"Hahahahahahahah," a three-year-old Deverick smacked the wooden table over and over again. Tears were rolling out the side of his eyes as he wheezed at the tale told by his parents.

"Looking back, Mom, you really should have taken Dad's offer back then. At least that way, you would have gotten something out of it."

"It's not like she could have done anything about it. I made sure to act in a way so that the result is the outcome," Faulkner explained. "There was no way she could have withstood that temptation to know some dark history of mine."

"And you used that against me. What a great scheme you had, Black Schemer." Sophia casually mentioned his old title.

Personally, Deverick had no idea why his father was known by Black Schemer when it is obvious that he had blond hair. And honestly, his three-year-old mind does not care. For a normal three-year-old, this curiosity would have prompted him to ask, but Deverick is not a normal three-year-old. Having been raised in a family consisting of a father that outwits his mother, he knows better than to ask something so pointless. Especially when his father literally just told a story of how he used his mother's curiosity against her. With this example, Deverick is not about to walk into such an obvious trap. Again, Deverick has no idea what the trap is, but knowing his father, he will never let it go. He has seen the annoyance of his older sister after all. And she is only FIVE. Yeah. Faulkner Mordesin, one of the most influential people in the empire, won't even let a five-year-old girl escape his clutches of a cringy dad. 

Now you might be wondering why a three-year-old has such a mature mind, right? Well, that is giving him more credit than he deserves. Deverick has a quiet personality. He tends to observe the world around him rather than open his mouth and end up saying something dumb. A habit that, admittedly, has been influenced by the suffering of a certain outgoing sibling. This though, is not to discredit Deverick's mind. In fact, he can be called a small genius among people his age. His quick wit gives people the impression that they are talking to a young teen rather than a small toddler. Yet this impression is then shattered by his ignorance of the world. The end result? A cute little boy trying to act like a mature teenager. This contrast just makes his mother want to pamper him more.

Snapping out of his train of thought, Deverick asked the other question that is bugging him. "Mommy. What does Beathice mean by cleaning up the mess that might happen overnight? Why would the room be messy when she just cleaned it?" This though was an unexpected question for both parents. So unexpected, that they ignored the childish mispronunciation of Beatrice's name.

Unsure of how to answer this seemingly innocent question, the two parents looked at each other. To the young Deverick, this look seems like his parents established a telepathic connection and held a conversation in silence. Unsure of what this look means, Deverick infers the conversations must have gone something like this:

"Why did you tell him about that part?"

*shrugged* "I wasn't thinking too clearly."

"I don't believe you. The last time you said that, I ended up marrying you."

"Ok, I admit. It is not out of my expectations that Deverick asked this."

"So how do we answer him?"

"That's for you to figure out and me to enjoy."

Knowing his father's personality, Deverick was confident that is how the conversation panned out. After all, what else could that stare mean if it were not for his mother figuring out his father's antics?

"Nothing dear. Beatrice was just saying that in case we roll around in our sleep and mess up the bed, she will take care of it." Sophia answered the seemingly innocent question with a seemingly innocent answer. Eager to change the topic, she followed up with, "Why don't you finish eating and I will tell you about magic?"

Deverick noticed his mother's attempt, but eager to learn more about the world, he subconsciously ignored his mother's embarrassment and sped up his eating speed. As he finished his meal, he hopped down from the chair that his legs were dangling above and said, "Ok Mom, I will be in the courtyard waiting for you." 

As he walked out of the dining hall, he heard a smacking sound behind him. He turned around and saw his father rubbing the back of his head while his mother just smiled at him and waved her hand. Unsure why his mother would ever hit his father, Deverick concluded that his father was just taking care of his hair and the sound was just an auditory hallucination. 

A few minutes later, his mother walked over to him carrying a large book with a leather covering. She put the book on the table in front of her and picked her son up, before sitting him down on her lap. Sophia got comfortable in her seat before saying, "Let's start with the basics of our magic system."

Deverick nodded in agreement as she opened the book.

"Magic is divided into many different elements and specializations. The elements are divided into two types consisting of basic and advanced. The basics ones are the ones that can be formed naturally like water, earth, air, and fire."

"Ooohh. But are these the only basic elements?" 

"No, dear. These are just the first ones that come to mind when people mention elements. In fact, there are some rare ones that people don't think of."

"Like?"

"Like lava, beast, or even bones."

"Mom, I get the lava part but you lost me on the latter two."

"Sounds weird, I know. But these are ranked in power with the first one being the weakest."

"Now that makes them seem really strong."

"They are. In fact, the last one can be the best orthopedist or the bane of all beings with skeletons."

"Since they are so powerful, why do we call them basic elements then?"

"Well, to answer that question, we need to talk about the advanced ones. Advanced elements are more conceptual than basic ones. One example you should know well is the holy element. Used for healing, purifying, and other blessings, this element is very versatile as support."

"Oh yeah. I think I saw you using them on big sis whenever she gets hurt and starts bleeding."

Sophia smiles wryly at that comment. It could not be helped. Unlike her son, her daughter is very energetic and wild. This excitement-seeking personality means that Lia is highly prone to injury. Luckily, magic is an easy fix to most common problems. 

"Anyway, advanced magic is called advanced because it does not represent a single tangible object. Instead, it embodies an idea."

"I think I get it now. Advanced magic is made up of more components so it is more complicated."

"Correct."

"If that is the case, what are these components?" Deverick started pondering. Seeing this, Sophia remained silent as she allowed her son to think of an answer himself. Thinking back to the conversation they had so far, Deverick came to a realization.

"Basic elements! This means that advanced elements can do much more than basic ones. But wait! The example you gave hardly has any power despite being an advanced element. That means the type of element does not determine the amount of power it has."

"Correct again. The advanced ones are only called advanced ones because it requires fusing multiple basic elements, a topic that is only pursued by at least intermediate magicians." Sophia smiled at the deduction of her quick-witted son. "Now let's talk about specializations. I won't go into too much detail as there are way too many to list. To simply it, they are the kind of talents mages put their focus on developing. If you want to focus mainly on the power of your spells, you would be a destruction mage. If you want to focus on the creation side of things, there is the enchanter."

"That sounds... enchanting?"

"Yes. Enchanters focus on studying the arts of adding magic to a tool to allow it to gain properties that would otherwise be very difficult to achieve. These specializations you define yourself as can give others an idea of what your focus is."

"Then are there any other reasons why specializations are mentioned with elements?"

Dodging the question again, Sophia asked, "Do you know the difference between a specialist and a normal mage?"

Without giving Deverick a chance to think, she followed with, "All specialists have at least one advanced element that works in tandem with their specialty."

Overwhelmed with all the information he got, Deverick coped with it the only way he knew how: by getting distracted by other things. "Mom, you mentioned an intermediate magician. Does that mean there are other ranks to a magician? Then what are the criteria for the ranks?"

"A good catch. Mages are ranked based on the complexity of their magic. There really was no specific way to determine the abilities of someone until some bored guy came up with the idea to rank mages based on how deep they have delved into the intricacies of magic. Again, I am not going to go into too much detail. The simplest way to put it is the higher their rank sounds, the more complex their magic is. And before you ask, yes, the ranks are what you think they are."

"Low, novice, apprentice, commoner in descending order?"

"Something like that. It's just that everyone uses different standards with different names. Just know that ranks that sound like the same level probably mean their complexity of magic is around the same level."

"So I have to get used to people using as many different names for the same rank?"

"Do I need to say anymore?"

"Well Mom, you've been talking about complexity a lot but what does that even mean in the context of magic?"

"You know how we cast spells by forming magic circles?"

Deverick nodded.

"Well if you look closely, you will see that there are different patterns and runes in the circles."

At the sound of this, Deverick thought back to the times he saw people cast magic. As he tried to recall all the details, a small headache started creeping up on him. Deciding this might not be the best idea, he stopped trying. A wise choice considering his three-year-old brain is not developed for this task.

"These patterns and runes determine the effects of the spell. The complexity of a magic circle is determined by how mana-efficient the design is and the scope of the effect. By improving either one, the complexity of the spell increases."

"So a simple fireball spell that has been completely optimized for mana and power has a higher complexity than one with stronger power and higher mana consumption?"

"That's where things get murky and why the ranks are so vague. Whereas mana efficiently can be optimized for a given design, the scope can be difficult to increase without overhauling the entire design. Let me put it another way. If you were a combat mage, which one what you prefer, given you, have plenty of mana to spare?"

"The stronger one of course."

"Yes. But what if you are someone with little mana capacity?"

"Then the optimized one. I see now. I would need to tailor the magic to my specific situation to get the most effect."

"Precisely. In a way, complexity can also be described as how much effect your magic can consistently achieve given many changing circumstances. Those with high complexity can pretty much achieve more with less and as a result, can adapt to many different situations."

"So like a measure of how good their mastery of magic is?"

"Aaahhh look how intelligent you are. If you keep being so smart and adorable, I would end up sounding like a broken record soon."

Deverick smiled innocently before asking the last question on his mind. "One last thing. You have mentioned a lot about complexity and stuff but where does mana capacity come in?"

"In our system, nowhere. After all, who would be so barbaric to define a power system by how much mana one has? Like would you simply define how good of a fighter someone is by how much he can lift?"

"No. I would rank him based on the fights he won."

"I would as well. This is how our system works. Status is given to those who achieve, not those who have a big background. If there is one thing to take away from this conversation, it is that mages are all like scholars. They pursue the merit of their craft and scorn those who brute-force things."

"Wait, so does that mean a low-level mage can possibly stop a grand disaster?"

"If there is a second thing to take away from this conversation, it is that you should never underestimate someone based on their rank."

"..."

ParticleOfSand

Was that too much of an info dump? I wanted to get the power system out the way before I delve into why the mc is so cool in this story. That way there is a foundation I am working off rather than conjuring up random stuff that might contradict earlier things I wrote. Also, let me know what you think of me telling the story with mostly dialogue.