Knowledge

The book talks of a mage supervising the ritual, that must be Thomas, it explains what he is doing in that tiny village.

Anyway, I need to head back to the inn and return here tomorrow, the more time I have the better.

Today was quite productive, starting with 200 coins and I am left with 184. Spent 16 coins in a day.

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And I am back in the library. Time to spend the day reading. Reminds me of the college days.

Let's start with history followed by customs, those should be the longest.

After that I'll look for a map, maybe they have one.

I brought enough food to last me for a while and there is a well outside.

Time to stop being ignorant.

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And so the day passed and it is dusk again.

I find myself standing on a bench by the well outside the library, people walking around me, going in and out of view.

I expected it to be bad, but it's worse than I thought.

If the books are to be trusted there are several races in this world, and color me surprised race war is a thing.

Humans aren't doing well in it, they have few allies and they have a hard time dealing with monsters, the only big advantage they have is numbers.

Look at me talking about ''them'' as if I'm not part of this.

The second most common race are the giants. They are described as great workers and builders. All giants are great fighters but they, as a race, are inept at magic, they don't have a single magic bone in their bodies. The books I found about them were written in another language so I didn't get much from there.

The third big race is the elven kind, not the magical kind of elves, but the forest-dwelling murderous kind, masters of guerilla warfare and sabotage, they do well in numbers but they are located in an awful place, the southern forests, and guess what lives in the southern forests, that thing, and its friends, so the elves are having a tough time.

The last and fourth major race refers to the sun-bitten ones, an odd name, I know. They are described as tall dark-skinned humanoids living in the eastern deserts.

Why are they a different race than humans, simple, they are all mute and communicate with magic.

Only one of their own can understand another, humans and other races can only use writing to communicate.

They also hate everybody.

That's about it when it comes to the major races.

Now comes the minor more interesting groups, namely the monster hunters and the mages.

One book says ''One does not become a hunter of monsters, he is born and forged as one for the sake of the world''.

Quite dramatic but accurate, the monster hunters, from now referred to as hunters, are born like that, the race is irrelevant.

It seems to be a mutation of sorts that changes them, makes them stronger, faster, etc.

If trained they become perfect weapons for fighting the unknown, which is why they are feared because they hold power, not political power, but physical power.

By the descriptions in the book, the one trained hunter can decimate the garrison of a medium city on his own. That is hundreds of guards, equipped with both close and long-range weapons.

It is duly noted not to mess with them.

They are also not that rare, especially in this areas, Westerngrad is a hub of both trade and transport, many ships arrive and leave daily so hunters come by quite frequently, which is why the area is clear of monsters, and why I did not get eaten on my way here, it would not surprise me if I had been following the trails of a hunter with how quiet my journey was.

The next part refers to the mages, both male and female, although there are titles and such, a lot of them.

The most notable one is the title of sorceress, it refers to a female mage that mastered the art of destruction. Yes, they call it art.

Ironically enough, with magic, females are more inclined to destruction while males are better at creation.

Destruction includes probably blowing stuff up and killing, they didn't specify.

Same with creation, my guess is healing and making the enchantment type things like the door in the bathhouse.

I always knew that women like breaking things and men repairing after them but I digress.

There is but one worthy quote in the book I read and it refers to a sorceress. ''Fields burning, all screams had stopped, no one dared look up for she was there, standing atop the walls, looking down upon us. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, yet no one moved, for she had not yet spoken. 'Leave' she said, 'And take those... things, with you' and leave we did, carrying the siege engines faster than we brought them here, for she spoke, and no one dare defy the will of a sorceress''

That is a quote from ''Magic unleashed. Application and history''. The unnamed sorceress broke a siege because she found it to be too noisy. She killed thousands of people with a single spell, enemies and allies alike.

I doubt I will ever run into one of them, for they are few and far between, but i'll be damned if it doesn't make for a fine old story.

As for learning magic, everyone can do it, kinda.

Mages are considered similar to hunters due to them being separated from conventional government, no king for them.

But only the truly strong ones can call themselves a mage, which is why Thomas referred to himself as a Healer, he was not qualified to be a Mage.

What else is it, ah yes, the reason why no outside powers mess with this place.

It isn't obvious but I think I know why, not sure tho, the answer is racial diversity.

As is said before this city is a trading and transport hub that connects the human, elven and giant lands.

Who would stick their business in a place like this where war may start at any time.

The answer is me cause I had a great idea.

It may not work and I need to check the port first.

But if it ends up working I want the world to know that from now on.

I am playing chess while they are playing checkers.