Three months passed quickly. When William Carter was able to swing the hammer and deliver thirteen consecutive strikes, Henry Carter began to teach him how to forge tools. Henry Carter's teaching method was very straightforward: he would do it himself first, then let William Carter do it. As long as he saw that William Carter had grasped the basics, he would leave him to practice on his own, without much verbal guidance. Only at critical moments would he say a word or two.

It was precisely because of this that whenever Henry Carter gave him pointers, William Carter remembered them especially clearly.

Chapter Four: The First Hidden Weapon of William Carter in Another World (Part One)

Early in the morning, William Carter returned from the mountain in high spirits to make breakfast. During this period, because he used the Purple Demon Eye every day and kept cultivating every morning, the Purple Demon Eye had made significant progress compared to before. He could now see the subtle movement of mosquito wings flapping within ten meters. If it weren’t for the bottleneck in Xuan Tian Gong, William Carter believed that his progress in other areas would be even greater.

To forge a fifty-centimeter square block of raw iron into the size of a fist seemed impossible, but William Carter had already accomplished it half a month ago. Henry Carter taught him the forging hammer technique that borrowed and used force, and he could now swing the hammer twenty-four times in a row, each strike precise, including control of strength. Although Henry Carter had never praised him, from the occasional look of satisfaction in his father’s eyes, William Carter knew that his hammer technique had reached a small level of mastery. To improve further, he would have to keep practicing.

He was about to enter the house. Gently touching his wrist, William Carter showed a hint of satisfaction on his face. On his wrist was the first item he had made since coming to this world, and every step of its creation had been completed by himself.

It was a sleeve dart. In the original Tang Sect, the sleeve dart was the most common mechanical hidden weapon. The key to making a sleeve dart lay in the strength of the mechanism and the intricacy of its design. The sleeve dart made by William Carter even had a safety device, making accidental injury impossible.

A set of sleeve darts usually consisted of three darts and a sleeve tube, and the one William Carter wore was no exception. The material for this sleeve dart was precisely the block of raw iron he had spent nearly a hundred days forging.

When William Carter completed the task assigned by Henry Carter and forged the raw iron into the size of a fist, he was surprised to find that the originally impure iron had become a piece of iron mother—a true iron mother.

In his previous life, not even the best forging master of the Tang Sect could have turned ordinary raw iron into iron mother. But in this world, it became reality. This was truly an incredible thing. The sleeve dart on William Carter’s wrist was made from that iron mother, and making the sleeve dart, including the three four-inch darts, used up all of it.

In terms of forging, William Carter was not as good as Henry Carter. But when it came to making mechanical hidden weapons, not even Henry Carter, and probably no one else on the entire Douluo Continent, could match this Tang Sect outer disciple genius.

Ordinary sleeve darts had a range of about fifteen meters, but the one made by William Carter could maintain effective attack distance beyond thirty meters.

The so-called effective attack distance referred to the straight-line distance after the sleeve dart was fired, that is, the distance at which it could still maintain lethal force.

Although William Carter’s sleeve dart only had three darts, it was exquisitely made. Each dart had three blood grooves, and if not for the small number, he would have considered adding barbs to the tips. The small quarter-inch tail fins at the end allowed the darts to fly extremely steadily. The conical arrowheads had spiral markings, giving the darts even greater penetrating power when fired.

When it came to designing and making hidden weapons, William Carter always pursued perfection, even if it was just an ordinary sleeve dart.

William Carter knew that he was still young, and with Xuan Tian Gong unable to break through its bottleneck, he wouldn’t be afraid of ordinary people, but if he encountered a soul master like Su Yuntao who could use martial spirits, his strength would be far from enough. But with this sleeve dart, it was different. William Carter was confident that, as long as the opponent wasn’t too powerful, he could handle any soul master.

……

[Tang Sect Xuan Tian Treasure Record, General Principles, Article Two: What is a hidden weapon? A hidden weapon is a special weapon used covertly to defeat the enemy. If the enemy already knows you are going to use it, then it is no longer a hidden weapon, but an open weapon.]

……

Of course, William Carter would never let his hidden weapon become an open weapon. Henry Carter had never asked what he did with that iron mother, so this sleeve dart was his own secret.

Entering the house, the aroma of porridge greeted him. He did the same thing every day and was already used to it.

“Dad, breakfast is ready.” William Carter called into the inner room.

Strangely, Henry Carter, who would come out as soon as he heard it was time to eat every day, did not appear today.

William Carter’s heart tightened. Could Dad be sick? He hurriedly rushed into his father’s room.

Henry Carter was not in the room. In all these years, it seemed this was the first time he hadn’t slept in.