Battle Preparations

"Uncle Marshall, on my way back from Harvest City, I saw the villages between the castle and Harvest City being attacked by orcs."

Upon hearing this, Knight Marshall immediately ordered Steward Linsey, "Sound the alarm and have all the villagers in the territory enter the castle. Check everyone's identity as they come in."

"Yes, master." After answering, Steward Linsey hurried out.

"Uncle Marshall, I prepared a gift for you. I originally planned to give it to you on your birthday, but I'm giving it to you early in hopes that it will increase your combat strength." Abel took out a deluxe Ice Magic Hundred Refinements Greatsword wrapped in soft leather.

When he returned to the castle, Abel had taken a deluxe Ice Magic Hundred Refinements Greatsword from the workshop. It had originally been a birthday gift for Knight Marshall, but the situation had changed. Handing it to Knight Marshall ahead of time to improve his combat ability was the most important thing.

As for the other deluxe Ice Magic Hundred Refinements Greatsword, Abel also decided not to wait until Knight Bennett's birthday and to deliver the Magic Greatsword to him as soon as possible.

"A magic sword!" Knight Marshall drew the blade and lightly tapped it with a finger, then hurriedly shook the frost off his hand. He said excitedly, "It's an Ice Magic Sword, too. What a treasure."

Turning to Abel, he said, "Bentham has been researching how to make magic weapons. Looks like he succeeded."

"This is my gift. How could it be Master Bentham's?" Seeing his gift credited to someone else, Abel felt rather embarrassed.

"Abel, did you forge this sword?" Knight Marshall asked incredulously.

Abel said nothing. He simply pointed at the Blacksmith Master Medal on his chest. Only then did Knight Marshall notice that Abel had an extra medal.

"You're already a master blacksmith?" Knight Marshall was now questioning the entire world. When had a thirteen-year-old rookie blacksmith become a master blacksmith?

"I went to Harvest City for the master's evaluation."

"Is that true?" Knight Marshall's expression slowly changed from astonishment to wild delight. He could not help laughing. "Hahaha! Our family has produced a master blacksmith! I want a full set of the finest Magic Armor! I want the sturdiest magic shield! I also want a Magic Knight Commander Spear. Oh, and I want a magic bow and arrows, too."

Abel watched awkwardly as Knight Marshall went mad with excitement, then walked out of the room without looking back. To fulfill Knight Marshall's demands, they would probably have to gather the finest smiths in the Blacksmith Guild before his dreams could come true.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang." As the bells rang, twenty cavalrymen wearing leather armor, carrying spears, and riding warhorses assembled before the castle. Knight Marshall had donned his imitation Crimson Sun Armor and was riding his own white warhorse. It was much stronger and taller than ordinary warhorses. With the deluxe Ice Magic Hundred Refinements Greatsword Abel had given him strapped to his back and a Knight Commander Spear in hand, he stood at the head of the formation.

"An orc squad has appeared nearby! My soldiers, take up your weapons and defend our homeland with me!" At Knight Marshall's words, the twenty cavalrymen became fired up. Killing orcs meant earning military merit. In the past, they had only been able to gain military merit by going to Miracle City to guard the fortress. Now, military merit was right before their eyes.

The military strength of Hari Castle was formidable. That was Abel's first thought when he saw the scene before him. Twenty warhorses, along with the cost of training cavalrymen, could only be supported by a Blacksmith Shop with an iron mine and a near-master like Master Bentham.

At Bennett Castle, Knight Bennett took a package from the sweat-covered messenger, instructed the steward to reward him, and then returned to his room.

Inside the package were a greatsword and two letters. One was from Knight Marshall. It briefly explained the orcs' attack on the villages and told him to be wary of further orc attacks.

The other letter was from Abel. It contained only one sentence: "Your birthday gift has arrived early."

After drawing the greatsword, Knight Bennett noticed that it was unusual. This was an Ice Magic Greatsword of immeasurable value. The moment he realized what it was, Knight Bennett first thought of how many gold coins his second son, who had become someone else's adopted son, must have spent on the gift. His second son's first thought upon learning that orcs were active in the area had been to send him an Ice Magic Greatsword. Knight Bennett was deeply moved.

If Knight Bennett knew that Abel had forged this Ice Magic Greatsword himself, what color would his already regret-blackened guts turn after giving away his second son?

When Abel arrived at the Blacksmith Shop today, everyone, including his senior apprentice brother Gaden, treated him with extreme respect. They first saluted him, then changed the way they addressed him to Master Abel. This gave Abel a terrible headache, but with his current status, he could not be overly modest. He now represented an entire group—the continent's highest-ranking group of blacksmiths.

Abel shut himself inside his private workshop. He had always had very low requirements for equipment. Although he could forge Hundred Refinements weapons, he had never forged a weapon specifically for himself. The only weapon he currently had was the Ice Magic Greatsword he had made during the master's evaluation.

Why had Abel never forged weapons and equipment for himself? First, he was not in any danger at the moment and had always believed he would not need them. Second, his body was still growing rapidly. Making equipment now would be wasteful, because his height and arm length would continue to change. If he forged equipment for himself now, it might no longer fit after a year.

However, under the current circumstances, he might very well encounter battle—and a battle of life and death at that. Abel decided to make some equipment for self-defense, just in case.

Abel first wanted to test an idea. He put on thick gloves, placed a ceramic bottle in the furnace, and heated it for a while before gripping it with iron tongs and taking it out. He then poured a basin of cold water over the freshly fired ceramic bottle. Almost at the same time, Abel stored the bottle, which had been drenched in cold water, in the Horadric Cube.

After opening the Horadric Cube, Abel discovered that the ceramic bottle had not changed at all after entering it. It was as if time had stopped at the instant it had been taken from the furnace and drenched with cold water. Looking closely, he could still see faint cracks in the bottle.

A thought struck Abel. The ceramic bottle appeared in his hand, and at the same moment, it shattered with a crack and fell to the ground.

"It worked!" Abel rejoiced inwardly.

Next came the forging of the Magic Greatsword. Abel was now extremely fast, taking about five hours on average to make one. While crafting the first Ice Magic Greatsword, he intentionally scrambled some of the runes and added many useless rune lines. The lines intertwined and repeatedly crossed one another. As he guided the sapphire's mana toward the center of the runes, a flash of white light appeared, and Abel quickly stored the greatsword in the Horadric Cube.

After that, Abel devoted himself to making a massive Hundred Refinements Shield. The shield was thirty centimeters thick. If Abel had not been a level-five Rookie Knight, he truly would not have been able to lift it.

Abel picked up the shield and went to an empty warehouse in the Blacksmith Shop. He braced himself, walked to the corner, and held the shield in front of him.

He then took the failed Ice Magic Greatsword from the Horadric Cube. The instant it appeared, Abel threw it away and silently counted, "One, two, three."

Just as he counted to three, a tremendous boom sounded outside the shield. Then it rang out like countless sharp arrows striking it, clang after clang. When the noise stopped, Abel poked his head out from behind the shield. This explosion was far more powerful than the previous one. The stone wall was covered with fragments, and some had only left small holes.

When Abel looked at his shield, he broke into a cold sweat. The Hundred Refinements Shield was covered in dense little pits, all blasted into it by fragments. Some of the pits were deep enough to fit a finger joint.

If Abel had been holding a shield that had not been reinforced, he might already have been injured by the greatsword's explosion.

He had not expected that merely adding more rune circuits would increase the explosive effect so drastically. If such a greatsword were thrown into a crowd, what would the consequences be?

Abel could imagine the scene. Absolutely no one would survive such an explosion.

Of course, this thing had to be stored in the Horadric Cube. That meant the weapon could only serve as Abel's secret weapon. Anyone who saw it had to be dead. The Horadric Cube was Abel's most important secret, and much of his success was due to its help.

That night, Abel did not return to the castle to rest. He stayed up making three Explosive Greatswords and stored them in the Horadric Cube. He also studied how to protect himself.

Abel thought of grenades from his former world. This explosion had similarities to a grenade's explosion. According to the knowledge Abel had learned in that age of information, the safest place after a grenade exploded was the ground. Although the blast still reached the ground to some extent, it suffered the least attack.

Then, based on the principle of tanks deflecting shells with angled armor, Abel made a much smaller shield that could be hung from his waist. At the instant of an explosion, a person could lie flat on the ground to reduce the number of attacks they suffered, then use the small shield to deflect incoming fragments at an angle.