An Unbound Soul

This was the first time I'd had a good look at what our village actually produced. I'd seen Mum cook with things that looked very much like potatoes, carrots and other Earth ingredients, but I was more used to seeing vegetables wrapped in cellophane with a price sticker on than I was seeing them in the ground, so I had little hope of recognising anything from the above-ground parts. As Dad fired off names for each type of plant, I did my best to match them up and to remember which plant was which.

The primary crop of our village was some sort of root vegetable that wasn't edible, but from which sugar could be extracted. I had no idea what a sugar beet looked like, but if these matched anything from Earth, that would be my guess. There were also leafy things that looked very much like lettuce, and pods that looked like peas. There was one thing I was very sure about; we had an apple orchard. It was only a small one, but I knew apples when I saw them. There were also a few wheat fields, which explained where our fresh bread came from.

While the plant life all looked lifted from Earth, animal life was very different. We had milk and eggs in the house, but they didn't come from cows or chickens. Not that it came as a surprise; the eggs were far too big to have been from chickens, and the milk tasted very different to cows' milk. Given the familiar veg, I'd assumed eggs came from geese or something other than chickens, and that the milk tasted different because it was unpasteurised, but nope. Eggs actually came from six legged, feathered... things. They were the size of medium dog, as tall as dad's knees, and twice as long. The feathers were grass green, which would be great for camouflage, but they had no heads, which seemed like quite an important thing to lack. Their bodies were symmetrical, and there were eyes peaking out from under the feathers on both sides, but I saw no mouth. How did they eat? Dad named them as hexauyos.

Milk came from a tusked beast that looked like a boar had crossed with a horse and then eaten far too much grass. And then fallen victim to untalented graffiti artists who had hit a paint store just as it was having a clearance on neons, and were high on something illegal. And blind. Camouflage couldn't possibly have been the goal there, unless they were trying to hide in the middle of an acid trip. Dad called them rainbow beasts, which I felt was a rather more feminine name than the tusks and bristles warranted. That, and rainbows were more organised. At least the milk was the traditional white. Given the rainbow beasts it came from, I wouldn't have been surprised had it been luminescent.

Fields done, we moved out to uncultivated land. Dad started pointing out more plants. At one point he picked out two mushrooms that looked completely identical, informing me that one was called 'red death' and ingesting it would be fatal within minutes, and the other was 'cook's delight', a delicious and easy-to-use ingredient. He wouldn't tell me which was which, but instead used them as a demonstration of why [Inspection] could be useful. It had been an interesting trip, but unfortunately, the sun began to set before I'd heard any dings.

"I think it's about time to head back. Was that enough to get your skill? If not, we'll need a trip into the forest some other day."

"No, I haven'th had any nothificathionsh."

"Ah, I forgot to mention, but you don't get notifications when new skills become available. You have to check the store periodically."

Bleh. Say that sooner! Right, what skills did I have available now?

Skills available for purchase:

2 points: [Inspection]

Yes! Buy buy buy!

ding

New skill acquired: [Inspection]

Seriously? I had a notification for that when I literally just bought it myself, but there wasn't one for the skill becoming available in the first place? Whoever designed this System didn't have any UX experience. Oh, I should have checked to see if I could read the skill description before buying it. Drat. I must remember to try next time. I guess it didn't make a difference this time because I was going to buy the skill regardless. An appraisal skill was a must have for any isekai adventure, after all!

[Inspection] - View the identity of a target. Higher levels increase range. (Rank 1)

I looked up at Dad. I was pretty sure that him carrying me counted as being in range.

David, Human

Really? That was all? Sheesh, I would need to upgrade this to the rank two [Appraisal] or better as quickly as possible. But I couldn't even afford a rank two skill right now. I needed more levels! But usefulness aside, at least it worked.

"Yesh, I have ith!"

"Well done. I'm proud of you. But if you don't mind me asking, can you read?"

What? Where did that come from?! Oh poo, I'd just spent ages reading system messages right in front of him. My eyes were probably wiggling back and forth while he was watching. Even if he couldn't see the interface, I wasn't invisible myself. I screwed up again...

"No..."

"It's okay, I wouldn't expect you to. No need to look so panicked over it. Anyway, let's head home."

Huh? What just happened? He was blatantly watching me reading, but as soon as I denied it, he instantly believed me. Yup, again I feel I must berate my parents for being far too trusting. Suits me just fine, though.

As Dad carried me back home, I continued firing off [Inspection] at anything that came into range, which turned out to be around a metre. Or 'unit', which as far as I could tell was about the same length. Hmm... The name 'unit' was supposed to come from the System, but the [Inspection] description just said 'higher levels increase range' without explicitly saying what the range was. Maybe there was some way to get more detailed skill descriptions?

We made it back home just as the sun was starting to set, vanishing behind the tree line to the west. I looked at the door to our house.

Wooden door

And the [Inspection] skill proved its worth once more. I never would have known I was looking at a door had it not told me.

We stepped in and Dad handed me off to Mum. "Mission successful. Our little boy has learnt his first skill."

"Congratulations, little one."

I looked up and smiled. "Thanw you."

Lucy, Human

Suddenly my vision blurred, and I felt extremely nauseous. The room started to spin, and I couldn't hold my focus on Mum.

"Hey. Little one. Peter! What's wrong?!"

What... happened? I felt awful... Fighting through sudden drowsiness, I managed to bring up my status.

Name: Peter

Species: Human

Class: Commoner (Level 3)

Soul Points: 2

Health: 8/8

Stamina: 3/8

Mana: 1/16

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 4

Endurance: 3

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 10

Charisma: 9

Skills: [Inspection 1]

Traits: [Abnormal Soul] [Early Bloomer] [Curious] [Xenophilia]

Titles: None

Apparently [Inspection] consumed mana. Silly me for assuming it was free and not checking. Just one point grace separated me from enforced nap time.

"Nothing wrong. No mana."

"Oh, silly child. Don't worry us like that! I know you're excited about getting your first skill, but be more careful not to overuse it."

"Another important point that my own dad enjoyed quoting at me every time I did something stupid is that neither intelligence nor wisdom provide you with common sense, so remember to think before you act. Anyway, you've had a busy day. It's time you had a sleep."

To be fair, it certainly was, but with my mind still buzzing after all of today's activity, I knew drifting off would be a difficult task. I was stuck in the horrible situation of being over tired but being unable to sleep. I lay there waiting for my mana to tick back upwards, taking some of my nausea with it. At the rate it was going, it would take perhaps an hour to go from zero to full. From the limited information my parents had provided, supposedly I needed to learn to sense mana before I could start using it, but [Inspection] used mana and I had no trouble using that. Was there a distinction between 'magic' and 'a skill that uses mana'? In any case, it wouldn't hurt to try to feel out my mana.

I closed my eyes and tried to feel my mana increasing. When it was almost empty I had very much felt the effects, but until then I hadn't noticed at all that it was draining. I'd gone from completely normal to semi-conscious with one skill use. That wasn't the same as stamina, where I could feel my body getting heavier and sluggish as it drained. If a prerequisite for magic was learning to sense mana, then getting a feel for the state of my own pool would be a good start. Without cheating and reading my status, of course.

I was woken up by the sun shining in through the window. Wait, when did I even fall asleep? So much for being too buzzed to sleep. I guess that laying down, ignoring my senses and trying to feel out my mana was kinda restful. Given the time it took mana to regenerate fully, it was no wonder I couldn't stay awake for the whole thing. My pool was definitely full now after a good night's rest, but I still couldn't feel the difference. I fired off [Inspection] at my cot to use some up.

Cot

Helpful as ever, I see. My status said that my mana had dropped to fifteen. I looked around to find something else in range.

Woollen blanket

Still fifteen, so it obviously didn't take a whole point per use. That made sense, since I must have fired off dozens while out yesterday. Certainly far more than sixteen. A bit more experimentation revealed I could get three shots off per point of mana.

ding

Skill [Inspection] advanced to level 2

Already? It had only been a day... Although it was the first level of the lowest rank skill, and [Early Bloomer] gave me an additional boost, so it could only get slower from here. The range increase seemed to be around a third. If it was linear, I'd have four times the starting range by level ten. That would make it more usable, but not exactly something you could use on an enemy mage or archer at long range. Hopefully, the higher rank skills improved range further. The quality of information it displayed didn't change in the slightest, which wasn't a surprise since the skill description didn't claim that it did.

With my mana down by half, I concentrated on feeling out any differences from when I was full. There was... perhaps an emptiness would be a good description. Not like hunger or anything physical. Just a feeling that something was missing. I fired off [Inspection] a few more times to drain some more, while concentrating on the feeling.

Nappy (soiled)

Arggg... I'd got pretty good at detaching myself during feeding and changing times. Of course a baby wouldn't have been left half a day and the whole night without attention. Perhaps I was in denial, but that was my right and I was clinging to it. Alas, this time I'd spoiled my illusion with a poorly timed [Inspection]. Seriously, I could walk now. Surely they could let me use the real loo? Admittedly, my muscle control wasn't great, but still... I don't think my parents quite knew how they should treat me, given the disconnect between my mental abilities and my physical growth.

That distraction spoilt my concentration. Despite searching, the feeling of emptiness from before was no longer there. My regeneration was too slow to feel the gradual changes, so starting from full and dumping half my mana in one go seemed to be the way forward. Mana seemed to regenerate the complete pool in one hour, so I'd have to wait half an hour for my pool to refill. Stamina was presumably the same, once the passive drain from being awake was subtracted.

"All clean and dressed. You're very quiet this morning. Feeling better after yesterday?"

"Yesh, thrying tho feew my mana."

"Oh? Don't you want to wait for some advice first? Well, I guess there's no harm to it. I need to finish off Kendra's dress, so I'll be working this morning. Call if you need me."

Dad had already left for the fields before I woke up. While waiting for my mana to return, I toddled around the room, doing my best not to fall over.

ding

Dexterity increased by 1

Wow, today had been a good day already. It was slightly concerning how my dexterity was outstripping my strength and endurance, though. I hadn't had a boost to either for a while now and was in dire need of some more. I suppose that dexterity was something that could be trained more easily, whereas strength and endurance literally needed me to grow up.

The extra dexterity made an immediate difference to my walking. Training in this world was weird. I wonder what would happen to a fitness enthusiast visiting a gym in this world. They would hear a ding and suddenly have to go and find an extra weight to attach to their machine.

That killed enough time for my mana to return, so I sat down and concentrated as I drained half my pool. I managed to grasp at that feeling of emptiness again and held on to it as I drained my pool further. This time I didn't hit any unfortunate distractions and managed to keep a grasp of the feeling as it intensified. I tried to keep hold of the feeling as my pool slowly refilled, but without the rapid changes drawing attention to it, I could feel my grasp slipping. I lost it completely after a minute or two. It was like one of the videos from back on Earth with a camouflaged object bouncing around a screen, and then it stops moving and immediately gets lost in the background. Still, maybe what I had done was enough?

Skills available for purchase:

2 points: [Meditation] [Mana Sense]

Huh? How did I get two? Three cheers for successfully unlocking [Mana Sense], which was the skill that Mum mentioned yesterday, but where did [Meditation] come from? I guess now would be a good time to check if I could read skill descriptions from the store.

[Meditation] - Relax and close off the world around you to increase stamina and mana regeneration. Higher levels increase regeneration rate. (Rank 1)

[Mana Sense] - Vaguely perceive the presence of mana in your immediate vicinity. Higher levels increase acuity and range. (Rank 1)

Indeed I could. The descriptions looked the same as looking at something from my own status. My best guess was that I'd unlocked [Meditation] last night. I guess I could call the time I spent before sleep 'meditating', if I squinted a bit and twisted the definition to breaking point. I couldn't afford both skills in any case, so [Mana Sense] it was. I could wait for Kari to visit, but I probably needed to get [Mana Sense] to level ten to learn any real magic, so the sooner I started the better.

ding

New skill acquired: [Mana Sense]

I looked around, but as far as I could tell, nothing external had changed. I certainly hadn't developed any new super-senses. Trying to feel out my own mana pool was more successful, though; I could now grasp the feel of my own internal mana easily, and could sense where there was a hole slowly being filled by a trickle coming in from outside. I did my best to follow it, but it didn't seem to be coming from anywhere. Or perhaps it was coming from everywhere. 'Vaguely' was certainly an apt description of this skill.

Spending some more mana, I found I could now tell with relative ease the fraction of my pool that remained without having to check my status. Hopefully that would prevent any more repeats of last night. I could also, heh, 'vaguely' sense the mana leaving my body as I used [Inspection], although where it was going, I had no clue. I could also switch the skill off at will, which was fortunate. Without that, it would be like trying to sleep with my eyes open, despite the poor resolution.

The rest of the day was spent toddling around the room and practising my pair of skills. And also napping. I was still a baby, after all. Having an excuse to take random naps whenever I felt like it was a perk I was going to miss. There were no more skill or stat gains, but today had been quite productive enough as it was. No need to get greedy.

ding

For your efforts to uncover the secrets of mana, [Curious] awards 1 soul point.

Oh. Never mind then. Thanks, System!