial step. Before this, Abel had already forged 20 thick rectangle sheets of 100 skills iron. Only Abel would have used 100 skills iron to form an ordinary sheet. Normally, these type of iron was only used in the weapons of the highest value, such as a big sword. In fact, they were treated as treasures by all blacksmiths. Abel drew out a rough area on the sheet and proceeded to throw it in the furnace. after it was burning red, he took it out with a tong. Then he put a hole for the gem on the sheet with a hammer drill. After Abel drilled a hole in all 20 of the sheets, he threw them all into the water for cooling. After he whipped them dry, it was rune drawing time. He had prepared to draw some ice magic runes, which he was way too familiar with. However, this time he would be using the intermediate ice magic rune ink he had combined. The rune path created by these intermediate rune ink was often very fragile, so it was better to still be very careful. On top of that, Abel would be using this on his own carriage, so safety was definitely a priority. However, these rune inks were combined anyway, so it didn’t actually cost that much. Since Abel’s power of the will had increased, drawing runes were like a walk in the park. He had drawn 5 runes in a roll until he felt his power of the will depleting. He rested for 30 minutes before drawing another 5 runes. Just like that, 10 ice magic runes were complete. Abel then took out the intermediate fire magic rune ink and turned the other 10 iron sheets into fire magic iron sheets. In the hole of each of the sheets, Abel separately placed 10 blue gems and 10 red gems. All of these gems were combined by Abel, so the cost was low as well. Afterward, Abel used some normal iron to forged 2 large boxes. He then puts some small holes on it with a hammer drill and placed each of them on each side of the carriage. Then, Abel secured some fan arms on to each of the holes inside the cupboard. There were conveyor belts connecting the fan arm to the wheels, allowing it to spin. That’s where the 20 sheets of iron could show it’s power. He secured the 10 ice magic iron sheets on each of the 10 fan arms on one of the large boxes. Outside the cupboard, Abel added a handle. There were 10 different modes to the handle. If one pulled on the handle on the lowest mode, it would only ignite to 1 ice magic iron sheet, thus only unleashing a small amount of ice magic power. As the gears went higher, the more magic sheet it would ignite, thus the ice magic power would increase as well. When the carriage was moving, the conveyor belt would spin these sheets inside the large box according to the motion of the wheels. When the ice magic power was ignited, cool air would blow out from those small holes of the box. This was a special ice magic air conditioner designed by Abel. It used the same technology as those ice magic big sword of his. Since a big sword normally would be sold for 20 thousand gold coins in an auction. If each sheet of iron worth the same amount of a big sword, this air conditioner could worth more than 200 thousand gold coins. Of course, if you want to calculate the price of this thing, who could forget about the intermediate rune ink. Since the material for these ink was extremely rare, they were almost priceless. Therefore it was very hard to calculate the actual price. With the same method, Abel installed the 10 fire magic sheets into the other large box, thus creating a fire magic heater. This entire air conditioning system could cost well over 400 thousand gold coins. Abel wondered if he should mass-produce it. A mere air conditioning system like this could pay for the training fees for his entire life. Normally when a horse carriage was made, the gap between the wheels and the body of the carriage was only filled with some lubricants. This method seemed very outdated to Abel. Since he had now installed the springs on to each of the wheels, they could continue moving despite the bumpy roads. It would also go faster since it required much less effort for the bull or horse to pull. Abel also did some upgrades to the wheels of the carriage. He wrapped layers of orc skin on each of its rims, the outermost layer was equipped with the highest quality orc skin. These orc skins were found in the secret collection of the Knight of Marshall. Due to their small surface area, they could not be turned in to armors. Therefore they were just gathering dust in the storage, only until now, Abel had taken it out to use it as tires for the carriage. Just like that, the super luxurious horse carriage has completed its upgrade. Abel called in some carpenter from the castle. He told them to secure the 2 large boxes of the air conditioner with wood and turn it into 2 tables. Now, both the front and back of the carriage was equipped with 2 sofas, 2 tables on each side, and under which was an air conditioning system. Abel had sacrificed 3 days of effort to make this horse carriage, or bull carriage since it would be pulled by inferno bulls. He was sure that the Lord of Marshall would be very satisfied to receive this as a birthday gift. Abel then took out the 2 different rune signs he got from the wargon. Although he had never seen these runes before, according to the Knight of Saroya, who was the leader of the knight brigade that battled the orcs, a wargon had also taken out a sign like this when it was being attacked, it hugely reduced the impact of the 33 knight’s combined combat qi strike. As far as Abel could remember, there weren’t many runes in Diablo 2 that could reduce impact. If Abel’s train of thoughts was correct, these 2 rune signs could very well be the “12#SOL Thor” runes. 12 # SOL thor: +9 the lowest impact Offset physical impact 7 Abel didn’t know what “offset physical impact 7” meant in reality. However, he was reminded of the wound that was on a White cloud. Although it was long, it wasn’t too deep, Abel speculated the rune sign must have drastically reduced the power of the 33 knight’s combined combat qi. Therefore, “offset physical impact 7” should be around the force of around 30 official knights. Although Abel was unsure how much power a commander would have, this rune should be more than capable of defending against an elite, or below knight. Abel had an idea, he should make a shield out of this rune. Since it was still too challenging for him to make great defending weapons such as the “Ancient vow” with rune language. These single rune weapons should be doable. Although Abel was not used to making shields, he didn’t think it would be a problem because of his incredible strength and his increasing power of the will. Abel decided to make a knight’s shield, also known as the kite shield. These shields were flat on the top and sharp at the bottom. They were very commonly used by knights. Its surface was often color painted with the knight’s family’s coat of arms. It was practical and functional. Abel picked out the best iron from the iron ore. He decided to start from scratch, it was the first time he would make a rough iron model since his strength has developed drastically. This time, he struck the iron with a 100-pound hammer, he couldn’t help it. The 30-pound hammer he used before felt like a toothpick in his hand. Although this 100-pound hammer still felt a bit light, it was already the heaviest one he could find. He started from 1 skill and forged it into 80 skills with almost no effort at all. He realized he didn’t even need to utilize his power of the will to do this, he could just use his brutal force. As he kept striking the iron with this nonsensical method, soon it had turned in to 100 skills. By this point, he was no longer satisfied with a 100 skills model of iron. If he had used his power of the will on top of this, who knows how many more skills could he forge?

Chapter 62 - Hitting The Base Chapter 62: Hitting the Base Abel was a man of his word. He began to apply his power of the will to the base of a hundred skills. Since there wasn’t a normal method to initiate a hundred skills, under Abel’s power of will, he felt that he was able to continue to forge. Abel then lifted the 100 pounds hammer higher and forged layer on top of layer as he threw the base into the furnace again and again. 101 skills, 102 skills, 103 skills….. 120 skills. When Abel had reached 120 skills, he realized this base was no longer viable and he could no longer strike it with his old method. The structure was much more compact than those normal base of hundred skills. As the stiffness was much higher than he had expected, Abel decided to name this base as the base of 120 skills. From the process of base to shield forming, all Abel had to do was tap slowly. When a typical knight shield was forged by Abel, he always did a cut on the handle which allowed him to place a gem inside. For the selection of the runes, Abel decided to proceed with the intermediate attribute rune ink. This particular rune ink was very easy to draw. Abel had a lot of experiences in transforming them. This time, Abel decided to not modify the rune body but instead decided to add an energy rune circuit that was connected to the handle. This type of rune drawing can only be successful once. However, there were 4 examples that he could use it for reference. Abel placed the diamond into the handle as a source of energy. The diamond served as a spiritual power to incite the rune. When the rune was successful, there was a burst of white light and although the shield had not been tested, the production process at this time was very successful. As Abel placed the shield onto the ground, he then struck the shield using his hammer with 1/10 of his power and struck it with the power of around 200 pounds. When the hammer hit the shield, there was a flash of white light on the surface and it was immediately gone. Abel proceeded to use 60% of his power. This time it was roughly the strength of an intermediate knight’s combat qi power. But the same as last time, the surface was flashed with white light and immediately disappeared. When Abel realized he had made such a powerful shield, he was beyond excited within his heart. He couldn’t help himself but used his full might to strike the shield. As more than 2000 pounds struck the shield, there was only a loud noise and the shield was struck so hard it went into the boulder-paved ground. Turns out, this attack was not completely mitigated. Abel wasn’t quite sure what level of knights were capable of dishing out 2000 pounds of power, but he was certain that this shield was more than enough for the knights to use in a battle. Also, Abel discovered this shield made out of the base of 120 skills resistance was beyond his expectations. It was even capable of withstanding these powerful strikes. Even though most of the physical damage was gone from the place where the hammer struck. The sword did not even show any traces of battle scars, showing just how tough this shield was. A magic weapon was powerful due to its’ magic effects. This magic effect could resist physical damage. They were a match in heaven for the shield. As long as the diamond was not fully used, the magic effect would always be there. Although the shield was not able to resist magic attacks, Abel had never actually seen any actual magic attacks being made by someone, other than the ones he had forged. The shield that was built to absorb the physical impact was complete. However, it was ugly. Its surface was empty with no leather lining. Abel a doubt in his mind. Although he had forged a base of 120 skills today, it was a little bit different from the method Master Bentham had told him. According to the master, the highest skills that the base of iron could reach was 100. Therefore, Abel decided that he would take it to Bentham to take a look. On top of that, he also needed to ask The Master to identify the material used on that black armor he acquired from Fowler earlier. Abel went back into his room, took that black armor and rode off towards the blacksmith guild. “Is this your new work?” Master Bentham looked at Abel’s shield on his hands and took it curiously. “What’s this material?” The first thing Bentham realized was the difference in the material. He then looked up at Abel and asked, “Is this made with ordinary iron ore?” “Yes, I use the best iron ore in the mine,” Abel replied. “Impossible, although this material is inferior to an iron meteorite, it exceeded the common 100 skills, what method did you use to forge this shield?” While Master Bentham knew that it was not polite to ask someone so directly about the forging method, even if it was his nominal disciple. But, he still blurted out the question out of sheer curiosity and love for his profession as a blacksmith. “This was the materials obtained from a 120 skills base.” Said Abel, he told Bentham everything he knew except for that little secret about himself. “120 skills? How can it be 120 skills?” Master Bentham immediately felt deeply in himself that everything he had learned had been shattered. But he did not doubt what Abel said, firstly Abel did not need to lie to him and the materials of the shield did seem different. “Alright, let me forge one in front of you.” Abel quickly saw the change in Bentham’s expression as Abel requested to forge in front of Bentham. “Come, come to my workshop.” Master Bentham then grabbed Abel and dragged him into his workshop. Afterward, Master Bentham picked through a pile of iron ore for a while and took the best piece of iron out. He then placed it on the put it on the operating table and said to Abel, “This is the best iron ore I have. Check if it’s good enough. If it’s not I will go back to the mine to get better ones..” “Nah, it’s fine, this will do.” Abel then stretched his hands throw in iron ore furnace, when he took the large 100-pound hammer from the side, Bentham’s eyes were buckled. Using a 100-pound hammer to extract essence, this was something that he had never heard anyone has done. The 100 pounds hammers were only used for flattening tools but not for extracting the essence. Normally it would take more than a few thousand strikes until it became a 100 skills, how could anyone persist for so long with such a heavy hammer? But when Master Bentham saw Abel pulling the iron ore out of the stove for forging. He realized that Abel was using the 100-pound hammer with more ease than himself using his 30-pound hammer. And by listening to the hammering sound between the hammer and the base iron, he could tell that Abel was using a tremendous amount of force. Master Bentham always knew that Abel had enormous strength, but from his memory, it was never this powerful. Abel’s strength must have increased tremendously these past few days. From 1 skill to 80 skills, Bentham nodded as he looked at Abel’s forging method as he had he was using his method that he taught. When he saw Abel striking the base until 81 skills, he knew that Abel’s abilities had already exceeded his. Abel no longer needed to use his power of the will, which was not how his old method had suggested. Abel only increased his strength and continued to strike. By this point, Master Bentham felt like he was no longer watching a man forging the base of the iron. Instead, he was watching a stone monster hammering the ground, and with each strike, the master felt the ground trembling below him. Normally, the base should not longer be refined with so much force at this point, yet, it continued being struck violently, over and over again. When it had reached 100 skills, Abel began to use his power of the will. This was because he was not experienced enough. If he had enough experience, he would’ve been able to continue without his power of the will. With Abel’s last hammer strike, the base iron on the table had been refined 120 times. When Bentham saw the outcome, he looked at it silently, completely speechless. “How strong are you?” Master Bentham finally remembered this important question. The reason he had asked Abel this question was because If this technique is to be used by others, they had to first acquire a tremendous amount of power. But what kind of power can be achieved to make such a base, with 120 skills? “About 2,000 pounds,” Abel whispered. When master Bentham heard what Abel said, he was shocked and frightened. “2000 pounds?” Master Bentham said to himself, “Monster!” “How much power is there if you don’t use your combat qi?” It suddenly occurred to master Bentham that Abel was a knight and that his strength was increased by fighting. “2,000 pounds was when I don’t have to use my combat qi,” Abel explained, but he didn’t dare say the figure that was included with the combat qi as he was really afraid to frighten Master Bentham. “Aiya!” master Bentham sighed and shook his head in frustration. Not to mention blacksmiths, there were not even many knights who could obtain such power. It seemed like Abel was the only one in this world who could forge a base of 120 skills.

Chapter 63 - Banquet Chapter 63: Banquet Master Bentham turned the shield around. To his surprise, there was a gem installed. He could not help but ask, “Is this a magic defense guard?” “Yes, it’s my new invention. It can absorb the impact of attacks” Abel explained. “Your abilities are miles ahead of me at this point!” Master Bentham exclaimed. The master did not know how the impact could this shield absorb. If he knew, he couldn’t be so relaxed like this. “I found some armor. Can you help me take a look at it? I am not sure what material is it made out of” said Abel as he placed the black armor on to the hands of Master Bentham. It was only at this moment Master Bentham realized Abel was carrying another thing with him. When the Master received the armor, he almost dropped it, the weight of the thing was drastically lighter than it’s appearance. “Holy Wolf’s treasure” how did you get this? Master Bentham asked shockingly. “It’s my spoil of war. A few days ago I killed a worgen and took it from him. Is this thing call the Holy Wolf’s treasure?” Abel was unsure why Master Bentham was so shocked, so he honestly replied. “This is a holy object of the worgen. If they knew that you had this armor, they would do anything to get it back”, Master Bentham then proceeded to say, “remember how I told you about the legendary equipment? This armor is legendary.” Master Bentham continued to explain, “according to the worgen totem, a holy wolf had slaughtered the young of a black dragon. Although the dragons tried to hunt the holy wolf down, the holy wolf escaped eventually, while being badly injured. He brought the corps of the young dragon back to the worgens, and their blacksmith had turned it into armor. So, the worgen you had killed must be a high-status royal worgen. Abel was reminded of the “worgen long spear technique”. He was certain what Master Bentham had said was correct. “The best thing you can do right now is to lock this armor up somewhere safe. Never let anyone know you have it” Master Bentham suggested. When Abel realized the danger of this armor, he decided to follow what Master Bentham had suggested. The worgens were one of the greatest nations of the orc empire. The idea of getting hunted down by them was not a pleasant one. Just thinking about it sent a shiver down Abel’s spine. At first, Abel was thinking of wearing this armor if he decided to transform into a worgen, so he could gain some protection. Luckily he had asked Master Bentham before doing so. If he was going to wear this armor around the orc empire, it would be suicide. As he carried the “holy wolf’s treasure” back to the castle, Abel didn’t just hold it in his hand as he did before. He put it in a box and directly locked it up in his personal operation room as soon as he got back. He was the only person who had the key to this operation room, so it should be safe. As time passed, the atmosphere of Harry castle was filled with more and more excitement. Since the Lord of Marshall’s birthday was coming up and both he and his adopted son had just been promoted to Lord, the Lord of Marshall decided to throw a huge banquet to celebrate all 3 of these good fortunes. He invited all the nobles of Harvest City, neighboring lords, and of course, the Knight of Bennett and his family. Other than going to the forest to comfort his lonely White cloud in his free time. Abel spent all his days in the blacksmith guide trying to forge weapons. He had prepared a lot of things to be auctioned at Edmund’s boutique shop. Of course, they were not all magic weapons. If there were too many magic weapons in the market, it would no definitely impact its value. Edmund’s boutique shop was a boutique shop within the Duchy of Carmel. Since the Duchy’s spending was limited, Abel had prepared ten 120 skills big sword, and two magic swords. These weapons were a lot better than any other ones on the market, so they should sell very well. On the 10th of June, the Harry castle had transformed into a fiery red castle from a distance. All the walls were decorated with a huge red coat of arm rugs which would only be brought out when there were some important events. All the roads connecting towards the castle had been cleaned, the servants had put on their new fitted suits, and even the guards were wearing their best armor. Just that Harry castle was ready to welcome its guests. Although it was supposed to be a dinner banquet, the guests had already been arriving since noon. You could see countless busy servants roaming around the castle since every guest was someone with high status. Since the Lord of Marshall’s status had increased, his social group’s status had also increased. Although it was only a Lord position, this position was very hard to achieve in Duchy of Carmel. Therefore, all the lords were very well respected. Especially, since the Lord of Marshall was a lord with a fiefdom, he became one of the top members of the Harvest City’s royal circle. Abel had already put on his luxurious suit before the banquet even start. Since he had never been to a king’s wedding. He did not have a coat of arms in his chest pocket. Other than that, his suit was designed according to the status of a lord. This was because before this banquet, the Lord of Marshall had specifically invited the best tailor in Harvest City–Lady Candice–to make this suit for Abel. Abel was irritated by how complicated it was to put on this suit. In hot weather like this, clothes with so many layers like this suit had made him feel like he was being locked up in a box. However, according to the words of the Lord of Marshall, being a noble was not about how much money you had, but how much money you looked like you had. To Abel, this meant that “you want to show off, you suffer”. But of course, he would not say it out loud. You could see how much the Lord of Marshall cared about this banquet from all angles. The wine was all imported, which he had to order from the Havest City’s many days prior, it was the Duchy of thunder’s 10-year edition wine. The silverware on the tables were all brand new, and even the chefs were specifically invited to Harvest City to cater to this banquet. Generally speaking, the Harry castle did not have the rich historical significance of those hundred to thousand-year-old castles. Although the Lord of Marshall was born in a large family, since he had gained his fiefdom and castle, by law he was no longer related to the Harry family in Bakong City. Also due to the long distance between their 2 cities, their relationship was not that close. Under these circumstances, the Knight of Marshall was very strict on the standard of this banquet. He was a man with dignity, and everything has to be perfect. “Uncle Marshall, do you want me to send some servants here from Abel castle?” Ask Abel in a hurry. He realized that every guest in this banquet was someone with high status, so they demanded their own personal servants, which caused a shortage of servants in Harry castle. “That would be great, Abel”, the Lord of Marshall replied promptly. He also realized the current situation. The servants who served in the castles were not just ordinary servants. Since they represent the face of their owner. They would need to go through specific training that was unique to the castle they serve. Abel had recruited the 2 horse carriage in the castle and headed towards Abel’s castle. He needed to make sure there would be enough servants before the evening arrived. As the night came, Harry castle was brightly lit. The Lord of Marshall stood in the middle of the castle hall, welcoming his guests. Abel stood beside with a smile, respectfully listening to the lord of Marshall introduce his friends. “Welcome Master Bentham, welcome the Knight of Bennett,” said butler Lindsey. These words traveled through the entrance into the ears of Abel. Immediately, Abel rushed towards the entrance. He had to personally welcome his father, the Knight of Bennett. Abel also had a deep respect for Master Bentham. Although the Master worked under the Harry castle’s blacksmith guild, he was Abel’s teacher and a very famous person in Harvest City. “Father, Master, welcome to the banquet tonight.” Abel had it all planned out. He ordered the luxurious horse carriage, which was supposed to be the Lord of Marshall’s birthday present, to first pick up the knight of Bennett’s family, then Master Bentham. The Knight of Bennett got off the carriage first. When he saw Abel, his serious face leaked out a small slight gratified smile as he nodded to Abel. Then came his, Nora. They had not seen each other for a very long time. When she finally saw Abel, her eyes began to sparkle. However, due to the seriousness of this event, she tried her best to hold her tears back. Next, was his big brother Zach. When Zach saw Abel, he immediately jumped off the carriage and hugged him tightly. The Knight of Bennett gave a small cough, reminding Zach this was a serious event, and that he should behave himself. Abel couldn’t help but giggle. His big brother was still afraid of his father. He then proceeded to say with a smile “my dear brother, when you become an official knight, I will make you a full-body armor as a present.” Zach’s eyes began to sparkle. He let out a big laugh and said: “that day won’t be too long, you better start preparing now.” Master Bentham was the last person to get off the carriage. He smiled as he said to Abel, “this carriage was pretty nice. An old body like me didn’t even feel a bump when sitting on it. But won’t the Lord of Marshall be angry that you had picked me up with his birthday present? “If the Lord of Marshall found out that I have a carriage and don’t pick you up with it, he would be furious” Abel replied, as he reached out his hand to help Master Bentham off the carriage.

Chapter 64 - Prince Wyatt Chapter 64: Prince Wyatt Abel did not explain each of the features of this luxurious bull carriage in detail to Master Bentham. He did not want to spoil the surprise for the Lord of Marshall. Master Bentham also didn’t know the value of this thing. Master Bentham only knew that Abel had added a shock absorber to the carriage, which he knew Abel could do so. After Abel had accompanied his father’s family and Master Bentham into the hall, he decided to go back to the Lord of Marshall. Suddenly, he heard the voice of Butler Lindsey from the entrance again. “The mighty Master Thorin Oakenshield had arrived!” Although the Lord of Marshall had never met this master, he knew that Master Thorin was the judge of Abel’s Blacksmith Masters examination. Therefore he had sent him an invitation as well as a gesture of good manners. At first, the Lord of Marshall was not expecting Master Thorin to show up in these banquets since he was a dwarf. Yet, he was here, this was probably because he wanted to show respect to Abel. “Welcome, Master Thorin!” Said Abel sincerely as he bowed to Master Thorin. “Hello, Master Abel. Although the human’s lord status doesn’t mean much to you, I and the blacksmith union still want to wish you well!” Said Master Thorin. His intention of coming to this banquet had become clear, he wanted to show everyone that the Black Smith Union was on Abel’s side. “Master Thorin, would you be able to stay at the castle for a while after the banquet? There are some things I want to ask you.” Although Master Bentham had studied forgery under the dwarfs, he was never a blacksmith for the dwarfs. Abel had always wondered about this, so he wanted to ask Master Thorin. At first, Abel thought about visiting Master Thorin after everything was settled, but since Master Thorin was here, why not ask him today? “Of course, Master Abel, you must have some interesting ideas to discuss, I will stay”. Master Thorin thought, Master Abel only asked him to stay because he had come up with some new inventions. Master Thorin was very happy to share his forging experience. “Lord of Harvest, the honorable Viscount Dickens had arrived!” “4th prince of Duchy of Carmel, the honorable majesty Prince Wyatt George had arrived!” Every guest was shocked by these words. Even the Lord of the City and one of the 4 princes of Duchy of Carmel were attending this banquet. The ruler of the City would rarely attend other people’s banquet, let alone going to another person’s castle to attend a banquet. Not only that but someone with such an honorable status such as the 4th prince of Duchy of Carmel had also decided to attend the banquet of an ordinary Lord. How was that possible. As the host of the banquet, the Lord of Marshall and Abel quickly rushed towards the entrance. There were 2 horse carriages in front of the castle gate, which was followed by 8 knights. The owner of the carriage had already gotten off the carriage and heading straight towards the castle. “The honorable City ruler, the honorable majesty Prince Wyatts. Welcome to Harry castle” said the Lord of Marshall as he bowed to the two. “I heard it’s your birthday, so I brought something for you as a gift,” said Viscount Dickens with a warm expression as he took out a small box. The Lord of Marshall received the box, he said as he opened it, “I know you are very busy, so I didn’t invite you. It was my mistake.” Inside the box was a medal of honor. On its surface was etched with the drawing of the goddess of Harvest City. It was personally made by the Priest of the goddess of Harvest City shrine, it had been blessed to bring good fortune. The medal of honor was very complicated to make. Only 1 could be produced each year. Yet, countless Lords in the city wanted one. It was said that the goddess of Harvest City would help protect the fiefdom of the owners of this medal. Although it was not hard for Viscount Dickens to obtain this medal. For him to give it away as a gift, it showed that he respected the Lord of Marshall a lot. “Thank you so much, this present was a treasure!” Said the Lord of Marshall with a face full of happiness, as he put the medal back into the box. As Prince Wyatt saw that Viscount Dickens handing out a present to the Lord of Marshall, he expressed a bit of dissatisfaction. Although he had come to this banquet with Viscount Dickens, he was still a royal, and the royals in Duchy of Carmel always had tensions with the nobles. Although Prince Wyatt had a high status, his father king Astor George was not in good condition. If the king passed away, as the 4th prince, he would be kicked out of the royal family and became a noble. Since he did not have a fiefdom, he could no longer use the last name “George”. Moreover, if his offspring could not obtain enough outstanding military service, they would have become ordinary citizens. Therefore, other than the oldest prince, every other prince was trying their best to obtain an outstanding military service during their time as a prince. This was because no matter where they go, an elite guard would be by their side, which made getting an outstanding military service much easier. A few days ago, when Abel was auctioning his magic weapons at Edmund’s boutique shop in Bakong City, Prince Wyatt was also traveling around the southern area. When the prince heard the news he immediately came to join the auction. There were not many magic weapons in the human world. Therefore, Prince Wyatt wanted to buy some, no matter for personal use or bribing people, it would help him tremendously. There was only one reason why Prince Wyatt had traveled to Harvest City, he wanted to see Master Abel, and directly buy some weapons off him. Luckily he ran into Viscount Dickens on the way, so he decided to attend this banquet with him together. Since Prince Wyatt came in a rush, he did not prepare any gifts. Everything that he brought along with him was either too expensive or too cheap. There was nothing suitable as a gift. On top of that, this act by Viscount Dickens was trying to impact the prestige of the royals. Prince Wyatt was also not fond of the last name of Harry. In Duchy of Carmel, everyone knew that since the Harry family was one of the largest families in Bakong City, they opposed the royals. Prince Wyatt had just discovered that Master Abel was living in a Harry castle in Harvest City, and this Harry Castle was exactly the offspring of the Harry in Bakong City. “The Knight of Marshall, I came in a rush, so I didn’t prepare any gifts. I hope you can forgive me” said Prince Wyatt with a smile, followed by a bow. Abel watched from the side, he noticed the arrogance within the smile of Prince Wyatt. Moreover, he called the Lord of Marshall as the Knight of Marshall. Although his position had not been officially declared by the royals, according to the noble tradition, the name should still be changed with the title of a Lord. “Your Majesty, your presence is the biggest gift to Harry castle!” The Lord of Marshall also disliked Prince Wyatt. But, he still spoke with a face full of smiles. The two prestige guests had arrived at the hall, suddenly the atmosphere began to light up. The highest status nobles began to approach and chat with Viscount Dickens and Prince Wyatt. While the nobles who were not prestige enough to chat with the 2 royals, they were also very excited for the fact that had had a banquet alongside the Ruler of the City and Prince Wyatt. This was something to brag about. “Master Abel, I came here today was all because I want to buy a magic weapon.” Said prince Wyatt, as he approached Abel holding his wine glass. At the time Abel was talking to Master Thorin about forging experiences, and the prince had interrupted their conversation. “All my magic weapons were sold through Edmound’s boutique shop. If you want to buy one, feel free to join one of our auctions.” Said Abel with a slight sense of irritation, as he thought about ignoring Prince Wyatt. He wasn’t trying to gain anything out of the prince, and since the prince had disrespected the Lord of Marshall earlier, Abel was utterly in a bad mood. The dwarf’s Master Thorin curled his eyebrows, the request of the prince was unreasonable. Although Blacksmiths would sell their weapons privately, they were often only reserved for their close friends. Blacksmiths needed to make a living too. The cost of producing these weapons often had an astronomical number, and buying them through an auction was the best way to support and motivate a blacksmith to raise their quality standard. “I will give you ten thousand gold coins for one of your magic weapons.” Prince Wyatt didn’t seem to catch the rejection Abel had made since he proceeded to speak with a sense of arrogance. Abel could not understand this Prince, how could he show such bad manners in a banquet. Even Master Thorin who did not say a thing was shocked by the prince asking Abel to buy his weapons directly.

Chapter 65 - Guessing The Price Chapter 65: Guessing the Price “Did you know how much did my magic weapon sold for at Edmund’s boutique shop?” Abel asked as he looked at the somewhat dumbly self-righteous prince. “Does it cost more ten thousand gold coins?” Prince Wyatt was unaware of the actual price of these weapons. However, he quickly realized that maybe he was underestimating the price. He proceeded to say in a strong voice, “The auction price was inflated. As the prince of the duchy, I will pay 10,000 gold coins for your magic weapon, which was more than enough.” Prince Wyatt thought that, although Abel was a blacksmith Master, he was still too young and he had been scared from what he had said. Looking at Abel’s silence expression, the prince thought that Abel had accepted his offer. By that point Thorin, the dwarf master, could not tolerate this anymore, a deep voice came from his long beard “Are you threatening a blacksmith from the union? Or do the Duchy of Carmel thinks that the masters of the blacksmith Union are not worthy of being respected?” Only then did prince Wyatt discover Thorin, the dwarf master. Since he was already very short, it was even harder to spot him at first glance when he was being covered by Abel. “No, no, master thorin, that’s not what I meant.” Prince Wyatt promptly explained. Prince Wyatt didn’t have a lot of money on him at the moment. Since the king’s health was deteriorating, the prince’s times as a Royal was coming to an end. This was why recently he was spending a lot of time in the Duchy of Carmel, crazily trying to spend as many gold coins as possible. So his life would be easier in the future. To protect his valuables, he must recruit elites. With Abel’s magic weapons being any knight’s dream equipment, it would for sure to persuade any high-level knights to serve him. Wyatt’s desperation made the situation seemed like a death-struggle before he lost his title as the prince. Not only so, but this process also seemed to make him lose his mind completely. “Master Abel’s work is worth twenty thousand gold coins, but you want to force him to sell it to you by force for 10,000 gold coins. You then threaten him with your identity as the duchy prince. Do you know how angry the union would be if I told them what you did?” Thorin’s voice became higher and higher ultimately ending in a growling voice. It was no longer Abel’s business since he was apart of the union. Something like what the Prince had done would be in defiance of the union as a whole, and they would not tolerate such behavior. The roar of Thorin, the dwarf master, startled all the nobles at the banquet. When they realized what prince Wyatt had done, there were signs of anger revealing in their faces. Who was Abel? He was Harvest City’s pride, youngest master blacksmith as well as a successful Lord that was looked up to by many. Viscount Dickens was also furious at the prince’s action. It was him that had brought prince Wyatt to attend this dinner party, but what Wyatt did made him lose his prestigious reputation, which was the most important thing to nobles. “Master Thorin, I didn’t know the real price of the magic weapon, I was only skeptical about the price and I didn’t mean to offend master Abel.” Prince Wyatt said with a paled face as things got out of hand. If King Astor found out that Wyatt had offended the blacksmith union, the first thing he would’ve done was to kick his son out of the palace. This meant that he would not be given even the title of noble. He would’ve become an ordinary citizen, and no matter what, he would not accept this. “Master Abel, how do you want to go with this?” Said Master Thorin. The blacksmith union doesn’t want to bring you any trouble. Since they were at Harry’s castle, he wanted to know how Abel will approach this situation before they make a move. “Master Thorin, today is uncle Marshall’s birthday, and since prince Wyatt wants to purchase a weapon without knowing the actual value. I will take out a magic sword I had newly forged. I hope you can examine the price, so the prince can purchase it.” The 2 new magic sword Abel had forged were both made with the 120 skills base, and the runes were written with intermediate rune ink, which had made magic power more stable. The Dwarf master Thorin must know the actual value of this sword. Since Abel didn’t want to deepen their tensions, he decided to just sell off one of these big swords to the prince “As you wish, master Abel.” Thorin, the dwarf master, thought that Abel did not want to cause any more trouble for the union, so he tried to resolve the conflict. He could not help but admire this young blacksmith Abel then waved at his steward, Lindsey, to collect a magic sword from his operations room. After a while, Linsey came out with a knight big sword. “Master Thorin, this is my latest work. Please examine it and let me know your thoughts.” Abel gestured to Lindsay to give the magic sword to Thorin, the dwarf master. The nobles on the side were all very curious to see this magic sword, a magic sword that worthed 20,000 gold coins. It was even higher than the price of a castle, which made all the nobles watching the whole event extremely excited. Thorin, the dwarf master, took the magic sword and inspected closely at its body and flicked his finger on it. With the flick of his finger, a blue light flashed and his fingers were immediately covered with frost. Thorin moved his fingers and quickly shook the frost off his fingers. He then turned and looked at Abel curiously, “Your achievements was astounding, it was even more shocking considering your age. This sword was even better than the ones forged by the masters of my people, although it was made with a normal iron, it’s quality had hugely surpassed a hundred skills.” The nobles all around listened quietly to Thorin’s explanation of the weapon. This was an extremely rare opportunity to hear a dwarf master evaluating a weapon. Thorin, the dwarf master, bowed slightly towards Abel and said, “Master Abel, I am glad you found a new method to produce stronger steel, I will forward a request to the union to record this achievement in the blacksmith union hall of honor.” The hall of honor was the blacksmith’s holy temple in the Holy Continent, where records of all blacksmiths’ achievements in improving their forging techniques have been passed down by countless people and recited by bards on the continent. “I was already thinking of talking to you about this after dinner.” Abel smiled back. Thorin, the dwarf master, with a look of delight in his face, saluted. “it was my pleasure to discuss with you!” As Thorin picked up the magic sword again and said to the steward, “Please bring me a piece of log.” Shortly after, Lindsay sent for his servant to bring a one-meter-long log to lay before Thorin, the dwarf master. Thorin, the dwarf master, took the magic sword and slashed directly onto the log with mild strength. The sword immediately sank a depth of one cm and there was frost surrounding the log. “Your use of the rune ink was rather unique as the effects lasted much longer than any ordinary ink. In comparison to my kind of magic swords, yours’ was much more powerful with formidable power. May I know your ink recipe?” “This…” Abel had some difficulty in answering this question as he had combined the inks through the Horadric cube, it did not have any formula or recipe. “I’m sorry to made things difficult for you master Abel, I’ve gotten too curious.” Thorin, the dwarf master, touched his beard in embarrassment. Usually, It was an unreasonable request for another Master for their recipe, but he couldn’t help himself after he saw how powerful magic sword’s effects were. Master Thorin instantly regretted these actions. Prince Wyatt’s face was becoming gloomy, and the words of Thorin made him felt as if he was targeting him. Thorin continued to praise the magic weapon to raise the value of the weapon which ultimately would cost him more gold coins. Viscount Dickens then interrupted the conversation with a smile and asked, “How much is this great magical sword worth, master Thorin?” Thorin suddenly remembered that he had yet to assess the value of this magic sword. He quickly made some mental calculations and said, “I Thorin Oakenshield values this sword at 50,000 gold coins.” When Thorin, the dwarf master, finished his evaluation. All of the royals at the castle all looked at the magic sword with a look of envy, jealousy, and longing in their eyes. Viscount Dickens picked up the magic sword with great curiosity, he then waved the sword for a few times and turned around to ask Abel, “Master Abel, how many of these swords have you made this time? May I have one?”

Chapter 66 - Birthday Present Chapter 66: Birthday Present “Viscount Dickens, if you want it, I can give you the one I have,” Before Abel could finish his sentence, Prince Wyatt’s face immediately began blushing. Prince Wyatt did not have that many gold coins on him that evening. Though his identity was still a royal, he wasn’t at the point where he could enjoy the magic gold card. If he had the inheritance of Duchy of Carmel, then he would’ve been eligible for it. As of right now, his identity as a prince, as well as the instability of his position meant that he could become an ordinary noble anytime. “I won’t take away your personal one Abel. If you don’t have any magic sword right now, I can wait until your next forge.” Viscount Dickens hated to be called Viscount. Everyone in harvest city knew about this. Since Prince Wyatt’s affected his name, it had made him very unhappy. However, he could sense that the prince might not have enough money. It didn’t matter if he bought an extra weapon, as long as he could embarrass the prince right now. Viscount Dickens then took out his magic gold card from his pocket and said, “I can pay in advance, master Abel.” “Two of the same magic weapons have already been forged at this time, and since the ruler of the city needs it, you can have the other one.” Abel turned to Lindsay and asked him to bring out the other magical weapon. Abel’s workshop was not open to anyone. Only Lindsay and the Lord of Marshall were able to enter and leave the operations room. Now that Lindsey realized the values of the weapons, he decided to add a lookout post in the doors of the operations room. Lindsay moved swiftly, within minutes, a large magic sword was soon in the hands of Viscount Dickens. Viscount Dickens waved the magic sword in his hand twice and happily held the magic gold card in front of Abel. Abel then also took out his magic gold card as he paired it with Dickens’ card. Abel’s balance then jumped immediately from 1750 to 51750. Abel was very short of gold until now. He had never held so much gold in his hand, but he was still too slow in earning these gold coins considering the 270,000 gold coins were the amount he needed to pay for the potions required for his training. At that moment, everyone was staring at prince Wyatt. The price of the magic weapon had been set by Master Thorin, and one had already been purchased by Viscount Dickens. Now it was up to the prince who had no reactions to make his next move. “Master Abel, may I discuss with you privately?” Prince Wyatt said to Abel in a dried-up tone. “Your majesty prince Wyatt, this way please,” Abel said as he pointed towards the guest room. When Abel and Wyatt came back, there was a small smile on both their faces. Abel had a genuine smile while the prince had a slightly bitter smile with his eyes sparkled darkly. Abel immediately raised his awareness as he came back from his discussion. By this time, Abel, who had superior mental strength was aware of prince Wyatt’s malice. “This magic sword is yours now,” As Abel handed the last of the magic sword to prince Wyatt’s hands. This dramatic scene within the banquet of the Harry castle gave all of the nobles that were attending a tremendous surprise and shock. First, it was the fact that the ruler of Harvest City, as well as one of the 4 royal princes, was attending. Then they were shocked that one piece of Abel’s forgery was able to reach up to 50,000 gold coins. When all the guests had left the castle with satisfaction. Thorin and Bentham were still talking with each other as they were staying over to exchange their forging knowledge. When the guests had all left, the Lord of Marshall immediately asked Abel impatiently, “What did the prince give you in exchange for the magic sword?” “The prince exchanged a yard on the 1000th level of Triumph Avenue in Bakong City for the magic sword,” Abel replied. “The yard on Triumph Boulevard?” Lord Of Marshall’s eyes lit up and he laughed. “It’s the best place in the entire Duchy,” he said. “I just wanted to settle it and get it over with, that’s why I agreed.” Abel was not afraid that prince Wyatt would trade his cheap yard with him since that would risk angering the Black Smith Union. “Where’s my birthday present?” The Lord of Marshall was very jealous of the new magic swords. From master Thorin’s introduction, it was certain that the newly forged magic sword was much more superior than the old magic sword. “Uncle Marshall, how can you not have a birthday present for your birthday… I have already prepared it for you. Let’s go and have a look.” Abel then led Lord of Marshall to the square, and when master Bentham saw that Abel was going to show Lord Of Marshall’s birthday present, he took master Thorin with him to look around. “That’s it?” Lord Of Marshall looked disappointingly at the carriage in front of him. The two fiery bulls were his and Abel’s spoils of war. It was the best cart in Harvest City, but it was far from what he had imagined. “Abel made a lot of changes to the carriage.” Master Bentham spoke from the side “When he picked me up in this carriage, I noticed it was very stable.” “Not bad.” Lord Of Marshall was a little relieved, and though his intermediate knight’s body did not mind the stability of the cart. It was still better than a normal carriage, as Abel had taken a lot of effort to modify this carriage. Abel saw Lord Of Marshall’s face and knew that he was thinking of getting his magic weapon. Abel laughed and said, “Uncle Marshall, come inside the carriage and look.” The four of them got into the carriage together. The spacious compartment was not crowded even with four people, and there was no problem at all if there were two more people. Lord Of Marshall looked at the tables on either side and said, “That’s a good idea, I can now put fruits on the two tables, how convenient!” Abel gave Lord Of Marshall a scornful look and said, “How could I possibly modify just a little, knowing your interests?” The Lord Of Marshall looked indifferent. The greatest happiness in his life was meeting his wife, the greatest fulfillment was guarding the castle that he and his wife built together, and the greatest luck was to have Abel as his adopted son. His little hobby was to show off, with such a son to be fond of, how could he not show off! “This is the controller,” Abel said, pointing to the switch near the table. “There are ten switches”. The table on the left regulates the cold air, and the table on the right regulates the heat.” “Has it?” Lord Of Marshall asked incredulously, touching the switch at the left table. Master Thorin and master Bentham looked curiously at the two cupboards which could regulate the temperature of the carriage, and both were astonished at the apparition of a device that was said to have been used to control the temperature by magic. “The car needs to be moving before you can turn it on. Then you can press the controller to change the temperature” Abel explained. “Enough talking? Let’s go for a ride!” the Lord Of Marshall called impatiently to the driver sitting outside. As the two bulls took their steps and began to run, Lord Of Marshall and master Thorin both found that the carriage was much more stable than they had imagined. Since they had all finished the banquet, all 4 of them felt a bit hot. The Lord of Marshall pressed the start button and turned the air conditioner to the coldest mode. Although they could not see how the machine operated. The fan was tied to the wheels of the carriage with a conveyor belt. With the movement of the carriage, the magic metal sheets began to spin, unleashing the ice magic power from the box to the rest of the carriage. “This is incredible! Master Thorin was the first to exclaim. “How did you do that?” “Master Bentham asked. “It’s a great treat.” Lord Of Marshall sighed. “It was easy.” Abel opened the door under the wooden table on his left to reveal the iron cabinet inside. When the cabinet was opened, all three of them were shocked. “This… This… Is this a magic sword?” The Lord Of Marshall was certain that it wasn’t a magic sword, but it was just with the appearance, other than that there were barely any differences. “Your way of thinkings left me speechless.” “aid master Thorin, looking somewhat dumbly at the ten iron plates in the cupboard. “It’s a waste for the Lord of Marshall to ride in.” Master Bentham said with a voice that was filled with envy. “And the one on the right?” The Lord of Marshall asked. “Yes, It’s was made with some fire magic gems” Abel explained while he opened the cupboard on the right. When the chests were opened on either side, master Thorin was dumbstruck by Abel’s style, while master Bentham talked softly to the Lord of Marshall about borrowing the cart.

Chapter 67 - Marshall The Rich Chapter 67: Marshall the Rich Master Thorin was shocked by Abel’s writing, he kneeled down to closely examine the magic metal sheets within the two boxes. After a while, he stood up and shook his head in awe “Master Abel, your love for your stepfather was beyond my imagination. Every single one of these 20 magic metal sheets in here can be taken out and used as a magic weapon. Moreover, they hold the same value as the 2 magic weapons you sold today.” After hearing Master Thorin’s professional review, the Lord of Marshall’s jaw can’t help but drop to the ground. He then began to laugh loudly, and asked “Master Thorin, are you saying this horse carriage which Abel had given me, cost more than one million gold coins?” Master Bentham reached out his hand and padded the shoulder of the Lord of Marshall. He then spoke with a ridiculing tone. “Be careful, this thing is expensive. someone might steal it.” The Lord of Marshall arrogantly lifted his head, laughing loudly as he said “no one would say this if they know the number of weapons I have equipped. So don’t even think about taking me down if you are not a commander.” Abel couldn’t help but shake his head. His uncle Marshall was in “show off mode” again. Even in a banquet, the Lord of Marshall did not put down his two big swords. According to his own words, if a knight did have his weapons with him all the time, it would be suicide. Master Bentham and Master Thorin’s eyes suddenly began to light up. The two big swords in the Lord’s back was too flashy. All these times the two masters kept their manners and avoided asking the Lord about it, but since the topic has been brought up, the masters had become interested. The masters knew that Abel’s best weapons were probably either reserved for his personal use, or for his family. Therefore, the two big swords that the Lord of Marshall had always carry around with him must have been Abel’s finest of the finest. “Let’s have a look, what about these weapons that made you so crazy”. Due to their many years of friendship, Master Bentham could just ask the Lord of Marshall directly, without caring so much about being polite. Looking at how interested these masters were to his weapons, the Lord of Marshall felt tremendously proud of himself. Although Master Bentham was not a real master, he was still one of the Blacksmith elite of Harvest City. On the other hand, Master Thorin was apart of the Black Smith Union. He was an acclaimed Master of the entire holy continent. The Lord of Marshall disarmed the 2 big swords from his back and placed one of them on the table of the carriage. In regards to the other one, he was not willing to let go of his hand. He turned to Abel and said with dissatisfaction “this ice magic sword isn’t even as good as the sheets of metal in the carriage, how can I show it to people.” The masters looked at each other and smiled. Abel said with a choice “fine… I’ll make a new one for you the next few days, just put up with this one for now.” The masters then looked at the magic sword on the table, they mutually told each other that they could have a look first, at last, it was Master Thorin who took out the sword out of the sheath. Master Thorin lightly flicked the blade of the sword with his finger, the strange thing was that this big sword doesn’t seem to be too different from those ordinary ones. It doesn’t seem to have any special effects, and since the gem in the handle was covered with decorations, Master Thorin felt a bit confused. He turned and ask Abel “is this a magic sword?” “Of course, this sword would only unleash its power when attacking, lightly flicking on the blade doesn’t count as attacks.” Abel honestly explained. “What magical attribute is this sword?” Master Thorin proceeded to ask. “None, it only has the ability to rumble off enemies,” said Abel. “No way, that’s impossible” Master Thorin was a bit lost for words. He then picked up the sword and said to the Lord of Marshall ” the Lord of Marshall, can you please step off the carriage with me and test out the ability of this sword?” “Of course, Master Thorin,” said the Lord of Marshall as he opened the carriage door and jumped off. After everyone had got off the carriage, Master Thorin lifted the magic sword and strike towards the sword of the lord of Marshall, who was already in defense position. When the swords came to contact, a white light flashed from the magic sword in master Thorin’s hand. Afterward, the lord of Marshall could not help but get knocked back for 10 steps. Master Thorin still could not believe what he saw, he exchanged sword with the Lord of Marshall, but the result was the same, Master Thorin who was now holding the magic sword had been knocked back for 10 steps. “My god, this is a golden weapon. Master Abel, you could produce a golden weapon, do you know what does this signify? There were only 2 blacksmiths in the entire nation of dwarfs who could produce a weapon of this level”. Master Thorin proceeded to spoke with excitement “you had become the greatest Black Smith of the holy continent, or in other words, a perfect master.” Abel didn’t seem to be too excited by these words from Master Thorin. This was because his goal was no longer to increase his rank as a Black Smith. All he wanted now was to become a wizard, everything else was pale in comparison. Master Bentham was there to witness each step of Abel’s transformation from an amateur to the master he was today. Now, Abel’s level had increased once again, he could not help but exclaim “Abel, your growth has been tremendous. Now, I can only look at you from afar, hoping you can make good use of your gift as a blacksmith.” “How much money do these magic weapons,” asked the Lord of Marshall curiously, interruption the masters. After Master Thorin heard that the Lord of Marshall was trying to put a price on a golden weapon, he couldn’t help but felt a bit angry. However, since he was the stepfather of Abel, and the owner of this golden weapon, the master has no choice but to shook his head and said “it was very hard to calculate the cost of these golden weapons. There were very little records of them being auctioned in history, as most of them were sold privately. However, if I really have to put a price on it… I’ll say above two hundred thousand gold coins.” These words made the Lord of Marshall’s knees felt weak, his spirit was impacted once again. Since when does the price of the things in his castle gain so many zeros. He thought about the castle’s income, and his life saving, it doesn’t even come close to the price of this sword. However, after he thought about it for a bit, he realized he was actually the owner of this sword, and Abel was his successor. The lord of Marshall’s mood was lifted again, he stood up straight, strongly affirming himself. At first, Abel thought about showing Master Thorin the magic big shield he had just made. However, this magic sword he had made long ago had already brought such a shock to Master Thorin, if he kept bringing out more and more magic weapons, it would make him come across as a bit of a show-off. On top of that, Abel also realized he had underestimated the value of these magic weapons, so he decided not to show Master Thorin anymore of it. After they returned to the castle, Abel was reminded of the evil intent of Prince Wyatt, so he brought the Lord of Marshall to his private operating room within the castle. “Abel, what’s happening?” The Lord of Marshall asked in confusion. “Uncle Marshall, I have a feeling that the situation with Prince Wyatt will not be settled that easily. You have to be careful when you go out.” Said Abel quietly, expressing his worries. “No worries, the big sword in my hand will not be afraid of him.” said the Lord of Marshall carelessly. He was a survivor of the orc attacks, not just an ordinary knight, his glory was built on the corpses of orcs. Seeing the arrogant look of the Lord of Marshall’s face, Abel had gotten ever more worried. Therefore, he had taken out the magic big shield he just made and handed it to the Lord of Marshall. He said, “Here, take this shield, don’t let go of it the next few days.” The Lord received the shield with a face full of excitement. Everything his adopted son made was a treasure. Since everything he owned would be under Abel’s name in the future, he had never rejected any of Abel’s gift. “What rank is this shield?” Asked the Lord of Marshall. “According to the words of master Thorin, this should be a golden level shield,” said Abel after he thought for a bit. “What’s it’s an ability?” the Lord of Marshall proceeded to ask with care. “It can at least absorb the combat qi attack of an elite knight” Abel replied “Then what am I afraid of, Prince Wyatt can come right at me. I have 2 two hundred thousand gold coins weapons, a one million gold coins horse carriage. That kid doesn’t even have enough money to buy a fifty thousand gold coin weapon, how can he ever compete with me. At that moment, the Lord of Marshall seemed to forget how much money he had in his wallet. All these outrageously luxurious equipment had made his self-esteem even higher than mount Budapest.

Chapter 68 - The Prince Was Going After Them Chapter 68: The Prince Was Going After Them Within a luxury room of Cozmo Hotel, the largest hotel in Harvest City, Prince Wyatt was sitting on a chair with a face full of gloom. The coffee on his table had gone cold long ago. “Your majesty, don’t be so angry. It’s not good for your health,” Said the elite knight guard of Alsop. He was trying his best to carefully comfort Prince Wyatt. In regards to a banquet, the Prince and the 3 elite knights had attended yesterday, because they were not a noble, they had dinner with the retinues. “A group of bogans could make fun of the offspring of King George. They must have forgotten who was the true ruler of this country.” Prince Wyatt had been holding his anger back since the banquet, so he began to lash out through the comfort of the Knight of Alsop. When he thought about the ridicule looks of the Harvest City’s noble, Viscount Dicken’s offense, and the lack of respect Abel had shown him, Prince Wyatt who was spoiled by thousands was furious. If he tries his best, he could tolerate the ridicule of nobles and offense of Viscount Dickens. However, he could never tolerate a 13-year-old teenager unwilling to respect his status. “Alsop, what would happen if I kill Abel?”. Prince Wyatt trusted the Knight of Alsop a lot, so he had directly told him his intention. This idea had deeply shocked the Knight of Alsop. He quickly replied, “your majesty, we must not try to mess with Abel. Otherwise, we would become enemies with the entire Black Smith Union.” “If I have to seek this revenge, I will never be satisfied,” said Prince Wyatt as he ruthlessly stared at the Knight of Alsop. He then proceeded to say “if I can’t kill Abel, how about the Lord of Marshall?” “Your majesty, the Black Smith Union probably won’t give us any trouble for killing an ordinary Lord. Moreover, we can just blame it as a robbery attack.” The Knight of Alsop replied softly. “Nice, I’ll leave it to you!” Prince Wyatt said ruthlessly. The Knight of Alsop looked at Prince Wyatt with a hint of embarrassment, although he was an elite knight he was not confident in murdering an intermediate knight by himself. Murdering someone was different from defeating someone in a battle. If the Lord of Marshall had escaped, they could have big trouble. The Knight of Alsop was the only guard out of the 4 who had a close relationship with the prince. The other 3 elite knights belonged to the royal defense force. They were only responsible for the safety of the prince, and they would never needlessly attack a noble based solely on the prince’s interest. Seeing the embarrassed look of the Knight of Alsop, Prince Wyatt couldn’t help but sigh. He then proceeded to say “Take these ten thousand gold coins and see which one of the 3 are willing to come with you. Also, take this magic sword with you, I want Abel’s stepfather to die in the strikes of his own sword.” “That will be perfect, ten thousand gold coins would be more than enough to persuade those greedy bastards.” The knight of Alsop said with ease. … The banquet in Harry castle had ended, yet the Lord of Marshall could not settle. He had to go visit a friend in Harvest City and exchange some knight fighting techniques with him. Almost everyone in the castle knew the reason behind the Lord’s visit. Right in the morning, the Lord of Marshall got on his bull carriage and headed towards Harvest City. He enjoyed riding on his carriage lately. Not only because the 2 inferno bulls were very eye-catching, but most of all, this carriage was some of the most comfortable things he had ever sat on. The sun was blazing outside, so the Lord of Marshall turned the air conditioner to level 6. He closed his eyes, enjoying this rare cool breeze under the summer heat. If he had a bottle of wine with him, it would be perfect, the first thing he wanted to do when he returned to his castle was to tell someone to add a liquor cabinet in this carriage. “Master, someone is blocking the way!” Said the driver with a shaky voice, as the bull carriage came to a halt. As the lord of Marshall was enjoying himself, suddenly, his heart dropped. He was reminded of the warning which Abel had given him. He began to pick up his big sword with the rumble ability, while clinched his shield with the other hand. He peeked outside the carriage. At first, the Knight of Alsop thought about attacking the Lord of Marshall when he was unaware, but the other elite knight that came along with him refused. As the knight of the royal defends force, they had to respect the knight’s virtues. They could not attack an opponent who was not prepared. Therefore, the Knight of Alsop had no choice. He had to block the carriage and directly attack the lord of Marshall. “Are you guys Prince Wyatt’s elite knights?” The Lord of Marshall recognized they were 2 of the 4 knights guarding prince Wyatt during the banquet. “I am here to take your life, but will give you a chance to battle!” Said he Knight of Alsop. He one-handedly lifted his big sword and drew a straight line in mid-air. Then he put his sword back to his side and made a knight gesture of manner. “Fair enough. You followed the knight’s virtues!” The Lord of Marshall looked at the 2 elite knights on the horse with a sneer. The Knight of Alsop knew that the Lord of Marshall was an intermediate knight. Defeating him was easy. The hard part was to not let him escape, so the elite knights did not disarm their horse. Although the carriage driver was paranoid, he remained silent. He knew that he would only have the chance to keep his life if the Lord of Marshall won this battle. If not, the 2 elite knights would not give a peasant like him a chance to go back and report them. The Knight of Alsop squeezed the horse with his leg, the horse let out a long neigh and began to rush forward with its muscly legs. With the speed of the horse and the roar of the Knight of Alsop, his body and his big sword were covered in combat qi. He began to strike around 5 meters in front of the Lord of Marshall. Under the combination of all these forces, the Knight seemed unstoppable. “Defence!” The Lord of Marshall roared. He placed his faith in Abel and his magic shield. Moreover, he was also all too familiar with this Knight defense move. He had executed it perfectly in battles countless times and counteracted countless enemies. The Lord of Marshall held the shield with his left hand and placed the magic shield in front of him. His body leaned forward, front leg bent and back leg straight. The Lord was ready, ready to take on the Knight of Alsop’s attack. “Dong” the sword of the Knight of Alsop struck upon the shield of the Lord of Marshall. At first, he was expecting his sword to penetrate the shield, then he could finish off the Lord of Marshall with thunderstorm combination strikes. The Lord of Marshall was fully aware of how powerful the charging attack of an elite knight could be, so he almost used full force in this defense. However, little did he know, when he was holding this magic shield he almost did not feel a thing at all. The strike had been counteracted. The Knight of Alsop was shocked as he went straight passed the Lord of Marshall. The Lord of Marshall did not even budge a bit, how was this possible. The magic sword in his hand was exchanged with a yard in Triumph Boulevard, valued at fifty thousand, and it could not even defeat an intermediate knight. The Knight of Alsop began to wonder if he had been scammed. The Knight of Alsop looked a bit distracted, yet the Lord of Marshall remained in full focus. All these years of battle experience had taught him that he has to constantly look for the chance to execute the final strike, so if he was not focused all the time, it would be suicide. In that split second, The Lord of Marshall began to flash his combat qi and rushed straight towards the Knight of Alsop. Although his horse was not as fast as, his impose was just as strong. The Knight of Alsop only realized what was happening through the call of the other elite knight who was watching by the side. At that moment the Lord of Marshall was already right before him. So the Knight of Alsop quickly dashed out a counteract move with his sword. To his surprise, this strike by the Lord of Marshall was extremely light, like the strike of a normal civilian. But after a while, he felt the force of a mountain pressing upon him, alongside his horse. He could not help but began to step back. Under the influence of the magic sword’s rumble, the Knight of Alsop’s defense was defenseless, he was completely exposed. This was all in the plan of the Lord of Marshall, the reason he did not use any force in his strike was that all his force was concentrated on his leg. As the Knight of Alsop was stepping back, he immediately jumped towards the Knight of Alsop holding his shield. Like a struck of lightning, his big sword let out a cold flashed of light and penetrated the gap between the armor in the waist of the Knight of Alsop. Normally this gap was very hard to penetrate if it was not being exposed, so the Lord of Marshall had taken advantage of it.

Chapter 69 - Victory To The Knight Of Gold Chapter 69: Victory to the Knight of Gold That strike was very powerful. Since intermediate knights could inject their combat qi into their weapons, a large amount of destructive combat qi rushed inside the body of the Knight of Alsop. In a blink of an eye, he lost all of his fighting power and fell from his warhorse. “Attack!” The other elite Knight roared, a long white string of combat ai shot out from his big sword. Although these long-distance attacks were exclusively used by elite knights. They would rarely use it because it used up too much of their combat qi, which was not sustainable. “Defence!” The Lord of Marshall also roared. The shot of combat qi struck upon the shield, but the result was the same. The Lord of Marshall did not even budge behind the shield. By that point, the Lord of Marshall had become very confident. With equipment over the value of four hundred thousand, even an intermediate knight like himself could easily counteract the attacks of an elite knight. When the other elite knight saw that the Lord of Marshall had easily defeated the Knight of Alsop, he decided to change his strategy and do long-distance attacks instead, since he was the same rank as the Knight of Alsop. Before he could fully understand why the Lord of Marshall had defeated the Knight of Alsop so easily, he would keep his distance. However, an elite knight could not keep using these long distance for long. He began to have a change of heart. He rather just return the ten thousand gold coins to the prince because it was not worth it to risk his life. The other elite knight continued to shoot out his powerful combat qi, sparkling in mid-air. Yet, the Lord of Marshall could counteract it perfectly every time from different positions. The Lord of Marshall was waiting for the other elite Knight to fatigue, he thought, other than a head commander, these elite knights could not sustain these long-distance attack for long. Suddenly, with the shot of another combat qi, the elite knight began to turn around. In a blink of an eye, he had accelerated on his horse and began to escape. The Lord of Marshall felt a bit confused. This was an elite knight, why was he trying to escape? The Lord of Marshall did not chase after him immediately, his legs could not outrun the legs of a warhorse. Although he could use the Knight of Alsop’s warhorse, it would take some time before they could be harmonized. The Lord of Marshall returned to his horse carriage, put down the shield in his trunk and took out the Harry Bow. By the time point he had set up the bow, the elite knight was around 100 meters away, he lightly let lose The bowstring, in a split second the arrow had disappeared from the bow, and soon reappeared in the back of the elite knight. Elite knights were not only powerful due to their ability to use combat qi, but it was also because they had very sharp alertness to danger. Although it was almost impossible for a normal person to avoid this arrow, in a blink of an eye, the elite knight lightly twisted his body. The arrow traveled through his right arm and struck right in the center of his war horse’s skull. The war horse skidded and fell to the ground, sending the elite knight flying forward. The moment when the knight was about to hit the ground, he did a body roll and stood up straight away. He did not stop as he continued to unleash his combat qi, madly running towards the forest nearby. Only a dead warhorse and the blood of his right arm was left on the ground. All of these things had taken place in almost no time, before the Lord of Marshall could install another arrow, the elite knight had already disappeared. “Eh, the Harry bow was too weak!” The Lord of Marshall concluded. He failed this time was because the bow only had 400 pounds worth of strength. If it had 500 pounds, no way this knight could escape. The Lord of Marshall must have forgotten, the strongest bow in this world could only possess about 200 pounds worth of strength. Only this composite bow that Abel had modified could have such power. The Lord of Marshall knew he could not chase after this knight anymore. However, he had already badly injured an elite knight and scared off another. The Knights even left their mounts behind, so the Lord of Marshall was very pleased with how this battle had turned out. He then walked towards the body of the Knight of Alsop. At the time, the knight had already stopped breathing. The first thing the Lord notice was his magic sword. “Isn’t this the sword Abel had forged?” The Lord of Marshall was surprised to find this sword and he was happy to take it as his spoils of war. This way was a lot better than asking Abel directly, his 2 ways of acquiring these magic weapons would make a night and day difference when he would brag about it to his friends. The Lord of Marshall had secured the Knight of Alsop’s warhorse behind the back of his carriage and threw the dead body of the Knight of Alsop on top of it. He no longer felt like going to his friends as he headed straight towards the city palace. The country defense force elite knight returned to the Cozmo Hotel covered in blood. With the help of the other guards, he entered the room of Prince Wyatt. Upon seeing that only 1 of the 2 elite knights he sent had returned, not only that but covered in blood, Prince Wyatt can’t help but get angry. He roared “the Knight of Kyle, where is Alsop? Why only you had returned?” “Your majesty, the accident had failed, the Knight of Alsop was badly injured. I’m not sure if he’s dead or alive. I’ve only got lucky and escaped.” The Knight of Kyle’s face was drenched in sweat, he continued to use his combat qi to escape after being injured. His current condition was not looking too well, if he doesn’t recover probably, he might not be able to preserve his elite knight’s power. As the guard of the prince, it was his responsibility to report what had happened. Therefore, no matter what, he had to hold back his pain and rush back here. “Rubbish. Two elite knights can’t even defeat an intermediate Knight. Why didn’t you die in the battlefield instead.” Prince Wyatt roared furiously, as he threw his wine glass at the Knight of Kyle. The other Knights saw that the Knight of Kyle was about to faint, so they quickly stepped up and held him by the arm. The Knights made eye contact with each other, their gaze showed a sense of anger, sorrow and dissatisfaction for the prince. There was a price to a knight’s loyalty. No matter what, they have to be loyal to the person they were loyal to. The Prince didn’t even seem to even care if the Knight of Alsop was dead or alive. All he cared about was if they had completed the mission for him. The knights all felt a sense of disappointment and sorrow. “How many opponents did you had?” Asked Prince Wyatt, ignoring the poor condition which the Knight of Kyle was in. “Only the Lord of Marshall.” The Knight of Kyle said with a lot of effort. “How can Marshall be that powerful, he was only an intermediate Knight and he could defeat elite knights?” Said Prince Wyatt suspiciously. Suddenly, he remembered something. He ruthlessly stared at the Knight of Kyle “Where is the magic sword that the Knight of Alsop had brought along with him.” “Your majesty, I have no choice but to escape, I did not have time to retrieve the magic weapon.” Said the Knight of Kyle, his face had become paler. “That thing worth fifty thousand gold coins, and you didn’t retrieve it?” Said Prince Wyatt. His suspicions continued to increase. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. But as he looks at the wound on the Knight of Kyle, he couldn’t help but groan. Suddenly, the prince had another idea. He began to mutter “If the Lord of Marshall could defeat 3 elite knights, will he come after me? Damn, I should have brought more guards along with me”. At this moment the prince no longer cared if the Lord of Marshall was dead or alive, he was only an ordinary lord after all. The only thing that was worrying about was if the Lord of Marshall would urge to come to Harvest city and find him. The guards next to him could be no match with the Lord. “Prepare the horse, we have to leave now!” Prince Wyatt shouted at the healthy guards. “With the current condition of the Knight of Kyle, he can not ride a horse,” said an elite knight pointing at the Knight of Kyle. “We’ll leave him here, Just give some money to the servants and tell them to take care of him. Now let’s hurry and get out of here.” Said Prince Wyatt. He looked at the blood-drenched Knight of Kyle, and it sent shivers down his spine. He thought, if the Lord of Marshall decided to seek, he might end up like the Knight of Kyle. This action by the prince had made the elite knights utterly disappointed. They decided that the first thing they would do when they got back was to resign from the country’s defense force. A majesty like this doesn’t deserve to be served by them. Not long after Prince Wyatt had left, Viscount Dickens led a few men into Cozmo hotel. They realized that the prince had already escaped. They captured the Knight of Kyle who was been left behind.

Chapter 70 - Chase Them Down Chapter 70: Chase Them Down Prince Wyatt’s attempt to assassinate Marshall did not go as smoothly as he had expected. He was the son of King Astor in the Duchy of Carmel. This meant that his attempt would significantly deepen the already tense relationship between the royals and the nobles. As a knight who has been awarded the title of lord through attaining outstanding military service, and with Abel as his adopted son, who was also a newly promoted Lord and a Black Smith Master, Harry Castle within Harvest city could be found in the discussion among every noble in Duchy of Carmel. This family with a unicorn as their coat of armor had produced 2 Lords, and both of them gained their fiefdom through outstanding military service The Lord of Marshall had suddenly become the idol of many nobles and Knights. There was only one opportunity every four or five years to become an owner of a Knight estate. That’s why it was every knight’s dream to achieve this title. When the Lord of Marshall was young, he fought bravely against the orcs and was granted fiefdom, and ultimately, he was awarded the title of a knight due to this heroic deeds, as well as demonstrating the “valor” in the code of chivalry. His love for his wife, infatuation for life and death, and his effort in guarding the castle where his wife was buried in, all showed how Marshall had truly kept the knight’s declaration of, “I swear to love and death”. He alone had defeated twenty orcs, the majority of them, and protected the castle against attackers. He rescued Matthew’s castle, with the identity of an intermediate knight alongside Abel. Together, they repealed against the attacking enemies. Everything the Lord Of Marshall had done was noticed by the world due to his title as a knight. As time passed, more and more people began to notice him. It was at this time that Viscount Dickens had submitted the attempt assassination of Marshall towards the arbitration tribunal for nobles. The two elite knights, one dead and one alive, who were responsible for the assassins were both captured and brought to court. When the news had spread, there was an uproar amongst the nobles. They were called the nobles due to their prestige identity, and they were honored and respected by many. In the noble circle, any hatred for between any nobles would be solved by a formal duel. The duel would invite the noble to arbitrate. A private attack on the nobles would generally be a felony. However, if it was an ordinary person, showing any signs of hostility would’ve already been a serious crime. If a nobleman was defeated on the battlefield and demanded the treatment of the nobleman as a prisoner of war. No one would have dared violate the rule of knights All these rules and laws were designed to keep the nobilities safe. But now, a royal member had attempted to kill a Lord who had just been honored for his merit. This made the nobles even angrier than before. After the noble court of honor had collected all of the pieces of evidence, they informed every noble family in the city. The 4 big noble families of Bakong city, lead by the Lord of Marshall’s relatives the Harry family, fired a report to King Astor Gorge, demanding Prince Wyatt should be punished harshly ……… At that moment, Abel was sitting on White Cloud. When he heard that Marshall was being attacked. He immediately went into the operations room and forged four exploding big swords. He even placed the Scroll of Town Portal, which had never left him, into a metal box. As Abel filled the Horadric cubes with 4 exploding big swords, he took a spear from the weapons rack and called out White Cloud from the forest behind the castle. “White Cloud, let’s go faster today,” Abel said softly as he gently patted White Cloud on the neck. White Cloud gave a little tweet, indicated that it understood what Abel said and promptly flapped its wings. Knowing Abel’s hurriedness, it quickly flew as fast as it could and its huge body passed through the clouds and broke it apart. Abel assumed that Prince Wyatt and his guards must have been rushing back towards Bakong City as soon as possible. When the direction was confirmed, Abel carefully examined the ground and quickly regretted not completing his telescope. If he had a telescope, it would’ve been much more convenient. “Let’s take a break, your majesty. The horses are tired!” One of the knight guards said to Prince Wyatt as he felt sorry for the horses. “It’s a long way from Harvest City. I don’t think Marshall will be able to chase us here. Let’s have a rest here for a bit,” Prince Wyatt said as he nodded at the horses, who were all sweating and snorting. Since the 3 left in a hurry, they needed to travel lightly and left their carriages and servants behind. It seemed to be that they would be returning to Bakong City with only themselves. A knight guard lit a bonfire, while the other went hunting, who was overqualified to do so as an elite knight. Within a short moment, he had already caught two rabbits and a wild chicken. Soon, it was on the fire, ready to be served as food. “When I get back to Bakong City, I’ll get my men together and walk all over Harry Castle!” Prince Wyatt ranted as he ate the tasteless food. The Elite Knights were silent, quietly eating their food while ignoring the prince’s words. Prince Wyatt noticed the silent protest from these w knights. He became very dissatisfied with their attitude since he believed that they were supposed to protect him with their lives. Although Prince Wyatt was born a royal, he was only the fourth prince. There were three brothers that were above him, and below him, succesful in their own rights. Hence, in the kingdom, Wyatt was not the king’s favorite child. Alongside his mother’s early death, it meant that he was raised by a steward. This lead to his wild and arrogant behavior. Apparently, education within the royal family couldn’t seem to change this habit. When things were going well, Wyatt tended to be polite. However, when he felt hurt, he sought reckless acts of revenge. By this time, Wyatt was convinced that it was Abel’s fault. It was Abel who had caused these chains of events that made his life miserable. Hence, Abel had to pay the price! The royal warhorses were the best of the best from the Duchy Of Carmel, but within half a day’s pursuit, White Cloud took around an hour to catch up. Looking down from the sky, Abel recognized prince Wyatt and his two elite knights. Wyatt’s distinctive royal dress, as well as the golden armor of the knights, made it easy to spot. Abel then took the necklace out of his coat, placed it on his hands and began chanting the ancient orc spell. With a flash of green light Abel had soon turned into a worgen. In his heart, he commanded White Cloud to dive down. The mark of the horadric square on his hands began to flash as White Cloud’s body drew a beautiful curve and came swooping down. “Look out! something’s up there!” Said an Elite Knight, their sense of awareness was very sharp, reacting to attacks was an instinct for them. The knights immediately flashed their combat qi and shook their bodies while they moved in front of prince Wyatt to protect him. “It’s a Sky sparrow, it’s an orc attack!” Said the knight. He looked up at the sky, there was a huge Sky Sparrow came swooping down. When White Cloud was around 20 meters above the ground, it began to fly back up. Abel quickly took the four exploding swords from his horadric cube, which were resting at the time. Within half a second, he took them out and threw it down with all his might at the 3 men on the ground. “Watch out for dark weapons!” “Defensive position! With prince Wyatt behind them, the elite knights could not give in. They had to use their swords which were filled with combat qi to defend. Although their swords were not very wide, the well-trained elite knights didn’t think that four dark weapons from the sky were able to break their defenses. “1, 2, 3” Abel counted in his mind, as four bangs followed, sending dust and gravel flying around with the blast. Abel sat on White Clouds and looked down, after the dust in the wind-driven away. The two elite knights wearing golden armor were covered with scars, fresh blood gushing out from their wounds, two Elite knights were badly injured in at least 10 places, but they had a very strong vitality which allowed them to stand still and maintained a defensive posture. “Go down,” Abel said to White Cloud. About 10 meters above the ground, Abel jumped off from White Cloud and went towards Prince Wyatt with a long rifle. The damage to prince Wyatt’s body was very minor, the main damage was blocked by the two Elite knights in front of him. Although there was a wound on the price left leg, which was bleeding, he still could not fully comprehend what had just happened.

Chapter 71 - Killing The Prince Chapter 71: Killing the Prince “Worgen!” One of the Elite knights shouted when he saw Abel’s transformation. During this shout, fresh blood spilled quickly from his wound, but he didn’t seem to care. Instead, he turned to another knight and shouted again, “Take the prince and leave!” This Elite knight then immediately rushed towards Abel with a flash of combat qi. He knew that if he didn’t strike now, he wouldn’t be able to fight back as his injuries worsened. This was Abel’s first encounter with an Elite knight. Although the Wolf rider long spear technique of the Woolf royal family, can achieve maximum power without a mount wolf, it could still double the strength. Suddenly, there was a strange orc howl coming from Abel’s mouth, and by howling, the spell of the wolf rider was added to his Long spear. With technique number 11, Abel charged forward with the thrust of his spear. Within seconds, he was up close with the advancing knight. Abel didn’t know the strength of an Elite knight. But according to the Lord of Marshall’s Intermediate knight interpretations, the Elite knight’s strength would not exceed 1,000 pounds and the combat qi would at most increase it to 2,000 pounds. This meant that it would destroy almost everything in front of him. Abel’s strength was about 2,000 pounds, with an incomplete bonus of 3,000 pounds using the wolf rider’s rifle. Alongside with the Elite Knight being already wounded, he doubted the knight could even reach 2000 pounds. When the spear and the sword collided, the Elite knight’s sword directly flew off, but Abel’s long spear did not stop. The long spear flashed a green light as it pierced through the Elite Knight’s armor. It was like a thin piece of cloth, being poked with a blade of green light. Soon, it had penetrated the Elite Knight’s body and went out from the other side. With an ear-piercing shout, Abel threw the Elite knight out of his spear directly to the directions where prince Wyatt was running towards. Another Elite knight was covering prince Wyatt as he ran towards the horse, heard a sound and looked back. To his surprise, he saw the dead body of his fellow knight come flying over. The other Elite knight couldn’t think of how was this possible, it all took place in just in a few blinks of an eye Even an injured elite knight could not be killed in such a short period of time. That elite knight did not use his sword to block the body as it would risk damaging it, so he just used his let it fly directly towards him. The moment the corpse came in contact with him, he finally understood why his fellow knight was killed in seconds. The force was so great that the high knight’s body flew nearly a dozen meters flat, smashing prince Wyatt to the ground as he limped toward the horse. Abel moved closer and closer to prince Wyatt with his long spear, which sparkled in green light as he howled. The Elite knight who had risen on his feet did not get any more injuries as the attack was blocked by prince Wyatt, who was knocked to the ground and immediately fainted. The Elite knight’s eyes twinkled and his mouth whispered, “Are you a wolf rider from the Woolf family?” The Woolf family’s wolf rider spear skill was a secret that was not allowed to be spread other than their family members. If any other orcs had learned these skills they will be hunted by them. The Woolf family’s number 11 long spear technique was infamous in the orcs and human world. Countless enemies had died in the face of this technique during battles. That flash of green light in the long spear along with the howl was their signature Abel didn’t listen and didn’t want to say anything. No matter orc or human, he did not want to stop the spell. With Abel being 2 ranks lower than the elite knight, his only advantage was his tremendous strength. When it comes to fighting techniques, he was still miles behind. In terms of knight training, Abel had less than 1 year of experience. His time of becoming an actual knight was even shorter than that. For a rookie like him, a small mistake in these kinds of battles would lead to the death of Abel. The Elite knight felt that his strength was draining away as he continued to lose blood and he couldn’t wait anymore. A swirl of combat qi flew out from his big sword. This was the elite knight’s long-distance combat qi attack. Abel couldn’t help but quickly step back. In the face of an attack like this, Abel had no choice but to keep stepping back and try his best to slash away the combat wi with his green long spear. Luckily, this Royal worgen technique lived up to its name. Every time the combat qi had gotten near him, he could always slash it away, which allowed him to keep stepping away. The attacks of the Elite knight were getting weaker and weaker. With his vicious use of combat qi, the blood spilled even quicker out of his body. He made a final long-distance combat qi attack to Abel, and his combat qi was drained This was a chance that Abel would not let go. The horizontally swept with his green long spear, sending the elite knight flying off his feet. However, instead of following up with the knight, Abel walked up to prince Wyatt. At that time, Prince Wyatt began to slowly wake up from the concussion. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the terrifying face of a worgen. “No, no, don’t kill me.” Prince Wyatt did not care about anything else but preserving his life at this point. He would even embarrass himself just to beg for mercy to live. Abel was a wolf rider. In the human world, the orcs were every human’s enemy. Abel had never heard of a human begging for mercy to an orc. Prince Wyatt was a knight, and as a knight who was begging to the orcs for mercy, Abel couldn’t help but mutter in his mind, “Traitor”. He had betrayed the dignity of being a human. “Dear Prince, your majesty, everything you have done to my uncle, I will now take your life in return.” The human language suddenly came out from worgen Abel’s mouth. “You, you, you are a human! Prince Wyatt suddenly realized, which he proceeded to promptly exclaimed, “You are Abel, The Abel, I recognize your voice!” “Looks like I can’t leave any evidence behind!” Abel had a murderous look on his face. Then he took the spear out of his hand and aimed at the prince Wyatt’s throat. “No, please, don’t kill me.” Prince Wyatt, stunned by the cold from the tip of the rifle. As he pleaded softly for mercy, then screamed, “I don’t know you, I don’t know you.” “Be a good man next life!” There was a flash of green light from the tip of the gun, and prince Wyatt’s throat was pierced. The pleading look on his face was suddenly gone. Looking coldly at prince Wyatt on the ground, Abel shook off the blood on the tip of the gun. He then went over to the Elite knight who was shot ten meters away to investigate if he was still breathing. Shortly after, Abel called White Cloud once he observed that he was still alive. When Abel was returning to the castle, he asked White Cloud to fly as high as possible. After an hour, Abel appeared back in Harry’s castle as he made a rare trip to the blacksmith guild to exchange some forging knowledge with Master Bentham. The news of prince Wyatt’s death was quickly sent back to him by the knight that Abel spared. When the king heard about Wyatt’s accident, he immediately fainted due to sadness. The appearance of the wolf rider also frightened several nearby towns. Due to the high demand for guards, it made the mercenary in a few cities very rich. When the nobles were talking about what had happened to prince Wyatt, many of them thought he deserved what had happened to him. However, the noble court of honor did give in due to the death of the Prince, according to the words of the spirit, if a convict did not eliminate their crime, their spirit could not return to the holy continent. As for the Lord of Marshall’s assassination attempt. A villa in Bakong city with the value of 100,000 gold coins was taken from the deceased Prince Wyatt and given to The Lord Of Marshall for compensation. “I hope his soul can return to heaven!” Said the Lord of Marshall respectfully when he received the documents for the villa. it seemed that he had already forgiven what Prince Wyatt had done to him. Not only that, but he could even say these words of honor hoping the Prince’s soul may Rest In Peace. This action deeply touched the few royal secretaries who delivered the documents. The Lord of Marshall legendary modesty, bravery, and justice was really not just in vain. Abel knew personally that Lord Marshall was very pleased with the villa he revived was worth 100,000 gold coins. He knew that it would produce an annual income for Harry’s castle. After this event, their lives seemed to go back to normal, and everything was calm once again. This event had intensified the tension between the royal family and the nobles. Alongside with King’s health recovering, the conflict on the surface of the kingdom sank to the bottom again.

Chapter 72 - Forging Armour Chapter 72: Forging Armour In Abel’s room other than doing knight training, Abel had spent all his time dwelling his table, drawing sketches of all kinds of armors from this world and his previous world. He had used up almost 10 sheets of lambskin. Lambskin was very expensive. They were all made by young lambs and cost around half a gold coin each. Therefore, everyone who could afford one would use it very carefully. Of course, you can get cheaper ones, but those had been mixed with the skin of rabbits, and nobles would not use them. Nothing could match the softness and ease of use of these skins from a young lamb. Moreover, the most important thing to a noble was their face, so they would never use a fake lamb skin no matter how poor they were. Their ink pens were normally made by the single thickest strand of feathers from the wings of a mature swan. After the feather had been plucked from the swan, it was steamed to melt off the fat within. Then, the heated feather would be plunged into a bow of sand. After it had been cooled down naturally, it would be installed with an ink tube and pen tip. At last, a small hole would be open around 1 mm at the tip of the pen, and that’s how these swan feather ink pens were made. Abel was getting used to the writing equipment of this world. He fully understood what could happen if writing paper was invented, and as an enthusiast of ancient history, Abel would never try to invent such a thing and try to change this world. The invention of paper was spread from the east to the west, which made almost an unlimited amount of information accessible to normal citizens and allowed society to rapidly develop. This world had already gone through tens of thousands of years of holy continent history, but Abel never heard of anyone coming up with any inventions similar to paper. Therefore, through his speculation, this world rarely changed, and their culture was almost in a stale state. Abel was very satisfied with his current status in this world. The only thing that he cared about was his family and friends. With the secret he possessed, he would not try to change its culture. The only reason he had locked himself up in his room for 3 days was to come up with armor for his Lord Award with the king in 2 months. In a significant event like this, the quality of the armor was very important to every knight who was about to be awarded. It was a way to show their wealth and power to the citizens, fighting ability to the nobles, and bravery to the king. The 10 sheets of land were filled with sketches of the armors which Abel had learned to make. However, he was not satisfied. He wanted something more special. Since Abel was still very young, his body has not been fully developed. With the training of Knights and his increase in strength since he had become an official knight, He was already a lot taller than most kids his age. He was 1.7 meters, which was the normal height of a normal adult. However, it was different for Knights. Since all the food they ate was the best of quality, and the training they undergo was the most well rounded, normally their height would reach at least 1.9 meters. So, normal knight armors were made according to the height of 1.9 meters. Since Abel was only 13 years old, he would be fine with just a simple armor for temporary use. For the Lord of Marshall, his favorite armor was that blazing sunset armor. Although, he would often take it out from the storage to polish it, and it was considered as very flashy in Harvest City. If he wore it to Bakong City the capital of the Duchy of Carmel, it might seem a bit out of date. Abel wanted the Lord of Marshall to wear the most perfect armor in the time of his life, in front of his friends and family in Bakong City. The design of armors of his previous world used to be similar to the ones in this world. However, due to modernizations, and the influence of movies and anime. The armor design of his previous world had become extraordinary. Countless Cosplayers had tried to replicate those armors with different materials. They released countless design sketches, some had even designed a CAD model. Since Abel’s power of the will had increased, if he tried to quiet down, he could remember all of those designs from his previous world very clearly. As a person he had been bombarded with information from the internet, countless armor designs appeared in his mind. The elves’ armor in “The Lord of the Rings” seemed to look good. It could fully express the slim and androgynous body of the elves. The elve’s style engraving also seemed to look luxurious, but there was one big problem. It was not very productive, so Abel scrapped this idea. Then, the Warrior of light’s blue armor from “Final Fantasy” popped into Abel’s mind. The armor had spikes on its shoulder blade, which looked very cool. However, it’s skin-tight design was a bit hard to achieve. How could he go to the Lord of Marshall and tell him to take off his clothes to let him measure his body? When the other Black Smith had already begun to construct their armors, Abel was still trying to choose one from his sea of designs. Suddenly, another armor had popped into Abel’s mind, he could clearly remember the measurements and the CAD model of it, which was the armor of Saint Seiya: Knight of the Zodiac’s golden armor. In total there were 12 parts to this armor. This was the armor of the Taurus. It was that it has 2 forms; one was in the form of a Taurus standing on all fours, and the other form was an on a bodysuit, which also looked like Taurus. This Taurus armor consisted of a cow horn helmet, sharp shoulder pads, chest protector, back protector, waist protector, arm guards, leg guards, and shoes. Abel built the armor entirely out of 120 skills iron base. Since he had the blueprint memorized, the forging process went very smooth. He thickened the front of the helmet and the back protection of the armor. At last, a pile of grey iron armor parts was scattered on the floor of the operating room. As Abel stared at these grey iron parts of the armor, he couldn’t help but feel like it looked very different from the shiny gold one he had imagined. Grey was the natural color of iron, although the quality was top-notch, the color looked quite ugly. There was other interesting equipment in Abel’s operation room. For example, he was about to use the foot pedal polisher, which he often uses to polish his finest work. This thing held rapid spinning power, by attaching a conveyor belt to the turntable. During the polishing process, whetstone was placed on the turntable as burnish, which was secured by straps of leather. Abel had created this machine so he didn’t have to do hand polish. This machine could save him a lot of time and the result was a lot better as well. Abel picked up the parts of the armor one by one and placed them on the machine to polish, and then burnish. Soon the surface of the parts was completely smoothed, shining in cold lights. Although the color was still not perfect, it was much better than before. The material he was about to use had toxic mercury inside them. Therefore, Abel had worn a face mask for safety. He took out the gold leafs steward Lindsey had brought and cut them into long thin strips. Afterward, he threw them into the furnace and added some mercury. Abel then used a gold rod to stir. After the gold leafs had completed dissolved into the mercury, he put them into a bowl of cold water for cooling, soon the mercury had become a silvery gold paste. As Abel looked at the silvery gold paste, Suddenly, he was struck with an idea. Could these gold paste count as a liquid? What if I combine them, will I get better ones? Since Abel was spoiled with money, he decided to shove the 3 chunks of silvery gold paste into the Horadric Cube. After he pressed the start button, the 3 chunks of paste disappeared, and soon a dark style crystal glass appeared inside the cube, within the glass was some dark gold paste. Abel took out the dark gold paste from the Horadric cube and closely examined it. Although he didn’t know how the Horadric cube rank different liquid, he knew this dark gold paste he was holding was the most perfect and their highest quality. He mixed the gold paste with salt and alum until it became liquid. Then, he painted it on top of the parts of the armor. Afterward, he placed these parts of the armor on top of the furnace. He continued to spin them until their surface began to shine in gold, and soon, the mercury had been expelled. He continued to heat the armor parts on top of the furnace, as more and more mercury had been expelled, the gold of the parts became even shinier. Not sure if it’s because this gold paste was combined into Horadric cube, it was shining in a unique, yet eye-catching tone. The surface looked perfect, it was flawless even without any touch-ups. Abel did not care about the manufacturing cost. He continued with this gold paste formula for 3 more times. At least all the parts of the armor were shining in gold. Abel put the leftover gold paste into a jar, so he could use it for repairing the armor in the future. The armor had been forged. Afterward, he installed a diamond and began to draw the “12# Thor” rune with his rune pen on to the armor. The only step left was to ask the tailor and cobbler of the castle to design the lining of this armor. It took Abel 10 days of harsh labor to complete this armor. It was the longest time he had ever spent on making any equipment.

Chapter 73 - Earning Some Gold Chapter 73: Earning Some Gold In the next 3 days, Abel had forged himself a full-body worth of equipment. They included armor, a shield, and a knights spear. The armor was forged according to the traditional formula of this world. It was painted with blue on the outer layer, which suited Abel’s age. He also drew the 12# Thor rune on top of it and installed a diamond into a gap of the armor. Although the orcs had taken the blame for the prince’s assassination, he was still worried that the royals would give him trouble for what he had done to the prince previously. Therefore, he must have adequate protection. After the process of becoming a lord had completed, Abel could demand his coat of arms. That way he could wear 2 medals when he attended any official events, his own coat of arm medal, and the Black Smith Master Medal. The knight spear was an exaggeration big sword. It has a length of 5 meters. It looked like a long square pyramid, sharp at the top thick at the bottom, which was equipped with a large surrounding handguard, inside was the handle. This was not those ordinary one-time-use wooden knight spear, it was made entirely out of 120 skills iron base with Abel enormous strength. This knight spear weighs more than 300 pounds, on top of that, it was equipped with the “4#Nef” rune, which could rumble off an enemy. This knight spear could be a nightmare for any opponent. Just imagine, if someone was fighting against Abel in a battlefield. They would be continuously knockback by this knight spear’s special ability along with Abel’s enormous strength. Every time they got knocked backward, Abel would have more time to execute his “knight charging technique” and “knight acceleration technique”. The power of these techniques would just more powerful with each strike. Therefore, under these conditions, Abel’s opponents would be continuously knocked backward while being strike until their life had come to an end. Although Abel had already simplified his armor, and could only equip himself with his original ice magic sword. If anyone was to purchase this equipment in the market, it’s value would still be an astronomical number. At this point, Abel just wished his mount wolf Black Wind could grow up faster. If he could ride Black Wind while equipped with this equipment, it would be perfect. The little mount wolf Black wind had entered its rapid growth phase after it has been cast with the mount strengthening spell. Now it’s difference in size could be seen every day. During the morning, Abel brought 2 ice magic swords and two fire magic swords to Harvest City on his carriage. The Lord of Marshall was concerned about the orcs attack, so he strongly demanded Abel to bring at least a brigade of 6 beginner warriors along with him. Although the beginner warriors fighting ability were not as great as knights, they could still use combat qi. Every single one of these 6 warriors was personally recruited by the Lord of Marshall from the battle force. They were all around the age of 40, which was the prime time of warriors. Abel couldn’t explain to The Lord of Marshall that there wasn’t actually any orc attack. However, he felt that the fewer people who knew about the attack on the royal family the better. The blame had been pushed to the worgens anyways. Therefore from now on, every time he goes outside he would need to bring a brigade of warriors with him. When Abel was approaching Edmond’s auction house, the shop assistant immediately noticed the Harry castle coat of arms on the carriage from a distance. As soon as Abel got off the carriage, Ms. Yvette was already standing in front of the carriage waiting for him. “Edmond’s auction house welcomes you, Lord Abel!” Ms. Yvette then bent her knee and gave a quick salute. She was treating Abel with more and more respect. This miraculous teenager had become one of the most well-known people in Harvest City and was a godly role model for the child of every family. Abel felt very fortunate he could take on this role. “Thank you for the welcoming, Ms. Yvette!” Abel then waved at the guards to take out the 4 magical weapons from the carriage trunk, which were wrapped in orc skin. When lady Yvette saw the package, her eyes were filled with excitement. Since the attack on The Lord Of Marshall as well as the killing of prince Wyatt, the value of Abel’s magic weapon would increase. Now, they had become the focus of all nobles, auctioning around the price of fifty thousand gold coins. “Lord Abel, please come into the VIP lounge!” Ms. Yvette saluted to Abel and led him into the VIP lounge. A guard was following closely behind carrying the package. When they entered the lounge the guard quickly placed the package on the table and left. Though she was extremely eager to see the magical weapons that Abel brought, she still poured a cup of coffee for Abel very politely. She waited patiently until he took a few sips before asking, “May I know why you are stopping by at our boutique shop today?” “I was very pleased with the last business with your boutique shop. This time I brought my latest batch of the magic weapon,” Said Abel, opening the package on the table and revealing two ice magic swords and two fire magic swords. “Was it prince Wyatt who bought the magic sword identified by master Thorin Oakenshield?” Asked Yvette in a very concerned tone, the headquarters had repeatedly urged her to close another deal with Abel, hoping they would sell his magic weapons in Edmound’s boutique shop. Moreover, Abel’s magic weapon was a hot topic recently which meant nobles will try to spend a large sum of money just to get their hands on one of them. Even if a knight didn’t buy it, someone would probably buy it for their reputation. “Yes, these four magic swords, two ice magic, and two fire magic. They are all made with the 120 skills iron base.” Abel replied. “Lord Abel, you may rest assured that none of them will be below Master Thorin Oakenshield’s estimate when they were in the hands of Edmond”. We at Edmond’s can assure you of that, and your sale will be free of charge.” Ms. Yvette didn’t have that authority, but the message from headquarters demanded that she had to close a deal with Abel at all costs. So they gave her the most power in the matter. Edmond’s boutique shop didn’t really need to make any money off this auction. The attention they could attract from the fame of Abel was more than enough to bring profits to their shop. Since Master would only become even more famous in the future, if they would maintain Abel as their supplier, their boutique shop would be famous too. “I’m very pleased with your service, Ms. Yvette!” Abel accepted Ms. Yvette’s offer with a smile. As it was the first time this kind of ice magic sword had been offered for auction, Abel explained to Ms. Yvette the power of the ice magic sword. He flicked the blade of the sword with his finger, it flashed a blue light and soon his finger was filled with a layer of frost. Abel then proceeded to say, “the ice sword can attack enemies with two effects. One is to slow them down, with the frosting power of the sword. The other is the damage caused by the ice magic, although it was not too powerful, if this ice magic was injected into the body of a person, it would be even more difficult to remove than combat qi.” “What a powerful weapon! Ms. Yvette, who is not a professional but she worked at a boutique shop. Therefore, she understood the properties of many weapons, and what slowing an opponent down in a battle could do. “Ms. Yvette, I need to buy some more potions. Please give me 27 blood fusing potions, 270 replenishing potions, and 162 essence condensing potions.” Abel was going to buy another month’s worth of potion, which was a lot for any person. ‘Lord Abel, I’ll send you these potions immediately. It will cost twenty thousand two hundred and fifty gold coins.’ At first, there were some doubts about the fact of Ms. Yvette, but it had quickly disappeared. At that moment Abel felt a sense of relief in his heart again. Sure enough, his large purchases of knight potions were very notable. It’s enough for a normal knight to use more than two years, although it was a lot, luckily it didn’t send too much shock to Ms. Yvette. Soon more than 400 bottles of the potion were brought out in a leather-domed box. When Abe finished paying with his magic gold card, the figure was cut in half again. The card showed a number of 31,500 gold coins. Until his next auction, he could another month worth of potion. Of course, although this amount of potion was enough for more than 2 years of consumption for normal knights, Abel could finish it in 1 day. However, Abel was no longer in a hurry. His speed of development had already been very impressive. So Abel decided to take it slow, only use the potions in large doses when the necessary time arrived.

Chapter 74 - Bad News Chapter 74: Bad News As Abel was coming out from the VIP lounge, he overheard the sound of various voices chatting. When he looked over, businessmen were chatting in the resting room of the boutique shop. “Have you seen The Lord of Marshall’s golden armor?” “Not at all, but I’ve heard people talked about.” “Well I saw him yesterday and it completely dazzled my eyes. He came to Harvest City with his golden armor. When he got off his inferno bull carriage, a ray of sunlight reflected off his armor, it was shining so brightly that I could barely even see his figure.” “Weren’t the armor of prince Wyatt’s guards also gold some time ago?” “It’s nothing compared to that. The materials of that armors were like brass compared to the armor of Lord Marshall.” When Abel heard the conversation, he knew that his beloved uncle Marshall had taken his carriage and the Taurus armor to Harvest City to show off. However, what these businessmen were saying was true, the royal guards’ golden armor was mixed with a lot of brass to display a golden color. Although this lowered their armor protection, their dignity was more important, so a little loss of defense didn’t matter to them. ‘Lord Abel, it would be extremely popular if you put up for sale the same armor that The Lord Of Marshall was wearing!” Ms. Yvette suggested to Abel whispering towards him. Abel chuckled, waved his hand and said, “That suit of armor took too long and took too much effort to forge. I don’t think I will be making another one for a while.” Abel had decided not to sell any items that were identified as golden rank by Master Sorin, Oakshield. From Master Sorin’s speech, he felt that these golden rank equipment were extremely valuable. People would’ve doubted the person who was selling, where they had acquired their materials from. Furthermore, the costs of this equipment were extremely expensive and not many people could even afford them. Hearing Abel’s excuses, Ms. Yvette didn’t attempt to persuade him anymore. Amid the enthusiastic sound of Ms. Yvette’s farewell, Abel left Edmond’s boutique shop to regroup with the guards. Abel then went to all the stores selling potions in Harvest City and bought a second group of potions that could be combined into a single dose. When he was finished, there was only 11,250 gold left in his magic card. “Young Master, the Lord has been searching everywhere for you to see him. He is waiting for you at another courtyard.” Elliot, one of the knight brigades of Harry’s castle, galloped over and dismounted his horse to salute to Abel. “Elliot, how did you find me?” “Abel asked strangely, bowing slightly. “The Lord’s guard and knight brigade are all out looking for you. I’m just the first one who found.” “Explained the knight of Elliot. Looking at the Knight of Elliot’s worried facial expression, Abel immediately began to wonder why The Lord of Marshall was in such a hurry to find him. So he hurried back into his carriage and, under the protection of the guards, rushed back to Harry castle’s courtyard in Harvest City. “Abel, here you are.” “Said The Lord Of Marshall, taking a few steps with a gloomy face, as he pulled Abel out of the carriage. “Uncle Marshall, what happened?” “Abel asked quickly. “Do you remember the Elite Knight of Saroyan?” Lord Marshall asked, without answering Abel. “Yes, of course. He led the campaign against the orcs and won the battle. He gained a knight’s estate afterward too.” Although they had met only once, Abel was impressed by the Elite knight of Saroyan and his modesty. “Well, something has happened to him.” Lord Marshall said quietly, his eyes showing a hint of sadness. Since the last time we met at the Lord’s house, the 2 have been hanging out with each other several times which they became close friends. Though the Knight of Saroyan was only an Elite knight, there weren’t many Elite knights within Harvest City, as well as Saroyan being the commander of a 1000 elite troops. How could he be in any trouble? Abel then looked doubtful at Marshall. “The Elite knight of Saroyan had been busy with the construction of his domain recently. The moment that his castle was restored, he was attacked by wolf riders which meant no one was able to get out of the castle, A servant who went to the city to purchase food discovered the attack and quickly reported to Harvest City. But when the reinforcements have arrived, the battle was already over. The knight of Saroyan was dead, and his head was taken away by the wolf riders. Lord Marshall gritted his teeth as he struggled in recounting the situation to Abel.” “Would this be the wolf rider’s revenge?” Abel was a little surprised, he suddenly thought of the Woolf family’s wolf riders. Did it happen because of Fowler’s death? “From what remains of the castle, it seemed that there was only one orc there, with the majority of them being wolf riders. They weren’t ordinary wolf riders because they were able to kill an Elite knight. The Lord of Marshall then looked over at Abel and said, “This must be the revenge of the wolf riders. The last campaign probably meant a noble wolf rider was killed. With Saroyan being the commander of the battle, he and all his men in the castle were slaughtered for revenge.” “So does this mean our castle is in danger?” Abel finally realized why Marshall was so eager to find him. “Let’s get back to the castle. We need to strengthen its defense and get ready to fight against the wolf riders.” Lord Marshall’s voice sounded very calm. However, since Abel had been through life and death battles, he could feel the murderous spirit hidden within the Lord of Marshall’s voice. “Can the ruler of the city send some knights to help us defend? ” Abel felt it would’ve been extremely dangerous if the wolf riders were able to attack a castle and kill an Elite knight. Although he was not afraid of the wolf riders, the civilians of the castle weren’t able to defend themselves against them. It was best to have as many guards as possible. “When the Ruler of the City heard about this attack, he immediately summoned all the knights he had available, alongside with elite ranking mercenaries from the mercenary Union, to defend Harvest City. The Lord was extremely anxious about wolf riders making Harvest city as their main target. That’s why they can’t send anyone to help us.” The Lord Of Marshall understood the City Ruler’s arrangement, but he was not pleased that he was not able to send any help at all. Sending a few knights from Harvest City wouldn’t have much effect on the defense of Harvest City anyways. Moreover, Lord Marshall was certain that the wolf riders would never send a large number of their elite troops to the depth of the human world because if their campaign had failed, the loss of these elite troops would cause a massive blow to the status of the wolf rider race in the orc empire. No matter orcs or humans, they were both very valuable for highly trained soldiers. It was extremely difficult and required a lot of resources to train every single one of them. It would’ve depleted all of their families’ resources even for middle-class families. This was why the orcs were throwing so many new orc warriors into the human world, but so few elite warriors into the human world. Although the fertility of the orcs was very strong, the resources of the orc empire were very limited. Every year, there would be a large number of orc warriors participating in the life and trial of death in hopes of attaining resources. The orc empire used this test to eliminate the weaker orcs. By doing so, not only would reduce the consumption of resources, but it also helped in selecting elite soldiers to expand the army. As the Lord of Marshall had speculated, there shouldn’t be too many elite wolf riders traveling to the human world this time. The reason why the Elite Knight of Saroya had failed, was probably because he was trapped in his castle, unable to get on his war horse. Although his fighting ability might still be a bit stronger than normal warriors since the knights training was so much better, he still could not fully express the knight techniques he was expertise in. The wolf riders had some of the strongest mounts around, maybe only 2 elite wolf rider could take down the trapped knight of Saroya. The strength of these knights relied mostly on their superior numbers, the power they unleash would be multiplied if there were more knights. A knight could face a Wolf rider, and 10 knights would’ve easily defeat 50 Wolf riders as long as they are given time to charge. The survival ability of a lone knight was much lower. Preparing for a possible battle, Abel said to the knight brigade, “Elliot, please help me buy small gems in bulk and send it back to Harry’s castle as soon as possible.” As he spoke, Abel placed his hands on the Horadric cube inside his coat and took five hundred gold coins, and placed them into a money bag to give to Elliot. “Yes, master.” Eliot did not inquire about the purpose of the gems, but quickly took the coins and rode away. When The Lord of Marshall and Abel returned to Harry’s castle, they found it safe and looked at each other with a sigh of relief. In regards to Abel Castle, there shouldn’t be any worries since it was mostly empty. Moreover, very few people knew that the previous Marshall Castle had now become the Abel Castle. Before Abel’s Lord title was officially declared by the King, no outsider would even know that he had gained a fiefdom.

Chapter 75 - The New Function Of The Horadric Cube Chapter 75: The New Function of the Horadric Cube As Abel went back to his room, he began to think about what he could do to prevent these wolf riders from taking revenge. He knew that even if he decided to hand them back the Holy Wolf’s treasure, it still wouldn’t guarantee that they would stop seeking their revenge. The reason why Abel had sent the Knight of Elliot to purchase those small gems, was because he was planning to replenish all the used up exploding big sword in the Horadric Cube. For the worst scenario, he was also planning to prepare a super exploding big sword made with a perfect gem, which would unleash mutual destruction if necessary. Of course, that was only Abel’s worst-case scenario, but it was only a matter of time. Some while ago, Abel had an idea about that exploding big sword. He wanted to test whether if it was possible to extend the duration of the explosion. However, as Abel was busy with other things, this project seemed to have drifted off his mind. Suddenly, a faint sound of knocking came from outside the door, “Dong dong dong.” Abel could tell it was the maid who was outside. The maids were professionally trained, and there was a fixed rule about their knocks. On weekdays, two knocks meant an ordinary matter, however, three knocks means there was an urgent matter for Abel. “Come in,” Abel said while looking at the door. “The Lord of Marshall is waiting for you downstairs, young master!” said the maid, bending her knees while saluting towards Abel. When Abel heard the news, he walked straight past the maid and directly down the stairs, although he felt a bit disrespectful afterward. As soon as Abel had walked down the stairs, he heard a group of voices said in unison “Hello, young master Abel”. To his surprise, there was a team of 20 knight servants with the Harry family coat of arm standing behind the Lord of Marshall. They were all equipped with full-body armor. Abel carefully examined these knight servants, each of them was at least 40 years old or older. From their imposing manner, they seemed to be the most kick-ass group of beginner warriors. Abel never knew that Harry’s castle had a team of knight servants like this. He could only recognize around 3 to 4 faces. Other than that, Abel had never seen any of them in his life before. Knight servants were also known as reserve knights. They were generally no more than 20 years old. They would often learn by the side of a knight while serving them, maintaining the weapons as well as taking care of the warhorse. Since Knight servants were considered much nobler than ordinary people, a large number of soldiers decided to become a knight servant for the status. Furthermore, knights required someone that knows how to fight to assist them, which meant that these knight servants were ranked higher than the noble bodyguards. “Abel, all the knight servants here are the ones I have brought back from the war against the orcs. We are all brothers who would live and die together. Since they have given everything to me, I will trust them with all my will. Today, the castle is in danger and I will put this team in your hand, I hope you can arm them as much as possible.” The Lord of Marshall said in a serious tone. The Lord of Marshall was afraid that Abel would not have the leadership skills to control Harry’s castle, so he warned him in advance now. Abel then turned to the 20 knights and asked softly, “Can I trust you?” While Abel didn’t speak loudly, these knights in the castle hall were able to hear every word of Abel clearly. They then bent down on their knees and shouted in unison, “Lord Abel, we dare to die for the Harry family!” From calling him master Abel to Lord Abel, these 20 knight servants had sworn their allegiance to the heir of the family. The oath of allegiance was considered as a very big decision in this world, and very few people would break it. Afterward, Abel quickly pointed towards Elliot, whom he knew well. “Elliot, come here and take off all your gear. Let me check them first.” The knight servant, Elliot, took a step forward and saluted to Abel, “Yes, my lord.” With that, Elliot stripped off his gear one by one and placed it in front of Abel. Abel first picked up the helmet. He looked and gently tapped its surface. The bowler hat, also known as the skull cap, was made from three pieces of iron. The helmet’s craftsmanship was very average as Abel examined it carefully. Then he picked up the leather armor, which was on the heavier side. Its surface was covered with small pieces of iron. This was typical armor, and it seemed to have a decent defense. The right-hand weapon was a one-handed long sword with 80 skills. When Abel held it on his hands, he quickly realized that it was the work of Gedon, who was one of Master Bentham’s apprentice. It was carefully crafted and the quality was very good as well. The left-hand weapon was a round shield, which was also made of 80 skills iron base, and also the work of Gedon. it didn’t seem to be very big. It would not only not get in the way during attacks, but it could also effectively protect the important positions on the body. “Everybody put down your swords and shields. Elliot, get two men to bring the sword and shield to my operation room.” Abel ordered. The quality of the weapons and shields that these Knight servants used were good enough. They meet the basic requirements for rune drafting, so Abel decided to convert them into magic weapons. After saying goodbye to The Lord Of Marshall, Abel took out his rune pen and ink from upstairs, as well as the large bag of broken gems that was brought back by Elliot. He then took all of these stuff into his operations room. In the operations room, Knight servant Elliot had already placed his sword and shield in the empty space of the operations room. He then stood on the side with his hands bound, as he waited for Abel’s orders. “Don’t let anyone bother me while I’m making magic weapons.” “Said, Abel. “Yes, Lord Abel!” When Elliot went out, he immediately called the other nineteen knights to the door of the operations room. They did not know whether Abel’s process of making magic weapons was dangerous or not, so knight servants would not let anyone get anywhere close to Abel. They basically blocked the entire operating room entirely. One could only access it if all 19 knights died. In the operations room, Abel first combined a bunch of small broken stones into ordinary stones. He realized the price the Knight of Elliott had paid was much cheaper than the price he normally pay. It seemed like buying things with the noble title was a scam. He then combined a bunch of red gem into a piece of perfect red gem. This was in preparation for the super exploding big sword. The next step was to make magic weapons. Abel was about to draw a rune on a non-self-made weapon for the first time. Previously, he had full control over every single process of making his magic weapons, from forging the iron base to the rune drawing. Abel picked up a single-handed long sword made by Gedon with his hand. He used his power of will to carefully inspect for any small mistakes. There was a minor flaw, but it shouldn’t matter too much. After inspecting the weapon, Abel realized the items that were leftover from the previous days had made quite a mess on the operations table. Abel then flicked his hand and threw the single-handed long sword into the Horadric Cube. After tidying up the mess on the operations table, Abel’s spirit sank into the Horadric cube, he was about to retrieve the one-handed long sword. However, a startling scene stopped him When Abel’s power of the will rested on the one-handed long sword in the Horadric cube, a set of characters appeared on its surface. It was in Chinese. At this moment, Abel almost shed tears, such a familiar language… For so long, he almost seemed to forget about his previous world. There was a fear in Abel’s heart, that he would forget about his past. He was afraid of forgetting about his original parents, friends and everything about his old world. He had already forgotten the faces of some of his old friends, and he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to remember his parents’ faces one day. The Horadric cube that came with him into this world was his only hope in remembering his past. It was the foundation of his peaceful existence in this world, with the cube beside him, he felt that his previous world was almost supporting him. Since Chinese characters had appeared once again, his doubt has been confirmed. The Horadric cube really did come from his previous world The Chinese characters were all white and read: One-handed sword [normal] Single hand damage: 2-3 Durability: 21 x 24 Abel was shocked to realize that the Horadric cube was able to display the properties of a weapon. Although not as fully equipped as Diablo 2. This world was a real world, and it made sense that it was completely different from the world of a game. Nevertheless, Abel was very happy to see that the statistics of these weapons were being displayed. But how come the weapons he put in the Horadric cube before never displayed any properties. No one could answer Abel. After careful speculation, there could only be 2 reasons. One reason might be that every weapon he had shoved in the Horadric cube before was forged by himself. Another reason might be that since his Power of the will had increased tremendously, it unlocked more features within the Horadric cube.

Chapter 76 - Being Busy And Eating Lunch Chapter 76: Being Busy and Eating Lunch Abel threw his ice magic sword into his Horadric cube. His power of the will was fully fixed on it, and soon a message appeared: Big sword of frost (Normal) Single hand damage: 3-7 Durability: 24/24 +1-2 ice damage, effect lasts for 2 seconds The words “Big sword of frost (Normal)” was written in a bold blue font. It was unlike the single hand longsword before, which was entirely white. Turns out, that single hand longsword was considered as a white weapon, and this ice magic sword was considered as blue weapons, also known as magic weapons. When Abel saw the font of the word “Frost” that appeared. He noticed it was the same style of font as the one from Diablo 2. “Frost” meaning damage caused by ice magic. However, the original property of “10#Thul” rune suggested: +3-14 ice damage The effect lasts for 3 seconds Ice defense increase by 30% Due to the material used in the rune ink and the big sword, the effect remained at 1-2 damage, and it lasts for 1 second less. Abel had no idea how he could increase the power of this rune. The new discovery had given Abel a lot of motivation, he picked up the single hand long sword with a tong and threw it into the furnace. After it had been heated, he took it out and put a hole in it. He then repeated this process for 19 more times and ended up with 20 single-hand longswords with holes. Since he was in a hurry, and he did not rest at all during this process. The process of writing runes was very smooth as well. Since his power of the will had increased tremendously, he could draw runes on 5 of these long sword before taking a rest. Just like that, he only spent the night, ruthlessly working until noon of the next day before all 20 long swords were finished. Since Abel had been working nonstop, during lunchtime he sat in the dining hall of Harry castle viciously munching on a big bowl of leopard meat. The Lord of Marshall understood the reason behind Abel’s lack of table manners, so he did not say a thing. He only looked at the often well mannered Abel gorging his food, with a smile. “Uncle Marshall, I am a little hungry today.” Said Abel as he noticed the attention of the Lord of Marshall. He suddenly realized the way he was eating was lacking in manners. Manners were very important on the dining table of nobles, and Abel was a bit ashamed of himself. Normally Abel was very careful when it came to small details like these. He had been in this world for more than 2 years. Although he took precaution in the beginning, now, he found himself fitting in quite well. It was only after a day of intense labor when his power of the will could no longer function, did he forget about this little detail of manner. “Don’t worry about it. That’s my boy” the Lord of Marshall exclaimed. Since Abel had arrived at Harry castle, everything he did was very mature, so he had never been a worry to the Lord of Marshall. Because of this, The Lord of Marshall never really had any parenthood experience. When the topic of Abel came up during the conversations with his friends, he would always just say that Abel was very well behaved. He could not fully express the impose of being a stepfather. The Knight of Bennett and the Lord of Marshall held a similar place in Abel’s heart. When the Knight of Bennett first suggested that he wanted Abel to be adopted by the Lord of Marshall, Abel did not resist too much. This was because the Abel currently did not want to just replace the old Abel, and by being adopted by the Lord of Marshall, he could fully become the new Abel, an Abel that was more true to himself. “Uncle Marshall, I am no longer a child,” Abel emphasized. In this world, a 13-year-old was considered a young adult. He would not allow anyone to call him a kid. This was another way for Abel to come across as he had fully fit into this world. If he was still on earth, the adult Abel would never say such a thing. “You are right, you are not a kid,” said the Lord of Marshall, while laughing loudly. “How’re the magic weapons going?” Asked the Lord of Marshall, with a caring tone. If things continued to escalate, it seemed like the wolf rider might attack Harry castle in 2 days. The latest news from the scout stated that a small group of wolf rider was roaming around outside Harvest City. But the Lord of Marshall’s experience told him that, this was probably just the wolf rider’s plan to keep the Harvest City military forces within the surrounding Harvest City. Viscount Dickens must have noticed this too, but he could not take the risk. Therefore, he was damned to continue guarding Harvest City with all his military force. However, the Lord of Marshall was wrong to blame Viscount Dickens. In reality, Viscount Dickens sensed the presence of a wolf rider who possessed the same fighting ability as a commander knight roaming outside the city walls. That’s why he was not willing to send any military force outside of Harvest City. At the same time, the head commander wolf rider would not show itself easily. It knew that the moment he showed himself would be the time where he would fight to the death with Viscount Dickens. This was the responsibility of Viscount Dickens, all the luxury of being a ruler of the city came with a price, and that was protecting the city and its citizens with all his will. If Viscount Dickens had sent some people to support Harry castle, it would lower the chance of him winning against this head commander wolf rider. He could not take this risk for the entire city, just for the safety of a single castle. “The 20 single-handed long sword was almost complete. We should be able to give them to the knights along with a shield by tomorrow,” Abel said, as he placed his cutlery on the table. “Wow, that’s quick. Even though we are in a hurry, you should take care of your body too!” Said the Lord of Marshall. He felt like there was no way he could change Abel’s crazy working style. “It’s nothing compared to the time where I was making that bull carriage for you.” Said Abel with a smile, as he whipped the oil of his cheeks with a napkin. “Cough cough” the Lord of Marshall began to blush upon hearing these words of Abe. He then proceeded to say, “the past few days I’ve been trying to get used to my new armor and weapons. If they are as good as before, there is no way the wolf riders can penetrate our castle. They will pay for what they had done” Suddenly, the Lord of Marshall thought of the Knight of Saroya again. He continued to say “the other two elite knights that fought against the orcs, the Knight of Bennett and the Knight of Hopper, have also been attacked. Luckily they were prepared for it, and they safely returned to Harvest City with only some light injuries. “What a bunch of arrogant wolf riders!” Said Abel, with a slight hint of anger in his voice. This area was located in the center of the human world, so it should be the safest place for humans. However, due to the series of orcs attack, it had sent anxiety into every home around here. “I had heard the news that the elites from Duchy of Carmel had been ordered come here, but still, it would take at least 3 days. So if he can stay strong in these 3 days, everything will be fine” said the Lord of Marshall. “Finally, there’s some good news, but 3 days are more than enough time for the wolf rider to finish their good deeds, can’t the elites come faster?” Abel complained. The Lord of Marshall then explained “It’s already the fastest they can go. The closest big city from here is Sidor city, even for them, 3 days is very fast. The country elites who come from Bakong city might take even longer, but of course, this is one of the fastest elite recruitment. Apparently it was a worgen who had killed prince Wyatt, so King Astor George was extremely angry. When he heard that the worgens started to attack again, he immediately began to recruit a large number of elites from all the big cities.” Abel felt an odd sense of happiness lurking within him. He was the one who actually killed a prince Wyatt, but he successfully blamed it on the worgens. Now, the King wanted to seek revenge by sending help, and the person he was sending help was exactly the person who had killed his son. After Abel finished his lunch, he requested the servants to deliver the food straight to his operation room during dinner time. After he finished his dinner, he continued working again. After 20 times of diamond installation, and 20 times of the power of the will guiding, 20 single-handed longswords were complete. Abel then put one of these 20 long swords into the Horadric Cube. He concentrated on it with his power of the will, and these statistics appeared: Single-handed long sword (normal) Single-handed damage: 2-3 Durability: 24/24 +1-2 ice damage, effect lasts for 2 seconds The world “Single-handed long sword (normal)” was written in a bold blue font, which meant that it was a qualified magic weapon.

Chapter 77 - Change Of Clothes Chapter 77: Change of Clothes Abel was about to draw the “12# SOL Thor” rune on to the shields. It stated that it could absorb impacts. Not only that, But Abel had discovered its ability to absorb impact was greater than the game had suggested. It took another day until Abel could finish drawing the runes, and installing diamonds on to all 20 of these shields. When he threw the shield into the Horadric cube, these statistics appeared: Absorption round shield (normal) Defense: 5 Durability: 12/12 Absorb physical impact -3 Although the blue font suggested that this was a magic shield, it could not fully unleash the power of the rune and achieve the ultimate “absorb physical impact 7”. Abel thought that this was a bit strange. According to what Master Sorin Oakenshield had said, this shield should be considered as a golden weapon. But the Horadric cube still showed that it was a normal magic weapon. Abel guessed, maybe this was due to the different interpretations of 2 worlds. Abel tried his best to resist his exhaustion. He opened the front door of the operation room and demanded that the 20 knight servants come inside. The 20 knight servants excitedly entered the legendary blacksmith master operation room. Immediately, they were stunned by the single-handed long sword and round shields that were scattered on the floor. Before they had entered, they already knew that everything in here was a magic weapon, but still, it was the first time they had seen a pile of them together. It was also the first time they had seen someone just carelessly put these magic weapons on the ground. Everyone began to pick up their long sword and shield from the ground. Although they all looked similar, every knight could clearly identify their own weapons due to their intermediate relationship with their weapons. Abel began to speak “All of these long swords were been turned into ice magic swords. When you strike your enemies with it, it will not only slow them down but also hurt them with ice magic. In regards to the round shields, they now have the ability to absorb physical impacts. So as long as you have this shield, an elite knight or below will not be able to hurt you.” Abel was still a bit unsatisfied with these shields. They were only 80 skills after all, which might not be able to withstand the attack of an elite knight, but it should be fine against anyone with an intermediate occupation. “Thank you, my lord. I will pledge my life to protect the castle,” the 20 knight servants shouted in unison as they kneeled on one knee. Their eyes flashed with a fiery passion of excitement. No matter what occupation, every fighter held an ultimate passion for their weapons. Let alone a magic weapon, no, 2 magic weapons, one for attack and one for defense. “Let’s keep it a secret!” Abel added. From the outside, it’s very difficult to tell that these weapons were magic weapons. Their effects would only unleash during battles. There were actually 2 reasons why Abel wanted to keep this secret. One reason was that, if people realized even knight servants could attain a piece of magic weapons, they might think they were very easy to make. Therefore, causing a drop in market value. Another reason what reason was that it was better to catch the enemies off guard, that way these weapons could fully take advantage of its power. Abel let the 20 knight servants go back to defending the castle, while he went back to his room. Just like that, he rested for half a day, the intensive rune drawing session had drained almost all energy in his body. He had pushed his power of the will to the ultimate limit. When Abel had woken up again, it was already night time. Immediately, he went back to the operating room. There were still 3 exploding big swords and 1 super exploding big sword he needs to finish. He already had all the material required on the spot, there was around 10 big sword of 120 skills with gem holes, just casually lying on the ground. All he needed to do was to rank up the rune ink. After he converted a bunch of them into intermediate rank, he began rune drawing. The process was simple as always. As he was guiding the runes he purposefully added some more random rune paths to it. He only installed the red gem in the last step. Abel had gotten a lot more creative this time around, he intentionally picked a fire magic sword to increase its exploding power, he also purposefully chosen the intermediate rune ink to help the fire magic spread more easily. Most of all, he had chosen the 120 skills iron base because it could make the explosion more vicious. According to the experience he gained from assassinating Prince Wyatt, the previous version of his exploding big sword could already penetrate the defense of an elite knight. Therefore, after these upgrades of the better iron base, high-quality rune ink, should be able to badly injured an elite knight, if not blow the life of them. Abel emptied his Horadric cube. He took out the scroll of town portal and locked it in a box. He began guiding the exploding big sword with his power of the will, as soon as the sound of shattering glass began to appear. Abel quickly shoved the exploding big sword into the Horadric Cube. The Horadric cube could freeze time, which allowed the big sword to maintain at a state before the massive explosion. At first, Abel was a little skeptic when it came to making this super exploding big sword. Despite his previous one being made with a 100 skills iron base, it already had an earth-shaking power of the explosion. This time, he would need to make one with a 120 skills iron base. If something had gone wrong, the entire Harry castle would be blown into pieces. But Abel had no choice, he was on the road of no return. If things had gone wrong, at least he could end in mutual destruction with the enemy. In regards to Harry castle… he no longer cared. Abel clenched his teeth, he began to draw a fire rune on to a big sword of 120 skills. At this point, it was easier for him to draw a perfect rune than intentionally drawing one incorrectly. Abel then took out a perfect red gem and stared at the gorgeous brilliant red color of the gem. Who could have guessed, in a flash of a second such beauty could turn into a nightmarish force of destruction. The super exploding big sword he made last time was an ice magic one. This time, it was a fire magic one, so Abel was fully aware of its power of destruction. If he could not control its power properly, the only purpose for this super exploding big sword was to give mutual destruction for him and his enemy. This thing was way too dangerous, it might even injure innocent people. Abel gave out a sigh and placed the perfect red gem into the gem hole. As he was guiding it with his power of will, a massive amount of fire magic power rushed towards his power of the will like an exploding volcano. If he was still an amateur, or if his power of the will had never developed, it might get completely blown away by this massive amount of fire magic power. Soon, the super exploding big sword began to shine in white light. It seemed like it was about to be completed, but Abel did not relax in the slightest bit. He unwaveringly locked his power of the will on to the super exploding big sword. The white light flashed for a few more times before it turned into red light. The red light intensified. It was so bright Abel could no longer even open his eye to examine the condition of the super exploding big sword. Luckily, Abel still had a lot of power of the will leftover, he continued to ruthlessly lock it on to the super exploding big sword. He felt that everyone was still under control. Alongside the blinking red light, the originally rigid body of the big sword of 120 skills began to vibrate. It seemed like with was trying to withstand this vicious force of fire magic. Although the 120 skills iron base had already exceeded the strength limit of iron, it was still normal iron. These types of materials were essentially not a match for this massive amount of fire magic. As the vibration intensified, Abel sensed the surface of the sword was beginning to crack through his power of the will. A quick jerk with his power of the will, the super exploding big sword had completely disappeared. Soon, it reappeared in the Horadric Cube. Abel let out a breath of relief, this thing was very different from normal exploding big swords. Although normal exploding big swords were very powerful, he still felt confident about escaping its explosion, but this thing…. it was beyond Abel’s imagination. During the making process, Abel had already sensed that this fire magic super exploding big sword was a lot more destructive than his previous ice magic one. Abel still did not know how perfect red gems like the one just used could even exist. If a wizard had seen how he had just treated one of them, the wizard would definitely choke Abel to death. These perfect rank gems, especially the ones combined with the Horadric cube was considered as the most powerful, pure, irreplaceable gem in this world. Therefore one could say, the number of gems like this could be produced was hopelessly small.

Chapter 78 - The Woolfs Are Coming Chapter 78: The Woolfs Are Coming ClangClangClang As the loud and rushed noise of the bell spread across every corner of the Harry Castle, Abel began to lose focus on the base that he was forging. It was a 120 skill base that he was making, but would only take a second for him to accidentally snap it into two. Abel threw the broken sword away with his thong. He rushed out of the workshop and ran towards the plaza inside Harry Castle. “What happened?” Abel grabbed one of the guards and asked. “Worgens were discovered outside the fort, sir Abel,” the guard quickly gave a bow to Abel. Abel stopped the guard before he was about to leave, “Come with me. I need you to help me put my armor up.” Regardless of its type, wearing armor was a very effortful thing to do for knights. Abel didn’t have his own underling knights. The twenty men Marshall sent him were more like bodyguards than underlings, so it got weird if Abel were to order them to do anything other than fighting. If Abel were to have his own underling knights, he would have a lot less things to concern himself with. Underling knights could do many things for him, such as helping out with chores, maintaining armors and weapons, taking care of horses, changing armor for his master, supplying extra weapons, and etc. Despite the amount of potential Abel had shown, not a lot of people knew that he was already an official knight. Honestly, he preferred not telling people. Most people who found out were pretty strong themselves (e.g. Dickens), and they knew how hard it was for Abel if they revealed his true powers. Abel was just a little over 170cm in height. The blue armor he was wearing was a perfect fit for him. It was the right weight, too. It wasn’t heavy enough to slow down his movements. Apart from his armour, Abel also had his ice magic sword on his back. In his right hand was a red-based shield with the unicorn crest on it. Lastly, he’s held a five-meter, 300-pound lance in his left hand. These were the equipment he was wielding when he was climbing the Harry Castle wall. “You’ve come, Abel,” Lord Marshall greeted in his golden bull armor. For a man who had been waiting for a Worgen invasion for days, he seemed very relaxed at the moment. “Any changes on the battlefield, Uncle marshall?” Abel asked. As calm as Lord Marshall seemed, his eyes were clearly strained with bloodshot. Besides, the golden bull armor takes a lot of time to wear. Maybe Marshall just hadn’t taken it off for the past few days. “Those worgens are starting to gather up. Apparently, they want to assemble a unit powerful enough to play a game of cat and mouse with us!” Marshall replied, then turned towards his men with loud laughter, “So we are the mice, and these dogs want to be the cat! “Fine, then,” I say. We’ll just knock their fangs out when that happens!” In contrast to the serious atmosphere back then, the soldiers suddenly began to laugh out loudly. Abel knew Lord Marshall was trying to cheer them up. If these guards were too anxious about the upcoming battle, they wouldn’t even perform half as good as they normally would. “Where are the knight servants?” Abel suddenly realized and asked. Shouldn’t these men be inside the fort at a time like this? “Oh, they are inside a secret tunnel outside the fort,” Lord Marshall replied, “These worgens don’t know what formations are, so when they all gather up, we’ll teach them a lesson in military tactics.” Lord Marshall seemed very confident about that. Out of the five high-ranked wolfriders that were already discovered, he was sure he could take two to three of them (with his two magic swords and the golden bull armour, of course). And, while not a lot of people knew how strong Abel was, Marshall could tell how strong he was by practicing with him very frequently. Not just that, Abel also crafted magic weapons for the twenty knight servants. He didn’t forge the swords and round shields himself, per se, but the magic he enchanted on them was just as powerful as any other of his work. If Lord Marshall was to use an ordinary weapon, he couldn’t even defeat any one of the knight servants with a magic weapon in hand. Any attacks would be futile against a shield that was strengthened with magic. After an attack was neutralised, the ice magic sword would slow its enemy down for an endless stream of consecutive attacks. There was nothing you could do once you’ve been caught by it. That being said, Lord Marshall wasn’t planning to let these knight servants face the high-ranked wolfriders. He was very much in agreement with what Abel’s saying. As strong as the magic on the round shields were, any powerful attack could easily destroy the material that they were built from. It took time to activate magic effects. When a weapon hit a shield, the shield had to be strong enough to take the hit before the magic runes started doing anything. Technically speaking, an eighty skill round shield was clearly flawed in their design. Still, a small unit of twenty knight servants could launch a very devastating sneak attack to those worgens, who were ignorant of the powers of magic weapons they had. The first strike would be the most deadly one. From Lord Marshall’s point of view, instead of having the knight servants inside the castle for defense and no offense, he would much rather use this firepower for a surprise attack on the battlefront. About 100 meters outside Harry Castle, more and more wolfriders were starting to gather up. Eventually, they stopped appearing on the battlefield. “Five high-ranked wolfriders, fifty intermediate wolfriders, and one hundred beginner wolfriders. They are going big, aren’t they?” Lord Marshall exclaimed. It was noon now. Instead of choosing nighttime, which would’ve given them a lot more advantages, these prideful worgens chose to attack Harry Castle in the middle of the day. “Don’t worry about them if there isn’t a commander,” Abel commented. After seeing those wolfriders himself, he started feeling a lot less anxious. These wolfriders from the Woolf family were very easy to recognize. Five of the high-ranked wolfriders were wearing steel armor plates, and fifty of the intermediate wolfriders were wearing leather armor plates. The 100 low-ranked wolfriders were not wearing any protection on them at all, which reflected how much shortage the Orc Empire was in for armors. In the human world, every official knight would be granted his own armor, weapons, and other gear accordingly. All of the wolfriders had long spears as their weapons. While the appearance of those spears was all the same, the low-ranked wolfriders had ones with less metal in them. The intermediate and high-ranked wolfriders had either more metal in the spears or pure metal in the spears. “Would you dare to go out now, boy? Why don’t we rush out and hunt them down?” Lord Marshall called out. As he said this in his shiny golden bull armor, he was like a god of war in front of the soldiers standing on the wall. “You bet!” Abel replied excitedly. “Send out the horses!” Lord Marshall shouted to his men. Pretty soon, two war horses, wearing half-body armor plates were sent out. These two mars were just recently bought from the Duchy of Thunder. Because of how heavy the golden bull armor and Abel’s 300-pound lance were, regular horses weren’t strong enough to ride them around. With the help of the knight servants, the two got up on the horses fairly quickly. As Abel sat on his one, he rubbed its back with his hand for a bit. He hadn’t ridden it much after it was bought, so the most he could do now was improvise as he goes. As the war horses trotted away from the castle, Abel intentionally rode his one behind Lord Marshall. He whispered the enchantments as softly as he could, and a peculiar aura began to surround himself and his horse. Apart fro Abel, there wasn’t anyone else who possessed the Power of the Will. If there was, that person would feel a very overwhelming and distant force coming towards him. Abel was already used to this. Every time he massaged Black Wind with his mount enhancement technique, he would feel the same suffocating force with his sixth sense. The more Abel used his mount enhancement technique on his horse, the more he began to gain an understanding of its spirit. From what he could see, this was a very innocent and pure horse, which was destined to be a war horse since it was born. For all the training it had received, its sole purpose was to serve the knight it was supposed to carry. From its simple perspective, it was nothing but a part of its rider. The more Abel read its mind, the more he felt moved by its unconditional trust towards mankind. How can a creature maintain such spirituality and humility? Without such qualities, no knights would be strong enough to survive on the battlefield.

Chapter 79 - Skewered Chapter 79: Skewered Abel was getting slower. Lord Marshall could feel it. He turned around to tell Abel to hurry up, but what he saw had him in total shock. Every time Abel’s horse staggered for a bit, Abel moved in the same direction slightly with his body. It was like their bodies were synchronized. Forget about Lord Marshall. Such horsemanship would not be expected from someone who was born on a horse. Again, Abel has proved himself to be in a completely different league from the rest of mankind. “I’m ready, Uncle Marshall,” Abel smiled as he finished performing his mount enhancing technique. Abel felt really good right now. He had never been so intimate with his war horse before, and nothing could calm him and his partner down except for a good, long race. “Open the gate!” As Lord called for the gate to be opened, several guards came and lowered the castle gate. They quickly shut it back after Abel and Marshall went through. As the two went out of Harry Castle, the low-ranked wolfriders started howling towards them. They wanted to spring at the two humans right away, but their commanders stood stationary at their posts. “Don’t start the attack,” their instincts told them. As Marshal and Abel’s horses started trotting instead of galloping, Abel could feel himself very excited for the upcoming battle. Again, it wasn’t just him. His horse was ready for action, too. He could feel every inch of its muscles bulging at the sight of the wolfriders in front of them. As Abel’s horse began to accelerate, it quickly went ahead of Lord Marshall and charged straight towards the wolfriders. Yes, it went solo into the enemy troops, and everyone was watching Abel from inside the Harry Castle. They did not know what their young master was planning, but they certainly felt admiration for his brave decision. “Combat qi!” Lord Marshall screamed at the top of his lungs, and white combat qi started flashing out his body. Actually, because he was wearing the golden bull armor, it looked more golden than white, which was the color it was supposed to be. Abel, too, screamed as he released his combat qi. Unlike the one his uncle pretended to have, his combat qi actually had the color gold to it. No one could tell, though. He was wearing a blue set of armor, so blue was the color that was reflected. Besides, since the sun above them was so bright, Lord Marshall looked more like the real deal than him. “The knight’s charging on a horse technique!” Almost simultaneously, Marshall and Abel screamed out the name of the Harry family’s secret technique. Suddenly, the speed of their horses was doubled as they charged faster towards the enemy troops. Both of them had dropped their helmets by this point. As the sun shone upon them, two streaks of light, one blue and one gold flew straight towards the same direction. The wolfriders saw this and all howled at once. It was a matchup of 2 against 150, and neither side was backing down. As disadvantaged as the knights appeared to be, they were becoming faster and more ready at every instance. Out of the 150 wolfriders that were charging towards Abel and Marshall, a high-ranked wolfrider was taking the lead. While the rest of them were yet to make contact, he was already facing Abel by himself. He didn’t think much of Abel, whose build was much smaller than his. For orcs like him, brute force was all that mattered in a fight. Just when the two were about to clash their weapons against each other, Abel swung his lance and let the wolfrider take the first strike. He wasn’t going for a block. Instead, he was going to dodge the hit because he knew it wasn’t going to hit him. Abel was right. He was too fast for his opponent. Within a blink of an eye, his lance was already through the wolfrider’s chest. It was like a hot knife cutting butter. The wolfrider wanted to resist, but he clearly had no way to make a defense. Abel’s lance was not a regular wooden one. A wooden lance was meant for pushing back the enemy. It was a one-time weapon, something that would be destroyed right after it had done what it was designed to do. The one Abel was wielding was a steel one. Its base was hammered for 120 times before it was set into shape. It was a very heavy piece, but unlike most people, his muscles were sturdy enough to wave it around. The wolfrider was stabbed in his heart. As strong as the worgens were, a stab to the heart was more than enough to kill them instantly. Abel didn’t stop, though. As the wolfrider’s corpse hung on his lance, he continued to speed up his horse towards his enemies. A few arrows were shot at Abel, but with the armor that he was wearing, all of them. Abel didn’t even pay any attention to them. He was more focused on his second target, which was an intermediate wolfrider that was coming at him. Unlike its dead superior, the intermediate wolfrider decided to parry away Abel’s lance with its spear. It was a bad choice. Excluding the weight of the dead worgen, there was about 300 pound of weight in Abel’s lance. A quick fling with it was quite enough to break the worgen’s spear into two. The rest was pretty obvious. As Abel had his power of the Will fully turned on, he could clearly feel the wolfrider’s bones tearing up and smashed into dust. Even its organs were starting to turn into mush. Pretty soon, its dead body, too, was skewered along with the high-ranked wolfrider. Despite having two dead worgens on his lance, Abel was not slowing down at all. Because of how fast he was going, both he and his horse were drenched with the blood of the dead worgens. Another one. Another one. Fourth one. Fifth one. Abel was finally stopped after he charged towards the fifth wolfrider. If it wasn’t for the Harry family’s secret knight’s technique, he would’ve had to stop at two or three. Lord Marshall stopped his horse as he had finally reached Abel. Whilst chasing behind Abel, he’s also killed a few wolfriders on his way. “Now that’s more like it!” Lord Marshall screamed frantically. For him, it felt like he was going back to the battle against the Orcs. He was much younger at the time. Much more impulsive and vigorous, too. Lord Marshall watched as Abel flung out the five dead worgens out of his lance. It was a frightening thing to look at on the battlefield. Fortunately for him, they were fighting on the same side. “To battle!” Lord Marshall called, and twenty of the bodyguard knights appeared from the underground tunnel. While they were all trained in horse-riding, their decided to fight on foot because they were more used to that. Even now, the advantage was on the side of the worgens. As efficient as Abel and Marshall were in their attacks, they still had a much greater number than their human foes. That being said, because Abel managed to kill a high-ranking wolfrider by himself, everyone watching from Harry Castle were assured of their victory. The crowds were starting to quiet down as they looked at what’s happening on the battlefield. Up next, it was the most gruesome and crucial of all, close-range melee combat to the death.

Chapter 80 - A Bloody Battle Chapter 80: A Bloody Battle All the wolfriders had their eyes on Abel, the short, underage knight who was wielding a ridiculously large lance with him. They could tell that he was a novice knight, but something about him didn’t add up. Sure, Abel was a novice knight, but what kind of novice knight could kill five wolfriders in an instant? One high-ranked wolf rider. One intermediate wolf rider. Three novice wolfriders. That’s five in less than a second, and a child did it. The horse that Abel was riding on was becoming much more agitated than before. It seemed kind of relaxed back then, but the testosterone was starting to kick in. “My honor is my life!” Abel screamed, and his horse sped up into the wolfriders’ troop. The large, heavy lance in his hand was like a demon’s hand, flicking away everything that it had scraped. Because of Abel’s terrible strength (and the effect of the lance itself), tens of wolfriders were sent flying away from their position. Twenty of the bodyguard knights started lining up their formation. Once they were ready, they slowly trekked towards the remaining wolfriders. After witnessing Abel’s bold display, the Knight of Marshall, too, chanted out the battle cry “my honor is my life” and charged towards his enemies. If it was about engaging in direct conflict, the Knight of Marshall was much more experienced than Abel. The way he killed his enemies might not be as flashy, but the golden bull armor he was wearing was quite invincible against almost any attack. Under the command of their superiors, the novice wolfriders howled and charged towards Abel. They couldn’t match him with their skills, but they could sacrifice their bodies to slow down his movements. And that’s what they did. As several of the low-ranked wolfriders clung themselves onto Abel’s lance, they have effectively sacrificed their lives to slow down his movements. If Abel wanted to, he could throw them all away in just one swing, but he clearly had no time to do that. With the little time that the wolfriders had stopped him for, a high-ranked wolf rider struck towards his chest with its long spear. Clang. But the armor was simply too durable to be penetrated. It was a devastating discovery for the wolfriders, as it had cost them so many casualties just to have the opportunity for an attack. Sadly for them, it was all the chance that they were getting. With one sweep of his five-meter lance, Abel killed all the wolfrider that were within his reach. The wolfriders that were fighting Marshall also had the same problem. With all the resources on their side, they still couldn’t manage to do any damage to him. It was a frustrating situation for them, and a miserable one at that. By now, all twenty of the bodyguard knights have already entered into the battlefield. As veterans who have come back from the war against the orcs, they were all fierce warriors who had a record to prove their worth. After struggling for a while, the wolfriders decided to draw their forces away from Lord Marshall and Abel. With a fraction of their troops keeping these two busy, the rest of them were aimed to destroy the small unit of the bodyguard knights. As the twenty humans were obviously in the warrior class, the wolfriders did not think that they would be wearing any powerful gears that could withstand their attacks. Even the orcs knew how valuable a magic weapon would be. There was just no way that it would be equipped by regular bodyguards. “With my long sword in hand, My eyes towards the front, I am forged into steel. With my shield closes towards me, it guards my beating heart. As long as the unicorn is on my chest, I shall not waver, My banner shall remain. With the sound of horns echoed across the field, And my blade flashing with blood, The path before me shall be opened and clear!” As the bodyguard knights began to sing their war song, the wolfriders struck their spears into their enemies’ small shields. They were a lot of screaming and sounds of metal clashing against each other, but the formation of the bodyguard knights did not change at all. With the spears completely deflected, the bodyguard knights continued to sing their songs with a volume that could be heard from a mile away. These men were very organized in their teamwork. With ten of them in the front row making space for the ten in the back, the ten in the back struck with their long swords towards the enemies at the front. Two of the wolfriders that were too slow to react to this. As their bodies were stabbed by the blades, a thin layer of ice came out and slowed down their movements. Things were as bad it could get for them, as even these warriors were equipped with ice magic weapons. With just two seconds left, the ten bodyguard knights who charged forward did not continue with their attacks but instead guarded themselves with their defensive position. The other ten, on the other hand, stopped defending themselves and began launching their attacks with their combat qi. Within a blink of an eye, two of the wolfriders were shot in the head and died immediately. After the bodyguard Knights finished their attack, they returned to their defending position and started recharging their combat qi, and the other ten began to launch their own attack. Wave after wave, they pressed onto their enemies like an unending flood. If it weren’t for the magic equipment they were wearing, such formation would be very risky against the powerful wolfriders. Like knights, warriors were a very legitimate class to be in. That being said. However, they did not engage in the same kind of systematic training as the knights when it comes to practicing their combat qi. While knights fed themselves with large amounts of food since when they were young, warriors had to rely on regular food to maintain their bodies. The resulting combat qi would be very different for the two classes. While warriors were very explosive in their release, they could not maintain their qi for too much time, and often had to wait for their internal energy to be recharged. Knights, on the other hand, were much more durable because of the stamina they had trained for. In terms of explosiveness, the knights were also better than the warriors on average. Technically speaking, the warriors were inferior to the knights, but they were often the unit that was the most commonly used on the battlefield. Knights were much harder to train, so many of the military tactics present were designed for the warriors. The ‘tide formation’ was a classic example. Whilst using this formation, the warriors were required to put their utmost trust in their comrades. When attacking, they ought to use up all their energies without reserve. When defending, they must do all they could to block any attack for their partners. If the high-ranked wolfriders were trying to attack the bodyguard knights, Abel and Marshall would keep them in check by chasing them down. Pretty soon, each one of them was able to trap two of the high-ranked wolfriders from assisting their comrades. To be honest, Abel was not happy to be in this situation. The mount wolves were simply too agile for him to make any killing blow. No wonder they were so suitable in guerilla warfare. “I hope you grow up soon, Black Wind,” Abel prayed in his mind. If he was riding on a fully grown mount wolf right now, these wolfriders wouldn’t have been fighting him so easily as they were. After blocking a sword with his shield, Abel used his lance to pick up a wolf riders spear from the ground. He then released his gold combat qi and transferred about 7000 pounds of force from his lance into the spear. When the knight’s lance was fully charged, he threw the spear with the firepower of a small missile. And a missile it truly was. Whilst flying through the air, the spear went through two of the wolf riders and disappeared into the horizon. As effective as this method was, Abel decided to try it again. Pretty soon, another wolfrider over the distance had a hole punched through its neck. The two high-ranked wolfriders facing against Abel looked at each other for a bit. Suddenly, they howled towards the sky and called for their underlings. Instead of attacking Abel himself, all the forces were now diverted into the horse he was riding on. Such a way of attacking was quite rare to see. Whether it was the humans or the orcs, mounts were a very cherished resource even on the battlefield. If a wolfrider’s mount wolf did not launch an attack, most human knights wouldn’t bother to attack it directly. “Mounts were not to be attacked.” This was an unspoken rule that was established many centuries ago. Abel knew about it, which made him even angrier about what these wolfriders were doing. Abel turned his head and looked for the bodyguard knights. After checking for the distance between him and them, he swung his lance around and forced the wolfriders to back away from him. As no one dared to make a move on him, he took the time to jump down from his war horse and patted it on the back. Abel was telling his horse to leave. The horse understood this, then neighed as it ran outside the battlefield. Obviously, the wolfriders were free to do whatever they wanted with it, but they didn’t bother to attack a vacant war horse with nobody riding on top of it. Abel had a grim look on his face as he resumed his fight these wolfriders. After blocking several spears that were struck at him, he threw away his shield and picked up one of them from the ground. One of the spears managed to land a hit on him, but he didn’t really care about it. With a swing of his arm, he shot one of the wolfriders down in its eyes. After that, he picked another lance and repeated the same process. That’s right. Abel didn’t care to defend himself. The armor he was wearing has made him completely immune to these wolfriders. Another lance was thrown, and with that, another wolfrider was taken down. Since there wasn’t any weapon that he could find near him, Abel picked up some rocks and threw it towards his enemies. With arms as strong as his, the power that was released was the same as that of a mini catapult. He was very accurate, too. Every piece that he threw managed to take down another wolfrider to the ground.

Chapter 81 - The Worgens’ Secret Hideout Chapter 81: The Worgens’ Secret Hideout Finally, the wolfriders were starting to lose their composure. They were invading against an invisible defender, one whose firepower was much more fierce than what they had. These wolfriders felt powerless from the bottom of their hearts. As the higher ranked commanders gave a howl to the rest of the packs, all of them started fleeing from their posts. There were about 50 dead wolfriders lying on the ground right now. “Sweep the battlefield!” As Lord Marshall gave his command, and the knights marched forward, finishing all the wolfriders that remained. Whether they were dead or not, all of them were stabbed with a knife in their chest. The veterans seemed used to this situation. They all had a blank look on their faces when they got rid of mount wolves that were guarding their masters’ dead bodies. Abel sighed at the sight of that. While these mount wolves already claimed their masters, there was a slight chance that they could find new ones. The easy way to settle this was to kill them all. Abel knew that a long time ago, but his heart ached when he realized that Black Wind previously had to suffer the exact same fate. “A knight does not leave his mount,” the Knight of Marshall scolded Abel as he walked towards him. “But it’ll be killed if I don’t,” Abel protested. The Knight of Marshall said with a straight face that he rarely wore, “That’s because you aren’t as experienced as a knight yet. If you want to protect your mount, make sure you don’t get knocked down first. It’s the most basic requirement of a proper knight.” Abel thought back on the training that he did. While he thought of some of the moves as unnecessary, now that he’s thought about it, they were all meant to deflect attacks that were aimed at his mount. “I’m sorry, Uncle Marshall,” Abel apologized, “I didn’t have the right understanding of what a knight should be like.” “You are talented, boy, but don’t let your powers delude you. Remember, it is very important to go back to your basics. You have a long way ahead of you.” While the Knight of Marshall condemned Abel for his immaturity, he was glad to see that Abel was sincere enough to learn from his mistakes. For geniuses like him, pride was a very big obstacle to get over with. Once the Knight of Marshall and Abel returned to the castle, everyone was cheering for them at the front gate. Not only had they won, but they also did with zero casualties. Such a feat would be impossible if they weren’t strong enough, and everyone who lived on this land took pride in their Lord’s strength. “A real man waits ten years for his revenge.” Abel didn’t really agree with this saying. For him, he believed that it’s best to “settle things down before the sun sets up again.” As Abel waved his hand at the Knight of Marshall, he equipped himself with a full set of armor, took the Harry Bow, and walked towards the forest behind the Harry Castle. “Hey, White Cloud!” Abel came to an empty spot inside the forest. He called out for his sky sparrow’s name in his mind, and soon, he received a reply coming from the sky. It was White Cloud, and its huge body quickly made a landing on the ground next to him. White Cloud was making a lot of noise when it first saw Abel. It was complaining that Abel didn’t spend a lot of time with it, so Abel had to pat its head for it to calm down. Abel laughed as White Cloud lowered its head towards him, “Come on, White Cloud. Let’s fly for a bit.” After he said that, Abel jumped on White Cloud’s back and readied his flight. White Cloud gave a loud shriek in response and quickly leaped into the sky. They were already flying pretty high in the first few seconds, but Abel told White Cloud to go even higher. Pretty soon, both of them were at the same level as the clouds. This was about as high as White Cloud could fly. Everything on the ground looked so tiny from Abel’s view. Actually, that’s what he preferred this time because there were a lot of targets he had to allocate. There were a hundred wolfriders that he had to find, and it was easy to do so if he was, literally, sitting on a bird’s back. It didn’t take long for Abel to find what he was looking for. The wolfriders were moving very fast when he had found them. At first, Abel had thought that they were trying to move their wounded soldiers to a safe location, but judging from how determined they appeared to be, they must’ve known what their destination was already. “Follow them, White Cloud,” Abel commanded White Cloud telepathically, and White Cloud lowered its speed as it flew over the wolfriders. After three hours of tailing behind these wolfriders, they eventually found a fruit grove that belonged to the humans. Abel did not saw that coming. He didn’t think that there would be humans who would welcome a pack of worgens. So these worgens did have a secret hideout in the human realm, but just who would be so daring as to collaborate with them? Abel took out a map from his pocket. What it showed him was, while this fruit grove was technically still inside Harvest City, it was much closer to Sidor City–an area that was too desolate to have many records to it. Even the map that Abel had wasn’t showing a lot of information about it. Abel tapped White Cloud on the back. Pretty soon, it lowered itself down and made a landing behind a mountain far away from the fruit grove. After Abel jumped down from its back, it was now free to move however it wanted. Luckily for Abel, he didn’t have to do much to keep White Cloud in check. As big as sky sparrows were, they were very timid creatures that would rarely do anything to catch attention. Apart from their mealtime, they would often fly so high that nothing would be able to catch it. Most people wouldn’t even notice its existence, because from what they would see, these birds were just clouds that were floating around the sky. After tidying up his equipment for a bit, Abel quickly ran towards the direction of the fruit grove. As he ran, he thought about how he didn’t have to run anymore when Black Wind was old enough to carry him around. Black Wind would take care of short distance travel, and White Cloud would take care of long distance travel. If Abel wanted to go somewhere, he would just let White Cloud take him there first and then ride Black Wind on his way down. He could use a horse to do the same job, but the horses had to recover for a while after they’ve spent some time in high altitude. Abel had to stop his feet when he was about 1 kilometer away from the fruit groves. There were simply far too many worgens inside, and their sense of smell could’ve easily tracked him if he was any closer. Abel rested his lance under a tree and climbed up its branch for a better view inside the fruit grove. Instead of going in for a rush attack, he was more interested in finding out how these worgens were sustaining themselves inside the human world. And what an ironic sight he has found. Inside this fruit grove, humans and worgens were living together in harmony. They seemed to be getting along fairly well, and from what it looked like, the humans were even offering food for the worgens. For the hundreds of mount wolves that were inside the fruit grove, there were a few human servants that were pushing a cartful of pigs to feed them. On the other side of the place, the worgens were eating as they sat on the ground. Apart from their commanders, because of how many of them, there were, most of them did not bother to use a seat or a table. Suddenly, a door from inside the yard was opened. From what it looked like, a fat human and two worgens came out from the inside. Abel was kind of surprised to see that. He recognized this human. It was the shop-owner of Gary’s potion store inside Harvest City. Abel didn’t know what this man’s name was, but he did buy some potions from Gary’s potion store. He was still new to Harvest City at the time, but he did remember this man doing something at the store’s counter. Because of how ridiculously good Abel’s memory was, there was no way that he could’ve got it wrong. Suddenly, one of the two worgens started looking towards Abel’s direction. Abel quickly closed his eyes, stopped his breathing, and attempted to erase his presence as much as he could. “What is wrong, Master Fowler?” Fat Darren asked as he noticed the look on Fowler’s face.” The Worgen named Fowler replied, “Nothing, Mr. Darren. I must’ve been mistaken or something.” “We had a very successful deal, Master Fowler,” a wide grin appeared on Darren’s face, “I look very much forward towards our next exchange.” Unlike Darren, Fowler was not looking forward to their next meeting at all. He was profiting from the deal they’ve made this time, but anyone would be disgusted at someone who was willing to sell his own kind. Fowler revealed a fake smile as he replied, “Good to do business with you, Mr. Darren. The Woolf family will not treat you poorly. We will bring more things to trade with you the next time.” “Come here next time, Master Fowler, and I shall hold a wine fest just for you,” Darren bowed. For now, he just wanted to leave the fruit grove as quickly as he could. The more worgens that were coming into this place, the less safe he felt for his own life. If he’s said something wrong to these animals, they might just bite his head off right where he was standing.

Chapter 82 - A Despicable Man Chapter 82: A Despicable Man “It’s finally over!” Darren sighed with a sense of relief. The feeling of being watched by more than a hundred worgen freaked him out. Although he had dealt with worgen a few times, the fear of the worgen in his heart was still the same. Darren’s carriage was large, but not luxurious. As an ordinary businessman, he was not qualified to ride a luxury carriage, and today the carriage was coming full of goods. Now, the goods had been replaced by a small bag of Orc Empire’s specialty, so the carriage looked empty at this time. Gently patting the big bag around him, Darren’s fat face was full of smiles. He murmured proudly, “The accumulated past ten years of business is not as profitable as today, thank god!” “Reis, speed up, then you will have a special reward when we get back!” Darren shouted to the carter. He felt unsecured when bringing such a big amount of money. Carter Reis was a junior warrior and also Darren’s guard. The fewer people know the transaction happened today, the better, so Darren only brought the most reliable personal guard. “Yes, sir.” The inferior horse with the carriage started to run faster after Reis whipped it. Although the inferior horse sped up, Darren was still dissatisfied, but he has no solution for that. He said unhappily, “I’m done with this inferior horse. I’ll go change it into a war horse after I get back.” Reis didn’t answer. Both of them actually understood that it was impossible for Dale to buy a war horse. War horses were exclusive for Knights, so they cannot be bought when you got a huge amount of money. Without corresponding identity, you would also be captured by the terrible aristocratic arbitral tribunal for blasphemy. “When I make enough money, we go to the Duchy of Thunder. I heard that you could get the title of a lord by donating. I will become a Lord, and you will be my knight,” Darren’s fat face was full of imagination as if the dream had already come true. The carriage stopped slowly, Darren cursed: “Reis, why the hell did you stop?” When Darren opened the door of the carriage and leaned out, he saw a short knight in blue armor standing next to the carriage. His personal guard, Reis was also a junior warrior has been grabbed with a single hand and held it in his hand. At that moment, Reis was paralyzed and seemed to be strangled to death already. It was Abel who came. It’s impossible for who was eager to find the news let go of the human carriage coming out from the worgen’s manor. Abel suddenly appeared next to the carriage just now. When Reis was about to attack, he had been strangled by Abel already. Reis’s neck broke when Abel only used a little bit of strength grasping the neck. Abel was also reluctant. The constant growing strength did not stop at the end of the promotion. Now the knight training every day and Knight’s breathing techniques at night let the light golden combat qi flow through the whole body, and the light golden combat qi seems to have a strong effect on the body. Because of its powerful of will, Abel could now feel the increase in strength every day. Whoever thought that just a pinch would kill a junior warrior. This junior warrior’s physical fitness condition was too bad. Abel forgot that he usually practiced with intermediate knight Lord Marshall. It was impossible to compare the body of the intermediate knight with the body of the junior warrior? Even the fifth-level of novice knights are stronger than the junior warrior’s body. It could be seen from the food they eat. The meat that Abel now eats every day is the best part of the beast. He threw away the dead driver’s body in his hand. There was no guilt for the driver’s death. Abel’s direct killing is the lightest punishment. If it is in accordance with the law, the entire family would have been killed. Reis’s body slammed to the ground with a bang. Darren’s fat body trembled, and his fat flickered. Then his teeth began to fight, making a giggle sound, and his lower body was wet. The urine scared by the worgen was finally scared out at this time. Seeing this fat man’s reaction, Abel felt angry and funny at the same time. This businessman who can betray human beings was as timid as a mouse. Really don’t know how he could have started a business with worgen. “Please, don’t kill me. I’ll give you everything you want!” Darren begged in front of the knight whose face was covered by his helmet, though he knew it was not surprising that he died thousands of times if anyone knew what he did, but his strong desire to survive still made him plead. “Say it. What’s the relationship between you and the worgen?” Abel frowned, took a step back because of the fat man was full of stench in front of him. “I just came to give food to the worgen, and didn’t do any business with them!” Darren explained immediately without any thinking. “Doing business?” Abel found the clue directly in Darren’s sentence. “No, no, no business.” It was found that due to the nervousness, what could usually speak can make mistakes one after another, Darren keep denied it. Abel’s iron-gloved finger lightly touched Darren’s left arm, only heard a click, his left arm bone was broken. The intense pain made Darren was about to yell, but Abel’s fingers had quickly appeared in front of his eyes, and the metal fingers in front of him were like the hands of a demon, scared Darren who just wanted to yell to stopped, sweating all over the body due to the severe pain, but Darren tolerated the pain and did not dare to speak. “My patience is limited and my temper is not good. Every time you tell a lie, I break a bone. You have 206 bones. You still have a lot of opportunities to lie.” Abel’s voice was very light, just like sitting with a friend and chatting. But when he heard it, it seemed like he was listening to the terrible demonic words. His whole body shivered even more. He didn’t know how many bones there were in humans. This was the content of the education of noble knights, but he knew when every bone in the body is broken, it would cause pain that is worse than death. “I’ll tell the truth, I’ll tell the truth.” Darren’s psychological defense was defeated, and he no longer wanted to keep anything at this time, said directly: “I came to trade support potion with werewolf, these are items that were exchanged from the worgen. ” Darren pointed to the bag that had fallen to the ground in the carriage. Abel stepped forward and held the bag in his hand. When he opened it, he found that it was all the same dry flower. He had about 20 pounds in his hand. Abel was not familiar with flowers and plants and asked, “What is this?” “This is the dementor grass. Ordinary people would be addicted to it and indulge in hallucinations, but it is the element for most promotion potion, and the human world produced very little.” Darren realized that there was no life danger at the moment, so tried to answer everything Abel asked. Abel couldn’t help criticizing: “Aren’t this just drugs? If it wasn’t the element for promotion, I’m afraid it would be the same as drugs in another world.” “Say it, how did you contact the worgens. Don’t tell me you can contact them by yourself.” Abel asked. Darren looked at Abel with a sense of embarrassment, his eyes turned around, and he was about to come up with some excuses, but then Abel’s iron fingers appeared again in his eyes. “It’s the Seventh Prince, Prince Middleton George, and I was his deputy in Harvest City.” Darren almost cried to say the whole sentence. “What kind of asshole son did King Spence George bear!” Abel could not help but curse, then looked at Darren with a smile and asked, “I’m done, the last question. What do you have to save your life? ” Darren seemed to see the hope of life, and his strong desire to survive made his eyes piercingly pleaded, and said in succession: “I hid 20,000 gold coins in the basement of Gary’s potion store in Harvest City. There are a lot potions in stock. I’ll give them all to you. Please let me go. ” “Basement? Where is it?” Abel asked. “Under my bed.” Darren has found something wrong right after he said it. The method of interrogation used by Abel is a surprising way of interrogation that he saw in previous lives. It can be seen in many films and television works. And it turned out that people who hadn’t seen movies and televisions were immediately uttered. Darren looked terrible at the moment. As the last chip was handed over, what was waiting for him is already obvious.

Chapter 83 - Item Looting Chapter 83: Item Looting After Darren died, Abel threw two bodies onto the carriage, patted the horse, and let the horse leave freely. A bag full of soul catcher grass hung on the treetop of the tree. This time, Abel wouldn’t take a second look at the worgens’ hideout. He’s caught the attention of the worgen just by looking at Darren. Fortunately, he responded quickly and changed his sight in time. Such keen senses did not belong to a high-ranked wolfrider. That worgen was a high-ranking commander. A wolfrider commander was here, rushing out hastily to inquire would be suicidal. Abel thought that his equipment was not enough to protect himself. This wolfrider was in the same rank as Viscount Dickens, whose aura was frighteningly powerful for anyone to dare close in on him. Such an opponent could not be defeated with just magic weapons. But Abel didn’t want just to leave. The wolfriders who attacked Harry Castle were right in front of him. Whilst being put in a dilemma, he suddenly thought of the transformation necklace. Maybe the necklace can transform him into a worgen. For someone like Abel, once he thought of something, he would start doing it right away. After stripping off his armor, he hid all his equipment under a tree and took out his transformation necklace. He held it in his hand, chanted out the words he’s said so many times before, and was turned into a worgen under a familiar green light. “Apart from getting my muscles and bones torn up, the necklace is actually pretty nice,” Abel said in a half-praising, half-sarcastic manner. As Abel walked to the manor, he started planning for his escape if he were to fail this infiltration. He pressed his hand on his Horadric cube and looked at the three improved exploding big swords. If his disguise was blown, he would probably throw these three exploding big swords to his pursuers, and then quickly run away by summoning White Cloud. With a back-up strategy in mind, Abel was now much more confident to walk inside the manor, and because of how relaxed he was, the worgen that was guarding the door didn’t seem to bother checking him at all. “Seriously? Not even a body check? And these dogs want to invade the humans!!” Abel thought to himself. If the security measure here were a little stricter, he would’ve been running away by now. In fact, Abel couldn’t blame the guarding worgen for such negligence of duty. This manor was usually tightly guarded. A signal whistle could be heard here all day long. Anyone approaching had to be examined by the human guard first, and then by the worgens themselves. In just today, there were more than 100 wolfriders in the manor house, and many wounded people were brought in. A large number of people were serving these wolfriders. With so many in here, no one would dare to spy here. Abel was kind of a particular case. Without checking a second time, the guard just assumed that Abel was also one of those worgens, and when Abel entered the manor, the wolfrider who rested in the yard thought that Abel was a worgen in the manor. In this way, Abel as able to get inside the manor with just a few nods of his head. The low-ranked wolfriders were eating. Judging from the way they’ve talked amongst themselves, failing the invasion made them feel humiliated, and they became fearful of the humans who lived in Harry Castle. They actually thought that their opponents were blessed with some sort of divine gifts. This was the simple mentality of ordinary worgens. Any invincible opponent would be deified by them. Such a habit made Abel want to laugh at them, but at the same time, it was also reassuring to hear that they wouldn’t harass Harry Castle again. At the same time, Abel learned that the highest leader here was a wolfrider commander called Fowler. Fowler was here, and the distance from here to Harvest city was enough to avoid the detection of masters like Viscount Dickens. Besides, by standing his post here, Fowler could also support the wolfriders without letting anyone take away this precious hideout. The manor was purchased by the Woolf family from the seventh prince, Middleton George. It was also a trading place for business with Prince Middleton. Prince Middleton was happy to trade with worgen in this remote place. After all, trading with orcs was risky. Abel did not hesitate. Most of the time, after he came to the manor, he observed the manor: the warehouse and the house where commander Fowler stay gained most of Abel’s attention. After an hour, there was a sharp howl from afar direction, and then another cry, but this howl was closer than the previous one. It was audible. Then, a howl came again not far from the manor, and a guard hurried toward the commander Fowler. “What’s going on? Why would you use this kind of emergency messaging?” One of the wolfrider asked another. It seemed that the wolfrider next to him was a worgen who was familiar with the signal. The worgen said with pride, “The message just passed said that there was a situation 20 miles ahead. Not sure what the situation was. Howls like these can’t convey information that is too complicated. ” “20 miles… Was the carriage discovered by the worgen scout?” The more Abel thought, the more likely it was. While Abel was thinking, a shadow came out of the middle house of the manor. It was commander Fowler, he howled, and then another faint black shadow rushed and stopped suddenly at the side of commander Fowler. This rapid deceleration was a violation of the laws of physics. “Such powers and keen senses,” Abel admired. As commander Fowler turned towards the mount wolf, it charged straight towards the gate without a care for the fence in front of it. Its leap was about 4 meters high. Everything was so fast that Abel couldn’t see it properly. This was a scarce opportunity. Abel stood up, and while all the worgens focused on the commander Fowler, he turned close to the room left by commander Fowler and opened the door gently. Abel found that the worgen’s body was more flexible than the human body. Despite all the movements he just did, no sound was made at all. The reason was that the worgens had meat pads on their hands and feet. They could withdraw their claws while sneaking and extend their claws to attack. He entered into commander Fowler’s room. The furnishings in the room were straightforward: a large bed, a table, a chair, a night pearl illuminated above the head, and that was all. A small bag was placed on the table. Abel stepped forward and opened the small bag. From the outside, it was a small bag, but after opening it, he felt that inside the bag had a vast space, about the size of a room. Abel was very excited to see this. This was the first time he saw the first space storage item other than a Horadric cube. He had never heard of such a storage item before. He settled down, anyway, it was already his once it was in his hands, Abel thought. He did not know how the worgen used this storage item. He directly entered it with his power of the Will. It was full of potions. Abel was very familiar with these potions. The blood fusing potions, replenishing potions, and essence condensing potion. The three combat qi enhance potions were special medicine that is strictly forbidden to flow out of the human world. Even when Abel bought it for a large amount, he was afraid of being suspected as a smuggler. All the potions were densely packed in the small bag, and the quantities were not counted, but according to Abel’s estimates, these should be enough for him to consume for two months, which means that there are potions worth more than 1.2 million gold coins. This “gift” was just about enough to make Abel forgive what these wolfriders did to Harry Castle. Well, at least for the time being. Abel turned around and found an animal skin on the bed. Abel did not saw it when he first came in. When he looked closely, he found that this animal skin had a very slight aura to it. Although this aura was barely noticeable, weirdly enough, it was found on a dead animal’s hide, and not from a living beast. Just how powerful was this beast when it was alive? Abel stopped thinking. He stepped forward to roll up the animal skin, put it in a small bag, and checked the room. The pillow was also pretty nice. He could feel the coolness as soon as he put his hands on it. He tried putting it behind his head, and as soon as he felt a sense of comfortableness with it, he quickly put it in his bag as to not fall asleep right away.

Chapter 84 - Time To Loot Chapter 84: Time to Loot Abel put his hand on the table. He wasn’t sure why, but he could feel that the wood was reacting to his power of the Will. This was the first time he had discovered an item that could boost his mental powers. Although Captain Fowler’s room appeared to be empty, everything here was all useful stuff. Even though he couldn’t recognize some of the stuff, he couldn’t waste the chance of not taking them away. Anyways, there was still a lot of space in the bag, so he threw everything in. After a while, the big bed, the table, and the chair was gone. He could still take away the floor tiles. The tile was made of jade of the same color. Abel just couldn’t let them “go to waste,” so he took out a small dagger and started to prying on the floor beneath him. Since he was a worgen, it didn’t take much time for Abel to take away all the tiles from the room. After, the room was barely beyond recognition. Abel took off the night pearl above his head and murmured to himself, “I almost forgot that I have five of these in the Abel castle, and with this one, it will be a perfect match. ” When Abel snuck out of the room, no worgen noticed him at all. Since Captain Fowler had called for a defense against any unexpected invasion, everyone had already for the front door of the secret hideout. Realizing how much stuff he stole, Abel found a corner, jumped very hard, placed his hands on the top of the wall, got himself out of the wall. He looked back at the 4-meter-high fence and shook his head. After stealing so many things from here, he didn’t think the worgens would stay if he was to come for a second time. Abel retrieved his lance, armor, and other equipment. He took the big bag containing the soul catcher grass from the tree, threw them all into the portal bag, and ran back towards the mountain he had dropped White Cloud at. When Abel rode on White Cloud and fly to the cloud, he heard a heartbreaking howl in the direction of the manor. Abel felt kind of sorry when he heard it. Yeah, who wouldn’t be sad when a thief had robbed everything from one of their rooms? After Captain Fowler heard about Darren, he rode his mount wolf to the place where the incident happened, only to find out that the fat man was killed a few hours ago. After checking Darren’s carriage, Captain Fowler guessed that he was targeted because of his money. While no sympathy was spared for him, Fowler had to find a new way to contact the seventh prince again, which meant any ongoing trade would have to be delayed for the time being. As Captain Fowler inspected the scene, an ominous feeling started coming over to him. He was very accurate in this kind of thing. Because of how keen his senses were, he could foresee dangers coming from miles away from him But just when he thought that an invasion was coming towards him, his room was already invaded by a thief. Oh no! Captain Fowler thought of the bag that was made of orc’s spirit portal. That was the treasure of the clan, and it was the key item for the Woof family to transport items. Even if there was a giant transporting flying animal like a sky sparrow, there was simply not enough space on its back to carry so many military items. There was no longer time to investigate the dead fat man. Without any second thought, Fowler rode his mount wolf back to the secret hideout. But when he entered the manor, everything appeared to be normal. Was something wrong with his sixth sense, after all? It might have something to do with overtraining. Whatever it was, he just couldn’t find out what has been bothering him this entire time. Well, that was until he opened the door to his room. “Who? Who did this?” Captain Fowler shouted as he found out that his room was completely emptied. The most precious “orc’s spirit portal bag” of the clan, along with other belongings that he trapped in this small manor through various means, were all gone. Whoever did this was not sparing him anything. The floor tiles on the ground were all made of the best meditation jade. Even a small piece of it could effectively stop one’s mind from being interfered with negative thoughts, which was something that happens a lot more to people in the upper level of their training. The higher the level, the easier it was to be bothered by various negative thoughts. Meditation jade was always an extremely precious asset for trainers. Not just from the humans, for the past hundred years, Fowler has been stealing and robbing it from anywhere he could live in the Orc Empire. He would then gather all the jade he’s got and store it inside his room. Beds, tables, and chairs were made of the same kind of wood, which was only produced in Dragon Abyss. According to the legends, this timber was cut from the ambergris trees, which were trees that were watered with the saliva of dragons. When an ambergris tree grows, it will secrete a substance on its skin, which would attract dragons to come feed of it. And when the dragons fed themselves off the trees, more of their salivas would be poured and would help with the plant’s growth. The wooden furniture made by ambergris timber could strengthen one’s power of the Will. For powerful fighters like Captain Fowler, it was what made him so invincible even against enemies in the intermediate rank. What saddened Captain Fowler the most was the pillow on his bed, which made with the core of a meditation gem piece. If it wasn’t for this pillow, he would’ve had no need to be stuck in this middle-of-nowhere hideout. Except for the armor on his body and the weapons in his hand, everything that Fowler had was now gone. He just couldn’t believe it. How could a location so heavily guarded be robbed like this? Worse yet, the culprit managed to escape without leaving a single trace. Captain Fowler shouted angrily, “Bring me all the humans inside this manor. I want them all to be interrogated.” Before, humans and worgens were living in perfect harmony. Now, screams filled the air as the worgens did everything they could to make the humans speak. The humans did not even know what happened. They had no way to respond to the worgens’ questions and were forced to die without a chance to defend themselves. As the last human lost his life, the worgens finally started to suspect each other. “Was it one of us?” Captain Fowler said skeptically. Captain Fowler started questioning each one of his soldiers. After a while, one worgen was found to be missing. While one side claimed that the worgen was in the fruit grove before, the other side was saying that he had come along with the wolfriders. After a heated debate leading to no end, the only conclusion was that the missing worgen was no longer to be found. “Who is doing this to me?” Captain Fowler thought to himself. For the treasures he stole over the years, he offended way too many people to be counted. While Fowler was going through his long list of rivals, Abel was enjoying his flight on White Cloud. “Let’s go to Harvest City,” Abel said to himself. He had almost forgotten that there was a sum of unclaimed money to be collected. If he had remembered it correctly, it was located in the Gary Pharmacy Store inside Harvest City. After locating the Gary’s Pharmacy shop, Abel took two quick breaths and calmed himself down. In a world as dangerous as this, he must not get too complacent. Cautiousness was what mattered the most. Yes, cautiousness. Take the stuff he’s looted today, for example. He had never seen some of these items before, and he was sure that even Marshall wouldn’t know about them. There was also that shocking howl made by Fowler. If he really had to fight such a terrifying opponent, could three exploding swords really have helped him to escape? The more Abel thought about it, the more he felt that his actions were too risky for his own good. Although he got himself a lot of good items, he didn’t quite make an assessment of his enemies’ abilities. He got lucky this time, but such blunders could be fatal at times. Speaking of which, he was already near the Harvest City. Since he couldn’t risk being discovered from here, he jumped from White Cloud and put on a robe to cover his whole body. To hide his true identity, he paid the entrance fee to get inside whilst pretending to be a worker from the church. It was already evening during this time, and there were a lot of people out there on the street. Many nobles had already started their nightlife at this time. It seemed that the closer the night was, the more lively the city was.

Chapter 85 - Black Market Auction Chapter 85: Black Market Auction Abel didn’t walk very fast, but every one of his steps was wider than anyone else. He has paid many visits to Harvest City by this point. Once he took a few turns at the corners, he was able to find his way into Gary’s potion store–a large potion store selling various kinds of potions. Gary’s potion store was closed. Maybe it wasn’t in business today. Or, maybe it was because the shop’s owner Darren wasn’t here. “Hi there,” a stranger said as he tapped Abel on the shoulder, “Sorry, but you’ve been going the wrong way, haven’t you?” Wait, did he just recognize me? Abel thought as he turned his head around. Strangely, he saw a man wearing the same mask and hood as him. It was a strange man, but he was very passionate about his demeanor. “The Chris Auction Stand is over here,” the man kindly showed Abel, “You’ve been going the wrong way, haven’t you?” Abel stumbled for a bit as he wasn’t quite sure what was going on, “Yeah! I-I wasn’t sure where I was going, you see.” “I knew it! Those newcomers always chicken out, don’t they? They are scared of being recognized, scared of letting others know what they’ve bought. Come on now. This is just another regular auction! They don’t sell anything special here. We don’t know where the products come from, sure, but that’s only from time to time.” The man continued on as he closed in on Abel, “Especially this time. They are putting up maids for sale, you see. Not just regular maids, though. They have dwarf maids, orc maids. I’m not sure if they have vulpera maids, but I sure look forward to it.” Abel finally understood now. Whoever this man was, he was going to the black market sales held by the Kree’s auction stand. Coincidentally, they were both wearing the same costumes. No wonder he thought that Abel was going with him. “Might as well have a look,” Abel thought to himself. For all the time he’s spent on his own training, now was the chance to open his eyes to the outside world. “I give you my gratitude, sir,” Abel gave a light bow to the mysterious man, “A thousand thanks for showing me around this place.” The mysterious man didn’t expect Abel to be this polite. He quickly returned a bow and said apologetically, “Oh, I did not know you were a nobleman. I’m sorry for my imprudence back then.” The man wasn’t acting so easygoing now. Actually, Abel liked it more this way. He was used to talking to strangers with a polite and distanced tone. Besides, the man was cultured enough to return the favor to him. He must be a nobleman as well, or at least someone was in the same circle. Abel praised, “Nobles have to be very careful to attend these kinds of auctions, don’t they? You, sir, you hide well under your disguise.” “Ha!” the man replied with a laugh, “Oh, by the Spirits! You are definitely the most humourous gentleman that I’ve ever seen.” The two walked towards the front entrance of the Kree’s auction stand. The door was half-open when they arrived, which indicated that the business has just closed. There were still two staff standing outside. However, and they moved out of the way for Abel and the man to come in. They didn’t say anything as they were doing this. The man advised, “Try not to speak too much here. You might see someone you know here.” Abel nodded as he kept his mouth shut. The two entered the main hall of the second floor, which was crowded with tens of different people who were all hiding under their hoods. Most of them were waiting in silence, while a handful of them was whispering something to one another. The man whispered to Abel, “Most of these people are merchants. Do you know why these filthy lowlifes are here? They’re here because they want things that they’re usually not allowed to have. ” “Oh, dear Spirits,” Abel exclaimed, “Aren’t they afraid to be punished by the royal arbitral tribunal?” Abel could tell how jealous this man was getting when he mentioned those merchants. While merchants had a low status in this world, they were often much wealthier than a lot of the upper-class noblemen. The man replied, “That’s why this place exists, no?” Abel asked, “What exactly is this place? What kind of influence is behind it to make it operate?” “Come on, who else inside the Duchy of Carmel can do this?” the man said sarcastically, “Surely it can’t be the nobles. Why would they spend the time to do something like this? If you’re really interested in finding out the answers, you might want to ask those royals who spend their whole lives inside their castle.” “Oh, so that’s what it is,” Abel exclaimed in his mind, “there’s no concrete evidence behind, but it could be Middleton George, the seventh prince’s idea. Why else would this place be right next to Gary’s potion store?” A thin middle-aged sudden came out and walked towards the auction stage. Judging from the fancy suit he was wearing, he must be the host of today’s sale. “Good evening, everyone! Welcome to the Kree’s auction stand!” My name is Hopper, and I’ll be the host of today’s auction. Thank you all for coming today!” There wasn’t much of a reaction coming from the crowd. Apart from the few who clapped their hands, most just looked at Hoppy in silence. They were obviously more interested in something else. Hopper knew that, so he waved his hand around and got to the main part right away. Soon, the staff brought a plate that was covered in a red drape. As Hopper removed the drape, everyone could see that a knight’s heavy sword was underneath. The more Abel took a look at it, the more familiar he seemed to be with it. If he wasn’t mistaken, this piece was something that he himself had made. “Our first item is a knight’s heavy sword, crafted by none but the pride of Harvest City, the legendary Master Blacksmith and the Lord of his own domain. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this masterpiece here is forged by Master Abel’s own hands. Based on what we know from our network, you wouldn’t find more than ten of these blades on sale in the market.” The crowd suddenly got quite rowdy after that. Apparently, Abel’s sword seemed to have captured a lot of attention from them. Hopper was really glad to see that. He was the one who proposed to have it as today’s first item, and the plan has worked out exactly the way he had hoped it to be. “As some of you may know, Master Abel’s magic weapons have always been very popular. Ever since Master Thorin Oakenshield has labeled them to be around 50,000 gold coins in their worth, it has become difficult for them to be sold in most regular markets. Because of this, we had to move this piece right here all the way from Bakong City.” Hopper continued on with a very dramatic tone, “The bottom price will be 1000 gold coins! 100 gold coins for every time someone raises the offer. I repeat everyone raise is 100 gold coins! We will now begin the auction with a knight’s heavy sword that Master Abel has forged!” Abel could tell for sure now. It really was a sword that he has made. It wasn’t his finest work, but it was a sword of a hundred skills. It was strange to see it here, though. It was a knight’s heavy sword, something that could only be wielded by a knight or a nobleman. Most people couldn’t even lay their eyes on something like this. “1000 gold coins!” a low voice came over. Whoever called it out, Abel could tell that he was trying to hide his real voice. “1100!” Another raised his left arm and shouted. “1500!” “1800!” That was already twice the normal price they would sell in an ordinary market. These people were simply mad. Abel couldn’t find other ways to explain this. “Anyone wishes to bid higher? Remember, this is a sword that Master Abel has made himself! Whether you want it for a collection or for training purposes, this is about the best option that you are going to see in a very, very long time!” As Hopper continued to tempt the crowd, the price was finally raised to 2,200 gold coins. Hopper decided to call stop here, “2200 gold coins now. Does anyone want to raise? Okay, then. 2200 gold coins once.” “2200 gold coins twice.” “2200…” A voice suddenly called out from Abel’s side, “2300 gold coins!” “What the hell?” Abel turned his head around. He didn’t see this coming at all, but the man who brought him in was the one who called out 2300 gold coins. The man laughed as he saw Abel looking at him, “It would be a disgrace towards Master Abel if his work were to be sold to a merchant. I can’t allow that to happen, can I?” “The price is now raised to 2300 gold coins. 2300 once.” “2300 twice.” “2300. Thrice.” “Congratulations, Sir. You have earned yourself a knight’s heavy sword made by none but Master Abel himself.” As Hopper congratulated the man, a staff approached him and received a bag filled with the sum that was called out. “Nothing less coming from a prodigy!” the man scanned the sword’s blade as he revealed a part of it from the sheath. Abel really liked this man now. Whoever he was, a man with such a good taste in weapons, must also have a great character to him. If Abel’s got the chance, he’d love to be friends with this strange fellow.

Chapter 86 - Elf For Sale Chapter 86: Elf For Sale “The second lot was the purple fantasy series set designed by Master Lisa of Bakong City. It consisted of a necklace, two earring pieces, and a ring. The complete set was made of gold and purple gems.” Hopper continued his introduction in a cheery tone, “Not only are they made of some very fine jewelry, but Master Lisa has also added a lot more artistic value to them with her craftsmanship. The base price of this set of jewelry was 800 gold coins, and every bid must not be less than 50 gold coins.” Abel had already lost his interest when he heard the word “jewelry.” Harry Castle had no mistresses in the first place. Besides, Abel was way too young to have a girlfriend. Abel looked at the people around him. Although he could not see their face, judging from their actions and forms, he could roughly guess what these people do for a living. Most of these people were businessmen. Abel could tell from the way they spoke. Some people deliberately learned to speak and act like nobles, but the etiquette they’ve used was incompatible to the current scenario. Abel was sure that some of them were trained since childhood. Most people might not realize it, but Abel could easily tell them apart from the others. These nobles rarely raised their hand to raise the price. Instead, they seemed to be waiting for something else to come up. Abel was kind of the same. He, too, had no interest in the next dozen or so items that were put up for sale. Most of these items were items previously used by mistresses of noblemen. Since most people had no access to them, they were directly auctioned here in the black market. Actually, if the ones who sold these items were not nobles, to begin with, they would’ve been arrested by the noble arbitral tribunal if they decided to wear those in public. “Looks like you haven’t bought anything at all. Were you also waiting for the last item?” The man next to Abel asked. “I’m not really interested,” Abel replied, “Something’s been bothering me, though. Just why are there so many people who’re out to buy these luxurious items? Surely most of them aren’t nobles, so what would they do if they actually get their hands on them? Aren’t they scared of getting arrested?” “You don’t know a lot about merchants, do you?” the man said and explained, “You see, the merchants are an insignificant and prideful bunch. Apart from the gold that they have, not much else is enough to give them any comfort. To answer your question, no, they aren’t afraid of getting arrested, because after they’ve managed to purchase something here, all they are going to do is to put what they’ve bought inside their houses. Rather than wearing the items, they are just going to spend their time looking at them.” The man explained. “Oh, my spirits! What unique taste these men have!” Abel exclaimed. For someone like him, it was hard to imagine if all the jewels and fancy clothes inside his castle were all stored inside a collection room. “Here, my dear customers and guests is the last lot of today’s auction. I know, I know. This is probably why so many of you have visited us today, so please enjoy yourself as we introduce you to our next lot! ” Despite having introduced dozens of items today, Hopper was not getting tired at all. In fact, not only did he not tire, he seemed to be only getting more energetic as the hours went by. “Her eyes are blue like the sky, her mouth small like a cherry, and her ears shaped like a piece of carved jade. And would you look at the figure of her body! Such finesse! Such wonder! Here we have an elf from the Double Moon Forest!” Under Hopper’s dramatic introduction, a female elf in cuff walked up towards the auction stage. There was a small iron chain attached to her handcuffs, and the other end of the chain was pulled by the guard. The female elf looked young. Child-like, even. This was an underage elf girl, with a fearful look on her face and a lot of distress showing from her pair of blue eyes. “This is an elf who has yet to lose her virginity. The bottom price is 10,000 gold coins, and the minimum bid is 500 gold coins. We’ll start the bid now!” Hopper shouted. “10,000 gold coins.” Someone shouted as soon as Hopper finished speaking. “11,000 gold coins.” “11,500 gold coins.” “12,000 gold coins.” The auction became very lively now. There were several who hadn’t called out any prices yet, and they were going all-out at the same time. Abel frowned and asked the man next to him, “The principality has banned the sale of any slaves other than orcs. How is that we have an elf on sale here?” “I also don’t know, either,” the man responded, and suddenly screamed as he checked his wallet, “Oh, no! I didn’t bring enough money today!.”. Abel shook his head at the sight of this. It was probably Prince Middleton George who was responsible. For someone who could trade with the worgens, selling elves would most certainly not be taboo for him. “15,000 gold coins!” one of the customers yelled as he looked around for anyone willing to compete with him, the murderous spirit(qi) starting oozing out of his body. “An elite knight!” Abel was shocked. He did not expect that an elite knight would appear on such occasions. While this man was not as powerful as Viscount Dickens or Fowler, the qi he released was not something anyone could possess. This man actually used his qi in public, and not to mention that it was targeted at normal people. Some people were already collapsing because of this. As weak as the aura of an elite knight was, it would still take about a month for most people to recover from it. “Why don’t you continue the auction?” The elite knight spoke with a rather cocky tone in his voice. He seemed kind of proud to have injured so many people all by himself. “How dare you?” Hopper scoffed without fear as he knew how well connected the Kree’s Auction Stand was. Instead of complying with this troublemaker who was trying to order him around, he decided to turn to the guards. “Catch him,” Hopper told his men, but boy, he really made a miscalculation here. In a blink of an eye, all six intermediate knight guards fell on the ground and started moaning in pain. Like how any fight between a child and a grown-up was, the combat qi of an elite knight could easily crush any intermediate knight in his way. Abel knew that the elite knight was holding back. He wasn’t looking to commit murder in Harvest City, obviously. While the black market was not protected by law, as long as no one died here, no one would bother to report on the elite knight. “Looks like I’ve saved 15 grand for myself,” the elite knight laughed, then kicked Hopper off the auction stage with one kick. He didn’t even look at Hopper’s bodyguards, as they were all too frightened to even stand up on two legs. Without anyone in his way, he came straight towards the enslaved elf. “Greetings, my lovely elf lady. I have always wanted an elf as a maid. You will be my exclusive maid from now on. From this point onward, I will be your master till the end of my days,” The elite knight feigned politeness as he introduced himself to the elf. The elf girl was too shocked to say anything. While looking around with her big pair of eyes, she desperately searched for any help that could come and rescue her. Abel did not want to get involved, but when he saw the helplessness and despair in those eyes, he was reminded of the time when he first came to this world. He was reminded of being scared and alone every single day, just like this elf girl was. She was now in the human world, surrounded by malicious people who wanted nothing but to exploit her. The elite knight reached out and grabbed the chain on the elf’s handcuff. While doing so, a mysterious force interfered and stopped him right where he was at. “Who the hell are you?” The elite knight was very annoyed. If he didn’t know that elves were up for sale here, there was no way that he would be coming to this dirty place today. And to have someone interfering him from getting what he wants, that just pissed him off even more. Abel looked at the elite knight in front of him and found it funny because Abel just found out that the elite knight in front of him didn’t bring his weapon in order to hide his identity. Finally, an opportunity to fight an elite knight empty-handed, Abel thought to himself. Lord Marshall no longer wanted to fight empty-handed with Abel in Harry Castle. Lord Marshall and every knight in the world seriously lacked the skill of fighting empty-handed, so the reason that Lord Marshall refused to fight empty-handed was that the knights never learned any empty-handed fighting skills.

Chapter 87 - The Elite Knight Of Rodney Chapter 87: The Elite Knight of Rodney Abel said as he gently placed the chain on the fairy girl’s hands, “Stand aside. I’ll try not to drag you into this.” The fairy girl could sense Abel’s good intentions, but she couldn’t understand what he meant. As more relaxed as she seemed to be, she wasn’t moving at all. Abel sighed as he saw this. He tapped the fairy girl on her back, then led her to the auction stand. While doing so, he kicked the bodyguard down from the auction stage. Such disrespectful move angered the elite knight. He charged towards Abel and began grabbing him by the front chest. He was fast, but Abel was able to respond on reflex. Abel grabbed the hand that was reaching towards him with his left, pulled it towards his behind, and the elite knight flew out by his own force. The elite knight slid on the floor for about four meters. It didn’t hurt him, though, as Abel was just returning the force that was directed towards him. As it turned out, the short, young boy was not an ordinary fighter. He was much more experienced than his age showed. The elite knight quickly calmed himself down. Abel was no longer someone to be looked down upon. Rather, he was a real opponent to be recognized. The elite knight carefully took a step forward. As his front foot closed in, his back leg quickly followed. Such footwork was typically used by knights to send their enemies back. Since the auction stage was behind Abel, if he had no choice but to step back, he would’ve had to take the elite knight’s full blow upfront. Abel was not that predictable. The experience he’s gained from his past life has made him see through a weakness in the elite knight’s movements. While the footwork was meant for an armed assault, using it for closed ranged combat would leave no chance for defense. Just when the elite knight was about to slash at Abel diagonally, Abel bent his knees and drew his distance forward. He didn’t use this chance to go for a countermove. Instead, he faked a hit and spun his body one more time. Next thing the elite knight knew, his enemy was right behind him. All the guests were attending the auction were just about to come to their senses. They had been too frightful to do anything, and since the intruder was not looking to harm them (he just wanted to take to a fairy), they decided to stay and enjoy watching the fight. Sadly for them, everything seemed to happen so quickly. Without catching everything that happened, the intruder slid out of the fight. The second round was barely about to start, but the stranger (Abel) was already preparing for an attack behind the elite knight. The move Abel was using was called the bridging german suplex, a killer move that was used in professional wrestling. After he grabbed the elite knight by his back, he straightened his legs and arched his whole body backward. The elite knight wasn’t sure what’s happening, but he screamed as loudly as he could when he was lifted in the air and clamped right down to the ground. Thud As the elite knight’s head made contact with the ground, his mind was just a tad away from completely fading out. He was a very strong man, however, and was able to stand up again after shaking his head a few times. Instead of continuing with his attack, Abel decided to let the elite knight recover for a bit. Such a sturdy opponent was rather hard to find, and he was really keen on reviving his memories as a martial arts trainer in the gym. “I want you dead!” the elite knight roared and pulled away his cape. As fancy as his attire revealed to be, his stature was too muscular to be hidden underneath it. From what it looked like, he was in his middle age. His face seemed kind of misshapen. Perhaps it was the anger that he was showing. Or, actually, it could be that suplex he had just received. Anyways, that didn’t stop him from being recognized by the crowd. “It’s the Elite Knight of Rodney!” “My spirits, how could it be him?” “I can’t believe he’s that kind of person!” The Elite Knight of Rodney was an elite knight who served under the lord of Harvest City. He was a direct subordinate of Viscount Dickens, and because he had no title nor land under his name, he had to pledge himself to other big families once his masters could no longer provide for him and his training. Seeing that the others could tell who he was, the Elite Knight of Rodney didn’t care to hide any longer. “I, the Elite Knight of Rodney,” he exclaimed, “I declare a duel with you! Please, reveal your true identity and face me to a fair fight!” Abel froze for a bit as he looked at the Elite Knight of Rodney like some sort of idiot. No one came here to let others know who they were. Just because Rodney showed his identity, it didn’t mean that he could drag someone along to make the same kind of mistake. For noblemen and knights alike, request for duels was a common way to resolve any sort of conflict. There were conditions applied to this rule, however. Duels could only be requested to someone of the same rank, or from a higher-ranked noble to someone of a lower rank. After a duel was requested, the person who was challenged would be given time to make preparations. During this time, a third party would be found to oversee the duel in a fair and impartial manner. Without these requirements, the fight would lose its grace, and the winner’s victory would hold little to no credibility to it. As justified as that seemed, the Elite Knight of Rodney was being kind of dirty to have asked Abel to reveal his true identity. Even if he had lost to duel right here, he could easily have his revenge after he knew what Abel looked like. Abel said clearly and loudly, “You have no right to declare a duel with me! What you are doing right now is a direct violation to the Decree of Knights!” All the noblemen who were present understood immediately. Not only was the mysterious man (Abel) a knight, he was also in a higher rank than the Elite Knight of Rodney. Not only did the Elite Knight of Rodney have no right to fight him, but he would also be charged with violating the Decree of the Knights. If Abel showed his true identity right here, Rodney would’ve had no way to prove his innocence. Worst case scenario, he might even be investigated by the noble arbitral tribunal. The Elite Knight of Rodney knew that, of course. While Abel didn’t show his face, he had already declared his superiority as a high-ranking knight. The smart thing to do here would be to ask for reconciliation. The situation they were in was not that serious, to begin with, after all. But they were in a black market, and Rodney just couldn’t believe that a high-ranked nobleman (who’s higher-ranked than him) would come here at all. He was already in a very upset back then, and now Abel was accusing him of a crime he might just get out of. “HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE ME?” Rodney screamed, “SHOW ME YOUR FACE NOW, OR I”LL SMACK YOU DOWN RIGHT HERE!” After saying that, the Elite Knight of Rodney covered his entire body with his white combat qi. Everyone watching was already running away by now. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable. How dare the Elite Knight of Rodney release his combat qi right here? Rodney was taking a gamble with this bold move. He didn’t think any “good citizen” would go tell on him for releasing his combat qi. Besides, as long as Abel was not a nobleman, it wouldn’t matter if he melted his limbs off with his combat qi. Is he out of his mind? Abel thought to himself. When he just became a beginner knight, the first thing Lord Marshall told him was to not show his combat qi in the city or in front of any nobleman. Without respecting this rule, a knight would no longer be considered civil by his community. From Rodney’s perspective, he was really starting to get scared. Instead of running away like the others, Abel was just starting there and observing his next move. Such composure and mentality could only belong to a true upperclassman. “Fine, if that’s how it is,” he thought. It was too late to stop here, anyway, so he quickly reached for Abel’s hoodie with his qi-covered hand. Abel’s eyes turned cold as he saw the hand coming at him. He still hadn’t revealed his combat qi up to this point, and Rodney’s qi could’ve easily killed any ordinary person who didn’t have his own qi. Combat qi was an extremely erosive and dangerous substance, and direct contact with it could’ve killed most people on the spot. So that’s what it was. Rodney wasn’t looking to see how skilled Abel was at fighting. Even if Abel was to best martial arts fighter in the world, if he didn’t have his own qi core to cover himself in combat qi, Rodney could’ve just neutralized him by touch.

Chapter 88 - Becoming An Intermediate Knight Chapter 88: Becoming an Intermediate Knight Abel viciously stuck out his hand. Without hesitation, he grabbed the Elite Knight of Rodney by his combat qi filled hand. Immediately, Abel jumped off the ground. He used one of his legs to lock down the neck of his opponent, and the other locking down the chest. Abel squeezed both of his legs, tightly hugging the waist for his dear life. He would not let the Knight of Rodney escape. At the same time, the two men fell on to the floor. Abel madly pulled with his arms, and the Knight of Rodney let out a scream of agony. Just like that, a perfect Ude-hishigi-Juji-Gatame grappling technique was executed. The Knight of Rodney had been fully secured on the floor. He was filled with confusion. Why was his opponent was not afraid of his combat qi. His opponent had grabbed his hand full of combat qi without hesitation, not only that, but his opponent had also willingly made contact with his body, which was also filled with combat qi. No one from the crowd, even the Knight of Rodney, had noticed that Abel was using his own combat qi as well. It was just that, Abel’s combat qi was shining in a pale gold color underneath his skin. This kind of combat qi could not increase your strength. It could only avoid other people’s combat qi getting into your body The Knight of Rodney continued to scream as Abel doubled down on his force. His neck was harshly pressed by Abel’s leg through the perfect Ude-hishigi-Juji-Gatame grappling technique. The Knight of Rodney began to lose his ability to breathe, and he felt like his arms were about to break through Abel’s reverse lock. This excruciating amount of pain caused the Knight of Rodney to lose control over his body. All he could do now was to continue gushing out his combat qi. Both Abel and the Knight of Rodney was fully engulfed in a white flash of combat qi. Abel realized something strange. This was the first time he had attacked an official knight with his physical body while using his combat qi. Since he was a beginner knight, he could not inject his combat qi on to his weapons. He could rarely make contact with an opponent’s combat qi. Even if he did have a chance, it wouldn’t last long. Abel just wanted to have fun. He knew that the Knight of a Rodney did not bring any weapons along with him, so Abel could finally have a chance to test his skills out on an official knight. Abel was very confident in his Karate grappling techniques, so that’s why things had ended up like this. Abel could felt the vicious combat qi of the Knight of Rodney rushing towards his body. However, when it was just about made contact with his pale gold combat qi, the vicious combat qi suddenly calmed down. When both of their combat qi finally made contact, the Knight of Rodney’s combat qi suddenly got evaporated into those pale gold combat qi of his, like ice blocks on a heated stove. When Abel realized his body was immune to other people’s combat qi, he longer cared how much combat qi the Knight of Rodney was injecting in his body. On the other hand, the Knight of Rodney also realized Abel was not putting up any defense towards his combat qi. He began to feel hopeful, so he doubled down on unleashing his combat qi towards the body of Abel. As Abel continued to let massive amounts of white combat qi enters his body, yet they were all evaporated by his pale gold combat qi. He felt his body expanding, and this feeling only escalated as time passed. Soon, he felt like he was about to explode. Suddenly, he was reminded of the Knight’s breathing technique. Under this circumstance, he had no choice but to let loose of the knight of Rodney for a bit and began to use the Knight’s breathing technique. A large amount of pale gold combat rushed towards the qi pressure point in his chest. The speed of the combat was much faster than those master’s potion he had drunk before. In almost no time, the qi pressure point in his chest was filled up. I can’t continue like this . Abel decided to suppress his pale gold combat qi into his abdominal area. The pale gold combat qi began to swirl within his abdominal. To his surprise, another qi pressuring point was beginning to form. Abel wondered if he was actually dreaming. How could he raise his rank again in such a short period of time? Before his battle with the Knight of Rodney, he was still a rank 6 knight. But before he even had time to react, he had already turned in to a rank 7 knights. Despite all of this, the pale gold combat qi in his body doesn’t seem to get drained at all as the Knight of Rodney continued to inject Abel with his white combat qi. The qi pressuring point in his abdominal also began to absorb the white combat qi. A large amount of pale gold combat qi rushed towards it, and soon, the second qi pressure point was also filled up as well. Abel did not stop. He began to build his 3rd qi pressuring point from his back. After the qi began to swirl, those pale gold combat qi was sucked into his 3 rd wi pressuring point. Now, he was a rank 8 Knight. By this point, Abel had become a little numbed to his crazy rate of rank increase. He could no longer stop. As the locked down Knight of Rodney continued to inject his combat qi into Abel, Abel couldn’t help but continue to increase his rank at this madding rate. More qi pressuring point began formed, this time under his right armpit. It was then immediately filled with combat qi. Now, he was a rank 9 knight. The same goes went with the qi pressuring point under his left armpit, which had also formed after a while. Finally, he was a rank 10 knight, or in other words, an intermediate knight! The Knight of Rodney began to notice that something must have gone wrong. His combat qi was starting to drain, it was like his combat qi was being swallowed by something terrifying. It had all vanished into the void after it entered the body of his opponent. By that point, the Knight of Rodney wanted to stop his combat qi, but Abel’s body was like a giant blood-sucking worm, tightly latched on to his body and ruthlessly sucking his last bit of remaining combat qi. Abel felt like a qi pressuring point was about to form his palm. If it was successful, he could officially become an intermediate Knight. Abel decided to form this first intermediate knight qi pressuring point on his right palm. It seemed like the most logical thing to do. Other than left-handed knights, most intermediate knights would choose their right palm. Abel felt like his entire body of combat qi began to vibrate chaotically. He felt a burning sensation in his right palm. Pale gold combat qi began to travel towards his right palm slowly. Then, they began to swirl faster and faster. It because of this qi pressuring point in their palm that an intermediate knight could cover their weapons in combat qi. This qi pressuring was what joins a knight’s combat qi to the external world. By the time the qi pressure point had formed in his right palm, the combat qi within Abel’s body had already become balanced. It no longer needed to rush towards the qi pressuring point within his right palm. However, that qi pressure within his right palm did not like that, and it began to viciously suck like a man dying of thirst in the desert. At first, the Knight of Rodney thought Abel had stopped sucking his combat qi. As he was just about to enjoy a sense of relief, suddenly, an immensely powerful sucking force came from the right palm of Abel. Even the last remaining bit of combat qi within the Knight of Rodney had been forcefully sucked dry by Abel’s right palm. Even after all these sucking, Abel’s right palm was still only half full. Could this be the “star inhaling da-fa”? Abel was a bit confused. He had only practiced the knight’s breathing technique. It was nothing special. The only difference was that his combat qi was a pale gold color. Could this be the reason? Abel’s pale gold combat qi was different from the legendary combat qi of god. The real combat qi of god was the most advanced combat qi technique. They had attained their gold color through to the massive amount of training. Although those who were able to unleash these advance combat qi technique did not have a bigger core, their core was a lot denser. That’s why their combat qi had turned gold up to a point. However, Abel could only use normal combat qi techniques. His core was built on forcefully sucking overflowing amount of combat qi. If another person had tried to do this, they would most likely get blown into pieces by an excessive amount of qi. Since Abel had also used his power of the will to build his core, his core had become as dense as iron, and a lot bigger than normal. You could say Abel’s core was a deformed one, yet it was so unique, so no one could ever replicate it. Every unique aspect of Abel had played a part in the formation of this deformed core. From the existence Horadric cube, which allowed Abel to combine so many master’s potions, to his unmatchable power of the will, and who could forget his forging knowledge and calm personality. All of these traits were not easy to attain. “You are a monster! you are a monster!” By this point, the Knight of Rodney was completely devoid of fighting power. Every single bit of combat qi in his body had been completely sucked dry, and even his combat qi seed had disappeared. Now, he was only a combat qi- less rubbish with the title of an elite knight. If he wanted to regain his combat qi, he had to start with his training all over again. With the mixture of anger and fear, the Knight a Rodney had never felt this hopeless in life. He could not do anything other than mutter. His voice was so soft that only Abel could hear what he had said.

Chapter 89 - Investigation Chapter 89: Investigation Abel could also sense that the Knight of Rodney’s fighting power had been drained. However, after he heard what the Knight of Rodney had called him, a murderous desire flashed from his eyes. No one could know about Abel’s unique combat qi ability. Otherwise, he would become the mutual enemy of all Knights. Just think about it, if a Knight realized something could not only suck up their combat qi but use it to increase their own strength, of course, they would want that person dead. Abel viciously squeezed with his legs around the neck of the Knight of Rodney. The Knight of Rodney was already defenseless by that point. With that immensely powerful squeeze, all the Knight of a Rodney could hear was a loud cracking sound coming from his neck. Soon, his head was hanging motionless on the ground, soft like jelly. “I’ve only killed the Knight of Rodney out of self-defense. All of you in the crowd can testify this!” Abel said as he stood up. Since things had already progressed to this point, he no longer wanted to hide his identity. He lightly lifted his face mask; the youthful face of Abel appeared in front of the crowd. From the innocent smile on his face, no one could have guessed this youngster was the killer of an elite knight. “Master Abel!” “It’s the Lord of Abel!” The guests in the crowd could recognize Abel in one glance, and his fame was too wildly spread in Harvest City. Although it hasn’t been long since Abel had become famous, he already became the role model of how each family in Harvest City should educate their child. Outstanding, gifted, hardworking, ambitious, was just some common words people would often describe Abel as a person. The crowd also knew that they had no choice but to expose their identity as well. Since he had killed an elite knight, Attending a black market auction was pale in comparison. As the crowd revealed themselves one by one, most of them were businessmen, which only a few of them being nobles. The person who led Abel into this auction was a young noble. At the time, Kree’s auction stall had already sent out all their guards and attendants to clean up the mess in the hall. The people in the crowd were being treated accordingly to their status. Abel was sitting on a chair, drinking a dense, aromatic coffee while chatting to that young noble. “The honorable Lord of Abel, I am Polly, Cuiqi. It’s my pleasure to meet you!” Said that young noble as he bowed to Abel. “Hello, are you from the Cuiqi family?” Abel had heard of the Cuiqi family. Although they did not have an estate, they were a famous noble family specialized in trades. “I am the wildest son of the Cuiqi family. I am so glad you heard of us. It is my honor!” Poly seemed to be very well mannered. He gave another bow after he finished his sentence. Abel slightly bowed back, “as long as you been to Harvest City, who would not know about the Cuiqi family!” “It’s a pity that this glory of my family will soon get dimmer because of me.” Said Polly with a bitter smile. Abel knew that Polly’s father, the current inheritance of the Cuiqi family, was a lord. According to the law of The Duchy of Carmel, in order to become to inherit all the possession of a family, one must become a knight. Therefore, Polly had to become an official knight before his father passes away. Polly looked at Abel with admiration. He said with his eyes fixed on Abel “I will one day to be like you, becoming a noble with an estate!” Seeing someone a lot older than him looking at down with admiration, Abel couldn’t help but let out a smile. He then said, “hope your dreams come true! Harry Castle will be glad to welcome you for a visit.” Polly was very excited by Abel’s invitation. The social circle of these noble with estates were very hard to join. Forming a strong relationship with Abel would definitely make it a lot easier, and undoubtedly bring along a lot of benefits in the future. Abel didn’t often socialize much with people. Since Polly seemed like a nice person, he decided to gave Polly an invite. Although he did not set a time for an invitation, it sent a signal to every noble nearby that Harry Castle had accepted Polly as a friend. Abel then turned his head towards that young female elf who stood still at the exact same spot. Abel stood up and approached her. He asked with a nonthreatening voice “where are you from? Is there anything I can do to help you?” The young female elf turned her big sparkly eyes towards Abel. She doesn’t seem to understand what he was saying. “The honorable Lord of Abel, this elf could not understand human language.” Said an old man with a silky suit, as he approached and bowed to Abel. Abel gazed at the young female elf with a hint of pity, being thrown into a completely unfamiliar environment, and not knowing a single word of its language was like adding salt on top of a wound. Abel then turned towards the old man and asked: “Who are you?” “The honorable Lord of Abel, I am Kree” said the old man in a silky suit, as he bowed to Abel again. “Are you the owner of this auction stand?” Asked Abel as he lightly tilted his head towards Kree. “Yes, it is a property of your humble servant,” Kree replied. “I’ll buy this elf, when things had settled I will take her away,” said Abel in a stale tone. The outcome had already been confirmed by these words of Abel. He would not need to take Kree’s opinion into consideration. “The honorable Lord of Abel, consider this elf as a gift from Kree’s auction stand,” said Kree, his voice came across as well-intentioned. “Do I look like I don’t have enough money to pay for it myself ?” Abel didn’t care about money. He just didn’t want to have any affiliation with these black market auction stands. Since Abel still hadn’t fully calmed down from the fight he just had, he raised his voice as he said this, sending a light wave of impose into the atmosphere of the hall. “Dong.. dong..” the sound of glasses falling on the floor. Abel’s wave of impose had knocked a few glasses of coffee off the hands of some nobles. It had completed caught them off guard, and the rest of the crowd had suddenly become quiet. Luckily, Abel was still an intermediate Knight. His impose didn’t hold any damaging power. However, due to the interference of his pale gold combat qi, the area his impose was able to cover was even bigger than those of an elite knight. Kree was directly facing Abel. He realized had deeply angered Abel, so he immediately fell to the floor. The surrounding crowd also looked at him with despise. Who did Kree thinks he was, a mere elf could settle the anger of the Lord of Abel? Not only that, but he still wanted to become a friend of Abel. No one with a mind would dare to do a stupid thing like this. Abel took out 150 gold coins of a hundred value from his pocket and threw it in front of Kree. “the deal is complete!” Suddenly, a noise came from outside the stand. It was a Harvest City public security guard. These public security guards are the law enforcement of Harvest City. However, they do not have any control over the nobles. If a noble broke a law, they could only be reported to the noble arbitral tribunal. When the public security guard saw the Lord of Abel, they gave out an amiable expression. They stepped up and asked Abel ” the honorable Lord of Abel, did you get hurt?” Abel replied, “hello public security guard. I’ve attended a little event within Kree’s auction stand and got attacked by an elite Knight. I even exposed my identity to him, but he still attacked me with his combat qi.” “My goodness. An elite knight has the guts to attack the Lord of Abel in Harvest city?” The face of the public security guard immediately changed. Attacking a noble with an estate was a very serious matter, let alone the person committing the crime was an elite knight. This situation at hand must be very troublesome. “Of course, everyone here can testify it. I swear to the spirit that everything I said was true!” Said Abel, pointing at the crowd in the hall. “I swear to the spirit that everything the Lord of Abel had said was true!” No one in the crowd had the guts to offend the Lord of Abel for a dead elite knight, especially when Abel really was telling the truth. “The honorable Lord of Abel, where is the guy who had attacked you?” Asked a public security guard. “The guy is there” Abel replied, pointing at a dead body on the ground. The public security guard stepped up and flip the dead body around. When he saw the face of the dead body, he can’t help but call out in fear “it was the Elite Knight of Rodney.” Of course, the public security guard knew about the Knight of Rodney. In fact, he was very familiar with him. Ever since the Knight of Rodney had become a knight of the City Palace, he was responsible for arresting and killing countless intermediate and elite occupation holders. He was definitely one of the most powerful knights in the city. However, the public security guard knew fully well that, since the Knight of Rodney was the one who attacked the Lord of Abel first, getting killed was inevitable. No matter what had happened, no one could ever insult the dignity of a noble. “Which superior killed the Knight of Rodney?” Said the public security guard with a bow. “I killed him myself.” Said Abel with a monotone voice.

Chapter 90 - Abel Was Innocent Chapter 90: Abel was Innocent “How is that possible” in a slip of the tongue, these words leaked out of the mouth of the public security guard. He then immediately followed up and said, “I am so sorry, the honorable Lord of Abel. I was only stunned by your power.” Abel replied, “No worries. It’s not that I am powerful. It’s just that….” suddenly, he paused his sentence. He then proceeded to say, “how can someone without a weapon be a knight?” At that moment, steward Robbin, the steward of the Harry family temporary courtyard in Harvest City, had arrived. He was called here by the auction stand in regard to the attack of the Lord of Abel in Kree’s auction stand. Normally, when a situation like this had happened, the first people to contact were the public security guards and the family of Abel. “Young master Abel, steward Robbin is here at your service!” Said Steward Robbin as he bowed to Abel. Only servants from Harry castle would call Abel a young master. “Robbin, what are you doing here? Never mind, you can help me bring this elf back.” Said Abel pointing at that young female elf. “Yes, young master Abel” after Steward Robbin saw that Abel was not injured, a heavy boulder had lifted off his heart full of worry. Then, he took away the elf as Abel had ordered. The reason why Abel had ordered the steward to take away the young female elf was that he didn’t want many people to know that an elf was involved in this situation. Buying or selling an elf was not a dignified thing to do. Everyone in the crowd, no matter businessmen or nobles, were sophisticated enough to know fully well that Abel wanted to keep this a secret. Of course, the public security guard would not interfere with things such as a noble buying an elf. If he had reported it to the noble arbitral tribunal, the most they would do was to give Abel a warning. The public security guard would not take this risk to offend the Lord of Abel. The public security guard began to collect the evidence, but that was none of Abel’s business. Soon, Abel was out of Kree’s auction stand. In turn, he entered the alley of the auction stand. By that point, the alley was already pitch black. There was no one around. Suddenly, Abel jumped up. He grabbed on to the 3 meters high wall, and with an effortless flip, Abel had entered the Calgary potion store beside Kree’s auction stand. Abel had actually entered the backyard of the Calgary potion store. He stopped his footsteps and listened carefully. There was only the sound of insects calling, not a single sound of humans. The backyard was empty. There was no one stopping Abel. Soon, he had entered the master’s bedroom. The first thing he noticed was the bed that Darren had described. It was huge, almost taking up half the bedroom. Abel searched the surrounding for the mechanism. Due to Abel’s lack of knowledge when it came to this, he walked around for a circle and still had no result. So came to a halt and stopped searching. Abel walked to the side of the bed and reached his hand to grab the bedside. He slowly applied force, and pale gold combat qi began to unleash. 500 pounds, 1000 pounds, 1500 pounds. As he continued to apply force, the bed began to make a cracking noise. When Abel’s force reached 4500 pounds, the bed had been completely flipped over. Underneath exposed a pitch-black tunnel and a bunch of damaged mechanisms surrounding it. Abel took out that Night pearl from his pocket and threw it into the tunnel. The tunnel was not too deep, only around 5 meters. He then immediately jumped down. Abel arrived at a secret chamber. It was around 20 square meters. There were only around ten large boxes scattered on the ground and a table in the center with some small boxes on the top. Abel opened the small boxes on the table. Under the illumination of the night pearl, a large patch of hundred unit gold coins flashed in front of Abel’s eye. However, over the years, he had become numb to money. He threw the small boxes into the portal bag and turned his gaze towards the large boxes on the floor. He opened the big boxes as well. Inside was filled with all kinds of potions from the ones for novice knights to the one for official knights. Of course, anyone who practiced combat qi could use these potions, but due to tight regulations, some occupations could only buy some of these potions in the black market. Abel shoved everything into his portal bag and left the tunnel. He looked at the bed he had destroyed with a headache. At first, he wanted to just take things and leave without a trace. But now, anyone with an eye would notice what had happened. Since things had already progressed to this point, Abel had no choice. He opened up the oil lamp next to the bed and poured the oil all over the bed. He then used flint and lit the bed on fire. After Abel had stepped out of the room, He watched the Calgary potion light up in flame a few hundred meters behind him. Since the courtyard was made out of wood, the enter thing was engulfed in a sea of fire. Abel continued to stare with a pair of cold, emotionless eyes. The sound of firemen came from a distance, but the time was late. In a thundering sound, Calgary potion shop had collapsed onto the ground, the evidence of Abel’s good deed had completely vanished into the fire. …….. Five days had passed. The elite wolf rider of Flaurling had gone through the sewerage to connect with prince Middleton George, the 7th prince of the royal. The Elite wolf rider of Flaurling had been driven mad by his failure. In the letter he delivered to the 7th prince, he threatened that if the prince didn’t find out who was the thief that stole his treasure, he would inform the public about the deal he had made with the prince. “Ping!” A luxurious cup had fallen to the Oakwood floor. The reporter stood in front of Prince Middleton was holding a large stack of information, drenched in sweat. “What took you so long? We had spent a lot of money on our networks, how come we still can’t find anything about who had stolen the wolf rider’s treasure!” Prince Middleton roared. “Your majesty, according to what the elite wolf rider of Flaurling, it was a worgen who stole the treasure. It’s very hard for us to find the trace of a worgen, and it should be the responsibility of the elite wolf rider of Flaurling. That worgen might have already returned to the orc empire.” The reporter said with his head pointing down. Yet, the words were spoken very clearly, no wonder why he could attain an important role such as a reporter. “You have a point. How about the incident with the Calgary potion store?” Asked Prince Middleton in a low voice. “The biggest suspects are the other princes, only someone with a strong information network could find out that Calgary potion was your possession.” Said the reporter in a certain tone. “How about the Harry castle that the elite wolfrider of Flaurling had mentioned, could they be involved as well?” Although the elite wolfrider of Flaurling did not say much about Harry Castle, Prince Middleton could tell that he was a bit scared of them. Since the elite wolfrider of Flaurling wasn’t willing to attack the Harry castle near Harvest City personally, it suggested that the fighting power of Harry castle was equal, if not better than an elite wolfrider. “According to the report, there were quite a few elite and intermediate wolf rider who had attacked Harry castle, but all of them had failed miserably. Since Harry castle has not submitted any outstanding military service ever since it seemed like Harry castle is holding a lot of hidden power.” The reporter analyzed. The reason why Harry Castle did not submit an outstanding military service was that they didn’t want anyone to know that even their normal knight servants were equipped with magic weapons. “The day when the wolf garden was attacked, and the day where Calgary potion store had the incident, he had just bought an elf from an auction stand. During the process, he had a fight with an elite knight and ended up killing the elite knight,” said the reporter. Prince Middleton then asked with curiosity, “ah….was that Lord of Abel really that powerful? How much power is he hiding?” “There were no official knights in the scene, but according to the testimony of an intermediate warrior, Abel was incredibly gifted in physical battle.” The reporter proceeded to say with an odd expression, “at that time, the elite knight was not equipped with any weapon, and Abel locked him on the floor and directly choked him to death.” “The elite wolfrider of Flauring’s suspicions of Abel’s involvement in the attack of the wolf garden might be true after all. If Abel actually possessed this ability, he could also very well be able to open the secret chamber in Calgary potion store, then burn the store down,” Said Prince Middleton. He began to suspect Abel. “Our investigators asked a lot of people. It did not take long until Abel had arrived back at Harry castle after he left the auction stand. It was definitely not enough time for him to open up all the mechanisms within our secret chamber. Moreover, it would not be possible for a single person to take away all put possessions.” The elite wolf rider of Flaurling did not tell Prince Middleton that the treasure he had lost was the orc’s spirit portal bag. He only told him it was a treasure. “Report to the elite wolfrider of Flaurling everything we had discussed. Tell him he can go search the worgen himself, and there was not enough time for Abel to attack the wolf garden.” No one knew that Abel had White Cloud as his mode of transport; hundreds of miles could be completed in a blink of an eye. Little did Abel know, everything he had done had already been proven innocent by Prince Middleton, who he had never met before. If Abel knew about this, he would definitely celebrate with a large bottle of wine.

Chapter 91 - Studying Chapter 91: Studying The morning sun cast upon the side castle of Harry castle. Early in the morning, Abel had already finished his basic knight training and ate his breakfast. He lazily sat next to the tree in front of the front gate with a bottle of fruit juice in his hand. Meanwhile, little mount wolf Black Wind was laying on his leg. Little mount wolf Black Wind’s relationship with Abel had grown closer and closer. As long as Abel was in the castle, Black Wind could lean against him, run around in a circle, and wiggling its tail to beg for Abel to pat it. If Black Wind had not grown so fast, it would look just like a big dog. However, it was now a lot bigger than a big dog. In front of Abel stood the second inhabitants of the side castle of Harry castle, a young female elf. After multiple hand signal exchanges, Abel had confirmed her name. However, the name was way too long. It sounded like the ultimate tongue twister. Abel decided to call her only by the first two syllables, Loraine. Abel not only did not make Loraine his female servant, but he also treated as a guest to the castle. He gave her one of the guest rooms in the side castle of Harry castle and appointed a female servant to help take care of her. Moreover, Abel did not force Loraine to learn the human language. Instead, he was happy to learn the elf language from Loraine. It was Loraine herself who suggested to Abel that she wants to learn human language. Such a studious elf! “Fruit juice!” Said Abel as he picked up another bottle of fruit juice and gave it to Loraine. Loraine’s eyes were like sparkling gems. Her pupil was like a jet black, yet translucent ceramic. She no longer had that frightened look in her gaze. Instead, she was thankful for Abel. She was very satisfied with her current lifestyle, and she softly repeated after Abel, “fruit juice!” Afterward, a string of mysterious yet majestic sound came out of the mouth of Lauren. Then, Abel tried to repeat after her. Both Abel and Loraine were very smart people. They could learn and remember the words they had said to each other in one take. Next time when they had encountered these words again, they could use it. Abel had set fixed time every day for language learning, which was from after he had completed his knight’s training, to lunchtime. Abel had also designed a detailed learning plan, influenced by how he had learned English, first learning individual words, then grammar. Abel took out a piece of sheepskin cardboard with the drawing of everyday objects, plants, and animals. Of course, every single drawing was extremely small, but they were very detailed. Abel had hired the best painter in Harvest city to draw this educational tool according to his will. Abel pointed at a certain object on the board, and the individual word learning lesson with Loraine had begun. Other than then naughty Black Wind, no one in the castle had disturbed them. Although learning a new language was a bit dry and dull, Abel was very pleased to have a beautiful elf lady to learn with him. Until now, Abel never really had any friends with similar age. Since he had adopted the body of a 13-year-old boy after he came to this world, Abel’s mindset had also gotten younger. He always wanted some friends that were of similar age with him, and with the presence of Loraine, this gap within Abel’s heart had been fulfilled. These past few days, the Lord of Marshall noticed that Abel seemed to be deep in thoughts. Every time he had the chance during lunchtime, he would mutter to Abel, “Abel, you really had grown up!” Abel couldn’t care less about the Lord of Marshall trying to mine his business. Both Abel and Loraine were still very young, especially since an elf’s childhood years often last for a very long time. Abel always just treated Loraine as a younger sister. Once he had the chance, he would let Loraine back home. Abel fully understood what it feels like to live without a family and the pain of missing them. Abel had already decided to help Loraine the moment he saw her gaze in the auction stand. During lunchtime, Abel brought Loraine along to have lunch with the Lord of Marshall. With an extra elf sitting behind the table, the atmosphere felt more like a family than if Abel was to have lunch with only the Lord of Marshall. Abel liked this atmosphere quite a lot, even the Lord of Marshall’s appetite had gotten better. Loraine did not eat anything other than a few pieces of fruit and a cup of fruit juice for lunch. She did not show any interest in the meat and the wine. Abel began to worry about her nutrition, so he placed a large chunk of meat on to her plate and softly said: “Loraine, eat some more meat !” Loraine was stunned by the piece of lean meat, and she did not know what to do with it. It was almost as big as her plate. Loraine put down her cutlery and opened her mouth. She wanted to say something, but since she had only started to learn the human language not long ago, she couldn’t find the correct words to express her feelings. “Abel, don’t throw random food at her. Elves don’t eat meat,” said the Lord of Marshall. He found it very amusing to watch Abel interacting with Loraine. “How can you grow if you don’t eat meat…” Abel muttered as he retrieved the meat from Loraine and placed it on to his own plate. Then, he took out a new plate and put it in front of Loraine. “Loraine had learned very quickly, how’s it going learning the elf language, Abel.” Said the Lord of Marshall, he took a sip of the wine and stared at Abel. “It’s going well, a few words are hard to pronounce, but once I grasp the formula, it should be easy,” Abel replied. “It’s easy? That’s the most arrogant thing I had ever heard. The scholar of Harvest city might cough blood if they heard these words from you. The elf language was the most difficult language in the holy continent.” Said the Lord of Marshall as he pointed at Abel and laughed. “That’s because they don’t have a good teacher.” Said Abel. Although Loraine couldn’t understand Abel, she sensed that Abel was complimenting her, so her smile began to grow even wider. The lunch had ended in this heart-warming atmosphere. As the three was getting ready to leave, suddenly steward Lindsey had approached them in a slightly rushed manner. “Master, young master, Ms. Loraine, Viscount Dickens is here for a visit and…..” steward Lindsey paused for a bit and proceeded to say, ” the two other people that arrived with him seem to have equal, if not higher status than him.” The Lord of Marshall and Abel exchanged gaze. It was an odd timing for Viscount Dickens to visit Harry Castle. A few weeks ago, Harry Castle was attacked by the worgens of the Woolf family, but Viscount Dickens didn’t even send anyone here to help, so why did he suddenly decide to come for a visit? But no matter what, Viscount Dickens had personally came here for a visit. Both the Lord of Marshall and Abel had to go outside and welcome him. Abel then turned to Loraine and said a few simple yet elegant words from the elf language. “You, your self, rest.” Although Abel could not form a complete sentence with the elf language. Smart Loraine could understand what Abel had meant with these three words. She then replied with human language to Abel “ok,” and then she walked off towards the direction of her room. “Welcome, the honorable Viscount Dickens! I am very sorry for the wait!” When the Lord of Marshall had arrived at the living room in the castle, Viscount Dickens and the other two guests had already sat down and began to chat with a cup of coffee in their hands. Abel followed closely behind the Lord of Marshall. He bowed towards the three guests and asked them how they were doing. “The Lord of Marshall, Master Abel, I hope I didn’t disturb you.” Said Viscount Dickens as he stood up and bowed back. He then introduced the two guests beside him to the Lord of Marshall and Abel. ” these two men are, head commander Lowell, and head commander Hopkin!”. Suddenly Abel’s gaze tensed. These two men were head commanders. In order to know how significant this was, one had to understand that in a big city such as Harvest city, Viscount Dickens was the only head commander in charge. All of a sudden, there were three head commanders appearing in Harry Castle. This information had deeply shocked both the Lord of Marshall and Abel. “The honorable head commander Lowell, The honorable head commander Hopkins, welcome to Harry Castle!” The Lord of Marshall replied immediately and quickly, followed by a bow. “Haha, no need to be so polite. I am not Viscount Dickens. I am not used to it,” said head commander Lowell straightforwardly. “What brought you three honorable superiors to Harry castle?” The Lord of Marshall said carefully. “Hopkins and I want Dickens to bring us here to pay a visit to Master Abel. Also, we heard that your castle had driven off a bunch of wolf riders, so we just want to come here to take a look.” These words by head commander Lowell showed his respect for Abel as a Black Smith Master. At that point, the Lord of Marshall felt a big rock had lifted off his chest. These two head commander did not come here with bad intent. “I also could not believe it. How could Harry Castle withstand so many elite wolf riders!” said head commander of Hopkins. His voice was a bit raspy when he was speaking. It sent a sturdy and serious tone.

Chapter 92 - A Favour Chapter 92: A Favour After head commander Hopkins had spoken, he immediately stepped forward a wave of charging impose pressure shot out from his body. It looked like a fountain of water, sending shock waves in mid-air and the surroundings. Almost at the exact same moment when head commander Hopkins shot out his impose pressure, Abel had also stepped forward, blocking The Lord Of Marshall with his body. An enormous impose pressure dashing towards Abel’s body, but he did not budge a bit. He used the five qi main pressure point of his body, and the qi pressure point in his palm to unleash the pale gold combat qi. Although normal people could not see Abel’s combat qi, since it was under his skin, the three head commanders had extremely sharp senses. “An Intermediate knight?!” The three commanders were immediately shocked as they cried in confusion together. Abel’s age wasn’t a secret. He was a 13 years old teenager. However, he had already become a master blacksmith, as well as an intermediate knight. For a genius like Abel, his future would be far beyond the commander’s wildest imagination as long as he takes the right step in his future. At that moment, Viscount Dickens began to regret not sending any reinforcements to protect Harry’s castle. Whilst head commander Hopkins was also regretful for his impose. He might have caused an awkward situation, and it was not his intent to cause harm to the two intermediate knights in front of him with his impose pressure. All he wanted to do was to test Harry castle’s true strength. Due to head commander Hopkins’s impose, Abel’s power as an intermediate knight was exposed. No one had expected something like this to happen. Just as head commander Hopkins was considering a resolution for this behavior, a low “woo-woo” sound was coming from somewhere. Black Wind, who was already half a man’s height, had just been playing with Loraine. Though it was impossible for a normal person to perceive what was going on from the other side of the castle, a mount wolf, however, could detect any situation easily. When Black Wind realized that something was happening to his master, it dashed desperately to protect its master. “Black Wind, come here! “Cried Abel, fearing that the three commanders might hurt Black Wind. “Dear me, is this a mount wolf or a mount wolf with an owner?” Exclaimed Viscount Dickens. Due to the appearance of the Black Wind, the tension began to ease. Head commander Hopkins had also disregarded his dignity and said to Abel, “Master Abel, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean any harm!” The head commander’s apology was too much for Abel to refuse, Abel then suppressed his anger and said, “Dear head commander Hopkins. It’s alright. You have not harmed anyone.” “Don’t take these little things into your heart. That’s how head commander Hopkins does things. He’s even more impulsive than me. Haha.” Said head commander Lowell, laughing. As the Lord of Marshall stared directly at Abel, his heart seemed to be in a perilous situation. How many days ago since this boy had become an intermediate knight? Abel did not reply. He was too embarrassed. “Such a good mount wolf, they are considered as the best mounts in the entire Holy Continent, Master Abel, you are a lucky man!” Lord Lowell sighed, looking at the Black Wind, which had quieted down. “To gain any reward, you must pay the price. In order for me to obtain this Black Wind, I fought a wolf rider that was far beyond my strength!” Abel remembered that battle clearly in his head; it was the most dangerous fight he had ever had since he came to this world. The atmosphere in the guest lounge seemed to grow more and more harmonious. Any professionals would’ve had great respect for a blacksmith of Abel’s level because you would never know, one day, you might also need the help of a blacksmith Master. Just like today, these two commanders were actually visiting Abel with their own purposes in mind. “I’m not like either of them, just blurb out whatever that is in mind,” Said head commander Lowell bluntly “Hopkin and I have come at the request of the Duchy to assist Viscount Dickens in defending Harvest City as well as searching for the wolf riders who had attacked the prince. We heard that Harry castle had also been attacked, so we decided to come over to have a look.” “If you want, we can give you the dead body of the Wolf rider!” Said Abel directly. At first, he wanted to hide the strength of Harry’s castle, but since the head commanders had found out all about it, there was no point in hiding it anymore. “The investigation is only a small matter. Actually Hopkin and I wanted to purchase a magic sword from you!” Commander Lowell immediately lowered his voice in embarrassment whilst head commander Hopkins saluted Abel, still trying to apologize for the earlier event. “No problem, the forging process of a magic sword is very troublesome, but since the two head commanders are in need, I am able to provide it for you both!” Abel was very open to people coming to his door to purchase magic weapons, since the best magic weapons were only for his own family to use anyways. His second-tier magic weapons were able to sell at a high price. “Thank you so much! Head commander Lowell then took out his magic gold card from his pocket and transferred Abel 50,000 gold pieces with a simple stroke on his hand. Whilst head commander Hopkins was also very excited to take out his magic gold card. He also transferred Abel 50,000 gold. Looking at the balance of 111,250 gold coins on his magic gold card, it was the first 6 figure savings Abel had, he then put away his magic gold card with satisfaction, then turned towards the operations room and picked out 2 120 skills magic sword and quickly returned to the guest lounge. The lone figure of head commander Lowell and head commander kelvin flashed, and the two magic swords in Abel’s hands had disappeared. Abel then looked at the two knights silently and thought to himself, “You don’t need to be in that much of a hurry, do you?”. As a master blacksmith, Abel never had to worry about his own weapons. He had too many weapons, and sometimes he doesn’t even know which one to choose. Therefore, how could he understand the feelings of other knights wanting a good piece of magic weapon. Presently in the human world, only Abel was able to forge a magic sword. Though the two head commanders possessed a noble title, they still had to obtain a magic weapon from the dwarf blacksmith Master. Since they were coming to Harvest city, how could they pass out on an opportunity to get a magic weapon from Abel. “If you ever come over to Sidor City, find me, and I’ll welcome you with the best wine we have. Also, if you need me, just get someone to notify me!” Said bead commander Lowell with a laugh while he stroked his magic sword. “Master Abel, if you have any trouble in Marva, just use my name, and you should receive all the help you need. If you need to find me, come over to Marva’s castle!” Head commander Hopkins said tightly following Lowell. “Both commanders are too kind!” Abel was also very happy after he got the favor from the two. Both Sidor and Marva were the closest cities to Harvest City. With the favor of the two head commanders, if in the future Abel had a strong enemy, it would be easy to get a helping hand. “If there’s anything happening to Master Abel, you guys don’t need to help. I’m the closest to Harry’s castle so I should be in charge of assisting them.” Said Viscount Dickens, who was trying to fix the tension between them as he quickly took up the subject. After sending off the three commanders, both Abel and Lord Marshall breathed with a sigh of relief. Even though Abel had become an intermediate knight and had a powerful pale gold combat qi, the pressure of facing these three commanders was still very high, not to mention even The Lord Of Marshall felt it too. This trade had resulted in an allied relationship between the two commanders, with Viscount Dicken’s relations have also been eased. Maybe it was because of Abel’s ranking up speed, from novice knight to an intermediate knight required a long time to train. Every bit of combat qi was made through the dedication and hardship of a knight. Although it could be increased by potions, they often have side effects, which could make ranking up harder in the future. No one could have guessed that the pale gold combat qi of Abel could absorb the combat qi of another knight. Through his ranking up from a beginner knight to an intermediate knight, Abel’s pale gold combat qi had to sucked up all the combat qi of an elite knight. Now, Abel had realized, if he wanted to rank up again with only master’s potion, the quality could be a lot higher than he had imagined. Abel had a lot of potions on him, but the Horadric cube was taken up by three exploding swords and a super exploding sword. So the first thing he had to do was destroy the four exploding swords. In the afternoon, Abel did not go back to the operation room to continue forging. Instead, he sat on the White Cloud and flew to Ansa valley, where the last big sword was destroyed. The aftermath of the explosion last time was still there, it made a 10 meters hole in the valley. That’s the destructive power these exploding big swords could Abel then took the armor out of the portal bag, one by one, fully dressed, holding the shield in his hand, leaving only his right arm without armor, exposing the Horadric cube marking. Abel allowed White Cloud to fly above him as he stood alone near the edge of the valley. He first threw out the 3 exploding big swords. Just as expected, these upgraded exploding big swords were a lot more powerful than the previous version. However, when he threw them down the valley, the explosion only shook off some rocks on the edge of the valley.

Chapter 93 - Preparation Chapter 93: Preparation The last one was the super exploding big sword. An exploding big sword made with the 120 skills iron base while drawing energy from a perfect red gem. As soon as it left the Horadric cube, it began to start making cracking sounds relentlessly. Abel used all his might to throw it down the valley. He did not look back; he turned and immediately started running off his life. A thunderous sound of “bang” followed, the ground under Abel’s feet began to vibrate. Abel had already been running for around 20 meters, yet he could still feel this vibration. He immediately jumped, his power had increased massively since last time, so this jump had sent another 10 meters further. The timing was just right, the moment he landed, the ground 10 meters behind had completely collapsed and disappeared. Abel whipped the cold sweat off his head. He would never have guessed, by only by changing from ice magic to fire magic, the destruction of the explosion would be doubled. Luckily he didn’t actually get to use this super exploding big sword in the battlefield. Or else, this thing could kill every single person, including himself. I must find a good method to control such a powerful weapon, Abel thought to himself in somewhat of an evil manner. If only I could extend the time, it takes for it to explode. That way, I could escape. These types of super exploding big swords could whip out a small area of construction. In I take its power of it into the calculation, a single super exploding could whip out the defense of a castle. If he had 4 of these in his Horadric cube, it should be able to turn a castle into a pile of ash. If Abel understood the true value of these perfect gems, he would definitely not be surprised by how much power it could make. There were a handful of people in this world who were aware of the exploding power of these perfect gems. However, since these gems were some of the rarest things around, no one would use it without being a hundred percent certain. Moreover, one Abel had something similar to the Horadric cube, that could freeze time. As Abel took off his armor, he realized the shield in front of him was filled with small holes that were made by the strikes of small rocks. He had to go repair this magic weapon, or else, it could no longer be used. He then examined the armor in his body, and it was the same. If he did not jump, no matter how strong his body was, there would be no way he could withstand defense against the fragments of the explosion while wearing this armor. In the following month, the lifestyle of Abel became frenetic. His secluded was tightly packed to the brim. As soon as he woke up he would do his Knight training, then continue to practice with the Lord of Marshall, at last, he would end his training by practicing the Woolf Family no 11 long spear skills. After breakfast, he would exchange and learn language from Loraine. After a month, Abel could almost perfectly grasp the pronunciation of the elf language and could normally communicate with Loraine. Loraine had also grasped the human language; she could communicate fluently with other people in the castle. After lunch was forging time, as Abel’s strength continued to increase, he had mastered the adequate amount of strength required to forge a 120 skills iron base. He had forged a massive amount of 120 skills iron base. It seemed like Abel would never need to worry the amount the shortage of iron base ever again. After dinner, Abel dedicated time to do the mount enhancement massage for Black Wind. Black Wind had continued to grow massively in the past month. It seemed like it didn’t even need to take six months until Abel’s dream of riding Black Wind could come into reality. After massaging Black Wind, Abel began to do the Knight’s breathing technique to take in all the qi he had developed throughout the day into his qi pressuring points. The day of the Lord awarding ceremony in Bakong City was getting closer. It was decided that two days before they went to Bakong City, steward Lindsey would bring back the extremely high purity crystals from Edmound’s boutique shop. These highest purity crystals were transferred by Ms. Yvette from the headquarters, and they were cut according to the dimensions Abel had provided. In the operation room, Abel used the foot paddle polisher he had created to process these crystals further. The wind protection goggles were easy; it only needed flattering, installing an outer and neck strap. When it came to the making of the telescope, it was a little challenging. Telescopes were made out of all kinds of uneven crystals to create the zooming effect of the lenses. It took Abel a lot of millstone and time until he could form the uneven shape he desires from the crystals. After countless tests and fine-tuning, the first telescope in this world was created by the hands of Abel. Abel took out the Portal bag. It felt like the Woolf family were giving him presents, one by one, the things from the Woolf family continued to come to him. This Portal was his favorite. He always stressed that the storage capacity of the Horadric cube was way too small. There were too many things he wanted to bring with him every day, so the room size storage of the Portal bag was the perfect solution to this problem. The Portal bag was filled with the things he had gained from the worgen garden and Calgary potion store. Abel could not take these things out anytime soon. His power of the will could sense that he was already attracting too much attention in Harry Castle. It seemed like these things might never see the light of day. Abel took out all the blood fusing potion, replenishing potion and essence condensing potion from the Portal bag. These were all potions that Abel could use for himself. He got parts from it from the Calgary potion store in Harvest City, and a large amount of it the Worgen Garden. Afterward, he threw all of it into the Horadric Cube. Abel could never guess that one day he would be combining potion until his hands became sore. Boxes and boxes of potions were taken out from the Portal Bag and combined into Master’s potion. There were fewer and fewer boxes in the bag, and there was more and more master’s potion on the ground. Abel spent the afternoon, locked in his operation room, madly combining potion like a machine. Every combat qi occupation in the holy continent would go crazy for a bottle of Master’s combat qi increasing potion. Now, a pile of them were just carelessly lying on the floor of Abel’s operation room, glistening in dark gold color. The last box of the potion had been combined, Abel carefully examined the Portal bag; it was clear. Finally, Abel let out a sigh of relief. These long periods of machine-like movement were a lot more energy-draining than Knights training. Abel counted the number of Master’s combat qi increasing potion on the ground. It was enough for him to use for three months. No matter if they were from Calgary Potion store, or the one Calgary exchanged with the worgen. They were all made according to the demand. That’s why not much was leftover. Abel’s favorite out of all of these Master’s combat qi increasing potions was the Master’s essence condensing potion. This type of potion could help compact the combat qi and make it denser. Those ones that had been enhanced into a Master’s level had almost no side effects at all after its effects wear off, you could directly drink another one. Since the effects of these Master’s essence condensing potion generally lasts for an hour, Abel decided to drink one bottle every hour. There were 200 bottles altogether if Abel drank 15 bottles per day, he should be able to finish it before he set off the Bakong City. As Abel was thinking about this, he had already poured a bottle of Master’s essence condensing potion into his mouth. He enjoyed the potion unleash its effects in his body. Strings of combat qi solidified and began to condense. Abel could only feel the effects of a Master’s essence condensing potion. Those normal ones would be like water to him. It would not achieve this combat qi solidify effects no matter how many bottles he drank. Abel then began to clean up, he neatly packed all the potions back into the boxes and threw it in the Portal bag. Afterward, he turned to the 1000 pounds meteoroid. It only makes sense to store this treasure somewhere safe such as the Portal bag. Abel placed his hand on the meteoroid. In a move of his spirit, the meteoroid had been thrown into the portal bag. He also shoved the five ice magic sword and five fire magic sword into the Portal bag. During his trip to Bakong city, he would most likely meet someone with an extremely high status who wants to buy his weapons. Abel could not refuse if a situation like that happened, so it was better not to risk it.

Chapter 94 - Mawa City Chapter 94: Mawa City “Master, within 10 miles, we will arrive at Mawa city,” said Steward Ken said to Abel from the carriage. “Already?” Abel stuck out his head. The carriage that Abel was riding was specifically designed for this trip. It was exactly the same as the one as Lord of Marshall’s at the front. Originally, Abel was planning to travel in the same carriage with the Lord of Marshall during this trip to Bakong city. However, when Loraine heard that Abel would need to go on a long trip, her big sparkly eyes began to water up and stared at Abel, begging him to bring her along. After an entire morning of staring, Abel surrendered. Now, the carriage had to acquire one more passenger. Not only Loraine, but Black Wind also noticed that Abel was backing up for a long trip. So that clever mount wolf had been making “woo-woo” sounds nonstop. So, the soft hearted Abel decided to bring it along as well. It might not be an entirely bad idea since he could continue to help Black Wind do the mount enhancing spell during this trip. Just like that, the carriage was jammed with another passenger. According to steward Lindsey, a single medal Lord such as Abel must bring his own steward to the Lord awarding ceremony to take care of the documents. Therefore, with more and more passengers going on this journey, Abel had decided to make another carriage. Seeing the gigantic city emerge from a distance, Abel couldn’t wait to go inside and have a rest. Not because he was tired, but Loraine had not washed her face in days. Even Black Wind would relentlessly rub himself against the sides of the carriage. They brought along three carriages during this trip. The one at the front was the Lord of Marshall’s super bull carriage. Abel also had the same carriage, which was following closely behind. Both of these carriages were each pulled by two inferno bulls. The carriage at the end was just a normal carriage holding the armor of Abel and the Lord of Marshall, and everyone’s luggage. There were 20 Knight servants guarding these three carriages. Abel had treated them very well. They were all given some beginner combat qi enhancing potion. Abel had more than enough in his portal bag anyway. Bakong city was not a peaceful place. It was where big nobles gathered. The conflicts between nobles and royal were also non stop. Therefore these 20 knights servants must increase their power to fight off anyone with bad intent. “Loraine, soon we will be able to wash our faces and have a rest,” Abel said to Loraine, as her eyes seemed like she wanted to ask Abel a question. After hearing that they would soon be able to wash their faces, Loraine was so happy even her eyes could not be seen. Then she gently said, “that’s great. Even Black Wind is dirty.” Black Wind was lethargically laying on the center of the carriage. However, after it heard someone say its name, it suddenly jumped up with excitement, wiggling its tail towards the direction of Loraine. Seeing the half a human tall Black Wind pretending to be cute by wiggling its tail, Abel lightly padded it’s head and said with a laugh, “you are a mount wolf, not a dog!” Ignoring the rub of Black Wind, Abel turned towards Steward Ken and repeated, “Ken, come seat inside. It’s outside was way too hot.” Steward Ken replied, “Master, don’t worry about me. I belong in this spot!” Ken was a stubborn steward. Every time they went on a trip, steward Ken would always care about how Harry castle come across to others. To him, sitting in the same carriage with his master was a very undignified thing to do for Harry castle. No matter how hot it was outside, steward Ken wouldn’t come inside to enjoy the air conditioner within the carriage. Abel lightly shook his head and turned the air conditioner in level 10. He then opened the window of the carriage and let some of the cool air blew onto the back of steward Ken. Originally, this type of long journey under the summer heat, going through these bumpy roads, was a thing of torture. However, these two super bull carriage which Abel had created not only had an air conditioner powered by ice runes, it also had springs as shock absorbers. Therefore, the five days journey had become somewhat tolerable for Abel and the passenger within the carriage. Only the steward, carriage driver, and underling had to withstand these harsh conditions. At the moment, the white unicorn with a red background coat of arms on the carriage had come in handy again. The carriage did not stop for the guard and directly entered Mawa City through the noble entrance. Abel, thankfully, looked at the ordinary citizens waiting in line under the blazing summer heat on his left, suffering this torture just to get into Mawa city. Loraine stuck out her head, curiously stared at those people waiting in line. She asked gently, “we don’t have to wait in line on this side, why don’t they come here?” “Their status was not high enough, so they can’t use this entrance for nobles!” Abel explained. Loraine then followed up, “the elves don’t have different status separating the nobles from ordinary people.” “All elves are sons and daughters of the goddess of nature. No matter if the elf is a noble or an ordinary citizen, we are all members of the elf species, there are no status differences.” Said Loraine, sounding like a saint. Abel looked at Loraine like she had been brainwashed, but he didn’t say much. Everyone had their own religion and beliefs in this world. Even the Lord of Marshall and Abel would pray before eating. Their team of the carriage had stopped in front of a huge hotel. After the two stewards had booked a level of rooms, Abel led Loraine off the carriage. The moment they left the carriage, they felt a wave of heat rushed towards them. He could not help but step back. At the same time, the Lord of Marshall was also stepping out of his carriage and made the same motion. The two exchanged gazes and began to laugh at each other. Black Wind followed it’s master off the carriage. The moment it felt the heatwave, it almost jumped up and immediately want to return to the carriage. Abel had a quick eye, he reached his hand and grabbed Black Wind back. Black Wind had no choice. He could only stick out its tongue and follow behind its master. Even his often energetic tail was dragging along the floor. “Abel, ‘this is your greatest invention!” Exclaimed the Lord of Marshall, pointing towards the carriage. “Do you think anyone else can even afford this carriage?” Abel had seen many very wealthy nobles in Harvest City. However, despite Marshall Castle having hundreds of years of history, the value of all of its collection adds up would definitely not exceed 10000 old coins. Therefore, Abel didn’t really believe anyone could afford this super bull carriage he had built. “You need to travel more. Harvest City is only a small city on the edge of the human world. It had only become famous because of agriculture.” Said the Lord of Marshall as he walked alongside Abel. When entering the hotel, Abel felt a sudden breeze of cool air. It was a lot cooler inside than outside. In the corner of the hotel was a copper bucket. Abel sensed the cool air was coming from there. “What is that?” Abel asked the Lord of Marshall curiously. A plump middle-aged man wearing a luxurious suit was just walking by. When he heard these words from Abel, he turned and looked at Abel and gave him and his group a look of despise. From that look, the man realized there were an elf and a half human sized mount wolf in their ground. “That is a bucket full of ice,” said the Lord of Marshall. He finally had the chance to teach Abel something. The moment when he was about to explain to Abel in detail about how to store ice blocks. Abel began to say “How could I never think of that idea. We should dig an ice chamber in the winter to store ice, then we can use it in the summer.” The Lord of Marshall tiredly waved his hand. He no longer cared about Abel’s education, but as the step father of a genius, it was very time-consuming in preparation for this trip to Bakong city. He spent a lot of time thinking about how he would answer his family when the topic of parenting came up–especially those old bastards. They thought since he had chosen the remote Harvest City as his knight estate, he was no longer useful. They just threw him a bit of money and pretended he never existed. This time, when the Lord of Marshall came back to Bakong City, he would need to have a good chat with them about parenting. That middle age men with a luxurious suit continued to stare at the elf and the mount wolf with a hint of greediness. He did not leave straight away. Instead, he found a space in the guest lounge and sat down. Abel’s power of the will was very sensitive to gazes with bad intent. He turned his head around and noticed that middle age men’s gaze. That middle age man, did not expect anyone to notice him, so he was caught off guard and swiftly turned his gaze away. “Just another noble” after Abel had given out this definition, he began to move on. These nobodies didn’t deserve his attention. “You, go ask them what status are they,” Said the middle age men to his servant next to him. After a while, the servant returned and said: “master, that is a coat of arms knight and his family.” The middle age men stunned for a while. Although he was also the title of a lord, only an insignificant one, he doesn’t even have a coat of arms or estate. How could he offend one of those coat of arms Knights. The middle age man could not reconcile, he said, “although I might not be able to offend them, someone might. Go spread the news that a knight with an elf and a mount wolf entered Mawa city.” The Lord of Marshall still had not officially declared by the king as a lord. Therefore, he could only use the title of a coat of arms knight. If the middle age men knew that he was facing a coat of arms lord. He would never do this.

Chapter 95 - A Gift From The Commander Chapter 95: A Gift From the Commander “Did you hear the rumors? There’s an intermediate knight that appeared in Mawa City with an elf and a mount wolf. The cost of that insane!” As the news began to spread in Mawa City, it spread like wildfire, and it became more exaggerated. There was a mercenary group that occupied Mawa City. They were considered as a legal group of mercenaries. However, sometimes they would join up with a group of thieves to do immoral businesses. Whilst this group of mercenaries had also received the news of Abel, many of them had lost their interest when they heard that there was an intermediate knight. They were also no match against an intermediate knight, and they didn’t dare to attack a noble motorcade. At the end of the day, there was always someone inside a group who was daring and greedy. Those individuals would be willing to attack nobles as long as they were able to earn gold from it. “Master, an intermediate knight has appeared in Mawa City journeying with an elf and a mount wolf, as well as plenty of valuables.” This news had traveled to the ears of the leader of the Sandstorm mercenary gang in Mawa city The elite soldier of Hume was calculating if they were able to pull off the attack on the noble carriages… “An elf is worth tens of thousands of gold. Legends claimed that after mount wolf had identified its master, it can’t find another. There’s also a large number of valuables that’s immeasurable.” If you were to kill a noble knight, you must do it cleanly. There cannot be any evidence left behind. Otherwise, if the noble tribunal found out, they would endlessly hunt whoever had killed that noble. Furthermore, with the recent task, the mercenary group had lost some of its men. Just paying off that compensation had already given a lot of financial pressure to Hume, but this one-off business would generate tens of thousands of gold income for them, which also made him extremely eager to take the risk. It was only an intermediate knight. For an Elite soldier like Hume, he didn’t think an intermediate Knight’s fighting power would be that much better than his. Along with the help of other mercenaries, dealing with an intermediate knight shouldn’t be too much of a problem. “Alright, we are doing it!” The Elite Soldiers of Hume began to organize his soldiers, preparing. …… Unlike Harvest City, where the military and political powers were all in the hands of Viscount Dickens, Mawa City had only about half of the military power in the hands of head commander Hopkins, and the other half was controlled by the ruler of the city. Head commander Hopkins was listening to reports from his subordinates regarding the recent rumors in his residence in Mawa City. When he heard there was a mount wolf , he immediately laughed and said, “My dear friends came to Mawa City and did not even visit me, such a shame.” Head commander Hopkins then turned towards his steward, he said, “Steward, let send someone to investigate who had spread these rumors, and find who dared harm against my precious guests” During their conversation, the room flashed with a sense of chilliness in the air. When the steward bowed their underling couldn’t help feel a shiver running down their spin. The steward understood head commander Hopkins. The head commander already had a desire to kill. He wondered who these friends of the head commander were–a mere rumor was enough to trigger a desire to kill within the head commander. On one hand, Head commander Hopkins really wanted to befriend Abel, having a friend that was a master blacksmith as well as a genius knight would be beneficial to him and his family in both the present and future. Moreover, head commander Hopkins had also promised in front of Viscount Dickens in Harvest City that he would provide Abel a warm welcome if he ever visited Mawa City. If Abel was attacked in Mawa City, no matter if he was harmed or not, it would result in a loss of dignity for him. When the two head commanders meet in the future, he would certainly be mocked for his lack of effort in protecting Abel. “Yes, my master.” The housekeeper bowed back. In the seemingly calm town of Mawa City, a storm was brewing, triggered by the whim of a Lord, and the intelligence systems used for the military presence. Channels that the magistrates would not normally have been able to obtain were quietly amassing information to the military intelligence service. At the same time, Abel was leisurely drinking master’s essence condensing potion. He had already drunk nearly 70 bottles along the way, any drinks that taste incredible would taste like rubbish after drinking so much of it, not to mention the potion was a medicine too. Though the potions were upgraded to the master’s level, it certainly did not cause any big of a change to the taste. Abel was now very experienced in drinking potions, poured directly into his throat to minimize the irritation of his tongue. He slowly enjoyed the potion spread in his body. After five days of nonstop master’s essence condensing potion drinking, the pale gold combat qi within Abel had gotten thicker and more compressed. Every time the pale gold combat qi had rushed through Abel’s body, his body composition would get stronger. In these past five days, Abel could clearly felt that he had gotten stronger. Although he could not precisely measure how much strength he had gained, Abel was sure he had gained at least 10 percent more. Loraine, who was sitting beside Abel, was a little curious about what he was drinking all the way, but since Abel didn’t explain it to her, the intelligent elf wasn’t going to ask him what it was. She quietly looked out the window to the streets outside. Feeling that the potion in his body began to exert its power calmly, Abel opened his eyes and looked at Loraine, who looked longingly at the street. He could not help laughing. Even a fairy girl like Loraine had a strong desire to go shopping. “Loraine, would you like to accompany me on a tour of Mawa City?” Abel said to Loraine. Loraine’s mouth curved slightly as she nodded with great pleasure and excitement. When Abel came out of the hotel, he not only took Loraine with him, but Black wind also stuck tightly beside him. With a mischievous mount wolf like Black wind, god knows what would happen if no one was watching it. Since Abel had brought Black wind, he decided to take 6 knights servants alongside with him. It was getting late and it wasn’t too hot. It was a perfect time to go out since Mawa City became lively. Abel thought that Loraine could not ride a horse, so originally he was planning to get on a carriage. However, when Abel asked Loraine, he immediately realized that as an elf, she was naturally able to communicate with most animals. During their tour in Mawa City, Abel discovered something strange when leaving the hotel. He noticed that there was someone following him, but the person following them was quickly dragged out with force by someone. Abel was unfamiliar with how things work in Mawa City, and he was getting too powerful nowadays anyway, so he didn’t think too much. By dinner time, Abel and Loraine had already returned to the hotel. It was a short tour, but Loraine had laughed a lot. During dinner, she could not help talking to The Lord Of Marshall about what she had seen in Mawa City. Early the next morning, just as Abel and Lord Marshall were getting ready to leave, a loud voice came from the hotel door. “Master Abel, you came to Mawa City without notifying me!” There was a reproach in the voice, but everyone knew it sounded like a conversation between friends. Abel then quickly realized it was the voice of head commander Hopkins, but he felt a little strange, how did he realize that he was visiting Mawa City without even telling him about it? “Commander Hopkins, what are you doing here?” Abel hurried a few steps to the door of the hotel, where the head commander Hopkins was waiting for him. The busy street in front of the hotel should have been busy in the morning, but now the whole street was silent except for head commander Hopkins. and a dozen guards standing behind him in the middle of the street. “Master Abel, I’ve come to say goodbye to you!” ‘laughed commander Kelvin, as he directly pointed to something that covered in cloth on the ground behind him, he said, “These are some of the troubles I’ve solved for you.” With a wave of his hand, several attendants pulled the cloth apart, and on the ground there were piles of human heads. Loraine, who was behind Abel was immediately shocked from what she had witnessed, she started moving closer towards Abel as he gently pulled Loraine behind him. Black wind gave a low whine to the skull on the ground, showing his teeth, which were already sharp. Abel looked at the head commander Hopkins with a sense of confusion. Head commander Hopkins then pointed to the first head and explained, “This is Lord Tuttle, he was planning to murder a coat of arms knight. After being captured, he was killed when he tried to resist .” Abel recognized the head of Lord Tuttle at a glance. It was the noble who had revealed a sense of malicious intention yesterday when Abel had just entered the hotel, Abel would have never have guessed that men would be killed the next day. In regards to “killed when he tried to resist. Abel would gamble on his life that. No way that a noble, without any fighting power, would be dumb enough to resist the capture of a head commander. This was probably just an excuse head commander Hopkins had made Pointing to the second pile of a dozen heads, he said, “These are Lord Tuttle’s men who were spreading the words that you have came with great wealth.” Pointing to the last pile of heads, up to a hundred of them, he said, “This is the Elite soldier of Hume with his Berserkers’ mercenaries.”

Chapter 96 - Arriving At Bakong City Chapter 96: Arriving at Bakong City “These men tried to attack my friends, Master Abel, so I chopped off their heads as their punishment!” Head commander Hopkins sneered. Abel knew that it was possible to arrest everyone who had plotted against him within one night. However, to find the source of the plot, as well as preparing to attack the mercenary group, It had to be an extremely powerful intelligence service to accomplish such a task. Though that insignificant lord was apart of the plot against Abel, he was killed for such a small matter. This would certainly bring about a lot of trouble for head commander Hopkins in the future. To deal with a punishment like this, head commander Hopkins was required to submit a request to the noble arbitral tribunal. However, with such a respected title, the noble arbitral tribunal must’ve processed his case quickly. Head commander Hopkins had killed a lord so that he could finish this matter before Abel had left Mawa city. Even if he was just an ordinary lord without the coat of arms, it was still a troublesome matter. “I accept your kindness, head commander Hopkins, and all you have done for me have shown that you are a true friend of mine.” Abel smiled, bowed, straightened up, and continued, “I’m sure your noble self will receive a gift from your friend gift in return.” With that, Abel returned to his carriage, took out a fire magic sword, held it out to head commander Hopkins. Head commander Hopkins then promptly stepped forward, took the sword from Abel with both hands, and said with a laugh, “I am honored by your friendship!” Presenting a weapon as a gift between two knights was a traditional method of making friends for knights. When a knight handed their weapon to another knight, it symbolized the idea of one individual requesting to become another’s true friend, and if the other knight accepted the weapon, their friendship meant that they were now as close as brothers. This kind of ceremony was sacred in the tradition of the knight’s etiquette for many years. It was considered as the most stable founding steps for a good friendship. When head commander Hopkins took the weapon from Abel, the two’s friendship immediately heated up. Head commander Hopkins then took Abel by the hand and said, “Master Abel, I’ve only just realized that you were in Mawa city, so I don’t even know what kind of gift I can give you now.” Suddenly, the commander clapped his hands, and ten guards who wore black armor came out behind head commander Hopkins. “The current situation in Bakong city doesn’t look too good. I don’t think you brought enough men with you. Hereby I will give you these ten beginner warriors; their life and death are up to you now.” With a wave of the hand of head commander Hopkins, the ten black-armored warriors came up to Abel, fell on one knee. They said in unison, “the Lord of Abel, we dare to die for the Lord of Abel!” Of course, Abel would not refuse the kindness of head commander Hopkins, as their friendship had just begun; it was an ordinary matter to exchange gifts to one another. Then, with a serious look on Abel’s face, he placed his hands onto the guards and helped them up. These black-armored soldiers were so fierce that they could be recognized within seconds as veterans fighters. Abel was a little shocked by how generous head commander Hopkins was. These private soldiers who were willing to die for their masters weren’t easy to train. Looking at their age, they look ten years younger than his knight servants. But to have these kinds of might at these ages, they must be the finest of the finest. The Lord of Marshall was standing behind Abel, not moving forward. This was because the Lord of Marshall was far too off in terms of his status with head commander Hopkins, so he was only able to admire Abel, with a smile that filled up his face. When Abel’s team of carriage left Mawa city, all of the mercenaries let out a sigh of relief. Due to Abel’s presence, the entire city had been at war. Mercenaries speaking to one another had to be aware of others hearing them. Especially for the mercenaries who were tracking for Abel’s locations, they had disappeared overnight in Mawa city. The rest of their journey was quite smooth, with a carriage team of more than 30 beginner soldiers as well as the coat of arms on the front of The Lord Of Marshall’s super bull carriage that effectively prevented the attack of some greedy bastards. After 12 days, the team of carriages finally reached its destination, Bakong city, the capital of the Duchy of Carmel. Abel had never imagined a city would be so gigantic. With a wall that was more than 50 meters high walls that made all attackers despair. Every hundred meters had a cylindrical fortification that was connected to the wall when the carriage approached the city; he realized that all of the walls are built with large boulders and were assembled. Moreover, there were barely any visible cracks with the stones and rocks, only the walls were able to impress Abel immensely. The city gate outside Bakong city was bustling with noises. There were many vendors in the stands, as well as people lining up to enter the city. For the nobles, there was a passage that allowed them to enter directly. As they entered, there was a small group of guards who carefully inspected at The Lord of Marshall’s coat of arms and documents. Of course, these actions were done by the two stewards as the guards wouldn’t allow a noble to handle these small matters. After some formality, the convoy entered the famous city of which Abel had heard for so long. Led by the Lord of Marshall’s bull carriage, Abel sat in the carriage with the window opened as he looked around the city curiously. As the team of carriage entered the city, the look of the huge streets immediately attracted the attention of Abel. The ground was paved with the same materials used by the walls of the city. Furthermore, the road was so large that it allowed eight horse carriages to pass by. There were no vendors and stands like the ones he saw outside the city. Both sides of the street were filled with shops with a uniformed layout, and every one of them was packed with people. It was such a flourishing city. The walls of white stone, along with the roofs of red tiles, formed the unique style of the city. What surprised Abel most was the sanitation. Almost every city he visited in the past, big or small, had the same problem, bad sanitation. But Bakong city felt clean and tidy. There was zero garbage on the floor, which was a breath of fresh air compared to other cities. The carriage team moved along slowly. It turned out that a carriage that was considered super luxurious in Harvest city or Mawa city was just normal here. Almost every noble carriage here was extremely luxurious. Since they had arrived, Abel had already seen several carriages embedded with gold, silver, and precious stones passing by him. The Lord of Marshall’s made a turn at the front and entered another street. The Abel’s carriage followed. As soon as his carriage entered the other street, a cool breeze blew upon Abel. He examined his surroundings, the street he was on now neatly laid out with small red concrete blocks. The entire ground of the street was filled with red, with tall copper buckets placed on each side. This street could fit up to 6 carriages, and it was entirely shaded with trees As soon as the carriage team entered the street, Abel realized there was a group of guards. When they saw the coat of arms on the Lord of Marshall’s bull carriage, they motioned for the bull carriage to pass through. On both sides of the red-colored street, among the trees, there was a visible house with a courtyard. There was also a white wall with a red roof, but the walls and columns of each courtyard were carved with various patterns, making the entire street full of wealth, with a noble artistic atmosphere. The Lord of Marshall’s cart stopped ahead of them, Abel’s slowed to a halt. The Lord of Marshall was already standing by the side of the road waiting for them as Abel and Lorraine stepped off the carriage with the Black wind on him. “Abel, this is the Triumph boulevard. This was where you had gotten the courtyard from prince Wyatt. I’ve already sent people over to collect this courtyard as well as the manor house outside the Bakong city,” Said Lord Marshall, with great pleasure. Only then did Abel remember that this was the 1000-yard where the dead prince Wyatt had bought his skill of 120 magic swords with. The manor house outside of Bakong city was the compensation for prince Wyatt’s attack on The Lord Of Marshall. “Uncle Marshall, it’s a great environment,” said Abel, looking around. “Of course, this is the best street in Bakong city. The other side of the street leads to the royal palace. Only nobles live here. Lord Marshall said proudly as if it were a great honor to have such a yard here. Loraine liked it very much too, as her smile was blossoming, but slowly it seemed to grow sad again. Abel saw Loraine’s expression. He patted her on the head and asked softly, “Loraine, don’t you like it here?” “No, I like it here. It reminds me of my home. Lorraine said in a soft voice. Lord Marshall heard from the side and said, “This was built in the style of the Elves.”

Chapter 97 - Annointment Ceremony At The Palace Chapter 97: Annointment Ceremony at the Palace It was the day of the holy birth. The nobles marveled at the Lord of Marshall as he walked on triumph boulevard. The golden bull armor in his body reflected the rays from the blazing sun. Golden shimmer surrounded his body, even the fur of this warhorse down below was painted a gold color. Abel’s warhorse closely followed behind one of the Lord of Marshall. Behind them was the steward, riding on their old horses. Today was the day of glory for the Lord of Marshall. Although it was also Abel’s, he tried to focus on something even bigger than status. His title did not matter–Black Smith Master or young intermediate knight had already given Abel more than enough status he desired among all Duchies. The imperial palace was not as luxurious as Abel had imagined. It also had white walls with a red roof. The only thing that sent a sense of impose was it’s gigantic structure. Under the guidance of the royal servants, the Lord of Marshall and Abel entered the center of Duchy of Carmel–the place where the most power was concentrated. The moment the past the front gate of the imperial palace, a long path made with white stone appeared in front of their eyes. There were 12 statues of different knights on the path. Ken softly said to Abel, “these are the statues of all the knights who were responsible for founding the country back in the days, the 3rd is the ancestor of the Harry Family.” The path directly led to the discussion hall of the imperial palace, the place where the Lord awarding ceremony was going to take place. When the Lord of Marshall and Abel had arrived, some honouree was already there, and the nobles had already begun to enter slowly. The discussion hall was night and day compared to the outside of the imperial palace. The hall was extremely luxurious. The moment when Abel had entered, he felt like he had been attacked by a golden shimmer. All the walls and the pattern engraved pillars were surrounded by gold color. The crystal light dangling in mid-air was also gold. Even the fire inside the light was shining in gold. The ceiling was around 30 meters high, and it was covered with a massive painting, depicting the battles between the gods and the evil spirits. The floor was made with a dark gold color material. It was polished until it looked like a mirror, one could clearly see their own reflection if you look directly towards it. All of these just further intensified the gold shimmer of the hall. The Lord of Marshall’s golden bull armor blended in perfectly with the surrounding environment, and he might as well be a statue. “Marshall, why don’t you come to visit the family?” Said a handsome old man, who had a similar manner with the Lord of Marshall walked towards them. From his blunt way of speaking, it showed that he was not only someone that knows the Lord of Marshall but someone who was very close to him. “Father!” Said the Lord of Marshall. His expression sent shocked Abel. Every time when the Lord of Marshall mentioned his family in Bakong city, he would often call them old bastards. But now, he had suddenly acted like a mouse seeing a cat, all tense up and speaking in softest voice imaginable. All the immensely proud of one self-energy he had when he was coming here was all gone. “Stand up straight. Look at yourself; you are now one of the leaders of the family.” Said the old man, as he bluntly patted the back of the Lord of Marshall harshly. Originally the posture of the Lord of Marshall looked a bit like a bow. Suddenly, he had bounced up straight. The old man proceeded to say, “you are doing very well lately, gaining a title of a Lord through outstanding military services. If you have time, come visit your mother.” He then turned towards Abel, “You must be Abel. I am Brook, the earl of Harry, Marshall’s father. So we are all family here!” Earl Brook said to Abel with an amiable smile. If someone else was looking at this, they would have guessed that Abel was his actual son, and the Lord of Marshall was a stranger. “Grandpa Brook, I hope you are well!” Said Abel immediately as he gave a bow. “We are a family, no need to be so polite!” Earl Brook padded Abel and smiled. Earl Brook turned his gaze around the hall. There were not many nobles who had arrived. They all seemed to be talking softly about something, so nobody was paying attention to their direction. He then turned to head back the Lord of Marshall and said: “you are just as impetuous as your younger self. How can you arrive at Bakong City at this time?” “Father, what happened?” The Lord of Marshall seemed confused. Earl Brooks did not explain much. He only directly said to the Lord of Marshall, “After the ceremony had finished, do not stay too long in Bakong city.” Abel looked at the serious expression of Earl Brook. He could help but sensed that something major must have taken place in Bakong City lately “The great king of Duchy of Carmel, Astor George has arrived!” “After hearing these words by the royal servant, all the nobles in the hall had stopped talking and returned to their seats. Only the five honourees remained standing in the center. The King of Duchy of Carmel, Astor George, had entered the hall. He was wearing a red silk suit with a dark red cloak. At that moment, everyone in the hall stood up and bowed until the king had taken his seat. Abel noticed the king did not look so great. Even the red suit could not wide the Sickly look on the king’s face. Through Abel’s power of the will, he also sensed that the fire of the king’s life was becoming weaker and slowly fading. “The title of Lord will be awarded to the Knight of Marshall, Harry!” Shouted the royal servant. The Lord of Marshall stepped up wearing his fully golden armor in the gaze of thousands. He put his head down and kneeled with one leg respectfully in front of the king. His expression seemed extremely dignified and serene. King Astor George stood up. He took a long sword from the Royal Servant, and lightly tapped it on each of the shoulders of the Lord of Marshall. He then said, “The Lord of Marshall, you had now woken up from a bad dream, and fight for the higher ideal!” The Lord of Marshall lifted up his head and shouted, “I will give you my loyalty!” To the Lord of Marshall was one of the most important, holy, and dignified moments in his life. However, the Lord’s awarding process was far shorter than the Lord of Marshall had imagined. Only a few words by the king, a few taps on the shoulder by a long sword, and the entire process was completed. Abel, on the other hand, did not really agree with these kinds of ceremonies. He knew that this ceremony was symbolic of Royal’s power and control over humans. The tap with the sword signified the king had defeated the Honouree, and he had the power to kill anyone who was not loyal to him. After three honourees more had been officially awarded the title of a Lord, it was Abel’s turn. He kneeled in front of the king with his fully blue armor. When king Astor George tapped Abel with the long sword, Abel could feel the shakes in his hand. This ceremony had taken up too much effort for this weak-bodied old man. Before the official award, the asking said to Abel, “Master Abel, you are the youngest eagle of Duchy of Carmel, an outstanding genius. Please remember you will always be a man of the Duchy of Carmel!” Then the King proceeded to say, “Master Abel, you had now woken up from a bad dream, and fight for the higher ideal!” Abel shouted, “I will give you my loyalty.” The voice of a teenager, who was just hitting puberty, filled the hall. Such a young coat of arms lord, the entire hall was filled with admiration. King Astor George took out metal and put it on the chest of Abel. The metal was etched with a golden Chinese dragon with a black background. This coat of arms was designed by Abel and made by the Imperial Palace. No matter which word he was in, Abel would always he was the descendants of the dragon. That’s why he decided to put a Chinese five claw dragon on his coat of arms. When Abel and the Lord of Marshall left the imperial palace, the originally clear sky was suddenly filled with dark clouds. When the returned to Triumph boulevard, thunder had already begun to roar, a strike of lightning slashed the sky. Abel’s power of the will at the time felt very chaotic. He had a vague sense that something bad was going to happen in this city. Abel located where White Cloud was with his heart. It was flying in the sky around 10 miles from Bakong City. It would only take a very short time for White Cloud to reach where Abel was. Abel’s worries had slightly settled. There wouldn’t be a problem if he was to retreat; he only worried that someone might find out about White Cloud’s existence. Abel had doubled down on the defense. He ordered the 20 knight servants and ten black armor warriors to patrol around the hotel until he could set his mind to rest and go back to his room. Thunderstorm washed upon Bakong city throughout the night. It was like the city was crying out in anguish, as a depressing atmosphere surrounds the city.

Chapter 98 - Returning To The Clan Chapter 98: Returning to the Clan “Abel, get ready. You’ll come with me to the Harry family,” the Lord of Marshall said to Abel during breakfast. “Uncle Marshall, what does grandpa Brooks like? I didn’t prepare any gifts,” said Abel, feeling a bit embarrassed. Abel had already decided on the gift for the Harry family. He saw Earl Brooks yesterday, and today he would officially meet him, so of course, Abel would prepare a gift. “He likes anything expensive. Of course, you can also give him a bottle of wine. He loves wine,” said the Lord of Marshall, curled his lips. Abel suddenly had an idea, he turned towards Loraine and said “Loraine, you can stay here by yourself, I have a feeling that something will happen in Bakong City the next two days, so no matter what, you have to stay here. Don’t leave this house.” “Ok!” Loraine nodded her head with honesty. Although she doesn’t know what was happening, she also sensed the depression in this city. After breakfast, Abel called steward Ken to lead him to the wine cellar. He picked 3 of the best wines and went back to his room. This was the first time Abel had combine an ordinary everyday object, so he did not feel too confident. Wine was a type of liquid, so in theory, he could also combine it. His finger lightly tapped the Horadric cube shadow on his right arm. Just like that, the Horadric cube had appeared in front of him in thin air. He put the three bottles of wine to the Horadric Cube. After they showed up in each of the slots, Abel lightly pressed the combined button. The three bottles of wine disappeared in a flash, and the top left corner of the Horadric cube appeared a crystal glass. Abel held the crystal glass in his hand. Inside was filled with blood like wine, and somehow it seemed like it was glowing in red beams of light. Abel gently opened the lid and sniffed the aroma of the wine. Even as a person who was not too fond of wine, he couldn’t help but salivate. Abel closed the bottle. Initially, he was thinking of using a brand new wine bottle to package this wine, but now he has changed his mind. The crystal glass seemed to be the perfect match for such a beautiful wine. The Harry family was located in the east of Bakong City. It was a huge garden-style courtyard, surrounded by white walls and a red roof. When their bull carriage had reached the front gate of the Harry family, he could see a white lion and unicorn with a red background coat of arms etched on to the front gate. He couldn’t help but turn his gaze towards the Lord of Marshall. It was until now that he realized where Harry castle in Harvest City had gotten its coat of arms from. “Abel, welcome. Thank you for your visit!” Earl Brooks and a few other old men stood in front of the gate to welcome Abel. He suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed by the love from a superior. “Grandpa Brooks, why did you come outside yourself!” Abel immensely went up and bowed. “This is your second grandpa, 3rd grandpa, and 5th grandpa” Earl Brooks introduced the old man beside him to Abel. Abel realized that the elders of the Harry family seemed to disregard the Lord of Marshall’s existence completely. They only welcomed Abel with all their enthusiasm. “Grandpa Brooks, uncle Marshall and I decided to bring you this gift!” Said Abel. He turned to his underling and took two long boxes and a small box from his hand and handed it to Earl Brooks. Earl Brooks received the gift. He then waved his steward to open the gift one by one for him. The two magic big swords made the smiles on these old men’s faces even wider. Who would say no to these weapons? They could dramatically increase their family power. “This is..?”Earl Brooks picked up the crystal glass, gently opened it, and gave it a little sniff. It was like his whole body had stiffened up. Earl Brooks immediately closed the bottle without a single expression on his face. He then silently slid the bottle in his pocket and whispered to Abel, “Abel, how did you know I like wine. I’ll take care of this gift myself.” At that time, the other old men realized something was not right. They immediately went up to Earl Brooks and stopped him. Their expressions looked like they would give Earl Brook a good beating if he didn’t take out the red wine again. Abel didn’t think the members of Harry’s family to be this harmonious. They all seemed good intent, and there were not any plotted fights or schemes against each other. Abel also finally realized that the Lord of Marshall’s status in the family was like. They entered the living room, and it was until now Earl Brooks had spoken to the Lord of Marshall, he said: “Didn’t I told you to leave early?” “It was not easy to get to Bakong City. I wanted to visit you and your mother!” Said the Lord of Marshall softly. “Great timing, you can’t even leave if you want to leave now.” Said Lord Brooks with a sigh. “Why?” Said the Lord of Marshall and Abel at the same time. Abel and the Lord of Marshall did not have any source of news in Bakong City, so they have no idea what was going on. “The King was in critical condition!” Said Earl Brook in a deep depressing tone. “After the Lord awarding ceremony yesterday, the majesty suddenly fainted. At night, there was news about he was in critical condition. Now, all the gates are locked in Bakong City. Other than the noble passage, no one else could enter or leave.” Abel and the Lord of Marshall exchanged gaze. They had just seen the king yesterday. Who could have guessed he would already be in critical condition after a day.” “The city is in chaos. It’s good that you brought these magic weapons. Now the two head commanders within the family can fully display their power!” Said Earl Brooks. Abel did not think the situation would be this bad. Things had already escalated to the point where head commanders would need to protect their families. “We brought some knight servants along with us. They are all very experienced warriors. It seemed like one with the power of a head commander wants to give us trouble.” The Lord of Marshall was very satisfied with his defense power, and Abel had the strength to slaughter an elite knight. They should be fine. “Great confidence. If things had really taken a bad turn, you could always come back to the family and hide.” Said Lord Brooks with a caring tone. “Where are my brothers?” Said the Lord of Marshall, somewhat in an odd tone. “How could I allow them to stay in the castle under this situation? A few days ago, I had already sent them to the estate.” Earl Brooks exclaimed, “As soon as I sent them away from danger, you decided to come to the danger. Didn’t you see the letters I wrote to you?” At that moment, Abel realized Earl Brooks actually cared a lot. He just didn’t show it. “… I didn’t think it would be this serious.” Said the Lord of Marshall, by this point, his face had become red from his father’s lecture. He looked like a 40-year-old kid staring at his feet. When the few old men found a place to enjoy the red wine, Abel followed the Lord of Marshall into the backyard to see his mother. Abel had never seen the Lord of Marshall looking like a kid, crying at his mother’s lap. His mother was a benevolent old lady. She lightly patted his back, gently whispered some words of encouragement to him. Abel slowly stepped back, and he didn’t want to interrupt the Lord of Marshall’s intimate time with his mother, who he hadn’t seen in a long time. At that moment, Abel also began to miss his family. The ambition to become a wizard and open the Tome of Town Portal in the Scroll of Town Portal had been risen again. There were wizards in Bakong City. Although he didn’t know where they were, Abel had already gotten the answer he wanted from the words of the Lord of Marshall. He couldn’t wait anymore, especially after seeing that the Lord of Marshall could finally see his mother, Abel’s homesickness had been ignited. He returned to the center of the courtyard. From time to time, he would see knights and warriors being moved. It seemed like a storm was going to strike upon the city. “Kill!!” A thunderous shout came through from Triumph boulevard. Abel was shocked. Without informing the Lord of Marshall, he rushed towards the direction of Triumph boulevard. Not long after he left the courtyard, he could already see the 20 knight servants holding their shields, protecting Loraine and the two stewards. Some Knight servants had already been lightly injured. The ground who was attacking them was lead by two knights, with around 100 Calvary in golden armor. Black Wind seemed to be injured as well, blood gushing out from his back leg, and fresh blood dripping out from the corner of his mouth. Up to this point, Abel gave out a loud grunt. Gold combat qi unleashed from his body, as the ice magic sword which was originally on his back suddenly appeared in his right hand. He held the shield in front of the war horse in his left arm and began to charge. Since he was just visiting the Harry family, he did not wear any armor. He only brought the shield and the big sword just in case. Now, they had come in handy. During his journey, he had drunk 200 bottles of master’s essence condensing potion. His combat qi was almost entirely gold color, and his strength had almost doubled. “A knight! Defense!” Shouted the Calvary in golden armor after they heard a voice shouted from their back, and the sound of horse hoof rushing towards them. “The royal guards are doing their business. Don’t interfere if you don’t want any trouble!” The Calvary in golden armor shouted again.

Chapter 99 - Charge Chapter 99: Charge “Attack your enemies’ weakness with your strength.” His ancestor’s words made a lot of sense. Abel was well aware of his weaknesses and his strengths. His immense physical power was his strength, while his weaknesses were his lack of experience in terms of knight training. “It’s the divine combat qi!” Cried 2 of the two knights with a horrified emotion. Regular cavalry didn’t know what the power of golden combat qi was, but these royal knights must have heard about it. The knights then decided to utilize the golden armor cavalry to defend against Abel’s charge. Hence, the two knights quickly looked at each other and backed away their horses. “Knight’s charging on the horse! Abel shouted again, a wave of combat qi shot out from his body and rushed towards his warhorse. The speed of the warhorse suddenly doubled. The deformed combat qi of Abel increased the “Knight’s charging on the horse technique” from 50% acceleration to 100%. The war horse looked like it had disappeared during the process of acceleration. Soon it had appeared in front of the cavalry with golden armor, Abel ruthlessly struck his sword on their bodies. No matter how tough their golden armors were, the extreme force of Abel’s strike was like a knife slashing a balloon, blasting the body of that cavalry into pieces. Abel appeared out of the smoke like the god of death. His power of the will was fully unleashed. He could see his surroundings extremely clearly. Abel then stuck again horizontally. 2 Cavalry in golden armor had been hit with pieces of human organ from the blast of Abel’s first strike. They had been hit so hard that their defense was fully exposed, and before they even had time to react, Abel had already cut their waist in half. As Abel’s warhorse stepped over the two dead bodies, he was met with another cavalry in golden armor. This time, Abel had already slowed down. The cavalry had a fast reaction, and he quickly took out the long rifle on his hands and stabbed towards Abel with a scream. Abel was alerted through his power of will, and his body reacted naturally. With a little incline, the long spear went under Abel’s left armpit, and it was trapped by Abel’s squeezed with his armpit. Abel then held his ice magic sword high above, and screamed: “To behead!”. At the moment, when the body of the beheaded cavalry fell, Abel kicked forward with his left foot from the saddle. The corpse as kicked towards the rear of another cavalry. He was then knocked off his horse. Afterward, Abel’s warhorse continued to speed forward, and harshly stepped on top of the fallen Calvary, penetrating his ribs and entered his chest. As Abel was losing his speed on the horse, he was surrounded by more golden armored cavalry. Abel then surged his combat qi once again, the blue flash from the magic ice sword suddenly turned into a gold color. At this time, Abel was completely relying on his instinct to continue fighting; his power of the will was commanding his left hand to block while commanding his right hand in waving the sword. Regardless of his opponents were defending or not, the result would be the same. Abel blocked the long spear strikes from the left side as he swiftly glided through the long spears with a big sword in his right hand. When the flash of blue light from Abel’s sword struck upon the long spears of a Calvary, the ice magic power of the sword latched on to his body, slowing his movement down. When Abel wanted to add another strike to end his life, three more long spears had already appeared in front of him. Abel immensely slashed them away with his sword. In a flash of blue light, those 3 Calvary’s bodies were also filled with frost and slowed down. Due to the four golden cavalry slowing down, it made their attack position a big mess. Abel used this opportunity to charge through the cavalry’s defense and successfully made it through their defensive position. He quickly regrouped with Loraine and his two stewards. “Master Abel! The twenty knights were so excited by Abel’s return that they split a passage in the defensive formation as Abel rushed into the defensive circle. Abel did not reply, but simply dismounted and rushed into the cart where the equipment was stored. He promptly took out Harry’s bow, and with a look of reverence in his face, drew arrows to his bow, fired arrows, and continued to draw arrows to his bow. As Abel continued rapidly firing at the cavalry, more and more cavalry were shot down off their horses. “Defensive position! A succession of arrows fell on the cavalry, causing the cavalry to cry out in terror and get into their position rapidly, soon the group of Calvary had formed their battle formation in front of Abel. The ordinary golden armor Calvary had their shield in front of them in their formation, defending from all directions with two knights were in the middle. At this moment The Lord of Marshall arrived followed by the ten black-armored warriors. When the two knights in the line of defense saw The Lord of Marshall, they quickly took a flare out of their arms, lit it quickly, and threw it into the air. “Royal cavalry, how dare you all attack the nobles’ coat of arms without any specific reasoning!” yelled The Lord of Marshall with a gloomy emotion. “I’ve been ordered to take them back for investigation, and if they resist, they’ll face the wrath of the royal family!” Shouted the royal knight in the line of the troops. Abel, however, no longer cared about what had happened before. Instead, he took the opportunity and told his two stewards beside him, “Help me put on my armor!” Abel shook off the flesh of those he killed from his body. When Loraine saw the blood on Abel’s body, she was immediately frightened. Abel then quickly whispered, “Loraine, get back in the carriage.” Loraine looked steadily at Abel with her eyes and shook her head firmly. “Black Wind, keep an eye on Loraine for me,” Abel ordered while looking towards Black Wind. Within a flash, Black Wind was next to Loraine, and the injury of his left leg didn’t appear to be too serious. The two stewards were extremely fast. Within a few moments, they had already equipped all of the armor onto Abel. Abel then took the 300-pound knight’s rifle from the horse carriage and mounted onto his warhorse. “Uncle Marshall, don’t bother trying to reason with them. Something must have happened in the royal family, and they wanted to get rid of outsiders.” Abel knew by this time that King Astor was probably dead. Within the closed down Bakong City, power was very important. The best way to gain power was to kill off your threats. Abel and his group had just been caught in the middle of this storm. Someone must have sent the personal weapons Abel had brought along with him as a threat. That was what leads to this situation at hand. “Follow along with my attack!!” With Abel’s great cry, he rode his horses directly into the battle line of the golden armored cavalry. As Abel was wearing armor, he no longer had to worry about protecting himself, alongside his 5-meter long lance, which was able to exert his power effectively. When the golden combat qi surged once again, the qi pressure of Abel’s palm began to spread a wave of golden combat qi towards his long spear. The golden combat qi quickly surrounded the 5-meter knight’s rifle. It had completely turned into a gold color. “Qi defense! With a loud cry, the two knights in the royal line of battle placed their four hands onto their shields. On the other hand, all of the gold armored cavalries flashed their combat qi as they fluttered and rushed towards the two knights with all their might. At this moment, the two royal knights were surrounded by the white combat qi from all four sides of their shields. It seemed that the two royal knights just wanted to hold out until their backup arrives. They seemed to completely ignore the problem of the amount of combat qi on the cavalry behind them, as they focused all their combat qi in defending their battle formation. With Abel in front and twenty knight servants behind him, their task was to wait for Abel to break up the enemy’s defenses and then let the knight servants handle the killings. Abel looked towards the battle formation with a cold sneer. He lifted his knight’s long spear. He then harshly struck down, “Bang!” Many people in the battle formation were shaken so hard by Abel’s force that they began spitting fresh blood out of their mouth, but they persisted, and the battle formation was still not broken yet. Abel, too, was a little surprised at the outcome. His strength was now about three thousand pounds, and with the golden combat qi quadrupling, it’s power. Abel didn’t even use all of his power in his last attack, but the power that it had dealt to his enemies was already extremely powerful. He used his full force to make a second strike. When the 5-meter long spear struck down from mid-air, it seemed to warped the body of the long spear, unleashing an explosion of air rushing towards the Calvary’s shields. 2 of the Calvary behind the shield had exploded like a balloon, blasting into mid-air with fresh blood gushing out of their mouth. 4 of their shields had also been blasted off, with the magic power of the rune in Abel’s long spear, and the shields had been blasted away for 10 meters before hitting the ground “Charge! With the cry of Abel, the twenty knights rushed forward behind him. The Lord of Marshall, who was accompanied by his ten black armored warriors, also rushed from the other side into the already scattered battle formation of the Calvary. With Abel’s massive strike, it had already more or less caused this golden armored cavalry to suffer from internal injuries. With their military strength already massively lowered, the following scene was not even considered as a battle. It was more like a slaughter. No matter if it was only the 20 knights or the ten black armored warriors, they were all veterans in these battles. With their eyes filled with no remorse, they held out their weapons on their hands and ended their opponent’s life with the most efficient method to save their energy.

Chapter 100 - Wizards Chapter 100: Wizards “Stop!” A shadow of a man appeared with a roar. It was followed by an immense wave of impose pressure. By that point, the Lord of Marshall and the 30 beginner warriors were no longer able to do any attacks. They could only stay on their spot, directly counteract this immense wave of impose pressure. “It’s a head commander!” Abel’s eyes began to flash. These kinds of impose pressure could do nothing to him physically or spiritually. Although he could not unleash any impose pressure, his power of the will was miles ahead of that commander in front of him. Therefore, impose pressure could only excite his power of the will even more. The commander got all his enemies under his control. As he looked at the situation at hand with satisfaction, he suddenly felt a strong breeze of wind coming from above his head. Before his soul even had time to react, a knight’s long spear had already appeared upon the top of his head. “Ah!” The commander shouted. The body of the commander was surrounded by a layer of white combat qi, forming a combat qi armor. “Dong!” The knight’s long spear struck upon the combat qi armor. Although combat qi armor had been blown off from the head commander, the massive force of the long spear had also been counteracted. That’s where the magic power of the “4#Nef” rune came in handy. It had the effects of rumbling off enemies. Just like that, the commander had been knocked back around 10 meters, exposing his defense. Abel did not stop. He knew there was a chance the commander could strike back. That’s why as the commander was stepping back, Abel strike again with his long spear. Again, the commander did not have the time to react, and he only blocked the Impact directly with his combat qi armor. Just like last time, the armor had been blown off, and the commander had been knocked back another 10 meters by the magic power of the long spear. During the process of this attack, every noble within Triumph boulevard became alarmed. The nobles who were aware of how things had started began to recount how the royal soldiers had trampled over the rights and privileges of nobles. 2 official Lords and their family were unexpectedly being attacked by a group of royal cavalry. This news had brought the centuries hidden tension between the royals and the nobles into the surface of reality. The anger within the suppressed nobles began to break out. At first, a few noble knights had joined the battle formation behind Abel, but soon more and more knights began to joint. Some nobles had even sent their own family’s knights to join the battle formation. The commander had already been struck three times by Abel. The joints in his body were burning in pain, and his muscles began to twitch. If the commander had been struck a few more times like this, his life might come to an end. “Stop!” Suddenly the atmosphere in front of the Abel seemed to be slashed. An ordinary old man appeared in front of him, stopping Abel’s attack with his hand. The massive force of his long spear was like a child’s toy within the control of the old man. “Head commander Hoover!” Someone had shouted in shock; almost everyone had stopped their attack. Abel had heard of this legendary head commander Hoover. He was the most powerful knight in Duchy of Carmel, a protector of the Duchy. “My child, you have immense power. You should be the pride of the Duchy, not our enemy.” Said head commander Hoover calmly. His eye seemed to be able to see right through everything. Head commander Hoover turned to the nobles in the scene and said, “I will find out who was responsible for sending out these royal guards. No matter which prince it is, he will pay for what he had done!” “In regards to you… my child. Master Hoover from the Black Smith Union says hello to you!” Said head commander Hoover as he bowed to Abel. “You are a Blacksmith Master?” Abel quickly bowed back as he proceeded to say, “Master Abel from the Black Smith Union says hello to you.” “Haha, I had heard that recently Duchy Of Carmel had a new Master that has potential to be one of the great Black Smith masters. I always wanted to see you, but as you know, I can’t leave this city,” said head commander Hoover. He still sounded calm as ever, when he was talking or Abel, they sounded like good friends. “From now on, you would be protected by the Black Smith Union and me in this city. No one would have the guts to disturb you anymore!” Head commander Hoover promised with a smile. Afterward, head commander Hoover had vanished into thin air in front of Abel. “What had head commander Hoover said to you just then?” the Lord of Marshall stepped up and asked Abel curiosity. “Didn’t you hear?” Abel remembered the Lord of Marshall was standing right by his side. There was no way he could not hear what heard commander Hoover had said. “I could only see his mouth move. I did not hear a thing.” the Lord of Marshall replied. Abel couldn’t help but admire how powerful head commander Hoover was. He could not just appear and disappear out of thin air, but he could also speak without others hearing what he had said. “As soon as I saw the commander appeared, I immediately called my friends. It seems like they will be disappointed.” Mumbled the Lord of Marshall, as he put the cracked medal in his hand into his chest pocket. One by one, the nobles began to leave after they heard the promise by head commander Hoover. Abel had also taken off his armor. He was covered in blood and ready to go back to his courtyard to take a shower. At that moment, a young man wearing a cloth gown appeared in front of him. “Marshall, you’re still alive?” Am I late?” Said the young man with a smile to the Lord of Marshall. “My God, Sam… it’s you. How come you still look so young after all these years?” The Lord of Marshall stepped up and gave the young man a hug. The young man called Sam began to laugh loudly, “you knew it; that’s why I’m so busy every day.” “What happened, why did you called me in such a hurry?” Sam looked around to the dead cavalry in gold armor at the scene. He then said with a smile, “It looks like a big battle took place here.” The Lord of Marshall replied, “a commander had just appeared. I’m afraid I can’t fight him off, so I called you.” “You are lucky, I’ve been in Bakong city for all these years but still rarely see a commander roaming around. Where is he now?” Sam doesn’t seem to be scared of the commander. He only seemed to be teasing his friend. “Head commander Hoover took him away.” Said the Lord Marshall pointing towards the direction which head commander Hoover had left. “Head Commander Hoover? It seemed like that royal bastard must be in big trouble. That’s what you get for always stirring things up.” Said sam with ease. “Abel, come here. This is my adopted son Abel. I’m going to take him to the wizard examination in the year after next year. We will give you trouble for being our middle man.” The Lord of Marshall held Abel and introduced him to Sam. Abel was a bit shocked to see the young man in front of him. This friend of the Lord of Marshall looked way too different from him. The already entered middle age Lord of Marshall looked like he was from an entirely different generation compared to Sam. “H…h…hello!” Said Abel nervously as he bowed. “No worries, you can call me uncle sam.” Wizard Sam said with a smile. Then he then turned towards the lord of Marshall in somewhat of a suspicious way and asked: “why did he have to wait another two years for the examination?” The Lord of Marshall replied, “he is only 13 years old; he needs to wait until 15 to do the examination!” Abel felt very nervous as he watched the two men talking about his future as a wizard. “Look at him, he is so strong, so why wait until he turned 15? That age requirement was only for weak noble kids. With a strong body like that, he could go do the examination any time,” Wizard Sam said to the nervous Abel with a smile. “I can do the examination now?” Said asked with excitement.” “Not now, but if you want, you can be my Wizard follower for now. When I have free time, then you can do the examination!” Sam smiled at the excited Abel. “Of course, I want to. I want to be a student of wizardry!” Abel burst these words out without even thinking. The Lord of Marshall could not understand what was going on in Abel’s mind. This kid had always wanted to become a wizard, while completely disregarding his gift to be a powerful knight and the honorable status of a Black Smith Master. However, since Abel insisted, the Lord of Marshall decided to help him accomplish this wish. “Sam, Abel is my adopted son and my closest friend. I hope you can treat him well!” The Lord of Marshall bowed to Sam and said in a serious manner. “What are you doing? Abel is my nephew, so of course, I will treat him like my family member. You can stop worrying now.” Said a Wizard Sam certainly upon seeing the sincerity of the Lord of Marshall. (Volume 1 ends)