Darkness.

Darkness everywhere as far as ‘Wait a second I can just open my eyes.’ Darren thought to himself. Upon opening them he could tell he was still in the room he had been born in. His parent’s sleeping on either side of him, each one holding one of his tiny hands in their own. A downside to being a newborn he found quickly, was that he couldn’t move his head whichever way he wanted. To be completely fair he couldn't really move any part of him aside from slightly wiggling his arms and legs.

‘Well, this is just perfect. I’m gonna have to be at the whim and mercy of these two for at least a year before I gain enough strength to walk again.’ His face tried to frown but he found he couldn’t even accomplish this much ‘Oh this is just grand isn’t it?’ looking to the left he could see half of the wall over his mother's body which blocked the rest. The walls were a kind of dark wood that looked sturdy. The most interesting point being to him that the entire wall was made of three giant planks of wood. ‘What kind of trees do they have here able to make boards like that?’

One window was set in the wall, though he couldn’t see much but he figured it was either late evening or early morning from the amount of light filtering in. What he could see though, was the barest hint of darkened sky and the branches of a tree waving around. ‘Well that’s not very interesting, let’s see what's behind door number 2.’ Turning to the right he tried to see what was beyond his father but he simply couldn’t. His father blocked all view of the right wall with his giant size.

Grumbling and cursing the man in his head he looked up at the ceiling he found nothing of interest either. So he instead decided to look at himself. Starting with his hands he tried making a fist but lacked the control, he tried moving his arms but they only somewhat followed his direction the left arm going down instead of up. He tried kicking out with his legs as he had inside his mother but found it tired him out after only a few attempts.

‘Well, this is severely disappointing. I’m as agile as a fucking turtle in the desert without his shell.’ Finding his motor skills lacking he instead focused on appearance. His skin had that newborn baby rosy hue to it. He found it was several shades darker than his original skin tone. Looking at his mother he found hers to be paler than his by quite a few shades, turning to the bear he saw it matched his skin tone however. ‘So my theory was correct. I’ll end up as a bear man someday… well, shit’.

He thought for a bit on his changes. ‘Hmmmm, at least everything feels like it should, I’m warm. I can actually move my limbs somewhat and I think with enough time I’ll eventually be able to learn their language. Something does feel weird though..’ Darren couldn’t figure out what is was really but something did feel different than how his body felt when he was on earth. It wasn’t just the fact that he was a baby, but it was a sort of pressure inside his own body. Something he could feel moving through him slowly but surely, rotating through his veins starting from his chest. He tried concentrating on the feeling and suddenly the pressure grew slightly, he could feel whatever it was moving a little bit faster now. It was still barely noticeable but it was there.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Upon this discovery, he heard a very peculiar noise, something like a ring of a small bell. With his eyes closed in concentration,

he had no idea where it came from so he opened his little eyes and almost let out a tiny cry at the view of a floating box in front of him. ‘W-what the fuck is this?’

Mana Sense Gained: Beginner Level 1/10

Congratulations for learning how to sense mana at the unprecedented age of  “10 Hours 32 Minutes 17 Seconds” without having the racial traits to do so at birth, you have been awarded a Title

Title Earned: Genius Magus

*Title Increases experience gain of all Magic Spells by 15%

*Title can stack with other modifiers

Darren stared at the boxes for a while trying to figure out what had just happened. He blinked a few times while re-reading them, they seemed like notification boxes from the RPG’s he used to play as a teenager back on earth. ‘So, that thing I was feeling was my own mana?’ He "looked" inside his body for the pressure and he found it quicker than last time. He could feel it or sense it rather a lot faster than the first time he'd tried. Most likely from the skill he’d just received.

Another bell rang and he looked towards to boxes, finding a new one in front of the first few.

Mana Sense: Beginner Level 2/10 

He stared dumbfounded at the box ‘I can upgrade this skill just by looking at my own mana? Wait I just noticed but these are written in English. What the hell?’ Staring closely at the boxes he noticed they had small ‘X’ marks on the upper left. Darren reached out his stubby little arm as if he was going to press it and the box simply disappeared from view, Leaving the rest behind. ‘Huh, that’s neat.’ He played around with the boxes a bit, finding he could move them around with a small wave of his hand and a bit of concentration towards the boxes. Eventually, he closed them all as he tried to figure out what it all meant.

He practiced for a small while, trying to move the energy inside of him and increase the level of his ability. But no such thing occurred and all he did was tire himself out.

Sighing, or trying to as a baby which only elicited a huff of air and a glob of drool to drip down his chin Darren gave up trying to figure out how to use this new energy and instead tried to go back to sleep. He laid there for what seemed like hours thinking about his new life and possibilities until his eyes finally started to feel heavy. Drifting off to the realm of the sleeping he dreamt of distant lands and dragons flying overhead. Magic being cast between armies. Dreams of glory! Dreams of conquest! Dreams of Heroism and mighty quests!

And while he dreamt his parents stirred.