The group stayed in their camp for some time, they took their time to celebrate their success and recover from their wounds. After all, they couldn't use healing magic, and asking the Starborn for help to heal minor wounds wouldn't sit well with them. They were all noble warriors and frankly, they didn't dare ask. Of course, some had serious problems like tendons being raptured, but even so, they kept their distance.
Lucas had shown his power twice now, both times showed that they were nothing in front of him. Luckily, Carian had apparently had a talk with him, and he promised to help them all out. Yet even with that promise in place, they didn't dare ask, only Thurin seemed to be close to him.
Since they needed a few days to heal, Lucas took that time to get a bunch of lessons of Carian. The only way for him to aid an heir to become the emperor, he needed as much intel as he could gather. Since Carian couldn't explain hundreds of years in a few days, he stuck to the basics.
"This country is called The Aurelian Empire, named after its current Emperor, Emperor Aurelian. When a new Emperor claims the throne, it's tradition for the name to change as well. That's why we mostly refer to this country as the Empire since the name changed quite a bit in the past. Yet now, we have been stable for a very long time thanks to the new Emperor. He's the greatest leader this Empire has known, born in a modest environment, he enlisted in the army and rose in the ranks so quickly, it was unprecedented.
Once he became the strongest general as well, he claimed the throne for himself. Pushing back the barbarians and repressing internal revolts with an iron fist, he's made this country strong again. Returning the Empire to its former glory was a difficult task, yet he almost made it a reality. I believe a few more years should do the trick.
Still, we are surrounded by barbarians on all sides, with the southern lands being the worst. Those tribes have been gathering their strength for centuries and are now raiding our lands. Luckily, the Emperor has been fighting them head on for a few years, pushing them back."
Lucas listened closely to every single word that Carian had to offer. Each sentence contained a lot of information and made Lucas start his speculations.
'Taking the throne and being born a commoner, this place seems better than upstairs.'
'Nah, Carian is also a noble, right? Wanna bet that 'modest' conditions is just a lower ranking noble? I don't believe commoners can ever get that position. This place is filled with the same shitfaced nobles.'
'You make a good point, still, no matter where, as long as there are humans, a hierarchy is born, huh?'
'How else would they work together? Every group needs a leader, the only issue is that finding the correct one is close to impossible.'
Carian continued his lessons as Lucas paid close attention. Thurin joined him in the beginning but quickly left after Carian started to recite historic moments. Carian found it a bit ironic that the person he had to have control over was doing what he wished and the person out of his control was obediently following his lessons.
Of course, next to historical information, there was a lot more to go through. One of the things Lucas was most interested in was their strength. The bodies of them were stronger than any normal human on the world above. Lucas heard some small pieces of info, but never got the full explanation.
"There are 3 Tiers in body cultivation, 4 if you include the people who have normal bodies and don't cultivate it."
"When one starts their cultivation, is that the reason why your skin tones are so gray?"
"Hmm? No, that has nothing to do with it. Everyone in this world has a gray skin. Why that is the case isn't that clear, there are a few legends that tried to explain it, but the most popular belief is that we were born from falling Stars. Inspecting a Star that has fallen revealed them to be of a gray kind of stone that was very valuable. So the popular belief is that we're all descendants of a Star, hence our skin tone."
"Then what's the difference between you and me, I'm a so-called Starborn. I also come from a Star, shouldn't I be the same as you?"
"That's where you're wrong, we fell from the sky and mix with the ground here, you were born in the sky when the Stars are pure white.", Lucas had never been taught about how stars and the universe worked, so to him, this surprisingly made some sense to him. If one had to explain everything in the world without any kind of scientific backing, only legends and myths could be made.
With that little piece of info, Carian continued his explanation of their main source of strength.
"With each Tier, the body has to go through an evolution to reach a higher stage in life. Each stage requires certain conditions to be met, and you'll need the temple's permission to reach the next Tier. Tier 1 makes you capable of punching rocks to pieces without trouble, any kind of wooden or stone weapon is useless against your body. Tier 2 is the same but with iron and certain mana weapons. Tier 3 is something only the highest of authorities can achieve, and even then some can't pass the trail."
"Trial?"
"Yes, for the first 2 Tiers you simply need to do certain training and achieve resilience against certain things, but Tier 3 is when you have to go on a journey and enter the Temple of Stars. What lies within only those who have achieved Tier 3 know all the others died, so, at this point in time, only the Emperor knows."
"So the Emperor is the strongest being in the world?", Carian was about to confirm Lucas's statement, but right as the words were about to come out of his mouth, he stopped himself.
"Well, that depends, we don't know every single beast that lives in the forests, let alone the sea, and I don't know the full capacity of your strength, so I can't give a straight answer.", Carian could've praised Lucas as the ultimate being, or do the same for the Emperor, yet he decided to not give an answer.
Lucas wasn't as brutal as the typical Starborn, and the contract protected him, yet Carian felt that this might be a touchy subject. Still, he was honest about his feelings. Lucas had strength comparable to the Emperor, but Carian didn't know either's full strength, so he could only remain inconclusive.
"That's fine, I just wanted to know if this Empire is the dominant country in the world."
"Yes, that's without a doubt, as long as we have the Emperor leading us forward, nobody stands a chance.", Lucas smiled and that made Carian think twice about who Lucas was. He was similar to a previous Starborn yet still unique. On one hand, he felt glad that Lucas was a bit more down to earth, but on the other hand, that also meant that his guides and manuals from the scholars will only be so useful.
The lessons continued on for quite some time, days went by and both student and teacher barely noticed. Only the young master felt bored since they all had to wait to let the soldiers heal. At a certain point, Thurin entered their tent and interrupted their lesson.
"Thurin? Are you inclined to join us, perhaps?", Carian said with a genuine smile. Lucas's attention span was a lot longer and the enthusiasm he had for learning was a breath of fresh air for him. Lucas picked up his lessons almost instantly and asked questions that were difficult enough to let Carian have some fun.
Thurin smiled so fake that even he didn't believe it, "Ha ha ha, no actually, I was wondering if I could borrow Lucas for a bit."
Carian frowned slightly, but Lucas standing up made him change his answer in a heartbeat. "Fine, we've gone over the most important things anyway. We can continue our sessions when you're ready."
And with that Lucas and Thurin were left alone. "Hey Lucas, have you seen the spring in the forest yet?"
"Hmm, no, can't say that I have."
"Then let's go, it's an awesome place!", Thurin grabbed Lucas and sprinted away. Lucas really wasn't used to Thurin breaching his personal space, but he found it endearing in a strange way. It felt annoying, yet he didn't want to push him away.
They walked through the forest and talked away about anything they could think of. Of course, serious topics were avoided, anything to do with their status or work weren't mentioned.
"Did you ever eat the steak of a Three-Eyed Boar? Mmm they're so delicious!", Thurin's mouth almost started to water just thinking about it.
"I don't think I've ever heard of that, well, I can't say that my palate has been that diverse."
"What do you mean?"
"I usually don't really eat all that much. Although I did have to eat small pieces of old bread for some time. I can also remember eating some grass, although that was just once, I can still remember the taste.", Lucas spoke with a light tone, trying to humor Thurin, but his intentions completely backfired as Thurin stared at him with small tears in his eyes.
"Hey! Hahaha, I was just joking around!", Lucas found his own joke funny, but seeing Thurin's reaction, he didn't know what he said was wrong. His humor was never his strong point.
"No, you don't have to hide it, I can tell you were speaking the truth. To think a Starborn has to live of grass to survive, I didn't know you had such a horrible youth. It may not mean much, but I'll make sure you'll taste all the best food this empire has to offer!", Thurin seemed strangely passionate about it.
Thurin and Lucas joked around for a while, and Lucas didn't know what to say at certain points. Having someone to be around, and not think of anything serious wasn't a part of his daily life, hell, he barely had time to rest, let alone make friendships. Asta could be considered a friend, but they always contested their intelligence, meaning that there was no room for normal small talk. It made him appreciate the kindness and honesty of Thurin even more.
Once they visited the lake, Thurin and Lucas sat down and enjoyed the scenery. The lake wasn't that large, but the reflection of the Stars above made for a beautiful scene.
"They say that lakes are crators of when a Star landed here. Starborn or us humans originate from those Stars. I always wondered if that was the truth or not. Long ago I saw a Star fall down, I asked my parents if we could go and visit it, but they forbade it since it went against the will of the scholars."
Lucas felt inclined to question him about the scholars, and normally he wouldn't hold back on getting more information, but something told him it was better to just shut up.
"I sneaked out and searched for the place it crashed, all I found was a big smoking rock, nothing more. Since then, I didn't believe a word from all of those stories. They're all fake, but nobody believed me."
Sitting next to each other, Lucas felt awkward. He needed to respond yet didn't know how to. Should he comfort him, would it make him mad, should he make a joke around it? Question and questions popped up and Lucas didn't know the best answer. When it came to serious topics and work, he was always ready to respond, but these scenarios weren't written out in his head.
Only when he had to act a certain part did he think of what to say in order to socialize, now he was stuck.
'What the hell are you panicking about?'
'I don't know what to say, and every second we wait it's only going to increase the gap between us and Thurin. We're going to be with him for a long time, so we need to be as supportive as we can be.'
'... Are you seriously worried about that stuff? Here, just give me a chance.'
Lucas knew that fighting for control would simply be a waste of time, and he believed that it almost didn't even matter what he said, as long as he broke the silence.
"Hey, if you're really curious, I can tell you where I really come from."
"Huh?", Thurin immediately looked at Lucas in surprise, nobody really believed his story or supported his beliefs. Even Carian believed in the old legends, leaving Thurin alone in his own world.
'Why the hell would you say that, why open that can of worms!?'
'Don't worry about spilled milk, look at him, if you can talk some fairytale-like story to him about the actual world, he'll become like a puppy.'
'I don't need a dog, we needed a friend.'
'Ach, you just don't know what you want. Clearly, a follower would be more useful.'
'He's going to be the emperor, we need him to be capable of making his own decisions.'
'And don't you want to be capable of influencing his orders?'
'... I see, huh, why didn't I think of that?'
'Hahaha, because you're a fool.'
'Says the idiot.'
Lucas stared at the lake in front of him and smiled softly. "Thurin, where I come from, I'm surrounded by thousands if not millions of people you call Starborn. There are some that can fly through the air like birds, beings that are capable of turning their skin into a metal so strong it can stop the fire breath of a Wyvern. Powerhouses that are capable of controlling time on islands and could kill me by simply looking at me. In that world, I'm just a lowly commoner that has to watch out with every step."
Thurin was in a complete trance as Lucas continued his stories of the world above, the insane things like water turning into the shape of a dragon head, to the creepy stuff like spirits and ghosts. His stories made Thurin realize how big the world really was. To him, Lucas was someone extremely powerful that could take care of a Terrabear with ease, yet even he had to live in poor conditions where he came from.
"Then I guess it makes sense as to why the other Starborn are so psychotic!?"; Thurin jumped up like he had a breakthrough.
"How do you mean?"
"If they all lived in such bad conditions that they had to eat dirt to live, then they get transported here where they are the strongest. Wouldn't you want to do whatever you wanted?"
"Not really no, plus, I'm one of those you just said to be psychotic."
"Nonono, I didn't mean you, just the others."
Lucas laughed out loud while Thurin joined in, they spent some more time by the lake before coming back to the camp.
"Hey Lucas, would you mind healing the soldiers? I want to go back home, but we have to wait until they're all healed up."
"Oh, that's not a problem, I was wondering why nobody asked me before, but if you're asking for it, I'll do it in a heartbeat."
"Really?! Ah, that would be awesome, then we can finally go back and eat something good at home."
"I'm already looking forward to it."
Lucas confidently entered the camp, even if he only had one arm, his presence wasn't damaged in the slightest. All the solders clearly remember the aura he once exuded, being caught in it, they could feel the despair in their hearts. Yet now, this monster of a man walked up to one of them with a smile.
The soldier's heartbeat increased as he quickly swallowed his spit. His leg was injured due to the battle with the Terrabear, his muscles were torn. "Good afternoon, Starborn Lucas, what can I help you with?"
"You help me? With all of those wounds of yours? Here, let me take a look.", Lucas placed his remaining hand on his injured leg and started to let mana flow into it, healing it.
The soldier saw the light that came from his hands and felt the pain slowly vanishing. "Oh, Starborn Lucas, thank you so much!", without answering, Lucas moved to the next person who was injured. The people who lost entire limbs like himself didn't bother lining up since Lucas couldn't help them anyway.
Lucas easily healed every soldier from their wounds, yet it wasn't as if he had no ulterior motive. First, he obviously wanted to get on the good side of everyone present, with a focus on Thurin, but he also wanted to see how the bodies of the people here worked. Letting the mana flow through their body, he could tell that they had similar bodies like the normal mages.
They had pathways to let the mana flow and gateways to release the mana. So what Lucas didn't understand was why they couldn't use basic elements. It looked like Lucas had another project to work on.