“Sleeping is no mean art: for it’s sake one must stay awake all day.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

I awoke slowly for once, there is something about oblivion that puts your problems in perspective even if it was only the stupor of sleep. It gave you a chance not to think. To dream and imagine other things. My dream was fleeting and fast disappearing but I remembered flying up instead of always falling down. In control not only of my direction but my speed as well, letting me soar through the sky. Sometimes I used to awaken angry that I could no longer fly when I realised my reality in my last life. Nowadays I held it up as a dream to aim for. One day, with skills, in a world of wonder, surely the sky was the limit. Today though I was sad thinking through it all once again as all my memories flooded back. The moment of freedom, my lack of instant memories, quickly fled away. Leaving me trapped once more in a body that failed to listen to the commands I was sending it. I felt a tear escape my eye and roll down my face. Unsure if this was my emotions crystalised in a physical response or simply what it would be like to wake now I could no longer stretch and yawn to my heart's content. I was unable to stand, to call out to tell them I was awake but it appeared I didn’t need to.

“He’s awake,” Grandfather called out and he had clearly been watching me sleep.

Using Echolocation and Mana sense I could sense my family gathering once more around the kitchen table, clearly keen to continue the conversation I had left so abruptly. The warmth of my mother's arms wrapped around me banishing my despondent thoughts. I was held, I was loved, I would be okay again in time. Although I was hoping I wouldn’t have to wait another decade to spend my stats.

“Does he have enough stamina to stay awake for long?” Father asked. Obviously, they had not stopped their conversation about me when I was no longer able to respond and come up with an explanation for my early bedtime.

Judging by the amount of mana flowing through the air and the light filtering through my eyelids it was still daytime and I had probably only slept for an hour or two. A fact quickly and easily checked by having a look at my status. A two-hour nap seemed relatively normal for a toddler but for me, it was the first time I hadn’t faked it and made alternative use of the time within my inner world.

“So Vitality 128, Strength 28, Endurance 28, Dexterity 24 and Senses 121. We have spent the last two hours wondering and guessing at the rest. Care to enlighten us Kai?”

Hoping to dispel some of the tension that was quickly building I hoped a little humor might help.

“Guess?” I wrote on the table. Maybe if they were a little bit more invested in the answer they would distract one another and be kinder in the questioning.

“Guess?” Father asked confused. “Kai if we are going to help you we need to know what we are working with.

I wondered about that, they knew from my symptoms the problem did they really need to know how dire it was? I just needed to improve my stats for brawn somehow, specifically my dexterity. If they could help me with that did we really need to work our way through the numbers?

Aleera, though understood me, and my humour, having been subjected to it more often than most.

“I say 112 for Mind.” She started the conversation. “That is only double mine so outrageous enough for you.”

Mother added her answer to the game, “64 to be double your brawn. Brain over brawn.” She smiled.

Father though was angling for another trait and said so, “101 for another trait.”

Grandfather waited till everyone had made their guess before taking one end of the spectrum, “113” he smiled at Aleera everything was always a competition he had to win one way or another.

I wanted to say 112 just to prove him wrong but the more honest I was, hopefully, the less likely they were to notice the lies I was going to have to make regarding my skills. I finally ended their guessing game with the answer, “121” written on the table where Mother had laid out extra wool for me to write with. Grandfather smiled as he won the guessing game.

There were no explosive expectorations this time or sudden inhalations. They had acclimated to the absurdity that was my existence. Simply getting on with dissecting the insanity that my stats represented.

“More skills?” Aleera asked. Having already worked out the probable cause having gone through this once before with my Senses.

“Yep.”

Mind Skills, I mentally made my list then crossed out a few of what I was prepared to tell them. While they were coming to terms with my uniqueness there were some things that could not be explained without going into more detail about life in another world. Any of my other languages or skills in musical instruments that I had never seen or with this body at least touched. How could I explain that away? I couldn’t so I didn’t try. Deleting them from the list I was prepared to tell them.

Tier 1:

Time sense (LV 30)

Meditation (LV 39)

Humming (Lv 27)

Whistling (Lv 27)

Singing (Lv 27)

Drumming (Lv 25)

Acting (20)

English (Lv 15)

Spanish (Lv 15)

Japanese (Lv 15)

German (Lv 10)

French (Lv 7)

Bussola (Lv 7)

Draw (Lv 4)

Calligraphy (Lv 5)

Mathematics (Lv 10)

Decoding (Lv 6)

Lie (Lv 10)

Trading (Lv 14)

Tier 2:

Memorisation (LV 22)

Composition (Lv 22)

Recall (Lv22)

Piano (Lv 20)

Violin (Lv 20)

Trombone (Lv 20)

Saxophone (Lv 20)

Linguistics (Lv 16)

Translation (Lv 16)

Haggling (Lv 5)

Misdirection (Lv 5)

Tier 3:

Bargain (Lv 10)

Deception (Lv 1)

Luckily when you added up all the skill levels even after crossing them out (italics) I still had over 300 levels worth of skills that were intertwined on dependent on my mind stat. It was difficult to say whether they were solely balanced on my mind stat or whether charisma or some of my brawn stats didn’t lead into them as well. For example, I was counting time sense as partially linked to my mind stat as it was only through my ability to count that I had developed the ability to measure time and gain my sense of time as a sense. Would I have gained the skill with the ability to do that? I didn’t know.

Finally, I held back on my Tier 4 and Tier 5 skill. I would wait to see what people thought first and wait to find out what Tier skills they had. It felt a little disingenuous to miss out on these skills but without going into my rebirth and reincarnation there was no other way to avoid the questions that would follow should I label one of my skills English or Piano.

Still, the list was novel enough to distract from any missing items and large enough to explain my growth away. Mother seemed particularly happy when I listed my musical skills. Aleera seemed a little put out by my burgeoning merchant talents probably comparing my growth to hers. While Grandfather focused most on my acting, lying, misdirection, and deception skills, sitting back and considering something he didn’t reveal to the family.

Father though focused on two things. First, “If you spent more time sailing with me instead of singing with your mother, selling with your sister, and learning how to read and write with your Grandfather among other things it might have helped.” Having said his piece he shrugged, asking “So what trait did you get this time then?” Resigned to the fact that although initially, I had seemed to be a strong sailor I was an even stronger singer or merchant. I hoped that he wouldn’t become too despondent when we got to the Magic stat.

“Fast . . .

Learner”

“Well, that one seems self-evident, at the speed that you seem to have been able to pick up skills. Although you should live longer than the average gnome at least. We will have to see if we can get you some of their books. I can only imagine what you will be able to achieve with the time you will have compared to them with their shorter lives.”

“Gnomes?” asked Aleera.

“There are a few enclaves in most major cities, famous for their watches among other things.” He muttered waving his hand as if to move on. “Right next it’s Magic, Clarity, or Charisma? Which one did you unlock first?”

This was new. I vaguely remembered after my fall from the cliff how he had described the stats as . . . was it the common six or the simple six? I couldn’t remember but then I had never started with 6 in the first place. I had eight before I had ever achieved the Noble Nine he had mentioned.

“So Mage, Warrior or Bard? Which came first?”

I didn’t need to mention the eight instead of six stats to start off with. Clarity came next on my status so I would answer with that. Although it left me wondering if I could or should rearrange my stats somehow.

“Clarity,” I answered in wool on the table.

“Oh so a warrior in the making,” he laughed at a joke only he understood. This was the trait that had caused my problems, divorced me from my body, and returned me to my dependency.

“How many points Kai?” Mother asked as if aware the problem lay here.

“100” I answered without hesitation or preamble.

“Ta-dah! We have our imbalance.” Grandfather sat back relieved to have finally figured it all out despite the consequences.

“Why would that . . .” Aleera started before she figured it out.

“He gained another trait?” Father thought out loud.

“It’s our fault?” Mother asked as she contemplated the action that had been my last. The falling, the gliding, the cliff.

“It’s your fault!” she glared.

“Now, now.” Grandfather placated. “It’s no one’s fault, if the boy had gained a quirk instead of a trait for clarity none of this would have become an issue.” He defended his decision to accelerate my progress. “It’s only because it was a multiplier of his stats rather than an addition to that his brain outweighs his brawn. Although to be fair he was probably already close enough with his Mind and Senses Stat being already nearly 4 times his Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity Stats. What was your trait for gaining 100 Clarity Kai?”

“Quick

. . .

Witted.” I answered.

“There you go, then. That is the last piece of the puzzle. His brain is probably buzzing along at double speed, triple speed, or even higher right now. To the point that his body can no longer keep up. The quirks for clarity are along the lines of nimble thought, sharp wit, or astute awareness. All of them focus on being able to analyse astutely your situation particularly high-intensity stressful situations, the quirks give you an extended moment of clarity to deal with them. They are highly sought after for anyone who is going into combat of any form.”

“And the solution?” Mother pushed.

“I have a couple of ideas we can try tomorrow.” He evaded answering my burning question. “But we might as well finish the stats for now. The big question is though whether it was skill levels or achievements that levelled this stat. Clarity is notoriously difficult to improve outside of mortal combat or deadly situations.”

This was harder to work out which skills level-wise had contributed to my levelling. Had all of my swimming been deadly? No. Had some of it, yes. The same went for running, dodging, climbing, and sailing some of it had been fairly tough under my Grandfather’s tutelage. But really, had I ever considered myself at danger of dying? I wasn’t sure that I had. Either way, I listed out my skills. Noting that they only added up to around 150 skill levels and that was even if they were connected to clarity at all. No wonder I had struggled to level up clarity so much and had to rely on throwing myself off a cliff in order to achieve it.

Tier 1:

Swimming (LV 32)

Sneak (Lv 22)

Running (Lv 17)

Dodge (Lv 11)

Climb (Lv 7)

Knife Skills (Lv 5)

Sailing (Lv 6)

Tier 2:

Pain tolerance (Lv 13)

Stealth (Lv 12)

Quick reflexes (Lv 27)

After I had laid out my skill list, Grandfather quickly jumped in saying, “Perhaps it was half skills and half achievements from surviving the cliff.”

However, Mother focused on just one skill in particular, her voice increasing in volume and pitch with each word,

“Why . . .

does . . .

Kai . . .

have . . .

pain . . .

tolerance?”