Abe the Wizard

Chapter 3 Shadow Panther

The morning sun illuminated the entire castle, and in the sunlight, the castle revealed its immense size. Compared to other knight castles of the same rank, this castle was already considered huge. It took ten years for the inheritance of the first generation Baron Bennet to build this castle.

However, due to the incompetence of some of the subsequent heirs, the title of Baron Bennet was lost, leaving only the title of a knight. This regretted the Knight Bennet greatly.

The greatest regret of Knight Bennet was not achieving enough military exploits. In the war against the orcs, although the Knight Bennet fought bravely and tenaciously, he still did not accumulate enough military exploits to exchange for the title.

Therefore, Knight Bennet was extremely dedicated to the education of his children, especially his eldest son Zack. As long as Zack could become a knight before the age of thirty, then the inheritance of the castle would be assured. The next step would be to see how much effort Zack could put in and if he could enhance his own title.

Knight Bennet didn't have many expectations for his younger son. Originally, he planned to find someone to teach him arithmetic when he was young and then find him a better job in the city. However, the younger son chose the path of a knight, which made Knight Bennet somewhat worried. The path chosen by his younger son was even harder than that of his elder brother because he didn't have his own castle, horse, or armor. The younger son would become a wandering knight, a profession not recognized by the nobility, and would have to slowly earn money on the outside to purchase his own horse and armor. If he could settle down before the age of forty, that would be good, but most of these wandering knights would fall on the road.

"Have you been promoted?" Knight Bennet noticed with surprise that his second son Abel had successfully been promoted to become a junior apprentice knight after only two months of training. He himself had taken four months to be promoted, and his elder son Zack had taken four and a half months. However, his less-focused younger son had been promoted to a junior apprentice knight in just two months without the same resources.

"Yes, father, I was promoted last night," Abel replied.

Zack stepped forward and hugged Abel, lifting him into the air and spinning around. "My dearest brother, you are truly a genius," he exclaimed with laughter.

As Zack put down Abel, he patted his shoulder and said confidently, "You are a genius."

Meanwhile, Knight Bennet shook his head slightly, feeling a mix of happiness and sadness. He sighed and said, "What a pity, what a pity."

If Abel were his eldest son, or if the income from being a knight's retinue was higher, he would surely have fully supported Abel. However, given the current situation, it was already difficult enough to ensure Zack's training, let alone Abel's.

Yesterday, Abel obtained the Heradic Cube. Although he couldn't use the town teleportation scroll, the Heradic Cube was no ordinary item. Since waking up in the morning, Abel had been recalling the formulas of the Heradic Cube. As he had limited formulas at his disposal, he intended to see what might be helpful to him in the town today.

"Father, I want to go to the town of Libo today," Abel requested without hesitation. This was a characteristic of knight families—to address matters directly without beating around the bush. Abel had gradually adapted to this way of speaking from initially being unaccustomed to it.

"Well, since you just got promoted, you don't need to train today. Going to the town to relax is also good," Knight Bennet agreed.

Zack added, "I'll help you with the horse."

Saying that, he ran to the stable, found a nag, saddled it for Abel, and helped him onto the horse, secretly slipping a gold coin to him.

Knight Bennet observed everything without saying a word, but his face expressed comfort. The bond between the brothers was truly precious, given that numerous noble families faced internal conflict.

In addition to warhorses, all other horses were called nags because warhorses consumed special oats and soybeans, with feeding costings 10 gold coins per month. Without these specialized feeds, warhorses would quickly lose their strength and ability to run fast, becoming mere nags.

The nag that Abel rode was a two-year-old foal, which was the offspring of the warhorse. It was only turned into a nag due to the inability to feed it properly.

Abel rode the nag, followed by Norman, a retinue wearing leather armor and carrying a long sword. Norman didn't ride a horse, instead running behind the nag. Fortunately, it was a small nag, and with the nag's slow speed, it wasn't difficult for Norman to keep up.

Norman was a veteran brought back by Knight Bennet from the battlefield. After returning from the battlefield, he followed Knight Bennet, and even settled down with his family in the Bennet Castle. This was a noble's attitude towards retinues—ensuring their gratitude while fundamentally ensuring their loyalty.

Norman had outstanding swordsmanship and became a level six warrior with the help of the war secrets provided by Knight Bennet. Although he didn't have any special skills, his formidable swordsmanship made him very powerful. Therefore, when Abel went out, Knight Bennet always felt reassured with Norman accompanying him.

"Stop, young master," Norman said as he pulled out his hand sword from behind, keeping his eyes on the woods beside the road. This place was half an hour away from the castle and also half an hour from the town of Libo. In this location, seeking help from either side wouldn't be possible in an emergency.

Abel held the nag, drew the fine iron dagger from his waist, and asked softly, "What do you see?"

While Abel, riding high on the nag, observed carefully but found nothing, a roar suddenly sounded, and a black shadow leaped out from the woods. At this moment, Abel saw clearly that it was a shadow panther.

The shadow panther was incredibly fast, and within a few steps, it had reached the front of the nag. It lunged to bite the nag's neck. The nag, after all, was a descendant of a warhorse. At this critical moment, the nag neighed and jumped back, evading the sure bite of the shadow panther.

Norman had rushed over, and with his sword in hand, he swung it with a sharp whistling sound toward the shadow panther. The shadow panther was not an ordinary beast. It generally didn't appear during the day and especially not on the road. It preferred to lurk in the shadows and wait for prey to pass by, swiftly biting the prey's neck. Today, the situation indicated that this shadow panther was probably too hungry and was forced to come out of the forest to seek food.

The shadow panther's speed was so fast that each of Norman's blows was dodged by the panther, and the panther's attacks didn't have much effect. Norman, relying on his extensive swordsmanship, was always able to successfully fend off the panther's attacks with his greatsword.

Abel dismounted and slowly approached the battlefield. Entering the battlefield at this moment would only complicate things for Norman, and for the shadow panther, a weak and small human like Abel—even with all his might—couldn't penetrate its fur.

At this point, the first contact between Norman and the shadow panther began. Norman's long sword struck the panther's back, intending to strike the neck, but a twist by the panther avoided the vital hit. The panther's tail struck Norman's leg, causing a pained expression on his face, and his retreating steps staggered due to the leg injury.

At that moment, Abel took a deep breath, and a powerful force surged from his meridians. This was a method of overextending the body used by a junior knight, in which a large amount of qi in the meridians was converted into strength in an instant. If there were a second strike, then the meridians would shatter beyond repair.

In the nick of time, when the shadow panther managed to avoid Norman's attack and whip its tail at him, Abel found the opportunity he had been waiting for. With a stomp on the ground, he charged out, and the airborne shadow panther also saw Abel's figure. However, the recent wound, though not fatal, had affected its movement. Abel's dagger extended towards the panther's rear, and he thrust it into the panther's backside.

"Oh~!" The shadow panther let out a sharp howl. By now, Abel had released the dagger and was retreating, and just then, a black tail swept past him.

Norman, injured, limped to pull Abel behind him. By this time, the shadow panther was rolling on the ground, its cries becoming softer until eventually ceasing altogether.

Abel was about to approach to check when Norman grabbed him and said, "Be careful." Then, taking off his scabbard from behind, he threw it at the shadow panther. Just as it was about to hit the panther, the panther suddenly stretched out its claws and scratched the scabbard. Afterward, it fell silent.

Norman picked up the scabbard from the ground, examining the claw marks, and said to Abel, "Many beasts have a habit of making a final strike."

Then, he picked up the shadow panther's body from the ground, looked at the wound at the back, and while extracting the dagger from the wound, he smiled and said, "This was killed by the young master. How should we handle it?"

"Carry it to the town and sell it," Abel instructed. Then, looking at Norman's leg, he said, "You ride the horse from now on, and we'll load the shadow panther onto the horse as well."

Norman didn't stand on ceremony; to him, his life belonged to the Bennett family, and being injured didn't affect his ability to travel. The best course of action was for him to ride the horse himself.