Minos couldn't help but suddenly feel that his organization was heading in a skewed direction, appearing more like a daycare than anything else.
Gripping his forehead, he decided to put these worries to the back of his mind. Ultimately the children were still young, but as they grew, they would naturally become wiser.
The most important thing right now was to instill loyalty in their hearts so that Minos didn't have to worry about them betraying him.
But he still decided to hire a teacher, not only to discipline these kids, but also to expand their minds so that they can better do their jobs.
"I didn't know you were such a good cook." Minos said, focusing back on the present.
"My mom taught me, it's the one thing I'm good at." Beetus said with pride.
"Is that so?" Minos said, picking up a sandwich and eating it in a few bites.
"Seems you do have talent." Minos spoke after finishing the sandwich.
"Thanks boss!" Beetus said, beaming.
"Well since you have everything under control, I'll leave it to you. I'm going to be very busy for the next year, so I may not come here much." Minos said.
"Busy, with what?" Rubella asked, not liking the idea of Minos being gone so long.
"Just studying as usual, you guys will be fine without me." Minos said, rubbing Rubella's hair and messing it up.
"Hey, stop that!" Rubella said, slapping Minos's hand away.
"Well, I'm heading out now, also Beetus, I want you to hire a teacher for these kids, Rubella as well."
"What do I need a teacher for?" Rubella questioned, annoyed.
"What's ten plus thirteen?" Minos suddenly asked.
"Uhh, let me see." Rubella said, as she began to count her fingers one by one.
"Where exactly are we?" Minos kept asking.
"Underwood City of course!" Rubella answered quickly, feeling smart.
"That's obvious, but where exactly is Underwood City located?" Minos continued.
"Uhh, on the Alephora Continent?" Rubella said.
"That's why you need a teacher." Minos spoke.
"Also you better not be lazy with your talisman training. While I won't be able to come here often, I'll definitely test you when I do, so don't slack." Minos warned.
"Don't worry master, I haven't forgotten your lesson from last time!" Rubella said confidently.
"Good. Anyways, I'm heading off, you guy's take care." Minos said, patting Beetus heavily on the shoulder one more time for exiting the large mansion.
…
The night passed quickly, and soon Minos found himself back in the Weapon Refining Union. Almost the second he entered, he saw Okrum, who was ready for him.
"There you are boy, are you ready? The next year is going to be grueling." Okrum said, giving Minos a chance to prepare mentally.
"I'm ready." Minos said confidently.
"Good, then start with memorizing this." Okrum said as he pulled out a massive book from his spatial bag.
The book was incredibly thick, having at least a thousand pages. Even Minos couldn't help but gulp slightly as the massive book slammed against the floor.
"What is this?" Minos asked, picking up the massive book.
"It's a list of some common materials." Okrum said.
"It tells you about the materials, the ways you can refine them, where you find them, etc. I want you to memorize every single word by the end of the month, think you can do it?" Okrum said, himself not sure if this was asking too much.
"No worries, my memory happens to be my strongest quality." Minos said with conviction.
"Good man! Well you get busy with that, once you're done, you can find me in my office." Okrum said, leaving Minos to his own devices.
Taking the massive book, Minos soon arrived in the library. Slowly lowering the book onto the table, he began flipping through page by page.
Minos had a photographic memory, meaning he could memorize anything after a single glance, so it was actually work like this that was the hardest for most people that was easiest for him.
With his perfect memory, he soon got to work, flying through the book at a tremendous speed. Occasionally he would stop, test his memories, then continue.
After only a few hours of this, Minos soon burned the entire book into his mind. Not only did he memorize every word, but he even memorized every dot, and the pictures as well.
After testing himself to make sure he really remembered everything, he headed back out of the library, arriving at Okrum's office and knocking at the door.
"Oh Minos, did something happen? Did you encounter a problem?" Okrum asked as he opened the door.
"No problem, I'm just done with the task." Minos said.
"...Done?" Okrum asked, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head.
"How is that possible? It took me a year or so to remember this entire thing, and you're saying you did it in a few hours?" Okrum asked incredulously.
"Pretty much." Minos said succinctly.
"Give that here, I'll be the judge of that." Okrum said, ripping the book out of Minos's hands.
"What's the material on page 347?" Okrum questioned.
"Icy Rock Ore, a material only found in cold regions underneath sheets of ice. Given the materials nature, traditional heat smelting is actually the worst way to refine it, instead one should opt for cold smelting or any smelting that avoids extreme heat." Minos answered.
"Hmm, alright, then tell me the dangers of working with Poison Star Steel."
"Poison Star Steel is usually inert, but when experiencing extreme heat, it can expel an incredibly deadly poisonous mist, making working with it incredibly dangerous and tricky." Minos answered again with no delays.
Just like that, the two began a back and forth, Okrum questioning, and Minos answering. After asking dozens of questions, Okrum gave up, finally accepting the fact that Minos had truly memorized the book.
"Boy, your memory is scary. Since that's the case, then I plan on changing the lesson up a little bit." Okrum said.
"It's clear that training you normally would instead delay you, so I plan on making things much more extreme, are you willing?" Okrum asked.
"Of course, anything to learn." Minos said.
"Good, here's a list of books, I want you to memorize all of them by the end of the week." Okrum said, quickly jotting down a couple dozen book names onto a small sheet of paper.
"Once you're done that, we'll get started on actually refining." Okrum said, sending Minos off with the list.
Taking the list, Minos once again arrived in the library. After handing the list to the receptionist, she soon grabbed all the books for Minos.
Taking the massive pile of books towards an empty table in the far ends of the library, away from everyone else, Minos began learning.
…
The week passed in no time in Minos's mind, his entire attention completely absorbed into the books.
Not only did he manage to memorize all the books given to him by Okrum, but he had even gone out of his way to memorize a lot more.
His head slightly ached from the massive amount of information he had shoved into it over the past week, but fortunately, he could now take a break.
Putting all the books back into the return pile, Minos headed towards Okrum's office, knocking on his door once again after a long time.
"Ahh Minos, you're back. I assume you've memorized everything?"
"Naturally." Minos answered.
"Good, I won't test you this time since I'm already confident in your abilities. Since you now have the foundation set, it's time to begin actual training." Okrum said.
"Follow me." Okrum said, leading Minos towards his own private refining chamber.
"A lot of weapon refiners fail to fully master the basics, and while this isn't a big deal in the present, it will become incredibly important in the future."
"Just like how if a building is tilted by even a centimeter, by the time you build a few stories, you'll realize the entire thing is leaning, on the verge of collapse."
"In both cases, the problem isn't clear in the beginning, but becomes obvious in the future."
"Oftentimes you can distinguish true masters from their basics alone, in fact it's these masters that push these basics to their absolute limits."
"The basics are many, but we are going to focus on the two most important, heating and hammering."
"Well, let's get to work!"