Hundred Refinements Greatsword

Although Abel had been upgraded to a Level 5 Apprentice Knight, his spirit was still quite low. Seeing his state, Master Bentham hurried him to rest. Knight Marshall led Abel out of the blacksmith shop and walked away.

As they walked out of the blacksmith shop, they saw Knight Marshall's dedicated carriage speeding from afar. Abel couldn't help but look down at the knight's boots, which were covered in mud. The journey from the castle to the blacksmith shop took over twenty minutes by carriage, but Knight Marshall couldn't wait and had run over to get there quickly.

It should be known that Knight Marshall was a feudal lord, and such frantic running around his own territory was considered very undignified. Yet, Knight Marshall had done it for Abel.

Abel looked at Knight Marshall, who was beaming with joy. This knight, who was usually so concerned about his image, was now disheveled but happy about Abel's advancement. Abel's heart warmed, and he softly said, "Uncle Marshall, thank you for everything you've done for me."

"What are you thinking about, little one?" Knight Marshall patted Abel's head and pulled him into the carriage. The carriage headed towards the castle, bathed in sunlight.

"Ding, ding, ding." The next morning, Abel was already at the blacksmith shop early and requested a private workshop from Master Bentham. The Master knew this was Abel's first time forging a greatsword and that he didn't want to be disturbed, so he agreed.

Abel's intention was not to let anyone see how he forged this greatsword, as he planned to use techniques he had learned from science programs on Earth, such as carburization and quenching, which no one else here had ever used.

The rough blank of the sword needed to be continuously refined to reduce its carbon content. The lower the carbon content, the higher the quality of the blank. However, after the greatsword was formed, using carburization to add some carbon to the blade could increase its hardness.

Abel placed the formed greatsword into a crucible. This crucible had been specially fired and was just the right size to hold a greatsword. It had been prepared days in advance. Charcoal and fermented soybeans were placed on the greatsword in the crucible, along with soil powder, and then the crucible was sealed and placed in a furnace for heating.

The charcoal and fermented soybeans were naturally for carburization, and the soil powder served as a dispersant. The advantage of this carburization technique was that the greatsword achieved very uniform and stable carburization with a high carbon potential, resulting in considerable efficiency and excellent results. In fact, this technique is still used on modern Earth and is known as the "blister steel method."

As for quenching, this world also had corresponding techniques. It involved throwing the sword into cold water for rapid cooling, but this also led to a significant increase in the scrap rate. Due to the rapid expansion and contraction from hot iron to cold water, the internal stresses in the metal became unbalanced during quenching, causing the sword to develop cracks when placed in cold water. Sometimes, cracks would appear even after the sword had been quenched and removed for some time.

The quenching technique Abel used this time was a more specialized one, a method from an ancient sword renovation program he had seen. After the long sword was removed from the crucible, it was rubbed back and forth against charcoal to ensure complete contact with the sword's body. Then, it was placed into a quenching bucket. This bucket was half water and half animal fat. The greatsword, heated to nearly a thousand degrees, was first immersed in the animal fat. The fat absorbed a large amount of heat, but its heat transfer rate was not fast, so the greatsword was not affected by stress. It was then plunged into the cold water. By this time, the temperature was not as high as before, and the greatsword underwent a second quenching in the cold water.

After the greatsword cooled, Abel took it out of the quenching bucket and flicked its surface with his hand. The sound was crisp. Although he didn't know the exact quality of this sword, the greatsword was finished.

He called a servant to clean up the workshop. Abel didn't want anyone to see these things and make any assumptions. Inventing and creating things in this world was a very dangerous endeavor.

"Gaden, can you help me find someone to make a sword hilt for me?" Abel found Gaden, who was busy, and asked somewhat sheepishly.

Sword hilts were sometimes made of iron, wood, or made from materials like ox horns or other hard substances. Abel had never learned the craft of carving sword hilts, so he could only ask Gaden for help.

"Is this the first greatsword you've made?" Gaden took the greatsword from Abel and examined it carefully. He said in an excited, slightly hoarse voice, "This is a Hundred Refinements Greatsword? My heavens, it's a Hundred Refinements Greatsword."

Gaden had been studying under Master Bentham for five years and could only forge 60-refined swords. A hundred-refined sword had always been Gaden's dream.

"Young Master Abel, you truly are a genius," Gaden praised sincerely. He then gently stroked the sword's body, as if discovering something. He lightly tapped the sword's back with his fingers and pressed his ear against it, listening intently to the greatsword's resonance.

"This is impossible, how can this be?"

The sword's appearance indicated it was hundred-refined, but its blade hardness far exceeded that of a normal Hundred Refinements Greatsword. Master Bentham produced a Hundred Refinements Greatsword every month, and these swords were one of the sources of wealth for Hari Castle. Gaden not only watched the Master forge swords but also maintained these Hundred Refinements Greatswords, so his familiarity with them was far greater than anyone else's.

The surface of Abel's greatsword was very peculiar, vastly different from the Hundred Refinements Greatswords the Master usually forged. Gaden couldn't articulate the exact difference, but his experience told him this sword surpassed other Hundred Refinements Greatswords.

To verify this, Gaden swung the greatsword towards a block of wood intended for fuel. With almost no effort, the greatsword sliced through the wood block silently, like a hot knife through butter, dividing it into two halves.

"How did you make this greatsword?" Gaden was impatient to know about the sword.

"I just followed your instructions for forging, and Master Bentham helped me when I encountered difficulties," Abel explained.

Gaden seemed to have misunderstood, believing that the sword's exceptional quality was due to Master Bentham's help in completing the final stages. He secretly resolved to study diligently under the Master so that he could forge such weapons himself in the future.

"I have collected some very fine ox horns, which would be perfect for the sword's hilt. I'll install it for you tonight and also prepare a scabbard. May I keep this sword for tonight?" Gaden's idea was simple: the forging method of this sword was very strange, and if he could keep it for a night to study, it would be very beneficial for his own forging skills.

Gaden didn't sleep at all that night. He used the best ox horns to install the hilt and found a crocodile leather scabbard. Afterward, he spent his time under the oil lamp carefully observing this extraordinary greatsword.

In the morning, Gaden brought the greatsword to the blacksmith shop. His night of observation had left him utterly astonished. If he weren't afraid of damaging Abel's sword, he would have wanted to clash it against the Hundred Refinements swords in the Master's warehouse.

"Gaden, what's wrong with you?" Master Bentham asked, looking at Gaden's red eyes with some curiosity. Why did this honest man look like he hadn't slept all night?

"Master, I don't understand the sword you made for Abel. I thought about it all night yesterday." Gaden rubbed his head and looked at Master Bentham somewhat sheepishly, wondering if he was too stupid.

Master Bentham took the greatsword, drawing it out as he said, "This is the greatsword Abel forged yesterday. I only guided him on how to refine the Hundred Refinements blank the day before yesterday. When you reach the 80-refined bottleneck, I will teach you too."

"This is that greatsword, the one Abel forged?" Master Bentham was also somewhat surprised. The Master's experience was far superior to Gaden's. The techniques contained within this greatsword could be considered a family secret, a secret art for improving a weapon's hardness and sharpness. While the Master was tempted by such a secret art, he knew that prying into a family's secret art meant making an eternal enemy of that family, regardless of whether the secret art belonged to the Hari Family or the Bennett Family.

No wonder Abel had requested a private workshop yesterday. So, Abel intended to use a family secret art to refine the greatsword. This explained Abel's actions.

Master Bentham warned Gaden not to inquire further into this matter with Abel, and to act as if it had never happened.