On the massive stone bridge, since Russell wanted to start by learning how to forge weapons and armor, Hephaestus began with the first step of his lessons.
Identifying materials!
It was fundamental, much like mathematical formulas. Before applying them, one had to know what the symbols meant.
It began when Hephaestus asked several simple questions about forging. Russell answered them one by one, and after more than a dozen questions, Hephaestus quietly nodded. This was a complete outsider, not even qualified to be called an apprentice.
A full bottle stayed steady; a half-full bottle loved to slosh around whenever it could.
In Hephaestus's view, Russell was an empty barrel with only three or five drops of water inside. He could not make any sound no matter how much he shook it, yet he still loved shaking himself desperately.
The situation went like this:
"Can you forge iron?"
"I'm ashamed to say I've made a great many suits of armor. They were sturdy and durable."
"What materials did you use?"
"What kind of question is that? If I knew them all, why would I come to you?"
"..."
Knowing he could not win an argument, Hephaestus stopped humoring the contrarian. Again and again, he hauled on the chains, pulling all kinds of materials from the magma at the earth's core to the side of the bridge.
Patiently, he explained the advantages, disadvantages, applications, melting points, and cooling points of various materials, the concentration ratios for making alloys, and their corresponding uses.
It was complicated and mind-numbing. On top of that, Hephaestus was not good at explaining things. He often jumped from one topic to another, saying whatever came to mind, so this materials science lesson went on for ten days and ten nights.
Though the teacher was not skilled at teaching,