Old man Chuyi was silent for a few moments before he began to speak fluently.
"The Moriah Kingdom, is one of the constituent kingdoms within the Holy Ronaldr Empire, the laws of the Empire are lax, it does not even have taxes on any vassal outside the Imperial capital, in short, the history of the Empire is long and of little use to you right now" old Chiyo downplayed the Empire
"The Moriah Kingdom has more than 600 years of history, founded by the Morihallan tribes who claimed these lands from their previous settlers and these, in turn, had claimed it from the Dwarmen who had their fortresses and great war forges more than 2000 years ago in this land, that's what the legends say, don't take me too seriously" the old man said waving his hand and trying to follow up on his narration.
"The Kingdom of Moriah covers from the North Sea for more than 500 miles of coastline, to the Cohar plains to the south 350 miles inside the continent, the capital of the kingdom is Mori Royal City, it is a splendid city, everyone who has at least a little of courage and ability should visit once in their life" old Chuyi smiled mischievously remembering something not so suitable for children, seeing Thorin who was staring at him, he cleared his throat.
"Ahem, Mori Royal City is inhabited by more than 2 million people, merchants, blacksmiths, jewelers, bankers, adventurers, mercenaries, slaves, and the girls! oh, the girls... in short it is a city that leaves Sicoal City like a wild place away from the glory of the gods, in Mori Royal City there are also the greatest religious denominations, churches, and the most skilled archbishops, although they have nothing to do with us peasants." Chuyi said with a snort.
"And what about the nobles, how is the kingdom governed? Who are the ones who run the kingdom? A court with some constitution or legalistic ministers?" Thorin said without thinking to which the old chuyi gave him a doubtful look.
"eh? where did you hear that?, no, the kingdom is run by the king's vassals, the great nobles, 3 archdukes, 7 ducal houses, more than 15 marquises, and the number of counts and viscounts is numbered in the hundreds, barons and knights are even more, those are the greatest rulers of the kingdom, being close to them as a peasant is a mistake, even appearing in front of them is a mistake, never offend a noble Thorin, they are not reasonable beings, dammit, I even doubt they are human!" Chuyi said with a gloomy face grinding his decayed teeth.
"Anyway, the only ones who as civilians can even talk to a nobleman are adventurers with some renown, so if you're not an adventurer, don't have the slightest idea of talking to a nobleman, so pretend you're stupid and throw your face to the ground if you ever face one, it's humiliating, but don't give them the pleasure of humiliating you, even when the nobles are wrong they are right...!" the old Chuyi face was cold and indifferent, Thorin felt his chest congested at the aura of the old man in front of him.
"The adventurers are free souls that mostly come from civilians, even so, these are not affable people so do not offend them, in itself, the circles that could be considered equal are, the clergy, the aristocrats, the Royal family, the court of magic and the adventurers, they are all intertwined and can represent individual interests but in the end, they are all the same for us civilians, those who you can't offend." old man Chuyi said with resentment and anger, at the same time he felt guilt as he was passing on his fear and inferiority to another generation.
'If I had taught this to my son and not the arrogance of being able to practice martial arts, it would have been something else...' Old Chuyi thought regretfully.
For his part, Thorin's mind was active and he took a bitter pill in the face of the situation in which he found himself since he was part of the lowest social echelon in this world.
"So the only way to become someone important and not be humiliated by the nobles is to be an Adventurer?" Thorin asked with some hope but seeing the old man agree first and then deny he lost this hope.
"It is not enough to be an Adventurer, you must be a renowned adventurer, someone with a power and influence that they dare not offend, there are thousands of adventurers in the kingdom, but those who are respected are few, the power of adventurers comes from their wide network of contacts and members throughout the kingdoms even outside the HRE(Holy Rolandr Empire) and the resources they can mobilize, in addition to the fact that many of them do not choose to integrate with the nobles and retire in free cities or rest as hermits so they can take their words as dog barks" upon hearing the words of old Chuyi, Thorin nodded, but he didn't quite understand what the adventurers were in the old man's words, or how they came to have a status on a par with the nobles.
"Is it that they have any ability or power? You also said about the court of wizards, magic exists? It's not just cheap tricks?" Thorin opened his eyes in surprise and his heart beat faster and stronger.
"hehe, I don't know who taught you that brat, but let me tell you that magic is real, I've seen it with my own eyes, it seems that you need to learn a lot more general knowledge, Thorin, in the wild you will find all kinds of beasts, that are stronger than any civilian, from small goblins that alone are not a threat to dragons that with a single breath would char you to the bone." The old man stopped and imitated the jaws of a dragon breathing fire.
"In itself, humans are weak against these creatures, with weak bodies, limbs without claws and only their ingenuity to create tools, yet there is something that provides more power, a gift from the gods, or perhaps it is a theft of humans to godhood, it all depends on which side you are on, mana, from the first wizards who discovered it to the schools dedicated to investigating its mysteries, but the true power that gives humans the ability to compete with creatures outside one of their leagues is prana" Chuyi said with a smile.
Thorin tried to remember every word that old Chuyi said, emphasizing Mana and Prana, these concepts were unknown to Thorin but he already had a certain idea with the large amount of information he had had in his past life and the context of the conversation.
"Mana is a type of energy that is in the air, magicians mobilize it through their spells and achieve effects that border on the miraculous, while prana may seem inferior to mana but it is the vital energy in every living being, in my opinion, it is even deeper and more mysterious, it is the one that has given birth to many professions of hand-to-hand combatants, from knights to barbarians, archers or assassins we call them martialists and are the ones on the first line of defense against all dark beings" old Chuyi put a hand on the book that I had been reading in the morning.
"So how can I become a magician? Should I go to the Court of Magic? Or how can I become a martialist?" Thorin asked doubtfully.
Old Chuyi looked at him with pity.
"Magicians are only born from nobles, among the peasants there are no magicians, only witches, and these end up being condemned to the stake if they are discovered doing magic, those without resources such as the noble houses end up going down the simple path of demonic magic, sacrifices, pagan rituals, and other impure acts is what gives them power, in general, they are a threat to everyone, from the poorest to the richest, if you are poor having potential as a magician is only a misfortune" The old man Chuyi said without a change in his face, he didn't have a high opinion of warlocks and witches.
"I may never like the nobles and the ecclesiastics, but it is without a doubt that their existence is necessary, there are greater evils in this world than them" Chuyi's voice was deeper and rougher than sandpaper.
Thorin took a gulp of saliva as he looked at the sun that would soon go down after a couple of hours.
"That is why mana and prana are important, only with extraordinary powers can humans minimally deal with witches, necromancers and other dark or demonic creatures" Chuyi lightly tapped the book in front of him, to which Thorin looked and reached him It came to mind that perhaps this book contained some insight into these extraordinary powers.
"Perhaps that book..."
"It's a prana practice book on the path of the dark warrior... it was given by my adoptive father over 60 years ago, it was supposed to be something that my son must have inherited, but it only brought him an early death, I have 2 options, let it rot along with my body in the not too distant future, or... would you like to learn the extraordinary way of the martialist Thorin?" Old Chuyi looked at his face unflinchingly.
Thorin felt his chest pressed by the atmosphere that surrounded the old man who seemed to be in his last days, even so, Thorin could see in his eyes the fierceness that he had only seen in retired veterans in the past, even though these were not compared to him.
Well, he had only been a civilian and did not have much contact with people in the military.
"Yes, Granpa Chuyi! I will learn to use prana!" Without much thought, Thorin accepted.
for Thorin everything in this world gave him a feeling of insecurity, he was an alien existence in this world and he felt as if he were a candle in a storm, running the risk of being extinguished by the slightest gust of cold air, the feeling terrified him and only the primitive strength of the potential for violence would give him any peace of mind.
"That makes me happy, remember that what I teach you and what you learn is for you, do not do to serve the nobles, they never appreciate any sacrifice, for them, peasants will always be peasants, what they offer you as a reward remains their property and they are within the right to take it away as they please." Old Man Chuyi said angrily
"The practice of prana is not easy, and as I was saying about magic, let's not talk about it, the only ones worthy of being called magicians are those of the court of magicians or perhaps those of the guild of magicians, although they learn by tutoring under a mage master, being recruited by one is even more difficult than entering the court of magicians." Old man Chuyi shook his head as he thought how many children had dreams of being a magician.
"Although... maybe I can help you with it in the future, it's a small possibility, but even when I'm in this situation, I have some acquaintances who could help, but don't get your hopes up, to begin with, the probability that you have a talent for Magic is minuscule." Old man Chuyi slumped down on the chair as he lost himself in memories of his youth.
"Okay, I'll focus on prana then, is there a problem if I study one and then the other?" Thorin asked doubtfully, for in some texts he could remember that following one path made the other impossible.
"prana and mana are complementary, there is no problem practicing both, just that the life of an extraordinary practitioner is limited, the day still has 3 thirds even if you are extraordinary" shaking his head old Chuyi explained to Thorin.
"I see, thanks for the explanation Granpa Chuyi, but... could you tell me about this tome, about the Black Warrior?"
"True, I was just about to explain it, then let me explain the divisions of power between the extraordinary ranks of martialists, it is not general knowledge among peasants but since you are going to take the extraordinary path, it is better that I explain it to you, the Moriah thing Kingdom is not in a hurry, there is too much to say about this one and I will end up boring you." Old Chuyi smiled as he opened the book.