Abe the Wizard

Chapter 17 The Hundred Refinements Great Sword

Although he had already been promoted to a fifth-level squire, Abel's spirits were still low. Upon seeing this, Master Bensham quickly urged him to rest well. Knight Marshall led Abel out of the blacksmith shop and walked outside.

As they stepped out of the blacksmith shop, they could see Knight Marshall's personal carriage speeding towards them from a distance. Abel couldn't help but look down at the knight's boots, which were covered in mud. The journey from the castle to the blacksmith shop took more than twenty minutes by carriage, yet Knight Marshall couldn't wait and ran over to get there quickly.

It was quite embarrassing for Knight Marshall, a landholding noble, to be seen sprinting on his own territory. However, he did it for Abel's sake.

Seeing the delighted expression on Knight Marshall's face, Abel's heart warmed. This knight, who was particularly concerned about his own reputation, looked very disheveled, yet he was happy for Abel's advancement. Softly, Abel said, "Uncle Marshall, thank you for everything you've done for me."

"Why worry so much, kid?" Knight Marshall patted Abel's head, then pulled him onto the carriage. The carriage raced towards the castle under the sunlight.

The next morning, Abel arrived early at the blacksmith shop and requested a separate workshop from Master Bensham. Knowing that this was Abel's first time forging a great sword, the master didn't want anyone to disturb him and agreed to his request.

Abel's idea was not to let anyone see how he made the great sword because he intended to use techniques not previously seen here, such as carburization and quenching learned from Earth science programs.

The rough draft of the sword needed to be continuously forged to reduce the carbon content, as lower carbon content resulted in higher quality. However, after shaping the great sword, if carburization was used to add some carbon to the blade, it would increase the sword's hardness.

Abel placed the shaped great sword into a specially fired crucible, prepared a few days earlier, which could just accommodate a great sword. In the crucible, he covered the sword with charcoal, soybeans, and earth dust, sealed the crucible, and heated it in a furnace.

Charcoal and soybeans were used for carburization, while earth dust served as a dispersant. This carburization technique had the advantage of producing very uniform and stable carbonization in the great sword, resulting in high carbon potential and excellent efficiency and effect. In fact, this technique was still used on modern-day Earth, known as "pack carburizing."

As for quenching, this world also had corresponding techniques. One method involved tossing the sword into cold water for rapid cooling, but this increased the rate of defective products. The rapid heating and cooling caused internal stresses in the metal, leading to cracks in the sword during quenching. Sometimes, even after quenching, cracks could appear after some time.

The quenching technique Abel used this time was a rather special one, a method learned from an ancient sword in a scientific program. After taking the long sword out of the crucible, it was rubbed back and forth on wood charcoal to ensure full contact, then placed into a bucket of quenching liquid, comprising half water and half animal fat. When the nearly thousand-degree great sword entered the animal fat, the heat was largely absorbed by the fat, which had a slow heat transfer rate. This prevented the sword from being affected by stress, and then it was plunged into cold water for the second quenching.

After the sword had cooled, Abel flicked the sword surface with his hand, and it made a clear sound. Although he didn't know the quality of the sword, the great sword had been completed.

He called a servant to clean up the workshop. He didn't want anyone to make any associations with what they saw, as innovation and invention in this world were very dangerous.

"Garden, can you help me find someone to craft a hilt for the sword?" Abel found Garden, who was busy, and asked somewhat shyly.

Hilts were made of iron, wood, or other hard materials like cow horns, and carving the hilt was a skill Abel hadn't learned, so he had to seek Garden's help.

"Is this the first great sword you've forged?" Taking the great sword from Abel's hand, Garden carefully examined it and exclaimed in a hoarse, excited voice, "This is the Hundred Refinements Great Sword? My goodness, this is the Hundred Refinements Great Sword."

Garden had been studying under Master Bensham for five years and had only managed to forge 60 refined swords. The Hundred Refinements had always been Garden's dream.

"Young Master Abel, you are truly a genius," Garden praised sincerely. Then, he gently caressed the sword and seemed to discover something, tapping the sword back with his finger, pressing his ear against the sword to listen closely to its echoes.

"This is impossible. How could this be?" The performance of this sword was of the Hundred Refinements, but the hardness of the sword body far exceeded that of ordinary Hundred Refinements Great Swords. Every month, Master Bensham would forge a Hundred Refinements Great Sword, which was one of the sources of wealth for Harry Castle. Garden was not only watching the master forge swords but also maintaining these Hundred Refinements Great Swords, so his familiarity with them far exceeded that of others.

The surface of Abel's great sword was very peculiar and significantly different from the ones usually forged by the master. Garden couldn't pinpoint the exact difference, but his experience told him that this sword surpassed all other Hundred Refinements Great Swords.

To confirm this, Garden cleaved a piece of wood that was prepared as fuel with the great sword, almost effortlessly splitting the wood into two.

"How did you make this great sword?" Garden couldn't wait to know more about the sword.

"I just forged it following your guidance, and Master Bensham helped me when I encountered difficulties," Abel explained.

Garden seemed to misunderstand that the sword was so exceptional because Master Bensham had helped Abel complete the final part. He made up his mind to learn well from the master so that he could forge such weapons in the future.

"I have collected some excellent cow horns that can be used as the hilt for the great sword. I will help you install it tonight and also prepare a scabbard for you. Can this sword stay with me?" Garden's idea was simple. The forging method of this sword was very strange, and he wanted to study it thoroughly for the benefit of his own forging skills.

That night, Garden didn't sleep. He installed the hilt with the best cow horn and found a crocodile skin scabbard, then spent the rest of the time carefully observing this extraordinary great sword.

In the morning, Garden brought the great sword to the blacksmith shop. A night of observation had left him extremely surprised. If he weren't afraid of damaging Abel's sword, he would have wanted to use this great sword to cross blades with the master's Hundred Refinements Great Swords.

"Garden, what's the matter with you?" Master Bensham was somewhat puzzled to see Garden's red eyes. Garden, an honest person, seemed like he hadn't slept all night.

"Master, I can't understand the great sword you helped Abel make. I thought about it all night yesterday," Garden said somewhat embarrassedly, rubbing his head and looking at Master Bensham, wondering if he was just too dull.

Taking the great sword from Garden, Master Bensham said as he drew the sword, "This is the great sword Abel forged yesterday. I only guided him on how to forge the rough Hundred Refinements and will teach you as well when you encounter the bottleneck at 80 refinements."

"Is this the sword forged by Abel?" Master Bensham was also somewhat surprised. The master's experience was much greater than Garden's, and the techniques embodied in this great sword could be considered a family secret, enhancing a weapon's hardness and sharpness. Although the master was very tempted by this technique, he knew that prying into a family's secrets would mean forming a deadly feud with that family, whether it belonged to the Harry family or the Bennett family.

No wonder Abel had requested the use of a separate workshop yesterday. It turned out that Abel intended to use the family's secret technique to forge the great sword, and now his behavior made sense.

Master Bensham warned Garden not to inquire further about this matter and to treat it as though it never happened.