Chapter 2: The System

The next day I wake up as the white-haired woman leaves saying something to Mom. I can't see what's going on as they are behind a curtain, but as soon as she leaves the hut, Mom walks in, her long royal blue hair fluttering behind her. She smiles upon seeing me, her blue eyes softening. Dangit! I was hoping to get some meditation in and hopefully figure something out; I want to sense mana if that's at all possible. Mom nurses me before taking me out again.

Mom walks through the village, and while we do get a lot of people wanting to see me, it isn't as bad as yesterday. We stop at a bath where the white-haired roommate is and join her. Mom snuggles up next to her while still holding me; seeing the height difference, Mom is easily a head shorter. Mom holds me close to both of them, and they seem to be purring—I didn't know we can do that. Hmm, they seem a little too close to be just roommates; are they perhaps lovers?

After bathing, we part ways, and Mom takes me to the island walking through the well-decorated village. I haven't noticed it too much the first time through, since we kept getting interrupted by everyone, but everything seems to be decorated in some way, usually with appealing artistry and designs.

We pass a large building with huge tubs of watermelon-sized fruit. They are sort of colored like mangoes, but they smell citrusy and fruity. A strong smell of the bathing oil — which seems to concentrate the natural scent of the fruit — emanates from that building. There's another smaller fruit-processing building next to it that seems like an afterthought with a lot less fruit in its bins.

Mom talks to me, pointing at the buildings.

Umm, Mom, I can't understand you. Well, I can guess that she is telling me about those buildings, but without knowing what the words mean, I can't get anything useful out of it.

We walk into the island proper and are greeted with rows and rows of fruit-bearing bamboo trees. Huge leaves cover the canopy, and long stems sprout from the top of these weird bamboo trees, weighed down by clusters of melon-sized fruits. Workers are busy plucking the fruits from ladders and putting them in large and tall baskets. We walk through the orchard, Mom humming to me. Looking around, I see more-than-usual green glowing orbs floating around and clustering around bamboo trees.

Mom takes me to the sandy beach where a refreshing breeze blows the air isn't salty since the sea is fresh water. One of the small crab-clams skitters away from Mom as she approaches. She continues to talk to me as she walks leisurely on the island.

After walking around the island for a bit, we return to the village and back to our hut. I'm put back into the crib while Mom moves to another room to do whatever she does.

I take this chance to meditate to try and learn magic or something. I focus on opening my soul but only manage to sense the wall preventing me from doing so. I push against the wall, but it doesn't even budge. Hmm, maybe I'm going about this all wrong. Why is there even a wall here? What do walls do? They keep things out, or inside, So what is this wall keeping out? I'm probably going to regret it, but I kinda want to know. Ah, well, not like a baby like me can do anything about it.

Maybe if I try to actively feel the magical energies instead of feeling them passively, I can sense mana—isn't that how it's done in stories? And if I can sense mana, I may learn how to use magic!

I slowly open my mind again, clearing all distractions. I focus on expanding my awareness feeling for the magical energies, mana, or whatever it is called. My whole body begins to tingle, but instead of stopping, I focus on pushing that feeling outward, millimeter by millimeter. Suddenly, a wealth of information assaults my mind, along with several bell-like sounds. Pressure like the bottom of the ocean presses against my mind. It's too much. I immediately retract my mind as a headache pierces my brain like a hot needle.

I cry out in pain, and in a rush, Mom arrives and picks me up, trying to calm me and looking me over to see if I'm hurt. She says something, but my head hurts too much for me to listen. Mom tries all sorts of things to see what's wrong, and eventually, she settles on holding me tightly and gently patting my head while purring to soothe me.

Eventually, my headache becomes bearable, and I quiet down. Mom sighs in relief and takes us out to bathe. Mom probably complains to the other women, but I don't care... I focus on what has happened but get surprised when words float into my mind's eye.

Ting! You have gained the Sense Mana general skill!

Sense Mana: You have opened your mind to one of the energies that fuels this world. You can now sense mana in its raw form.

Ting! Sense Mana has obtained levels 2-3!

Ting! Sense Mana has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 10.

1st Breakthrough: You have sensed an overwhelming pressure of mana, letting you sense mana in such quantities and better see slight difference in mana levels.

Ting! You have gained the Pain Tolerance general skill.

Pain Tolerance: You have been subjected to high pain; this will help you tolerate such pain again.

Why am I not surprised by this? I should be, but it's like I've read something like this before, but now I think I know what happened. I live right on or next to a place of power, so the mana density here must be insanely high. Trying to sense mana here would be like staring at the sun, which is why it hurt. It also seems like the skill stops leveling after some time, and you need to prove yourself or accomplish some sort of achievement to progress further—sensing such dense mana is probably enough to meet that requirement.

If there are skills, then maybe this should work?

I focus on bringing up my stat sheet, and sure enough, information appears in my mind's eye. I don't know why I knew this would work, but It just felt like it should.

Name: AlysaraSex: FemaleAge: 0Race: Runalymo (Adept)Race Trait 1: Mana GenerationRace Trait 2: Spirit SightRace Trait 3: Nutritional MilkRace Trait 4: Heightened SensesRace Trait 5: Mana SustenanceRace Trait 6: Runalymo's CleanlinessRace Trait 7: Perfectionists EyeRace Trait 8: Nexus AdaptationRace Trait 9: Inspirational GreatnessRace Trait 10: Myrou's Children

Class:Active Skill 1:Active Skill 2:Active Skill 3:Active Skill 4:Active Skill 5:Passive Skill 1:Passive Skill 2:Passive Skill 3:Passive Skill 4:Passive Skill 5:

Bond - Beauty: Level 1

General Skill 1: Sense Mana 3/20General Skill 2: Pain Tolerance 1/10General Skill 3:General Skill 4:General Skill 5:General Skill 6:General Skill 7:General Skill 8:General Skill 9:General Skill 10:

Mana: 200Mana Regeneration (/hour): 200 (+200)Vitality: 100Strength: 9 Agility: 12 Endurance: 10 Intelligence: 32 Wisdom: 28 Charisma: 20

So I'm female, and my name is Alysara. Good to know. So, what do my Race Skills do?

Mana Generation: Having traded the now unneeded physical boosting trait of their parent species, the Runalymo has instead gained heightened mana generation rate by (100%).

Seems like this race is more magic-focused, but it wasn't always that way.

Spirit Sight: This race is tuned to the spirit layer, able to see spiritual beings.

Is that what those glowy orbs are? Spirits?

Nutritional Milk: Having suffered through near extinction by starvation, this race has turned to whatever it can in dark times and not succumb to the cursed act of cannibalism. This race's milk is nutritional, providing a creature with all their nutritional needs for 1 meal.

Seems like a little bit of Runalymo's history has been recorded by the system. Still, how bad is cannibalism that one would have to turn to the milk of their wives and mothers to survive? Cannibalism may be taboo, but it doesn't turn you into a monster, or does it? Magic seems to be a thing, after all.

Heightened Senses: An old trait that has been honed and kept through the eons, and although this has not served the Runalymo, as it has their parent species, this race still has acute hearing, smell, and sight.

Fairly standard for a race with large ears like mine. Still, it sounds like this skill has degraded some and is not as sharp as it once had been.

Mana Sustenance: Having adapted to a low food environment and constant starvation, this race now passively consumes mana to sustain bodily needs. Mana cost increases the more that bodily needs have to be sustained.

Now that I think about it, I've never been truly hungry since my birth. Sure, I've been a little peckish but not hungry. Again it talks about a past event, which must have been a significant event. It also suggests that I don't need to breathe or drink, but I'm sure if I stop doing any of those things, I'll quickly run out of mana.

Runalymo's Cleanliness: The incessant nature for cleanliness and care of appearance grants this race a (+50%) to beauty essence after bathing and performing acts of maintaining appearance. The more care taken, the higher the bonus, up to 150%

So that's why they bathe so much? Or do they have it because they bathe so much? Is it the chicken or the egg? Also, what is "beauty essence"?

Perfectionist's Eye: Following the tenets of Myrou, this race has taken great care to perfect their arts and crafts. This skill makes it, so flaws are easily spotted and never overlooked.

Hmmm, a craft-centered skill. Now that I remember it, Myrou is the Goddess of Creativity and Beauty. Also, this skill includes arts, so I'm guessing things like music and paintings.

Nexus Adaptation: Adapting to the hostile and extreme environment of a nexus, even if the vast majority of the ambient mana is being siphoned, has made this race more resistant to heat and mana toxicity.

Nexus—is that what a place of power is called? That explains why I can feel comfortable, even though we're sitting right above steaming hot water.

Inspirational Greatness: The dedication to the arts and crafts have made this race more creative, granting them a (+100%) to Creativity Essence.

Another crafting-centered skill and this one also talks about essences. Still don't know what they are, though.

Myrou's Children: As dedicated and fervent followers of Myrou, the Runalymo receives a (+120%) bonus to casting beauty and creativity spells.

It directly says spells, so that is a direct confirmation of magic.

Next to note is that nothing fills my class slot. Also, my race skills don't have levels like my general skills do. Then there's my Bond—not sure what that is—but it makes sense with these bath-obsessed people and their worship of the goddess of beauty. I wonder if everyone here has the same Bond?

Lastly are the stats. Strength, Agility, and Endurance are fairly self-explanatory. I probably get a large negative from these because I'm a weak baby.

Vitality: How much vitality your body can hold. Your body will be unable to hold a soul without it.

So if I lose too much, I'll die. It's my health points, in other words.

Intelligence: Learning capabilities and magical and spell potential.

I have thirty-two; is that high or low?

Wisdom: Ability of one's memorization and magical and spell control.

So high wisdom equals better memory and better control of spells; it seems like a good stat to have.

Charisma: Ability to draw and keep the attention of others. Increases Mana flow.

Hmm, not sure what it means by mana flow, but I assume it's related to how fast I can cast spells? The fact that each stat has an additional effect means I should look a bit more closely at the physical ones too.

Strength: Ability of one's strength and maximum amount of spell augmentation.

Let me see if I get this right. Strength also increases how much you can magically buff or augment yourself?

Agility: Reaction time, running speed, dexterity, and flow of spell augmentation.

So strength is how much you can augment yourself, and agility is how fast you can do it?

Endurance: Ability to resist poisons, diseases, physical and magical damage.

Yeah, this one is self-explanatory.

We get out of the bath and back to the hut. I'm put back into the crib, and with my mental exhaustion, I fall asleep almost immediately.

* * *

It's been a few days, and I'm now ten days old! I've learned a few phrases "Laeso" (La-es-o). It's a greeting used in the morning, and during the afternoon, it's the same word, but the "es" is spoken in a higher pitch. In the evening, the greeting is "Laesoo" with the "O" dragged out; it's nuanced and was hard to figure out at first, but it clicked, so I'm now able to get it. Lastly, "Laa"' is used when parting. In short, those roughly translate into "good morning," "good afternoon," "good evening," and "goodbye." But laziness shows up everywhere, and many people just say "La" or "Laa" when greeting or saying farewells—talk about confusion.

My intelligence and wisdom stats seem to be working overtime here, I thought I'd never be able to learn a word, but here I am, one down and so many more to go.

Other than language, I've learned that these people bathe three times a day. After they wake up, after work, and altogether in a special bathing area after the bonfire. Bathing in the special bath without everyone else isn't allowed, though it's allowed to not bathe with everyone else, but probably frowned on.

I've not used [Sense Mana] since I first used it. I know I should grind the skill, but every time I'm about to do so, I remember the pain, and that discourages me from doing it.

Mom takes me everywhere she goes, especially when visiting friends—she likes to show me off. That's where I meet the bane of my existence. A jealous three-year-old, the daughter of a woman who looks similar to Mom and even has the same eyes and hair color, I remember her; she was there at my birth.

I'm pretty sure she's Mom's sister, my aunt, which makes the bully, Nyam, my cousin. Ever since I've been introduced to the group, all the women have been gushing over me, and poor Nyam has been left out. She's thrown quite a few tantrums. Pulled my ears and tail three times and hit me a few other times. I've nurtured quite a grudge against the little devil.

Nyam is slightly boyish, although wearing feminine clothing. Her hair is blue but not quite the same shade as her Mom — my Aunt — and her eyes amber, unlike her mother.

We are currently at a mid-sized house at a social gathering with about a dozen other women. There are several children, but they are off playing somewhere else; only my and Nyam are stuck with our parents for being too young. The house is quite nice and well made. Paintings decorate the wall with the hosts' family, and curtains hang bunched up to the sides of the windows to let light in.

Nyam is running Around and generally causing a ruckus and annoying the other women as they talk around a well-made table.

"Nyam! Faun!" Aunty says sternly. She says "Faun" numerous times whenever Nyam is acting up, so I assume it means to "stop" or "cease."

Nyam ignores her mother and continues throwing things. When Aunty stands, Nyam scampers off. The blue-haired woman sighs, sitting back down, and mutters something while burying her hands in her face. The next thing I know, I feel a tugging on my tail.

"Whaaa!" I cry out in surprise and mild pain. Mom holds me, but my long tail hangs out from the blanket I'm wrapped in. Nyam laughs impishly and runs away, chased after by Aunty woman. I still cry as Mom tries to soothe me; I know it's petty to continue crying even after the pain subsided, but I don't want to be here if Nyam is going to bully me, and I'm hoping I'll be left behind next time.

Soon enough, Nyam is caught and brought to us to apologize; Nyam throws a tantrum instead and cries. The group breaks up early today as Nyam has to be disciplined.

Serves you right for pulling an innocent baby's tail!

Sure, a three-year-old doesn't have much strength, but I'm a baby!

We return to our hut after that, looking rather small after being in a proper house, and Mom goes back to doing whatever she does in our hut. Meanwhile, I meditate; I want to improve my [Sense Mana], but I know it's going to be painful—eh, I'll do it tomorrow. For now, I go back to the soul wall. I probably shouldn't mess with it, but what's the worst that can happen, really? Gaining some cool new skills?

I halfheartedly poke and prod the wall, trying to go around it, but the wall does what the walls do best and keeps me out. Soon enough, we're off to our after-work baths. We meet Mom's white-haired lover or companion there, and they do what they usually do and snuggle up for a bit.

The next day we, including Mom's companion, visit a different hut. This is a large two-floored house where Aunty waits, and standing next to her with an arm around her stands another woman a head taller. She's the first person I've seen not wearing a dress—instead, she wears pants. I can easily see her toned abs and defined arm muscles. She looks like a professional swimmer; her brown hair still wet from the morning bath. The most surprising thing, however, is that her pants have an unmistakable bulge.