Chương 40: Chapter 39: Triaging the Triads

Before Ren fully committed himself to another round of mana training, he returned to something his parents had partly explained during their conversation. Triads. The System liked grouping things in threes. It even made some degree of sense. A skill or stat supporting another, which in turn supported the first. The most basic cycle, enabling obvious synergy. … Yet as many other 'obvious' things, it was one of those annoying revelations that remained hidden until enough pieces lined up. And he wanted more!

His parents were lovely, but their explanation had been painfully incomplete. Which meant Ren needed to stare at his Status until it became less incomplete. [Status] Name: Ren Marric Level: 5 [31/1600 EXP] Unspent Stat Points: 0 Attributes: Strength: 7 Dexterity: 7 Vitality: 5 Intelligence: 9 Willpower: 6 Concentration: 8 Knowledge: 2 Resources: Health: 50/50 Stamina: 41/41 Mana: 10/37 Focus: 12/24 Skills: Discipline Lv. 8 Observation Lv. 8 Listening Lv. 6 Memory Lv. 7 Calculate Lv. 3 Athletics Lv.

14 – Initiate Language Lv. 14 – Initiate Expression Lv. 12 – Initiate Mana Sense Lv. 7 Mana Manipulation Lv. 5 Interpretation Lv. 6 Appraisal Lv. 9 Sleeping Lv. 9 Composure Lv. 7 Analysis Lv. 5 Planning Lv. 12 – Initiate Body Conditioning Lv. 7 Resting Lv. 10 – Initiate Throwing Lv. 5 Stealth Lv. 2 He read through the entire thing once. Then again, slower. Some groupings were obvious enough that even the System's refusal to explain itself could not hide them.

Observation, Listening, and Appraisal all gathered information, and he already tested how Appraisal results changed based on them. And now that he considered it carefully, Planning, Analysis, and Interpretation all helped him turn information into decisions. Yet he rarely used all three together. Ren vowed to amend that in the future. It was also obvious that Language and Expression belonged together so neatly that the missing third skill practically annoyed him by absence alone. Others were far less cooperative.

Mana Sense and Mana Manipulation clearly formed the beginning of something, but Ren had no idea what completed them. Invocation came to mind immediately, followed by Little Yara's repeated warnings and the entirely reasonable possibility of death by magical vocabulary. But was Invocation the missing piece, or a start of another Triad? Ren didn't know… And so he moved on. Sleeping and Resting fit together. Both focused on the same result via a different method.

One restored him through unconscious recovery, while the other let him recover deliberately without surrendering the entire day. The missing piece however? It could be anything from healing, meditation, conservation, or something else the System had decided he was not yet qualified to know. Darn you System, you keep your secrets well! The remaining skills stood out like sore thumbs. Calculate, Throwing, and Stealth had no partners yet. The more Ren examined the list, the more the missing spaces began to bother him.

His Status looked broad at first glance. He had more skills than any baby had any right to possess and started on enough progression paths to occupy him for many years to come. But just knowing about the Triads made it obvious his foundation was incomplete. … If not outright shoddy. He shuddered at the realization, but quickly calmed down. He had spent the past few loops unlocking whatever his circumstances allowed or forced him to use.

Knowing it wasn't the most efficient after the fact didn't diminish his achievements in the slightest. The holes simply showed where his life had not pushed him yet. And how much room for improvement he still had. Athletics and Body Conditioning made that especially obvious. Ren stared at the pair, and considered the missing piece. Physical movement was something he trained nearly all his new life now, so how come he was still missing– No, bad brain, focus on figuring it out. Self-doubt never helped anybody.

Or any baby, for that matter. Physical practice and the body becoming better at surviving that practice. What completed them? He considered balance first, or perhaps proprioception? Coordination might fit too, but so could endurance. Although… Body Conditioning already covered that, didn't it? Perhaps Athletics was the broad action, Body Conditioning the physical support, and the third skill something related to preparation. Preparation.

The word hit him like a hammer and the Memory of his past life activated with painful clarity. Ren slapped himself in the face. The strike was not particularly forceful, but it startled Tessa enough to look up from the wooden horse she had been balancing on one knee.

"Why did you do that?" Ren ignored her. Stretching. He had never stretched in his baby life! Not even once! He had warmed himself through movement, slowed when his muscles tightened, rested when his stamina dipped, and adjusted exercises whenever pain warned him away from something stupid. Yet he had never deliberately stretched before or after training. Why would he have? He was a baby! And it never even occurred to him that a baby might need to stretch!

Babies did not usually wake up, examine their training schedule, and begin a structured flexibility routine before crawling laps around the furniture. What would be the point of that? It's not like his baby routines were particularly long, or strenuous. … But that explained why the omission had survived for so long. It had never felt natural, because nothing about stretching a baby body felt natural. Unfortunately, it remained an obvious part of physical training.

Ren lowered himself onto the floor, extended one leg, and reached toward his foot. His fingers did not come close. Tessa watched him strain for several seconds.

"Are you trying to fold?" Ren glared at her. She grinned. He tried again, this time bending the knee and leaning forward until the back of his leg pulled tight. The sensation was uncomfortable without being painful, which probably meant he had finally found the perfect stretch point. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. And still… no message appeared. But that was fine.

The System rarely rewarded a new idea before making him suffer for it properly. And it reminded him of something. Much as Ren wanted to trust his Memory for things, he still preferred his Triads written somewhere he could examine them without repeatedly reopening his Status. That required Tessa's slate. It also required convincing Tessa to draw on it for him. She hugged the slate against her chest the moment he pointed at it.

"No." He had not even asked yet! Ren frowned at her.

"You are doing the thinking face," she said.

"Then you look at my slate, and then suddenly I have to do things!" That was an unfairly accurate summary.

"Need help."

"I knew it!" Tessa kept the slate against her chest, though the grin tugging at her mouth ruined the refusal. Ren moved closer and pointed at himself, then at the slate.

"Cannot. Write."

"I know."

"Best sister. Can." Her grin widened.

"Hehe! I know that too. I'm the best!" Ren waited. Tessa waited longer. He narrowed his eyes, and she just copied him. Neither moved until Ren sighed.

"Please."

"Hehe. Fine." Tessa settled beside him and put the slate across her knees. Ren began explaining what he wanted arranged in short single words, and her amusement slowly gave way to confusion as the number of groups kept growing.

"How many of these are there?"

"Lots."

"You should have said that before I agreed!" Ren pointed at the unfinished slate. Tessa poked him lightly in the forehead with the chalk.

"Bossy baby."

"Best sister."

"That only works once." Ren glanced toward the treasury pouch, then back at her.

"Convince Yara. More candy." Tessa's eyes brightened.

"For helping?" Ren nodded.

"How much?" He held up two fingers. His sister's face told him she considered demanding more, but then apparently decided two candies and the right to complain were sufficient payment.

"Fine," she said, drawing the slate closer.

"But you have to say the hard words slowly!" Ren agreed, and the two of them began sorting everything he knew into groups, with Tessa writing while Ren repeated anything his mouth mangled until she got it right. Triads: Stat Triads: Strength, Dexterity,??? Vitality,???,??? Intelligence, Knowledge,??? Concentration, Willpower,??? Skill Triads: Mana Sense, Mana Manipulation,??? Sleeping, Resting,??? Calculate,???,??? Athletics, Body Conditioning,??? Planning, Analysis, Interpretation Throwing,???,??? Stealth,???

,??? Discipline,???,??? Observation, Listening, Appraisal Memory,???,??? Language, Expression,??? Composure,???,??? The slate looked worse once the gaps were visible. Only two complete triads. If even that! Ren could not be certain those were truly complete rather than three related skills he had grouped together because they looked convenient. His parents had explained the general idea, not provided an official System diagram. He doubted they even had one. … Though perhaps somebody in the village might?

A thought for later. The missing stats bothered him too much now. If what his parents had said about Triads was true, then each resource had three attributes governing it. With four resources unlocked, Ren should have twelve. He had seven. Five remained hidden, nearly as many as he had already unlocked. Strength and Dexterity clearly belonged together, but neither covered keeping his body steady while those two worked. Vitality stood alone, which meant two more stats had to govern some other parts of Health.

Intelligence and Knowledge formed another pair, but Ren still lacked any inkling about whatever it was that completed the way Mana functioned. Concentration and Willpower made up the final pair. One was directly responsible for Focus, while the other helped him keep going. Was it enhancing Focus? It must have been, he just never noticed. And yet again, something was still missing from how that resource worked. Ren stared at the slate, trying to work out what part of his body or mind the known stats failed to cover.

Just what completed them? The System loved categories almost as much as it loved refusing to explain those categories. So Ren decided to ask the higher powers that be for help! He brought the slate downstairs. Elna sat near the table with folded cloth spread across her lap. She looked up when Ren approached carrying the slate with both hands and Tessa followed behind him, already wearing the expression of someone expecting entertainment.

"Mama." Elna set the cloth aside.

"What have you two done now?"

"Research!" Tessa announced. Elna's eyes moved to the slate.

"Really?" Ren held it up. She took the slate and read the first several lines, her gaze slowing as she reached the gaps.

"Oh, my little spark. You have all of those skills?" Ren nodded. Elna looked back at the slate.

"And you want to know about the missing pieces?" He nodded, then pointed to the first missing space.

"Strength. Dexterity. What?"

"Balance." Ren blinked. That had been his first thought of what the name should be. Apparently the obvious answer had been obvious because it was correct, but that did not make unlocking it any more clear. Elna tapped the line with one finger.

"Strength lets you apply force. Dexterity helps you control smaller movements. Balance keeps the rest of you where it needs to be while you do either." Ren thought of walking, turning, carrying objects, stepping over obstacles, and every near-fall he had corrected before his face reached the floor. Maybe Balance had been improving the entire time without becoming visible? Or perhaps he had not met whatever condition made the System reveal it? He hated how little he knew.

Though his memories told him that was a sentiment many famous people shared in his old life.

"How unlock?"

"I do not know exactly." Ren pointed at his feet and mimed standing on one leg.

"That might help," Elna admitted.

"So would climbing, narrow footing, uneven ground, dancing, or anything else that makes you control where your weight goes. It just happens, eventually." Tessa brightened.

"I can make a balance road for Ren!" Ren immediately imagined stools, boards, blankets, and his sister's understanding of safe construction.

"Low," he told her. Tessa looked offended.

"I know!" That did not sound particularly reassuring. Ren pointed to Vitality next.

"What others?" Elna read the line and hesitated.

"Resilience and Recovery can supplement it." Ren repeated the names carefully.

"Resilience. Recovery."

"Resilience helps people withstand strain, injury, illness, and harsher conditions. Recovery helps the body return from them." Those sounded extremely useful. Far too useful to remain hidden.

"How get?" Elna gave him a long look.

"Most ordinary people never unlock either. With the exception of heavy physical workers, soldiers, and some combatant types." Ren frowned.

"Why?"

"Because most ordinary people do not spend enough of their lives focused on pushing their bodies through exhaustion, injury, bad weather, illness, and hard labor for the System to recognize them separately." Ren looked down at his baby hands. He had already experienced enough injury, illness, and death to resent the System for keeping both hidden. Elna caught the direction of his thoughts.

"No." Ren looked up.

"You are not going to hurt yourself trying to unlock Resilience." He had not said that, though his face may have. Ren pointed to Intelligence and Knowledge.

"What third?"

"I do not know."

"Concentration. Willpower?"

"I do not know that one either."

"Mana?"

"Ren."

"Sleeping?"

"Sweetie."

"Throwing?" Elna placed the slate flat on the table.

"Sweetie… are you trying to get good at everything all at once? That's just not possible. Take things one step at a time. Everything comes with time and effort." Ren stared at her. Time and effort were precisely what he intended to apply, and Elna seemed to realize that her advice had landed as encouragement.

"Little spark. Ren. Look at me." He looked up from the slate, and his eyes met a very serious and very worried face of his mother. Elna pointed at him.

"Only one thing at a time." Ren held up two fingers.

"One." He lowered one finger with deep reluctance. Tessa giggled behind him. Ren recovered the slate before Elna could decide to confiscate it and carried it back upstairs. He had learned enough to make the gaps more useful, even if most remained empty. Balance gave him a direction. Stretching gave him another missing component in physical training, whether it became a skill or simply improved what he already possessed.

Resilience and Recovery existed, although deliberately chasing either sounded like the sort of plan that ended with Elna discovering exactly how much supervision a talking baby required. The rest would have to wait. Ren set the slate beside the patterned wooden ball and picked up the three-part wand. With the Triads out of the way, he could now– No, one more topic remained. He had been avoiding it since the moment he knew the time loops started.

But now that the immediate plans had finally begun moving in the right direction. Hadrik had proof. Bren had started training. The village had time to prepare, and someone could still reach the knights before the goblins arrived. Hope had become very real. And that just made the other possibility harder to ignore. Ren rested the wand across his lap. Dying again. Until now, thinking seriously about another loop had felt too much like surrender.

Planning for what happened after death meant accepting that this life might fail, that his family might die again, and that every person in the village could become another memory no one else carried. It felt like deciding they were already lost. Too much like giving up. Ren had refused to do that.

He had thrown himself against every problem in front of him instead, training harder, warning earlier, finding proof, setting up children warning networks, telling his family, and finally letting other people help carry the disaster. Planning for an ugly possibility had not made it happen. Admitting that he could not handle everything alone had not weakened the attempt.

Questioning what he knew, exposing the gaps, and overcoming his fear of telling his family about the goblins had moved events faster than his secrecy ever had. The same logic applied here, no matter how much he disliked it. Ren might survive this loop. His family might survive. The village might hold, the knights might come, and the goblins might finally become a threat of the past rather than monsters waiting at the end of every month. But the world did not owe him that outcome because he wanted it badly enough.

It had already killed him. More than once. It had killed Bren, Elna, Tessa, and everyone else without caring how unfair that was or how desperately Ren had tried to stop it. The world was a mean and nasty place, and it did not care about what he felt, wanted, or needed. Ignoring that truth would not make it kinder. Ren tightened his grip around the wand. If he died again, he needed the next loop to begin with a plan. This time, he would be ready. Even if the worst happened again.