Learning Forging

Abel rubbed his hands in the dirt on the ground. There was no anti-slip powder here, so he used dirt instead. This was a habit from his days as a fitness coach. Once his hands were coated with dirt, they would not slip. This body of his was still too young, and he had no desire to leave it riddled with injuries. He had to start with the small details and protect his body bit by bit in everyday life.

Abel stood before the 150-pound Iron Lock, placing his feet close to the iron bar in its center. With the webs of his thumbs facing each other as he gripped the bar, he raised the Iron Lock from the ground and over his head in one smooth motion, his arms fully extended above him.

The entire lift was completed in one fluid motion. Master Bentham gave a soft exclamation. Though it was only 150 pounds, Abel's movements were clearly far more open and fluid than Gaden's.

Knight Marshall saw things differently. When Abel lifted the Iron Lock, the force began at his feet, passed through his legs, waist, and upper back, and finally reached his arms. It was somewhat similar to the power-storing techniques used in Knight training. For Abel to use such a technique on his first attempt at lifting an Iron Lock showed that his understanding of strength had already reached an exceptionally high level.

Dropping the 150-pound Iron Lock, Abel moved to stand before the 200-pound one. Using the same posture, he lifted it with ease as well.

Then came 250 pounds, which he passed easily. Under the dumbfounded gazes of Master Bentham and Gaden, Abel had already stepped up beside the 300-pound Iron Lock that Gaden had struggled to raise earlier.

Grasping the iron bar with both hands, he placed them slightly closer together than before. He bent his knees into a squat, lifted the Iron Lock, brought it past his chest and onto his shoulders, then stood upright. Next, he gripped the bar with both hands, bent his arms until his chin was level with the bar, then straightened his arms and pushed. The Iron Lock was raised above his head.

"Marshall, where did you find this monster?" Master Bentham snapped back to his senses as if waking from a dream and asked Knight Marshall.

"What do you mean, monster? He's a Level 4 Rookie Knight. If his physical strength can't even lift 300 pounds, what kind of Level 4 Rookie Knight would he be?" Knight Marshall was unhappy that the master had called his adopted son a monster, so he directly revealed Abel's level.

"A Level 4 Rookie Knight? By my god, child, how old are you this year?" Master Bentham asked Abel in astonishment.

"I'll be thirteen soon," Abel answered softly.

"Then you're only twelve. A twelve-year-old Rookie Knight... Which fool went mad and gave such a treasure to you as an adopted son?" Master Bentham looked at Knight Marshall with some disdain.

"What's wrong with me? I'm an Intermediate Knight too, all right?" Knight Marshall shouted, hopping in agitation.

"You seem to have only just entered the Intermediate Knight rank. A genius like this should be taught by a Knight Commander. Even a Grand Knight Commander would take a disciple like him."

"That's none of your concern. There's no problem with letting him learn forging from you, right?" Knight Marshall had known Master Bentham for many years and did not want to argue with him any longer. The master's status was distinguished; if Knight Marshall had not been such a close friend of his back then, he would never have been able to invite him to the territory. Yet the master's blunt personality always gave Knight Marshall a headache.

"Let him stay, then. Marshall, are you sure teaching him yourself won't delay his future?" Master Bentham added after agreeing.

Those words made Knight Marshall say to Abel, "Stay here during the day and study properly under the master. Practice your Knight Skills at the castle in the mornings and evenings." Then he left the Blacksmith Shop in something of a retreat.

"Gaden, teach Abel some basics first." After speaking, Master Bentham headed for his own workshop as well.

"You're really strong." Gaden looked curiously at the small-framed Abel and praised him.

"You're very strong too." Abel had undergone Knight training, but he could tell that Gaden was merely an ordinary person. In terms of raw strength, Gaden truly was very strong.

"But I'm much older than you. I'm already nineteen, while you're only twelve. And I watched you lift 300 pounds. You did it so easily. You should be able to lift an even heavier Iron Lock." Gaden spoke with great certainty.

"You just haven't fully brought out your strength. If you want to learn, I can teach you how to lift an Iron Lock the way I do when I have time."

"Really? Can I really learn that technique?" Gaden jumped up excitedly, then turned back and said seriously to Abel, "I'll teach you forging techniques properly. Whatever I know, I'll teach you all of it."

It had been nearly a month since Abel arrived at Hari Castle, and New Year's was only three days away. Abel had already been studying in the Blacksmith Shop for almost a month.

As for forging, Abel had learned all the basic techniques from Gaden. At this moment, he was forging his first greatsword. He intended to give it to his elder brother Zack as a New Year's gift.

Abel held the rough red-hot iron billet with tongs in one hand and struck it on the anvil with a ten-pound hammer in the other. After several dozen strikes, the billet gradually cooled, and Abel tossed it back into the furnace to heat it again.

The smelting techniques of this era were not particularly advanced. Abel learned that a blacksmith's work consisted simply of repeatedly hammering heated iron billets, reheating them after they cooled, and hammering them again. If this process was repeated thirty times, the finished ironware was considered thirty-fold forged. The longsword Knight Marshall had shown Abel in the study, which had been shaped one hundred times, had been made from a hundred-fold forged iron billet.

Ordinary blacksmiths could make rough billets forged only thirty to forty times at most. As Master Bentham's disciple, Gaden could make sixty-fold forged billets. In the Blacksmith Shop, only the master could make hundred-fold forged billets.

This repeated hammering was not difficult for Abel to understand. Having watched science programs, he knew that such forging was simply a method of removing carbon from the rough billet. The more times it was forged, the less carbon remained in the billet, and the better its quality became.

After nearly a month of repeatedly using a hammer to strike rough billets, Abel had also mastered the techniques of wielding a hammer. With his learning speed, he could already accurately control the point of impact. The billet had now been forged fifty times. A fifty-fold forged billet required greater force with every strike to move it, yet Abel's hands remained steady.

Not far away, Master Bentham silently watched Abel. Although the master had not personally taught Abel any knowledge during this time, he had been keeping a close eye on him. Gaden had followed the master for five years, and teaching Abel some basic techniques was more than enough.

Whenever he watched Abel strike the rough billet, Master Bentham could always sense a peculiar fluidity in his movements. Abel was not fast. There was one second between each strike, and he appeared relaxed. But the master knew that anyone could swing a ten-pound hammer over a hundred times. Striking a fifty-fold forged billet was different. Abel had begun in the morning and continued without stopping until noon, hammering once per second without pause.

Abel had developed his hammering method himself through his practice over this period. It was like throwing punches in boxing. Some people had tested it and found that heavy boxing punches were the strongest among all punching methods, because boxing used the body as a medium to transmit force rather than relying solely on arm strength.

That was how Abel now hammered the rough billet. He did not use much force in each strike. He transmitted force from his feet through his body and finally into his arms, driving the hammer downward. Then he used the hammer's rebound, adding only a trace of strength to raise it back to its original height before beginning the next cycle. This method did not actually consume much strength; it was simply difficult to master. Abel had also discovered that as long as he had a theoretical basis, his body could perform the corresponding movements.

If only this child were not a Rookie Knight. Such a gifted blacksmith—why did he have to engage in all that fighting and killing? With Abel's learning ability and current level, if he studied under him for a few years, he would certainly become a new master-level blacksmith. Master Bentham felt deeply conflicted.

Having forgotten to eat, Abel finally forged the rough billet into an eighty-fold forged billet at two in the afternoon. After that, he could no longer continue hammering it, because even when he used all his strength, the eighty-fold forged billet was too hard to move.