A Big Problem

Abel felt something gently nipping at his feet. He looked down and saw Black Wind, small and energetic, playfully pouncing at his feet.

He scooped Black Wind up into his arms, gently stroking its soft fur. Black Wind had grown to resemble a small dog, consuming a large amount of food daily. Even though it was still small, the gold coins it ate each day were comparable to the cost of an adult warhorse.

Disturbed by Black Wind, Abel lost the focus to continue training his spiritual power. Feeling tired and weak, he brought Black Wind to the bed and cuddled it, preparing to sleep. Black Wind struggled to get out of Abel's embrace, its energy currently high and not wanting to sleep at all. Finally, sensing its master's grip loosen, it wriggled free. Turning around, it saw its master had already fallen asleep.

The next day, as noon approached, Abel felt an itch on his face. Opening his eyes, he saw the little direwolf, Black Wind, licking his face with its small tongue. Seeing Abel open his eyes, it let out two soft barks. Through their soul connection, Abel knew Black Wind was hungry. Normally, a servant would come to feed Black Wind in the morning, but today Abel had uncharacteristically not woken up early for training, so the servant hadn't dared to disturb him. Black Wind was starving.

He rang the bell by the bedside, and a maid entered shortly after. Because Abel was usually busy and rarely in the castle, and also because he was young, his maid had other duties. Unlike other noble youths, his maid wasn't young and beautiful, solely dedicated to serving him.

After instructing the maid to look after Black Wind, Abel washed up and asked the maid to summon the steward, Linsey.

"Young Master, you sent for me?" Steward Linsey asked, as usual, in his crisp steward's uniform, bowing slightly.

"I need you to do something for me," Abel said, handing the steward a money bag containing 2000 gold coins that he had prepared beforehand. He continued, "I want you to buy me a luxurious carriage."

Steward Linsey's eyes were filled with confusion. The castle wasn't lacking carriages; there were two always available: one for Knight Marshall and one as a spare. He thought Abel didn't know this and said, "If you need a carriage, the castle has one available."

Seeing that the steward had misunderstood his intention, Abel explained, "I need a luxurious carriage for modifications. I want to get it as soon as possible because I need to complete the modifications within ten days."

Steward Linsey now understood Abel's meaning and, with a knowing smile, said, "Yes, I will arrange for someone to purchase it and have it quietly delivered to your workshop."

Abel could tell the steward knew it was a birthday gift for the Knight Marshall. He smiled and thanked the steward, "Thank you for your trouble."

After the steward left, Abel stretched and threw a few punches in the air. He felt his strength had mostly recovered. His body was fine as long as he didn't use Battle Qi. He decided that before the carriage arrived, he would first test his previous idea and try to create a super Ice Magic Greatsword.

He went to the temporary blacksmith shop located within the castle. After greeting the other blacksmiths and Master Bentham, Abel entered his own workshop.

Closing the door to his workshop, Abel noted that ever since he became a master blacksmith, no one had entered his private workshop without his permission, not even Master Bentham. The blacksmiths in the shop all held great respect for Abel, the young master. Although they wished for his guidance, they didn't want to disturb his work.

Master Bentham had actually wanted to talk to Abel today. In the morning, he had encountered the Knight Marshall in the castle. Seeing the knight ostentatiously carrying two greatswords on his back, he knew Abel must have created something new. Knowing the Knight Marshall well, Master Bentham understood that if the knight was carrying two greatswords on his back, the quality of the swords must be exceptionally high, so high that the knight could ignore any ridicule.

However, when he saw Abel's eager expression after they greeted each other, he didn't disturb him. It was clear that Abel was currently in a period of intense forging.

There were rumors that after someone became a master blacksmith, there would be a period of explosive growth, with better creations and new techniques appearing in large numbers. Some called this phenomenon "accumulating strength for a powerful release," while others believed that blacksmiths forged with specific goals to become masters, and after achieving mastery, they could express themselves more freely, leading to such outcomes.

Master Bentham believed Abel's current state was that of a master's explosive phase. He didn't want to disturb a master during the most brilliant period of his life, even if this master was only thirteen years old.

Abel now rarely forged pure Hundred Refinements Greatswords. His workshop was filled with the rough blanks of magic greatswords, meaning they had grooves carved but no runes drawn.

He took out three portions of ice-attribute rune ink and combined them in the Horadric Cube to create one portion of intermediate ice-attribute rune ink that shimmered with blue arcs.

Next, he took a magic greatsword blank and used a rune brush dipped in the intermediate ice-attribute rune ink to draw. Just as his spiritual power was about to deplete, the rune drawing was successfully completed. He rested for a while, waiting for his spiritual power to recover.

He checked his spiritual power and carefully noticed that it seemed to have increased slightly. This increase was subtle, but as he used his spiritual power more, his familiarity with it grew. He still noticed this small increase.

He took out the dazzling, perfect-grade sapphire from his pocket, inserted it into the slot, and gently reinforced it with a tool. The next step was to guide his spiritual power.

His spiritual power entered the rune and slowly approached the perfect sapphire through the energy rune circuit connected to it. With his experience guiding the diamond, Abel knew he had to be extremely careful. The stronger the gem's energy, the faster its energy flow.

As he neared the perfect sapphire, it flashed with a blue light, and an intensely cold energy surged towards Abel's spiritual power. Even from a distance, Abel felt an unprecedented sense of danger. His spiritual power told him that if this energy came into contact with it, his spiritual power could be severely damaged. This premonition made him push his spiritual power with all his might. At this point, guidance was no longer necessary; he simply let the cold energy chase his spiritual power, which was rapidly moving along the rune circuit.

Abel was now drenched in sweat. The unprecedented tension caused his spiritual power to move at twice its normal speed. The icy energy following behind kept pace, not falling behind. The short distance within the rune circuit became a life-or-death race. Finally, Abel's spiritual power returned to the center of the rune, and the cold energy followed, entering the rune's center. As soon as the energy entered, it was firmly locked by the rune. Faint, strange fluctuations caused this energy to stabilize gradually.

Then, starting from the hilt, a faint blue light flashed sequentially through the energy circuit to the rune's center. Just as Abel thought he was about to succeed, the Hundred Refinements Greatsword emitted cracking sounds as if it couldn't withstand the impact of the energy. As he heard the cracking sounds, Abel, almost without thinking, threw the greatsword in front of him into the Horadric Cube.

Everything within the Horadric Cube was frozen. After the greatsword was thrown in, its changes stopped, as if time had been solidified.

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Abel steadied his racing heart. This was playing with his life. He thought about the power of the explosive greatsword he had made using ordinary gems. What would be the power if it exploded now, using this perfect-grade sapphire synthesized from nine ordinary gems?

Just thinking about it sent a shiver down his spine. What kind of shield would he need to withstand such an explosion? Or should he just find a city wall to see if it could block it?

That was a Hundred Refinements Greatsword, the strongest greatsword he knew of, made from the strongest materials, and it couldn't withstand the impact of this energy.

What should he do with the greatsword in the Horadric Cube? Abel's head was pounding. Three seconds wasn't a long time, but it wasn't short either. His earlier idea of digging a large hole now seemed too risky. If the explosion's power was too great, the flying earth and rocks could also injure him.