Abe the Wizard

“Uncle Marshall, I will try to learn these secret techniques. I have Black Wind, so these 2 secrets techniques should be very easy to master.” Of course, Abel understood the importance of horsemanship. Since he already owned an elite level mount, all he needed now was the adequate skill set to match it.

The Knight of Marshall did not avoid Abel’s curiosity, He pressed the back of a Knight biography novel on his bookcase. The knight biography novel fell inward, followed by a noise of mechanical gears triggering. The bookcase split into two, revealing a secret room.

“C’mon, you have to know about this place. These are all the collections of Harry Castle,” the Knight of Marshall said with a touch of pride, “I’ve collected everything here through decades of hard work. Usually, I wouldn’t even let anyone know this secret room, let alone showing it off.”

To a person who loved to show off, hiding things away was very difficult for the Knight of Marshall. But finally, today there was someone he would share it with.

This secret room was huge. Countless weapons were hanging on the walls, which included those from both the orcs and humans. There even seemed to be a traditional elves bow. As the Knight of Marshall saw that Abel was intrigued by the weapons on the wall, he began to sigh in awe.

“These are all from the enemies that I’ve slain throughout the years.”

After defeating an enemy, it didn’t matter if you decided to kill them or not, keeping their weapons was a common practice among nobles–especially knights. They were trophies. Besides, every knight would most likely adore their collection as well.

In the middle of the secret room, there was a huge long table. On the table, there were a few thick books with bold titles, including geography, agriculture, and some non-combat related secret techniques. For example, Abel was drawn by a book about how to use cleansing water.

Abel had heard of cleansing water before. It was a potion often used by women to maintain their skin. But for a grown man in his forties to use it? Abel frowned just by thinking about it.

After the Knight of Marshall saw Abel’s distaste towards the clearing water secret technique, he thought that he had to make an explanation, “This is not just an ordinary formula for clearing water, it is the noble elves cleansing water formula. Can’t you see how good the elves’ skin is? I spend good money on this book back in the days”

Abel wanted to challenge the Knight of Marshall by saying that, the elves’ good skin was because of their genetic, not because of a beauty formula. Abel was very disappointed by this collection of the Knight of Marshall.

Finally, Abel saw the 2 Harry’s heritage secret techniques of knights guide placed at the very corner of the table. From the placement of these books, the cleansing water formula seemed much more important to the Knight of Marshall than his heritage’s secret techniques.

Upon picking up the 2 secret technique guide, Abel was getting ready to leave the secret room. Suddenly, a square sign attracted Abel’s gaze. The sign was engraved with some patterns that seemed very familiar with Abel. He was one hundred and ten percent sure this was a rune but did not know exactly which order was this rune.

Abel walked towards the square sign and picked it up. He looked towards the knight of Marshall and asked, “Uncle Marshall, where did you get this from?”

“This was sent to me by a wizard friend. He said if I crushed this sign when I am in danger, it can help me shake off the enemy,” the Knight of Marshall said after recalling for a while.

“Wow, you have a wizard friend?” Abel widened his eyes. Abel had always only heard about wizards, but no one ever described them to him in detail.

“Yeah, when I was still in Bakong City, I rescued a wizard in a mission. At that time, his magical power was exhausted, and there were a few wolves nearby.” When the knight of Marshall thought of a wizard in such an embarrassing situation, he gave a small chuckle. He then proceeded to say “The wizard and I later had become friends. He was still a novice wizard at the time, and since he knew I would be going to the battlefield. He paid a big cost in exchange for this rune sign, to save my life when the time comes.”

“What is the difference between a wizard and a knight?” Abel asked.

“The difference? The wizards can only use magic, so their power doesn’t have many practical uses, but the best thing about being a wizard was longevity.” Marshall Knight’s eyes flashed a hint of envy and then went on to say “The lifespan of a lesser official wizard can reach up to 300 years, and each time they level up, it will further increase the life expectancy. But knights like us, even if we became an elite knight, we can only increase our lifespan for 50 years.”

“300 years old!” Abel’s eyes were burning with intense yearning. He immediately asked, “How can I become a wizard?”

“It is not easy to become a wizard. First of all, there must be a middleman. The wizards are disconnected from the people of this world. They are not your down-to-earth average citizens. Things like family, country, and ethnicity don’t seem to concern them a single bit. Ordinary people have no way of approaching them, let alone being a part of them. To become a wizard, you have to process the right aptitude, it’s the most important thing. Therefore every person who wants to be a wizard must pass an examination.

The Knight of Marshall saw the yearning in Abel’s eyes, he couldn’t help but smile “When I first discover that the lifespan of an official wizard was 300 years, I also asked my wizard friend to help me become a wizard. But, I didn’t pass the examination.”

The knight of Marshall was a bit stunned, but soon he began smiling again and said: “If you want to participate in the wizard examination, you have to wait until you are 15 years old. By that time I will bring you to my wizard friend to ask for advice. If you can pass the examination, your achievements will surpass all Knight. ”

This was the most gratifying thing Abel had heard these days. If he became a wizard, he could not only live longer. He could also be able to use the Tome of town portal from the Horadric box, which required magic, and the only way to use magic was becoming a wizard.

“Why must I be 15 years old before I can take the examination ?” Abel asked, eagerly.

“I heard that it is because no one below the age of 15 can understand the mystery of magic. Also, your body isn’t developed enough to absorb magical power.” The Knight of Marshall knew what was on Abel’s mind. He then went on to say: “I will take you to the examination as soon as you turn 15. It should take some time before we can get to Bakong City, and by the time you finished learning some of my heritage’s secret techniques, you should be around 15 years old.”

Through these words of the Knight of Marshall, Abel understood how much the knight’s concern and cherish him, even little times like this was taken into account.

Abel was preparing to put the rune sign back on the wall. The knight of Marshall waved his hand at him and said “Since you seem very interested in this rune sign, you can keep it. All these years it had just been sitting here, I never have the chance to used it, so let’s not let it goes to waste”.

“Thank you so much, Uncle Marshall,” Abel happily put away the rune sign, which would also be very helpful when it comes to studying runes.

“No worries!” The knight of Marshall patted Abel’s head intimately, and the two left the secret room.

When Abel got back to his room, he realized the Knight of Marshall’s birthday would be in 10 days. The present he prepared initially had already been received early by the Knight of Marshall. However, Abel would still feel very sorry if he didn’t show any appreciation during the knight’s actual birthday. He had to start preparing another present now.

Abel practiced a bit of the knight’s breathing technique for a while in his room and analyzed the battle he had today. The orcs had to be mobile and kept a fast pace in the human world. They could not wear any heavy armor, let alone carrying a shield. Therefore, that’s where the composite bow, or the so called “Harry’s Bow” could shine.

To forged a bow according to the methods of this world, other than using some extraordinary material, it was impossible to forge a 400-pound bow. This was because no material with the length and thinness of a normal bow arm could withstand 400 pounds of tension. The composite bow, on the other hand, had a shorter bow arm, and all the other parts were made with steel. It was an extraterrestrial technology, a device that was meant for mass murder in a world in its cold weapon era.

Unless if a wolfrider possessed extreme power, if they didn’t have armor or shields, they would most likely be killed by the Harry Bow. The only downside was that the force required to pull on the Harry’s Bow was very demanding. Even a Level 5 novice knight such as Abel could barely do it.

That aside, the most important thing was that Abel had finally gotten the information he wanted about wizards, and he would soon be able to participate in the wizard’s examination. Although he still needed to wait another 2 years. He decided to dedicate these 2 years to double down his effort on becoming a knight. It didn’t matter if he was going to become a wizard or a blacksmith in the end. Whatever his future might be like, a strong body would always be appreciated.