"What do you know about arrays?" She asked, making the others look at her, startled.
The aborigines seemed surprised at the question, as very few people actually know or care about arrays beyond their name.
It was just something that was ingrained to them growing up.
However, after thinking about it, this was likely because the woman was curious about the teleportation arrays, which they'd encounter during wars as well as in the Village Center.
It was Oslo who answered her. "Arrays are special aether paths designed to make certain effects," Oslo said, "Of course, this is a very simplified explanation and it's much more complex in reality."
The others nodded. Although their knowledge of the subject was limited, they still knew much more about it than other non-array masters.
"If something has an array, it would definitely have some special feature," Olga said, "This is what we've learned from our teachers, but we haven't exactly received a thorough understanding of it yet."
As nobles, they naturally went to special schools with people of their stature. Basic knowledge about various things was taught here, but the specialized knowledge was still tightly held by the experts.
Of course, as people of high society, they still had much, much higher chances of getting apprenticeships.
"Hm, thank you. I was just curious," Althea said, and raised one of the gifts, "The Toolmakers are they also array masters, correct?"
The aborigines were surprised by the insight, nodding. "Yes."
"Can you tell me more about the toolmakers and the magic tools themselves?"
"It's a very very special occupation. These people have the ability to control the aether to function as something else entirely."
Although there were separate occupations, basically, as long as one mastered a few arrays, they could be considered as array masters. If they were applied to tools, then they'd be Toolmakers.
"Magic Tools are highly specialized equipment made from combining several arrays together into a single item."
"Are they very rare?"
"Most magic tools could be found in cities, with a bit leaking to towns." That was enough to show how high-level this resource was.
"Because of the complexity of each tool, basically a Magic Tool Maker is limited to a few types, probably only one. A toolmaker could only create multiple types of tools if the arrays they mastered could be applied to another type of tool."
That was to say, knowledge of specific array sets was also limited.
She understood this. Even she had trouble with the concept, with most of the arrays causing her headaches. How many can a person master in a lifetime?
"Is there a skill that could be activated to read arrays?"
At this point, how could the sharp Otto not notice an oddness? However, he didn't point anything out and simply answered her questions.
"Not to my knowledge, there is no such thing. Arrays are a special skill with a language an array master had to learn, one by one."
"So array masters would always master just a few, and in turn have a certain specialty when it came to tools and others."
Otto looked at her with a serious expression. "There is no such thing as an array inheritance from the World Knowledge."
Althea nodded. No wonder she received an inheritance for tool making, but no sign of array mastery at all.
Array masters were counted as one of those mysterious occupations that could not be inherited through the system. Even if one mastered the craft, it would not trigger a title, nor would inheritances specific to them be given.
This was in stark contrast with the system occupations that triggered as long as there was potential and some knowledge. The world knowledge would also supplement the person with related knowledge, one way or another.
What did this imply? She wasn't sure, but she could surmise it had to do with the array having special functions to this world's make, and thus couldn't be integrated so easily with the 'system'.
Anyway, Althea listened intently to the information she was getting. This meant that whatever she needed to learn in the field—unless she found herself a master—had to be completely self-taught.
"You mentioned that your family employed one?" She asked. She wondered what she had to pay in order to learn a bit from this person.
She hadn't told her husband yet because she was planning on surprising him.
"Well, my family employs one for their business," Oslo said, nodding. "Otto uses them a lot, I heard."
They turned to look at the blonde watching their interaction closely. In retrospect, all his siblings were giving him weird looks and he knew his affections had been exposed.
Obi did not even bother to stifle his laugh though.
Oslo blushed furiously, but he kept a straight face. "Answer the elder's question!"
The couple didn't seem to take any heed though and were just curious about the information.
"Yes, but that old man's really anti-social. Even we communicate with him through letters," Otto said, tapping down Althea's hope for learning through that route with one hand. "My dad said that someone talked to him once, and he almost died of hives."
She pursed her lips, continuing with her inquiries. "Do you have a way to obtain these knowledge about arrays? Some rough information will do."
"Array masters would rather die than reveal it. Most actually don't keep copies of it lying around, it's always all inside their heads."
"Similarly, even if normal people get ahold of array patterns—which I heard wouldn't be easy to decipher anyway—they wouldn't be able to do anything with it."
It's the reason why array masters still hadn't been kidnapped and forced for information. It was also why they were still so small in number.
The couple looked at each other in interest. This was just another one of the many things to explore in this massive world.
She could feel it—there were still so many things to learn!
She wished she could divide herself, that way she'd have enough time to do everything she wanted!