CHAPTER 2: BIRTHDAY
A day of excitement starts for Nago as he’s once again working hard training his mana manipulation skill, something he does when he’s alone. And finally, after several weeks of training when he can, he levels up again. Congratulations! Your Mana Manipulation skill has advanced to level 26! “Finally!” he whispers in excitement to himself. These levels were starting to take up more and more time. Upon hearing a knock on his door, his mother said “Alexander, breakfast is ready, are you up?” With a big smile on his face, he decided to get dressed and head down. “Yes mother, just going to get dressed and I’m on my way!” he replied. He was surprised that they had named him Alexander, often calling him Alex. “I don’t mind being named after an ancient Greek king.”
He had long ago, in a few months even, finished his first quest. Congratulations on completing a quest! You have completed: Aspiring Monk - Meditate for a total of 1000 hours. Reward: Learn the skill ‘Mana Manipulation.’ He had started to practice the night he got the quest done, his first real achievement.
The first year of his life here on this planet he didn’t have much to do. It was a long, and boring time that he spent only in his head. He could speak to himself within a month, practicing using his new body while everyone else was asleep or when he was alone. But he decided not to speak out loud, to make sure that he wouldn’t advance too fast, at least in the eyes of others. Other than not being able to move around, do anything with his body, he also couldn’t communicate with anyone. It was a real challenge to not speak until he was 9 months old. His parents had started to teach him how to speak, starting at about that time. He had decided it was best to slowly pick up words. Over the next few years, he would slowly pick up more and more words, to make it seem as if he was learning.
Over the course of his first few years he also learned many other things from his parents, from both being taught by his mother and father, but also by listening in on their conversations. They, of course, thought he was just another baby. Alex grew to really enjoy the company of his parents, he even cared for them the way he cared for his mother back on Earth. He had once even cared for his father, but that was no longer true after the years of abuse he was put through. But these people, his new parents, were both great. His life here was so stable. His parents were both loving. And possibly most important of all, they cared about him.
Alex learned many things about his parents while pretending to play or sleep. He would be doing something like pretending to sleep while meditating, as they would talk. He overheard many things. One night he even heard them talking about the good ol’ days of their time before they had moved to Jorjo. Alex’s father had been a knight for the Kingdom of Mistaphis, while his mother was a teacher. They had met in the capital city of Soundra, where they both worked. One day, the city had been attacked by a monster wave. Most large cities had experienced monster waves, but the majority of the time it was an army of goblins, ogres, or other semi-intelligent humanoids attempting to raid the city for its resources. But during one of the raids, something a bit more rare attacked. A large group of demonic monsters. Most of them were demons, of all ranks and sizes. Many were quite difficult to kill quickly, but their numbers weren’t massive, only a few thousand. And with Mistaphis’ army, they were able to defend against it, with minimal casualties.
Among the chaos of the battle, and through the chaos of battle, something else happened to appear. A black dragon had landed in the town center. Most of the casualties from the raid had happened here. The dragon used its powerful dragon’s breath to massacre a dozen people by the time it landed. Once it did land, It had used its powerful tail, horns and dragon’s breath to ruin many buildings, walls, and kill dozens of people in the process. It threw out dragon’s fire to kill running civilians. It used its tail to launch entire chunks of wall in all directions. It rammed its horns into buildings, skewering and toppeling them over, like a game of jenga. By happenstance, Jason, Alex’s father was on inner city defense and happened to hear the destruction, as well as the screams.
Jason was in a rush to see what was going on when he happened upon the dragon. His high agility, strength, and battle experience lent itself to being able to kill the dragon solo. Alex didn’t get all of the details of the fight, but apparently his father was a badass. He had somehow used his spear to wear the dragon down, taking opportunities to attack, and when he was at risk of being burnt, he would duck around a corner. When he would be attacked by the dragon’s tail, or when he would get rushed by the dragon, he would evade, dodge, and counterattack with power and precision. That had really gotten Alex’s imagination running. What would a dragon look like exactly? How big was it? How hot was the dragon’s breath? Would it be hot enough to burn someone alive, which was hot but nothing insane? Or, maybe it really was insane, would it be able to melt steel? Turn sand into glass? These were things he would have to ask his father about, when appropriate. At the end of the battle, instead of receiving praise, gaining honor, and possibly an award, he had been disheartened to hear the words flying disrespectfully out of the king’s mouth. He had bashed and belittled everything Jason had done for the kingdom. Upset, Jason started planning his retirement.
Alex’s mother, Tinha, on the other hand was a teacher. She taught at a school where many of the kingdom’s nobel’s children would attend. Her job wasn’t supposed to be hard, but apparently the kids were raised by assholes at home, and so they too would become assholes. Their parents taught them that nobles were better than commoners, so therefore they wouldn’t respect many of the teachers. They themselves couldn’t do much to combat this. If they’d punish a kid, they’d have the wrath of a powerful noble aiming for their head, but the pay was good. So many of the teachers would just do their best, as did his mother.
One day, they had happened to meet while Jason was the guard during a training exercise. The children were to go outside of the city to pick basic flowers and herbs. They were being taught farming and herbology skills. During the exercise, Tinha saw that along with guarding the children, keeping an eye out for any possible threats, he was also teaching and playing with the kids. Tinha had always loved her job, and loved the idea of raising the next generation. She had gone over to Jason and introduced herself. He had already seen her long before, and had actually volunteered for this position, often a boring task, just for the opportunity to speak with her. He quickly asked her out to tea. That had led to many things. At some point Alex had to stop listening and start meditating. Thinking about his parents doing… well, anything, was quite disagreeable at best.
They had been married, and were thinking about settling down and having children. But both of their jobs had paid well, so they kept putting it off. This was, until Jason killed the dragon. It wasn’t a month before they had both retired from their jobs, and decided to move. They both had previously lived on farms, so they decided they would homestead. They both agreed upon moving to Jorjo, a city farm from politics, and far from their old lives. It was a city, far from the capital, but large enough to enjoy all of the luxuries of a large settlement.
They had both had good jobs, and had saved enough to fund buying some land. The land was expensive in the city, and not cheap near the city. So they looked for a cheaper but larger plot, something that they could develop themselves into a place they could raise their family. Once they found a spot nearly an hour horse ride outside of Jorjo, they contracted the building of a home. They had spent a large chunk of their savings on the land, home and furnishings. His father decided he would also have a barn, chicken coop, and pig pen built, while his mother focused on cultivating a farm. It wasn’t two years before they had gotten used to life out of the city. The peace, the quiet. They loved every second of it. A few months later Alex was born.
Alex had been helping out for about a year now. He was surprised to learn that he would gain experience for doing things like picking the fruit and vegetables his mother had grown. He had also gained experience when he would help his father feed the animals. Alex didn’t think it was that simple, but soon learned that the early levels came easy for the tasks that were themselves easy. He wouldn’t gain much experience in the first place, but with each level, the amount of experience required to level up went up by quite a bit, so soon the leveling had slowed significantly. He was now level 12 farming, and that was him helping out almost every day, for this entire season. He had taken two weeks to gain the level up from 11 to 12. He had also learned that at certain milestones he would unlock the ability to grow something new.
Congratulations! Your Farming skill has advanced to level 4! You can now grow potatoes. That was a surprise to him. He thought you’d just be able to plant anything and have it grow, but apparently not. Congratulations! Your Farming skill has advanced to level 6! You can now grow flax. Congratulations! Your Farming skill has advanced to level 8! You can now grow onions. Congratulations! Your Farming skill has advanced to level 10! You can now grow the herb Tinderflower. This had been yet another surprise. Alex thought herbs were going to be mostly wild, as they were in most stories. They were typically something that you’d have found out in the woods, or in caves. But here you could grow them? Congratulations! Your Farming skill has advanced to level 12! You can now grow strawberries!
Over time his farming level grew, but it was something he’d have to work on almost every day. Sometimes it’d rain, so all you could do is make a mess. He had learned that the hard way, achieving his first real scolding from his mother. His father just looked at him and smiled in a way that said “Sorry, you’re on your own, she’s scary.” Alex had frowned back a look that retorted “Traitor.”
Alex collected his thoughts and was just finishing the tying of his boots. He excitedly ran out of his room, and down the stairs towards the kitchen. He was starving, and decided he would get seconds today. A growing boy needs all the food he can get. But upon entering the kitchen, his mother didn’t have his food out and ready to eat for him as she usually did. Didn’t she say it was ready? He decided to go ahead and sit down anyway, quietly and patiently waiting. His father had a sheepish, yet excited grin on his face. His mother looked over as he sat and asked “Alex, are you ready for a surprise?” The look on her face was also that of excitement. That brought a surge of that childish excitement out of him, as he asked with a big cheesy smile “What surpize?” He spoke fast and intentionally messed up the word. His mother, standing near the stove, turned around, picked up a platter with a cover on it and brought it out and set it on the table. As she uncovered it she and her father both spoke at the same time. “Happy Fourth Birthday, Alex!” The cake was an absolute surprise, and so was them celebrating his birthday. His smile expanded to its limits. His eyes were plastered on the cake. Then up at his mother, then back to the cake. Then at his father, and back to the cake once more.
He didn’t think they celebrated birthdays here. They hadn’t done it before. He would remember. It must be the kind of world where many children don’t make it to their fourth birthday, as it used to be on Earth. He had read in a book on the history of the civilization of humanity, where it mentioned that over half of the children born used to not make it to their 6th birthday. Now, modern technology and science have thankfully made that a rarity.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
The cake wasn’t anything special, it looked to be honey cake, something his mother had made before, but this time it was also covered in a creamy frosting made of strawberries. Alex hadn’t eaten cake in so long. Back on Earth, he had spent his last 15 years in prison, and cake was a rare thing there. On his birthday he would often have bought himself one of those gas station snack cakes from the commissary. Every now and then they’d serve a slice of whatever was the cheapest thing for the warden to purchase. But this one, it was made just for him. It was a cake his mother had obviously made for his birthday. The thought almost brought a tear to his eye.
His mother had given him a slice to eat, even before breakfast. Once he finished it, making sure to tell them it was a wonderful gift, and that he loved it, his mother brought out his breakfast. Eggs were on the menu every day, courtesy of the chickens he fed and picked eggs up from every day. Along with the eggs, meat came along. His father would often hunt, and bring home meat, to be eaten over the course of a few weeks in some cases when he’d manage to hunt down a deer. Oftentimes it was a few rabbits, a boar, and sometimes birds. These would be served until only bones were left, or until the meat was starting to expire, in which case, rest would go to the dog. Buhr was their massive and scary looking dog. The closest thing he had ever seen was on a television show where they showed a breed called the caucasian shepherd dog. It would protect livestock from wolves, foxes, and other predators. But Buhr was even bigger, and he had an absolutely massive set of canines as well as a truly fear inducing mane around his neck.
Alex ate everything on his plate, and considered asking for just a little more of the meat, but decided to go for the cake, it was great, and it wasn’t something he would likely eat for a while. As he was finishing that up, he noticed his father patiently waiting for him to finish. He looked over and smiled, cake covering his chin. He often did this, amusing both his father and himself, while often getting a talking to by his mother. It was only right to act like a 4 year old. His father then took something out of his lap, put it behind his back as he stood up and walked over to Alex. He kneeled down, now face to face with Alex, smiling childishly as he brought his hand forward.
It was a wooden sword. No, wait. It was two swords, one wooden, and one real. “This is my gift to you, Alex. You seem to have taken a liking to training alongside me, so it’s only right I get you your own practice sword.” His father first handed him the wooden sword. It wasn’t too heavy, but was a bit heftier than he thought it would be. Alex had no words, he just held it, feeling the handle, the weight moving back and forth as he waved it forwards, backwards, and side to side. After a few moments Alex finally thanked his father for the gift. “Oh wow, it’s such a great gift, thank you father!” His father then handed Alex the real sword, but not before warning him “So this one is the real thing, it’s really sharp, so don’t touch the blade! But you can use this when you start hunting with me. Both of the swords will be a little heavy for you, but you’ll quickly grow into both, the way you’ve been eating!”
Alex’s father handed him a small sword, it looked like a dagger in his fathers hands, but when Alex took hold, it was even heavier than the wooden sword. It had a curved blade, with a small crossguard that curved towards the blade. The handle was wrapped in a smooth leather. It felt great in your hand, but at the same time, the leather provided a firm grip. And his father was right, the blade definitely looked sharp. The blade, as well as the handguard and pummel were all of a bronze color, polished to a smooth sheen. The blade tickled some part of Alex’s mind, not exactly sure what the feeling was, so he decided to once again thank his father. “Thank you! Wow, this is such a great gift, father. It feels really good. It's so cool! Thank you!”
His father smiled at him. “Alright, we will start training swordsmanship together really soon, seriously.” Alex had finished the tasks of feeding the chickens, and picking a basket of strawberries one day when he saw his father practicing the sword a few months back. It was something his father had done almost every day, for about half an hour to an hour. He had decided to go find a stick, and the next day when he saw his father doing the different forms, he joined in. He’d copy his father to the best of his ability, but his body wasn’t mature enough to do so for long. He had tired himself out after just half an hour.
Over the next couple months, he would meet his father and practice the forms his father did. After a few days, his father would look over, smile, and continue periodically. A few weeks in, his father also decided to stop his own practice, and help Alex with parts he would see were wrong. He would fix his footwork, his posture, and his grip on the stick-sword. With the addition of a real wooden sword, he was sure his father would continue teaching him.
Jason, Alex’s new father, then held his hand out and Alex gave him the real sword back. “I’m gonna set this aside for you, just so you don’t hurt yourself, okay? But you need to make sure to keep track of your training sword all by yourself. Never lose it, keep it out of the rain and the sun. Alright?” Alex answered back, “Yes father!” with a wide smile. These really had been great gifts. The cake, the breakfast from his mother were really tasty. They had really made him feel loved on this day.
His mother then added “You’ll also begin schooling with me.” with a soft smile. “Really?” Alex asked with childish excitement. She smiled wider, and Alex could almost see pride in her eyes as she added “Yes. We will begin by learning the alphabet, numbers, basic math, and over the years we will get into history, magic theory, mathematics, and I will also get into teaching you a bunch of skills.” Alex’s day had just started, but it was an amazing start already. He couldn’t wait to go outside and try out his new sword. He would, of course, have to do his chores first, but that was all the more reason to get started as soon as possible. He once again kindly thanked his parents for their gifts with a big smile. He went to get up when his father stopped him. “Before you go, we wanna show you one more thing. It’s a different kind of surprise.”
Alex hadn’t been expecting yet another gift. He didn’t even know it was his birthday this morning, so all of the gifts really were a surprise to him. But more than that he knew his family wasn’t wealthy. He ate well, but that was because they grew and hunted all of their food. When it came to the clothes, tools, and other things they couldn’t make, they used carefully, preserved, and cherished. “I have already received so many gifts. I am really happy with what I have already. You don’t need to give me anything else!” His mother smiled and replied “This surprise isn’t exactly a gift. It’s just something we wanted to tell you about and talk to you about.” He didn’t know where they were going with this. His mother saw the confusion take over Alex’s face, and put her hand on her stomach. “Alex, you’re going to have a baby brother or sister!” His father exclaimed with an impish grin as he looked at his wife. Alex saw the look on his father’s face, and internally sighed.
Alex had never had a sibling, even before back on Earth. It wasn’t something he was expecting, so the look on his face was of genuine surprise. His parents laughed then his mother said “We have been working to build a family for a long time now. With you, we’ve had a wonderful time watching you grow. And now we will all get to enjoy one more person's growth. And we know you’ll be a great big brother!” Alexander smiled big and said “I can’t wait!” Giving his parents both a big hug, face plastered with a huge smile. Congratulations! Your Charisma skill has advanced to level 7! You are more easily trusted, and people will enjoy your company more.
Upon leveling up he took his wooden sword to his room, then went out to do his chores. His charisma had just gone up. He had been slowly leveling up charisma as he started to talk to his parents, slowly progressing the skill. Other skills had been going up. Every once in a while as he listened to his parents talk, he would level up in intellect. As he had started crawling, then walking, his agility had started to rise as well. Once he had started to lift objects, all kinds of things, from toys to tools to food, his strength had also risen slowly over time. He had all of his Mind and Body Temperament skills at least level 3, with charisma now at level 7, and intellect at level 8.
Alex didn’t know what benefits gaining these levels would bring, but he was sure that there would be some. Maybe everyone had these stats go up slowly over time. Maybe if he was back on Earth, these would go up naturally as well. The only thing that he wondered was why his intellect hadn’t started higher. He wasn’t a genius by any means, but at the end of the day, he had lived and learned many things back on Earth. This would be something he would have to study later.
As Alex made the rounds, picking a basket of strawberries, plucking a few cucumbers, and a basket of tomatoes from the garden, he noticed his father. He had been in a field near the garden, cutting the wheat. This wheat would be used to feed some of the livestock. One thing that Alex always thought about was his father’s scythe. The way his father used it was in a farming application. But he had remembered in movies and shows, as well as books, that there was a grim reaper, or a death character who used the scythe. It wasn’t a weapon that many people back on Earth used in wars, back before guns, but it just looked like such a deadly weapon. Maybe it was from the stories back on Earth, but something about it just made Alex watch his father, simply cut wheat, in awe. He would need to try it out one day.
The rest of the day his mother had continued the birthday celebration by making a large dinner for them to all enjoy together. His mother was a truly great cook. She would prepare the game meat his father would hunt, gut, then skin, into something that was just wonderful. His favorite were her stews, a combination of game meat, along with potatoes, tomato puree, green beans, carrots, and other herbs and seasonings. She would add some crushed black pepper, as both he and his father enjoy the spicy kick. Tonight’s dinner was just that. She had also made some home-made bread, so soft and fresh. The combination of foods truly was enough of a gift. The swords, and the cake, those were bonuses.
Alex then, just then, realized that he absolutely loved his life here. He had loved his mother, his original mother from Earth, dearly. She was a kind and gentle woman, and had taught him how to treat people. Respect, love, human decency, all things she tried to teach him. She had seen him, as Nago, walking down the wrong path in life. She had tried to advise him, tried to put him on the right track, but she wasn’t able to. Ever since Nago was put in prison, she hadn’t come to visit. It was a sore spot in his heart, even now. It hurt, but he understood. She had done her best to make him into a good respectable man, and he had, in essence, spat in her face. He had started doing cocaine, only a few weeks after starting to sell it. After a few years of this, he had started to rob gas stations. And when he’d metaphorically leveled up and started on his first jewelry store, Nago had ended up killing a man. This was something he had come to regret as much as one could.
But all of that was his old life. Hopefully his old mother was doing fine, but he had no way of knowing, so he decided to focus forward on his new life. And here, he could make sure his new mother was doing well. He even had a fantastic father here. And now, he would even have a little brother, or maybe a little sister. Alex had eaten his fill, once again. He thanked his parents for the food, the gifts and finally for the best birthday ever. His eyes had started to go heavy and his family seemed to realize he was worn out. He then decided to go to bed. After a hug from both his mother and father, he walked to his room, and slid into bed as his thoughts wandered.
Since he was born again, he’d had a great life here. There was something special about it. He couldn’t stop having fun. Every part of this was like playing an actual RPG game. It was like everything he did gave him experience, other than sleeping, eating and just not doing anything. He could work out, and level up. He could pick an apple from a tree and get experience. And it was all building to something, he could feel it. This world was so fulfilling in a way Earth never was. On Earth you never had experience, you never leveled up. You could only learn and do things, but there was no definition to life. It was like you were playing a sandbox game. It had its own charm, but this system absolutely worked for Alex. It was like it was custom built for him. Wait, was this system made just for him, didn’t his parents have one? He couldn’t just ask about it, they had never spoken about it before.
The idea of being the only one with the system made him feel a little alone. And it seems like an unfair advantage for him. That made Alex smile. He loved having an advantage. How much this helped him would definitely show itself in time, but for now he would keep it to himself. Maybe he could probe his parents on it in some way. Maybe he could find something he didn’t have the level for and talk to his parents about it. He thought some more about how to learn more about this system thing for a while until sleep took him.