"Describe the outside world, in every single detail...?" Ethan was a little confused. What kind of request was that? Did that dragon want a geography lesson?
Judging by the look he was giving him, it seemed so. "You got it right" Haku said. "It shouldn't be such a difficult task, should it?"
"Um, ok, then..." Ethan had to sort his thoughts. Where could he start from? The outside world was big! It wasn't like describing a tree or a rock! "Well, first of all, you must know that there are three main continents... a continent, in case you don't know, is a big land mass. The one we are on now is Ut-Arang, the largest; the other two, Ut-Lama and Ut-Parna, are further north. The continents are separated from each other only by a tiny sea only a few hundreds of kiloweters wide that cuts them like a slit. The rest of the world is made up only of small islands and an immense ocean"
"Ocean? What is that?"
"The ocean is a huge amount of water that covers a large part of the world. It is very deep, so much so that you cannot see the bottom of it and the more you dive the more you are engulfed in total darkness. And it is so big that you would never be able to see the end of it, even if you sailed... or flew continuously for several years. It is full of fishes, sea monsters and other creatures. Oh, and it's salty"
So it was a sort of big lake. At least, that was Haku's thought. Even though he had no idea that salt water could exist... who knows what it tasted like? Haku assumed it must be quite disgusting, but if there were so many creatures living in it, maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought.
Seeing that the dragon was waiting for him to continue, Ethan went on with his explanation: "Then... well, apart from the ocean, there are many other environments in the world. Each continent has deserts, forests, plains, mountains. I guess you already know what are plains and mountains and forests, while the deserts... they are huge expanses of sand, extremely hot during the day and cold at night. Oh, and then there are the steppes and grasslands, which are similar to plains, and savannas, where there is very tall grass, and glaciers, which are lands covered in snow and ice, and a lot of other places… and there are a lot of animals of all sizes and shapes, although obviously none of them are large, extraordinary and majestic like a dragon"
Ethan was still flattering in an attempt to gain Haku's sympathy, knowing that dragons love to be cheered on, but Haku wasn't going to be fooled so easily and he didn't flinch. "I see. Now tell me about the newcomers" he said, ignoring the man's comment.
"Newcomers?" Ethan didn't understand for a moment, then he remembered that it was rumored that that was the name that the dragons gave to other races. "Oh sure, the newcomers! So... there are quite a few. The most numerous are the humans, followed by the beastmen and then the elves and the dwarves. Then there are many other less prosperous races, such as orcs, ogres, goblins, and a lot of others. There are also rumors of the existence of intelligent races in the sea, such as mermaids and octamen, although unfortunately I don't know much about them. And then each of these races is divided into various sub-races: for example the elves they are divided into dark elves, bright elves, high elves, etc. Each of these races and sub-races forms its own social structure, which can be kingdoms, clans, nations, tribes or in any other form of civilization. The most large and prosperous nations are those of humans and beastmen, numbering tens of thousands of inhabitants, although some elven kingdoms also possess large territories. Some kingdoms are so large and powerful that they are called empires and can even number several tens of millions of inhabitants"
Haku narrowed his eyes upon hearing that explanation. The situation was really critical, much more than he had imagined. There were so many newcomers. Dragons were an infinitesimal population compared to them. "How powerful are they?" he asked.
From the dragon's tone, Ethan knew that question must be very important. "Taken individually and compared to dragons, very little. Weak beings like me are nothing in front of such majestic creatures like..."
"The point" Haku immediately stopped him narrowing his eyes, a clear sign that he was annoyed.
Ethan swallowed, realizing that at least for the moment it was better to put the flattery aside. "Of course, of course, excuse me, your excellency! As I was saying, the strength of newcomers varies according to the individual and his ability to use mana. In almost all the known world, the mana users are divided into two main classes: warriors and mages. Warriors, like me, are those who infuse mana into their weapons; mages, on the other hand, are those who directly use mana as a means of offense. In both cases, their strength is divided into eight levels, classified by the name of a metal: copper, bronze, iron, silver, gold, diamond, mithril and adamantium. To better understand the disproportion of forces, level copper fighters aren't able to use mana, consequently they could barely fight alone against another newcomer who is also unable to use magic or spells; level adamantium fighters, on the other hand, master mana so well and are so powerful that they can even tame a wyvern by themselves"
"What is a wyvern?"
"It is the strongest and most dangerous predator in the world, after dragons of course. They are huge winged reptiles that spit strange blue flames and have a snake-like tail that ends in a sharp hook. Wild wyverns are so voracious that it is said they can devour entire herds in a single day"
Haku weighed the information that he had just obtained. From Ethan's description, the wyvern looked like a sort of distant cousin to dragons, albeit a much weaker one. In any case, it was certainly a tough opponent. If a level adamantium newcomer was able to take it down or even tame it, then their strength must be on a far superior level to the one of Haku and his siblings, since none of them on their own would have been able to defeat not even a karkadann, let alone a wyvern. "There is nothing more?" he asked with a searching look.
Feeling under pressure, Ethan hurried to speak: "I wasn't done yet, your excellency! Generally this is the strength level of newcomers, and moving from one level to another takes many years of training and, in the case of higher levels, even talent. However, there is an even higher level, called the 'legendary level', which surpasses all others in power. The legendary level is the territory of heroes, saints, demon kings and overlords, and cannot be reached without the support of the gods. Legendary levels are the only ones that can put dragons in trouble"
Haku's heart trembled slightly. "Can they kill dragons?"
"Alone, no. However, a team of four or five legendary levels can even eliminate a dragon. To explain the disproportion of power, for the same result it would take at least five hundred level adamantium or five thousand level mithril" Ethan explained, then raised his hands: "But don't worry! The legendary level is almost impossible to reach. Generally only two or three people from each nation can reach this level. The Sakoran Empire, one of the most powerful in the world, has just six. So it is unlikely that you will come across a legendary level by pure chance. Furthermore, legendary levels cannot operate arbitrarily"
"Mh? What do you mean?"
"As I explained earlier, the legendary level can only be reached with the benevolence of the gods. The gods choose their champion and elevate him. If a good god elevates him, then that person becomes a hero or a saint; if instead it is an evil god that elevates him, then he becomes a demon king or an overlord. In both cases, the legendary levels exist only to carry out the will of the gods. Therefore, they can only carry out the mission they entrust them with. In the case of heroes and saints, they have the task of defending their nation; in the case of demon kings and overlords, they must instead expand its borders. Consequently, if you won't interfere with this mission, the legendary levels will never hunt you down"
Haku was struggling to follow the speech. "Sorry, but what are these gods?"
"The gods?" Ethan looked confused. "The gods are the gods. They choose the fate of us mortals and the whole world. I don't know how to describe them, it's impossible to do it... they exist beyond our material world and rarely descend, therefore hardly anyone has ever seen a god"
"But then how do you know they exist?"
"Because it's obvious they exist! Otherwise, how would the legendary levels even exist?"
Haku was tempted to shake his head. He didn't know if the gods were real or not, but that seemed to him nothing more than a superstition. Legendary levels could have been just a natural condition, albeit a very strange one. In any case, he had to act as if the worst-case scenario were real, so he decided to consider the existence of gods as possible: "So, the gods don't personally intervene in the affairs of mortals? They just send a champion to solve their problems?"
Ethan nodded. "Yes, it is exactly as you said"
This increased Haku's skepticism. Why should a being so powerful that they could shape the fate of the world choose a champion instead of eliminating the threat themselves? It was silly. In any case, he and his siblings didn't need to worry about them: if the gods, if they existed, didn't interfere with the mortal plane, then they were no danger for he and his family. "And the other fighters? From the level copper to the level adamantium, I mean. Can't they operate arbitrarily too?"
"Well… almost" Ethan replied. "Laws vary by nation, but generally, anyone above the level gold is required to enlist in that nation's military. This allows rulers to keep them in check and prevent them from turning against them"
To Haku, none of this made sense. If these kind of newcomers were so strong, why would they willingly submit to a weak ruler? It didn't make sense. The absolute law of all species was that the strongest commanded, all others obeyed. A level adamantium should have been the ruler themselves, not someone else's underling. The newcomers were really strange. "And all the fighters before the level gold?"
"Oh, they don't have to join the military. They can choose to live the life they want. However, if they want to train, fight or explore, they can join an adventurers' guild"
"Guild? Adventurers?"
"It's a kind of association where the fighters get together. The guild collects all those missions that the army cannot fulfill and delegates them to its members; such members are called adventurers, because... well, they search for an adventure. The guild is structured in a very rigid way. If you want to fight the bandits, you become a mercenary, and in that case you can also serve in the army in exchange for money. If you want to hunt monsters or animals, you become a hunter. Finally, if you want to explore new yet unknown places, you become an explorer"
"And you are an explorer?" Haku asked sensing Ethan's profession.
"Exactly, your excellency. I'm an explorer. Look in the bag...". The man pointed to one of the objects that the dragons had confiscated from him. It was a piece of leather tied with a string, but under it was embroidered a strange symbol.
Darbi opened it and was surprised: inside the bag there were many objects, but all of them were incredibly small! They were so tiny that even he, a dragon with vision superior to that of an eagle, could hardly see them. "How do you use this stuff?" he asked. Even the biggest ones were smaller than the man's fingernails!
"It's a dimensional bag" Ethan explained. "We explorers use it to travel. We can carry many things without feeling their weight. It is an item created by enchanters that..."
"Enchanters?" Haku interrupted him. "You said that fighters are only divided into warriors and mages"
Ethan realized he'd left out an important detail. "Oh, yes, that's true, but these are only the two main categories. Each one can then specialize in certain groups related to these categories. For example, a warrior can fight with a bow, a crossbow, a hammer, a sword; based on the weapon he uses he will assume a title. Since I use a crossbow, I am a crossbowman. Enchanters, on the other hand, are a secondary branch of mages; these are people who practice magic but instead of using it to fight, they use it to enchant objects and therefore make them special. Mages can also be potion makers, and therefore create potions that improve the body of those who take them, or blacksmiths, who then create weapons imbued with magical power, such as my arrows..."
"The same arrows your companions captured us with yesterday?" Darbi asked sulkily.
Ethan gritted his teeth. "I told you, I have nothing to do with those idiots. Anyway yes, those arrows were imbued with a constriction spell. However, I also have others with damage spells and some with explosive spells"
"And tell me, which category would you and your companions belong to?" Haku asked.
"The other three were level silver explorers, while I'm only a level iron, and we were almost all warriors: I'm a crossbowman, Tyana was an archer, Ash was a hammerer. Sven instead was a mage, precisely a cartographer"
Haku frowned. A group of level silver newcomers was already so powerful that they could catch two baby dragons without even struggling a bit. He didn't dare think how strong the upper levels could be. He was about to ask another question, but Tikka preceded him: "What is a cartographer?"
"A cartographer is a wizard who through special spells imprints on a map every place where he has been in minute detail" Ethan answered, then he pointed to the bag that Darbi held in his paws. "There's a map in there. I can show you what it is"