Since my mother began to teach me Wind magic, she also had me do two more things.
One, she had me pray to Aien every morning.
And two, she had me practice Archery.
Unlocking the Archery skill was easy, as an Elf. My Affinity with bows was great, and my Dexterity stat raised fairly quickly.
On top of that, mother taught me a spell to enhance the power of my arrow, using Wind Magic. Not that it helps if I can't hold the bow properly.
I never learned how to properly shoot an arrow in my past life, so this was a first time learning experience, and mother was continuing to teach me diligently.
Maybe it was a little weird to teach a 4 year-old, but she didn't hesitate to make a bow specifically for me. I was surprised when my Strength went up as a result. Still, due to my "Child" debuff, I was counted as having only 2 Strength.
At some point, I decided to try raising my Dexterity, so I can handle the bow better.
I was quite amazed though; Elves can raise Dexterity at an amazing rate, it seems.
But... I found a bug in the system.
A bug in the "world"? How absurd.
When I discovered this "bug", I had to wonder if this world really was a game of some sort.
Rather than a bug, it almost seemed half-intentional, but I don't think it was ever intended to be abused the way I was.
As a result, my Vitality, Strength and Agility all sky-rocketed within a few months.
Of course, I tried to hide it from Mother, but she seems to spy on me, and knows anyways.
She told me that children usually don't train their stats as diligently as I do—of course they don't. Most of them go out and play with other kids. In my past life, even I didn't train this much. Well, not outside of games.
But this game-like world really makes me want to strive for higher numbers.
And who wouldn't want to, given my situation?
After all, this was a dangerous world.
Think about it. The epics I read through were insane. Dragons, monsters, and heroes are all more-or-less common place. Especially monsters.
I never thought about it, because the area that surrounds us is devoid of danger, but mother says that in most places, monsters roam freely. I learned only recently that mother herself was a Healer who has participated in at least two wars; one against other elves, and another against humans. She's unsurprisingly older than she looks, but she refused to give me an exact number.
It seems that my father in this world is something like a General. Well, not exactly. I don't know how I would translate his military rank, but he does hold enough power to lead an army, and similarly he could potentially stop a war with his influence. Well, it's more like having the authority to approve a cease-fire, than actually stopping a war.
What I mean to say is, I'm currently living within a country that has a cease-fire agreement with a neighboring nation, and it's possible war could spark at a moment's notice.
So I raised my stats.
As an elf, my physical stats are difficult to raise under normal circumstances, when compared to humans.
I've ascertained that each stat has something like a hidden EXP gauge, and that the amount required to fill this gauge likely varies from race to race. Incidentally, the hardest stats for an Elf to raise are Vitality and Strength, in that order, and the easiest to raise are Dexterity and Agility.
It would take me ages to raise these stats to a high level.
—but like I said, I found a bug, and ever since then, I've been grinding my stats for two months. All of my stats, save or Wisdom and Dexterity, have passed the 100 mark.
Still, what's with this ridiculous bug-like feature?
No, this really does feel like it's some sort of bug. What the hell are you doing, Gods?
My stats...
StatsPoints25Vitality102 (10)Intelligence240Strength124 (12)Wisdom94Agility175 (18)Dexterity70
What sort of bug did I abuse?
Simple.
My stat's EXP guage is determined by my current stats, including buffs and debuffs.
That means, that even though my Strength is at 124, my "Child" debuff has it treated as though it were only 12, and so I can level it at the speed it would take to level from 12 to 13.
At the moment, my body is extremely malleable. So I'm taking advantage of that to the max.
As an elf, my Dexterity is also quite easy to raise, but I still worked hard to get it this high, having mother teach my how to sew and use a bow, while learning to use a dagger in secret. These were the things I knew I could do to raise Dexterity.
And although Dexterity would be harder to raise than the other three, I spent most of my time raising it, instead. But if I think of it like that, then it means I could have ended up with even more ridiculous stats.
Still, I don't know how I match up against other people. I want to ask mother, but I'm worried about her answer.
I can run pretty fast, and my punching strength is no joke, but is this below or above average here? I'm sure I could beat the shit out of children in my world, but what about those in this world?
You have gained +1 Vitality.
Ah. Lost my train of thought. Maybe I should disable those notifications.
Anyways, at the moment I was practicing martial arts. I took a few classes in my last life, so I've been practicing in my new body. Amazingly, it also helped in raising Vitality, especially when I'm low on Energy and tired. Dexterity and Agility also benefited, but for obvious reasons, my Dexterity is much slower to raise now that it's at such a high level.
On a related note, my "Unarmed Mastery" skill was the first to pass the "Beginner" rank, and is currently at Intermediate Level 1. Looks like my past life's experience really helps with this sort of thing, huh? The skill won't carry over automatically, but my own experience let me advance it at a higher pace than the usual.
If I were a genius chef for example, I could possibly get my Cooking Skill up to Advance in no time. But I hardly ever cooked at all in my past life, and now-a-days I only help mother with small tasks, so I've only got it up to Beginner Level 13.
You have gained +1 Agility.
Hah. Ok, that's enough for now. My Energy is at 7%. If I get it down to 5% or lower, I'll be sore for a couple days. I mean, the gain in vitality is amazing from that, but the pain isn't worth it, and it'll be too difficult to grind any other stats for that time.
Anyways, it's time to head back.
As I stealthily make my way through the forest, I continue training my Hiding skill.
It's something I unlocked quite a while ago, and have taken the chance to level it whenever I could.
Currently though, I was still only at Beginner Level 20.
At the same time, I continued training Aether Perception, which up until now had reached Level 20, and let me see everything up to about a meter from my body.
Stats are important, but so are Skills, right?
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
----------------------------------------
As I passed through the woods, and reached the clearing that surrounded my home, I saw mother sitting on a bench in front of the house, as if taking in the air.
"Oh good, you're back." My mother seems to have been waiting for me. How unusual. "How was your walk?"
"It went well," I answered with a smile.
"That's good, that's really good," She said with a sad smile. I sense bad news...
"Is something wrong?" I asked, not wanting to be caught off guard later. She seemed to expect my question, but took a deep breath in preparation.
"I'm going to be leaving soon... I'm sorry," She said, trying to smile.
Huh?
"I wanted to take you down south to the Beastkin nations, but I didn't want to leave your father behind—but before I knew it, the decision was made for me," She said with a bitter smile, as though she forced herself to smile.
What's she talking about though? Beastkin nations? Like cat girls and such?
"I've already been found, so if I try to go now, they'll follow me, and I won't be able to outrun them. If they knew about you, they'd certainly kill you."
Oi oi, who's "they"? Sounds like something I should know about—ah, is it the elves?
"Why do the Elves want you back? Don't they have plenty of healers?"
She seemed to be shocked by what I said, but her expression returned to a smile—though not as sad as before. "I am a desserter—I think I told you that before. I wasn't just a regular healer though. I was something like a high priestess, and my leaving was a huge betrayal."
Then why now—?
"Of course, I left right after a cease-fire agreement was made, so they let me leave, even if I made a mess of things. Still, now that the war is expected to resume, they want me back."
What sort of absurd drama have I been born into the middle of?
General to a Human Kingdom and Priestess to an Elven Theocracy...
Can I reroll my character or something?
"So what'll I do?"
"I... Don't know. I have some friends that could take you down south, but I won't be able to sneak into the country—we'll be intercepted, and you'll be found out."
"I can go on my own—"
"No"—Immediate rejection.
"But—"
"—No"
"Then—"
"—No"
"So what will you do?"
No, what will I do? My mother seems to be caught in some dilema, and can't make up her mind, but what do I do about this situation?
Dying again so soon was not part of my career plan, you know?
"I... I will kill our pursuers here, and—"
"Are you really strong enough?" I interrupted her, "Because if you're not, they'll kill both you and me." A 4 year old talking sense into their parent—only in reincarnation stories!
Still, it got her to stop with that ridiculous line of thought.
She was a Healer in her past, right? Then her combat capabilities are probably not the best, and Se'Alon—the Elven Theocracy—would have sent people who can handle her level. Right?
Honestly, it might be a bit rude of me to assume that my mother isn't very strong, but I can only logically assume that whoever has come to retrieve her must know of whatever strength she has displayed in the past.
I don't know exactly how they found her though, or how she knows they found her.
Is it possibly Wind Magic? Something like a Wind-based detection ability?
Would explain how she knows they're closing in, but if she's already talking about it, then that means they're really close by, right?
"I will go to Renant. You go with the Elves."
—Renant. The nearest human town, which mother use to visit every few weeks, to see if there was a message from father. But in the last year, her visits have decreased to every other month—likely because letters have stopped coming all together.
The town itself is neither big nor small, by this world's standards. But it's a shit hole, going by mother's description. The poverty level is quite high, and the guards only care about the few wealthy people, thus the crime-rate is astonishing. The epitome of a corrupt city.
But because the town is so out of the way, if war were to start between Se'Alon and Rozen Kingdom, this town shouldn't suffer any direct damage.
She looked like she was about to protest, but I interrupted her—
"If you insist on wanting to keep me safe from both humans and elves, I can travel to one of the Beastkin countries by Caravan or something."
Why the Beastkin nations, though?
Later I'll have to do some more research on the world.
No, I should spend this time training—my birthday is fast approaching, and once I turn 5, my "Child" debuff will change to an 80% reduction, and make raising my stats twice as difficult.
But the look on my mother's face showed that she hated my idea.
"It's fine—I may look like this, but I'll be fine."
She still had a pained expression, but—she let out a deep sigh.
"We don't have any other choice at this point," She said as she pulled herself up reluctantly.
Really, how pain-staking.
----------------------------------------
Everything after that seemed to pass by in a flash.
Mother prepared all the money she had on hand in an enchanted item bag, and she also gave me two bows—a new bow she created the other day to match my size and strength, and her old bow that was apparently made from some very good material, but was too big for my use at the moment. She also had over a hundred arrows prepared, but I wondered how the bag could hold it all. It seems there's a "lightness" enchantment on the bag, but it only reduces the weight; not negates it. But it's enough for me to carry.
She then hid me in the food storage outside our house, and told me not to come out until tomorrow.
It seems like she was in a hurry, because the people pursuing her were almost close enough to be able to sense the presence of more than one person.
...
I don't know at what point she was taken away—I couldn't hear anything from where I was, as mother used some sort of enchantment to keep sounds or smells from passing through a sort of barrier. Analyzing it with my Aether Perception, I could tell it was a fairly complex Wind magic—ah, I forgot to tell mother about my Aether Perception, huh?
Still, I didn't know when night came, or when morning would come.
So I did the only thing I could, and continued to abuse my bug.
Tomorrow, I'll continue my training, but with increased intensity.
Once my Birthday comes in a few weeks, I'll head for Renant—a five day trip by foot.
From there, I'll spend some time learning about the world, and then head to the Beastkin.
All the while, I'll be getting stronger.
If I can get strong enough, I can crush anyone who becomes a threat to me.
Next time, I won't go out just biting someone's neck—
—I'll tear their entrails out, and take a city with me if I have to.
----------------------------------------
Author Notes:
Oh look, there's the obligatory cheat!
Anyways, so I revealed quite a bit more about Aishean's parents in this chapters, as well as forcing a pretty big turning point.
I feel this chapter could have been handled better. I couldn't figure out how Aseal (Ashean's mother) should have reacted. She was pushed into a corner, where she has to abandon her only child. Running away is impossible, and she knows it. But staying and fighting is even worse.
Renant is a shitty place for a 5 year old, but Aishean has shown he's strong—even so, he's also a half-elf, and would be in danger if he was found out. But it's the only option that has even a chance of working out.
Ultimately it's Ashean himself who persuaded her into taking this option, even if it was still dreadfully dangerous.
If anyone has feedback regarding how I handled this scenario, that'll be really helpful, because I feel like it could have done it better, somehow.