Why hello people, this is the first real chapter of Win to Live, updates to this won't be too frequent due to the fact that this is only a side project.
Thank you for taking your time to click on this and read it.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Growth Part 1
I opened my eyes after nine months of partial consciousness. I had my memories and could not feel anything. I was just a thought floating by.
I see a room that is poorly lit and the walls have holes in them that are boarded up with wooden planks. There was a man holding me carefully.
I try to move my body how I want, however, it is not responding and my body is moving against my will. My body cries on its own. I have no power to stop it. It is as if I am just along for the ride at the moment.
With the undeveloped ears of a baby, I hear scattered breathing with a mix of moans of pain. It isn’t very clear though.
After a few minutes of crying my body involuntarily goes to sleep. This young body is so weak.
-------------Three Months Later-------------
I was finally able to start controlling the body I was in. The movements did not follow exactly what I wanted, however, it was closer.
My mother was a beautiful woman. She had silver hair and green eyes. She looked quite tall, however it is hard to judge because the body I am in is extremely small. Ever since I gained control of this body I had stopped crying as it was pointless.
I could make these weird sounds that would get the attention of mother whenever she heard them. It was almost a scream, but not quite since my vocal cords had yet to fully develop.
Being breast fed… I have no comment.
My room was small and empty. There was a wooden chair in the corner that my mother would fall asleep in sometimes while watching me, my crib made of unfinished wood, and a small window that let sunlight come in during the day, and moonlight at night.
The lighting is done by candles in this house. The technology must be around some point in medieval times. This world is ruled by magic according to ‘Dillan’. I would expect to see some different things than what I have seen so far if this world was truly run by magic.
The only two people I have ever seen were the man that helped my mother deliver me, and my mother. I have not seen another person.
I look out the window in my room all the time, however all I ever see is trees. A lot of trees.
When I am taken out of my room, all I see out other windows are trees. Is this house in the middle of a forest perhaps?
I am sadly hungry once again and I make the noise to try and attract the attention of my mother.
My mother comes into the room with a bright smile on her face, “Oh my, are ‘….’ again?”
I am able to understand some of the words that she says. The language she speaks is similar to the language I used to speak, however, it has some slight differences in words that I cannot yet understand.
I am able to understand the context so I am able to figure out what she says most of the time. I can’t respond in any way yet, but I am able to comprehend what she says.
-----------Two Years Later-----------
I had learned to speak and understand the language of this world quite a while ago now.
“Mother. Why can I not leave the house?” My mother did not ever allow me to take one step out of the door.
She frowns as she looks at me, “My son. I have told you many times. The world outside is too dangerous for you. Stay here with mother until you grow up and become strong like your father.”
This is not the first time that she has mentioned him. She never gives more information that, ‘He was a great man.’
“Mother. Who was father?”
She smiles weakly, “Your father was a great man who saved many people. Including myself.” Tears start to form in her eyes, “Raydos. I feel that you are old enough to hear this story now.”
I was able to keep my name from my previous life somehow. I would rather have a new name personally.
My mother continues, “Your father was a powerful adventurer. I was just a random woman he saved from a village that was being attacked by monsters. I was always a weak woman and barely had the strength to move normally. Your father healed me using what he called a ‘Top class’ spell. I fell in love with him and spent a few nights with him on the journey back to the nearest safe village. You came into my life from those days on.” Tears start to roll down her face, “I want you to know that I love you. It isn’t your father’s fault he isn’t here to raise you. I’m sorry that he might not even know about you.”
My mother starts to weep.
I walk up to her with an emotionless expression, “Mother. You are the best.”
In these last two years she treated me better than my family from my previous life ever treated me.
She smiles weakly, “Even though I keep you locked in the house all the time?”
I feel more and more disconnected from the other world as each day with my new mother goes by.
I nod, “I love you mother.” I hug her with my small body and she hugs me back.
“I love you too Raydos.”
----------Three Months Later---------
MY mother has started to teach me how to read and write in this world. The spoken language was somewhat similar to my previous world, but the written language is completely different.
“If your mother wasn’t a frail woman growing up she would have been a teacher you know.” My mother smiles at me as I do my best to learn the complicated words that are written down.
I start off with numbers.
This was because my mother wanted to teach me math as soon as she could. However, I stunned her when I completed the equations with ease.
I wasn’t stupid enough to solve the super complex problem that had she had placed in front of me. I stared at it with a blank expression. I was only solving addition and subtraction in front of her. I don’t remember being that good at math in the other world anyways.
Along with language skills and math, my mother was teaching me the very basics of magic currently, now that I had a beginner level in reading and writing.
“First we will talk about the most basic of things! Your stats!”
I tilt my head, “Stats?”
She smiles, “This world has something called magic! Various races all have different specialties. We, of the Human race; are average. The dwarf race are people who are usually much shorter than average, and they have high dexterity and intelligence. Next is the Beastkin race. They have a higher defense than most races and their appearance is said to be likened to a Human’s, however, there are many was to tell a Beastkin apart from a Human. Next are the elves. They have incredibly long lifespans and high talent for magic, they look like Humans, and they look young until the final thirty years of their life, but, they are much taller than Humans normally are and have slightly pointed ears. Then there are races that I know exist but don’t know anything other than their names. They are the Demon race, the Dragos race, and the Automata race.”
I attempt to write it all down, but gave up halfway through. I raise my hand. My mother points at me, “Yes Raydos?”
“What happened to learning about stats?”
She laughs, “Oh my, I got sidetracked again.” She walks to where I was sitting and looks at my page with a complicated expression, “You learn so quickly, it is quite odd. When you open your stats, tell mother what they are as quickly as possible.”
I nod, “Of course mother, that is not a problem.”
She smiles as she places her hand on my head, “Okay then. Repeat after me: Status Reflect.”
I keep my emotionless expression as I say, “Status Reflect.”
A game like status window appears in front of me face. I almost fall over as it is so close.
My mother laughs slightly, “Come on, tell me your stats!” She starts to look anxious.
I look at the status window:
NAME: Raydos Skrayer
TITLE:
PROFESSION:
AGE: 2
LEVEL: 0
CONDITION: Fantastic
MANA: 500/500
ATTACK: 20
DEFENSE: 20
STRENGTH: 20
AGILITY: 20
INTELLIGENCE: 100
LUCK: 0
AFFINITIES;
WATER: 100
EARTH: 100
FIRE: 100
WIND: 100
LIGHT: 100
DARK: 100
???: 100
RESISTANCES: NONE
SKILLS;
Fygyneyr: ???
Beginner Identify: Can look at the status of other objects equal to or lesser than that of the user’s level.
I read out what was written as I look at it. This all seems a bit too… high spec?
My mother’s jaw drops as she hears my stats. She looks at me with a serious expression, “Did you make any of that up Raydos?”
I shake my head as my expression stays calm, “I did not tell mother a single lie. I promise.”
She frowns deeply, “Are you sure you are telling the truth? If not, mother will be punishing you for lying to her.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
I nod quickly, “Yes, I am telling the truth to mother.”
She makes a complicated expression, “I will start to tell you a few things. The average numbers for stats are about 10. Yours are double, which means that you will have double the growth. Some people are born with extra boosts in their stats, but intelligence 100… that’s a bit ridiculous. The number that appears beside the element in affinities is actually the percentage of damage that you can produce. Then with your affinities. Most people have one affinity that is at 100 and several at lower percentages. You have all of them at 100, plus you have the ‘???’ there. I have never heard anything about that! Your mana is ridiculously high and you have skills! There is nothing right here! Your luck is also too low! Is 0 luck even possible!?”
I grab on my mother’s pant leg, “Mother is yelling.”
She also hits her head, “Aren’t you also speaking too fluently for a two year old!? Seriously!? How come I didn’t notice this until now!?”
I tilt my head. I guess I don’t even remember the normal age for children to speak normally…
My mother crouches down on the ground, “I have to wait until you are seven to send you to school! I will run out of things to teach you by then! You will be too far ahead! I got it!”
My mother sprints out of the room almost faster than I can react.
---------Three Years Later---------
“This is not natural in any way!” My mother was shouting at me as I was casting the spells she had taught me.
[Fireball]
I ball of fire about the size of an adult fist is fired out from in front of me at a target. The target bursts into flames and my mother puts out the fire with water magic.
My mother specialized in water magic and minored in light magic. She could use nothing other than those two.
“At least work by common sense!” My mother was shouting at me again. She wasn’t angry, she was just exasperated.
For some reason, I was able to use magic at full strength even without the chant. However, it would cost twice the mana to cast a spell without the chant. I could fire five fireballs in a row, but I would have to wait an hour to fully recover.
When I was training magic I got a few new skills after trying to cast magic.
Insta-cast: Can instantly cast any spell at the cost of double the mana of the normal spell, the strength of the spell stays the same
Long Cast: Can double the cast time to half the cost of the mana of a spell, the strength of the spell stays the same.
I wasn’t opposed to these skills since they seemed mostly balanced as far as skills go. One question still floats in my head after getting these skills. How did I learn them?
I have learned five spells:
[Water Bullet][Earth Bullet][Fireball][Wind Bullet][Lesser Minor Heal]
All of these spells cost 50 mana to cast normally.
My mother smiles suddenly, “Lesson time!” She has been giving me random lessons to teach me assorted things. She has been drilling me with knowledge for the past three years.
I have learned quite a bit about the world’s structure and the continents.
There is the central continent, the southern, northern, and western continents. Each continent has all races on it, but they all have varying levels of monsters and animals.
The central continent is where the majority of people are born because it is the safest.
In order to properly learn the rest I was then taught about the Guilds around the world. The largest guild is the adventurer’s guild. They are responsible for the ranking of people and various other systems around the world.
The guild ranked people on various merits and their combat ability. The rankings went as follows:
Wood rank
Stone rank
Bronze rank
Iron rank
Silver rank
Gold rank
Platinum rank
A person who had just registered with the guild would be at the wood rank by default. After completing various missions at their rank would a person be allowed to rank up. The number varies depending on the difficulty of the mission and the payment for the mission.
Finally back to the continents. The central continent was home to wood rank to bronze rank adventurers. The northern continent was where most iron and silver rank adventurers roamed. The southern and western continents had gold and platinum rank adventurers.
I was in a forest at the northwest of the central continent. To the east were mountain ranges and to the south were swamps. The nearest town was a two week journey from where I was.
The reason my mother decided to live here was because people rarely if ever came here. The monsters that roam around here are all bronze rank.
The northern continent is mostly plains and it is almost always cold in the northern parts of the continent. The western continent is the most difficult to traverse because it is mostly made of volcanoes. There are a few places where there is some grass and trees, but not many. The southern continent is made up of a mixture of swamps and forests. It is warm there all year round.
“Hurry up and sit!” My mother shouts at me as I reach the bench outside.
I sit down and start to listen to my mother once again.
“Today is a very special day!” She raises her arms and starts to cheer, “I finally get to teach you spell classifications and how they correlate to the rank that the guilds give you!”
I tilt my head, “Spell classifications? What are those?”
My mother energetically stands up, “Spell classifications are how spells are grouped. The spells are grouped by mana cost and destruction levels. If a spell has a high destruction compared to mana cost it will be put in the higher category, and vice versa, if a spell has a high mana cost compared to the destruction it will still be placed in a higher category. Only certain people will have access to certain classifications of spells.”
“What are the classifications?” I ask because it seemed like my mother was going to get sidetracked again. I ended up hearing a lot of pointless stories about various towns that my mother has travelled to before she got really sick.
She smiles and sits back down in front of me, “I’m sorry Raydos. I guess I will start now. First of all, the spells I taught you are Beginner class spells. Those spells have mana costs that range from 50 to 100. Next will be the Low class spells. They have mana costs from 500 to 1000. Intermediate class has mana cost ranging from 5000 to 10000. High class spells are from 20000 to 40000. Advanced class spells range from 60000 to 120000. Finally, there are the Top class spells that has the staggering mana cost of 500000 to 1 million mana.”
My jaw drops. How is it possible to cast those high class spells if they cost so much mana? Is the growth rate really that incredible?
My mother laughs at my expression which is normally emotionless, “Don’t be so shocked, most people can cast Top class spells when they get to Gold rank in the adventurer guild.”
I smile, “How long does that take?” I was extremely interested in growing that fast.
“Thirty years at the earliest, and most people don’t surpass bronze rank their entire lives.”
My face almost hits the ground, “What!?”
My mother laughs at me again, “Most people stay at level thirty on average. I am only level thirty five. Your growth will be incredible considering the stats you are starting with. Except… there is something bothering me.” My mother’s expression suddenly turns grim.
I tilt my head in confusion, “What’s wrong mother?”
She frowns as she looks at me, “Check your stats again for me.”
I do as she says:
NAME: Raydos Skrayer
TITLE: Quick Learner
PROFESSION:
AGE: 5
LEVEL: 0
CONDITION: Fantastic
MANA: 500/500
ATTACK: 20
DEFENSE: 20
STRENGTH: 20
AGILITY: 20
INTELLIGENCE: 100
LUCK: 0
AFFINITIES;
WATER: 100
EARTH: 100
FIRE: 100
WIND: 100
LIGHT: 100
DARK: 100
???: 100
RESISTANCES: NONE
SKILLS;
Fygyneyr: ???
Beginner Identify: Can look at the status of other objects equal to or lesser than that of the user’s level.
Insta-cast: Can instantly cast any spell at the cost of double the mana of the normal spell, the strength of the spell stays the same.
Long Cast: Can double the cast time to half the cost of mana, the strength of the spell stays the same.
MAGIC SKILLS;
BEGINNER: [Water Bullet][Earth Bullet][Fireball][Wind Bullet][Lesser Minor Heal]
I read it all to my mother. She frowns, “How are you still level 0? You should at least be level 1 by now. Also, you gained those two skills quite some time ago, but they were learned too quickly.”
I make a complicated expression, “Does this mean I will never level up and will always stay weak?”
My mother also makes a complicated expression, “I don’t know. I have heard that children grow slightly more slowly until the age of ten, then grow extremely fast usually reaching level 5 at the end of their tenth year of age.”
I frown, “What happens if I can’t level up?”
My mother smiles, “Let’s try an experiment!”