NOVEL WEB Chapter 6: Bastard Whisper
"Abu bu ba bu."
"…?"
'No, no. That's nonsense. I can do better than that, I know I can.'
"Aba bu ba bubu ba ba."
"…?"
'And that's even worse than before. What the hell is wrong with me?! I should've figured this speech thing out by now!'
Tyberius fumed silently, pouting with puffed cheeks and furrowed brows. To anyone passing by, he was just an adorable toddler throwing a tantrum. A curious child vexed over not getting his way, nothing more.
But inside that tiny body was the mind of someone far more aware. Far more frustrated.
'Alright. One more try.'
He inhaled sharply and gave it another go. Lips moved. Tongue twisted. But the sounds that came out were still nothing more than babyish babble. As if some invisible force was sabotaging every syllable before it left his mouth.
The result? Failure. Again.
Forget it…
The frustration gnawed at him and he stopped trying. Perhaps some rest would help reset the mess. Maybe a nap could align his thoughts with his tongue.
Before now, he hadn't been in such a hurry to talk. Speech wasn't urgent. He could coast through early childhood without drawing attention. That had been the plan.
But everything changed the moment he discovered why he'd reincarnated.
As a game character… Of course. That should've been obvious, the damn thing is called Reincarnation Online.
That realisation had flipped his mental world on its head.
He wasn't just living in a fantasy world anymore, he was the fantasy. A literal game avatar, dropped into a living, breathing world that mimicked the mechanics of a virtual MMORPG.
So that's why there was no official info about the game. No trailers. No buzz. No nothing.
Because the game didn't exist in any traditional sense. It was a hidden system, a reality simulation, perhaps. But none of that mattered now.
'I'm in it already. I'm a player whether I wanted to be or not.'
And in this new life, he couldn't afford to waste time pretending to be a background character.
'My old plan was to keep a low profile. Stay out of the way. Just survive quietly as a bastard child of House Arkwell.'
That plan, however, was now dead on arrival.
Why?
Because of his Talent.
It currently appeared as "Unawakened" on his character profile, but he already knew what it would become. He remembered.
A growth-type talent, one that evolved over time. He didn't know the exact mechanics or how far it could go, but the fact that it could evolve meant it had potential. Immense potential.
And then there was his sub-race.
Among the many human variants listed in the game, his was described as the most promising. The strongest. The kind with the highest ceiling for growth and power.
'How can I waste that? How can I justify living like a deadbeat NPC with all this stacked in my favour?'
No. He couldn't. He wouldn't.
From that moment forward, Tyberius made a choice: live up to his potential no matter what it took. No more passive waiting. No more stalling behind baby steps.
He'd train his body. He'd force speech. He'd learn to walk on two feet, not crawl on all fours like an ordinary infant.
It was no surprise then that Greta, his ever-watchful maid, had noticed the difference in his behaviour.
He was more active. More focused. Less prone to random fussing and more determined in his every movement.
So one day, she made a decision.
Greta walked over to his crib, scooped him up gently, and brought him to the bed not for feeding, but for something else entirely.
She sat across from him on the floor, placing him in the centre of the mattress.
"Young master," she began softly, "what I'm about to say… You probably won't understand."
Ty blinked, his round baby eyes fixed on her.
Try me, he thought, sceptical but curious.
"I've been watching you these past few days. You've been working very hard. So I figured… It's time."
'Time for what?'
He furrowed his brow instinctively, an unspoken question painting his cherubic face.
"In this world," she continued, "every child goes through something called an Awakening when they turn nine."
'The Awakening… That must be tied to the 'Talent' and 'Magic' sections of my character sheet, they both say 'Unawakened' right now.'
"When a child awakens," Greta said, "their mana core opens, and they become capable of absorbing mana and using magic."
Magic. Of course.
The very essence of fantasy RPGs. A core energy system used for combat, skills, and more.
'So this world really does follow game logic. This is Reincarnation Online…'
"But you know something, young master?" Greta leaned in, her voice now barely above a whisper. "There are rumours… quiet ones. They say it's possible to awaken one's mana core before the official Awakening."
Ty narrowed his eyes slightly.
'Where are you going with this, woman?'
"You probably don't understand, of course," she said with a sheepish laugh. "You're just a baby. But listen anyway. Watch closely, okay? I want you to observe everything I do now."
Her tone had shifted. Gone was her usual bubbly warmth. In its place was a serious gravity that Ty wasn't used to hearing from her.
"To absorb mana," she said, "you must concentrate. You need to feel it, sense the mana particles in the air. Then, you draw them in. Little by little, through your skin, your breath, your spirit. Guide them to your heart. There, you'll build your core, a vessel for mana. A foundation."
Ty's mind worked furiously.
'So the external mana flows inward. You absorb it slowly and condense it into a core located near the heart. Sounds like a long-term internal cultivation method…'
"I've heard this is the fastest way to awaken early," Greta added. "Lady Vero of House Halbrant awakened at five years old. Apparently, she had unknowingly been absorbing mana while she slept. One day, it just… ignited."
Ty's thoughts raced.
'She wants me to do it consciously. She wants me to try and awaken before nine. But why? What does she see in me?'
The answer was simple.
She saw his effort. His strange drive. His unnatural focus.
He was no ordinary child. And maybe, just maybe, she believed in the extraordinary path he could walk.