The midwife cleared her throat to get my new parents’ attention.

“It appears the babe is healthy. I would suggest you get some rest Ardent Mistress; childbirth is very taxing on the body and you will need to relax for a week at minimum before doing anything strenuous.”

At her final word she gave my father a stern look. He nodded sheepishly at her as she turned and left the room. He then turned back toward my mother and me and grinned.

“We’re parents now my dear.” He whispered with joy.

For the next hour or so, my parents played with my cheeks and cooed at me. I was honestly getting tired of it, but I suffered through it for my new parents’ sake. I would need to build a good relationship with them for my sanity. I would need to rely on them for quite a few years at least.

My mother fell asleep first with me cuddled in her arms. My father wasn’t too far behind, I guess having been keyed up during the whole process he was likely worn out as well. As for me, I kept telling myself that I didn’t need to sleep yet but I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. I eventually succumbed to the blissfulness that is sleep as well.

The first year of my new life was relatively boring. I spent all of my time learning to control this new body and slowly building the muscles needed to support my goal of one day walking. I had no interest in keeping my intellect secret from my parents, they would find out eventually and it would hurt their trust in me if I kept such a big secret. It turns out, my parents were either blissfully or willingly ignorant to the speed at which I developed. They would give me odd looks when I would do exercises to encourage muscle growth in my legs or arms, but they never said or did anything to discourage it. They must have thought I was just doing baby things.

It was around 8 months into my new life that I was finally discovered. I was practicing my newfound skill with locomotion after escaping my crib and was working up my nerve to attempt the stairs when a traitorous wooden board groaned as I stepped on it. I froze, not knowing what to do now, there was no way I’d make it back into my crib before my parents found me if the groan had awoken them. If not, they would surely wake up with the racket I’d make rushing back to my crib. Before long I heard footsteps in the bedroom. Then a gasp sounded and I heard my mother frantically searching my crib.

“Lincoln! Wake up! Lucelia is not in her crib!” My mother yelled.

My father sprang out of the bed at my mother’s pronouncement and began franticly searching the room as well.

“What do you mean she’s not in her crib Amber? She’s not even a year old yet, there’s no way she could have- “

It was at this point my father happened to look out of their bedroom door, and witnessed me standing there staring back at him with wide eyes. His worried look morphed into one of pride and joy as he put the puzzle pieces together in his sleep addled mind.

“Honey, there’s no need to worry. I found her.”

My mother came running over to my father’s side and just stared in disbelief upon seeing me standing there. I finally overcame my shock and grinned widely at them. I swung my body around and started slowly toddling over to them where I wrapped my arms around my father’s legs.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

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After my parents discovered I could walk on my own, my learning pace picked up considerably. They were content to accede to my whims about learning all I could about the world and different professions and occupations the world had to offer.

It was at this point that I first learned about The System. Apparently once a child reaches the age of majority The System activates and they begin receiving messages from an entity that quantifies all of reality. The System also directs the energy of the universe, also known as mana, to help users influence their physical and mental characteristics. I was genuinely enthralled by the idea of The System. To think I could actively influence the way mana affects my body with the help of the system to become stronger than normally possible.

It was with this thought that I began my deep dive into what The System does. Not a lot of research had been done into The System, it was just the way things were as far as anyone in this world was concerned. I did however, find examples of the status windows the system would show users once they reached the age of majority, which was 16 years old on this planet.

Name:

Race:

Class:

Profession:

The first part of the table looked typical of a video-game status window detailing information about your character. Seeing the race designation on the table confirmed my suspicions that humans were not the only sapient creatures on this planet.

(Name)

Characteristics

Strength:

Agility:

Dexterity:

Endurance:

Constitution

Charisma:

Intelligence:

Wisdom:

Willpower

Luck:

With these statistics laid out for me, I could start to plan my potential path. I read on to the descriptions of each stat.

Strength: The capacity an individual has to apply force to entities outside of oneself.

Agility: The speed at which an individual acts inside the world.

Dexterity: The ability to feel and control an individual has over their muscles, large and small.

Endurance: The ability an individual has to endure strenuous activity.

Constitution: The ability an individual’s body has to sustain damage and recover.

Charisma: The ability an individual has to influence others with their words and actions.

Intelligence: The ability an individual has to retain knowledge, also influences the capacity of an individual’s mana well.

Wisdom: The ability an individual has to apply retained information to the situation at hand and adapt to fluid situations. Also influences the speed at which an individual’s mana well is refilled.

Willpower: The ability an individual has to resist mental attacks and the detrimental influence of others.

Luck: The ability an individual has to attract the attention of the fates. Encourages both positive and negative encounters. The difficulty of said encounters proportionately affect the rewards for overcoming said challenges.

With the statistics clarified, I decided I would take my time and do more research into how these statistics synergize and put together a plan.