“This is...”

Henderson was reading the copy of the cultivation manual I gave him. He looked utterly amazed at the profundity of the method Harry and I came up with.

“Train yourself with this. Harry and I could help with anything you didn’t understand. And select a group of trusted individuals with the talent to hand down this technique to. Train them together with you.” I ordered Henderson.

“I’ll do my best.”

It might not seem like it, but Henderson is a trustworthy subordinate.

I went to see Harry after that.

“How are we going to do this, young master?”

Harry was asking for my plans about releasing the discovery of the dantian and the cultivation method. I pondered on it for a while.

“Make the discovery public and tell them about the existence of the purification method. However, keep our breathing method a secret.”

“What about the spies, young master?”

“Their existence will be inevitable, let them come. In the first place, only a select few will learn about the breathing technique.”

The moment we make the dantian discovery public and that a purification method exists, enemies all over will send spies to know the secret. But to increase the prestige of the Hale family, I need to play all cards available.

I will aim for the top seat of the world, and I need competent allies for that goal. To protect everything under me, I need to become stronger.

It’s finally time for that.

***

The creation of martial arts.

I stood in the middle of the training ground with my wooden sword in hand. I had my eyes closed.

For the past six months, I have been training in swordsmanship and honing my skills. Although I don’t like being called a genius, I have to admit my strengths. I have extreme talent in swordsmanship.

Of course, I haven’t reached the peak yet. But in just 6 months I have trained to the point of almost catching up to Henderson, who was known as the strongest swordsman in Arcadia.

Now that I could use qi, there’s a need for a new system of swordplay that utilizes this new power. And since I was the very first case in this world, I had to make it myself.

I need to believe in myself. I’m no longer the college dropout in my past life, now I’m Richard Hale, the oldest heir of a Great Mage, Count Hale.

I started with the swordsmanship I’ve been mastering for the past 6 months. I recalled the whole movement and tried to incorporate qi into the sword movements.

A stable sword path, I concentrated wholly on the movements. All the inspiration I had during my training and most importantly, my spar with Henderson. I recalled his sword movements and how to counter them, I started to incorporate new movements into the swordsmanship.

Slowly, I could see the finished product in my mind. The flow of the qi resonating with the movements in the swordsmanship, I moved according to my imagination and I swung the wooden sword.

Blast!

A strong gust of wind blew that sounded like an explosion formed from my sword slash. I opened my eyes and I looked at the wooden sword that felt lighter for some reason.

It was busted. Looks like the wooden sword couldn’t handle my qi. It was just a practice sword after all. There was also a huge sword mark on the ground where I stood.

I smiled gleefully. I had pioneered a new path of swordsmanship. It was only the beginning but it felt good. I shall call this the First Swordsmanship because it will be the swordsmanship of the pioneer of the new era. It sounds uncreative but it holds a significant meaning.

I looked at my back and saw Henderson looking dazed as he saw me practicing. I smiled and walked towards him. I handed my wooden sword to him with his stupid look.

“I need a new sword, find me a skilled blacksmith,” I ordered the Captain of the knights that I treated like my own personal butler.

I could have just taken any sword in the house treasury or the barracks but with my new swordsmanship, I decided I need a new sword that could handle my power.

***

Ttang!

Sounds of hammering reverberated around the smithy. The smithy was located in Steelton and was owned by a dwarf. I have heard of the other races like elves and dwarfs but I have never seen one before so I was pretty excited.

All of the blacksmiths working there were also dwarfs. They were prideful of their crafts I heard, so humans with fewer skills and talent in craftsmanship are looked down upon by them.

The dwarfs were working in a city of humans because the Hale family had the best army in the kingdom and we were located in the front lines. In case of war, quality weapons could be quickly supplied and the dwarfs really like that. They would be called workaholics in my previous world.

Besides, unlike the elves and beastmen the dwarfs aren’t involved in the wars between nations so some dwarfs like the ones here could work for any nation without any sense of patriotism stopping them from doing so.

“So you’re the lord’s son huh?”

A dwarf that is noticeably burlier than the others called me out. He must be the owner by his demeanor and how he’s the first one to notice my appearance.

Henderson told me about him, his name was Dhorin. He’s the best craftsman in the city, the perfect person to make a new sword for me. However, I have another plan. I bowed slightly and truly politely made a request.

“Please teach me blacksmithing.”

“Eh?” Henderson who has been quiet as my escort finally made a sound.

“Didn’t you want a new sword, young master?” he asked out of confusion.

“I do, I’m going to make it myself.”

In the end, the one who knows my own strength the best. To create a sword that best complements my strength, I need to do it myself.

But that was an excuse, the actual reason is that I find the idea of making your own sword cool.

“That- but...” Henderson turned speechless by my answer.

“Kuhahahahah! You’re an interesting boy aren’t you?” Dhorin laughed at my antics.

“The craft of blacksmithing is no joke, you sure you’re up for the task?” he was smiling but his eyes told me he was serious.

I smiled back.

“Who do you think I am? I’ll take on any task you give me.” I looked him in the eyes and gave my serious answer.

“Alright, just because you’re the lord’s son. But don’t think I’ll give you an easy time.” Dhorin said as if challenging me.

“That’s even better.”

I took on the challenge.

***

Ttaak!

I was chopping firewood behind the smithy. Dhorin said I should start from the basics, which is woodcutting.

Ttaak!

The log was neatly split into two. It was easy for me as my body had been thoroughly tempered by qi but I stopped after chopping my 1500th firewood.

“Oi master! How much more firewood should I cut! You said I should 1000 firewood not the whole year supply of the smithy!” I yelled witty remarks towards Dhorin.

“Yeah, yeah. I noticed you were doing a good job so I let you do a bit more.” Dhorin said with a grin on his face.

‘Which part of 500 firewood is a bit?’ I grumbled inwardly.

“Are you sure you don’t want to become a woodcutter instead?” Dhorin asked a stupid question.

“What is that nonsense?”

“Never mind, come here.” the dwarf invited me into the smithy.

I followed him inside and saw him standing next to a blast furnace.

“Now, I will start working on the furnace. Watch carefully and memorize the steps as I have taught you earlier.” Dhorin told me to remember the lecture he gave me before making me cut firewood.

He threw in coke[1] to fuel the furnace followed by iron and limestone and started the furnace. He became soaked in sweat as he repeatedly stepped on the bellows. Gradually, the iron ore was melting due to the heat.

Impurities were removed from the iron when the limestone reacted with those impurities to form slag. Dhorin filtered out the slag alternately with maintaining the heat inside the furnace.

As the impurities were gradually filtered out the molten iron started glowing orange. This glowing iron will solidify into pig iron that isn’t suitable for crafting weapons as they are very hard and brittle. The pig iron needs to undergo the process called steelmaking before being used to craft good weapons. However, that is as far as the demonstration goes.

“Did you see closely?” Dhorin asked after his demonstration of ironmaking.

“I did.”

“Good.” Dhorin put on a satisfied grin at my answer.

“Now do as I did.”

I repeated the same steps as Dhorin did and put in iron, coal, and limestone into the blast furnace and started it. I maintained the heat and alternately filtered out the impurities. I did it so skillfully Dhorin started to doubt his eyes.

“This kid... are you sure you’ve never done smelting before?” he started talking nonsense.

However, I was too focused on the task to listen to him.

The iron slowly melted down.

“Let’s proceed right away with steelmaking.” Dhorin suddenly said.

“Right away?”

Just like that, my blacksmithing lesson continued. I was having fun throughout the whole process.