Ch: 2 Rewrite (Patreon)

It's official; I'm going crazy, and it wasn't even because I died and was reborn. No, I was going crazy because I'd been lying here for two months and was incredibly bored with nothing to do but stare up.

Ok, breathe; I try to get ahold of emotions before I accidentally start crying. Again.

I wish I could say I haven't cried that much, but it has been a long couple of months. It's becoming more manageable as the days pass, as I slowly adjust to my new life, but I still don't have adequate control over my emotions.

My first two days in this world were the worst. I was in a panicked state the whole time, and the next three weren't much better. I spent days thinking I was surrounded by giants speaking another language—that or contemplating if I had just gone completely insane.

Maybe I wasn't as bright as I thought, but in my defense, it wasn't like what I was going through was common.

Either way, I slowly realized I was a baby and could do nothing about it. It also became rather apparent that being a baby was anything but fun. I could do nothing alone and ask no one any of the numerous questions that haunted my every thought.

First, I had yet to learn what civilization was like in this world compared to Earth. Judging by the open windows with no glass, wooden walls, and the thatched roof combined with the wool blanket and plain clothes the people are wearing; I’m in the dark ages or this world's equivalent.

Then again, I had yet to meet that many people, and the ones I have are up at dawn and in bed soon after sunset, leaving me little time to interact with them.

The only light source I've seen is candles, which are rarely used. As a result, it gets so dark at night I can barely see my hand in front of my face.

With technology being almost nonexistent, there were no modern-day necessities that I was used to. No light, no running water…. no diapers, well at least not like what we had back on Earth. I had to deal with old scratchy towels wrapped around my bottom.

Talking about it hurts my soul, but having a baby’s body meant I had no bowel control. As a result, I'm constantly leaking unmentionables, and if that's not bad enough, I can hardly move. I can’t even tilt my fat head up to better view my surroundings.

So, as previously stated, I’m stuck staring at the ceiling.

I have no way to tell my new family what I want, let alone need, other than whining. Having an adult mind meant I don't like to marinade in my mess, and even if it hurts my pride, I scream my head off till I’m changed, and god help them if they don’t come quickly.

I shouldn't say that; my new mom didn't deserve my misplaced anger. To her, I was an average baby, so I couldn't fault her for how she treated me.

Besides, she appears to be on the younger side, like 25’ish. I try not to let it bother me, but having a mother so close to my previous age is weird. I can only guess her height because of how small I am, but I'd think she's around 5' 8'' with a dark, slightly reddish hair color. Her eyes are brown, with a slender face and build, and she sports a slight tan.

She's relatively thin and doesn't have much muscle, but I don't let her size foul me anymore. Even though her arms are small and toned, I once watched her pick up a large bucket of water while juggling me in her other arm and based on her expression at the time, neither of us was heavy to her.

That was the first time I’d seen physical proof of what stats could allow a person to do, but without knowing her exact Strength value, I had no idea if she was the average or an outlier. Still, my mother was quite beautiful in a rustic way. Though there was one part of her anatomy, I was embarrassingly familiar with.

It probably goes without saying, but I'm fed multiple times daily. I was a virgin before I died, and the only breasts I've seen were on the internet…. till now.

The first two days, I didn't know what was going on, but after that, let’s say even if I’m starving and crying uncontrollably and she goes to feed me, I try to be a gentleman about it and close my eyes to not look at her C grade assets. But, sadly, closing my eyes didn't help with the embarrassment I felt, and I could always feel myself blushing during and afterward my feedings.

Because I was a relatively quiet baby, I was mostly left alone in this incredibly sparse room with little furniture. Mother keeps me in a crib-like structure, swaddled heavily beside a twin-sized bed. The only other furniture in the room is some box shelving my brother uses to store his few possessions. So, even if I could move my head, it wasn't like I had much to look at.

Speaking of, I have an older brother now. Technically this was his room. He's four or five, super energetic like all kids his age are and has a curious mind. I've woken from more than a few naps to find his short dirty blond hair and bright green eyes staring at me while I sleep. I’ve cried a few times waking up like that; give a baby a heart attack, why don’t you? He has a pudgy face and a slightly darker tan than Mother, meaning he probably spends more time outside than she does.

The only other person I’ve met besides those two is who I assume is my father. If Mother is 5' 8'', he's probably 6' tall or even taller than that and was the epitome of manliness with his dark tan and arm muscles bigger than my body.

The man obviously works hard because I only see him closer to sundown and never in the mornings. And if Mom can easily lift a large bucket of water with her stats, Father might be able to smash a mountain with his. Appearance-wise, he has the same hair and eyes as Brother, though his hair is more sun-bleached rather than dirty blond. He also sports a trimmed beard and mustache, giving him a fierce look.

I’m not sure if he’s not good with babies or if it’s just me because any time he holds me, he's overly gentle and panics if I start to cry or look upset.

At this point, I only really know my family's physical features. They didn't exactly have long conversations in front of me, and it wasn't easy guessing what they might be talking about.

I don’t even know any of their names yet!

While my family and surroundings were still a mystery, I haven't learned nothing while in this new world. The most exciting thing about this world I've learned so far is the presence of magic. That one concept has helped me fight off my boredom the most.

Mana was everywhere; I was sure of it. It was hard not to notice the slight tingling sensation running throughout my body. Then there was the air; not only did it taste cleaner than on Earth, but there was a weird sensation I felt every time I took a breath. It, thankfully, wasn't painful, only odd.

It was also nice being able to open my status page and confirm magic's existence:

LV: 3 Experience: 75/156

Health: 80/80 Stamina: 31/40 Mana: 50/50

Vitality: 8

Endurance: 2

Strength: 2

Agility: 1

Senses: 5

Mind: 26

Magic: 5

Clarity: 3

Status Points: 20

Skills: Sense Mana LV2

Just thinking about it pulls the numbers out of my head and displays them in front of me like a projection. It took me longer than I liked to admit to figure out the weird mental sensation required to summon my Status page. It took me over a week to do so, though I wasn't exactly mentally stable that first week. It's a wonder I managed to summon it when I did.

Playing with it daily, I've confirmed that the numbers representing my status have slowly increased as I get older. Since birth, I’ve gained a point in Endurance and Strength and a further two in Clarity and Senses. I was even awarded experience points for learning Sense Mana. After 12 days of trying to feel the weird tingling sensation in the air and my body, I got the first Sense mana level. The sensation of ambient magic was easy for me to grasp because I was still mentally used to living on Earth, which had no mana, so focusing on the difference helped a lot.

I got 100xp for the first level and another 200xp for the second 3 days ago. And with nothing else to do and all this free time on my hands, I made some math observations about my status page as the numbers increased. I was interested to see how the values affected different things.

First, Vitality is multiplied by 10 to give me my Health, the same thing with my mana pool and Magic. Stamina appears to be an average of Vitality, Endurance, and Strength; which makes sense considering stamina in my previous life was affected by most of one’s physical aspects.

Hopefully, my physical stats will continue to rise as my body moves and grows older. At least that’s what I was praying for; I wanted as many free stat points as I could get my tiny baby hands on.

Regarding what I got for leveling up, I was given ten stat points for each level up. And though it was only conjecture at this point, the experience reequipment goes up by 25% after each level. I wanted to run some tests with the extra status points I got from leveling, but each time I tried to use them, I infuriatingly got a lock-out message:

(Status Page Locked For 148 Lunar Cycles)

After cursing the system in my head for a bit, I calmed down. The time lock must be the system's way of keeping children from accidentally misusing their status points.

It initially said I was locked out for 150 Cycles, which dropped to 149 after I turned a month old. It again dropped to 148 when I hit two months.

It sucks that I couldn't raise my Strength to the point that I could use the bathroom on my own, but I suppose it removes the temptation of using my points immediately. Just as well, I don't want to be a super baby; I can only imagine the things that could happen in a magical world where one stands out too much.

The best thing I can do right now is continue to kick and flail my arms to build my muscles and increase my status points. The quicker I gain those, the sooner I can move and stop staring at this accursed ceiling.

Sadly, just as I got motivated, I started feeling tired again. Guess it’s time for another nap; I can't wait till I don't have to take twelve of those a day.

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Author’s Note:

Same as last time, please tell me any errors you spot, thanks.