A few more months went by and now Arya's mother was heavily pregnant. The nurse and healer Jennifer was in the village. She was here to help deliver the baby since they didn't know the exact time she helped other villagers in the meantime. The new baby didn't eat as much mana as she did while in the stomach. Jennifer had hurried over to the village when Arya's mom was pregnant with her.
Jennifer had to constantly supply mana to her mother. It was a dire case of mana fatigue. Mana fatigue usually happens when someone uses too much mana. If you empty your mana completely it may harm the mana flow inside the body. This would cause mana to regenerate slower than normal, if you keep exhausting it before the mana flow could heal properly it would take longer and longer to heal before the flow becomes completely crippled. If this happens you would need a specific elixir to help you heal the mana flow. Luckily Arya's mom got help before it got this bad. Nurse Jennifer had to constantly supply her with mana to help her mom's small mana pool.
Everyone had a mana pool, even people without
In some ways, there were unlimited different mana types, as everything had a different mana signature. She wasn't completely sure about the specifics.
Arya had tried to study the mana of different materials, it seemed like absolutely everything was made up of mana, and it made her feel like she was in a fake world where everything was generated from mana. Even people seemed to be made up of complex mana. Was everything just mana? Everything? That thought gave her an existential crisis, so she forced it out of her head.
She had also figured out what her parents did for work. Her dad was a fisherman, he had his own small boat and sold his catch to the village. Her mother copied books and sometimes even wrote her own. Books were really expensive, so this explains why they had so many of them. The books she wrote were fiction, but she copied all kinds of books. Arya asked her if it was possible to copy with magic and she said that it was probably possible, but not in their small village.
Arya was now in her neighbor's house. Her mom was giving birth to her new sibling, and her dad and nurse Jennifer was with her.
Her neighbor was the Collin family. She hadn't interacted much with them, so she felt a bit shy. She was sitting on a couch when Emily Collin came in with some cookies. Her husband was out working. They had a child named Mika, he was 3 years older than her. So he would be almost 6 years old now. He had blue short hair and blue eyes. He ran over to his mother and scooped up 3 cookies. He was about to take one more when his mom stopped him. Cookies were a rare treat, so she felt grateful. "Thank you, Emily..." Arya said weakly. She picked up a cookie and took a bite. "Arya, you are such a polite little girl! Mika could learn a thing or two from you." Emily said with a chuckle. Mika wined when he couldn't get more cookies.
Some hours later Emily's husband came home. His name was Edward. It was starting to get dark outside by now. "Is mom ok?" Arya asks Emily. "Your mom will be fine. She is just waiting for your new sibling to get delivered to her by the Goddess of life" Arya knew she just said that because she was too young to know how babies come to the world. But something piqued her interest. "How many gods are there? What does the goddess of life do?" Arya asked with big eyes. "There are all kinds of gods, some leave bigger impacts on the world than others. The goddess of life is said to love all living things. The most known god is the god of effort." Emily said. Arya just nodded as Emily started talking about other things.
Arya woke up on the couch with a blanket over her body. She didn't know how long she slept. She was awoken by the front door opening. It was her dad, he went over and picked her up. "You have to come say hi to your little brother!" He said with a big smile. "Yes!" Arya answered.
Arya was taken to the bedroom in their house. Her mom was lying on the bed with a baby in her arms. She looked worn out, but otherwise ok. "Is that my brother?" Arya asked and looked at her new brother with big eyes. "Yes, his name is Runo. You're a big sister now Arya" Her mother answered. Her dad placed her beside her mother on the bed. "Hi Runo" Arya said while looking at the baby. He didn't have any hair yet, but his eyes were pink.
Arya started to think about her siblings in her last life. She had two older siblings. One sister and one brother. She called them Bilo and Jessie, but their real names were Brandon and Jessica. She was closer to Bilo than Jessie, but she did love them both. She wondered how her family reacted to her death. Se hoped that her dad wouldn't blame himself for the argument they had right before she died, it was just a silly argument after all. If she knew her family right, they would be sad, but they would overcome it. Their family motto was positivity. They would believe that they would meet again after they too left for the afterlife. Apparently, the afterlife is a bit more complicated than that. Hopefully, she would find a way to get back to earth before too much time passed. She knew this was just wishful thinking, but maybe it was possible with magic?
Time went by. Arya was reading a book for Runo. Her brother's hair turned out to be platinum blonde. He looked adorable with his big pink eyes and silky shoulder-long hair. He was now 6 years old, which meant that Arya was almost 9 years old. Her birthday was coming up this weekend. She used the office as her room now, the desk and bookshelf inside was moved to the living room. Her brother would soon be sharing the room with her, so she enjoyed the privacy while she could.
Runo was really cute, and they rarely argued. Maybe a few times, but not a lot. They usually played together with the neighbor's kid, Mika. Running around in the village, playing tag or hide and seek. Sometimes reading stories together.
It seems that Vanessa, her mom's sister, will be visiting the village very soon. She had gone missing for 5 years. Arya's mother had been terrified that something bad happened to her. And after a while, they thought she had died. Arya's mom had been depressed because of her missing sister. After all that time a letter was delivered saying that she would be visiting soon. Tinala was furious when she got the letter from her sister, relieved, but angry. It was to be expected. She didn't get any explanations about what happened, only a letter saying she would visit soon.
Arya was dragged away from her thoughts when the door opened. In the doorway stood a woman she hadn't seen before. Arya could see that this woman had a lot of mana. Usually, she would have to focus a lot to see the little mana flowing inside the other villagers, but this was clearly a mage. 'Speak of the devil... well think in this case' Arya thought. The woman was obviously her aunt, she had her mother's facial features and the same hair color. The only obvious difference was the red eyes she had, while her mother had pink eyes like her. "Aunt Vanessa?" Arya asked. Runo hugged his sister tightly, he was afraid of strangers. "Aww, are you my little cute niece and nephew?!" Vanessa ran up to the siblings and hugged them. "I wish I could have been here sooner, but stupid people had me flee the country" Runo screamed when Vanessa hugged him. Arya tried to calm him down, but before she was successful the door opened again. "Vanessa?!" She saw her mother standing in the doorway together with her dad. She had tears in her eyes. "W-Where have you been? Why didn't you s-say something? I was so worried!" Her mom started sobbing and her father comforted her while staring daggers at Vanessa. "I'm sorry... I didn't want to risk bringing my family into my drama. I was investigating a case that went deeper than I ever could have imagined. I had to flee the country because they kept sending assassins after me. It is all solved now though... I can tell you more about it later." Vanessa said while scratching the back of her head. Arya didn't notice before but her aunt was wearing leather armor with a cloak on. She almost seemed like a rogue. Arya thought mages were supposed to wear robes, but now that she thought about it robes probably didn't offer much protection.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Arya and Runo were sent out to play while the adults talked with one another. Arya was almost shaking at the excitement of talking with a mage. She had so many questions, and now there was finally someone she could ask.
While waiting for her parents and her aunt to finish their private conversation, she checked her status page.
----- Status Page -----
Level 149 (20%)
Health: 1000/1000
Stamina: 524/590
Mana: 6332/6370
Stats:
Strength: 29
Dexterity: 30
Constitution: 50
Spirit: 583
Intelligence: 54
Passive skills:
Active skills:
-------------------------------
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You have been blessed by one or more god
Cost: None
- Better mana control (From God of creation)
- You will learn faster (From God of Knowledge)
- Your stats will increase at a higher rate (From Goddess of effort)
- You absorb mana/stamina/health at a faster rate. (From Goddess of War)
Remarks: An apology gift for picking your soul up before it got recycled.
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Lets you better understand different beings
Cost: None
- You can understand all languages
- Vaguely understand some other types of communication
- Better understand feelings that others try to convey to you
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Lets you remember more than most
Cost: None
- More resistant to mind magic that alters memories
- You have a much easier time remembering things
----------
Lets you sense mana around you
Cost: None
- You can sense mana in a 239 meter radius
- You can sense even minuscule amounts of mana
- Mana is almost impossible to hide from your senses
----------
Let you have a shield of mana to protect you at all times.
Cost: Mana
- You can have a flow of mana circulating around your body at all times. Gives some protection against physical attacks (ON)
- You can have a flow of mana circulating around your mind at all times. Gives some protection against mental attacks (ON)
- Cost mana on activation and to repair a broken flow. Can stay active without a supply of new mana as long as the flow is not broken.
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Lets you better go into a role you are playing.
Cost: None
- Your lies are way harder to detect.
- Your acts are a lot more believable
----------
Lets you manipulate ambient mana
Cost: Mana
- You can move a moderate amount of ambient mana to your will in a 52 meter radius around you
----------
Lets you extract ambient mana from your surroundings and fill your mana pool
Cost: None
- You can extract a moderate amount of ambient mana from your surroundings and fill your mana pool
- You can extract mana made from your own mana signature
- You can extract mana from willing beings
- Convert the ambient mana you extract to your own mana signature
----------
Lets you move objects with mana
Cost: Mana
- You can move objects, up to medium weight with your mana in a 35 meter radius
----------
Lets you meditate to recharge faster
Cost: None
- While sitting completely still you can activate
----------
Lets you cast a spell
Cost: Mana
- With focus you may use your own mana to form as you will
----------
Lets you chant what you envision for a better chance of manifesting your spell
Cost: None
- Chanting while using
----------
Lets you manipulate someone's mind
Cost: Mana
- You can subtly instill an idea or emotion onto an unprotected person
Arya was reminded of the eerie mental skill she got
Vanessa's conversation with her parents took a long time. When they came out to get them, her parents had already told her aunt about her magic talents. Her aunt agreed to teach her.
The next day Arya was sitting in the living room with her aunt and her mother. Her dad went outside with Runo. "Aunt Vanessa, how high is your mana?" Arya asked. "I can write down my basic status page for you and explain some things. Be aware that you should usually never be too specific when you talk about your status page, it is only ok with family" Her aunt answered while writing down on a paper Arya's mother got for her.
----- Status Page -----
Level 80 (80%)
Health: 2040/2040
Stamina: 1130/1130
Mana: 1890/1890
Stats:
Strength: 51
Dexterity: 62
Constitution: 102
Spirit: 113
Intelligence: 76
Her Level was way lower than Arya's! "Umm.. is this high or low?" Arya asked. "Let me write you the normal status page you will automatically reach just by aging, without doing any additional training. This is the level that anybody will reach by the time they are an adult" Vanessa wrote down another basic status page.
----- Status Page -----
Level 46 (60%)
Health: 1000/1000
Stamina: 1000/1000
Mana: 330/330
Stats:
Strength: 50
Dexterity: 50
Constitution: 100
Spirit: 3
Intelligence: 30
While she was writing she explained some more. "The average person will reach level 50 in their lifetime. Level 60 is required to join most organizations and guilds. For example the Adventure guild or the Mage tower. People who reach Level 80 are highly sought after. In the Adventure guild, people get a badge according to their level. Level 60 gets the grey badge, Level 80 is yellow, Level 100 is red, 150 is green and over 200 is blue. Most people never reach level 100 though. Oh, I'm sorry if I talked too much about the adventure guild, that is where I belong you see." Vanessa showed off her yellow badge. "Every level takes a lot of hard work after your natural growth finishes" Vanessa said with a proud smile. "What level are you at now Arya?" Her aunt asked her.