Note: I want you guys to write a title for each chapter and the related content it has inside. Example: x title. And give reason. If you have the most likes, I'll change the chapter numbers to the titles. Though question. Does that bug webnovel out or no?
MY TAG: Chat/interaction makes the author happy. Powerstone makes author drop bonus chapters.
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"So, this is why the medieval sling is still a deadly weapon. It's one of humanity's oldest ranged weapons and was mostly made of leather and plant fiber back then." A young man explained on the video, holding up his own ranged weapon made out of the said materials.
He stood at the base of a jagged rock face, with broken boulders piled at the foot of the cliff like the mountain had caved in on itself. The ground was dry and uneven, scattered with loose stones and dust. The ground was just raw earth and stone. The kind of place where air whistled as it scraped the cliffside.
"This little pocket is where you put stones or even clay-" he added, picking a pebble from the ground. "You swing it in circular motion-" he slowly went through the moves- "and when your hand is right behind your head, you put all the motion in and let go of one end. Like this."
A sudden, resounding crack reverberated through the field as the rock flew and hit a mountain; thunder boomed in the area. "There you go. It hit pretty far, and if you are skilled enough, it could hit further than 300 meters. For my American viewers, that's 141 bald eagles. An image of a bald eagle appeared on the video, then to cheeseburger, "3000 cheeseburgers laid side by side, or about 3 football fields." And finally, three football fields, with one of them half destroyed.
The video, while informative, was viral mainly due to the comments buzzing about the height of the young man. With the first most liked comment being:
"When he said medieval ranged weapon, I didn't expect HIM to be the short-range version."
25.1k likes • 20k comments
"Bro didn't invent the sling, he IS the projectile."
32k likes • 18.4k comments
"That rock flew farther than he's ever seen the top shelf."
29.7k likes • 15k comments
"Sling: 300m. His vertical: 3cm."
21.3k likes • 12.1k comments
"I thought it was forced perspective… nope, bro just fun-sized."
18.9k likes • 9.2k comments
"When the weapon is longer than the operator 💀"
34.4k likes • 22k comments
"He out here committing medieval war crimes but still needs a step stool to kiss someone."
26.8k likes • 14.9k comments
"Homie's height is the REAL ranged attack."
17.2k likes • 8.7k comments
"His sling has more reach than his arms."
19.5k likes • 11k comments
"Bro built like a DLC character that hasn't fully downloaded yet."
31.2k likes • 18.8k comments
"He's not short, he's just concentrated damage."
22.4k likes • 13k comments
"Short king out here, hitting mountains out of pure spite."
27.9k likes • 15.6k comments
"Imagine getting sniped by a guy you can't see over the grass."
30.1k likes • 16.2k comments
"Weapon: medieval. Technique: advanced. Height: pending update."
16.7k likes • 7.4k comments
"Size doesn't matter until the sling is bigger than you."
23.5k likes • 12.8k comments
"I hate the internet." The guy from the video remarked as he kept scrolling, hoping to find someone genuinely interested in his video instead of his height. Though, he almost snapped when he saw the following comment.
"'This little pocket—' bro that's the same phrase people use when holding HIM."
13.5k likes • 1.8k comments
"Ahhhh." He sighed and closed his phone. Enough internet. Time to work.
He headed to the forge, to his most recent commission. A Japanese katana that looked like it walked straight out of an anime. The client had asked for a black blade, so he'd used high-carbon steel with a darkened finish. The handle and tsuba were already done and sitting to the side, wrapped in ray skin and cord. Clean work. Sexy, even.
The hard part was the hamon, the wavy pattern along the edge that separated amateurs from actual bladesmiths. Anyone could shape a sword. Making it was different.
He'd already gone through the brutal process of forging the bar flat, hammering the bevels, shaping the curve. Heating it, letting it cool, normalizing it again and again, so the grain structure wouldn't snap like cheap garbage. As it did with his 4 other blades. People online thought sword-making was just "heat, then smash."
He coated the spine with clay and left the edge bare, just like the old smiths, so the quench would harden one side and keep the other flexible. That's what created the iconic wave. Most modern smiths cheated with acid etching. He didn't. At least, he mostly tried not to.
Ending his break, he slid the blade from the furnace. The steel glowed like the sun.
He laid it on the anvil.
Hammer. Flip. Hammer. Refine. Listen to the ring. Feel the steel talk back.
Hours of back-breaking work later, after grinding, polishing, sharpening, and praying it didn't warp in the quench, he finally held the finished katana in his hands.
Perfect balance. As it should.
Clean hamon. Razor edge.
He turned it in the light and allowed himself a rare smile.
A proud grin was on his face as he tested the blade, measuring the weight and the feel of the weapon with practice swings. He wasn't a master of any martial arts or anything, but he knew how to test swing. If anything needed to be modified, the owner would send it back with some requests. But Levi Harker was happy nonetheless. Just the blade itself would be five thousand dollars USD, a pretty good sum for two weeks of work.
With a hum, he let the blade rest while going through his list of projects. Ever since his viral hit on YouTube, a lot of people have been contacting him for commissions. One guy wanted a crossbow that was a fusion of two themes, medieval and futuristic. Levi immediately rejected that. For the reason being that, how was he supposed to make something like that?
Another guy asked him a spear, someone a simple sword and shield. Thankfully, no one has requested a whole armor yet, but he did finish a fellow blacksmith's armor project once. The commission from that was enough that Levi left his carpentry job. On top of all the revenue coming in from him showing off his weapon collection on the platform, he was comfortable.
With a tired sigh, he put the blade in the scabbard, one he ordered from one of his contacts. The cover was black with swirls of red ending at the tip. 'Still looks pretty cool.' He thought to himself with a smile.
Like any other man, he ran through some poses and actions that he saw in the movies, cutting and slashing enemies before slowly putting the blade back inside the scabbard. "Shiingg, arg, oog, woaa." He muttered, as if the enemies had just realized they were cut and killed. His movements brought his smell to his nose. "Ew, shower."
PING
Checking the notification on his phone, his mood soured. Quickly typing something, he exited the smiting room and walked up to his home. Not a moment later, his phone vibrated in his pocket. "What?" Levi answered.
"Come on, man, I've got an idea for your little car problem. It'll be fun."
"Dude, no means no."
"Man, are you seriously letting a nightmare control your life?" The man on the other side asked, making Levi groan. "Yeah, I'm not taking any risks. No matter what." Levi shot back, "You don't believe me. That's fine. But I know what I saw, and no way am I going to that place."
"You won't!" His buddy insisted, "Okay, listen to me. You said people go there by car and bus, right?"
Levi sighed and nodded. Though the man couldn't see it, he continued. "So, what about a bicycle or a bike? In your nightmares, you didn't see anyone get there with either, right?!"
"No…" Levi reluctantly admitted. Yes, he dreamed of people being roadblocked by a tree and then sent to a town without escape, but in all of his nightmares, these people were always in cars or buses. There was a blue bicycle in the town, but…
He had researched deeply about dreams and even lucid dreams, but one thing that he found is that you don't see a stranger's face in your dreams. Your subconscious can't just make up new faces. So, it takes the faces of those you know. The more he's been in that nightmare, the more Levi trained himself to have lucid dreams.
It hadn't worked for the first few times, but afterward, he had become a master. Anytime he was in the nightmare town, instead of sticking around the people, he would be on his own, exploring and finding out what was going on. He could see the people's struggle, the fear, the hunt, all of it, while he hid.
He couldn't explain it, but it felt real. Levi needed to tell someone, and he chose his best friend. Dean Normandy. They had met during high school days, and while one went and to become a real estate agent, the other became a carpenter. And thanks to Dean being a social guy, he had gathered and convinced his other friends to work in-house construction lines.
If a client needed something to do with carpentry, Levi was recommended; if someone needed plumbing, another friend was called; for electricity, Dean knew a guy. It worked perfectly, and while Levi left his company, Dean would still call him for some clients who needed something. It was extra income that was done under the table.
"Hello?" Dean's voice came through, and Levi sighed once more. "I don't know how to ride a bicycle."
"…" The line went dead quiet for a few seconds before not just one, but three voices burst into laughter.
"I'm going to kill you guys," Levi spoke into his phone before hanging up.