Abel felt something lightly nibbling at his foot. When he looked down, he saw Black Wind, still tiny, playfully pouncing at his foot and having a wonderful time.
He scooped Black Wind up from the floor and into his arms, gently stroking its soft, smooth fur. Black Wind now looked somewhat like a puppy. Every day, Black Wind had to eat a great deal of food. Although it was still very small, the gold it consumed each day was already comparable to the cost of a fully grown warhorse.
After being disturbed by Black Wind, Abel no longer felt like continuing his mental-strength training. The fatigue and weakness in his body made him carry Black Wind to the bed and pull it into his arms, preparing to sleep. Black Wind struggled, trying to get out of Abel's embrace. Its energy was exceptionally vigorous at the moment, and it had no desire to sleep at all. Eventually, it sensed that its master's embrace had weakened. It wriggled out of his arms, turned around, and saw that its master had already fallen asleep.
The next day, nearing noon, Abel felt an itch on his face. When he opened his eyes, he saw the little wolf Black Wind licking his face with its tiny tongue. Seeing Abel open his eyes, it gave him two soft cries. Through their soul connection, Abel knew that Black Wind was hungry. Normally, a servant would come feed Black Wind in the morning, but today Abel had unusually failed to rise early for training, so the servant had not dared disturb him. Black Wind had been starved half to death.
Abel pulled the bell beside the bed. A moment later, a maid entered. Abel was usually very busy and did not spend much time in the castle. Moreover, he was still young, so his maid had other duties to attend to. Unlike the servants of other noble youths, who were young and beautiful and devoted solely to one person, his maid had to handle various other tasks as well.
After instructing the maid to take good care of Black Wind, Abel washed up and asked her to summon Steward Linsey.
"Young Master, did you wish to see me?" Steward Linsey asked as usual, dressed in a crisp steward's formal suit and bowing slightly.
"I'd like to ask you to do something for me." As he spoke, Abel handed the steward a purse containing the two thousand gold coins he had prepared in advance. He continued, "I'd like you to purchase a luxurious carriage for me."
Steward Linsey's eyes filled with confusion. The castle was not short of carriages. Of the two kept ready at all times, one was reserved for Knight Marshall, while the other was a spare. Thinking that Abel might not know this, he said, "If you need a carriage, there's still one available in the castle."
Seeing that the steward had misunderstood him, Abel explained, "I need a luxurious carriage to modify. I want to get it as soon as possible because I have to finish the modifications within ten days."
Steward Linsey understood at once. With an knowing smile, he said, "Yes, I'll arrange for someone to purchase one, then quietly have it delivered to your workshop."
Abel could tell that the steward already knew it was a birthday gift for Knight Marshall. He smiled and thanked him. "Sorry for the trouble."
After the steward left, Abel stretched and threw a few punches into the air. He felt that his strength had mostly recovered. As long as he did not use battle qi, his body would be fine. Before the carriage arrived, he decided to test his earlier idea and see whether he could create a super Ice Magic Greatsword.
He went to the temporary Blacksmith Shop in the castle, greeted the others there, and exchanged greetings with Master Bentham before entering his workshop.
After closing the workshop door, Abel got to work. Ever since he had become a master blacksmith, no one had entered his private workshop without his permission—not even Master Bentham. The blacksmiths at the Blacksmith Shop held the young master in great respect. Although they all wanted to receive his guidance, none of them wished to disturb his work.
Master Bentham had actually wanted to speak with Abel that day. In the morning, he had encountered Knight Marshall in the castle. Seeing the knight ostentatiously carrying two greatswords on his back, he knew that Abel must have created another new work. Based on what he knew of Knight Marshall, for the knight to carry two greatswords on his back, their quality had to be extraordinarily high—high enough for him to ignore everyone else's ridicule.
However, when he saw the anxious look on Abel's face after Abel greeted him, he decided not to disturb him. It was clear that Abel was currently in a particularly productive period of forging.
There had been a saying that whenever someone became a master blacksmith, they would experience a period of explosive creativity. Better works and newer techniques would emerge in abundance during that time. Some called it the result of long accumulation finally bursting forth, while others believed that before becoming masters, blacksmiths forged with a specific goal in mind, but afterward they could work more freely, which was why such a situation arose.
Master Bentham believed that Abel was currently experiencing that kind of burst of creativity. He did not want to disturb a master during the most glorious period of his life, even if that master had only just turned thirteen.
Abel now forged pure Hundred Refinements Greatswords far less often. His workshop was filled with rough Magic Greatsword blanks. The grooves had already been made, but the runes had not yet been drawn, leaving them as unfinished weapons.
He took out three portions of ice-element rune ink and placed them into the Horadric Cube, combining them into a portion of intermediate ice-element rune ink that glimmered with blue arcs of light.
Next, he took out a rough Magic Greatsword blank and dipped the Rune Brush into the intermediate ice-element rune ink before beginning to draw. Just as his mental strength was about to run dry, the rune was completed. After resting for a while, Abel waited until his mental strength had more or less recovered.
After checking his mental strength, Abel carefully noticed that it seemed to have increased slightly again. The increase was difficult to detect. It was only that the more often he used his mental strength, the more familiar he became with it. Even so, he noticed this tiny improvement.
He took the dazzling perfect-grade sapphire from his chest and placed it into the socket. After gently securing it with a tool, the next step was to guide it with his mental strength.
Once his mental strength entered the rune, it slowly approached the perfect sapphire through the energy-rune circuit connected to it. Having already gained experience guiding a diamond, Abel knew he had to be extraordinarily careful at this point. The stronger the gemstone's energy, the faster it would move.
As he neared the perfect sapphire, it flashed with a streak of blue light. A bone-chilling energy surged toward Abel's mental strength. Even though his mental strength was still some distance away from that energy, he sensed a danger unlike anything he had ever felt before. His mental strength told him that if he allowed the energy to touch it, it might suffer severe damage.
That premonition drove him to push his mental strength with all his might. There was no need to guide it anymore. Instead, he let the icy energy chase his mental strength as it raced along the rune circuit.
Abel was already covered in sweat. The unprecedented tension made his mental strength move at twice its usual speed, while the icy energy behind it did not fall back by even a step. The short distance within the rune circuit became a life-and-death race. At last, Abel's mental strength returned to the center of the rune, and the icy energy followed it in. The moment it entered, the rune firmly locked it in place. Strange ripples gradually stabilized the energy.
Then, starting from the hilt and traveling along the energy circuit toward the center of the rune, faint blue lights flashed one after another. Just when Abel thought he was about to succeed, the Hundred Refinements Greatsword seemed unable to withstand the impact of the energy and began emitting a series of cracking sounds. The instant Abel heard them, he tossed the greatsword into the Horadric Cube without a second thought.
Everything inside the Horadric Cube was frozen in place. After the greatsword was thrown inside, its transformation stopped completely, as though time itself had solidified.
Abel wiped the cold sweat from his brow and steadied his racing heart. That was playing with my life. When he thought about how he had used only ordinary gemstones to create the Explosive Greatsword before, and how powerful it had been, he wondered what kind of force this perfect-grade sapphire—formed by combining nine ordinary sapphires—would unleash if it exploded.
The thought alone sent chills down Abel's spine. What kind of shield would he need to withstand the force of such an explosion? Or should he simply find a section of city wall and see whether it could block it?
That was a Hundred Refinements Greatsword, forged from the strongest material Abel currently knew. Yet it had been unable to withstand the impact of this energy.
What was he supposed to do with the greatsword inside the Horadric Cube? Abel's head began to ache. Three seconds was not a short time, but neither was it long. He had once thought about digging a large hole, but now he no longer dared try. If the explosion was too powerful, the flying soil and stones could injure him as well.
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