Braun stared at the plain white ceiling, bored out of his mind. Even though he already knew that he would be pretty limited in terms of autonomy as a baby, this level of boredom is just suffocating for the free-spirited child.

Luckily for him, he was all alone in his room, inside his cradle, and could begin messing around.

“Swawus.” A poor failure of an attempt at saying status, but one that succeeded nonetheless. Strange, esoteric power was pulled from the void, connecting with the one bonded with his existence, to form a green status window floating in the air above him.

[Name: Braun Dolus]

[Class: ]

[Skills: ]

[Unique Skills: ???, Adapt, Evolve …]

With a whole lot of blanks to deal with, Braun instead focused on his four unique skills. Pressing on the ‘…’ on his Unique Skills tab, the list expanded, revealing every unique skill he had.

[Unique Skills: ???, Adapt, Evolve, Transcend]

Adapt, Evolve, and Transcend were easy to guess, considering those were sub-abilities brought by his zenithral flame. ??? was a whole ‘nother ballpark, however.

So, this system, if my guess is correct. Braun recalled the familiar feeling he received when he first connected with the system. Is also a construct made out of zenithral power, one more closely related to the Zenithral Force than super crystals.

So, with that in mind, ??? should be my ability to wield zenithral power.

The mystery was easy enough to solve, but he still doesn’t have full confirmation about it. Also, when he tried to tap on all four of his unique skills, a new tab would open which should detail out the abilities of those unique skills, but…

[Adapt - Adapt]

[Evolve - Evolve]

[Transcend - Transcend]

Yeah, they were helpful.

Sighing to himself, the young child instead inspected the rest of his system and glanced at the empty class and skills section. He assumed his lack of a class prevented him from acquiring any skills, and wondered how he could acquire a class in the first place.

Do I have to swing a sword a thousand times to become a swordsman? Do I have to cook a hundred meals to become a chef?

He laughed at the thought before something clicked in his mind. It seemed like being manipulated for four straight months had degraded his mind, for the answer was in plain sight.

The system was a construct of zenithral power. He can control zenithral power. He can just worm his way into the system and understand how it functions!

A green flame flickered from his hand which he then controlled to touch the edge of the green screen. The system glitched out for a moment, sensing the intrusion from an external source, but with his extreme mastery over Zenith, the boy easily stopped the system from realizing his actions and returned it to normal.

Since he only attempted to decipher its inner workings, Braun soon found the component that operated the class and skills system and easily understood how it worked.

All I have to do is do some actions and random classes would be available to me as a result. If I acted as a swordsman, I could unlock the swordsman class. If I fished, I could unlock the fisherman class.

Also, unlocking classes would seem to alter my fundamental existence, strangely enough, transforming me into my class. In a way, if I were a swordsman and a human, I would be considered a Human Swordsman, not just a human anymore.

Ugh, I can already see where this is going. The boy groaned. The higher the class rank, if there are even ranks, the deeper the transformation would be.

From a Human Swordsman to a Swordsman, and then a Sword God, one would step upon the paths of the divine through the power of the system. This sort of progression was acutely familiar for the reborn boy, for this was the same fundamental principle as superpowers back in his home universe.

Repressing his urge to groan, he then observed the underlying principles of skills.

Just like how classes have class-specific skills, different classes would be granted the potential to acquire different skills. A chef can learn cooking, a farmer can learn farming, and a mage can learn magic; a chef can’t learn farming, a farmer can’t learn magic, and a mage can’t learn cooking.

That didn’t mean a mage can’t literally cook or a farmer can’t acquire magic, it’s just that they wouldn’t be registered as skills in the system, which would be counterintuitive as the system systematizes the progress of one’s skills.

Do one action enough times, with challenging enough experiences, and the skill rank will certainly develop. On the other hand, non-system skills wouldn’t have that guaranteed growth and enhanced power, and would just give unfavorable returns.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Okay, that’s pretty straightforward enough. Braun rubbed his chin with his pudgy fingers.

But useless. What the fuck do I do as a baby, huh? I can’t even move around as I please. Braun balled his fingers into a fist and tried to punch the air. With the supreme strength of a baby, he barely moved his hand and struggled to even do the act of punching.

He sighed and remembered the godlike power he once wielded months ago, back when he was still chilling in his home universe. With a casual wave of his hand, mountains would transform into rubble. A casual step and he could travel lightyears. A casual punch and moons would shatter into country-size chunks.

Gone was his unholy strength, replaced by the overwhelming cuteness of a baby.

Resigning to fate, the baby decided to just accept the boredom that came with being a useless piece of flesh and fell asleep.

…

“Braun…” A young girl’s voice whispered into his ears, waking the sleeping child from his slumber,

Opening his eyes, Braun glanced at his sister’s face. It had all the innocence a child would have, with no hidden intentions to be found in her bright blue eyes, the same wise eyes his father had.

“Bya…” He yawned and stretched out his hand, planting it on the young girl’s face.

“Uwaahhh!” Mina squealed and grabbed the young boy’s face, giggling to herself as if it was the most amusing thing. Considering this world didn’t have the internet and television didn’t exist, then perhaps this kind of entertainment was a sort of luxury for the young child.

“You touched my face!” She squeezed the boy’s fat fingers, enjoying the warmth of her brother’s hand. “So cute!”

“Mina? What are you doing in your brother’s room?” Mina’s not-so-subtle voice was easily overheard by Erna, the two siblings’ mother, who walked into the room wearing a beige colored shirt, dark brown pants, and a cream-colored apron on top. Her hair was tied into a neat ponytail and a white chef’s hat nestled on top of her head.

She waved her wooden spoon at the naughty little child who interrupted the baby’s peaceful nap, and nagged, “Look at him, he was sleeping so soundly!”

“But mama!” Mina whined.

“No.” Erna mercilessly refused. “Your brother is just a few days old, he needs his sleep. Unlike you, you’re already a growing young lass, someone with a class!”

“Fine.” Mina sighed, letting go of her brother’s hand.

“If you’re so giddy, why not help me in the kitchen, hmm?” Erna suggested, puckering the girl’s attention. “There’s no harm in learning cooking, especially for a boyish girl like you.”

“Sure!” She stood up excitedly. “I’ll help!”

“Good.” Erna sighed and went back to the kitchen with the girl in tow. As they left, the door remained open, much to the sleepy boy’s dread.

With the door open, more sounds would leak into the room, meaning harder-to-sleep conditions! What a careless bunch, a careless bunch indeed!

He rolled on his bed, grabbed a random pillow, cuddled with it, and tried to return to the peaceful land of dreams. However, as a sizzling sound echoed from the kitchen and a salivating smell wafted into the room, Braun’s bloodshot eyes opened.

“Fuck.” He mumbled in coherent English, cursing the gods for this awful curse. He licked his toothless gums, and his body slowly adapted to his wishes. He could already feel an itchy sensation beneath the fleshy pinkness, and teeth would slowly grow out from underneath.

Just give him a little more time, and he would enjoy this world’s delicacy to his utter delight.

…

Sleep had soon become Braun’s favorite pastime, but listening to his mom ramble about all kinds of stuff was a close second.

Inside the spacious living room decorated with aesthetically pleasing wooden furniture, Erna sat on a comfortable chair with Braun sitting on her lap. A book floated just below Braun’s eye level, with the words transforming into magical lights above it.

The magical lights took on the form of texts and awe-inspiring pictures, with ten great gods standing side by side with one another.

“The Goddess of Light, the one who had guided the different species of Arte back when everything was still a mess during the Chaos Era.” The goddess stood proud in the middle of the ten gods. She had long, flowing blond hair and eyes that released a boundless, infinite light. She wore a regal white dress with golden accents, and motes of light swirled around her perfect figure.

“The God of Shadows, the opposite of the Goddess of Light, the most mysterious divine.” The God of Shadows wore a black robe and had their entire figure clad in shadows. From a distance, the god appeared more like a human-shaped glob of black that carried an air of mystery and concealment.

“The God of Seas, the one who rules over the ocean and all the life that lives in his waters.” A tall, muscular man akin to a Greek or Roman god stood proud. His hair was curly and his beard grand. He wielded an oceanic-gold trident and his upper body was naked and bare, revealing the perfect proportions of his muscles.

“The God of Death, the overlord of all undead, the monarch of the afterlife.” A living skeleton, akin to the fearsome liches, wore a scholarly gray robe. Pale white flames flickered from the divine’s hollow eyes, with its stare seemingly unraveling the secrets of one’s soul.

“The God of Creation, the one worshiped by all dwarves, the one known as the founder of artificing.” A hulking mass of metal, one akin to a divine golem, stood ominously amidst the other gods, towering over them like a giant. The dwarf’s armor was coated a sleek silver and its eyes glowed a scary red, with a hammer symbol placed on its chest, just like a mark of one’s product.

“The Goddess of Life, the ancestor of all elves, the master of the world tree.” An elven woman, a being of pure eternal beauty, clad in a casual green robe, playfully held branches and vines growing from the ground.

“The Holy Lord, the most angelic being, the king of all angels and the one beloved by the skies.” A humanoid entity with four pairs of pure white wings. They have long white hair and plain white eyes, a sight that reminded Braun of Christopher. They wore pristine white robes and wore a warm, genuine smile that seemed to melt even the coldest of ice.

“The Divine Spirit, the ascended soul, lord of the astral plane.” A pitch-black humanoid entity stood above the ground by a few inches. They had no eyes, no nose, no mouth, no ears; their face and body were as featureless as they could get, masking them with the mask of the unknown.

“The Dragon God, the oldest dragon, the living disaster, the wealthiest god.” A large winged reptile with archaic golden scales sat atop a large pile of gold coins and a myriad of treasures, a fortune amassed through countless years.

“And lastly, the Almighty Demon, the demonic emperor, the idol of all demons.” A muscular devil with dark purple skin grinned proudly. They flexed their every muscle and lifted their chin to the sky. Their horns formed into a natural crown, with the bright red cape on their back fluttering with the wind.

The ten gods of Arte, the ten entities who had reached the divine class.

Fuck, I can already smell a conspiracy brewing a mile away. Braun stared at the ten divine gods, and a feeling of doubt and suspicion arose in his heart. Call him crazy, but his gut instinct was barely wrong, and it was telling him that those gods were up to no good.

I might have escaped the web of destiny back on the Super Universe, but it seems like my conflict with divine beings is inevitable…

Or maybe I’m just overreacting. The boy poked at the Goddess of Light’s projection with slits for eyes. It’s not like those that had reached the realm of divinity are all unscrupulous, power-hungry assholes… right?