First, there were sounds of rushing liquid, like water in a nearly full bottle. It was wet everywhere, and thick liquid made movement impossible.
Then, the pain came. The pressure became unbearable as it pressed on my head and chest. Muffled sounds were heard along with the first light that trickled onto my body.
It was cold, unbearably cold. My lungs quickly began to soak in the surrounding air as I was freed from the constraining liquid.
And then, I began to cry.
***
"????? ?? ????"
I couldn't understand them...
I didn't quite grasp how it ended up like this. Was it overwork? That night... I suddenly felt sick and leaned on my chair to rest for a while, and then my eyes felt heavy and I must have fallen asleep.
Well, I'm here now, so it was more than sleep. It was death. The thought that they would find my body in the morning sent shudders down my spine. Would my mother be alright...? Well, she was a bitch, so I hope she feels bad.
'If you had given me a proper childhood, I wouldn't have overworked myself to death, you hag.'
I felt sorry for my friends, though; they would actually feel sad about my death.
"????? ???? ?? ?????!"
'Man, these people are so noisy.'
A man with brown hair was making funny faces at me, maybe trying to make me laugh.
'I'm sorry, I was already in my late 20s in my past life. It would bother my conscience to give a reaction.'
The man looked sullen when I ignored him. This was probably my father, or so I thought. He had brown hair and pale blue eyes like pearl dots. He was very tall.
'????? ?? ???'
'And that is my mother...'
My mother lay on the bed next to me, saying something to my father and playing with my cheeks. She also had the same brown hair as my father, although it was a bit lighter. Her eyes were dark and slightly slanted. She was a beautiful woman.
My father started making funny faces at me again. I tried to turn away, but this body made it difficult. I opted for crying instead, and it worked as my mother scolded him.
'It's good to be a baby.'
***
I had a good sleep. It was already the second day of my life in this unnamed world when I found out about the system I had. It had appeared in my mind on its own, urging me to look at it.
[Status]
Name: Rafaele
Age: 0
Gender: Male
Class: Peasant
Profession(s): None
Level: 1
Title(s): None
HP: 60/60 MP: 330/330
[Stats]
Body: 2 Mind: 9 Soul: 8
[Passive Skills]
[Word Magic Lvl. 1]
[Active Skills]
[None]
I already knew my name since that's what they called me... but the status itself was interesting.
I had many questions about it, but my biggest question was the skill I already possessed. When I thought of the skill, a detailed description of it presented itself in my mind.
[Word Magic]
[Grade: Unique
Level: 1
Description: Spoken words become reality. Word Magic allows for magical phenomena through spoken words as long as there's enough mana available.
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Efficiency: 3%]
Was this my special ability? My unique power... It was suspicious. This ability totally allowed for reality manipulation, but that 3% efficiency didn't ease my suspicions.
Well, I couldn't even talk right now, so I couldn't test this ability. One thing was certain: I needed to learn to speak quickly.
Anyway, looking through the rest of my status, I understood the purpose of the different fields.
It seemed there were only three stats: Body, Mind, and Soul. Their meanings were clear just from their names.
I seemed to have a lot of mana; maybe due to my high Mind and Soul stats? At least, that's how it felt.
But what was mana?
No, I understood what it was from fantasy books in my past life, but could I feel it...?
'I wonder if I could move it around...'
***
I am three days old. Today, I learned that not everyone has a system. I've been observing my mother and father as they went about their daily business.
My mother was still pretty weak, but she managed some work. However, I never saw them use any magic, nor did they freeze like I did when looking at their status.
'No... that's not it.'
The system itself was telling me it was unique. It seemed the system had a way to communicate with me. It felt like suggestions, like some kind of mind manipulation.
'It's a little scary. Whatever.'
I thought it was fine. If I could have a special power all to myself, I wasn't going to share it with everyone.
'As for magic.'
Being a baby made me fall asleep often. I got tired quickly. Whenever I was awake, I tried whatever I could to feel the mana within me.
All I managed was meditation. By inhaling, I tried to feel the mana in the atmosphere, and by exhaling, I tried to feel the mana within my body.
Late at night, I finally felt it for the first time.
'I can feel it...!'
It was a satisfying result. I continued breathing until I drifted to sleep, and upon waking up, I had a new skill.
[You have acquired the active skill 'Meditation']
[Meditation]
[Grade: Rare
Level: 1
Description: Stabilize your state of mind through calm breathing. Increases health and mana regeneration by 100%. Removes negative thoughts.]
It was truly amazing. My mind was already clearer. Since I'd been in constant meditation since waking up, I quickly understood my magic's extent by mastering this skill.
Since I didn't need to move much as a baby, I could meditate all day without trouble. It allowed me to finally feel the mana around me and in my body.
Mana was produced in my heart, and some circulated through my veins.
It was crazy to feel something I'd only read about in fantasy books in my past life.
'I feel like the mana passing through me is increasing.'
[Mana: 400/400]
It was true... I didn't know how I could feel it. Maybe I was wrong to think of it like air in my lungs. Maybe it was better to think of it as blood in my veins, or maybe even my limbs?
Meditation alone increased my mana. I didn't know if there were more efficient techniques, but for now, this would do.
For a few days, I continued meditating. Before I knew it, my mana had already surpassed a thousand, and my meditation skill reached level 5.
[Your skill 'Meditation' has leveled up!]
[Your skill 'Meditation' has leveled up!]
.
.
.
[Mana: 1086/1086]
[Meditation]
[Grade: Rare
Level: 1
Description: Stabilize your state of mind through calm breathing. Increases health and mana regeneration by 100%. Removes negative thoughts.]
200% was more than enough.
'I have more mana than I know what to do with.'
I still didn't have any use for this mana except meditation. Today, I tried a different approach by forcefully increasing my mana respiration's output.
'It sort of works...?'
All I did was try to move more mana out of my lungs as that was the simplest to do with the [Meditation] skill and then took a deep breath.
My mana decreased by 1 before filling up again. I kept increasing the output until my mana took more than a second to refill. It seemed like I was regaining 296 mana in one second. That was a huge amount. My regeneration rate with the [Meditation] skill was terrifying.
If I calculated it, without the [Meditation] skill, I would regenerate about 98 mana in one second.
'The natural regeneration is already pretty impressive.'
Was this normal in this world, or was I an anomaly? Well, I'd figure it out later.
For now, I continued meditating. What I was anxious about was the [Word Magic] skill. To begin using it, I tried to make as much sound as possible so I could start forming intelligible words.
'It annoys my parents, but I need to practice...'
[Your skill 'Meditation' has leveled up!]
[Your skill 'Meditation' has leveled up!]
After a few weeks, my mom was really fed up with me. As I understood her words to some extent now, I knew she was annoyed. After all, ever since I started meditating, I didn't need much sleep.
'All I did was be noisy…'
"Baby, I can ??? focus. You ??? to ?????."
She said, rocking me in her arms. Was that the word for sleep? I was getting better at understanding the language. She probably wanted me to sleep.
'I think I'll try to be quieter from now on...'
My mom was a tailor for the village. There was a workshop in our little wooden house where she would take me while she worked.
Lots of linen, unknown fabric, and even common rags lay around the workshop.
Looking around, I already felt sleepy from the warm and comfortable feeling of my mother holding me close and rocking me gently. The cabin was homely and bell-like hums soothed my mind.
What, did she have a sleep spell?
'I still need to meditate... no!'
Why was I getting sleepy so quickly...
'I can't…'
Unfortunately, I ended up falling asleep anyway.