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Chapter 1 - A Boy Under The Starry Night Chapter 1: A Boy Under The Starry Night Under the starry night, the great Bennett Castle stood to guard the plain that it was built on. Everything in this territory belonged to the Knight of Bennett. The king granted it to him. This territory was located at the southmost point of the Duchy of Carmel, right at the crossing border of the Earth-Dividing Mountain Range. It was a location far away from conflict, and it served as a crucial granary to the Duchy of Carmel. It was summertime now, and the crops were plentiful. Every time the chilling night breeze came by, the whole field danced in uniform to signify the prosperity of this land. A boy who looked to be around twelve was swinging a sword about the size of his body. As if it wasn’t heavy enough for him, this boy was also wearing a steel armor that was clearly oversized for him. He was about 150 centimeters tall, so the armor looked more like a belt as it was covered around him. As young as he was, this boy took his training seriously. The look on his face suggested that training was something sacred to him. Every time he swung his sword, he shouted with as much vigor in his lungs as he could. There were reasons for that. One, to breath in as much air as he could, and two, to squeeze out all the strength in his muscles. This boy was focused. His black hair was completely drenched in sweat, and those purple eyes of his were glowing with youthlike passion. Well, they were until he heard the sound of a horse coming his way. “Look what I’ve brought to you, Abel,” a young man of eighteen called out as he jumped down from his horse. He had blonde hair, thick brows, a tall, edgy nose, and eyes that were as blue as the sky. His whole body was covered in leather armor, and the boots he was wearing were made especially for riding. “Welcome back, big brother,” Abel welcomed his brother back. Unlike most children, he wasn’t particularly curious about what the gift was. Manners, for him, was something that came before his own personal interests. As Abel’s older brother, Zach was already used to seeing Abel like this. A year ago, Abel was severely injured after falling off his horse. He became much more mature after that. It was hard to get used to at first, but one year was more than enough to adjust to this sudden change of personality. For the sake of clarification, both of these young men were sons of the Knight of Bennett. The older one was Zach, a rank four novice knight who just got back from Fort Lee (a town). The younger one, who had been busy with his training, was Abel. It had only been two months since he began his training as a novice knight. As the oldest heir to the Knight of Bennett, everything his father owned would be passed down to him after he became a knight. He would have full ownership of the Bennett Castle and the estate it was built on. Abel, sadly, was not blessed with such privileges. He had to rely solely on himself if he was to make a living. As unfair as the rules might seem, Abel had a good relationship with Zach. Every time Zach went to town, he would always spend the little money that he had to buy presents for Abel. He was a good brother. He strived to make Abel happy. Abel, on the other hand, was considerate enough to not ask for any new training equipment from his father. Although the family’s estate was about 50 kilometers in radius, there wasn’t much income apart from what they used to buy food with. Worse yet, only 500 gold coins were left after they’ve paid for their taxes and day-to-day expenses. It was just enough to pay for the maintenance of Bennett Castle. If you were to then take out the tuition fee of Zach’s knight training, this family practically had no savings at all. The package Zach had for Abel was a long box. To show how much love that was put in this gift, Zach had it wrapped around in some very colorful paper. “What a beautiful dagger this is,” Abel exclaimed as he waved his gift around. This dagger was made with fine steel, something much heavier than what you use to make a regular steel dagger. Normally, a dagger like this would cost a lot more than a normal one. “Glad to see you like it. Lucky for me, the guy selling it didn’t know how much it was worth. He sold it to me for 30% off the price of a regular dagger, so I took it.” “Glad to see you like it.” Zach meant it when he said that. It had been a while since he saw his little brother smiling like a kid, and nothing was more precious than the expression Abel was showing just now. “You can keep training if you want. I’ll go back home now,” Zach said as he got back on his horse. He wasn’t planning on interrupting with Abel’s training, even if he was going to keep using the only steel armor that they’ve had. It was Zach during the day, and Abel during the night. It’s something that they’ve agreed between themselves. A novice knight’s training consisted mainly of the basics. One must keep practicing his sword techniques until he could effectively condense all the strength that could be exerted. In turn, a special power, namely one’s ‘qi,’ would start forming inside his body as a reward to the efforts that were given. The qi would then slowly gathered up and formed a meridian, and the total number of these meridians would represent one’s total ranks. (Having a total of one meridian would signify that you’re a rank one novice) After five meridians were in place, they would condense themselves again to form a core. A knight with a core would be considered a proper knight. They could use their combat qi in fights, and they could use their combat qi to perform various fighting skills. In other words, combat qi was an effective asset to boost one’s fighting capability. After millennia of research, it was found that the most effective way to forming one’s meridian was to have him wear heavy armor during his training. For this very reason, it became mandatory for knight families to have at least one steel armor set inside their homes. In order to be called a knight, one must have armor that he could engage in his training with. During times of conflict, he would also need it to provide for minimal protection. By decreasing or increasing the number of plates, the same armor could be shared even if the wielders were in different ranks. That being said, one did not have to own an armor to be called a knight. If he was to be seen wearing an armor (even if it wasn’t his) on a horse, he would be instantly recognized as a knight, no matter how low his rank was. “97…98…99…100,” Abel chanted as he made his final swing, then collapsed right on the grass field below him. His purple eyes were looking straight at the sky above him. “Which of these stars was my original home?” He asked himself. Unbeknownst to others, the original Abel fell off his horse and died about one year ago. His corpse was replaced by another soul that came from planet Earth, and unlike the original Abel, who was only about ten years old, the new Abel was about thirty years old in his actual age. Despite having behaved as carefully as he could, it was hard for the new Abel not to have others suspect him for his change of personality. Fortunately for him, however, everyone just thought that it was the aftermath of falling off a horse. This particular Abel had another name back home. The name he had on planet Earth was Lee Ya Bo. He was an experienced bodybuilding trainer who was always busy with his work. One night, at about ten o’clock at night, he came back to his apartment whilst not feeling so good about himself. Because of this, he decided to open up his laptop and open up Diablo 2, one of the few games he still had in reserve. He opened up his software, played Diablo 2 for a bit, and found that the quantity of his Tome of Town Portal was 0. He had the bad habit of forgetting to buy his Scroll of Town Portal, so he opened up his hacking software and modified his items for a bit. He hacked the game so that the quantity of his Scroll of Town Portal would regenerate themselves once every few minutes. Lee Ya Bo was having a time of his life, but a bolt of lightning struck and hit him right when he was inside his home. The lightning conductor did absolutely nothing. The lightning didn’t even bend as it was dropped straight down at him. And that’s pretty much it. After he regained consciousness, Ya Bo found himself to be the second son of the Knight of Bennett. Weirdly enough, though, his name was still Ya Bo (Abel). Whilst trying to get rid of the thoughts in his head, Abel stood up and headed back towards Bennett Castle. He was feeling quite good about himself on that day. If things went well for him, there was a chance that he would become a rank 1 novice knight on the same night. After coming back home, Abel decided to do something first before having dinner. There was still about half an hour before mealtime, so he was thinking about giving some care to his steel armor. Abel took cleaning very seriously. He never missed a spot when he was wiping the sweat off his steel armor and furnishing it with oil. It was a custom for knights to take care of their armor. Whether it was Abel, Zach, or even the Knight of Bennett himself, they had to maintain their armor in a way that they could pass it down to the next generation. After Abel was done with the armor, it was his giant sword that came next. It was relatively easy to clean it, mainly because of how simple its design was. Apart from the blade and the handle, there was no decoration or ornament whatsoever. Whoever made this weapon had only two considerations in mind: simplicity and practicality. After finishing his daily maintenance, Abel took a shower and joined his family in the dining room. As he came in, he found that his father, mother and older brother already on their seats.

Chapter 2 - The Horadric Cube Chapter 2: The Horadric Cube The Knight of Bennett was wearing a plain white calico as he sat at the dinner table. As usual, he had a serious look on his face. Abel never saw him showing much emotion at all. Actually, ‘never’ was an overstatement. The last time he saw any expression from the Knight of Bennett was about a year ago when he had just woken up from his coma. He could never forget the joy on his father’s face as he was brought into this world. Abel’s mother, Nora, was a kind woman. She was the one who fed Abel every time he was recovering from his injuries. If anything, she was the reason why Abel acknowledged to being a part of this family. Abel never got used to saying his grace before a meal. He had been an atheist for all thirty years of his previous life. It was only until recently that he had come to pray to the Holy Light, which almost everyone in this world would devote their worship to. Nobody talked during mealtime. The knights were the lowliest among royalty, but this family still adhered to their mannerisms even when alone. For the dinner tonight, it was a large piece of beef divided into four. Father and Zach received a larger portion, whereas Mother and Abel were supposed to receive much less. Since food intake was needed to increase the supply of a knight’s qi, there was simply no way to divide the food between everyone equally. But still, even as a bodybuilding trainer, Abel had never eaten so much beef during his time on Earth. There was about a pound of beef on his plate, and he was only twelve years old. There was also some porridge for him. It wasn’t like he couldn’t finish his food, though. He finished eating all of it in just a few minutes. “Here, have some more,” a gentle voice said. It was Abel’s mother, Nora. She just gave Abel more than half of her beef. The Knight of Bennett threw a quick look towards Abe, but he didn’t say anything to him. Instead, he just kept on eating. His hands were somewhat stiff. However, while he was trying to slice the meat with his knife. There was a slight cladding noise when his knife made contact with the plate, something very unusual for the master of this house. Zach took notice of it but was quickly hushed when the Knight of Bennett threw a glare at him. “Thank you, Mother,” Abel thanked Nora as he accepted a fraction of his mother’s meal. Since this was the way of Nora showing her love, the right thing to do here was to simply accept it. As a part of the family routine, the Knight of Bennett had Zach accompany him for some personal training after dinner. Abel, on the other hand, wasn’t allowed to attend until he was a rank one novice knight, which he might just become before tomorrow arrives. Whilst wasting no time to become a rank one novice knight, Abel headed straight back to his room for a knight’s breathing session. He had a full meal just then, and the amount of qi he accumulated throughout the day were very much sufficient for his training to make progress. A knight’s breathing techniques was the most crucial part of his skillsets. Whether it was passed down from the family or learned at a knight’s academia, every knight had their own special breathing techniques. If a knight was to make a lot of contributions on the battlefield, he could transfer his war efforts in exchange for improvements in his breathing techniques. After sitting himself on a rugged floor, Abel calmed his mind to commence his breathing session. The pace at which he inhaled the air went from slow to fast, and his stomach gradually became filled like a drum. He exhaled a streak of white, misty essence, which vanished into the air like an arrow that’s just been fired. The food in his stomach was quickly being digested as he was doing this. After breathing for about twenty times in a row, the qi Abel acquired during the day was now passing through the food he ingested, and it slowly started to form into a single meridian channel. This meridian channel was quite unstable at first, but just when Abel thought that he had failed himself again, a power suddenly emerged from his meridian all the way across his body. He wasn’t sure quite what it was, but both his body and his mind were like he had just gotten out of bed this morning. He had finally become a rank one novice knight. A year ago, after seeing his father slicing a large trunk of a tree, he had come to realize the existence of supernatural forces in this new world. Unlike his home back on planet Earth, strength was very much crucial for survival here. When Abel asked his father to train him to become a knight, he was given a detailed explanation of the family’s circumstances in response. From what the Knight of Bennet told him, a second son should only train himself without interfering with the progress of the eldest son. Zach was the priority of the family, basically. All the resources should be given to him first, and Abel would only have what was spared. That being said, though, he would still have access to learning the Bennett family’s ways of being a knight. Despite his unfortunate circumstances, Abel still learned quite a lot under his father. For the several months that he had recovered from his injuries, he was taught the ways of tending to horses, giving maintenance to his weapons, as well as the handling of a bow and arrow. He was also taught the proper etiquette of a knight, and he was taught many other things he had to prepare for before commencing his official knight training, which only happened at about two months ago. Whilst still cheering for the progress he made just then, Abel noticed that the meridian in his right arm was quickly losing its presence. Good thing that it stopped after a few seconds, though. If this kept on going, Abel would lose all his progress without being able to do anything about it. The breathing session tonight didn’t result in complete failure. Abel lost some qi at the end, but he could easily regain them after a day or two of training. He was not going to lose his rank as an amateur knight. But still, having qi drained out of him was a somewhat bizarre phenomenon. To satisfy his curiosity, Abel pulled back his right sleeve and found a light shadow on his arm. It was kind of difficult to notice it at first sight. Abel took a long, close look at this mysterious shadow. He wasn’t sure why, but it sure did look kind of familiar to him. “It’s a Horadric Cube,” Abel jumped out of the ground after he figured it out. This thing was a Horadric Cube, there was no doubt about it. As an avid player of Diablo 2 for so many years, he would’ve never mistaken an important item like this one. “It followed me to this world?” Abel walked around his room in excitement. There was not a thing that he was familiar within this world, and seeing a Horadric Cube here was like finding a water bottle in the middle of a desert. From what it looked like, the Horadric Cube had probably always been there. The reason it hadn’t appeared before was because there wasn’t any energy to activate it. Since Abel became a rank one novice knight tonight, some of the qi he lost just then probably went inside the cube. The Horadric Cube was just floating on his right arm. Abel touched it with his finger, and his vision was suddenly filled with a window showing his inventory slot. There were twelve slots in total, and two of them were occupied by a single blue book. It was the “Tome of Town Portal.” Abel recognized it on the spot. It was the same copy as the one he modified before being struck by lightning. From what he could see inside his head, the quantity of this Tome of Town Portal would regenerate itself once every few minutes. “I’ll take this Tome out of the Cube,” Abel thought, and the Tome of Town Portal quickly appeared inside his hand. It was quite a big book, almost as big as a magazine you would find on Earth. Its opaque blue cover was decorated with dark golden fringes, which would give off an occasional spark to signify how valuable this item was. “Can I go home if I use this Tome of Town Portal?” Abel’s heart started beating very fast. He wanted to see his real parents. He wanted to get a taste of his mother’s cooking, and he wanted to get a smell of his home town. For the entire year that he was in this world, Abel had never been so homesick until just now. After slowly opening up the Tome of Town Portal, twenty different Scrolls of Town Portal appeared. These scrolls were written on white wool sheets and were strapped in blue ribbons. All Abel needed to do to open up a portal was to pull the ribbons away. Abel tried placing his hand on one of the scrolls, but for some reason, his finger bounced off whilst he was trying to make contact with it. After trying again with a bit more force, he was able to successfully take the ribbon out of the scroll. To his dismay, no portal appeared in front of him. It was a fireball that had emerged, instead. Abel instantly threw it out of his hand the moment he saw it, which made a burn hole on the rug that he was standing on. It was irritating, of course, but at least it didn’t burn the entire house down. Why didn’t it work? Why did fireballs come out? Abel tried a few times more, but the results were always the same. Every time he tried opening up the Scroll of Town Portal, flames would come out and incinerate its content into a pile of ashes. Abel cried after that. He cried for a while, then went to sleep as he got tired of crying. Whilst Abel was asleep, a shed of moonlight shined through the window and lit upon his face. The tears on his cheeks were gradually blown away by the night breeze coming in, which made him feel kind of cold even in his bedsheets. ”Ba Ba, Ma Ma,” a young, vulnerable voice called out in the night. It was the desperate call of a son to his parents. No one would understand it, though, as it was spoken in a language that belonged not to this world. It was Mandarin. The language was Mandarin, the common tongue that used back at home. It was the language that a son would speak in when he was far away from home.

Chapter 3 - Shadow Panther Chapter 3: Shadow Panther Under the bright dawn light that shone across the plain, the Bennet Castle, once again, revealed its grandiosity for the whole world to see. Compared to other castles owned by knights of the same rank, the Bennet Castle was actually a much more extravagant piece of architecture. It was, in a way, what you’d call a ‘work of an era’. It took about ten years for the First Bennett Lord to finish constructing it. And if it wasn’t for the diligent maintenance of those who came after him, there wouldn’t be such a magnificent landmark standing here to this day. Due to the incompetence of its successors over the last few generations, the Bennett family was demoted from one of the most prestige Lords in the kingdom to just a family of knights. This was why the Bennetts were always so ashamed when they talked about their past. As the current ruler of the house, the Knight of Bennet was very regretful to have accomplished so little during the war. He fought bravely and persistently against the orcs, but the achievements he made were not sufficient to change his family’s status. This was why he was so keen on educating his children. Zach, especially. If Zach could become a knight before the age of thirty, the Bennet bloodline would have no concerns with being cut off. After that, it was up to Zach’s ability to decide his own future. Abel, though, was not placed with such responsibility. If he never volunteered to become a knight, the Knight of Bennett was going to have someone teach him mathematics. Abel was supposed to find an office job in town when he got older. The Knight of Bennett was very worried about his younger son’s future. Abel was not going to have his own castle. He was not going to have his own warhorse. He wasn’t even going to have his own armor. Once Abel became older, he would become a wandering knight, and wandering knights were not recognized by the nobles in this country. He would have to spend a great deal of his life just to be able to afford the basic gear. If he could find a stable living before the age of forty, that would be considered more than lucky. “You ranked up?” the Knight of Bennett asked Abel. Abel took about two months to become a rank one novice knight. The same process took his father four months, and his brother four and a half months. Abel wasn’t given the same amount of resources. The attention he received was nowhere near the same as other men, but raw talent alone gave him an advantage at the very start. “Yes, Father. I became a rank one novice knight last night,” Abel replied, and Zach quickly ran over to give him a hug. “You’re a genius, brother, my most dear brother!” Zach span his little brother around. He would’ve liked to compliment him a bit more, but Abel didn’t seem to like being waved around like a ragdoll. “You’re a genius,” Zach said once more as he put Abel back to the ground. “Shame. Shame,” the Knight of Bennett watched with a complex look on his face. He was happy, but kind of sad at the same time. If Abel was his oldest son, he would probably make more income than Zach would as a knight. That being said, Zach’s training was already in progress. The Bennett Family did not have any money to spare. Abel got his Horadric Cube yesterday. He couldn’t use the Scroll of Town Portal in it, but it was always nice to possess an item this valuable. In fact, after he woke up this morning, all he was thinking about was the formula he used to craft the cube. Even though there weren’t a lot of formulas that he could use now, he might find something useful in town. “Father, I want to go to Fort Lee today,” Abel requested. As usual, he was very direct to make this request. He wasn’t used to talking this way before, but knights were supposed to be assertive in their speech. The Knight of Bennett nodded, “Sure. You just became a knight last night. It’s better if you take a day off from your training today.” “I’ll help you get a horse,” Zach said, then ran off to the stable. He got an inferior horse for Abel. After helping Abel to get on it, he even snuck a gold coin inside his pocket. The Knight of Bennett saw it, of course, but he didn’t point it out. He was very happy to see it, though. After all, a brotherly bond was a rare thing to find from those of noble birth. Every horse that was not a warhorse was considered to be what was called an ‘inferior horse.’ A warhorse would be fed wheat and beans, quality feeds which would’ve cost at least 10 gold coins every month. Without receiving this kind of treatment, a warhorse would quickly lose its speed and become a regular inferior horse. The horse Abel was riding was an inferior horse. It was a two-year-old pony, but it was born from a warhorse that belonged to the Bennett family. If the Bennett family could afford to give it the proper nutrition, there wouldn’t be a problem to raise it as a warhorse. While Abel was riding on his inferior pony, he had his bodyguard, Norman, following him at his back. Norman was wearing a full set of leather armor. He was carrying a long sword on his back, but he didn’t have a horse with him. Since the horse his master was riding was a pony, he had no problem following it with just his two legs. Norman was a retired soldier who became back from war with the Knight of Bennett. As an underling to the Knight of Bennet, he lived with the rest of the family in the Bennett Castle. In a way, it was the way of a servant showing his gratitude and loyalty to his lord. Norman was a very skilled swordsman. He became a rank six warrior after being trained directly under the Knight of Bennett. He didn’t possess any kind of special techniques, but his swordsmanship alone was enough to make him a trustworthy bodyguard of Abel. “Hold on for a second, Young Master,” Norman drew a sword from his back and scanned the trees on the side of the road. It would take about half an hour to go from here to Bennett Castle. It was also half an hour away from Fort Lee. If something was to happen to Abel, it was virtually impossible to call for back-ups. “What did you find?” Abel pulled the rein on his pony, then drew his new dagger from his waist pocket. While Abel was a lot taller than Norman on a horse, he couldn’t see anything that was in the trees. What he could hear, though, was a loud growling from over the distance. That’s when the shadow appeared. Abel could see it now. It was a shadow panther, and it was leaping straight for the pony’s neck. The pony wasn’t afraid in the least, however. As the offspring of a mare that survived the war, it was more than ready to take on a defensive stance. Snap. Within less than a second, it quickly jumped back and dodged the deadly bite of the shadow panther. The panther missed and was immediately punished by Norman and his long sword. Usually, a shadow panther wouldn’t appear during the daytime. It liked being in the dark, and it liked ambushing its prey while hiding at the side of the road. An encounter like this was rather unusual, in a way. This panther must’ve been starving to go so far away out of the forest. Norman already had his sword ready. The shadow panther, though, was by no means an ordinary feline. As ineffective as its bites were against Norman’s blade, it still managed to dodge every single one of his attacks. Abel jumped down from his horse to join the fight. The shadow panther didn’t attend to him. Judging from past experience, the larger human was the only thing that was stopping it from getting a full meal. The shadow panther was right. Well, partly, at least. Abel didn’t make a direct approach. Instead, he just circled around in the distance for an opportunity to strike. He didn’t want to be a nuisance to Norman. It wasn’t like he could do much harm if he just charged forward, either. It took a while for Norman to make his first contact. He was aiming for the shadow panther’s neck, but it was fast enough to make the blade hit its back, instead. Worse yet, the sly beast exploited this chance for a counterattack. While Norman was off guard, it used its tail for a surprise whip attack at one of his legs. Norman was suddenly at a disadvantage. Pain started showing on his face, and his feet were moving slower as he tried to re-adjust his position. While watching from the side, Abel knew he couldn’t wait any longer. Abel quickly drew a long, deep breath. He wanted to concentrate all his qi into one powerful attack. If he could release it towards the shadow panther, this should be over in an instance. He had to be very careful, though. The technique he was using was meant for novice knights to train themselves to exhaustion. If he was to miss and make another attempt, he would probably end up destroying his meridian to the point of no recovery. In a blink of an eye, the shadow panther leaped towards Norman for a finishing strike. Since there was a momentary pause as it stayed in mid-air, Abel took the chance and took his bet. He ran towards the panther from its back, his dagger pointing forward in his hands. A painful growl from the shadow panther. It was aware of Abel’s presence the entire time, but the injury Norman inflicted still had an effect in delaying its movements. It was a close call, essentially. If Abel didn’t step in, the outcome would be very different now. Having dug his dagger inside the shadow panther, Abel quickly let go of his grip and took a few steps back. The panther, on the other hand, started violently jerking its body as it laid on the ground. It didn’t have the energy to keep up the fight, but the bloodlust would just never leave its conscience. It took a while for the shadow panther to die. The more that it growled at Abel and Norman, the weaker its voice slowly started to become. Once it stopped making any noise, that’s also when it stopped moving at all. Abel wanted to make sure that the panther was dead, but Norman pulled him back when he took a step forward. “Be careful,” he said, as he threw the sheath of his sword towards the shadow panther. Just when Abel thought that the shadow panther was dead, it suddenly clashed away the sheath with its claws. Even on the brink of death, its reflexes were still much faster than the vast majority of humans. Now that the shadow panther was certainly dead, Norman still wouldn’t let Abel go check on it. Instead, he went ahead to pick up the sheath that he threw. “Young Master,” he pointed towards the claw marking on his sheath as he picked it up, “As you can see, most beasts prefer killing their prey instantly.” Norman picked up the shadow panther’s corpse on the ground. Then, with a smile on his face, he removed the dagger from its backside and returned it back to Abel. “How would you like to deal with this, sir?” Norman inquired, “This is your prize, after all.” “Let’s carry it and sell it in town,” Abel ordered as he looked towards the injury on Norman’s leg, “Take the horse from here on. Take the panther with you as well.” Despite his role as a humble servant, Norman didn’t hesitate to take his young master’s horse. He would give his life away if it was for the Bennett family, but none of that was contradictory to what he was doing here. Right now, he was an injured man. The most he could do for Abel was to not be a liability. Since there was only one horse available, the fastest way to travel was to have him stop walking on his two legs.

Chapter 4 - Fort Lee Chapter 4: Fort Lee Fort Lee. It was supposed to be just the name of an old fort, but people started building a town around it and made it into a densely-populated town. Right now, the old Fort Lee was used as a residence for Lord Rex, who was the current mayor of this town. It was about noon when Abel and Norman arrived at Fort Lee. After a brief discussion between themselves, the two decided to go to the church for some treatment first. For the priest to perform a ‘healing for light injury’ on Norman’s leg, they spent a total of ten silver coins. Something stood out to Abel while they were walking out of the sanctuary building. As it turned out, holding a church was actually a very profitable business. Ten silver coins were enough to feed a family for a month, but a priest could ask for the same amount for performing one divine act. Actually, just look at how tall the church was built. Under Norman’s guide, Abel came to a leather store on the eastern side of town. It was, frankly, the right place to sell the shadow panther they killed. The store manager was shocked when the two brought the animal in. It was hard to bring down a dangerous predator without doing too much damage to its body. That was exactly what Abel and Norman did, though. Apart from the long streak of the wound on its backside, every other part of the panther was left untouched. That being said, the shopkeeper was more than happy to buy it for ten gold coins. While Norman seemed pretty content with this deal, Abel just nodded with him. He didn’t know how the leather market was like, but the ten gold coins sounded like quite a good sum. Ten gold coins. Along with the one coin he got from Zach and the other five he had in saving, Abel had a total of sixteen gold coins. Just like in the previous world, having gold meant great purchasing power. This meant that Abel wasn’t exactly penniless now. Just to be clear, he didn’t come to Fort Lee for a day off. He came here to do some shopping. Some of which he had sent Norman to retrieve, and some of which he must buy without letting others know. Which was why he decided to head to the center of Fort Lee. After sending Norman away, Abel came to the Fort Lee Shopping Centre, which was a large shopping place marked with a logo of the old fort. It was about noontime here, so there wasn’t a lot of people. Abel wasn’t sure what he could buy here, so he went to ask at the counter. From what he could see, this was kind of a more high-class version of a general store. There were daily commodities, jewellery, clothes, etc. He wasn’t sure if he could find the stuff he was looking for here. “You must be sir Abel,” a fat, middle-aged man walked out from the counter. While wearing a big grin on his face, he greeted Abel with a bow. It was a weird bow, and the timing was pretty weird as well. Despite the unconventional (and somewhat inappropriate) display of etiquette shown towards him, Abel returned the favor with a formal greeting of his own. He knew how hard it was for commoners to learn the proper etiquette, so he wasn’t going to ask too much here. ” I am. Do you know me?” “Forgive me for calling out your name, Sir. My name is Tim. I’m the owner of this establishment,” Tim bowed again, but still in a very bizarre manner, “I’ve noticed the Thorned Shield on your attire. Your brother Zach had the same mark on him, and I happened to know him some time ago.” The Thorned Shield was the coat of arms that represented the Bennett family. To be a competent royal, one must learn to memorize as many coats of arms as possible. It was a mandatory part of Abel’s knight training, along with literature, music, and other talents. “Do you have any single pieces of gemstone here, Mr. Tim?” Abel inquired. Now, Abel didn’t have to but referring to Tim as ‘mister’ was quite a respectful thing to do. Judging from Tim’s reaction, he must’ve been extraordinarily pleased by this act of acknowledgment. “You’ve come to the right place, Sir,” Tim responded with a wider grin than when they had just met, “Yes, we provide a variety of gemstones here in Fort Lee. What were you after, Sir?” On his command, Tim ordered his men to unlock a big box stored in the counter. There were several rows of gemstones inside this box, all of which were very small pieces. Most people in Fort Lee couldn’t afford jewelry. Plus, the bigger gemstones were to be moved to somewhere else. They had other uses than being sold off as luxury accessory items. “How much do I need to pay for these, Mr. Tim?” Abel asked as he picked up six evenly-sized rubies from the box. “Just six gold coins, Sir Abel.” It was a reasonable price. After all, no esteemed merchants would swindle a customer from the same region. Also, Abel might be young, but he was still the son of a knight. It was a fair deal made with six gold coins. Plain and simple. Having received the cash from Abel, Tim went to put six ruby pieces inside a woolen bag. He led Abel out of the store after that. In the most respectful way he knew, of course. Having left the shopping center, Abel ran off to an isolated alleyway. There, he took out three ruby pieces from the bag and placed them in his Horadric Cube. If he remembered his formulas correctly, three of the same gemstones could merge into one bigger, finer gemstone of the same kind. Having withstood his feeling of excitement, Abel tapped the crafting slots with his finger. He inserted the three rubies in, which quickly vanished in a flash of light. He then saw a big ruby in the uppermost slot of the Horadric Cube. What a thing a beauty this was. After putting it out in the daylight, every side of this piece was glistening with a clear, red flash. Whether it was the size or the quality of this piece, it was definitely a rank higher than the three other rubies combined. Abel couldn’t tell for sure, but he knew this was worth more than three gold coins. Having crafted his second larger gemstone, Abel was starting to think of a good place to sell them. He knew he couldn’t go back to Fort Lee Shopping Centre for this. If he came back to sell them to the place he had just bought jewelry from, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that something was wrong here. Abel walked around the town for a bit more. After walking down the main street, he could see that there was a boutique shop in front of him. It was Edmund’s boutique shop, the biggest business of its kind in the entire duchy. From what Abel could remember, every town in the Duchy of Carmel had Edmund’s boutique shop somewhere. It was a very renowned brand, with a history of 500 years since it was first founded. Every year, the Edmund Business would host a big auction event that would attract aristocrats from all over the duchy. Even those from the neighboring duchies would come to bid on the exquisite items on sale. “Welcome to Edmund’s boutique shop. How can I help you?” It was a young woman who greeted Abel as he made his entrance. She had blonde hair, a standard oval-shaped face, large eyes, and her skin was fair and spotless. The fine dress she was wearing was made of oriental silk, a material that originated from the Far East. She spoke in a soft, gentle voice as she gave Abel a noontime bow. “Good noon, young and beautiful madam,” Abel greeted, “I’m looking for someone to verify a gemstone for me.” Unlike that fat man earlier, this lady knew exactly the right way to demonstrate her etiquette. She spoke politely, but not in an unnecessarily-wordy kind of way. Her bow was proper and well-timed. As mentioned before, it wasn’t easy for most people to learn the proper etiquette. The Edmund business must’ve done quite an investment in training its employees. “Please, call me Yvette, my young and handsome sir. You can talk to me if it’s about verifying your gemstones. I’m the manager of this shop. Please, come with me for a chat upstairs.” Just from a first glance, Yvette could tell that Abel was someone of noble birth. This was precisely why she would have a talk with him herself. The two went upstairs to have a seat in the guest room. The moment Abel sat down, he was immediately served with a cup of fresh coffee. Abel didn’t want to appear rude, but walking for several hours in town made him very thirsty. He went to have a sip before they even started talking. It was good coffee. Abel wasn’t exactly an expert, but his tongue wasn’t completely numb either. Wherever the beans were from, it wasn’t something that the Bennett family could easily make a purchase of. Abel was a very young boy. So young, Yvette could just refer to him as ‘boy.’ Age, however, was by no means what signified the reputation of a nobleman. This notion was commonly acknowledged among aristocrats, and it was also something that their servants followed by when they served. “How much is this gemstone worth, Madam Yvette?” Abel took out his bigger ruby and passed it to Yvette. Having taken over the gemstone, Yvette started examining its interior through a small lamp. Then, after a few minutes had passed, she raised her head with a somewhat delighted look on her face. “This is a perfect piece! The carvings. The structure of it. Transparency. Honestly, I can’t find any flaws in it. How about I buy it from you for 300 gold coins?”

Chapter 5 - Edmund'S Boutique Shop Chapter 5: Edmund’s Boutique Shop Abel knew how perfect his ruby was. His Horadric Cube was literally incapable of crafting something flawed. It didn’t matter if the gemstone was only worth 3 gold coins before. The price was now increased to one hundred times worth of that. If someone else knew about Horadric Cube, it would surely bring a lot of trouble to Abel. Edmund’s boutique shop was a pretty trustworthy business brand. Plus, the price Yvette just offered was very pleasing from Abel’s perspective, so he decided to take out the second gemstone from his bag. Abel passed over the ruby as he folded his bag in half, indicating that he only had two in total, “I have another one. Please, I will sell it at any price you offer.” “Red and Passionate,” Yvette exclaimed in a tone that could be heard from a noble, “Now there’s two of them, and they are just as perfect as each other.” “I need some supplement for my knight’s training. Is there anything you recommend?” Zach used supplements for his training every month. He liked to drink a special potion that would increase the flow of his qi before exercise. If Abel remembered correctly, the name of the potion was called a ‘qi condensing potion.’ He wasn’t sure about it, though. No one bothered explaining it to a child like him. “The Edmund’s boutique shop can provide you with the lesser qi condensing potion. It is priced at 10 gold coins per bottle,” Yvette smiled, then paused for a sip of her coffee, “Telling you this may be bad for business, but there are a lot of unclean residues in the lesser potions and the side effects… Usually, if you take the potion for a month, you’d have to spend another month before your body can recover.” “How effective is the lesser potion?” Abel asked. From his perspective, what mattered was that the potion could do what it was made to do. While Abel was a complete amateur in the use of potions, Yvette knew every detail there was to it, “The best way to take the lesser potion is to have five bottles every month. With training, course. The five bottles can essentially double your performance results, which means that a month’s training will be the same as that of two. After that, you will have to take a month off before you can repeat the whole process all over again.” “If there is a lesser version of this potion, there must also be a greater version.” “Of course. If you take the greater potion, you’ll only need to take two weeks off after every five bottles. Five bottles of the greater potion are worth about four months of training. If you want something better, there is also what we call the ‘greatest potion,’ and the monthly dosage can produce the same results as that of five months’ worth of training. You can take it without any break because of how pure it is, but they only come at three bottles per month for one person.” Abel had his eyes wide open this entire time he was listening to the explanation. Yvette didn’t want to appear rude, but the boy sitting across her was simply being way too cute. “Sorry for the inconvenience,” Yvette chuckled, “but if you’re looking for the qi condensing pill, the best ones we have in this store are just the greater potions. We sell them at 50 gold coins per bottle. If you’re looking for the greatest potion, you’ll have to visit our main headquarter.” Abel wasn’t going to pay for a potion that was 50 gold coins per bottle. He wasn’t even going to ask how much the greatest potions were. To his knowledge, there weren’t a lot of rich people in Fort Lee. Most would’ve had to sell their homes to afford a bottle of the greater potion. Out of a mysterious affection for the boy in front of her, Yvette leaned in to share some secrets with Abel. “A lot of people don’t know about this,” Yvette softly whispered near Abel’s ear, “According to the potion master in our main headquarter, if a novice knight decides to take the qi condensing potion, it will actually be harder for him to advance his ways to become an official knight. It doesn’t matter if the potion is lesser, greater, or greatest. The more you take these supplements, the more residues you will have inside your body, and that’s going to counteract with your breakthrough process when you try to become an official knight.” Abel didn’t know why Yvette would be so kind to him, but he did realize how lucky he was to have her teach him so much about training with potions. All in their first meeting, too, so not only was he feeling very grateful, but he also began to develop more respect towards this very goodhearted girl. “Thank you for your reminder, Miss Yvette,” Abel spoke in an even more formal tone, “What you just told me will be very crucial to me. If you don’t mind answering to this, is there any potion that doesn’t produce a side effect?” “Why, there is, of course,” Yvette nodded her head, “Sometimes when they are in the mood for it, the potion masters would make something called the ‘master’s qi condensing potion.’ There is no guarantee on the number of these master’s potions, but one potion master is said to be able to produce ten bottles of it every single year. Once the potions are ready, they are either given off as gifts for friends and families, or they are bought off by the rich and powerful.” Yvette continued in an admiring and proud tone, “In our annual auction event, our own potion master would put up five bottles of the master’s qi condensing potion for sale. They are priced at more than 1000 gold coins per bottle, and one bottle is enough for a novice knight to skip an entire year of training.” If he didn’t have his own Horadric Cube, Abel would’ve never considered taking potions for his training. Based on his previous performances, his talent looked more promising than both his father and brother. He was a genius, and it didn’t matter if he was only twelve years old. With enough time and effort, he could easily become an official knight. Still, the idea of using a master’s qi condensing potion sounded very attractive to Abel. A year worth of training without any side effects and all it would take was some money? It was the perfect job his Horadric Cube! Having come to a decision, Abel raised his head to make his purchase, “I’ll take 54 bottles of the lesser qi condensing potion. Actually, with the money that’s left, can I also get a small crossbow? Maybe something I can hold with just one hand?” Abel knew how dangerous this world was. He could be ambushed by a starving beast just by walking on an open path. It was true that he was smart enough to kill that shadow panther back then, but it was best not to rely on luck in every single fight. That being said, it was always good to carry some gears with him while going to places. Abel wanted a sword and some armors, too, but his budget was way too low for that. Actually, even if he had more money with him, he probably still wouldn’t use it here. He was nowhere good enough to hide his own secrets (his cube) yet. If he was going to spend money on equipment, he’d like it to be something that people couldn’t see. By this logic, a small crossbow seemed like a decent option. Just like that dagger Zach gave him, Abel could easily hide a weapon like this somewhere on him. Come to think of it, it would be nice to be able to perform sneak attacks both within close range and long-range. “How about this small crossbow? It was crafted by the dwarves,” Yvette went and placed a grey crossbow on the table, along with the potions Abel had ordered. Abel tried lifting the crossbow with just one arm. It was a very delicate piece of work, with a little less than a kilogram in weight. He didn’t quite like its appearance, though, since every part of it was just painted in plain grey. Besides, there were some very ugly holes that were punched through the handle. “This is a second-hand item,” Yvette explained in a bemused way as Abel had a very questionable look on his face, “I know what you are thinking, but the dwarves did a pretty good job when they first crafted this. Usually, a brand-new crossbow with this kind of craftsmanship would’ve cost more than 500 gold coins. There were supposed to be some gems on the handle, but someone else decided to chip them off to make extra profit. Besides, no one liked this color. No wonder it would be in the store for this long.” “I’ll take it,” Abel stated. He knew Yvette was being good to him. He wasn’t sure why she was willing to go so far to help him, but he knew she wasn’t the type to lie. “Be careful when you take these lesser potions. You have a long road ahead of you,” Yvette said as she placed the qi condensing potion in a box. She also grabbed some ammunition for Abel’s crossbow. “Thank you, Miss Yvette. I’ll make sure that I take these potions with caution,” Abel responded with sincerity. He wanted to appear reliable in front of Yvette. Once Abel had gotten out of the store, he had 54 bottles of the lesser qi condensing pill, one small crossbow, and 5 crossbow arrows. Yvette, on the other hand, was sitting next to the window on the boutique shop’s second floor. While watching as Abel slowly made his way back, she couldn’t help but think about her little brother who had left the family for two years by now. If she could see him now, he would probably be just as big as Abel.

Chapter 6 - Master'S Potion Chapter 6: Master’s Potion It was quite late when Abel caught up with Norman. The Sun was slightly leaned towards the west by the time they saw each other. If they didn’t go back to the Bennett Castle right away, they would’ve had to travel during the night, which was not safe at all. Norman saw the box Abel was holding, but he didn’t say anything about it. As far as he was concerned, what mattered wasn’t how much money his young master had spent or what he had bought. He was a bodyguard, and the only thing he cared about was his master’s safety. That being the case, Abel still didn’t want to let anyone see his box. He was going to put it in his Horadric Cube before, but there were far too few slots for him to put in his qi condensing pill. It was one bottle per slot, so the most he could store was ten. He needed two more for his Tome of Town Portal, meaning that the only way to go was to carry most of the stuff with his own hands. Fortunately, the two got back without facing any danger on the way, and Abel picked the right time to arrive at home. Zach was just practicing horse-riding with the Knight of Bennett. No one — not his father, his mother, or his brother—no one was going to ask him what he had bought in town. This was a family of royals. They respected each other as royals. Every member, regardless of age, had rights to his or her own privacy. Abel was loved by his parents, but the love he felt was very different from the one he experienced on Earth. During his life back on Earth, parents showed love by interfering with every aspect of their child’s life. They had to have a say in the child’s education, social life, romantic life, marriage and anything else. Any secret that a child had was considered a violation of the trust between them. The rules were very different here. Every time there was an important choice to make, Abel’s parents would always listen to what Abel wanted, no matter how drastic the consequences were. As the second son of the family, the path ahead of Abel would be nothing but harsh for him. Now, the Knight of Bennett knew this. He knew this all too well, but he decided to agree with his love for his son. It was a different kind of love, different from the kind that Abel experienced from his previous parents. They were equal in their weight, however. Abel knew that, and he was grateful to be so blessed in his two very long lifetimes. After coming back to his room, Abel quickly opened his box and took out a bottle of the qi condensing potion. Whilst facing the sunset, he could see that the bottle was surrounded by arcs of white light which, in ways that were inapplicable to normal physics, kept on flashing and sparking as they swirled around. It was only a lesser potion, yes, but by appearance alone, it would be worth so much if it was found on Earth. Speaking of Earth, Abel missed his home now. He never had a nostalgia for the whole year that he came here, but something kicked in when he saw that Tome of Portal yesterday. Whatever. Just don’t think about it he forced himself. Right now, the important thing was his experiment. If Abel’s hypothesis was confirmed, his training speed would be much faster than where it was currently. Abel inserted three lesser potions into the Horadric Cube, then lightly pressed onto the transmute button. After a white light flashed by, the three bottles of the qi condensing potion emerged into just one. It was not surrounded by white arcs of light, however, but a beautiful ray of blue. It worked. Abel had never seen a greater qi condensing potion before, but this should be it. There was no doubt about it. The Horadric Cube never got its formulas wrong. It wasn’t like he cared too much about it, but a smirk suddenly emerged on Abel’s face. If three bottles of the lesser potion cost 30 gold coins in total, and a bottle of the greater potion costs 50 gold coins, he just made 20 coins worth of profit. It was a weird thought to have in a serious time like this, but it was kind of funny in a way. Abel inserted three more lesser potions into his cube. For reasons he himself wasn’t sure of, he was already feeling like a potion master, or an alchemist figuring out the right proportions for his concoction. As excited as he was, Abel’s hands never stopped. He just kept on transmuting the lesser potions into greater potions, then lined up the finished products on his table. Pretty soon, 54 bottles of the lesser qi condensing potions were turned into 18 bottles of the greater qi condensing potion. Abel was about to scream at this point. Even if he couldn’t turn the greater potions into the greatest potion, he was pretty much guaranteed a way to afford his living now. If he wanted to, he could head into the potion-brewing business at any time he wanted. He could become a renowned potion master by selling large quantities of the greater qi condensing potion. Becoming a knight was his topmost preference, of course, but it was always good to have some sort of back-up plan. Abel calmed himself once more. Then, he inserted three bottles of the greater potion into his Horadric Cube. Without any failure this time, the three greater potions were mixed into one. It was a bottle surrounded with golden arcs of light. Inside was a potion that could only be produced by an expert. It was the greatest potion which, although makeable given the right amount of experience, was not something that could be sold as a regular item. The greatest potion was inferior to a master’s potion, but the creation of both required the brewer to be in the right “zone.” There was something special about this potion. Abel didn’t know how much it was worth exactly, but his guess was just as good as anybody else’s. Well, there wasn’t a lot of potion masters in the Duchy, he knew at least that much. Soon, 18 greater potions were turned into 6 bottles of “greatest” potions. Abel was right. It was the right choice for him to spend all his money on potions. He put the three bottles of the greatest potion into the cube, and just like all the times before, everything in the slots vanished when a white light flashed out. What came out was a bottle of a master’s qi condensing potion. It was surrounded by arcs of dark, golden light, and there was a thick texture to the liquid that was inside. The liquid itself was amber in color. Strangely, though, it was not translucent like all the other potions. With a gentle shake of its container, Abel would see that it was a little bit sticky. One more time. At the end of the day, Abel produced two bottles of the master’s qi condensing potion. He produced two bottles of the ultimate potion, which would bear no effects whatsoever to its user. Now, what should he do about these potions? He could consume it right here, but that would expose the existence of the Horadric Cube. He couldn’t allow that to happen if he was to survive in this world. The better option was to store it somewhere safe. Whatever Abel was planning to do next, safety always came first. The more Abel knew about this world, the less safe he began to feel. While everything could be explained by science on Earth, the logic seemed to work very differently here. The injury on Norman’s leg should take a few months to recover, but a lesser divine act was enough to treat it on the spot. Knowing something like this was actually more worrisome than relieving, the more you think about it. With that in mind, if Fort Lee was just a small town, what kind of unexplainable, unthinkable things could Abel see if he went to a bigger town? A bigger city, maybe?

Chapter 7 - Father'S Teachings Chapter 7: Father’s Teachings The Bennett Castle always held its dinner on time. Since there were knights in the house, the time to eat was set at eight o’clock at night. The meal, as always, was limited to three things: beef, porridge, and mashed potatoes. Due to financial issues, the beef was not flavored with anything at all. Spices were restricted to only the very rich nobles. They had to be harvested all the way from the Double Moon Forest, which was a faraway territory ruled by the elves. The further a product was from its place of origin, the pricier it was. This was especially true when there were so many merchants involved in the transportation process. Like always, it was a quiet, yet heart-warming dinner with the family. After a whole day of workout, combat, and adventure, Abel wanted to go back to his room for a shower. He didn’t like the sewage system here, though, so he decided to make one himself. The Bennett Castle relied on one underground stream for its water supply. Like most castles built in this world, no resource could be sent in the fort if it was surrounded by invaders, so the water was crucial for self-subsistence. If it was a castle built for a higher lord, the sewage system would probably be big enough for a few thousand people. The Bennett Castle could provide enough water for a few hundred people, which was quite a lot in itself. There were less than a hundred residents living here, guards and servants included, so the water was not an issue at all. To build his own irrigation system, Abel decided to find the carpenter of the Bennet Castle. He ordered the carpenter to build a water wheel. It was meant to be powered by the underground stream, and there would be some pipes connected to it to let the water flow inside a big wooden box, which would be stored on the top floor of the castle. Then, using some bamboo hardened with fire, pipes were built to let the water into the bathroom. Abel had bronze in mind at the start, but metal was far too expensive. There was no mine inside the castle. No blacksmith for hire, either. The Bennett family couldn’t even use iron to make the pipes. After a long, hard thought to himself, Abel came to the conclusion that bamboo was the best option available. Once heated up with fire, it could be bent, hardened and used for a variety of construction work. Most importantly, it was extremely cheap. After the pipes were ready, Abel had the carpenter make him a full-size wooden bathtub, a wooden washing basin, and even a flush toilet with seat. For once, things were starting to look a bit modern. Lumber was worth almost nothing in this world. Apart from some of very rare species, anyone with an ax could get some wood from the forest. Speaking of which, the Bennet Family owned all the trees within a hundred-mile radius from the castle. Lumberjacks and carpenters were hired, of course, but their main job was with planting crops in the field. You wouldn’t get paid much for chopping down trees. Thanks to Abel’s innovative suggestions, every room of the castle was renovated with the same design plan. The carpenter, after being paid a generous sum for his work, was ordered to sign a contract with the Knight of Bennett. Without his master’s permission, he was restricted from making the same system again for anyone else. Hence, the blueprint of the wooden irrigation system was locked inside the Bennet family vault. As a nobleman who grew up knowing a fair share of things, the Knight of Bennett knew how life-threatening this device could be. If some high lord happened to know about it, he would most likely keep it all in his own family collection, meanwhile killing anyone who happened to know something about it. The Knight of Bennett was all too familiar with this sort of thing. Which was why Abel didn’t invent anything afterward. Without the right status and strength, any creative ideas could bring catastrophe to him and his family. For the thousands of years of this world’s history, there had been no change to the way society was structured. It was a very different story to that of Earth, which was very easily influenced by instability and interferences. Rules could vanish and remerge within a span of a few centuries, and nothing could ever be referred to as “constant.” “Abel, come stay with Zach,” the Knight of Bennett commanded as Abel was about to head back to his room, “You are a rank one novice knight now. You are now worthy of my tutoring.” After coming to the training room, Abel could see that the servants had already prepared the wooden dummies for him. There were some wooden swords hanging on the wall, and the Knight of Bennett grabbed one to give it to him. “I have heard about what you did,” the Knight of Bennett stared at Abel, “You killed a shadow panther with the strength of a beginner knight. You surprised me, Son. Even if you did it with Norman’s help, I am still very surprised about it.” “For my whole life, I have seen countless knights with are more talented than I could ever be. They were stronger than me, faster than me, but none of them lived to be as old as I am now. Do you know why?” To Abel’s surprise, the Knight of Bennet was suddenly giving him a lecture. For all the time he had been in this world, he had never heard so much word coming out his father’s mouth before. “How did I survive to be standing here today? It’s because a knight’s strongest shield is his sword. The fastest sword is also the sturdiest shield there is. If the knight is fast, he can charge when he’s on a horse. When he gets down the horse, he can pull on a heavy bow with a blink of an eye. Now, there are a lot of geniuses in this world. Some of them decided to become the fastest men they could be. Some of them decided to become the strongest men they could be. Now, I am not the strongest man there is. I’m also not the fastest man there is. However! I happen to be the heir of our family, and what our ancestors have left for us is a full training routine dedicated to knights. Because of my heritage, I became the strongest man among the fastest man, and I became the fastest man among the strongest men.” The Knight of Bennet widened his eyes, called out in a rather emotional tone, “What our ancestors gave us is the most complete system there is. Generation after generation, they passed it on to me without making any sort of adjustment. In the near future, I will fulfill my role and passed this treasure onto you both. Remember this: no gold, no renowned weapon, or armor, none of these will be ever as precious as heritage! Heritage, my sons, heritage is the most precious treasure there is!” “Zach, show your brother how to form an attack,” the Knight of Bennett threw a wooden word towards Zach, to which Zach responded with a glare of a beast. He pointed towards the dummy with his sword, drew a light breath from his mouth, and instantly changed into his charging position. Abel could just barely see it. The dummy was sent flying in an instance. And while it was still in mid-air, Zach quickly went to stab it at three different spots. It was the thigh, the waist, and the throat, all executed in one sequence of movement. It was like something coming straight out a textbook. “You are faster than this,” the Knight of Bennett said. The father was always strict in his demands. Zach understood that, so he quickly responded with a nod. “Can you see this clearly, Abel? This is a classic knight’s attack. You break through your enemy’s defense with a charge and finish the fight with a quick slash to their vital spot. Every part of this sequence takes thousands of years to refine. Your role is to execute these movements as perfectly as you can. There is no need to make any kind of adjustment. Countless blood has been spilled to come up with what you are looking at right now. The Knight of Bennett continued with a slightly ridiculing tone, “There are always some so-called “geniuses” who try to be creative with this. None of them are alive now. Listen here, Son. What you should be doing is to remember these movements. Turn them into your instincts. Use them before you have any second thoughts.” Abel felt so proud to have killed that shadow panther back then, but looking at Zach was a real wake-up call for him. He could be as smart as he wanted to be with his tricks, but they would always be futile against a properly trained knight. Even Zach could dominate him without any resistance. For the remaining days, Abel continued on his training routine. He practiced combat techniques during the daytime and improved his muscle strength with the metal armor at night. Before he went to bed, he would always practice his knight breathing techniques. There was a lot more beef on the dinner table that night. From that point onward, Abel was starting to receive the same meal size as Zach. While the Knight of Bennett hadn’t said anything about it, he felt like his father had come to some sort of decision.

Chapter 8 - A Shocking Decision Chapter 8: A Shocking Decision Being a gym trainer probably had something to do with this. For reasons he wasn’t sure of, Abel learned how to fight as knight fairly quickly. He had good reflexes and forms. What he lacked in experience and strength, he would certainly make up for as he got older. The Bennett Family system taught the use of multiple types of weapons. There was archery, lancing, sword-and-shield play, heavy shield, etc. After about half a year of non-stop training, Abel learned all there was to learn. It was kind of unfair for Zach, in a way, so much so that he had often made complaints to the Spirits. “But that took me more a year!” He would often cry out, and the Knight of Bennett would always wear an ominous look on his face. Abel wasn’t sure what his father was thinking of, but he knew something was about to happen soon. Over these past few months, Abel did not take a single drop of his master’s potion. After learning about the importance of heritage from his father, he decided that it was only right to take supplements after he knew all the right techniques. Still, in a very short period of time, he managed to become a rank two Novice Knight with just his raw talent. On one particular night, Abel knew something was wrong when he sat down for dinner. He noticed how red and swollen Nora’s eyes were. He also saw a very resolute expression on his father’s face. “Abel, my son,” the Knight of Bennett stood up as Abel had just picked up his fork, “You are the most talented child I have seen in all of my life. The Holy Light has granted you wisdom and courage, but the Bennett Family does not have the resources to raise you to your full potential. This is a great loss to the family name and a disgrace to one who guides us all.” The Knight of Bennett threw a glance at his wife, then back to his two sons. He continued on in a coarser voice, “I have made an agreement with a fellow knight of mine. His name is Marshall. For the next few years, Abel will train to be a knight under his teaching. If Abel manages to meet his expectations, he will be inheriting the unicorn symbol, which is the coat of arm of the Harry family.” Abel knew who the Knight of Marshall was. The Knight of Marshall was his father’s best friend. They fought alongside each other during the war against the orcs. During the most desperate times, they saved each other’s life and came back home together. Unlike the Knight of Bennett, the Knight of Marshall never had a child. His only wife died in an incident, and he was never married after that. For all the years that the Marshall family had been without an heir, he just kept on staying in the castle where his wife was buried. It was no easy choice for the Knight of Bennett to send Abel away. Abel wasn’t just going to have his surname changed. As a matter of fact, he was going to cut his ties with his real family. He would be wearing a different coat of arms on his clothes, his armor, and his flag. That’s probably how it was going to be for the rest of his life. Having a talented child was a very troubling thing for the Knight of Bennett. He had thought all kinds of different options before, including sending him to his wife’s father, Keith. Still, it had been a long time since he last contacted Keith. Besides, Keith was a merchant. He had money, yes, but simply having money was not enough to raise someone to be a knight. Also, Keith lived all the way up at Koror Duchy, which made it very hard to keep in touch with Abel if he was sent over there. Seth Bennett. That was the real name of the Knight of Bennett. He was commonly referred with the Bennet title because, well, he was the only one of his kind living on this plain. Two centuries ago, his ancestors became royals because of their contributions to the war. They were also rewarded with a piece of land. Its name was originally the “Bennett Honorary Lord’s Domain,” but now it was just the “Bennett Knight’s Domain.” The direct descendants of the Bennett family lived in Bakong City, which was a major city located inside Carmel Duchy. If Abel was sent there, it was very likely for him to become a regular knight. There was a trade-off for doing so, however. It would mean that Abel would become a bodyguard for a direct descendant of the Bennett Family. He would have to sacrifice his own personal freedom, and if the circumstances called for it, his own life. There was no way the Knight of Bennett would let that happen to his second son. There was another reason, the Knight of Bennett wouldn’t want Abel to lose the status of a royalty. It was something that he had already decided, long before Abel was even born. As the proud Knight of Bennett, he would only make a request from his kinsmen if the Bennett Knight’s Domain were to regain its old title as the territory of an Honorary Lord. It was a crucial way of him maintaining his pride, so to speak. Marshall Harry was a different man to the Knight of Bennett. First of all, his family had a very prestigious name in Bakong City. With the help of his family, Marshall Harry was also rewarded with a Knight’s Domain after a war. It was land just 300 miles away from the Bennett Knight’s Domain, mainly because of his ties with the Knight of Bennett. Everything there was newly built, apparently. Even the castle was made of new bricks and stones. The Harry family had a long and fine history to it. A few Elite Knights came to be because of them. And while their philosophy was different from that of the Bennett family, the two had great respect for each other’s achievements in the past. Marshal Harry had always wanted to adopt a son. He had said it on many occasions, but it was hard to find someone with the right conditions. He wasn’t just looking for a child that he could look after. He was looking for an heir that he could pass his family name onto. That being said, the child he would adopt must have royal blood inside of him. Ironically, though, most royal children already had their futures planned ahead of them. Suppose a man had three sons. Even if the eldest was to become the heir, it was very easy for him to disqualify after, say, a lost duel or a common disease. Whatever might take away his life, the next child would always be a back-up solution. And there really wasn’t a royal family with just one child. Everyone wanted more kids. The only problem, really, was with how much wealth was distributed to educate them. Abel was a genius. The Knight of Bennett was very certain of that. He knew how talented Abel was, and there was no way he would let that talent go to waste. Yes, even if such a decision comes with a cost. Sending Abel away was a great loss to the Bennett Family. All because there wasn’t enough money in the family. No wonder everyone was so grim during dinner. Zach kept having his beef sliding out of his fork, which was an act that would usually receive the immediate condemnation from the Knight of Bennett. Strangely, however, the Knight of Bennett just kept on eating his food in silence. Nora was the only one who didn’t hide away her emotions. She barely ate anything during dinnertime, and instead spent of her time sobbing and wiping away her tears. After dinner was over, the Knight of Bennett had Abel come to his study for a chat. As the place for storing some of the family’s most important documents, the study was usually locked up for anyone except the Knight of Bennett himself. That being said, it was the first time that Abel had laid his eyes on it. Just by a first glance, Abel could tell that it was a very big room. On one side of the white wall, there were portraits of previous owners of the Bennett Castle. The other side was stuffed with tall bookshelves, which contained various sizes of red or black books. In the middle of the study was a big, wooden desk. From what Abel could see, it had a very smooth surface to it, which was most likely due to the years of paperwork that were signed on top of it. This was, in other words, the core of Bennett’s Knight Domain. All commands, big or small, were officialized at this very spot right here. The Knight of Bennett walked over towards the desk. He dragged out a big box made of oak wood. It was a fancy box, laced with deer hides and had a red bronze handle on top of it. As the Knight of Bennett opened it, Abel could see a tidy set of armor inside. A half-body Cuir bouilli. Both the front and back were decorated with small, shiny square pieces of metal. From the shoulder to the wrist were multiple layers of galvanized iron. This was quite an unusual set of armor, which was a mix between a leather set and a metal set. Not only was it cheaper than a full steel gear or chainmail, but it was also more resistant than something purely made of animal skins. “I got this cuir-bouilli during my battle against the orcs. After I killed an inferno bovine, I carried its corpse to an armorsmith and had him craft an armor set from it,” said the Knight of Bennett as he took out the lower half of the armor from the box. It was a pair of leather jeans with galvanized iron as the knee guard. “Here is a light longsword, a pair of leather boots and a pair of gloves. I don’t have a lot of previous things to give you, my child.” Abel’s eyes were starting to swell it. He noticed this armor set now. It was his father’s back-up set. As it was impossible for a knight to have possess only one set of armor, he had to have a back-up to wear when the original was sent for maintenance. If the original set was elsewhere, the Knight of Bennett would have to fight without protection. But there was no hesitation. No refusal, either. As Abel took over the box, he was starting to feel the weight of a father’s love. There was no other gift that could be as precious as this. After Abel came back to his room, he saw that his mother had already been waiting for him. Unlike the Knight of Bennett, her parting gifts were much simpler. There were jackets, shirts, a training suit, formal suits and several pieces of handkerchiefs. It was clothing, more clothing and nothing else. Nora didn’t cry this time. She just held onto Abel’s hand and talked to him. She spoke slowly and patiently. It was mostly about how Abel should get along with others once he was in the outside world. The night was quiet, but the Bennett Castle remained alight. Nobody had slept.

Chapter 9 - The Ranks Just Keep Ascending Chapter 9: The Ranks Just Keep Ascending It was until dawn when Nora had left Abel’s room. After his mother was gone, Abel sat quietly on a chair and contemplated his life over the last two years. Despite his appearance, Abel was a forty-year-old man on the inside. It wasn’t like he didn’t know what the Knight of Bennett was thinking. He agreed very much with the decision that was made for him. If he wasn’t so gifted at such an early age, everything could’ve been normal for him. Instead of leaving to an unknown place at an age as early as twelve, he could’ve left the family when he reached adulthood. Abel saw what was coming for him, and he was ready to take it. He took out his Horadric Cube, revealed a bottle of the golden qi condensing pill, and opened its cap. He wanted to save it for later, but the challenge ahead would not let him delay. Not long ago, the Bennett Castle was a safeguard that protected Abel’s safety. Without it, he had learned to protect himself with whatever he could lay his hands on. As the amber-colored liquid slid inside his throat, Abel could feel his inside filled with a vigorous essence. The qi kept on channeling through his muscles, but unlike most regular potions, it did not take away any of the food that he had eaten before. It quickly materialized and was turned into his third meridian. It was doing this at a very steady pace, too. Unlike most times, when he had tried to do it on his own, Abel didn’t have to worry if the process was going to fail. Abel practiced his breathing techniques every night, but he was never so successful as he was now. On a regular night, he could do twenty sets at most. He would have to take breaks between each one of them. Things were very different tonight. He was going very strong. Even the curtains were moving at the rhythm of his breathing. It took about half an hour for the potion to wear off. By this time, there were three stabilized meridians inside Abel’s body and some excess qi which could’ve filled in half more. Abel was surprised about this, of course. As it turned, the master’s potion was much more powerful than what Yvette had told him. Were the rumors wrong, then? Well, not exactly. Technically speaking, a master’s potion was still far from being a “perfect” potion. As skilled as a potion master might be, human craftsmanship still had its limitations. The Horadric Cube was free from such a flaw, though. Since Abel was crafting his qi condensing potion mechanically, every little detail—proportions and such—were all taken into consideration and was in respect to the “Power of the Rule.” this was, to put it simply, was a force that belonged to the gods. As a divine item, the Horadric could utilize a fraction of this power to transform whatever item that it contained. This was the reason why the Master’s potion Abel created was much more potent than a regular one. It was like asking a God to help with a novice knight’s training, and what kind of god would be so bored to do that? It was hard to resist the temptation once it started to kick in. After leveling himself up in just half an hour, Abel decided to take in another bottle of his master’s potion. And there it was again. In virtually no time whatsoever, qi quickly emerged and became Abel’s fourth meridian. The effect of the potion quickly vanished after it had done its job. Abel quickly stood up from the ground. He noticed that his entire body was covered in dark, stinky stains. After enhancing his bodily function in such a short period of time, all the dirty substances inside of him were quickly excreted out. Abel quickly ran to the bathroom to clean himself up. Having used three bucketfuls of water, he tried as hard as he could to scrub away the stench off him. After he was done, he opened up his room’s window and tried to let the wind take the smell away. Abel was half-naked while he was doing this. He had grown 10 centimeters over the past six months, putting him at 160 cm in height. He was just a kid but the muscles on him were already pronounced. As buff as he was, Abel was still very humble. He had great respect for the fighters in this world. Whether it was a mercenary or a knight, anyone with a weapon could pull off a very impressive fight. That being said, though, most of them wouldn’t know how to fight properly with their own bodies. If two men were to fight against each other with nothing but their bare fists, they would simply throw straight punches at each other and watch who went down first. As a former gym trainer, Abel was acquainted with the use of several types of martial arts. He knew boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, and Tai Chi. He wasn’t an expert, so to speak, but the knowledge he possessed has made him a very formidable opponent in any type of hand-to-hand combat. If it was hand-to-hand combat, Abel could easily defeat Zach, who was, obviously, much taller and stronger than him. Strength wasn’t everything, so they said. With the power of sports science on his side, everyone in this world seemed clumsy to Abel when they fought with nothing but their bare fists. And very rightly so. In this world, there was hardly any need to develop any hand-to-hand combat system. The humans’ biggest foes were the orcs. Brawling with those monsters head-on was just suicide. What about against other humans, then? Well, royals solved their disagreements with sword duels. Fighting with no weapon was considered foul and in some way, very disrespectful to one’s opponent. As Abel practiced a few reps of his standard punches, he could felt a significant increase in his power and speed. It was good and all, but such an improvement was kind of hard to get used to. Just when he was grabbing his wooden cup for a sip of water, his fingers snapped it into shreds. Too much progress could have their downturns, so it seemed. But that was fine. Abel was twelve years old now, with only one month left before his thirteenth birthday. By that time, he would’ve already made the same achievement as Zach did when he was eighteen. Abel readied himself for his Tai Chi practice. While he was repeating the moves that were taught to him, he tried to remember what his instructors used to say. From what he could remember, the instructor said that Tai Chi was the best martial art for holding back one’s brute force. Tai Chi was about reserving one’s power, moving in an unending sequence of movements, being able to both escalate and deescalate at the same time and having a natural rhythm while fulfilling all these conditions. It was about harmonizing one’s entire being into a collected whole—which was much easier said than done. Abel had to calm himself down after taking that second potion. After stabilizing himself from a state of excitement, he began to act out all 74 postures of his Tai Chi sequence. It was the beginning posture, the vajra pounds mortar, grasp and tuck clothes, all the way until the 74th posture. The Sun was very much up high after he was finally done. As it turned out, Tai Chi didn’t make you have a weaker punch. It just made you appear weaker than you were. With his Tai Chi techniques activated, Abel noticed that he was much weaker than he truly was when he was looking at himself in the mirror. If he was to tone down his Tai Chi, he was a rank four Novice Knight. But if he was to activate it, he could appear in whatever rank which he so desired. He could not pretend to be at a level that was higher than what he was actually at. This was very convenient. It was hard to make up a reason to explain why he had ranked up for two in just a single night, but having a camouflage meant that there was no need in doing so. Abel could just keep putting himself at rank two while he was packing up his luggage.

Chapter 10 - Departure Chapter 10: Departure It was a cold morning at the start of December. As things were starting to get busy for the Bennett Castle, the servants had to start cleaning the stables right after they woke up. The stablemen fed beans to the two chariot horses. The cleaners brushed all the swords, armors and boots inside the house. There was even a new rein for the Knight of Bennett’s steed. While Abel and his servants came out with the luggage, six lancers were waiting for him in front of the castle gate. While not necessarily grand in any way, they were standing very neatly around a line of chariots. It was a small farewell parade designated for the young master’s leave. These men were all wearing blue leather armor. They had boots as high as their knees and wore blue woolen hats on top of their heads. Apart from their three meter-long lances, everything they had on them was sown inside the Bennett Castle. While the wool might not be protective against arrows, they did make it easier to pull one out of a soldier’s wound. There weren’t many decorations in the parade. Apart from the two soldiers hanging up the Thorned Shield flag on the tip of their lances, there wasn’t anything that stood out in particular. Since blue was the base color of the Bennett Family’s coat of arms, every fabric in this parade, costumes and curtains and so on, all had to have the same uniform tone. Just while Abel was carrying the box onto his chariots, the Knight of Bennett rode his battle stead outside of the castle gate. Behind him was Abel’s mother, Nora, who had eyes full of tears as Zach held her The Knight of Bennett was looking especially solemn. Under the bright shine of the Sun, every plate of his silver-white armor was glowing in shivering light. He wasn’t wearing his helmet, for some reason. His helmet and weapons were all hanging on one side of his saddle. His long hair was tied up in a simple tail, which kept moving around as the cold wind went by. Nora didn’t say anything to Abel. She just kept looking at Abel, almost as if she had already told him everything last night. It was like she was looking at the most precious treasure in the world. One way or another, Zach always knew that Abel was going to leave the castle. It was a tradition that no one could go against, which was why he was always so loving towards his only brother. He didn’t expect Abel to leave so early, though. “This is your home, Abel. Come back when you have the time to.” Zach came to hug his little brother. Technically speaking, Abel was just as strong as him, but the grasp was so tight that it felt more overwhelming than intended. Abel was quite calm this whole day, but he felt like he was going to lose it at this moment. The morning sun didn’t feel quite warm during winter. And, because of how loud the wind was howling, every flag in the parade was waving around like they were out of control. Abel didn’t sit inside the chariot cabin. Instead, he was riding on top of a three-year-old mare right in the middle of the parade. Because of how oversized his father’s cuir bouilli was, he was now wearing a leather armor covered in wool. He was carrying a light sword on his back. So light, in fact, that it felt almost useless for a rank four novice knight. Abel turned around for a final look at his mother and brother. He couldn’t do it for too long, however. The moment he turned his head around, he felt like tears were immediately welling up his eyes. Since the headquarter couldn’t be unguarded, not a lot of people joined the farewell parade. Apart from Abel and the Knight of Bennett, there were about 9 people in total who left the Bennett castle. As the second-best fighter in the Bennet Knight’s domain, Norman was left with the task of being the Bennett Castle’s temporary headmaster. Knights were the lowest amongst royalty. That being said, not just anyone could be qualified to serve them. Loyalty, reliability, competence in combat, and being of noble birth were all crucial features to being qualified as a knight’s underlings. Take Norman, for example. He had been a brother of the Knight of Bennett ever since the war. He was only granted the status of a knight after he had his loyalty confirmed, and was taught the Bennett Family’s secret techniques at a much later time. It was a rewarding journey for him, to say least the least. For the years of his devotion, he was promoted from a regular guard to being the honored underling of a noble knight. Many wandering knights were desperate for a master with his own territory. Once accepted, the head knight would be responsible for all their day-to-day expenses. This included weapons, armors, and even the housing of the underlings. With this much at stake, one had to be extra careful in choosing his most trusted underlings. The parade went on for a total of six hours. Apart from the half-hour break during lunchtime, the men didn’t stop their feet at one single time. Thankfully, no one was bold enough to be a disturbance. Even the beasts could tell how dangerous the Knight of Bennett was. This was the furthest Abel had been from home. He could vaguely recall the eleven years of the “real” Abel’s childhood, and it was truly his very first time to be this far away from home. Sadly, though, there wasn’t much scenery to lay his eyes on. Apart from some evergreen plants lying on the side of the road, everything just looked kind of gloomy and dull around here. Thank the Spirit that it wasn’t snowing. As dusty as the soil road might be, it was a much more preferable choice than trekking on wet, mushy ground. From what Abel had heard from others, roads in the big cities were all paved in large, smooth stones. For some reason, it kept reminding him of the concrete roads he had remembered from planet Earth. How nice would it be if there were concrete roads in this world? Abel was about to extend on his imagination, but he also remembered his oath to not make any inventions. Like the irrigation system he had built for the Bennett Castle, creativity without protection would only bring disaster to him and those around him. As a grown man who had received modern education behind everybody’s back, Abel could think faster than the “real” Abel could. He was also smarter than the version of himself on Earth. Whether it was fighting, etiquette, or anything culturally-related, he could pretty much understand in a snap of a finger. It was almost as if he had received a “buff” when he arrived in this world. After a while, the roads were going from soil to Portuguese pavements. The Knight of Bennett wasn’t surprised at it. If anything, he knew exactly why this was the case. “This is what’ makes the Marshall Knight special,” the Knight of Bennett said to Abel as he pointed to the ground below, “He’s all about not losing face in front of others. If there was a mountain to mine around here, he would’ve used giant boulders to pave the roads here.” While staring at his father’s shiny armour, the newly-sown decorations on his horses, and the brand new gears of the six accompanying lancers, Abel really felt like saying: “Father, if you are just a little bit richer, I’m sure that Marshal Knight would have nothing on you if it’s about losing faces.”

Chapter 11 - Adoption Chapter 11: Adoption The Harry Knight’s domain was 300 miles west of the Bennet Knight’s domain. In between them was another domain of an honorary lord. If there wasn’t a need to go around this region, there was no way that Abel’s trip would’ve taken as long as six hours. Despite being a royal who was granted his own land, the Knight of Bennett was in the “middle-high” class, which was still a bit far from being an aristocrat. Besides, he wasn’t quite good at socializing with the other nobles. He tried his best to keep a polite distance from the other upperclassmen. This made it quite difficult for him to request his own army to make a direct pass into another domain. The parade made its way to the Harry Knight’s domain at around three in the afternoon. From over a distance, Abel could see a very big castle in front. On either side of this castle, red banners were depicting a rearing unicorn. Needless to say, they were the family symbol of the Knight of Marshall. From what Abel could see, his father clearly wasn’t pleased to see this. The Bennett Castle had its own banner, but that was only three meters tall and two meters wide. It was something that the Knight of Bennett had inherited from his own father. While it was unfinished back then, he had to spend quite a bit of money to add the final touches to it. “It’s a treasure for the next generation,” he would always say. “He’s doing this on purpose,” the Knight of Bennett ground his teeth, “I’ve told him about the banners.” Abel saw this, of course, and decided to slow down his horse for a bit. As upset as his father was, he didn’t want to bring himself too close to any sort of trouble. At the front gate of the Harry Castle, a middle-aged man was wearing a full set of golden armor. He was accompanied by two of his bodyguards who, for the sake of rubbing it in just a bit more, were also fully equipped with some very fine leather gears. The Knight of Marshall had a carving of the god of sun on his left chest and the crest of the white unicorn on his right. For someone of his age, he was much sturdier than most would expect. He was very tall, too. There were quite some wrinkles on his face, but instead of making him look old, it somehow gave off this mature and refreshing aura about him. “Marshall!” With a growl of a bloodthirsty tiger, the Knight of Bennett jumped down his horse and quickly walked towards the Knight of Marshall. The ground below him trembled every time he had taken another step. “Seth!” The Knight of Marshall responded with a roar that was just as loud and angry. With his golden hair flying in the air, he approached the Knight of Bennett with the menace of a fully-maned lion. No one knew how to react to this. The two were meant to be best friends, but they looked like they were about to beat each other up? The two just kept on walking towards each other. They were so close to each other that their fists were perfectly in range for a knockdown punch. They didn’t stop at that point, either. Instead, when their chests were an inch apart, the two jumped at the same time and collided themselves right into each other. No fist. No kicks, either. Just two men pushing against each other with their armored chest. If Abel were to describe it, the noise that followed was almost to that of a car crash at full speed. What a strange but impressive exchange of raw strength. Both the Knight of Bennett and the Knight of Marshall had to take several steps back. The Knight of Bennett cursed as he steadied his two legs. “You became an Intermediate Knight? Why the hell didn’t you mention that in the letter?” “Well, the same could be said for you!” The Knight of Marshall replied as he caressed the bruise on his golden armor, “You didn’t say you’ve become an intermediate knight!” The Knight of Bennett, too, felt the urge to look at the dent on his own breastplate. After figuring out the cost that was needed for repair, he gave another shout towards the Knight of Marshall. “You play dirty, don’t you? Yeah, I did become one! If I didn’t, I would be on the ground right now!” “Dirty? Look who’s talking?” The Knight of Marshall threw a dirty look and at the Knight of Bennett. The Knight of the Bennett did the same, and the two just kept on staring at each other in silence. Just when everyone thought that there was going to be a fight, the two suddenly slapped each other’s armor with their fist. Then they started laughing and hugging each other. Apparently, none of that etiquette nonsense was important at this moment. The two brothers were glad to see each other, and that was all that mattered. As someone who held a secret so great he couldn’t tell anyone about it, Abel could only hope to have a friendship this close. The adoption ceremony was very formal. They even invited a priest from the Temple of the goddess of harvest. As the ceremony was being held, Abel received a suit directly from the Knight of Marshall. The suit was marked with the symbol of the unicorn coat of arm, which signified that Abel had been officially accepted into the family. The welcome banquet commenced after the adoption ceremony ended. If a Lord had no heir under his name, his property would be claimed by the Duchy once he had passed away. Such a change would be devastating for everyone who depended on their livelihood under the family’s name. That being said, while it was rather tragic for Abel to leave his original home, it was also something truly worthy of celebration for the ones who took him in. The Knight of Bennett didn’t participate in the welcome banquet. He wasn’t interested in celebrating his son leaving. After the adoption ceremony was over, he hastily went home with his men. Out of understanding for what the Knight of Bennett was feeling, the Knight of Marshall spent no effort in trying to make him stay. After the day was over, the Knight of Marshall took Abel to a two-story-tall building on the left side of the Harry Castle. “This will be your room from now on,” the Knight of Marshall opened the door and welcomed Abel in, “I hope you feel at home here.” There was a lot of space on the first floor. The floor was made of some very hard rocks. At the edge were a table and some chairs for the guests, but that was about the only regular furniture here. The wall was stacked with a rack full of weapons. There were heavy swords, shields, bows, and lances. There was even a heavy ax that was only supposed to be wielded by the orcs. To be honest, this place felt more like a mini-training room than a living room. As the base for a novice knight like Abel, pretty much all his daily needs could be fulfilled here. Credits could be given to the Knight of Marshall. He had put in his thoughts when he decorated this whole building. The bedroom was up on the second floor. There was a very big, feathery bed that was almost too clean. Whether it was the oakwood wall or the wool carpet on the floor, everything had a glorious tone of white to it. As if this wasn’t grandiose enough, the window was stretched from floor to ceiling. If you look outside, the view was much prettier than what you’d expect from regular homes. The Knight of Marshall liked the color white. It must have something to do with the unicorn on his family’s coat of arm. Even the big closet in Abel’s room was made of white oak timber. “Don’t you worry about what to wear here,” the Knight of Marshall opened up the closet, which had all kinds of new clothes inside, “These are all yours. It’s going to be a while before your welcome party. Get some shower now. After you’ve got yourself some good rest, a maid will come to help you change into your formal attire.” The Knight of Marshall was a kind man. When he smiled at Abel, there was a certain warmth that felt both genuine and comforting. “Is there anything else that you want?” he asked once more before he went downstairs, “Don’t hold back. This is your home from now own.” “No, sir. This is already more than what I could ask,” Abel said in a slightly anxious tone. As much as he appreciated the generosity of everyone in this castle, it was hard to get used to being this cared for by so many people at once. While alone in his new bedroom, Abel took a look outside the floor-to-ceiling window for some night-time scenery. There were multiple dots of light flashing over the distance, most of which belonged to the guests who came over to the welcome banquet. All in all, the Harry Castle was very close to Harvest City, which had a scale far greater than a small town like Fort Lee. This was Abel’s new home from now on. He had just begun to acknowledge his new family, but fate decided to bring him out of his home, and here was he was. A new family. A new life. Abel couldn’t help but shake his head and let out a deep sigh. Once he became old and strong enough, he swore that he would do anything he could to help out his parents and brother. There were sounds of footsteps coming by the stairs. It was a maid, and she had just opened the bedroom door and came in. She was about twenty years old, and her face was round like a bun. “Your bathwater is ready now,” She said humbly as if she didn’t want to bother Abel too much, “Do you want to wash now?” With the maid leading his way, Abel came to a bathroom that was only meant for the Harry Castle’s masters. Strangely, everything was made of timber here, and that gave off this unique fragrance like what you would find in a sauna. The bathing tub was made of marbles, and there were dry flower petals sprinkled on top of the steaming hot water. Just when the maid was about to go in with Abel, she was ordered to stay where she was at. Abel might not look like it, but he was raised to follow the customs of the modern age. Having a female wash his body was not something he would feel comfortable with. Once he had washed, Abel had the maid help him get into his formal attire.

Chapter 12 - Welcome Banquet Chapter 12: Welcome Banquet While standing in front of the castle gate, the servants were busy welcoming the guests who had been invited by the Knight of Marshall. From lords of neighboring lands and royals living inside Harvest City, everyone who paid their visit tonight had some type of reputation to their name. This just showed how resourceful the Knight of Marshall really was. The banquet was to be held in the castle’s main hall. There were hundreds of giant smokeless candles being lit across the building. For the supper tonight, there were some fine wine transported from Bakong City and some freshly cooked beasts that were just hunted from the forest. As the night approached, almost all the guests had made their way into the ballroom. No one would be late for an event like this, of course. While night-time entertainment was plentiful on planet Earth, things get pretty dull in this world at night. The poor couldn’t afford lanterns, so they would just sleep when the Moon had made its appearance. The rich, on the other hand, had nothing else to do but to read books in their basements. The theatre was an option if you lived in the city, but the shows were not displayed at every single night. It was very expensive to hold a banquet as big as this one. Most noblemen could only afford one or two in a year. Their wallets would be empty if they decided to go any further. Come to think of it, there was no banquet back at the Bennett Knight’s domain. Abel didn’t know how the Knight of Marshall managed his finances, but there was probably a lot the Knight of Bennett could learn from him. Since Abel was the star tonight, he and the Knight of Marshall had to wait on the second floor before making their entrance. They would only come out after the butler Lindsay had introduced them to the guests. “Thank you all for coming here,” Lindsay called out in his fancy black suit, “Please, let’s welcome the honorable owner of this estate, the Knight of Marshall. And let’s welcome Abel, who is our new master of the Marshall Family.” The guests all started clapping as the Knight of Marshall and Abel came down the stairs. While Abel just kept on nodding his head to greet them, the Knight of Marshall seemed much more composed in this kind of situation. He held his head high, had a confident, wide grin on his face, and rose his cup to for a celebratory toast with everyone. The Knight of Marshall was the only one that Abel recognized. Besides, as a young boy of thirteen, it wasn’t like he was going to be invited to dance with any girls. The guests would say hello to him, but that was about it. The most he could do was to greet back at them and carry on. “Look at that lucky kid with his dark hair.” “Yeah. He’s really lucky, isn’t he?” “Hey, why is it him and not me?” “You? Come on, it should’ve been me. I look better than you on any given day.” As Abel turned to the source of the noise, he could see a bunch of young men joking amongst themselves. They didn’t seem to notice him, though, until he came a bit closer. Things started getting awkward real quick at that point. A young man in white suit bowed and apologized, “Sorry, we didn’t notice that you’re here.” “No need for apologies,” Abel greeted back with a bow of his own, “I was the one who interrupted your conversation.” Abel was technically a middle-aged man. Upon his arrival at the Harry Castle, he had already prepared himself for any gossip that could go behind his back. Besides, these boys were just having a chat. There was no big deal about that. From what it looked like, these few youngsters took a liking in Abel’s cool demeanor. They started dragging him into their little group and started talking about gossip together. At one point, they discussed how a lord found himself a new lover. Another time, it was about someone who caught some kind of prey. The man in the white suit was Isaac, the oldest son of Baron Victor. He was the one who brought up Abel back then. Being adopted by an heirless knight was considered as “extremely lucky,” and Abel happened to be one who has won the jackpot. Baron Victor, who was one of the many barons living inside Harvest City. Overall, barons lived a comfortable life wherever they were, but most of them still had to work for their lavish expenses. To be a nobleman, one had to spend quite some gold for all sorts of things. This was why noblemen tended to engage in the trading business. While such practices were considered lowly to the eyes of the aristocrats, they had no other choices but to learn to live with it. They had no lands of their own. Even someone like the Knight of Bennett was considered better than them because—well—at least he owned his piece of land. No land, and no castle. This was why the barons could only live in the city. Life was convenient here, but nothing could be freer than living in your own castle. Besides, owning a piece of land was the same as having a secured source of income. It would mean securing the funding of your own troops and being able to grow your own crops. No wonder Isaac sounded so sour back then. As long as there was no ill intention behind it, Abel didn’t mind being the target of jealousy. While sipping his wine, Abel listened to the conversation between these young men. He would occasionally say something as to not appear unsocial to them, but he also tried not to be too intrusive while doing so. Everything was seemingly well until he felt a menacing stare. Abel wasn’t sure what was going on, so he just pretended to not notice it. His eyes were scanning across the crowd, though, and his hands still waggling onto that wineglass he was holding. It was a young man. He had an upright stature, a handsome-looking face, and blonde hair that was combed as neatly as it could get. His eyes were rather slanted, however, and that somehow made him look more feminine than he should be. Abel lightly tapped Isaac on his arm, “Who is that?” “Him?” Daniel threw a quick glance at the boy, but quickly turned his head back in disgust, ” Oh, his name is Daniel. If you ask me, he’s as slimy as it gets.” “Why would you say that?” Abel asked in curiosity. “Well, his father was a merchant, but his older sister got married to Lord Walker, and makes him half a nobleman. You’d think he’d be satisfied with that, but oh no. After hearing about how the Knight of Marshall didn’t have an heir, he started begging his sister to help him get adopted. His sister couldn’t do anything about it, of course, so she asked Lord Walker to talk directly with the Knight of Marshall. He did, and the Knight of Marshall turned him down right away.” Isaac seemed keen to talk about this kind of stuff, “You know what the other nobles say about this? It’s been a real hot topic amongst themselves lately.” Isaac paused for a bit more of his wine. He wanted to see some sort of reaction from Abel but was slightly let down by how calm this young boy was being. “They’ve been saying that ‘good boy’. Daniel doesn’t know his place. Can you believe that? Not just him, everyone’s been making fun of Lord Walker. He kind of deserved it, too, to be honest. What kind of knight would take in the son of a merchant? Even if the Knight of Marshall said yes, his whole family wouldn’t agree to that!” Thanks to how gossipy Isaac was getting, he pretty much told Abel everything he knew about Daniel. Because of him, Abel was starting to understand why Daniel had such a dislike for him from the very start. But still. Abel didn’t like talking behind other people’s backs. He thought it was boring, and to be fair, most of the information that was thrown around was nothing but rumors. After spending a few more minutes with these youngsters, he said goodbye to them and went to the toilet. Oddly enough, Daniel saw this and went to the toilet as well. Abel didn’t go in the toilet. Instead, he went to a nearby window for some fresh air. His twelve-year-old body was not quite used to having liquor yet. While the chilling night wind was blowing on his face, he reminded himself that he wasn’t going to have any alcohol from here on. For crying out loud, he was a former bodybuilding trainer. He knew better than to engage in underage drinking. As the host of today’s event, it would be rude to be absent for too long. But just as Abel was about to walk back to the hall, someone suddenly started charging towards him. Abel was fast enough to react to this, so he started activating his level four Novice Knight power. Whoever this fool was, he didn’t make Abel flinch. If anything, after running into him, he was bounced back three-meter from where he came from. His body flew in the air for a while, and his body started sliding for an extra two meters before he finally stopped. Realizing that there was a situation going, people started coming over for a look. “It’s Daniel,” a knight came and turned over the body of the attacker. A young woman in fluffy skirts starting running over, “Oh my! Dear Daniel, what happened to you?” “Abel! What just happened?” the Knight of Marshall came and demanded an explanation. “I’m not sure either,” Abel opened his arms to feign ignorance, “He started charging at me. Next thing I know, his whole body started flying away.” The Knight of Marshall didn’t see it himself, but it wasn’t hard for him to figure out what actually happened. Abel was a newcomer to this castle. He barely knew anyone, which meant that he had no motive to hurt anyone. And even if he was trying to show Daniel who’s boss, it was unlikely for him to do it on the day of his welcome banquet. As for Daniel, the Knight of Marshall knew who he was. After rejecting this young man’s imprudent request, he remembered being mocked by his friends for turning him down so quickly. If it wasn’t because of Lord Walker, he would very much like to teach this young man a lesson in proper etiquette. And here they were. The Knight of Marshall didn’t want to cause anything big, but what Daniel had done was unforgivable. At a banquet held by the Knight of Marshall, he decided to assault the future heir of the Marshall Family. Abel was already a noble now which made the crime twice as severe than it already was. While paying no attention to the crying young woman nearby, the Knight of Marshall called out to Lord Walker, who was still standing back in the crowd. “Sir Walker. So what is the purpose of you bringing Daniel to my castle? Is this an attempt to ridicule the Harry Family? Or are you trying to set up a duel with me on behalf of your family name?” Lord Walker had quite a displeased look on his face when he saw Daniel on the ground. Honestly, he would’ve never brought Daniel here if he knew how feral the boy would be. Daniel was begging him to let him have a look at the next heir of the Harry Family. That was the only reason he was allowed to tag along.

Chapter 13 - Morning Call Chapter 13: Morning Call Lord Walker gave a deep bow to the Knight of Marshall, “I’m sorry for this, Sir. Someone like him should’ve never been allowed to attend an event like this. Please, settle this in whatever ways that you see fit.” Whilst acknowledging the apology with a nod, the Knight of Marshall pointed his finger towards Daniel, “Guard! Send him to prison. I want him to be trialed in Bakong City by tomorrow.” “No! You can’t do this!” the woman cried even louder, but she was quickly dragged away by Lord Walker. The two left the castle before the banquet had even ended. While watching from the side, the butler Lindsay rubbed his chin with his hand. He witnessed the confrontation from start to finish. There was a good chance that he had discovered something. The banquet went back to normal quite quickly after that. No one was going to pay too much attention to the sad bastard who offended a knight, especially when that bastard wasn’t even a nobleman. Once the banquet was over, all the guests were led to the guest room. The butler Lindsay then came to the Knight of Marshall, who was busy cleaning his armor. “What?” the Knight of Marshall dropped his cherished armor on the ground, “Abel is a rank four Novice Knight? Are you sure about this?” “Yes, sir,” the butler Lindsay asserted, “While I am only a rank five warrior, the energy sir Abel released back then was, without a doubt, something that would only belong to a rank four Novice Knight.” “Ha, haha!” the Knight of Marshall laughed frantically as he started slapping the table with his hand, “Seth is going to be so pissed about this! If only he knew that his son was a genius! Oh, but he doesn’t know, does he? Why else would he give Abel to me?” “From what I’ve heard,” Lindsay lowered his voice for a reminder, “the eldest son of the Bennet Family is still a rank four Novice Knight, and he is eighteen right now.” “Yes,” despite being wrong about Abel’s intentions, the Knight of Marshall felt moved by Abel’s decision to hide away his real power, “Abel is a good child. He didn’t want to discourage his older brother, so he’s been hiding his real potential this entire time.” “Send a letter to the old men at Bakong City. I want them to know about this,” the Knight of Marshall commanded, then took a look at the armor he had just dropped, “Another thing. I want a full set of the blazing sun armor. When I left the place years ago, what they gave me was fake. Now I’ve brought a super genius into the family. They ought to do more to reward me this time, no?” “Yes, master,” the butler Lindsay replied. He didn’t mind if his master sounded a little brash there. For the Knight of Marshall, his passion for the blazing sun armor was just as strong as his love for his deceased wife. The blazing sun armor was the standard military equipment of the Blazing Sun Empire—an ancient empire known for its spectacular army. Whenever the Sun shone on a piece of the blazing sun armor, its surface would glow with a red identical to blood. Not only was it gorgeous to look at, but its defensive power was also, in every practical sense, something that every knight would want to lay their hands on. After the Blazing Sun Empire had lost its former glory, most of the armor was lost. The few that remained were collected by noblemen as antiques, and they were rarely found as items to be sold. It was now the second morning upon Abel’s arrival. Having brushed himself off with the help of a maid, Abel came to the dining room for some breakfast. After seeing that the Knight of Marshall was already waiting for him, he quickly came to apologize. “Sorry for making you wait, Sir.” “That’s okay. How’s your sleep last night?” the Knight of Marshall asked casually. “Very good. The bed was very comfortable when I slept on it.” “It’s good to hear that,” the Knight of Marshall gestured Abel to come, “Here, come have a seat.” The servants started handing out the dishes after they’ve said their grace. Surprisingly enough, there were a lot of different things in Abel’s plate: eggs, sausages, bacon, and green vegetables. Actually, there shouldn’t be green vegetables this season. How did they get them here? Realizing the surprise on Abel’s face, the Knight of Marshall explained, “It’s the work of the druids. They used their special powers to grow these vegetables. The prices they sold these for are, well, very befitting of their status.” Abel’s heart started churning after hearing this, “What other casters are there apart from the druids?” Seeing how interested Abel was about this topic, the Knight of Marshall put down his knife, “You’re talking about the wizards, aren’t you?” “Wizards!” So maybe that’s why Abel couldn’t use the Scroll of Town Portal. Maybe magic scrolls were limited for the wizards. If Abel wanted to go home, he must find a chance to learn about the wizards. Once breakfast was over, the Knight of Marshall told Abell to come to his study. He poured a cup of coffee for Abel, and only spoke once Abel sipped it. “Abel, you are already a member of the Harry family.” “I-uh,” The Knight of Marshall paused for a bit to find the right words, “I think I should be honest with you. The power you released yesterday belongs to a rank four Novice Knight.” Abel raised his head in shock. He didn’t expect to be exposed to this quickly. In his defense, he only used his real power for only a few seconds. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” the Knight of Marshall held onto Abel’s shoulder, “I know that you were watching out for your older brother. You didn’t want to make him feel bad about himself, right?” As far as that guess was from the actual truth, Abel didn’t bother to give his explanation. If anything, that was a more reasonable explanation than talking about the Horadric Cube and all that other nonsense. “I’m going to be straight with you. I don’t know how you’re doing it, but it’s not a good idea to suppress your powers. Knights are supposed to be fiery and explosive. Once you decide to hold it back, you start to lose your primitive drive. Do you know what I’m saying?” From what the Knight of Marshall was saying, “power” seemed to be defined differently in this world. Back on planet Earth, one would be considered powerful if he could control his strength, but here, only untameable powers were considered the strongest. What Abel learned on Earth was about relaxation—conserving one’s life forces. It was about surviving and living as long and healthy as possible. Since guns weren’t invented yet in this world, nobody was looking to live as long as possible. The only thing they were thinking about was to outlive their enemies, which meant being better at killing than anyone else. “How should I control my powers, then?” Abel asked. “I was in the same shoes as you many years ago. Luckily, I’ve found a solution already.” The Knight of Marshall placed a long sword on the table, “Look at this blade right here. As you know, swords are the most important weapons for a knight. How much do you know about this blade right here?” Abel replied after handling the sword for a bit, “This sword is one meter and five. Its weight is around twenty pounds.” The Knight of Marshall swung the sword for a bit, “This long sword is designed for a knight. It has been forged for a hundred times before it is in the shape that it’s in now. The length of this piece is precisely 1.58 meters, and its weight is 21.2 pounds. Do you know why I know so much about it?” “Because it’s yours,” Abel said softly, to which the Knight of Marshall could hear very clearly. Seeing how unconvinced Abel was getting, he couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. The Knight of Marshall grinned, “How about that light sword you have on you? Do you know how long and heavy it is?” For a moment, Abel didn’t know what to say. He just rubbed his nose for a bit. “Estimate by sight. If you work for an armorsmith for about a year, you can do just as well as I can. You will have a better grip on your weapon than most trainers. At the same time, you will be able to release all that power and frenzy within you, meanwhile still maintaining the same amount of control that you would normally. “Alright, you’ve convinced me. So where should I learn to make swords?” The Knight of Marshall raised his cheek, “You ever wondered how I got so rich?” From what Abel could see, the Harry Knight’s domain was no bigger than the Bennet Knight’s domain. Frankly enough, though, the standard of living between the two was miles apart from each other. That being said, Abel wanted to ask about it since day one. “You see, there is an iron mine on my property,” the Knight of Marshall said proudly, “I happened to found it right after I was given this piece of land. If it wasn’t for that, I would’ve never built this castle the way Emma wanted me to.” The Knight of Marshall seemed rather sad when he talked about his wife, “When Emma was still with me, she drew the construction plan of this castle, but our savings alone were not enough for the job. We had a lot of faith, though, so we started building it anyways. And just when we were short on money, we happened to found that mine and thank the heaven, we managed to fulfill our dreams together.”

Chapter 14 - Master Bentham Chapter 14: Master Bentham The blacksmith was not located inside the castle. It was right next to the iron mine, which took Abel and the Knight of Marshall twenty minutes to arrive by chariots. Even from over a distance, Abel could hear the sound of iron ore being smashed by iron hammers. There was a pile of stone houses, all of which were made by some neatly-chiseled boulders. There were chimneys on top of each of them. Right now, four out of six had dark smoke puffing out. Just by looking at these stone houses, Abel could tell that the Knight of Marshall paid a lot of attention to his blacksmith business. The boulders they used were the same as the ones they used for castles. Forget about their actual cost, it would’ve already cost so much just to carry them all the way from the mountains. The Knight of Marshall instructed Abel carefully, “We’re going to pay a visit to Master Bentham today. Remember to be respectful when you see him. I’ve invited him over because he’s the best man I could find in Harvest City. If he wasn’t trying to let his son take over his shop business, we wouldn’t have a chance to see him today.” “Please to see you here, Marshall,” Master Betham greeted the Knight of Marshall with a simple nod. He was a very big man, standing at 2 meters tall. He had a very solid build. Even at fifty-something of age, the big beard on his face gave a no-nonsense aura around the man. “Hey there,” the Knight of Marshall smiled without getting too much into formality, “I’ve brought a young man to you today. Apparently, he’s interested in becoming your disciple.” Master Bentham looked quite perplexed when he laid his eyes on Abel, “Are you talking about this child, Marshall? Please, I know the difference between a “young man” and a “child.” This boy is not even fourteen yet, and you want him to be one of my disciples?” Suddenly, a lot of people started coming over to see what was going on. “Master Bentham, this is Abel, my new adopted son. He is currently a Novice Knight, and he wants you to teach him how to control his powers.” “Nice thinking. Sorry though, I’m not taking him in, “Master Bentham said grimly, “My training is not something a young nobleman can bear. Besides, I don’t think a boy as young as he has the stamina to swing a hammer.” Abel reached out his arm and flexed for a bit, “Don’t you worry about that, Master Bentham. I can work very hard if I want to, and you aren’t the only muscular one here.” “Ha!” Abel was about 1.6 meters. He did have some muscles, yes, but that was nothing compared to Maser Betham, who stood at a bear-like height two meters. The stark contrast alone was enough to make everybody around laugh. “Two more years, Abel. Once you are a bit taller and stronger, I promise that I will teach you how to forge,” Master Bentham said patiently out of respect for the Knight of Marshall. “How strong do I need to be to train under you?” Abel pressed on stubbornly. Master Bentham turned back towards the backyard. “Come with me,” he said, to which Abel did with the company of the Knight of Marshall. The other bystanders, too, came in to see if Abel was ready for the challenge ahead. “How many do you think he can lift?” “I’d be impressed with one.” “Nah, two. He’s a Novice Knight. I’ll go with two.” “I bet one.” “I bet two.” As rowdy as the crowd was getting, both the Knight of Marshall and Abel paid no attention to it. When they arrived at the backyard, they saw a bunch of iron pieces being lined up on the ground. There was an iron bar in the middle, and varying sizes of iron pieces on each side going from small to large. They were essentially barbells. It was not very refined compared to the ones that Abel was familiar with, but the design was nevertheless the same. As it turned out, the cultural background had nothing to do with understanding how the human body functioned “I use these locks to train my disciples’ strength. You see, they come in different sizes. The smallest ones are 50 pounds, the biggest ones 500. Whenever you go one size bigger, you increase the load by 50 pounds.” “Get over here, Gedon,” Master Bentham pointed towards a man in the crowd. While he was pretty strong himself, this particular fellow was not much different in terms of stature. “Master!” Gedon explained anxiously as sweat streamed down his dark face,” I-I I wasn’t being lazy! I was throwing out the metal waste!” Everybody started laughing. Gedon was a familiar face here at the blacksmith shop. He was recruited after Master Bentham came to the Harry Castle. Whilst originally an apprentice, he quickly became a disciple because of how hardworking he was. There were a lot of differences between an apprentice and a disciple. Apprentices had it much worse because most of their work was centered around intense physical labor. Usually, it involved cutting and burning timber for the entire day. Even worse, there was no pay. Disciples, on the other hand, had the privilege to learn from their master directly. At the end of the month, they would also receive a wage that was equivalent to the quality of their work. Gedon was a very likable student to Master Bentham. He was honest, hardworking and willing to learn. Once Master Bentham retired, he would be the go-to person to continue serving the Knight of Marshall. “No, Gedon, I’m telling you to come here so you can show Abel how to use the locks. Go ahead and teach him what it takes to be my disciple.” “Yes Sir,” Gedon smiled modestly as he rubbed his hands together. He then walked to the third lock and turned his head towards Abel. “Watch me closely, Abel.” With his hands grasping both ends of the iron bar, Gedon let out a big shout and raised the 150-pound thing from the ground. Because of how easily it went over his head, it almost felt like he was picking up a straw or something. “Nice one, lad!” With everyone cheering out for him, Gedon dropped the iron lock onto the ground. As Gedon turned to his master for some feedbacks, Master Bentham nodded his head in approval, “Keep going, Gedon.” Yes Sir. Gedon proceeded to the fourth lock, which was roughly 200 pounds in total weight. It wasn’t that hard for him to lift it, though. He readied himself, grabbed onto the thing and picked it up. No drama. It wasn’t so easy when he tried out the fifth one. Still, he managed to raise it over his head after a bit of hesitation. Things got tense when he walked over to the sixth lock. It was a 300-pound lock. Most people couldn’t even hold one end for more than three seconds, let alone pick it up from the ground. Gedon didn’t start right away this time. For a few seconds there, he closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing for a bit. Once he was ready, he let out a roar and veins started bursting out of his neck. His face was red like a tomato, except it looked like it was about to explode from the inside. Nevertheless, the lock went over his head. Everybody was yelling in celebration for him. “Very well, Gedon,” Master Bentham gave a proud look, “Even with the strength you have now, you are still making progress every single day. It wouldn’t be long before you can surpass even my limits.” “Really?” Gedon scratched his head as he shied away from the compliment, “Aw, you’re being too kind, Sir! There is still a lot I need to do before I can get to where you’re at.” “Your turn now, Abel,” Master Betham turned his head towards the boy who dared to challenge him. Contrary to what he had expected, Abel didn’t back down after laying his eyes on Gedon’s performance. Abel was already walking towards the third lock. To be clear, Abel did approve Gedon of his strength. That being said, there were absolutely no skills in the way he lifted those weights. For the millionth time, Abel was a former bodybuilding trainer. The barbell was one of his favorite pieces of equipment back on Earth. It was his job to be good at using it. If Gedon’s maximum was around 300 pounds, he could probably lift to 350 pounds if he knew the right techniques. There were a lot of things that were wrong about his form. If he wasn’t so strong already, he would be severely injured right now. Even if he wasn’t injured, there was bound to be a lot of damage in the long term. “He’s going for the 150?” “Good grace. He’s not going to do it.” “Is-is he mad?” The crowd started being noisy again when it was Abel’s turn. Abel frowned a little because of that. He didn’t like being watched like he was some clown in a circus. “Out, thank you,” Master Bentham shooed the crowd away. He could tell that Abel didn’t like being watched. As for the reason for this, well, he just thought that Abel didn’t want to be a laughing stock. Realizing that they’ve angered Master Bentham, the crowd started rushing out of the backyard. “Try your best, but don’t push yourself too much,” Master Bentham said.

Chapter 15 - Learning How To Forge Chapter 15: Learning How to Forge Since there was no drying powder here, Abel rubbed his hands with some mud he found on the ground. His mind might have been old, but his body still belonged to that of a child. With that being the case, it was very important for him to take care of himself in whatever small ways he could. Whilst standing in front of the 150-pound lock, Abel had his legs parallel to the middle of the bar. When he tightened his grip, his thumbs were separate from his other fingers. When he picked the lock above his head, he did it in one motion and had his arms completely straight while doing so. It was a beautiful lift, smooth and well-coordinated. The lock was only 150 pounds, yes, but in Master’s Bentham’s eyes, Abel clearly did it better than Gedon. Not only was he faster, but he also seemed more effortless when he was doing it. The Knight of Marshall, on the other hand, was more focused on the way Abel used his muscles. He began by setting his feet up as a base, channeled his power through his thighs, waist and upper back, and executed the movement with his whole body moving in one with his arms. Abel might not know yet, but what he did was the same as strength conservation, which was an advanced technique of the knights. For a child to have such a good understanding of muscle movement, Abel was truly blessed with talent. After dropping the 150 pounds, Abel walked towards the 200 pounds and easily raised it. His form was the same as last time, and his speed was just as fast. 250. Easy. And just like that, as Master Bentham and Gedon watched in total shock, Abel was already standing in front of the 300 pounds. This time, Abel had his hands closer to the middle of the bar. After doing a few prep hinges without any weight, he raised the lock and had it locked near his shoulder, meanwhile standing up with his legs slightly bent. His forearms were bent whilst pointing forward, and his chin was parallel to the bar. Then, slowly and steadily, he straightened his arms and raised the lock on top of his head. As though woken up from a dream, Master Bentham turned to the Knight of Marshall, “Where did you find this monster, Marshall?” The Knight of Marshall wasn’t too pleased with what Master Bentham was saying, “Hey, who are you calling a monster here? He’s a rank four Novice Knight, goddammit! If he can’t even lift 300 pounds off the ground, what kind of rank four Novice Knight is he?” “Oh, my spirits!” Master Bentham exclaimed as he looked towards Abel, “A rank four Novice Knight? How old are you, child?” “Turning thirteen soon, Sir,” Abel replied. “You’re twelve? You’re a twelve-year-old, rank four Novice Knight,” Master Bentham threw a dirty look at the Knight of Marshall, “Marshall? What kind of madman would send a genius like him to be your son?” “Why you looking at me like that?” the Knight of Marshall cried out loud, “Hey, you. I’m an Intermediate Knight myself!” “Yeah, but didn’t you just become one? Marshall, isn’t it better to send him to a commander? Actually, for someone as talented as him, you reckon we can send him to the head commander?” “Just… Ugh! Don’t you worry about it. Just let him stay with you and teach him how to forge, okay friend?” The Knight of Marshall was a good friend with Master Bentham. If it wasn’t for that, he would’ve never had him come over to the Harry knight’s domain. That being said, however, Master Bentham was quite a loudmouth. His “straightforwardness” has caused a lot of headaches in the past. “So be it, then,” Master Bentham agreed but decided to keep on talking, “I’ll let Abel stay, but are you sure you’re the right man to teach Abel how to be a knight, Marshall? I’m just saying, the kid’s got a bright future ahead of him.” “Alright Abel, be a good boy for me. Stay here and learn from Master Bentham during the day. At night, You’ll learn the techniques of a knight inside the castle.” Having said that, the Knight of Marshall rushed out of the blacksmith shop. For a second there, he looked like he was trying to escape the scene here. Master Bentham, too, started walking back to his workshop. “You should’ve taught him the basics first, Gedon,” he said before he left. Gedon said to Abel as it was just the two of them now, “Wow Abel. You’re pretty strong, aren’t you?” “You are pretty strong yourself, Gedon,” Abel replied. Even without being trained as a knight, Gedon was already strong enough as a normal human being. Gedon rejected the praise, “But I’m so much older than you. I’m already nineteen, and you’re just twelve. And look at how easy it was for you to lift the 300-pound lock! You seemed so confident when you were doing it. I’m sure you can lift more if you wanted to.” “You know, you can lift more if you know how to use all of your strength. If you want to, I can teach you how to lift those locks as I do.” “Wow. Are you sure?” Gedon almost jumped from where he was standing, “You think I can learn those techniques? Hey, how about we share what we know with each other? You teach me how to lift, and I’ll teach you everything I know about forging. Not just forging. Feel free to ask me about anything that I might know.” …… It was about one month since Abel’s arrival at Harry Castle. There were about three days before New Year’s Eve. For all the time he’s been here, Abel pretty much spent all his time learning at the blacksmith shop. Thanks to Gedon, it wasn’t hard for Abel to learn about the fundamentals of forging. He was actually in the middle of crafting a heavy sword for Zach, his beloved older brother. It was meant to be a new year gift for him. Whilst holding onto a red hot base with a pair of tongs, Abel smashed it into shape with a 10-pound hammer in his other hand. Since the base would start to cool down after a few minutes, Abel had to heat it in the stove every once in a while. Since this world was not yet industrialized, blacksmiths had to rely on very primitive techniques to forge their metals. To put it simply, their job was nothing more than heating metals, smashing them with a hammer, letting it cool down and repeating the whole process. As dull as that sounded, however, it was, by no means, something that anyone could do. The long sword Knight of Marshall had was treated 100 times before the final product was finished. At best, an average blacksmith could only treat a base for about 30 to 40 times. Gedon was the disciple of Master Bentham, so he could do about 60. Only a master could make a base that’s been treated for 100 times. Having read a few scientific catalogs himself, it wasn’t hard for Abel to understand the theory behind such forging methods. By repeatedly hammering the base, it essentially eliminated the amount of carbon inside. This meant that the more it was treated, the purer the resulting metal would be. Having used a hammer for about a month, Abel was already pretty skilled with the art of forging. For a child as bright as him, he could now pinpoint the exact spot he needed to hit. Speaking of which, the base he was working on had already been treated for 50 times. At that stage, it became very difficult to shape the base into its desired shape. Not only would the base be extremely dense to mold, but the blacksmith would also be too tired to swing his hammers. Not Abel though. Even after treating the base for a total of 50 times, he was still swinging his arms at a very steady pace. Master Bentham knew about this, of course. Even without having taught Abel anything directly, he’s been keeping a close watch this whole time. Master Bentham didn’t teach Abel himself because there wasn’t a need to. Abel was bound to be a knight, so the most he ought to learn about forging were pretty much just the basics. Besides, Gedon had been learning from Master Bentham for about five years already. In that sense, he was qualified to be supervising a young apprentice like Abel. Whenever Master Bentham saw Abel forging a base, there was always a bizarre sense of harmony lingering in the air. Abel wasn’t fast. It would take about one second for him to swing once with his hammer. Technically, this wasn’t too hard to do. Anyone could swing a 10-pound hammer for a few hundred times. But to treat a base 50 times? That would take about tens of thousands of continuous swinging from morning to noon. You’d have to keep doing this without any time for rest. Truth be told, Abel came up with this way of hammering the base. He got his idea from boxing. To throw a heavy punch, one could not just rely solely on the power of his arms. It was about using every part of your point and concentrating all that power into one point. This was exactly what Abel was doing. For every swing of his hammer, he was channeling his strength from his feet to his arms. And when the hammer hit the base, he would use the reaction force to his advantage and raise to hammer back to its original height. As energy-efficient as this technique was, it was difficult to perform it. Abel, however, had more than enough time on his hands. With the right amount of practice and knowledge, he soon found himself the ideal ways to forge a metal base. “Why does this child have to be a Novice Knight?” Master Bentham would often ask himself. Someone as talented as Abel should’ve never been learning how to fight on a battle’s frontline. With Abel’s ability to learn and the level he was currently, he would be a master blacksmith if he was to spent a few more years in the workshop. It was sad, yes, but that was just how things were. Having forgotten to eat his lunch, Abel was finally able to treat the base for a total of 80 times before two in the afternoon. He decided to stop after that. After a base was treated for 80 times, he could no longer hammer it with—even all of his strength.

Chapter 16 - In The "Right Condition" Chapter 16: In the “Right Condition” Master Bentham grabbed a 30-pound hammer from the table. Whilst throwing a base into the stove, he looked into the flames and said to Abel, “Abel, you are the most talented child that I’ve ever seen. What I’m about to show you, I will only do it once. You see how much you can learn from it.” After saying that, Master Bentham took out the base and placed it on an anvil. He held his hammer up high and for a few seconds there, he took a careful look at the base before he dropped his hammer on it. The way he swung the hammer was very slow, but the power he put in was, nevertheless, more intense than most men could produce. It was so intense that the whole workshop was shaking for a bit. “Once you treat a base for about 80 times, it becomes so hard that you wouldn’t be able to shape it with a hammer. Even if you can, though, all you’re going to do is to destroy its interior structure. So, with that in mind, we’re going to use a big hammer from now on. Be careful, though. You need to be very precise in the spots that you’re hitting, but you must always maintain a high level of force that you put in.” Master Bentham instructed Abel as he demonstrated, “You’re a strong boy, Abel. If you put in the effort, I’m sure that you’ll learn to do this correctly.” Abel was paying very close attention to the base. Whenever Master Bentham dropped the hammer, it was always towards the spots with this soft, almost invisible lining. He could just barely see them because the base was glowing in dark red. Somehow, however, Master Bentham was able to strike the linings without failing a single time. Even more impressive, every one of his strikes had changed the shape of the base, and every time this happened, he would have to relocate the linings. After treating the base for the 81st time, Master Bentham threw it back to the stove and said to Abel. “Try it,” he ordered as he passed over the hammer. Abel took out the base and started looking for the linings on it. It was hard to find it at first, so he stared more intensively at the bases’ surface. The more he stared at it, the less he became aware of his surroundings. It was a weird sensation to have. Everything else just vanished from his line of vision, and all that remained was the base itself, which became larger and larger in Abel’s eyes. Even the most minute details were ingrained into his photographic brain cells. Ah-ha, there you are Abel celebrated in his mind and immediately proceeded to drop the 30-pound hammer. The banging noise was extremely loud, but that didn’t affect him for a bit. As soon as he found the next spot of the linings, he raised his hammer and continued his forging. It was like playing with a new toy. Whenever the base turned into a new shape, the linings would reappear at completely different spots. Abel was getting better at this the more he tried. Eventually, he was smashing the thing at the same pace as Master Bentham. Master Bentham was petrified by this. Whilst unintentional, Abel made him feel jealous. Yes, a master just got jealous of a child who spent no longer than a month learning how to forge. “It’s the Power of the Will,” Master Bentham called out repeatedly in his mind. He knew exactly what drove Abel to be so successful in his forge. His own teacher, Robin, was a forging master who was blessed with the same kind of ability. Unlike Master Bentham, who only got his title because of his reputation within Harvest city, Master Robin was a “genuine” master who was acknowledged by the entire continent. Because of his lack of “the Power of the Will,” Master Bentham had to go home after learning from Master Robin for ten years. As unfortunate as that was, he did improve his skills with hard work and experience. This was why he could continue to treat a base when it had already been treated for more than eighty times. When Master Bentham started his quest to be the best blacksmith he could ever be, he saw how Master Robin used his “Power of the Will” to locate the linings on a base. It was the same method as the one that Abel used. He knew it all too well. Master Bentham didn’t stop Abel after that. As he slowly left the workshop, he decided in his mind. He would let Abel help him fulfill a dream that he couldn’t accomplish himself. Abel was in too much focus to notice any of that. He just kept on putting the base in the stove, taking it out of the stove, and repeating the whole process for another couple of hours. 82, 83, 84…98, 99, 100. Abel came back to his senses after treating the base for the 100th time. All of a sudden, he felt sick and tired at every spot of his body. His mind, too, felt extremely drained out. It was like having your brain plucked out of you, which was not a good feeling to have at all. As the urge to vomit came to him, the hammer slid out of his hand and dropped on the workshop table. After that, his right hand was spasming like a duckling on a Winter night. He tried to remember what it was like to be in that “zone” back then. On the one hand, it felt like he had no control of his own body. On the other hand, he felt like he was acting purely out of his instincts. Whatever the case was, it was a condition that was too much for him to handle. Abel turned on his senses for a while. To his surprise, there was a massive amount of qi circulating near his meridian. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. Without paying attention to how dirty the floor was, Abel quickly sat down for a knight’s breathing session. He was on his way to forming the fifth meridian. “What are you doing, Abel?” Gedon came in and asked. Just when he was about to lift Abel, Master Bentham stood in the way threw a stare at him. “Don’t move him.” Master Bentham scoffed at Gedon, “Why are you so clumsy with everything that you do?” When the other apprentices were about to come in, Master Bentham quickly shooed them away with his hands. “Tell the Knight of Marshall to come here,” Master Bentham turned towards Gedon. “Yes, Sir,” Gedon complied and ran out of the blacksmith shop. “Fucking Marshall and his bullshit luck,” Master Bentham cursed to himself as it was just him and Abel now, “Would you look at that. His adopted son just had another rank up.” In Master Bentham’s defense, he had every reason to be annoyed by the progress Abel was making. It was a very rare thing to become a rank five Novice Knight in just half an hour. That being said, even Abel didn’t know why he was so successful this time. He didn’t take any potion this time, and it was only a month since his last rank up. With so many questions in his mind, Abel stood up from the ground and found that everyone was standing very far from him. Well, except for Master Bentham. At least he had the decency to not make a child feel isolated. As unbothered as Abel was, he did appreciate that. Bang. A large shadow came in as the front door was kicked open. “What happened to Abel?” it asked with a loud roar. It was the Knight of Marshall. After running for a few minutes, his long golden hair was half-drenched in his own sweat. After seeing how well Abel was, he gave a loud, angry yell towards everyone in his sight. “Gedon! How dare that lad trick me! Come out now, I’ll teach you a lesson right here!” Master Bentham ground his teeth at the lucky bastard who took Abel in, “Who’s trying to mess with my disciple?” “Um, Uncle Marshall,” Abel said timidly, “I just had another rank up.” “What rank up? Just you wait for me, boy. Let me have a word with Bentham first…. Wait, you had another rank up?” The Knight of Marshall was about to have a chat with Master Bentham, but what Abel was saying had him frozen on the spot. He scanned his eyes across Abel from top to bottom. Then, as he pushed Abel with one of his hands, Abel responded by releasing his newly-found power. “What! What?” the Knight of Marshall cried out loud, “That doesn’t even make sense! You can’t just rank up like that! What were you doing back there?” Abel replied after thinking to himself for a while, “Nothing much. I was busy treating my base in the workshop.” “You ate anything today?” Abel replied compliantly since he was just as puzzled, “I ate my breakfast with you, Uncle Marshall. I skipped lunch because I was busy forging my base.” “How’s that even possible? You ranked up by hitting some metal with a hammer? What, how about I come here to hit some metal tomorrow?” The Knight of Marshall pointed a finger at Master Bentham, “That’s ridiculous! If forging is all you need to rank up, this fellow would’ve been a master warrior years ago.” Master Bentham said sarcastically, “Yeah sure, just come here and do some forging for me tomorrow. Of course, you can rank up by hitting some metal. You just need to be in the right condition when you’re doing it.” “Oh really?” the Knight of Marshall widened his eyes, “Hey Abel, why don’t you forge another base right now? Go be in that “condition” or whatever you call it, and you’ll be the youngest knight in the Duchy.” Both Master Bentham and Abel had to cover their faces after hearing that remark.

Chapter 17 - A Hundred Forge Sword Chapter 17: A Hundred Forge Sword Although Abel graduated to a level five novice knight, he still felt very low in energy. Seeing Abel looking like this, Mater Bentham immediately told him to get some rest. With the help of Knight of Marshall, Abel left the blacksmith shop As soon as they left the blacksmith shop. Abel noticed Knight of Marshall’s private carriage rushing towards them from a distance. At that moment Abel immediately looked down at the Knight of Marshall’s boots, it was full of dirt. Normally it would have taken the carriage around 20 minutes to get here from the castle. Therefore Knight of Marshall must have run here by himself as soon as he heard the news. Knight of Marshall was a royal, and the owner of a fiefdom. Therefore, if anyone found out that he was madly running around like this, it wouldn’t do any good to his dignity. However, because of Abel, the Knight of Marshall was willing to take this risk. After seeing the Knight of Marshall with a face full of joy, Abel also began to feel warm inside. He could not believe a famous knight such as Knight of Marshall, was not only happy for his level up but also willing to go through all of this. At that moment Abel couldn’t help but said softly, “Uncle Marshall, thank you for everything you have done for me.” “Don’t think too much kid”. Said knight Marshall as he patted Abel on the head. After they settled on the carriage, the carriage immediately began to set off towards the sunset. “Ding. Ding. Ding.” The early next morning Abel had already arrived at the blacksmith shop. He asked Master Bentham if he could have a training room all by himself. Master Bentham knew that today Abel would try to forge a big sword for the first time and wanted to remain in focus, so he had agreed. However, Abel’s intention was not only to remain focused, but he also didn’t want anyone to find out how he forged the sword. This is because he would be using some techniques that no one had ever seen in this world before. It was the carburizing and quenching techniques he learned on a science TV programs from earth. To achieve this, during the forging process the back of the blade needed to be continuously refined to reduce its carbon content. The lesser the carbon content, the higher the quality the back of the blade could become. However, once the blade had formed its shape, if you used the carburizing technique to add some carbon back into the edge blade, it would greatly enhance its toughness. Afterward, Abel placed the already formed big sword into a specially made crucible and buried it with some charcoal, soybean paste, and soil he had prepared a few days ago. It fit perfectly. Then, he sealed up the crucible and put it in the furnace for heating. Charcoal and soybean paste were naturally used for carburizing while the soil acted as a dispersing agent. The advantage of carburizing technology was that the carbon would be distributed very evenly throughout the sword. On top of that, the carbon potential would also be high. Therefore, this technique was not only effective but also very efficient. This technique was still being used on modern earth today, it was called the “Steel method.” When it comes to quenching, this world also had a similar method, which was throwing the sword into cold water for cooling. However, due to the rapid thermal expansion, it could also increase the number of waste products, which could throw the concentration of the metal. Therefore, it could sometimes cause a crack on the sword after being quenched. However, the quenching method used by Abel was a bit more unique. According to the science program, it was an ancient sword forging technique. After the sword had cooled down, Abel took it out of the quenching bucket. He flicked the face of the sword with his finger. It made a crisp sound. Although it was still hard to tell if the sword was high quality, it was complete never the less. Abel then immediately called the servant to clean up the mess in the operation room, he did not want to leave any trace for people to discover what had done. In this world, inventions or creations like this could cause a disaster. “Gedon, can you find someone to make a sword handle for me?” Abel asked embarrassingly to Gedon, who was busy doing his work. Sword handles were made out of all kinds of material: iron, wood, and horns. Abel had never learned the art of sword handle engraving, so he could only ask Gedon for help. “Is this the first big sword you made?” Asked Gedon took the big sword from Abel’s hand and looked at it carefully. Suddenly he said in an excited, hoarse voice: “Is this a sword of hundred skills? On my god, this is the sword of a hundred skills.” Gedon had followed Master Bentham for five years, but could only forge a sword of 60 skills. Forging a sword of a hundred skills had always been his dream. “Young master Abel, you are a genius.” Gedon sincerely praised Abel with all his heart, he then gently stroked the back of the blade with his hand as though as he had found something. He then put his ear against the back of the sword and flicked it with a finger to listen to the echo. “No way, this is impossible!” Although the performance of this sword seemed like the sword of a hundred skills, it was a lot tougher than those that he had seen. Master Bentham would normally forge a sword of a hundred skills every month, and they were the main sources of income in Harry’s Castle. Gedon not only closely watched the master make these swords, but he was also responsible for maintaining the condition of these swords. Therefore he was a lot more familiar with swords on hundred skills than most people. However, the surface of the big sword Abel made was strange. It was very different from the one’s master usually forged. Gedon couldn’t specifically pinpoint what exactly was the difference, but from his experience, he knew this sword was much higher quality than the ordinary sword of a hundred skills. To verify this, Gedon used the big sword to cut a piece of wood that was ready to be used as fuel. It was almost effortless. The big sword slid over the wood like a hot knife on cream, silently divided the wood piece into two. “How did you make this big sword?” Gedon was anxious to know more about the sword. “I just forged it according to your guidance, and Master Bentham helped me when I encountered difficulties,” Abel explained. Gedon had been lied to. He thought the reason why the sword was so great was all because Master Bentham had helped Abel complete it. Therefore, he could not help but make up his mind and double down his training hoping one day he could also forge a weapon like this. “I have collected some very good horns, perfect to use it as the handle for this big sword. I will help you install it tonight along with a scabbard. Can you leave this sword with me?” However, Gedon had another intention. The way this sword was forged was way too strange—he wanted to spend the night closely inspecting it, hoping he could also improve his skills. That night Gedon did not sleep at all. He installed a sword handle made with the best horns and found a crocodile skin scabbard. Afterward, he inspected the strange sword in great detail under the oil lamp. By the morning, Gedon came back to the blacksmith shop holding the big sword. He was astonished by his nighs inspection. If it wasn’t for fear of breaking Abel’s sword, he would have liked to strike this sword with another sword of a hundred skills in the master’s warehouse to see which one is tougher. “Gedon, what’s wrong with you?” asked Master Bentham suspiciously after seeing the redness of Gedon’s eyes. How could an honest man like Gedon not sleep for a night “Master, I’ve been thinking about the sword you made for Abel, and I could not understand,” said Gedon scratching his head while looking at Master Bentham in embarrassment, he wondered if he was just too stupid. Master Bentham took the big sword from Gedon and pulled it out. He said, “This is the big sword that Abel had forged yesterday. I only guided him on how to refine the thickness of the sword the day before yesterday. When you reached a bottleneck at 80 skills, I will teach you as well.” “So this is the big sword, the one that Abel forged?” Master Bentham was also a little bit surprised. Master Bentham’s experience was of course much higher than Gedon’s. He guessed the technique applied in this sword could very well be a secret technique passed down by a family to enhance the weapon’s hardness and sharpness. Although the master was very tempted, he also knew that trying to spy on a family’s secret technique was making that family your biggest enemy. It didn’t matter if the technique was from the Harry family or the Bennett family. Well, that explained it. No wonder why Abel asked for a separate operation room yesterday. It turned out that Abel was using a family secret technique to refine the big sword. Therefore Master Bentham warned Gedon to stop asking Abel about the sword and pretend that nothing had ever happened.

Chapter 18 - Harvest City Chapter 18: Harvest City At Bennett Castle. Today was the last day of the year, and tomorrow would be the New Year. During dinner, the Knight of Bennett took out a letter—a rectangle parcel and handed them over to Zach “This is a new year’s gift from Abel. Look how good he is to you. Even Mother and I did not get any.” It must have seemed like Knight of Bennett was being salty, Nora rolled her eyes and said: “our son had only been gone for a month and he has not stopped writing letters to us. Do you really want a present that badly?” Zach took the letter and parcels. But as he was opening it, he realized that within the parcel was a large sword. “Wow. This is a master level sword of a hundred skills.” Zach immediately recognized the sword as he took it out of the cover. A Sword of a hundred skills had always been a demanding piece in the market. Although it has a crazy price of 1,000 gold coins, there were still countless wealthy people rushing to buy it. Big Swords were a knight’s most significant possession. Despite just being made fun of by his wife, seeing the Sword of a hundred skills when he only had a sword of 80 skills. Knight of Bennett couldn’t help but exclaim “I really do want a present” “Let me have a look.” As a knight, the Knight of Bennett could not resist the temptation for good weaponry. He took the sword from Zach’s hand and began waving it in the middle of the dining room. “This kid Abel… he hasn’t even fully settled down at Harry’s castle, and he’s already begun to take random things from it—making it gifts. Next time I will write him a letter giving him a good lecture about this.” “That’s not the case.” Said Zach as he opened up Abel’s letter “In the letter, Abel said that this is the first weapon he ever forged and decided to give me a New Year’s gift.” The Knight of Bennett suddenly stopped waving the sword in mid-air. He stared at Zach’s letter and asked, “Did you say Abel had forged this sword himself?” “Yes, father, Abel said it very clearly in the letter” Zach answered with certainty. “Impossible. Marshall has also learned how to forge in the past, but the most he could make after a whole year of training was a table knife. You are telling me that Abel could forge a Sword of a hundred skill after one month?” The Knight of Bennett felt like he made a big mistake for giving Abel away. At first, he thought he would only regret this decision after a few years, but now, he was completely lost for words. It had been a very unusual new year within the Bennett castle with Zach’s surprise, Bennett’s regret, and Nora’s sentiment. Yet, Abel was unaware of this In Harry’s Castle. At Harry’s Castle, the Knight of Marshall and Abel were sitting in a carriage on the way to Harvest City to attend the New Year cocktail party hosted by viscount Dickens. The party was supposed to start at night, but the Marshall Knight and Abel had already set off early in the morning. The road from Knight of Marshall’s castle to Harvest City was constructed very well. The entire road was made out of small flat stones with a slight curve bulging out of the middle. Therefore, you could barely feel any vibration on the carriage, and in only an hour they had already traveled for more than 100 kilometers. From afar, Harvest City looked just a crouching tiger. However, one could only feel its majestic grandeur from up close. It was the largest city in Duchy of Carmel. It’s surrounding walls were up to 20 meters high with dozens of cannons penetrating from the sides. All of this just showed how well guarded the city was. “Uncle Marshall, why is Harvest City so strictly guarded?” Abel asked as he stared at the 20-meter-high wall and the countless numbers of defensive weapons. Abel elaborated his question, “Harvest city was located in the southernmost part of the Holy Land, which was once a territory that belonged to the humans. It was also said to be separated from the orc empire by one of the safest duchies. So why does the city look like it’s about to be in a war?” “Abel, there is at least one official knight in every block of Duchy of Carmel, and Harvest City is no exception. It’s city owner, the honorable viscount Dickens, was also the leader of the city’s knights.” The eyes of the Knight of Marshall had become somewhat dreary. He seemed engrossed in his memories. “It’s all because of the Orc Empire,” he sighed. “The Orc Empire is located in the far north. It was guarded by one of mankind’s greatest alliance, who were the Miracle Cities defense guards”. Abel knew about the Miracle City defense guards. If it wasn’t for their efforts to fight off the orcs, Humans would’ve lost a great amount of land to live on. The orcs were the most bloodthirsty beings in this world. Due to their insanely high birth rate, they were always in a constant food crisis. As a means to avoid starvation, they would wage war against other races for food—at the same time, this would also effectively reduce the number of mouths they had to feed. There were always humans who had lived near the Orc Empire. As they were an easy target to be pillaged, they gathered themselves up and built a military fortress alongside the passage of the Budapest mountains, separating the human civilization and the orc empire. That construction was known as Miracle City. “As long as the Miracle City is there. We don’t need to worry about an orc invasion,” the Knight of Marshall said. “In the past few decades, the orc empire has developed a new way of attack. They used flying beasts to carry them over the Budapest mountains and destroyed our back force”. He said in a somewhat skeptical tone, “it’s destruction indeed… But I believe it’s more like a trial attack.” As they were speaking, the carriage reached the gate of Harvest city. There was a long queue in front of a 10-meter-high gate. Next to the gate, there were a bunch of soldiers checking and charging the visitors one by one. They seemed to operate at a very slow speed, and from the length of the queue, Abel thought it might be another hour before they could get in. But the carriage did not stop. Instead, they entered the city directly from the other side, passing by the people standing in the queue, looking jealously at them. Whether he was in the Bennett Castle or the Harry Castle, Abel had always felt that he was just a bit wealthier compared to the people around him. Yet, this was the first time he had truly experienced the privilege of being a royal. Abel was still getting used to how things work in this new world. In his old world, if a person tried to jump in the queue, others would look at you with contempt. But in here, Abel did not even get called off the carriage and went straight into the city. The carriage arrived at a courtyard. It was Knight of Marshall’s temporary residence in Harvest City. The moment they reached the gate, the housekeeper, Robin, immediately came out and greeted them. “Robin, Abel will be staying here for the next two days. Clean up that independent house and make a place for Abel to stay” said knight Marshall to the housekeeper as he got off the carriage. “Yes, Master.” Housekeeper Robin knew that the Knight of Marshall had an adopted son and soon he would become the inheritor of the castle. However, it was only after hearing these commands by Knight of Marshall, that Robin could fully understand the importance of the young master. Besides the master’s private house, the best place to live was that independent house, yet Knight of Marshall had offered it to Abel without hesitation. “Abel, do you want to come with me to visit my friends or go to play in harvest city.” Seeing Abel’s look of hesitation, The Knight of Marshall couldn’t help but smile, “Of course, I will arrange Robin as your accompany to explore Harvest City.” The Knight of Marshall did care about Abel. Not only did he understand Abel’s choice by just looking at his expression, but he would also always respect his decision and never force him into doing anything he would be uncomfortable with. Abel rejected the company of housekeeper Robin. He just went off with his horse and began exploring the different shops in the street. Even though the streets of Harvest City were very wide, because of the New Year, there were people everywhere. Suddenly, Abel came across a noisy group of people arguing. The voice seemed very familiar, so Abel decided to lead the horse forward. It was Zach. He was arguing with three young men wearing leather armor. There was also a young girl with blonde hair, probably the age of 17 or 18, standing on the side watching the argument intensely. She seemed like a witty and playful type. When she laughed, there was a touch of cunningness in her eyes. “Big Brother!” Yelled Abel’s excitedly. It was such a surprise to see his family here. Abel jumped off his horse and ran towards Zach. “Abel!” Zach replied as he gave Abel a tight hug. Afterward, Zach turned toward the three men and introduced them to each other “This is my brother Abel.” “And Abel… This is Martin, Joshua, and Bob” The young girl gave a slight bow to Abel, and introduced herself with a chuckle, “Hello, my name is Emily” as she curiously scanned Abel. Abel returned to the bow and saw the big brother Zach sneakily glanced at Emily’s expression. It wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on here. Zach was a young adult, after all. Abel laughed on the outside, but he wondered if he should write a letter to mum about this. Martin had never have guessed that Abel would be so young. He was lost for words for a moment there, “Are you the one who forged the Sword of a hundred skills for Zach?” Abel smiled and nodded, ” Yes.” “Wow, really?!” Martin immediately gave a passionate bow and said, “it was such a pleasure to meet you! I didn’t expect you to be so young!” Martin seemed to be a talkative and straightforward person. Must be a nice guy to hang around , Abel thought

Chapter 19 - A Bet Chapter 19: A Bet A tall, thin man named Joshua grinned, “Martin, I think we’ve been fooled. There is no way this guy could have made that sword of a hundred skills.” “The Sword of a Hundred Skills?” Abel turned to look at Zach, who had been showing off his present ever since he’s got it. Zach was kind of embarrassed. He started rubbing his palms together, made quick eye contact with Emily and said, “the topic just came out of nowhere during my conversation with Emily. These three guys won’t believe that my brother had forged a sword of a hundred skills for me, so we started arguing” Abel’s father always told him how grounded and mature his older brother is. But as he looked at his older brother, deeply trapped in the romantic spell of Emily, and losing all his dignity. Abel was speechless “That sword was just my practice piece,” Abel explained faintly. Thins got kind of tense after Abel said that. The three other guys didn’t know how to respond, but the looks on their faces were very worried. This was a sword of a hundred skills. Who the hell would ever call it a “practice piece?” “Which forging masters did you learned it from?” Emily looked at Abel with her big, sparkling eyes. “Oh, I learned it from Master Bentham,” Abel replied, meanwhile trying to be polite to the person who could very well be his future sister-in-law. Martin interrupted, “Master Bentham is very well known in the Duchy. How long have you been following him?” “One month.” Martin, Bob, and Emily were in shock. “My God, that’s incredible,” they all said simultaneously. “Ok. Even if his teacher is Master Bentham,” Joshua said with a sneer, “do you believe that this kid can make a sword like this?” “Hey, don’t be rude!” Emily called Joshua out. Both Joshua and Zach were trying to please her, and she knew that much at least. That being said, it’s not right to have a go at someone else’s little brother. Also, she thought that Zach was an honest man, which meant that this accusation was all the more offensive in her eyes. Joshua glanced at Abel and snorted. He said in a threatening voice, “Abel, you shouldn’t claim the work of your teacher.” Zach was starting to get irritated as well, “Joshua, you better stop that nonsense talk right now. You wouldn’t want to make me your enemy.” Martin stood up and separated the two, “Hey, if you really want to know who made this piece, there’s a Giant Hammer weapon store nearby. It’s easy. We can just go there and have someone examine it for us.” “Of course,” said Zach as he turned to look his little brother, to which Abel responded with a cool nod. “That’s a lot of faith coming from you, Zach. If you’re so confident in your little brother, why don’t we make a bet on it?” Joshua laughed out loudly. After saying that, Joshua took out the big sword on his back. “I don’t know about that one right there, but the one I have here, this is a real piece made by Master Bentham. If your brother’s sword is not the work of Master Bentham, I’ll give my sword to you. If it is, though, you give that sword to me instead. Are you on, Zach?” Martin intervened, “Let’s not escalate the situation. Guys, we’re just going to have an authenticity test. We don’t have to make any bets.” Even Bob, who had remained silent during all this time, came forward and tried to calm down the tension, “We are all friends, aren’t we? If we’re going to bet on something, how about the loser pays for the dinner tonight?” Joshua said, “You chickening out, Zach?” Emily, unlike the others, was not aware of how serious the situation was getting. She was getting too thrilled by the upcoming match. “I’ll be the judge,” she volunteered, “Whoever the loser is, he has to give up on what he has betted on, okay? If not, I’ll let him have a taste of my punishment.” Looking at the overly excited Emily, Martin and Bob could not help but sigh. Women made men do stupid things, don’t they? Abel was starting to frown a little. Ever since they met for the first time, Joshua had been contradicting everything that he said. If no one told him, Abel would have just guessed that Joshua was an enemy of Zach. “Sure, I’ll bet,” Zach said angrily. He had enough of Joshua making fun of his little brother. In front of Emily, too. What a dirty way to gain an advantage over him. The Giant hammer weapon shop was a shop specialized in selling weapons and armor. When customers come in, the first thing they would see would be the huge counter made entirely out of ironwood. Because of how big and heavy everything was in this world, only ironwood could suffice to hold the weight of the items for sale. “Welcome, lady and gentleman, to the Giant Hammer Weapons Shop, I am the store manager, Ted. Is there anything you are after?” Asked a thin, middle-aged man. “Ah, yes, Mr. Ted, we are here a heavy sword examined. Please, have your best appraiser come here and help us take a look at it.” Said Joshua in an unbearable hurry. “Wait for a second, I am the referee here,” Emily protested with an “I’m a taking this very seriously” look on her face, “Give me the two swords, you two. I will be in charge of this.” Without saying anything, Zach took out his sword and passed it over to Emily. Joshua was kind of reluctant at first, but after seeing Zach giving his sword to Emily, he was left with no choice but to hand it over as well. “You are naggier than a woman,” Emily said as she saw how hesitant Joshua was being. It was weird for a woman like her to say something like this. But anyway, she snatched the sword away from Joshua. Meanwhile, Ted just called out a long-bearded old man, “This is the chief appraiser of the Giant hammer weapon shop. All you need to do is to hand the swords over to him. For each piece that you are examining, we will charge you at a price of 2 gold coins.” Emily took out 2 gold coins and put Zach’s big sword on the counter. “Okay. Can you identify this weapon here, please? We want to see if it is the work of Master Bentham.” The old Appraiser got excited about that. He didn’t expect to have the chance to examine a piece that could be made by a master forger. He took the big sword and inspected it carefully. Slowly but surely, the old appraiser’s expression became more and more feverish. He started stroking the blade with his fingers, as though as he was about to make fire with it. “Whoever’s made this masterpiece, it is a work of perfection.” Murmured the old appraiser, “What witchcraft would you need to make this sword of a hundred skills? Just look at how sharp the edges are! It’s unbelievable.” The old appraiser was completely lost in his own world. For a while there, he had probably forgotten that he was here to do his job. “Uh, hmmph,” Emily coughed twice to get the old appraiser the attention again. “Is this the work of Master Bentham, mister?” “Oh, no. Of course not!” the older appraiser said affirmatively, “I don’t know who’s made it, but it is definitely not the work of Master Bentham.” “What… how is this possible?” Joshua threw a blank stare towards the ceiling. He figured that something was wrong when he saw the expression on the old appraiser’s face. But the way that the old man denied the piece being a work of Master Bentham. It was almost like the piece was too splendid to made by someone even of that level. Joshua was getting more anxious by the seconds, “Are you looking this properly, sir?” he said to the old appraiser, “You know, things won’t go easy for you if you don’t tell us the truth right now.” The old appraiser threw a cold look at Joshua, “If you are not satisfied with what I’m saying, go to the mayor and sue me. Remember this, though. The Giant Hammer Weapon Shop is the property of the city owner. If you want to cause any trouble for him, make sure you are ready for the consequences.” Emily threw a disgusted glance towards Joshua, who was trying very hard to not lash out at the old appraiser. She picked up the two swords, gave them to Zach, and walked away like she had never known Joshua in the first place. Before Emily left, the old appraisers suddenly spoke. “Is this a big sword for sale?” He said in a sympathetic voice, “I will offer 1200 gold coins.” It was a very confusing offer. Emily couldn’t believe what she was hearing, so she asked, “From what I’ve heard, a sword of a hundred skills would cost about 1000 gold coins. Why are you making the deal at 1200 gold coins?” The others were also very curious. Even Abel, too. Despite having lived two lives, this was the very first sword that he has made. Just how the heck was it so valuable? “1000 gold coins are for ordinary swords of a hundred skills. The value of the finest ones can be far greater than the ordinary ones. This piece right here, you can say that it is the finest of the finest. With a few strikes, I’m sure that it can easily destroy an ordinary sword of hundreds of skills. Equipping something like this is like having a double-up of one’s sword-wielding ability. Joshua had lost the bet, and after the group left Giant Hammer’s weapons store, he walked off by himself. He was too embarrassed to stay with the group. “Hey, Zach, why don’t you shout us the dinner tonight?” Martin and Bob said as they fixed their eyes on Zach’s new sword. Emily, on the other hand, spent a great deal of her time throwing this curious look at Abel. Fortunately, though, she didn’t ask him any specific questions. Whatever Abel’s secret was, she was polite enough to not ask too much about it. Emily asked, “Abel, can you forge a sword for me? I will pay you money.” “I only forge weapons for my family.” Abel quickly refused, For Goodness sake. If he said yes on the spot, Martin and Bob would’ve been his next customers. “Hey!” Emily cried out as she switched her eyes between Abel and Zach.

Chapter 20 - Combining One More Time Chapter 20: Combining One More Time “You, follow him. Tell me where he is going. If he leaves the village, immediately report to me,” Joshua said in a gloomy voice to his servant who was following by his side. The servant quietly agreed and began to follow Abel from a distance. “I will make you regret what happened today.” Joshua knew that Zach was a rank four Novice Knight. It wouldn’t be easy to find a person to rob him. Plus, he was the heir of the Knight of Bennett. The consequences of harassing him could be very severe. Not his little brother, though. Abel was a blacksmith. It didn’t matter how gifted you were, or if you were the follower of Master Bentham. At the end of the day, you were still a blacksmith, and no one would be bothered if you died. Little did Joshua know, he was only stepping further onto a road of no return. After Zach had won his bet, a few men were getting ready for a celebration at a luxurious restaurant. But Abel did not go with Zach. When they arrived at Harvest City, he departed from the group since he wanted to buy something. Abel counted the coins in his pockets. Other than the 20 gold coins he originally had, there was also the 50 gold coins that the Knight of Marshall gave him for entertainment at Harvest City. There were 70 gold coins in total, and he decided to spend it all on 138 little gems. However, to avoid attracting attention, he went to 4 separate jewelry stores to buy those gems. His wallet looked deflated. Only two coins left. Still, Abel no longer had the nerve to use his Horadric Cube out in the open streets. So, he found a hotel, booked a single room and used the Horadric cube to slowly combine the gems. It was like a walk in the park. In a short amount of time, Abel had combined the gems into 20 red gems and 26 blue gems. Abel was trying to remember the combination formula of the Horadric cube as he stared at the gems. He wondered which category of darkness 2 gems were the ones he had just combined. As he kept on staring, he suddenly had an idea. Why don’t I combine two this time? He took out 3 blue gems and put them in the Horadric cube to combine again. By the time he took it out, it had become a large, round, transparent blue gem with countless cuts on the side. “Let’s try to level up again,” thought Abel. He turned the remaining 6 blue gems into 2 more large round blue gems. Then put the 3 large round blue gems in the Horadric cube and pressed combined. This time it had turned into a droplet-shaped gem. Abel was certain that this was it. This was the perfect blue gem, the ultimate blue gem in Diablo 2 looked exactly like this. The Horadric cube had forcefully turned the blue gems into the ones in the video game settings. The droplet-shaped gem shined in a shade of blue that reflected a hint of melancholy. As Abel stared at it in his hand, he wasn’t planning to sell such perfection. The Horadric cube possessed the great power to combine such perfect gems, which was big enough reason for Abel to be extra careful during the process of selling those normal blue gems. Luckily, Harvest city was a very developed region. Gems with such quality were not that hard to come by. Eleven thousand gold coins. While it was the amount that Abel sold his gems for, there was no way he was going to carry so much cash on him. So, he went to the Shrine of the Goddess of Wealth and exchanged parts of it into one hundred unit coins. He threw it all into the Horadric cube, luckily it only showed a single-digit so it didn’t take up any lattice. But when he decided to take it out, it turned in to one hundred gain. How convenient. One hundred unit coins were most commonly used within large banks. They were a bit larger than normal gold coins and filled with the engraving of every goddess of protection. These goddess engraving needs to pass through the shrine to get made, so these one hundred unit coins are very secure. With a cheerful look on his face, Abel began to plan on how he could spend all this money. Little did he know that someone had been stalking him this entire time. Funnily enough, it wasn’t a good day for Joshua’s servant, who’s spent his whole day following a young man who would just never stop walking. He had been to almost every jewelry shop in Harvest city riding his horse and by that point, the servant was almost too tired to continue. He only wished that Abel would soon find a place for rest. Above his head was a signboard reading Edmund’s Boutique shop. This familiar signboard Abel couldn’t help but remember the Qi condensing potion he had bought at Edmund’s boutique shop. He already used up all the Qi condensing potion he had, soon he would be attacking the knight’s level. If he slowly trained by himself, it would have taken him years of effort until he could have gained enough Qi to condensed his core. After using the master’s “Qi condensing potion” he had leveled up by 2 levels. Abel had always worried if any problems were progressing through the levels with such speed. Because immediately, he had leveled up by 2, which was not what he had expected. As it turned out, drugs were not the only way to level up in short periods. There were other options. There was quite some evidence that this was true, as both Master Bentham and the Knight of Marshall were not shocked to see how fast he had attained another epiphany. If anything, they didn’t seem surprised in any way, which could potentially mean that there was an alternative supplement for his training. According to Abel’s knowledge, if there wasn’t any problem leveling up with other methods, taking the no side effect “Qi condensing potion” definitely shouldn’t be too harmful to him. That being said, now was probably a good time to get himself some supplies. The moment Abel stepped into Edmund’s boutique shop, a familiar voice came out to greet him. “Welcome to Edmund’s boutique shop, how can I help you today?” the voice stuttered as its owner did not expect Abel’s visit, “Oh, welcome! Didn’t expect to see you here, young and handsome gentleman.” “Ms. Yvette! what are you doing here?” Yvette gave out a small laugh and proudly said, “I got promoted from Fort Lee to the vice manager of Harvest City.” “Congratulations, Ms. Yvette” Abel cheered. Yvette must have been very capable to become the vice manager of a large city sector such as Harvest city. Abel had great respect for outstanding people like her. From the look on her face, it was clear that Yvette liked being congratulated by someone she knew. Since there was a lot of stress after she got promoted to this position. Unlike a small city such as Fort Lee, even the position as a vice manager has 3 slots in here. “What would you like to buy today?” said Yvette softly. Abel pondered for a while and gave out a number “I want 162 bottles of lesser “Qi condensing potion.” Yvette was excited by this a large transaction of lesser “Qi condensing potion”. This deal would make her look really good in front of her boss. “It’s 1620 coins in total… Let’s settle the deal for 1600 coins” Yvette said after she applied the discount. Abel saluted to Yvette “Please wait.” Abel took out 16 100 coins from the Horadric cube and inserted it in his wallet. Then he pulled out his wallet and gave the coins to Yvette. After a short period, the shop assistant brought out a medium-sized box, inside was tightly packed with 162 lesser “Qi condensing potion”. After Abel rode his horse back to his place, he immediately went to his room and combined 162 lesser “Qi condensing potion” into 6 masters “Qi condensing potion”. Watching as those “Qi condensing potion” shone in its amber glow, Abel knew he was getting a massive power-up soon. As Abel was putting the 6 master’s “Qi condensing potion” in the Horadric cube, he remembered his transaction with Yvette today. Ms. Yvette never asked him for his name and the past 2 transactions had been quite smooth. Also with the name Edmound’s boutique shop, plus Yvette’s cautiousness. Abel decided if he had anything inconvenient to sell in the future, he will leave it for Yvette to handle. Meanwhile, out on the courtyard, the weather was still freezing even though it was already a new year. That servant curled up in a dark corner, his eyes rigidly starred at the front gate. This place was the Knight of Marshall’s temporary house and not many people knew about that. If the servant realized this was the resistance of a royal family, who knew if he would still have the nerve to continue spying. Ignorance, sometimes, was the only thing that was necessary for a disaster to happen. After dark, the gate of Harvest city had been shut so the servant decided to continue spying. However, little did he know that the Knight of Marshall and Abel had already got on a carriage to join the new year cocktail party in the city palace.