"Iron is not the most durable metal, but it is used because it is one of the most commonly found elements," Kaiden started.
He wouldn't teach them, Grey and Ray, the Art of Iron only.
To understand the Art of Iron, you need to learn iron first. And then, you will learn how to bend it to your will. Only then will I teach you the Art of Iron.
That was what he said before. And now, he was teaching them about iron.
"Of course, there are other options. Currently, the most common metal is black iron. It is only a bit rarer than the normal iron, but much stronger.
Of course, this is correct for big cities. If you ever go to one, you will find an abundance of black iron as well as stronger metals."
Grey didn't know this, let alone the black iron. He looked at Ray and understood that he already knew about it. Well, it was normal since he was the son of the blacksmith.
Kaiden continued, "But those things don't matter! The important thing is the skill of the blacksmith."
***
The lesson continued for a while. After that, Gray and Ray started hammering hot iron bars.
Of course, Grey had no intention of becoming a blacksmith. This was a one-time thing only. If it was needed to acquire what he needed, then it was okay. But after he was done, he didn't intend to make his own swords or anything.
As the evening approached, they were almost done with the process. The first two requirements Kaiden asked for were completed.
Now, they would learn the Art of Iron.
Learning an Art depended on its strength and how much one understood that Art. This was the reason they needed to learn more about iron first.
But there was one extra step, and that was receiving it from the "master." It was like transferring energy, but Grey didn't know what actually happened.
That was why he also didn't understand what happened now...
Kaiden approached Ray and put his hand on Ray's head. Ray flinched, but didn't move away. Grey saw an orange, energy-like thing leave Kaiden's hand and enter Ray's head.
This was a familiar process. When he learned the Art of Wood, since he had been a wood chopper for a long time, he didn't need the lessons.
Instead, Talas held Grey's hand, unlike what was happening now, and something similar happened to Grey. But the color of the energy-like thing was brown in his case.
Now, he started sweating as he saw Ray receive the energy. It would be his turn next, and if he was wrong, his plans would shatter and he would spend the rest of his life in this village, chopping wood with half the strength.
Huh?
[Art of Iron has been acquired!]
What the hell?
He didn't understand. Ray's turn wasn't over yet, and Kaiden definitely didn't change to whom he was transferring the Art.
But a panel appeared saying he had acquired the Art of Iron.
Grey instantly opened the Arts segment of his Art of Creation system. There, he saw the same Art of Source as he did yesterday.
But underneath it, apart from the Art of Wood, the Art of Iron was also black. Previously, it was grayed out as if it were locked.
But... How?
He hadn't prepared himself completely yet. If something went wrong, he would only have half the strength.
He got up. Since Kaiden and Ray were too focused, they didn't realize him. But Grey didn't have time to wait for them. At worst, they would think that he ran away, scared of having two Arts.
They wouldn't blame him anyway. It was an idiotic decision in their eyes. But Grey was not leaving for that reason.
He started running. It was already evening and hard to look around. But he still didn't slow down. This was one of the most important things in his life.
He arrived outside his house. His axe was placed on a barrel. One of the fighters had brought it when he was sleeping in the hospital.
He grabbed the axe and started running outside the village. He didn't need to go anywhere as far as the forest, but he couldn't cut any trees he saw in the village.
There was a separate place for him to cut trees so that they could plant them back and preserve the number of trees every year.
Otherwise, the number of trees close to the village would diminish with time. This was one of the lessons he had learned from Talas.
But it wasn't the time for that right now. He could plant fifty trees later if necessary. Right now, he found the closest tree outside the village and activated his Art of Wood.
"Ah! Thank god!"
He almost cried in relief. Rings in five different colors were formed on the tree, showing the weaknesses.
It meant that the power of his Art wasn't halved.
Only then did he realize that he didn't need to run. He could check the iron in the smithy. He could even use the iron on his axe.
Even though he hadn't used the Art of Iron before, its power was the same as the Art of Wood. So, he would understand if its power was halved.
Maybe even the system would tell him something. It seemed like it had all the information about the Arts.
He looked at the axe in his hand. It was sharpened, probably by Talas when he was sleeping.
Grey focused on the blade part and activated his Art of Iron. As he did, a small electric shock passed through his brain, and his right eye shone purple.
Of course, he couldn't see his eye, but he felt the pain. Thankfully, it was gone as soon as it came.
After that, rings started forming on the blade part of his axe. One black ring was formed in the middle of the blade, meaning if he hit there with the hammer Kaiden used, the axe would break just like Mark's sword.
Of course, it was normal. The axe was old. Talas had given it to him when he was ten, right after his first ceremony.
He had changed the handle as he grew up, but not the handle. There was also a dark gray ring near the sharp edge of the blade.
It was probably because of the constant sharpening.
The more surprising thing was that Kaiden had seen through the weakness of the blade without activating his Art of Iron.
But he didn't know how it was possible. Was that because he was a blacksmith? Or maybe because he used the Art of Iron for a long time?
Whichever it was, he wouldn't be able to solve it by himself. So, he let it go and went back to his house.
It was too late to go back to the smithy now, so he could go there another day. He was too happy and excited right now.
He had found out that he could learn more than one Art. Though they were only the ones listed under the Art of Source, and they weren't related to fighting, they weren't useless.
Also, even though Art of Wood and Art of Iron were under the cumulative Art of Source, Art of Creation wasn't.
Unless Art of Source was under the Art of Creation, he had two different Arts.
So, the question about whether he could learn more than one Art was still unanswered.
Now, he needed to go home and plan his voyage. If he wanted answers, he wouldn't find them here.