I thought I made the right call by returning to the warehouse, and shortly after, Jorn arrived. I didn't want to give a bad impression, so being diligent and punctual became my priorities. It had been weeks since I started working here, and the tasks in the warehouse seemed to be ever-changing. I began by reorganizing the ore, as a new stock arrived every two days. Ensuring each case contained only one type of ore became my responsibility.

The first challenge arose when Jorn introduced magical ores, and without mastering mana eyes—my term for the skill he taught me—differentiating between them proved challenging. Unable to use mana eyes efficiently, I resorted to alternative methods like gauging heat, discerning smells, and observing colours under specific circumstances. Adopting the approach of a regular blacksmith, I managed the job, but everything changed recently. Now, not only did I receive deliveries, but I also had to transport them myself. While it kept me in shape, by day's end, my hands were numb, and headaches followed whenever I used mana on the forge.

At least, it wasn't in vain. I felt my mana capacity increase slightly each week. Progress, albeit gradual, was progress nonetheless. Lost in thought, I finished my warehouse work for the day and headed to the forge to work with Jorn. A natural schedule had formed over the weeks—warehouse work followed by forge duties, and lessons with Jorn if needed. I was excited to work with him on a new skill, and I couldn't hide my eagerness to ask him something.

Entering the forge, I found Jorn already present with a box of iron ore near him.

“Oh lad, I see that you are more and more efficient in your work in the warehouse. It takes you less time every week.”

Shifting the topic, I played humble, “Ah! … Maybe, I don’t really know; I just want to do a good job, so I focus and try to make fewer mistakes.”

“I see,” he said with a slight smile. I sighed in relief, avoiding extra workload.

“So where are you in your learning of this skill?”

“Euh… actually nowhere since last time I didn’t really succeed in achieving that result, I don’t really know why.”

Frustration engulfed me as I couldn't understand the problem. The first attempt at using the skill had been a success, but subsequent tries proved challenging.

“Hey, calm down lad. This skill was never meant to be easy to use. If it was, it wouldn’t have taken me 10 years to create it.”

“What? You created mana eyes?”

“Mana eyes? Is that what you call it? Nevermind. Yeah, I created it something like 20 years ago. At first, it wasn’t that effective, but I took my time and refined it over the years to achieve what I teach you now.”

This revelation surprised me. In many stories, only a select few, like protagonists or main villains, could create spells. I didn't want to undermine Jorn, but he didn't seem like a genius. My thought must have been evident because Jorn hit my head.

“I don’t know what you are thinking lad, but I am really the creator of this skill.”

“How can you create a skill? I mean, is it really that simple? I always thought it was only some geniuses who could achieve such a feat.”

“Who says I am not a genius?” he said, looking at me with a knowing gaze. “Nevermind, sometimes I forget that you are still in training, seeing how mature you can be… sometimes.”

“Your parents may not have talked to you about it because you cannot freely control your mana yet, but magic is much more open than what many people think.”

Raising my left eyebrow, Jorn continued, “I think you realize that some people have black straps on their wrists like yourself?”

I nodded.

“Most of the time, it is used by children who are starting their journey to learn about magic, but it is not always the case. In some cases, some people will not be able to have good control over their mana and will continue to wear that strap. It helps them reduce cases of mana overflow, limits the quantity of mana they can use at the same time, but increases their control.”

I finally understood why it was relatively easy for me to transform my mana into fire mana or produce fire. The black strap played a crucial role. I focused on control for now, using the strap, and considered increasing my mana capacity after retiring it.

“Okay, I think I understand that, but it still doesn’t answer my question. How can you create a skill?” I asked.

“Actually, anybody with good control over mana can create a skill. To use magic, you need to generate a good amount of any type of mana, give it a shape, a goal with a clear image in your mind. After that, you instil in it what you want. It can be speed, for example.”

Jorn demonstrated by creating a flame in his hand, shaping it into a ball, and finally into an arrow. He threw it into the oven, and the arrow ablaze ignited the wood, heating the forge.

“Magic is this ‘easy’ to use? Well, not exactly easy. Generating and maintaining a clear image of what you want in your mind is difficult. I've succeeded in creating a flame because it follows its normal behaviour. I didn't need to modify its form or properties. I realize I'm still carrying over everything I know about manga, but I should stop. I can't assume everything in this world follows the same rules as a game. I need to verify and compare if all my presumptions can apply in this world.”

“Why and how did you specifically create that skill?” I continued my questioning, approaching the forge to maintain the fire.

“Hum… Actually, I created this skill to help me in my work because I wasn’t what we could call a good student. I had some difficulty remembering all the different methods to differentiate ore and inspect items. In the town where I grew up, my father was a good blacksmith, not the best, but he had his little fame. When my sister and I turned seven, he wanted to train us so that at least one of us would take over his business. We were both passionate about smithing, and when he announced that, a rivalry was born between my sister and me. We started to learn and train over the years, but something was obvious—I wasn't really that smart. My sister could remember everything she ever saw and even tell the flaws in an item without touching it. But for me, it was challenging. I realized I could only remember what was forged in me repeatedly. So, I trained again and again, but I was still left behind by my sister.

One night, after closing the store and walking back home alone on the road, I was thinking about what I could do to close the gap. I had a better physique than her, so I could work much longer and forge more quickly, but the results were always worse than hers. At that moment, I realized it wasn't about strength or intelligence. No, it was about skill—knowing where to hit, what ore to take, how much temperature to use, and how long to maintain the heat. I needed something to help me with all this, not to remember, but to instantly know by a glance. The only thing that came to mind was magic.

So, I read every book I could find to see if there was a connection between an item and mana. I was right—most items we create have mana residue, and things like ore are often born near or of an accumulation of mana. It was all I needed to know to start imagining what I call 'creating.' If I want to know by a glance, I should create a skill that uses my eyes. Little by little, a prototype was created, and over the years, I created some things that started to help me. But it was not sufficient, so I left my home and decided to travel, learn from others, refine my skills and techniques, and only return when my skill would be complete.”

Listening to Jorn, I realized that as easy as magic may appear, mastering or creating something would take time and dedication. I was naïve to think I could learn a skill that took more than ten years to create in just one day. However, something in his speech bothered me.

“You said you'll go back home when your skill is complete. Doesn't that mean—”

“Exactly, this skill is incomplete. Actually, I continue to work on it. Now, you can do the same. For now, we have the same skill, but who knows in a decade, they may be worlds apart.”

I could perfect this skill. It was good to know. I wasn't thinking of becoming a blacksmith anyway, so I could modify this skill to help me in my future as an adventurer. This skill would be the first I'd master, and modifying it seemed much easier than creating a new one. So, I decided to do that.

“Now lad, you have your answer, so focus and keep that fire alive.”

“Ah! Yes.”

I had been absentminded, and the fire started to die. I immediately created more flame and injected it into the oven. Now, I could start the next part of my training and work on my fire resistance. Charles had suggested reinforcing my body with fire mana, but I was skeptical. Until now, I could only manage one thing at a time, transforming my mana into fire mana and generating a flame at best. Now, I should add reinforcing my body? It seemed really difficult, but if I planned to become an adventurer and needed to fight and protect myself, starting now could be a good idea.

I already knew how to do it individually, so I decided to try both at the same time, but step by step. I didn't need to create a flame all the time, so I started by maintaining the fire. After that, I waited, attempting to reinforce my body with fire mana. I transformed mana and diffused it all over my body, but quickly realized I might have used too much mana. My skin turned red, and I felt heat in my chest. So, I steadily reduced the amount of mana I injected until my body recovered its natural color, and the heat stopped.

Maintaining that steady influx of mana, I noticed the heat from the oven was decreasing noticeably. I continued until the moment I had to create a flame. Then, I realized it was difficult to keep the influx because the amount of mana I could use at the same time was insufficient. So, I chose to create fire, maintain the fire, keep the transformation of mana active, and after some time, I started to diffuse the remaining mana in my body. It was difficult—really difficult. I felt a slight headache and sweated heavily without feeling overly profuse. But I kept going, and little by little, I found a balance between the amount of mana needed for creating a flame, maintaining a flame, and increasing my resistance. I alternated between every step to be able to use any of them independently or at the same time. I didn't know if I had done it for 10 minutes, an hour, or more, but all I knew was that when I felt Jorn's hand on my shoulder, asking me to stop, I sat on the floor, bathed in sweat. It was the first time in my life I had sweated like that.

“I see that you have finally talked with your senior brother.”

“!!!” Breathless, I turned around to look at Jorn.

“Don’t look at me like that, Lad. I know what you are thinking, but I could not help you this time. Your parents clearly asked me to force you to talk with other people because you are too closed off.”

It was exactly what I thought.

“Can I suppose that there are some other things that you hide?”

“I prefer to let things that I send you bother your senior brothers.”

Bother, huh?

“It only took you a day and some explanation to reach this far. Maybe you have a talent with fire magic.”

It was true that I felt much at ease when I tried to use my fire mana, but I didn't know why. Was it because I could visualize better what I wanted, or was it something else? If it was the case, why was I this far behind with mana eyes? Nevermind. If I had a facility with fire, I could create some skills with it and just immerse myself in training for the rest.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Good lad, we will end here today. Anyway, you are not even able to continue.”

“A minute, sir.”

“Hein?”

“I want to ask you something about mana eyes.”

“You want to know why I don’t teach it to the other apprentices?”

“!!!!”

“Ah, ah, ah. Don’t feel frustrated, Lad. I was already expecting this question since you started talking with them. Actually, a skill can be more or less easy to create, but the really good ones that can keep you alive or elevate you above your peers are highly sought after. Some can kill for a good skill, so pay attention to where and when you use your good skill. Most of the time, we have some low-tier skills to not draw attention, and we use the good ones in specific situations. Mana eyes, as you call it, has huge potential, and every blacksmith that uses it can become a frightening opponent.”

“So why did you teach me this skill?”

“For two reasons. First, your father. He helped me in the past, and I owe him one. And last, I don’t know why, but I don’t think you want to be a blacksmith, so I don’t see in you an opponent.”

I tried to find words to refute him. I didn't want him to think that I despised his work or something else.

“It is okay, Lad. We all have our circumstances. At least you have the motivation to do what you want, and you do your job. So, don’t fret over it. I'll see you tomorrow, Lad.”

Jorn said, throwing a towel in my direction. When I tried to look at him, he was already gone. Sweeping away all that sweat, I stood up and wanted to turn off the oven, but it was already extinguished.

“I didn’t even know when he did it.”

Sitting on a bench, I took my book and wrote all the observations I had made over this day regarding my experiments with resistance and skill usage at the same time. Breathing deeply, I took a few minutes to calm myself before heading home.

Coming back early, I decided to go to my mother's clinic to go back home with her. Arriving in front of the clinic, I saw my mother already closing it. Turning around, she saw me and smiled, heading in my direction.

“Arthur! What are you doing here? I thought you were at Jorn's forge? Why are you sweating this much?”

“Calm down, Mom. Everything is okay. Mr. Jorn let me come back early today, so I thought we could go back home together.”

“Good. Now, let’s go home and tell me how your day was.”

Taking my hand, my mother led me home, and I started telling her about everything, starting from my meeting with Charles to my experiments with resistance.