"Common materials?" Goulth laughed. "There are way too many to count, kid. There are different books in the library on metals, plants, and all other types of materials. But do you even know how to read yet?"

"Don't they have illustrations?" Red asked, recalling the Spirit Key book Eiwin had shown him.

"Uh, I guess there might be." The blacksmith was taken aback. "But I wouldn't count on it."

The youth frowned. It seemed like this information would be out of the boy's reach until he learned how to read.

"Can you show them to me?" Red still insisted.

"You can ask Eiwin." Goulth shrugged. "I don't really visit the library that much."

The boy nodded. Right as he was wondering how to approach that subject, he was interrupted by a sizzling noise. The giant had brought the metal piece over to the forge and was in the process of heating it up.

"Don't get distracted, though!" The blacksmith suddenly spoke up. "You have to focus while you're in this workshop. Get the hammer!"

Red followed his instructions, and the two of them got lost in their work.

...

After the boy left the workshop, he felt like he had gone through an excruciating workout. His arms ached, and his ears were ringing from the loud, banging metal noises. Goulth not only asked for precision with his hammer strikes, but he also wanted Red to strike as hard as he could with every blow.

The youth had lost count of how many times he had repeated the same overhead swing over the last hour, and still, the blacksmith was unhappy with his strength. Some of the metals required a lot of force to bend into shape even after being heated - force the boy was obviously lacking. At the end of the day, though, there was not much he could do other than keep training. After he finished opening his Upper Leg Vein, the Lower Arm Vein would be next, and perhaps by then, he would have the required strength.

Now was the time for another lesson, though. Right as Red was about to look for Eiwin, he saw the woman waiting for him nearby. She smiled at him and waved him over. The boy approached.

"Now that it's still day, we'll have an easier time with your lessons." Eiwin commented. "Let's go to the library."

Red nodded and followed along. As they entered the room, the boy was able to see that Eiwin had already set aside books and papers. She sat to one side of the table and pointed to the other chair. The youth took her cue and sat down.

"We're going to be reviewing what we learned yesterday." Eiwin pointed at the paper. "Do you still remember everything?"

Red nodded and picked up the quill, dipping it in ink. He proceeded to write out the entire alphabet on the paper trying to recollect shapes. After he was done, he set the quill aside and looked up at Eiwin. Her expression betrayed deep fascination.

"Did I do something wrong?" The youth frowned.

"No." She shook her head. "I was just surprised you remembered everything so well."

Red had paid attention to the letters yesterday so he wouldn't forget them. Even as he went to sleep, the youth imagined their shapes in his head, so it wasn't strange that he had remembered them.

"I thought we might have to repeat the same lesson, but it seems I was being overly concerned." Eiwin smiled. "Now we can move on to smaller words and how they are read."

The youth nodded, eagerly paying attention.

As he had imagined, there were many intricacies to language. Some letters put together in specific orders would be read in a completely different way. At first, Red was confused with the rules, but Eiwin's explanations were clear, and the boy was quick to grasp them.

By the end of the lesson, the youth had memorized a handful of words and how to write. In fact, Red was even able to read a few unknown words by himself. The woman once more looked at him with a strange gaze.

"Are you sure you don't know how to read?" She asked.

The boy nodded, but even he didn't feel as confident in his reply. It was clear now that his learning speed was abnormal, and he couldn't think of a reason as to why that was. While Red was paying attention to the lessons, he had a weird feeling. It was as if the youth wasn't just absorbing the knowledge but also uncovering something he already knew.

Mayhaps this had to do with his life before the underground, but Red wouldn't mention that to Eiwin.

"I just feel like it's very easy." He wasn't lying.

"Maybe you have a talent with words." The woman commented. "Pretty soon, you'll be able to read everything in the library by yourself, and you won't have to ask me for help."

That would certainly make things less awkward. But for now, Red still had to rely on her.

"Do you have a book on common crafting materials?" The boy asked.

"We have a few." Eiwin nodded. "However, they are all very technical. I don't think you'll be able to read them just yet."

Her response didn't surprise him.

"Do they have illustrations?" Red followed up with another question.

"A few of them do, I think." The woman replied after some consideration. "However, most of them are just writing. Is there something specific you're looking for? I could look it up for you."

The youth seriously considered her offer, but in the end, he simply shook his head.

"I was just hoping to learn more since I'm working on blacksmithing now." The boy spoke a half-truth.

"That makes sense." Eiwin nodded. "Maybe I can teach you about the surrounding areas and the materials we extract from them? Would that be useful?"

"Yes." Red nodded, having his interest piqued.

The woman smiled and got up to search for something in the bookshelves. When she returned, she had brought a yellowish paper and unfolded it over the table. Red could immediately recognize it as a large map because of the detailed drawings of roads and terrain. Unlike the bandit's map, though, this one seemed to contain all kinds of information.

"This is a map of Fordham-Bestrem and the surrounding areas." She pointed at a specific area. "This is our town."

Red looked over and recognized the relatively small circle in the map representing the settlement.

"That's very small." The youth remarked.

"This is just to scale. Relative to the rest of the world, it is quite small, and yet it can hold more than 10 thousand people." Eiwin smiled. "Can you imagine if it was bigger than this?"

Red, in fact, could not even begin to imagine it.

"As you can see, we live in the middle of a large forest." The woman pointed out all the tree drawings. "We appropriately call it Bestrem Forest. It comprises this whole region, as well as a few other settlements."

The forest occupied almost half of the map. In the middle of it, there were a few other villages that looked even smaller than this town.

"You used to hunt monsters here, right?" He questioned.

"Yes, it was an important venture to the town." The woman shook her head in resignation. "However, monsters aren't the only thing in this forest. You might not have had the opportunity to see them, but there are plenty of Spiritual Plants that grow in there. Iron-bark wood, for instance, is a rare spiritual material that is native to this forest..."

The woman went over some of the other things that could be found in the region. However, there was never any mention of moonstones to the boy's dismay. Next, what caught Red's attention was the vast river cutting the forest in half.

"How long is this river?" Red asked, noticing the entire map couldn't display its length.

"Extremely long." Eiwin explained. "It begins in the Skycrown Mountains to the east and ends in the Imperial lands to the west. It almost crosses the entire continent, and it gets much bigger than this at certain points."

"Is there something special about this river?"

"There is." She continued. "In certain sections, the river is overflowing with Spiritual Energy, making it a perfect place to cultivate. A lot of cities and sects are built close to it because of that."

"What is it called?" The youth asked with interest.

"Crystal River." The woman replied. "They say the founder of the Crystal Sky Sect was the one that created this river."

"How do you create a river?" Red was confused.

"I'm not sure, but when someone is powerful enough, there is little they can't do in this world."

The youth could only hold onto his curiosity.

"What about this?" Red pointed at another landmark on the map.

To the west of the city, there was this odd depression depicted on the map. If the forest occupied almost half of the map, these strange rocky symbols occupied the other half.

"That's the canyon I told you about before." Eiwin replied. "It's called the Great Serpent Canyon. What you are seeing here, though, is just a corner of it. The whole canyon occupies an incredibly vast area that borders multiple countries, and all kinds of monsters and rare materials can be found in it."

"Like flarestone?" Red recalled the name of it.

"Exactly." She smiled. "But that's not even among the rare materials that can be found there. Black Iron and all other kinds of Spiritual Ores are mainly extracted from within this canyon."

The woman went into more detail about the materials that came from the canyon. However, once again, there was no mention of moonstones.

"What about the monsters?" Red tried to approach the question differently.

"There are all kinds of monsters in there. They are more powerful and more numerous than those in the forest. The further into the canyon you go, the stronger they get." Eiwin explained. "You may find a lot of reptiles, like lizards and serpents, and they have some of the deadliest venoms in the world. However, there are also monstrous mountain lions, foxes, birds, and even insects like scorpions and spiders."

At the mention of insects, the youth's eyes lit up. However, the boy was able to hide his curiosity behind his emotionless face. Just because there were insects there, it didn't mean they were the same dark ones from the moonstone mines.

"Do you guys have a lot of mines in there?" Red tried to keep his questions on topic.

"Our city already has dozens of them, and that's already a small amount compared to some other cities." The woman laughed. "The canyon itself has an immense network of tunnels that contain many precious materials. However, all kinds of monsters also live in those, so it's a difficult task to explore them."

The boy's curiosity about the canyon was starting to increase.

"And does the guild ever have missions there?"

"Sometimes, but the canyon is far more dangerous than the forest." Eiwin explained. "A lot of monsters who have already opened their Spiritual Sea live in that place. If we ever need to do something there, then it needs to be worth the risk."

'Worth the risk?'

"Do you think I could explore the canyon one day?" The youth asked.

"Maybe when you are stronger." The woman replied after some hesitation. "But even for people who have opened all 12 of their veins, exploring that place is a risk. Perhaps only Master Hector could move around safely, and not even he would dare to go too deeply into the canyon."

Red understood her. If even Hector could be in danger in that place, how would the boy fare?