Runemaster 2

(Click here to read the first installment in this series)

Aden's first year of infancy went by in a blur. Whether it was a feature of the "improved processing" promised by the nameless god or just a side-effect of the fact that his brain wasn't fully formed, Aden couldn't tell, but he was grateful.

As it was, he came to himself in a small enclosure of wooden sticks set up around a rough linen blanket. He was indoors, and the floor all around was made of uneven wood, while the walls were a mixture of wood and stone. It seemed this world was less advanced than Earth—or maybe it was only so in the part of the world where he'd been born?

A message at the edge of his vision confirmed his reasoning was sound:

Wisdom Check: 74/65 (+2)

Wisdom Check successful.

He had assumed the weird text was just a feature of the void between life and death, but he was glad to be wrong. Maybe that was what the action log had meant when it granted him "limited admin privileges"?

That would be nifty; he could probably use this feature to tell if he'd learned something true or not. This time, though, he failed the wisdom check, so apparently it wasn't quite so simple. Maybe the wisdom check meant that his reasoning was sound, even if his conclusion was not?

Wisdom Check: 81/60

Wisdom Check successful.

He was surprised at the next line in his action log:

Intelligence +1

You have learned something new!

That was more detail than he usually got, and it gave him an important clue on how to improve. Learning new things would increase his intelligence, so logically, what would improve his wisdom?

He thought for a long time in silence, until he realized with a start that he was pooping himself. No warning, just a sudden, uncontrollable bowel movement.

Wise as he was, he couldn't help from crying in frustration. He was still little more than a baby, after all. And not even a potty-trained one.

A woman he instinctively recognized as his mother walked into the room, wiping her hands on an apron while cooing at him gently as she approached. Only two of her hands, Aden mentally corrected himself, She actually has four of them!

Looking down at himself for the first time, he noticed that he, too, had four arms, two connected in the normal spot at his shoulders, and two behind and slightly below that. Comparing his stubby little arms to hers, he noted how thin and graceful hers appeared, and he couldn't help but notice other odd details about her.

She had bluish-gray skin and eyes that would be far too large for a human. Her ears curved upward into a broad point, much like the elves from a fantasy back on Earth. The rest of her seemed fairly human, if a little more lithe and longer than normal, as if her features had been stretched. He could tell she would tower above the average human back on Earth.

Her hair, too, seemed fairly normal at first, but the way it moved made it seem almost alive. It flowed as if in a current, though there was no wind in the house, and it periodically whipped out to the side.

His mother sniffed the air and grimaced, then lifted Aden from his enclosure with her bottom set of hands, while her top set of hands fanned at the air as if to get rid of the stink. She spoke unintelligible words to him and rocked him back and forth in her arms while she walked him to a nearby table.

As she placed him on a padded cloth to change his little diaper, Aden suddenly realized that he could no longer smell his recent... accident. He remembered that this world had magic, and the thought occurred to him that her waving arms may have been her way of casting a spell to purify the air. He decided to confirm his guess by checking the action log.

Wisdom +1; Intelligence +1

By observing a master, you have learned that many spells involve a somatic component.

A chill of excitement ran through him, and he looked back toward the air behind his mother to find a pattern of orange light, slowly fading away. It was already too faded to make out any significant details, but he made a mental note to keep an eye out for more of the strange symbols. To his surprise and delight, though, he still learned something from it.

Skill Obtained:

Spell Writing - Level 0: You have observed the use of ether to scribe spells onto the world. Though you cannot yet use this skill, you may gain the ability if you continue to observe its use and receive direct training from a master.

I earned a skill just by observing it? Aden thought in confusion. A thrill of excitement ran through him at the thought of trying magic for himself.

A little girl came in and seemed to ask his mother a question, to which she smiled and replied in that unfamiliar language. Aden was more than a bit frustrated that he couldn't understand the language. Of course, he knew was always aware that strange peoples on a strange world wouldn't just magically know English

Intelligence Check (Language, Comprehension) failed.

Missing prerequisite skill, "Language: Elden"

Glowing white text suddenly appeared in the air in front of him, this time in English:

Quest Received: Language Acquisition (Part 1)

DESCRIPTION: Learn the Elden language through active observation and practice.

The Elden language is as old as the Eld themselves. Some say it was taught to them by the mountains. Others say it was the wind. Regardless, this beautiful language is both simple and subtly complex.

ADMIN NOTE: Have fun, but don't accidentally speak any English. That would have unfortunate consequences.

OBJECTIVES (0/2 Completed)

• Hours spent listening to Elden: 0/480
• Hours spent speaking Elden: 0/480

REWARDS: Variable proficiency in skill, "Language: Elden," based on degree of objective completion and age of completion.

Aden stared on in confusion. A quest? That sounded like something out of a storybook, or maybe one of the video games his daughter liked to play. Why was he receiving a quest, of all things? Was that a feature of this world, or of his special status in it?

Regardless, the quest excited Aden, and he cooed in delight—he was still just a baby, after all. If he continued to get quests like this one to guide him through important milestones in his life, it would be far easier to adapt to this new world than he initially feared.

Looking at the requirements to acquire a language seemed daunting when it was so clearly outlined. 480 hours sounded like a lot, but after some quick calculations in his head, he realized that was just twenty days worth of languaging for each. Of course, he couldn't just listen or talk for twenty days straight, but it still didn't seem too bad. If he treated it like a full-time job, with forty hours per week, he could finish the quest in twelve weeks.

He realized suddenly that his mom was talking to him, and he focused in on her words, looking for any hints to their meanings. She cooed her foreign words at him, much as he remembered his wife doing when their daughter was a baby. Though he imagined her words were much the same, he couldn't pick out any specific words. They all sounded slurred together, like what he remembered from his time in a high school French class.

He started to worry that all of his listening wouldn't count toward the quest, but then he realized he was going about it all wrong. The quest wasn't to understand the language yet, only to listen to it and speak it. Maybe part two would require more of him, but this seemed fairly doable, so long as he listened for the different sounds and patterns of the language. Then, he could practice making those noises to complete the quest.

He shifted his focus, and as he listened, he was able to pick out some common patterns. He noticed similarities to English first: the "-osh" sound seemed to be a common word ending, and r's were even more prevalent. Soft g's and j's were big, too. At one point, he thought he even heard the word "region," and though he didn't know what it meant yet, he filed it away to practice later.

After a while, his attention was stolen away by a message in the Action Log:

Skill Obtained: Observation - Level 0.1

Rate of observation-related skill and quest advancement increased by 0.1%.

By paying close attention to the world around you, you gain important insights that others might miss.

A skill? He chuckled to himself, which as an infant, ended up sounding more like gurgling. If the world was going to start quantifying all his skills starting at infancy, then how long would his skills list be once he became an old man in this world?

As he thought the words, "skills list," the world around him dimmed, and glowing white text appeared again before him.

Skills

(Skill Name - Level)

Admin Privileges, Limited (Passive) - N/A

Spell Writing - Level 0

Observation (Passive) - Level 0.1

The Admin Privileges skill gave him pause. He remembered seeing something about that in the weird void between lives, and he wondered now if this list could give him more information. Again, as he had the thought, the skill expanded with a description right before his eyes. It seemed the system or Admin that ran this world responded to thought commands, which should prove convenient.

Admin Privileges, Limited (Passive) - N/A

DESCRIPTION: Having come into contact with a supreme power of the universe, there are certain truths about the workings of the universe that can no longer be hidden from you. Knowledge of your past life has been retained, and your mortal mental capacities have been enhanced to account for the greater demand of processing multiple lives.

EFFECTS*: Intelligence +10, Wisdom +10; All abilities are 20% easier to improve; Able to discern truths of the universe in the form of system messages, including system logs, statistics, notifications, and quests; Able to alter fundamental characteristics of self according to experience gained and achievements earned

*Effects may be updated or unlocked as your understanding of the universe expands.

He was surprised at all the text that appeared before him, and he nearly fell over backwards as he realized the implications of what had happened to him. First of all, he got boosts to Intelligence and Wisdom? What did that even even entail? He didn't feel significantly wiser, and apart from having learned something new, he didn't feel more intelligent. Another popup answered his question:

Intelligence (Attribute) describes the ability to process, store, and retrieve information within a mortal processing unit (brain). Affected characteristics include memory, cognition, processing speed, mana capacity, spell efficacy, etc.

Current Intelligence: 25 (includes bonuses from previous iteration)

Wisdom (Attribute) describes the ability to apply knowledge within varying contexts. Affected characteristics include problem solving, moral development, mana regeneration speed, spell-casting speed, mental resistances, mana manipulation, etc.

Current Wisdom: 30 (includes bonuses from previous iteration)

That certainly explained how he could be thinking so clearly as an infant. He wanted to dig deeper, to learn as much as possible about his Attributes and Characteristics, but he decided against it for now. The pop-ups were helpful, but he needed to focus on one thing at a time.

Wisdom +1 (Total: 31)

Instead, he chose to continue thinking about his Admin skill He was grateful for the enhanced ability improvement speed, but foremost in his mind was the final part of the description, the ability to alter fundamental characteristics of himself. What did that mean?

When no pop-up was forthcoming, he tried saying "characteristics" aloud, but was greeted by the sound of gurgled babbling issuing from his throat. Checking his action log, he saw the problem, starting with why his thoughts hadn't produced a pop-up.

Thought command not accepted for this action; speech command required.

...

Speech command not recognized. Insufficient Language skill.

Right. He was still an infant without basic communication skills. He'd have to remedy that before he could learn more about his Attributes.

So it was that he redoubled his efforts to listen to all the Elden he could, as his mother or sister continued talking around the house throughout the day. Then, when his father came home, he listened to him, too.

Throughout a regular day, he could get in just a few hours of listening practice from his family, followed by late night babbling to get his speech skill up to speed. Aden was determined to master the language and complete the quest as quickly as possible. As he continued to practice his language skills, his Observation skill also improved, bringing the bonus from 0.1% up to 0.4%. That accelerated his language acquisition so that he quickly got a basic understanding of the language.

He also got other quests those first few months, including a quest to learn to walk and a quest to become potty trained. Though the latter was rendered mostly trivial because of his extensive previous experience, the former was much more of a challenge. Whereas his mental characteristics had apparently carried over from his previous life, he was in a new body, so of course none of his physical attributes had been copied over to the new life.

Considering the cancer, that was probably a good thing, but it also meant that he had to start again with the weak body of an infant and gradually build up strength and agility. He was determined to have a healthy body this time around.

Over the course of those months, he also got to know his father, who as it happened was quite an honorable man. From what Aden could gather with his limited understanding of the language, his father was some sort of leader or judge, like a village elder.

He worked most days away from home, but there were a few times when people would meet him at home for a hushed conversation. At these times, his mother would take him and his sister outside to give them privacy, then an hour or so later, father would emerge with the other person, who would be gushing with gratitude, repeating "thank you," over and over.

"Thank you" had been on of the first words he ever learned, and considering he'd been given this wonderful chance at a new life, he decided to make it the first word he would speak aloud. He'd practiced many in private, but he wanted the first word people heard him say to be meaningful, and he could think of nothing more meaningful than the gratitude in his heart. He was an old softie, no matter his age in this world.

When he enacted his plan, however, it didn't go quite as he hoped. He hadn't taken into account just how peculiar it would be for a child's first words to be anything other than "Mama" or "Papa," or some other thing that is relevant to an infant's life.

His father actually dropped him when Aden said "thank you," though luckily the man was inhumanly fast, on account of not being human, and he easily caught him with his second set of arms. But the look of concern that crossed his face only deepened when confused, infantile Aden repeated what he'd said, this time as thanks for catching him.

With a shout, he summoned Aden's mother, too, and they both conversed worriedly for a long time before coming to a decision. While they talked, Aden tried at first to understand what they were saying, but with his limited vocabulary, he quickly gave up. He skimmed through the notifications in the action log and was surprised to find an entry with red text.

Wisdom -1 (Total: 30)

ADMIN NOTE: Seriously, why did you think that was a good idea?

After reading through the notification, a new quest notification appeared before his eyes.

Quest Received: Act Natural!

DESCRIPTION: Your actions have raised your parents suspicions that you may be an avatar of the god of death and rebirth (which you are). To ensure that they do not turn you in to the local council of elders, who will likely put you to death, you must act perfectly normally, like any other baby might.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Quick, say something more normal for a baby! Options include, Mama, Papa, or your sister's name.
2. Do something cute as a distraction. Appropriate actions should be things a baby would do, like sucking on your thumb. Or your toe.

Further progress and rewards in this quest will be determined by the success or failure of previous steps in the quest.

REWARDS:

• Continued existence
• Obtain Skill, Deception - Level 1

Equal parts alarmed and perplexed, Aden immediately did exactly as the quest prompted him. His toe found its way to his mouth without much conscious prompting (likely only held back by the sensibilities of his past life). Luckily, whoever came up with the Elden language made it so that the word for "thank you" had a similar sound to the word for "mother," and he garbled out a passable "mama" right before his mother picked him up.

"See? There, he just said 'mama.' Nothing to worry about." She cooed at Aden and bounced him lightly, "I guess it sounds kind of like 'thank you,' though. I can see how you might mistake it."

"I am certain I didn't mishear. He said 'thank you,' then when I nearly dropped him in fright, he said it again!"

"Maybe he was just asking for mama because," she switched back to baby talk, "big, clumsy dada dropped him."

She gave Aden's dad a jocuserious look, and they both shared a laugh. Aden's dad sighed and scratched his head, "Or maybe he was just jealous little Kadir didn't say 'papa' first," he conceded. He chuckled and continued, "I could swear it sounded like 'thank you,' though."

Quest Updated: Act Natural!

OBJECTIVES:

1. Quick, say something more normal for a baby! Options include, Mama, Papa, or your sister's name. (Complete)
2. Do something cute as a distraction. Appropriate actions should be things a baby would do, like sucking on your thumb. Or your toe. (Complete)
3. Continue developing your skills and completing quests in secret until you are old enough that it won't raise any eyebrows—or pitchforks.

REWARDS:

• Continued existence
• Additional progress on skills advanced during this time
• Obtain Skill, Deception - Level 1
• Obtain Skill, Stealth - Level 1

"Well, let's hope not," his mother responded, "You remember the Tyrrhal family, what happened to their little girl?" While she spoke, she rocked Aden gently in her arms, a perpetual smile on her face, though she shuddered a brief moment when she mentioned the other child.

A heavy sigh came from her husband's tough frame, "Of course I remember. How could I forget? I officiated in the hearing. Of all the things I wish I could undo, their heartache is chief among them. We both know it was necessary, though, for the greater good. We can't have the death god rising again, especially with the humans breathing down our necks already."

Little baby Aden didn't understand all of their words, of course, but as he racked up the listening time for his language quest, he applied his high intelligence and wisdom scores to fill in the blanks for words or phrases he didn't understand. That last bit, though, was beyond his ability to comprehend. These people murdered infants out of superstition? He shivered at the thought, and his mother hugged him closer.

He just wished he could speak to the god of the void that had brought him here, to ask what was going on. What did it mean to be an avatar for the god of death? And what did Aden have to do with it?

"There, there..." his mother soothed, and along with the gentle rocking, her voice guided him to sleep. Just as his eyes drifted shut, his action log pulsed with a sudden green light.

EMERGENCY REQUEST GRANTED

(Click HERE to read the next chapter...)