Light bled into my vision, soft and hazy at first, but sharpening quickly. Clara’s face loomed above me, her expression a masterclass in anxiety. Her wide eyes glistened with panic as her hands trembled slightly.

“Milord?” she croaked, her voice on the verge of breaking.

My heart thundered in my chest like a war drum. My skin burned as though I’d been left out in the sun too long, and every muscle in my body trembled, locked in place. I tried to push myself up, but my tiny baby limbs betrayed me, flailing like an upside-down turtle.

Clara fell to her knees beside the crib, gripping my chubby hands tightly. “Milord, are you sick? Hurt? Dying? Oh heavens, you can’t die! I’d lose my job!” Her frantic words poured out as her face got closer to mine, her breath smelling faintly of mint and despair.

I tried to reassure her with what I hoped was a calming series of baby squeaks: “Okay.” I’d started speaking about a week ago, and it didn’t seem that bizarre for a baby to toss out small words.

Her panic melted slightly at the sound, though a sliver of worry lingered. “Let’s just keep this between us, milord,” she muttered, half to me and half to herself. “Your parents don’t need to know. You seem alright, and, well, I really can’t lose this job.” She forced a smile, her thumb brushing my cheek.

Internally, I heaved a sigh of relief. If my parents found out I had seized up like that, they’d haul me off to a healer. And healers, bless their nosy hearts, would undoubtedly discover my halfway-formed soul core. That kind of attention was the last thing I needed right now.

“Goo-goo,” I replied, offering her the toothiest baby grin I could muster. She nodded, satisfied, and busied herself tidying up the nursery.

Later that evening, I lay in my crib, staring at the interface floating in the corner of my vision. It had quieted down, the intrusive menus retreating to the edges of my mind like a loyal servant awaiting orders. A single word popped into my head: Skills.

A menu materialized before me.

Skills:

1. Basic Movement

Level 1

Ciro can now walk with moderate precision and avoid falling into embarrassing situations (most of the time).

2. Critical Observation

Level 1

Ciro can detect hidden dynamics in social situations and keenly observe minute details others may miss.

Critical Observation caught my attention. It was exactly what I needed to outmaneuver the unsuspecting adults around me. But before I could plan further, a strange noise cut through the silence—a bizarre voice, high-pitched and too cheerful to belong anywhere near a crib.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Sorry, I’m late! First day since I’ve been an assistant!”

I froze. “What the hell was that?” I demanded—or tried to. Instead, my baby vocal cords betrayed me with a garbled mess of sounds.

The voice chuckled, and to my utter disbelief, a golden retriever materialized at the foot of my crib. A literal dog. With shimmering golden fur and a wagging tail. I stared, slack-jawed, as it sat on its haunches and tilted its head at me.

“Hiya! I’m Gub, your system assistant!” the dog said, his tail wagging like he’d just heard the word “walk.”

I blinked. “You’re... a talking dog?”

“Well, sort of!” Gub replied, his voice dripping with enthusiasm. “I’m not a dog. I just took this form because humans on Earth find these creatures adorable! I’m not talking directly to you; I’m communicating with you through the system, so no one else can hear me. So don’t worry.”

This had to be a fever dream. “Why are you here?” I finally managed to ask, my brain running at half-speed.

“I’m your guide! I help players like you navigate the system, complete quests, and unlock your full potential!” Gub’s voice practically sparkled with cheer, though his nervous twitching suggested he was still getting the hang of this “guide” business.

“Quests?” I asked, squinting at him.

“Yep!” he barked excitedly. “Just say ‘quest list,’ and you’re off to the races!”

With a resigned sigh, I gave it a shot. “Quest list.”

A menu appeared in the air:

System Quests: pending completion!

1. Meet your system guide!

Reward: 5 SP

(Quest completed)

“Well, looks like we already knocked that one out!” Gub grinned, tail wagging even harder.

“Five SP?” I muttered. “What can I even buy with that? What does SP even mean?”

“You can't buy anything yet!” Gub chirped. “And SP stands for system points. Save up enough of those, and you can roll a gacha!”

Oh no. Gacha. I’d spent countless hours on gachas in the game, always chasing those elusive legendary weapons. Now the system was dangling that golden carrot in front of me again. This also confirmed one theory, this world down to this system is just like the game. I was worried there'd be big differences, but the only real change was the system points and system store.

I paused, my gaze narrowing on Gub. “Why couldn’t I see the system store or SP earlier? Or even system quests?”

“Oh, that’s standard!” Gub said, sitting up straighter like a student eager to impress the teacher. “They don’t show you any of that until I arrive. It’s a precaution. You know, to avoid overwhelming new players with too much information at once!”

That made sense. As much as I wanted to complain, I begrudgingly admitted it was probably for the best. Still, something bugged me. “And what about this?” I gestured toward a glowing line of text that had appeared earlier. Perks were vital in the kingdom of Ash; they were always tied with some type of cost of curse, but bizarrely, this had none.

Unique Perk Detected:

Gamer’s Insight – Your knowledge of beating the game of Kingdom Of Ash grants you bonus experience (+50%) and adaptive learning.

Gub froze, his ears perking up in surprise. “Whoa! Wait a minute.” His golden fur bristled as he leaned in to examine the words, his tail slowing to a cautious wag. “I’ve never seen that one before. None of my colleagues mentioned anything like it either. But does it look good? Like, good! Bonus experience and adaptive learning? You hit the jackpot!”

I filed that information away for later. “And skills? How do I improve those?”

“Oh, easy!” Gub said, his cheerful demeanor returning. “Use them repeatedly or just level up. Some skills are based purely on your stats. Some are more than fifty-fifty. The more you use a skill, the faster it levels up. Although I was told some skills might need special conditions to improve. Like, I dunno, maybe defeating a certain type of monster a certain amount of times to unlock the next level.”