Chương 2: Choices

Ethan stared at the disembodied screen of runic scripts. A suspicion and many conspiracies crawled through his mind, but he held them down, his eyes fixed on the glaring text. If not for the days he had spent as an infant, he would have believed he had gone insane. Still, something like this was completely beyond him. Then again, compared to his reincarnation, a video game's status window seemed more believable. Ember Blackstone Human - Tier 0 (Progress: 10/300) Class: N/A Titles: N/A Mana Foundation: Unformed.

Attributes: Might: 0. 1 Speed: 0. 3 Will: 6. 2 Insight: 5. 7 Mystic: 4. 5 Immunity: 0. 2 Class Skills: General Skills: [Skill Slots: 3/6] Copper: Mana Sense +1 Boons: System Access I Affiliation: House Blackstone - Seynhold (Tier 5) He frowned at the name at the top of the screen. Is that the name they have given me? He thought. Well, Ember certainly sounded better than Ethan. Hopefully, it was common in this world, or he might be ostracised for being a chuuni.

His attributes seemed lacklustre at best, except for Will, Insight, and Mystic, perhaps. Well, what could he have expected from a baby? Definitely not shooting fireballs any time soon. Ember glared at each section, hoping for more information to appear. Sadly, there seemed to be no"hover or toggle for more information". His eyes dropped to the new skill he had learned, and finally, something appeared. [Mana Sense (Copper): +1 The ability to sense mana around you and within you.] That was something, though he was a little peeved to learn he had already spent half of his skill slots. And there was only one skill he had learned. Even with his feeble mind, he could do the maths. Three skill slots seemed unnecessarily high for a skill like Mana Sense. But if all the RPG rules he knew applied… There should be a way to increase the skill slots. Hey, is there a way to increase the skill slots? He asked the void. Come on, disembodied god of RPG. Answer me, please.

To his surprise, more texts flickered onto the screen. [Hint: You can gain more skill slots as you evolve your Race.] That's good to know, he muttered internally. Umm, what do you mean by evolving race? Is it like what I think it is? Like how humans came from monkeys? Only silence answered him. Ethan, or rather Ember, darted his eyes to the top of the disembodied page.

[Human: Tier 0 (10/300) Average in strength, average in aptitude, but humans carry the potential to shoot through the abyss and rise among the elder races. At tier 0, you are nothing different from a carbon-based sapient animal.] Hmm, does that mean with enough attribute points and mana, I will turn into a pure being of energy or something? The better question was how to get more points to meet that 300 progression mark. He remembered gaining the skill had granted him those 10 points.

So perhaps raising the skill would too. Ember had all the time to test his hypothesis. With his cries quelled, his parents left him alone once again, with his sister to look after him. Alone in the crib, Ember concentrated, his pupils contracting with seriousness. For a moment, he remained like that. Then a whole new world opened to his senses. Mana was everywhere. Thin wisps of it floated in the air.

Some concentrated around his elder sister, while many more seemed attached to the lights, even when they were not glowing. So they don't use electricity here, huh. He remembered the skill description said it could help him sense the mana within him as well. Now, how do I look inside? No amount of concentration opened a way. This time, he was truly stumped. Even after spending almost half an hour, all he gained in return was a weary sense of helplessness and a growing headache.

Mana Sense, it seemed, had exhausted all his mental energy, and Ember had no choice but to fall asleep to recover the bare minimum of mental faculty. When he woke up, it was afternoon. The man of the house had refreshed himself and changed into an easy tunic, now sitting on the couch with his arm around his mother, exchanging soft words and laughter. That was a change of scenery from his previous life. A home where the parents loved each other as they loved their children—what else could he ask for?

Then he saw their lips closing in. Ember shut his eyes involuntarily. He began to count. One, two, three... all the way to ten, and finally chanced opening one eyelid to peek. Nope! They were still at it. You two, come on, get a room already. Thankfully, the familiar scripts flickered into his view once again, distracting him from the couple. [Would you like to learn Mathematics (Common)?] [Required Skill Slot: 1.] His delighted expression was soon punctured by a thin line between his brows.

His face turned ashen. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. So you want me to learn mathematics? And here I thought I had left behind those cursed calculus, differential equations, integrals, and real analysis all the way on Earth. Nope! The window disappeared. Even if it cost one slot, he was not going to waste a precious skill slot on something he was not even good at, not to mention its practical use. Yes, calculus might have been world-changing back on Earth.

But this world had magic, and magic seemed to make physics rather… flexible. There were practically more than two suns and islands floating in the sky. Only a fool would take mathematics as their foundational skill. One could argue that it would advance his Race. A beggar can't be a chooser, but he could choose something else instead—something he was actually good at. Something related to mana would be fantastic, or something he had learned in his old world that might come in handy here as well.

Ember ruminated on the seventeen years of life he had lived. Football was something he enjoyed. He had even been good enough to play at the college level. There were probably no games like that in this world, though he wouldn't be surprised if they had a Hogwarts version of it somewhere. Not that he was in any condition to play it. Among the few options he could try, memorisation came to mind, as it could help him remember various words. Ember focused, his mind darting through the subjects he had studied in school.

He began with English. To his delight, the disembodied window opened before his eyes almost immediately. [Would you like to learn: Focus (Common)?] [Required Skill Slot: 1.] Although Common, compared to Mana Sense's Copper, it seemed like a useful skill with a wide scope of utilisation. If it could let him focus instantly, then spending a single slot would be more than worth it. Still, he went through a few mental exercises, trying to recall various stanzas of poems.

Surprisingly, the skill prompt he got was not for memorisation. [Would you like to learn Active Recall (Common)?] [Required skill slot: 1.] Ember looked at the screen suspiciously. If this skill could help him recall more of his past, it would be worth taking. Perhaps there was little useful information in them, but those memories were all his. Even if some were unpleasant, they were still what made him who he was today—Ember, Ethan, an anomaly, whoever he was now.

Perhaps he was being emotional, or perhaps his feeble brain was unable to think right, but he did not hesitate. It wasn't as if it would not be useful in this life. After all, he planned to learn magic, and that would probably require some form of study. [Skill acquired: Active Recall (Common) +1] [+1 EP] Wait. Only one point? Ember cried out loud. Naturally, only a small sound came out. His parents, still cuddling on the couch, opened their eyes to glance at him.

Finding nothing unusual, they resumed, while Ember stared at the fading window and then into thin air furiously. I wasted a skill slot for one point, he thought, clenching his jaw. How am I supposed to advance my race now with only two slots remaining? The goal seems quite out of reach. No, there has to be another way. Yes, perhaps training the skill will help. He pushed for Mana Sense once again, and the skill immediately returned a prickling sensation at the back of his mind.

Clenching his little fist, he held on. The agony intensified. Ember let out a forlorn breath, unclenched his fist, and let go. I guess Active Recall it is. Before attempting it, he brought up the skill description. [The ability to recall what you have learned, seen, heard or felt.] With that, he began, his mind narrating poems of Edgar Allan Poe. He started with his favourite, Alone, setting a forlorn mood. He moved on to A Dream Within a Dream, which was perhaps more fitting for his situation.

He carried on to The Raven, Bells, To Helen, and finally to Robert Frost, Keats, and Dickinson. He always had a good memory, despite all the brainrot he consumed from social media. But even then, he was surprised at how well he could recall. Was it the skill in use? He tried to do the same with prose, something he had read at school. Unfortunately, although he could recall the stories in great detail, he could not recollect them word for word. That's on you, Scott Fitzgerald. [Active Recall (Common): 1 → 3.] [+5 EPs] Huh, already? If only Mana Sense had been as easy. But more than that, Ember was elated to find he was gaining experience points from skill growth, and they were not a measly single point. Still, he opened his status to confirm it. [Human - Tier 0 (Progress: 11 → 16/300)] Now that his worries had subsided a little, Ember decided to take Focus as well. It proved to be no problem. He only had to focus a little and the skill prompt opened up once again. Later, he also found a way to open his system log.

It took an hour of mental gymnastics over his status window, but Ember had nothing but time. It happened in the evening, a couple of days later. Since he could not feel his internal mana, he decided to focus on the outside, specifically the blooming warm light from the light constructs on the wall. There was a deep resonance of mana in them, transferring pure energy into light and heat. So not all physics went wonky with mana.

Regardless, Ember stared at it for as long as his mental faculty allowed, and finally something clicked. For an instant, his senses seemed to penetrate the crystal glass and see many threads of mana weaving in a complicated form. It was so bright that it blinded his Mana Sense. [Mana Sense (Copper): +1 → 2.] [+20 EPs.] Now his progress stood at: [46/300] The rest of the points came from getting Focus to the third step and Active Recall to the fourth.

The common skills improved far quicker than the Copper one, though the EPs he had gained from Mana Sense almost made it worth it. Moreover, he also noted a pattern: a common skill only gave EPs equal to its denoted mastery, whereas for a Copper skill, it was likely multiplied by ten. Ember only needed to improve Mana Sense to the third step to confirm. If this suspicion was true, then advancing would be a breeze. Then, as if to confirm his thoughts, the disembodied screen appeared before his eyes again.

[Would you like to learn Reasoning (Common)?] [Required Skill Slot: 1.] That skill might be useful, but Ember let the message dissipate, as he had his mind on something else. He only had one skill slot remaining after taking Focus and Active Recall, and he had to spend it wisely. Since unlocking the status, his eyes had been glued to his father whenever he was not practising. His father seemed to have the highest amount of mana concentrated around him. Regrettably, he had shown no more magic.

He did not even practise with his sword, despite the broadsword Ember had seen him carry the other day. His father only meditated for an hour, then instructed his sister—Rain was her name—on various matters, probably mana-related. After the morning session, he would help around the house, making himself useful, either by cutting vegetables or preparing the table. In the evening, he would meditate once again, this time for much longer. Needless to say, meditation was an important skill for magic.

Unfortunately, Ember was too exhausted to try it that night. The next morning, he meditated with his father. While the adult sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, Ember lay in the comfortable embrace of his crib, focusing on meditation. He had some experience with meditation before and knew the theories behind it, though he had never managed to stick with it. He deemed it would be more difficult than his other skills.

Just have to stick to the basics and not get distracted in the middle of it, he thought, drawing his mind towards a near-thoughtless visualisation. The distracting thoughts came unbidden—that he could practise other skills right now, when his mind was at its sharpest. When he was exhausted, meditation would prove the much-needed reprieve, killing two birds with one stone.

Focus kept him on track as he visualised the morning light filtering through the window and spreading across his palm, keeping his breathing rhythmic. Ember was unsure how long he kept at it until a pair of calloused hands lifted him from his crib, breaking his concentration. The grown man, his father, made a childish face, uttering gibberish words. Ember reckoned he was calling his name, perhaps even asking him to say "Dada," or the equivalent in this world. Sadly, Ember's vocal cords were underdeveloped.

All he could manage were a few "yaya" sounds. Still, he kept the words in mind. As soon as he began to learn the language of this world, he would start getting answers to all the burning questions in his mind. After all, knowledge is power. As his father brought him outside for fresh air, two prompts appeared before his eyes at once. [Would you like to learn Meditation (Common)?] [Required skill slot: 1] [Would you like to learn Language Acquisition (Common)?] [Required skill slot: 1.] [Available skill slot: 1.] Ember had never made a tougher choice. Although he felt that evolving and advancing his race would be easy, it would still take time, considering skill levels were becoming harder to gain as he progressed. If he took either of them now, the only chance he would get to acquire the other would be after advancing his race. The worst part was that both seemed highly beneficial. Now the decision came down to which one would be the most optimal for the next few months.

Ember even considered leaving a slot open for another skill, but each slot left unused would mean lost time and experience points. Man, it would be so easy if I could ask someone for guidance.