One Year Later
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The first thing I needed to figure out were the rules. Not so much the rules of my new home in the orphanage, but the rules of my stats screen. Could I raise my values by myself or did I have to level up first? Also how would I learn skills? Did I just repeat an action over and over till a blue screen popped up; or did I have to be taught by a trainer? This and many more questions where at the forefront of my mind, those first few weeks. Luckily I had a source of information able and willing to answer all of my questions, as a bonus she was just so great to look at.
"Allright everyone pay attention." said Ms Sophie. "We will be learning about system magic today isn't that exciting."
As all the other children in the class broke out in cheers and thrilled rambles; I paid very close attention to my teacher (And not for the reason one might think.) Using the one skill I had in my arsenal. It is the only skill I have; it showed up in my stats a few days after I woke up here.
"Observe" I said quietly
Name: Sophia Brightwell Level: NA Class: Teacher Age:29 Health: 730 Mana:1470 Str: NA VIt: NA Dex:NA Int:NA Wis:NA
While it tells me the bare basics in reality I have more questions than answers.
"Allright everyone, as a quick review of the previous lessons. System Magic is the ability to look at your own health, skills, level, and status. Everything in the world of Katarh is governed by these numbers, we acess them by using these little blue screens." She said while holding out her hand and instantly a blue screen showing just her name appeared.
"Now to use system magic for yourself all you need to do is focus inside youreself and feel for the magic in your bodies. Its normally found around your bellies." she said with a smile.
I closed my eyes and spread out my feelings trying to find that ball of magic Sopie spoke of. About five seconds later I had it in my grasp. 'Ha I'm getting faster accessing my system every day' I thought, remembering how long it took me at first to access my stats. With another moment of concentration I had my own stats up in front of me.
Name:Thomas Level:4 Class:Na Age: 4 Health:110 Mana:350 Str:5 Vit:7 Dex:6 Int:11 Wis:13
The hardest thing to swallow for me was, the fact that I cannot figure out how to level up. In a whole year of being here I only leveld up one time. And that was on my fourth birthday of all things, as for my stat gains, I have no idea how they happened; one day every thing is normal the next boom! A new stat in Strength or Intelligence; ect.. So far I have yet to gain a stat by my own efforts no matter what I've tried.
"So by now you all should have a grasp of you're statis magic." Sophie said. "Just remember that the numbers you see now are not anything to be worried about. You're all still little, so if you think that some of your values are too low don't worry. Just like you'll get taller, your strength and vitality and all your other stats will grow I promise."
"Ms Sophie". I said
"Yes Tom? You had a question."
"Yes ma'am. Whats the highest level we can have?" I asked. Super eager for the answer.
"Oh well, that is somthing thats very far off from being important. You have to walk before you can run after all."
"But Ms Sophie" I whined "That doesn't answer my question, how strong can we all get?"
As I asked my question using the tried and true methoed of being a little brat to coerce an answer out of an unwilling adult. It quickly picked up speed with the rest of the little brats in our class; each one of them adding their voices to the clammor. I mean we are talking about leveling up in a world run by video game logic. Mabey it's just me but I have to know what the limit is; how high can I climb, how far down the path can I go?
"Okay class settle down. Lets have some quiet now." said Sophie. But this was one of thoes things that root in a kids brain and refuses to let go. Everyone was talking over eachother trying to make their voice louder than the other; until eventually you couldn't hear any words at all, just the raw noise that only prepubescent children can generate.
But Sophie soon had had more than enough. "I SAID ENOUGH!" she roared.
Instant silence; everyone collectively chose not to make a peep; and to be as still as possible. Me included; I like to think after thirty years of life over two lifetimes had forged into me a decent sense of self preservation.
"I under stand that this is an exciting topic; and you want to try and level up as fast as you can. But you must be patient and safe. Leveling up is very dangerous after a certain point. Anyway its not somthing that you need concern yourselfs with yet. as children your ability to level up is limited to level ten until you turn fifteen years old."
Okay this was news to me; and not very welcome news either. 'There goes my plan to powerlevel to the mid hundreds by the time I'm a teen.' I thought to my self.
"Until you reach the age of maturity, or fifteen, your bodies can't handle any of the higher levels. Level ten is the maximum your bodys can reach without hurting yourselfs.
"But Ms Sophie. Does that mean we're stuck after we reach level ten and cant get stronger at all until we get older?" Asked Bradley one of the more vocal and headstrong kids in our orphanage.
"Yes your level won't get any higher, but you can still learn things. This is a good time to talk about skills. She said. "After your personal level the most important thing to remember is your skill level." she said. "After you reach level five you can start learning skills; things like Baking or Woodworking or even Fishing . Skills that can levle up indepently of your personal level. You can learn as many skills as you want but remember that the more you try to learn the harder it will be to level everything. Also just like your personal level maxes out at ten till you reach the age of maturity your skill levels will max out at ten as well until you can raise your level past that.
This was all incredibly useful information to have, I still have one level to go until I can start but soon I can learn all the cool skills I want, I noticed that Ms Sophie used regular job skills as an example, but I couldn't help but think where skills like magic manipulation or sword mastery on the table?.
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Man was Ms Sophie great, so much knowlege and wisdom packed into such a fine looking vessel. I can't help but think how wonderful it would be to get to know such an excellent example of the female form. As I started to get lost in my own fantasies I quickly felt a sharp jab in my right side.
I turned to see a pair of angry looking skyblue eyes staring back at me. "Tom stop looking at Ms Sophie like that it's weird."
The girl who admonished me was Rose, a five year old little girl with raven black hair, that fell down to her shoulders and a cute button nose. You ever look at a kid and just know that they are going to grow up to be a looker? Those kids wished that they were as cute as Rose was.
"Sorry sorry" I apologized to the grumpy girl "I just got caught up in how awesome Ms Sophie is."
"You looked like a dirty old man with those eye's of yours." Rose promptly told me.
I felt metaphysical knifes tearing into my heart, this girl had sharp instincts (The old part was unnecessary though)
"Rose you know your words can hurt right?" I asked
"HMPT" she grunted in reply looking back at Ms Sophie and ignoring me.
I'm not sure quite how it happened but Rose was probably my closest friend in this life. She's weirdly mature for her age and I'm a reincarnator whos true mental age is just over thirty, so it's easy to keep up with the advance girl. At least compared to the other kids surrounding us.
As the other kids asked questions and got replys from Ms Sophie I focused on my little friend.
"So Rose, what level are you at right now?"
"Level five" She told me. "And you Tom, whats your level at?' she asked me with a cheeky little grin on her face.
"L-Level four" I said already knowing I wasn't going to like this, line of questioning.
"Oh so I'm a whole level above you now huh?" she said. "Well don't worry I'm sure that you'll catch up to me one day in the far, far future." she said her cheeky grin becoming a full blown smirk. 'Oh ho the little rose has some thorns on her does she?' I internally smiled at my self quickly thinking of a way to turn this to my advantage.
"Wow Rose level five allready? Your amazing! Thats so cool, I cant wait until I'm that strong do you already know a bunch of skills too? I have the best friend on the whole island." I said trying to convey an awed tone of voice in my words.
It was immensely satisfying to see the smirk on her face be immediately be replaced with a blushing red face, akin to her namesake.
"So tell me how many skills do you know?" I asked trying to keep the momentum going.
"Just one so far" she said. Suddenly finding the floor a fascinating thing to study instead of meeting my eyes. 'So sorry Rose, I'm just a little to advance to be embarrassed by one level difference. And too well read to not be able to take advantage of a prime teasing opertunaty.' I thought to myself.
"So whats your skill?" I asked
"Um here it would be easier just to show you" she said holding out her hand and closing her eyes in concentration. Suddenly a familiar looking blue screen popped up but it was very different from what I was expecting.
Skill: Studious: LV 1 A love of learning inspires you to push yourself to new hights. Increased gains in Intelligence when learning from books or in a class.
I just sat there in a stuned silence, 'Ms Sophie said skills earlier like they where an active thing. Like if I want to be a blacksmith I have to raise my skill level for it, the higher the skill the better I am. An active skill, but Rose seems to have a skill that only focuse is to increase her Int stat. Not a fighting or crafting skill. I thought to myself, my mind starting to sing at the possibilities 'If I can find or work out a skill to increase each of my stats, even if I need one skill per stat, its a way to grind my values up. And I still am not sure if I get points for leveling up for my stats or not. This could be; pardon the pun gamechanging.'
"Um Tom, are you allright? You kinda got really quiet there, is it my skill do you not like it?" A sad sounding Rose asked.
"That is not it at all Rose, your skill is amazing! I just got lost in thought on how smart you'll be after some practice. I'm honestly a little jealous of you." I answered
Her face turned from downtrodden to elated in an instant, but she moved her face away from me probably to hide just how happy my answer made her.
"Yea it's amazing isn't it?" she said
"Yep it sure is. I can't wait to start being able to learn skills myself. You've inspired me just a bit; I gotta work hard or you'll leave me in the dust."
"Oh" She said sounding a little embarrassed"I think you'll be fine; your a little smart after all, not as smart as me of course but enough to do okay."
"Ah Rose your gonna make me blush if you keep talking so nicely to me." I said.
"Don't let it go to your head you're still a lot weaker than me. And I'm not gonna wait around for you to catch up! I want to get stronger too."
"Oh; why the urge to get powerfull Rose?" I asked
She looked at me from the cornor of her eye's, assessing me slowly, carefully. Only after a minute of close study did she choose to speak. "Promise you won't laugh at me." It was less a question and more a statement; but I could see how important this was to her so I answered seriously.
"Rose I promise on my love of Ms Sophie; I wont laugh at or make fun of you for what ever you say next." It was the most solemn oath I could make.
She just looked at me with startled eyes then opened her mouth.
"You're the worst." she said. But if you looked closely at her face you might be able to make out a small smile.
"I want to learn how to use magic, how to shoot fire and wind from my hands and go to the Academy of Sorcery on the Cressent Isles to study and be the greatest mage ever." she said with a fire in her eyes.
For a moment I just stared at her. Her little fist gripped in determination and mouth set in a feirce smile, it was not what I was expecting from a five year old at all. But damn if it wasn't impressive. 'Is this what it's like being friends with a story protagonist? Someone who can say a line straight from a manga or anime and somehow make it sound epic?'
Rose quickly lost her mojo; or whatever it was powering her to say all of that, and looked at me from under her bangs.
"And you Tom? What do you want to do in the future?" She asked me
I had to think a little bit about it. Ultimately as far as I can tell I have no real goal in Katarh. No god given mission or anything of that nature, so really I've just been enjoying living in a fantasy world with its system magic, trying and experimenting everything I can think of. But with evrything very similar to a video game, I have to ask myself what do I want? I mean do I get a normal job like being a baker, or mabey I should run a tavern? While a part of me likes the thought of a quiet life I have to admit thats not what I want. If I seriously think for a minute what I really want is obvious.
"I want to be powerful" I said. "I want to learn how to use a sword, and cast magic. To learn skills no one has ever seen before. To sail all over Katarh, not just here in the kingdom of Ignouse, but to the dwarven lands of Eblar, and the great Elven forest of the Adrium kingdom. I want to see the Academy of Sorcery and learn as much magic as I can, everything from making fire, to coloring my socks. To climb as high as can be climbed by anyone in the whole world."
As I finished my own little speach I turned to face Rose, only to see her smile like the sun and look as excited as I have ever seen her before.
"Yes, Tom that sounds like so much fun you absolutely should do that. We could even go to the Academy of Sorcery together."
"You're not afraid I'll hold you back." I teased her
"Nope. Not if you where serious about learning as much as you can, about magic. But know this Tom; I'm going to be the best mage in the whole world! You can be second best and my assistant if you ask nicely."
"Well that sounds like a nice deal to me, oh powerful Sorceress Supreme. I said "But that was only part of my dreams for the future."
"Oh whats the rest of your dream?" asked Rose. All smiles and happy energy for the last few minutes.
"The final part of my dream, is to have many beautful wifes." I said Not really paying attention to Rose anymore, lost in my own little world. "At least three but up to five women; who are both gorgeous and powerful and we could go on adventures together and do naughty adult things." I could picture it so clearly in my mind; a dream of anyone who has ever read manga or played games. Power, freedom and women; the holy trinity the true pinnacle of anyone who calls themselfs a gentelman of culture.
"Oh Tom?" said Rose, her voice lower than normal and sounding dangerous to any who heard it. I of course was lost to my fantasy world and replied without a care.
"Yea Rose?" I said.
She smacked me upside the head hard.
You have taken 10 points of damage
"OW" I exclamed and immediately began to rub the back of my head. "Rose what on Katarh was that for!?"
Rose stood up and started to run at me, a scary look in her eye. "Tom you idiot!"
"Ah; miss Sophie help, Rose is bullying me." I said while standing my self and running away from the irate five year old mage in the making. 'I still got a long way to go on my plan for a harem' I thought. But as I ran behind Ms Sophie for protection I honestly couldn't wait for the future.
You have taken 7 points of damage
'You know assuming I live that long'