Abe the Wizard

Chapter 16 Enlightenment

Master Bonserm walked to Abel's side, picked up a 30-pound iron hammer from the workbench, and threw the rough blank into the furnace. While watching the furnace, he said to Abel, "You are the most talented child I've ever seen. From here on, I will only do it once, how much you can learn depends on yourself."

Retrieving the red-hot rough blank from the furnace, Master Bonserm placed it on the anvil, raised the iron hammer high, carefully observed the rough blank, and then struck down heavily. Each blow was slow but extremely powerful, causing the massive workbench to tremble with each strike.

"After the rough blank has been tempered to 80 levels, it is already very hard. Forcing a hammer blow will not only fail to forge it but also damage the internal structure of the rough blank. Therefore, after 80 levels, switch to a larger hammer. Each strike must hit the structural grain of the rough blank. You need to be careful. Your strength is immense, so as long as you can grasp this skill carefully, there should be no problem," Master Bonserm instructed Abel while hammering the rough blank.

Abel's purple eyes were fixed tightly on the rough blank, trying to discern the faint lines where the master's hammer fell. On the dark red rough blank, these lines were difficult to detect, but the master managed to strike precisely on each line, causing the rough blank to change shape with every blow, and the next set of lines had to be located again.

Master Bonserm threw the rough blank, now tempered to 81 levels, back into the furnace and handed the 30-pound iron hammer to Abel, saying, "Give it a try."

Taking the iron hammer, Abel used tongs to retrieve the red-hot rough blank from the furnace, his eyes fixed on it, searching for the lines—where are they? His attention became increasingly focused, as if everything around him had disappeared, leaving only the rough blank in front of him. The rough blank seemed to grow larger in Abel's eyes, and every tiny imprint on it reflected in his mind. "Found you, here you are," he thought.

The 30-pound iron hammer struck heavily on the rough blank, and the tremendous sound did not affect Abel. The blank was deformed by the blow. "Where are you? Ha, found you here!" Another iron hammer struck down.

At this point, Abel seemed to have found a fascinating toy, locating a line and then using the hammer to strike it, finding a new one, and striking it again. The continuous, tremendous sounds did not lag behind the speed of Master Bonserm's earlier work.

Master Bonserm was astonished at this point. The child before him had begun to make him jealous—yes, a master blacksmith who had only been learning for a month.

"This is spiritual power," Master Bonserm kept exclaiming in his heart. He knew exactly what state this was. His own teacher, the dwarf master blacksmith Robin, was a master blacksmith with spiritual power talent, a true master. Unlike Master Bonserm, who was only called a master by the people in the nearby city due to his mastery of forging various weapons and armor, Robin was a master recognized across the entire continent.

Master Bonserm had studied under Master Robin for ten years. Without spiritual power, he could not learn more profound forging techniques and had to return to his hometown. The reason Master Bonserm could successfully forge blanks above 80 levels was due to the experience he had gained through continuous refining, enabling him to forge blanks to 100 levels based on this experience.

At the beginning of Master Bonserm's apprenticeship, Master Robin used the method of using spiritual power to find structural lines, so Master Bonserm immediately recognized Abel's state.

Without disturbing Abel's forging, Master Bonserm quietly left, having made a decision. His unfulfilled wish could now be fulfilled by his disciple.

Caught in this peculiar state, Abel did not notice Master Bonserm's departure, and the number of times the blank was returned to the furnace increased over time.

82, 83, 84... 98, 99, 100.

When 100 levels were completed, Abel finally emerged from the state he had just experienced. He felt physically exhausted, especially mentally depleted, as if his head had been emptied, feeling dizzy and nauseous.

The 30-pound iron hammer slipped from his hand and fell on the workbench with a loud noise. Looking at his trembling right hand, Abel recalled what had just happened. He seemed to have entered a peculiar state, as if he had been operating on instinct, but the burden on his body in this state was too great.

Checking his body, Abel discovered a large amount of qi accumulated in his meridians, a terrifying quantity.

Without thinking much and disregarding how dirty the ground was, he sat down and began to perform the Knight's Breathing Technique. The qi accumulated in his meridians quickly gathered and converged towards the fifth meridian.

"What's going on?" Gadon noticed Abel sitting on the ground and ran over quickly, ready to help him up.

"Don't move him," Master Bonserm appeared beside Abel, blocking Gadon and glaring at him, saying, "Handle everything properly and stop being so rough."

Master Bonserm then looked around at the other apprentices who were coming over and waved them all away.

"You go notify Knight Marshall and tell him to come here," Master Bonserm told Gadon.

"Yes, Master," Gadon ran out of the blacksmith's shop.

"Marshall is lucky. His adopted son has leveled up again," Master Bonserm muttered to himself. Since taking on this disciple, he had faced increasing challenges.

This time, Abel's promotion to a level five apprentice knight went smoothly. Almost all of the qi automatically gathered towards the fifth meridian, so it took only half an hour for him to successfully become a level five apprentice knight.

Regarding this promotion to a level five apprentice knight, Abel was somewhat puzzled. He had just advanced two levels to become a level four apprentice knight, and yet, after only a month, he had advanced again. This time, without taking any potions. He felt grateful to the master as he stood up and saw that Master Bonserm was standing on the side, while the others in the blacksmith's shop stood far away. It was apparent that Master Bonserm was protecting him, and he couldn't help but feel grateful to the master.

With a resounding bang, the door was kicked open, and a figure rushed in, shouting as he ran, "What's wrong with Abel?"

This was Knight Marshall, and by now, his golden long hair was already partly damp with sweat, sticking to his face, and another part was disheveled and tangled at the back of his head, completely devoid of his usual graceful demeanor.

Seeing Abel standing there as if nothing had happened, looking fine, Knight Marshall cursed loudly, "Gadon dared to lie to me. I'll teach him a lesson later!"

"Who wants to teach my disciple a lesson?" Master Bonserm frowned and stared at the man who was stepping in dog s**t and cursing.

"Uncle Marshall, I leveled up again by accident," Abel said softly.

"What do you mean, leveled up again? Let me first clear things up with Master Bonserm before we talk," Knight Marshall turned to Master Bonserm, ready to have a serious discussion, but then he stopped.

"Wait a minute, you said you leveled up again?" Knight Marshall looked at Abel in disbelief, sizing him up. He reached out a hand towards Abel, who instinctively radiated the aura of a level five apprentice knight.

"It's impossible. How can you level up just like that? What were you doing at the time?" Knight Marshall asked Abel.

Abel hesitated and thought for a moment, then said decisively, "I didn't do anything, just tempering the rough blank."

"Did you eat anything?"

"I had breakfast, which I ate with you. I didn't have lunch because I was tempering the rough blank," Abel answered, wanting to know the reason, so he was answering every question.

"How is that possible? If forging iron can raise your knight level, I'll come and forge iron tomorrow," Knight Marshall said, pointing at Master Bonserm, "If forging iron can raise your level, this guy would have been a grand warrior a long time ago."

Master Bonserm sarcastically retorted, "As long as you reach enlightenment while forging iron, of course, you can level up. Why don't you give it a try?"

"Abel, why don't you find another rough blank, continue forging, and then enter enlightenment again? Then the youngest knight in the kingdom will be you," Knight Marshall said. As soon as he finished speaking, not only did Master Bonserm roll his eyes, but even Abel couldn't help but hold his head in his hands.