He took out the pouch Ron had given him. He checked its contents and found 12 silver coins. The Esterin kingdom which Istria was a part of was a small country. The countries currency made up of Esterinian bronze, silver and gold coins. The people liked to ignore the 'Esterinian' part and just call them as bronze, silver and gold coins since it was much more convenient that way. A gold coin was equal to 10 silver coins and each silver coin was equal to 35 bronze coins. You could live comfortably on 5 bronze coins a day in a city.

12 silver coins was a lot of money for Vincent. He had never held so much money in his life. He felt a little nervous thinking how he had so much money on him. He had heard a lot about pick pocketing was common in cities and you had to take good care of your money. He hid the pouch under the pillow and felt a lot less tense.

He nudged Brian who woke up groggily and spoke while rubbing his eyes. "Good morning Vincent."

"Good morning Brian. When do lessons start?"

"The bell in the Istria square will ring at 6. We will have breakfast together at 7 and the lessons begins at 7:30."

Vincent nodded and moved to the gla.s.s window. He watched as the sunlight poured in through the gla.s.s. It was beautiful how the sunlight bent or spread when they pa.s.sed through the bubbles in the gla.s.s. He could also see servants working to maintain the lawn and garden.

Brian freshened up and joined Vincent. They started chatting and Vincent learned that Brian was the grandson of Hugo Tartas. Hugo was a peak tier 4 knight, in other words a peak silver rank warrior. If he advanced a bit further, then he would become a 5th tier knight becoming a gold rank warrior. There were but a few dozen gold rank warrior or wizards in Esterin. Each one was a valuable military resource and garnered much respect. Rachel was the 3rd daughter of Noah Spencer, the biggest merchant in Greyson territory. Nelson on the other hand was the only son of Master Rigrit's old servant who sacrificed himself to save his lord during a battle many years ago. Master Rigrit had then taken care of the servant's son and raised him almost as if the child was his own flesh and blood.

"What about your family Vincent?" Brian asked curiously.

"My mother raised me up by herself. She pa.s.sed away about a week ago. She was in pain for a long time. We didn't have money to treat her. Hopefully she is happy now and no longer in pain. As for my father... all I know is that he is Baron Devonton. I am his b.a.s.t.a.r.d son. I've never met him till date. He sent some people to send me here after he got word of mother's death."

"I am sorry Vincent. I shouldn't have asked such a question." Brian apologized sincerely. Vincent just waved him off indicating that he didn't mind.

Brian felt bad for Vincent and developed a bad image of Baron Devonton. In his mind, the baron was a cold hearted person who didn't care about even his family or friends. He asked indignantly, "Don't you hate him? He is a baron. He should have more than enough money to treat a sick person. Yet, he didn't lend a helping hand."

Vincent was surprised at how strongly Brian reacted. He shook his head and answered, "Not really. It was always just mama and me in our family. It's like he never existed for me. I never expected any help from him. I do sometimes think how things would turn out if he helped but I don't think I actually hate him. I guess I would say I dislike him if I had to word it."

Brian still felt it was unfair and spoke pa.s.sionately about how the baron was a failure of a person. He expressed strong dislike towards such moralless people. Vincent felt touched by Brian's words. He didn't expect a person he had just met for less than a day would feel so strongly for him.

Their conversation quickly moved away from serious matters. They had breakfast with Rachel and Nelson and moved to the study for their lessons. Rigrit began the lessons and talked about various theories regarding mana. Rachel and Nelson seemed to have heard of it many times and they lost all interest before long. Brian had a very serious look on his face. Unlike the clumsy and shy impression he gave, he seemed to be sincerely learning like a scholar.

The theory was a very rudimentary one and even Vincent could understand it. He found it very fascinating and was soon absorbed in the lessons. Mana was a form of energy with unstable form that people could store in their body. Mana was made inside the body after converting the normal energy in the body via set methods. Wizards could then shape it to their liking with training and hence cast magic which would convert the mana into various types of energy present in the world.

The warriors on the other hand converted their energy into battle force which was much more stable than mana and served to strengthen the body. Battle force could then be used to use martial skills by molding the battle force into desired shapes and forms. Martial skills were simply different applications of using battle force in complex ways. Hence came the difference between wizards and warriors. Wizards converted their energy into mana and stored them while warriors converted theirs into battle force.

The human body took about nine and a half years to properly develop the energy channels throughout the body. So ten years was said to be the best time to start training either their battle force or mana. Since the body was conditioned to converting and storing the energy in different forms, a person could only train in either battle force or wizardry. Simultaneously training in both yielded no results.