The world of Magic and Swords

"I'm curious about something." Raymond asked the child who was traveling with him in a horse carriage. They had departed for the headquarters of the Magic Association and were on their way.

"Ask away."

"How did you so readily agree to leave your family behind for years? Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling you unfilial, but children your age usually are more attached to their families."

"Well... It is not absolutely wrong to call me unfilial. I'm grateful to my family for raising me and taking care of me, and I will absolutely repay that, but I have no attachments to them. I was born this way, and I have no problems being this way in the future too. Emotional attachments are something like shackles to me, as long as I have my magic, I'm good to go."

Raymond was pretty surprised to hear this story. He knew something was up when Havien agreed readily, but he did not expect such a reason. It looks like Havien is treating his mental condition as a personality trait, and only the future will tell whether this is good or bad.

"I'm not going to comment on how badly messed up this is, but I guess these are the side effects of awakening this early..." Raymond muttered as the carriage moved along the way.

"Hey Raymond, I have been curious about the world, I know the world is a vast place, but I don't know how vast exactly." Havien asked Raymond in passing, as he always wanted to know. He only knew that the Adrunate Empire is a pretty strong empire with a few other countries surrounding it. He also knew that it was situated in the northwestern part of the continent.

"Hmm... I suppose you were going to learn this a few years later, but whatever, so listen up.

The continent we live on is called the Alstair continent. It is named after Hero Alstair who emerged from our continent and brought peace to the world by repelling the demon army. This continent has 7 empires, with the Adrunate Empire being in the top 3.

Moreover, so far, there have been 16 discovered continents in the world so far, and there are many more undiscovered and shrouded by myths and mysteries. There is the continent of elves, the continent of beastmen, the continent of dwarfs, and many more non-human creatures.

Now, the magic association is a top-tier superpower that is a haven for mages. Its headquarters is located in a secret place only known by us vice-heads of the association."

"Wait, vice-'heads'?" Havien asked in confusion.

"Oh yes, I forgot to mention that. There are 16 vice-heads currently representing each of their continents. They are all at the 7th rank, and they have equal status within the association. We all have a branch association in each of the continents to oversee its magical affairs, and the path to the headquarters is located in the branch association."

"Hmm... Raymond, tell me about other powers comparable to the Magic Association."

"There's the warrior's guild, which deals with people on the path of a warrior, they are very similar to us in terms of power. There's also the Niveria academy, which is actually suspected to be stronger than us, due to their headmaster being rumored to be a rank 8 mage. Their vice-headmaster is also a swordmaster, who is at the peak of his realm and is supposed to break through to Grand swordmaster any time."

"Wait, so you're telling me an ACADEMY is stronger than a whole association?"

"Well, yes. The Niveria Academy is a top academy that is a haven for geniuses and prodigies of each generation. The students of the academy are the future top echelon of major powers and only geniuses among geniuses can have the honor to get admission in that school."

'My god... is this world a setting for a damn fantasy novel? At this rate, I'm sure that I'll encounter the protagonist and the main characters of this world in the Niveria Academy. I just hope that Stella is not there. The chances of me meeting her at the Academy are low, as the god ensured that we would not meet easily in this vast world. I'm 95% certain she's on one of the undiscovered continents.

For now, let's be happy that I got selected as the heir to the Head of the Magic Association. But wait... there are 16 vice heads..."

"Raymond, are there more candidates for the Head position like me?"

"Hoho, I was wondering when you would ask that. Although I would love to say that there is competition and increase the pressure, sadly, there hadn't been anyone who had caught our eye yet. The process of selecting the heir to the head position is fairly complicated. It needs a majority vote from the vice heads for one to be selected as the next heir.

The other vice-heads have also brought in talents from time to time, but no one won the majority vote. But you don't need to worry, I can guarantee that with your talent, the vote will be unilateral."

"Oh, I see. If there were more candidates and I would have to compete in a useless competition to get resources, I would've left midway on the road."

"Hahaha, don't worry, during your training as the heir, whatever task we would give you would only be beneficial for your growth as a mage. The Magic Association values practicality over all else, we are not like warriors who like to get our hearts pumping to gush out more power. Stupid battle maniacs, the whole lot of 'em." Raymond said with disdain, as the concept of mages vs warriors has been present since a long, long time ago. Though, it seemed he disliked warriors on a personal level.

The two traveled for a long time, almost 6 months, on their way toward the branch association. Raymond personally took the job of teaching Havien about the 2nd rank, as he was more than qualified due to having an elemental-less magic core, which allows the use of very basic elemental spells of all elements at very high ranks.

During this journey, Havien learned in those 6 months much more than he could've learned in the Crimsonwhite manor in years. Raymond, due to his age and experience, was a very wise and knowledgeable person. Havien learned about the world, learned about the power structure, learned about the pathways of power, and most importantly, learned about magic.

Havien was now a rank 2 mage with a very solid foundation of knowledge and spells. No one could now complain that his rank is just for show without knowledge to back it up.