Capítulo 3: First year
-= Seven months later =-.
Level: 3
True name: %O#SH%";:" :B%"; "A:
Name: Artorias Blood.
Race: Faun.
Age: 7 months and 6 days
Status: Active Growth.
Health: 100
Stamina: 100
Mana: Blocked.
Unallocated Points: 14
Strength: 5 (2)
Vitality: 8 (7)
Speed: 5 (3)
Coordination: 6 (5)
Intelligence: 26 (20)
Wisdom: 30 (25)
Spirit: 54 (50)
It's been a hell of a seven months. Anyone who thinks being an infant is good... You're... You're masochists, yes. Looking at my spirit in the performance window, I let out a stingy baby tear, if it wasn't for him, dearie, I'd be "aggukal" and "agacal" right now. Just imagine:
Waking up and, pardon the expression, shitting the bed. Even though you don't want to and don't even expect to (muscles too weak, yep, those very ones). Crawling all the way across the cot to another spot and leaving a wet trail behind you... All in all, I've never experienced so much shame in my life.
Of course, there's a bright side to life as a child. Have you ever woken up to a pair of big, gorgeous breasts shoved in your face? I have. In that moment, I opened my mouth in surprise, where they shoved the breasts into me. My instinct kicked in and I started sucking the milk. Was I ashamed? No (yes), but you get used to it over time.
The main discovery was probably the ears. Yes, on the third day Eagle Eye noticed that the barn was missing one wall. At first I just wasn't paying attention, that I could hear the sound somehow clearer or something? Then I didn't pay much attention to my parents' hair, as I was still bad at distinguishing objects. One day, as I was lying there untouched, meditating on toys dangling from the cradle, my father appeared and began to cuddle me... He held me up to his face, and I immediately charged him with all my might (2 at the time) in the face. Needless to say, nothing happened and my father only smiled at me? At that moment, a +1 spirit boost message beeped. I rolled my eyes up and sighed heavily, and just then I saw two strange objects on my father's head in the periphery of my vision. That wasn't enough, father cosplayer - woe is in the family! Well, what else could I think when I saw two red fox (?) ears on his head. I, of course, immediately reached out to remove (and squeeze) this obscenity, and my father, as if on purpose, pulled me closer to his ears. Well, I started squeezing them. My ears were warm and fluffy, and also... They wouldn't come off, yeah. Next, I slowly pulled my hands to my head and came across two small fluffy ears. The joy was full of trousers... Literally (I hate being a baby). My father only laughed at this puncture and smiled at his sixty-four. He had elongated fangs. Where did I end up...
Since I'm talking about my parents, it's worth talking about them in more detail:
My father is a tall, stout looking man with a fiery red hair and a permanent smirk on his face. His name is Winter Blood. Father has scarlet pupils and a thin red rim around his eyes - skin pigmentation. He wears a red hawaii and similarly red shorts almost constantly. He often tells me he's a Grimm hunter, but that's who the Grimms are or what... No, don't get me wrong, I didn't ask him to tell me or anything. He'd just come home and sit on the chair next to my cot and start telling me about the day. There were times when he'd disappear for weeks and then come home and I'd see fresh scars or bandages on his arms. I don't like this world anymore.
My mother is a slim, very beautiful woman, shorter than my father by a head, and besides that, she has a lovely figure. My mother has long hair (up to her shoulder blades) of golden colour and the same colour eyes. She does not have ears like her father. She has a ponytail. It is golden with white stripes and very puffy. She wears a yellow dress with different curls and high leather boots with heels. Her name is Kira Blood. She doesn't work now, but used to be on the team with her father.
These people/fauns love me a lot, mentally I know that I... OK, I just love them, you know. I don't remember my past life, I don't remember my past parents, I don't even know if I had any, well, what if I'm an orphan? And then two outsiders (to me) fauns gave me love and care. How could I not return the favour? Okay, enough of the snot.
At the moment I was engaged in a very interesting task - burning a hole in the book with my gaze. The book was winning, but I wasn't backing down. Why am I doing this? Well, in three months in bed I've been able to remember a lot of things (from books, not life), and most importantly, I remembered where I saw something that looked like Akasha!
I'm one of a kind, d-dumbass!
...Anyway, I remembered that there was a manhwa called "The Player", where the G.G. was pathologically overpowered and cheating with his system. Well, I thought: why am I any worse? Is there a system? Got it! Got the OCS? No, but there's a regular faun child! I think it's even better! So I decided to try and copy such a thing as "Explore". Ha. Ha. And ha again. Seventh month. Seventh month I've been trying to learn this skill. I've learned everything about this book. I know every crack in it, I know the entire contents of this book by heart. BUT THIS SKILL HASN'T APPEARED!
Today is my first birthday... I've done everything I can, I've even prayed to Akasha and the Librarian. If the skill doesn't appear, I will give up this ungodly task (I have been holding on to pure stubbornness for the last two months). I started remembering everything I knew about the book and spelling it out loud, and when my tongue was already starting to slur, a miracle happened:
Congratulations, idiot!
You've learned the ability to Learn! It only took you a year, loser!
Learn (active): 5 OM/OV.
Level: 1
This ability allows the user to see information about the target. The higher the rank of the ability, the more information you can see. Warning. You won't be able to see anything except the name of the object above your level.
- dyaaiayaa! - I shouted at the top of my voice and stood in a victory stance.
Immediately using Explore on the book.
Storybook. The usual.
My eye twitched. And... That's it? Why did I kill so much time... No, that's fine. First and last names are very useful information in straight hands, too!
- Oh, my God, Art, are you in pain? Don't cry, Mummy will give you a hug and it'll all go away! - Mum jumped up to me and started hugging and squeezing me. - There, you see, it's all right! Mum's with you.
- Thank you, Mum, it's all right, shall I go? - I decided to run away because I could feel it coming...
- Hey, Art, why don't you tell your mum how... How. You can. Be. Like this. Cute?
I can't get away. I didn't get a chance to... Yeah, they started squeezing me. Every time. No, I mean, it's nice to be squeezed. But that glint in her eye... I get a little scared, even though my spirit is abnormally developed. I've generally come to assume that it only works in situations that are dangerous to my life. After all, if it didn't, I would have turned into an emotionless robot.
And about the cute one:
My hair colour is orange and my ears are orange with a gold stripe and my eyes are the same gold as my mum's. Plus my ears stand out quite a lot and twitch funny at the slightest breeze... I can't control them, they're just too sensitive! I'm wearing a yellow t-shirt and shorts. Eh, my life is hard...
Pfft, I can't understand what she finds cute about you, to me, you're not as m-cute as she wants you to be, yes, you are cute, but... D-jerk, why are you making me say that!
Akasha... It was my mistake. The biggest mistake of my life, and how stupid it was...
One sunny morning I woke up and saw a blinking postal envelope icon in the periphery of my vision. I was surprised, of course, but not too much, because who knows? The window opened when I clicked on it. It said that overnight the system had been updated and quests had been added, and a new item had been added to the settings, a previously blocked item - personalisation of Akasha...
Who knew where my dementia would lead... In short: I decided to see what this beast was, clicked on personalisation in the settings, there was a huge row of 10517 different behaviour patterns, but my eye chose to focus specifically on the "Zundera" pattern.
I don't know what I was guided by when I clicked on this template... but I clicked and didn't have time to read how this template changes Akasha. No, you don't think so, that's not what got me hooked. Everything in the system that involves choices or important actions has a confirmation box. And this pattern is no exception, almost... By the way, over a year I got used to the system and got used to "Yes" being on the left and "No" on the right. So, I automatically clicked on the right box, at the last moment I noticed the word "Yes" there... I can only say that it was too late. Came a bunch of messages like, "YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE SHABEL, even in case of death..." or "GET THE TITLE of "Madman" (gives me a +5% chance of being taken for insane, or that I'll get a mental illness). Who knew...
Ugh. At first it was fun - it became really convenient to use the System, and I could talk to Akasha like a real person. But all good things come to an end sooner or later. She started saying that she hated me, and then that, on the contrary, she liked me. This was causing me cognitive dissonance and burning my heel. The peak came when she demanded that I address her as "My Mistress". No, think about the fuck up. I, of course, refused, and Akasha... Blocked my access to the System for three days! Then we made up of course, I apologised to her and she apologised to me, said we would be with her forever (at this point a frost ran down my skin), and sent me an incomprehensible code "//////// ////////". She's weird, you know.
As long as I'm talking about templates, I'll tell you about a no less interesting thing - the quests.
There are only three of them, of course, their descriptions... I think Akasha said it's my subconscious that describes them that way. I guess I have a sick one...
Quests:
1. shards of the past.
Every man is led on a road of adventure, and so are you. To death. And not just one. But here you are, alive and not even a gatekeeper (though wait, you're still a gatekeeper), but will you remember your present self or is the real you?
Performance Condition:
Collect the shards of your memory and remember yourself from the past!
The reward for success:
Experience.
Memories.
The skills and titles of your past incarnations.
Consequences of failure:
Title: "Why am I crying?".
Title: "Life from scratch."
Deletion of "corrupted" saves.
2. Holiday in Remnant.
Under your pact with the Librarian, you were given a chance at a new, beautiful life/life, and in return you agreed to save worlds. But what if you lead the world to destruction?
Conditions for fulfilment:
Survive.
Save the world from collapse / Don't lead the world to collapse.
Reward for success:
Experience.
You will live this life as you please.
Opportunity to visit this world after hours.
:O%SH?;B "K;:A%.
Consequences of failure:
Death.
Penalty points.
You will be ridiculed by all other guards.
3. Hey, have you heard of "user+"?
EVERYONE HAS A 'USER+', HAVE YOU?
Terms of performance:
SAVE THREE WORLDS!
Reward for success:
Rank "user+".
Consequences of failure:
YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE THE RANK OF "USER+".
Yeah. I've marked the first quest as the most important at the moment, the second is yet to come.
- Art, wash your hands and run to the table, we're waiting for you! - My mother shouted to me from the kitchen. - I'm already cutting the cake!
- Seifas bubu! - I shouted back and ran to the bathroom.
After opening the door and turning on the light, I went in and quickly washed my hands with cold water. What an interesting world it is. There is no electricity in Remnant. Yes, that's right, they use a completely different source of energy: ashes. No, not corpse ashes. Ashes crystals. Crystals galore (as far as I have been able to figure out), there are: ice crystals, fire crystals, electric crystals, even gravitational crystals! These are the crystals that provide the energy for the Kingdom of Vail. There are, like, other realms, but I have no way to learn about them - we almost have no books, and the scroll (a tablet with built-in Internet (?), TV and phone) is not given to me in their hands, probably do not want me to break it...
Having turned off the water and the light, I ran down the wooden steps. My father and mother were already sitting at the round table in the kitchen, and there was a large cake with one candle on it. I stalked over to the chair, then climbed onto it and stared at the flickering flame of the striped candle.
- Well, boy, blow it out! - said to me father, and smiled tenderly, putting his arm round mother's shoulders.
- Thank you! Pffffff! - I thanked them wholeheartedly and blew out the candle on the cake, which I did with great difficulty.
After eating the cherry cake (I love cherries...) I leaned back in my chair and wiggled my legs merrily. Today is a good day to be a kid for a while. This is probably the last time I can have this much fun and carefree time with my family without having to think about the future...
Art, no matter what happens, I'll always be there for you, you know that.
Yeah, thanks, Akasha, we'll get through this together. All the way.
:)
She's weird. So, I made a promise to myself that this would be the last moment of my childhood. There are too many challenges ahead: getting my memory back and not screwing up the world. It's time to implement the plan. I opened my eyes and looked up at my father, who was just looking at me. An unusually serious look.
- Father/Artorias," he and I spoke at the same time.
I smiled and waved for him to start first.
- Art, I know you're a big boy, and you're growing unusually fast. Unusually fast, even for a faun. Yeah, I know you can talk normally now, so you can stop acting like one," my father sighed heavily and continued, seeing the extent of my f*cking (the spy had been revealed unusually quickly). - Son, I realised that you were afraid we wouldn't accept you and...
- Aren't you... Aren't you afraid of me? - I interrupted my father with my eyes in my lap.
- Of course we're not afraid of you! The fauns are consistently a year or two ahead of the humans. - My mother explained, and then she stood up and walked over to me and stroked my hair. - You're not the only faun children who start talking at that age. You're just a genius, and we're lucky to have such a son!
My eyes tingled. And I thought about how stupid I was. Why was I hiding it? I had it in my mind that children start talking at two or three years old. There are geniuses who start at one year of age, but they have a limited vocabulary and have trouble pronouncing some words, so I imitated. What a fool...
- Son, why did you even think we would be afraid of you? - My father asked, coming over to me and squatting down in front of me.
- I... I saw a programme on a scroll in the living room that said babies start talking much later than me. - I quickly thought of an answer.
- That's why we forbid you to sit at it for long periods of time...
- Sorry to interrupt, father, but how did you know about my training? - to that, they just looked at each other and smiled.
- Son, what are we? We're fauns, and also... We're Hunters. Your father and I can quietly hear everything that's going on within the next 300 metres.
I made a world-famous international gesture and started mooing quietly. Why the fuck have I been hiding my tongue training (don't think anything of it, I've just been mouthing) all this time? Ahhhh, my crappy life. OK, let's get a grip and ask the questions we've been asking for a while.
- (sighs) Okay. Mum, dad, why are you restricting my knowledge? I will never believe that there is only one book and scroll in the whole house that I cannot use for a long time. - I squinted at them, and they smiled.
- Eh, our little masculine boy has grown so much, only a year ago he was so little and now he's already suspicious of his parents. I'm so proud of you, Artoo-usik!" said Mum, and began to squeeze me, squeezing me into her chest. - How cute you are!
Dad just rolled his eyes and looked at us with a smile.
- Art, the world is not what you think it is," he began from a distance. - There are two problems in it. The first, and most important, is the Grimms. We Hunters are in the business of exterminating these creatures. Grimms are very powerful, and there are endless grimms, spawned out of the negative emotions of humans and fauns. It is unknown when they appeared, as Grimms have almost completely exterminated Humans and Fauns more than a dozen times. They only left a handful of Humans and fauns behind, so that our numbers could grow again, because without us they would die too. No one will tell you that anywhere, that's my personal opinion. There is also a second problem - discrimination against fauns. Humans outnumber us by forty percent and they hate us. I don't know why, maybe because we are stronger and faster than the average human. Or for our animal traits. But apparently someone has done a good job against the fauns as a race, you wouldn't understand it now, but please, Art, remember what I told you today, it's very serious.
- Alright father, I promise I won't forget! - I said on the fly, meanwhile all I could think was, 'I'm in a fucking world of monsters and racism'.
- Art, we've got more news for you," I braced myself for the worst. - You're getting a baby sister in four months!
I smiled and congratulated Mom and Dad. So, I'm going to have a sister... Tack, totally threw me off my original goal.
- Daddy, I want to be a hunter, teach me! - Dad spat the beer he was drinking in my face and coughed heavily.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder