[1 new skill slot gained!]

A notification window flashed at me as I returned to awareness.

The alien sensation had long faded. I looked again at my chart.

Name:

_______ Alana Skyisle

Age:

30 days

Species & Subtype:

Human embryo

Level:

1

Experience:

0/200

Health:

1/1

Stamina:

1/1

Mana:

1/1

Mana regen:

1 m/hr

Strength:

0

Agility:

0

Dexterity:

0

Vitality:

0

Charisma:

0

Magic:

1

Luck:

0

Intelligence:

0

Wisdom:

0

Soul:

1

Skills:

[Transient soul LV 1]

[Universal Comprehension LV 1]

[________________]

Investiture points:

5

Hrmmm. Did I just lose 23 days of consciousness? That’s three weeks of precious, peaceful contemplation out the window! Argh.

On the plus side, it looked like my soul had undergone some sort of an upgrade with an extra skill slot, so I’ve had that going for me. I presumed that it was my soul that was upgraded because I’ve yet to really feel anything from my diminutive body.

So, the System rewarded me for interacting with it? Is that how this worked? The new tab at the bottom with the 5 Investiture points wobbled when I focused on it. I pulled on it and the number became [4], while I held [1] in my mind.

Interesting. I tried to shove [1] into my Level. It didn’t do anything, simply passing through it. No getting my level to be higher this way, eh? I tried to put it into Health, Stamina and Mana. Still nothing.

When I dragged the held number [1] over [Strength] the System asked [Do you want to invest 1 point into Strength?]

I pulled the [1] away from it and the text vanished. Being stronger in the womb was pointless. Even if I became stronger, there would be no feasible way to measure such. I imagined myself as a tiny embryo that could punch its way out of the womb like a flying bullet.

Ha ha ha, no. I liked it in the womb far too much. If human biology was the same in this world, I would have 8 carefree months to think about things. I didn’t even have to feed myself as a bonus. This was paradise in a way. No responsibilities. No stressful situations. No need to interact with people!

This whole unlocked System biz seemed quite dangerous for an embryo, but then again I was probably a rare case. Or was I? I tried to imagine a world where everyone was reborn remembering their previous life. Grudges would definitely last beyond death in such a world.

“You killed me twenty years ago, prepare to die!”

“Only because you killed me forty two years ago, you miscreant!”

I smiled at my own joke. Not everyone was a shut-in nerd like me. If everyone was trapped in the womb for 8 months they would absolutely go insane from lack of entertainment and human interaction. I would probably only become slightly insane at worst. Slight insanity was acceptable, I assured myself.

I recalled experiments in which Soviet scientists placed people in various sensory deprivation rooms and tanks to record the outcome. When a human mind was disconnected from all of its senses it basically started to generate a variety of audio and visual hallucinations. The worst of these was the sleep deprivation experiment.

I wasn't sure if that one was a made up spooky tale or an actual test in which all participants died. I was told about it during a long train ride on the trans-Siberian Express by a very drunk colleague. It seemed realistic enough - after all, our scientists had conducted many nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan with no regard for environmental and public health consequences.

My seemingly saving grace was that I didn’t have a human mind yet to generate nightmarish or psychedelic visions. Also I didn't seem to require sleep as a self-aware soul.

I looked at the rest of my chart. I had no idea what Magic or Soul would do because I had no frame of reference for such, while the rest of the chart such as luck seemed pointless for an embryo. There was one thing that I could truly measure and always wanted to increase - my intelligence.

Why is my intelligence at 0 anyway? Hello? I have a doctorate diploma in biochemistry! Well, I had one. My framed diploma exploded along with the rest of Aralsk-7. Seriously though, I’m a highly experienced Soviet administrator and bioweaponeer. I can do algebra without a calculator! I demand a recount!

No recount followed my demands. Maybe the System was rating my body instead of my soul?

I attempted to mentally multiply two four digit numbers. It took me about a minute to do, as usual. I then shoved the [1] point into [Intelligence].

[Are you sure you want to invest a point in intelligence?] The System asked politely.

“Yes, dear.” I replied, attempting to establish a kinship with it.

Intelligence:

1

Was now a thing.

I attempted to multiply two large numbers in my head once again. Yes! I arrived at the answer slightly faster than normally.

Was this new body just a blank that I could somehow assign extra intelligence to? Where was this extra intelligence stored?

It seemed that Blankie’s intelligence simply added on top of whatever mine was already at, serving as my calculator. Hooray! He wasn’t an entirely different person after all. I dropped the other 4 points into [Intelligence] excited by the prospect of increased computational power. I really needed greater mental power, if I was to interpret the System’s true language.

Intelligence:

5 [+89]

Suddenly flashed into being. Aha! I knew it. I did have extra intelligence to begin with, but it was hidden from me for some reason. Having been assigned a two digit numeric value to all of my life’s knowledge was mildly disappointing. Whatever. It’s just a number, no need to get upset at the System. Hopefully I had a whole new lifetime ahead of me to grow my numbers.

I thought about what the Intelligence label really meant in the System stats. Why was it 5 [+89]? What did the word Intelligence really mean? How did it even function? What was it attached to? Could I identify this extra intelligence or how it was attached to me?

Tu du! New Intelligence-based skill unlocked: [Identify] Slot it to activate!

I thought about the empty skill slot in the menu.

Are you sure you want to slot [Identify]?

The System inquired.

"Yes," I declared in agreement. The following things changed:

Skills:

1: [Transient Soul LV 1]

2: [Universal Comprehension LV 1]

3: [Identify LV 0]

As I focused on [Identify] it suddenly expanded into the following:

[Identify LV 0] - Level zero spell that allows basic identification. Mana cost depends on the target of identification and spell level.

Did I just identify the Identify? Pff. Wait. Something had changed in my status menu:

Mana:

0.7/1

Experience:

5/200

Wait. Mana use? What?

"Mana" was a concept described by a 19th century British anthropologist Robert Henry Codrington during his investigation of the Polynesian culture. According to him, the Polynesians believed that mana was a supernatural force that existed in nature, the carriers of which were: people, animals, various objects, as well as “spirits”.

In the dissection of mythology article I read in 1955 Soviet journal of anthropology, mana manipulation was used by Polynesian priests in various manner such as: control of weather, bountiful harvest, a cure for an illness, success in love, or victory in battle. I recalled that I was particularly fascinated by the Polynesian concept of 'Animism', in which anything in the universe, even a rock or a tree could be considered "alive" and filled with "supernatural power".

...was I a mana user? Were the Polynesians right about everything?!

Also… Seriously? It cost me .3 mana to do that?! Well, there goes 20 minutes of my precious fetus time, since 1 mana takes an hour to recharge. At least I had gained a bit of experience for that.

Also, was that an hour using my original world's time? Surely there wouldn't be the same "hours" here? The canonical hour was first mentioned sometime in 500 BCE. Later on, medieval scholar Johannes de Sacrobosco introduced the arabic number system and divided the hour into 60 minutes and that into 60 seconds which was derived from Babylonian astronomy.

Don’t judge me, System. I was a history buff! Reading books about ancient and modern technology was my passion. I had even managed to order books from behind the Iron curtain via my East Berlin contacts. Being a Soviet administrator had its perks.

[Identify self!] I thought.

[ _______ Alana Skyisle] - [ Female human embryo ]

Mana:

0.4/1

Experience:

7/200

What?! Hey! My name is Dr. Vladislav Alexandrovich Kerenski, and I’m not a girl, damn it! While I was somewhat bothered by the loss of my doctorate title and name, the displacement of my gender was a whole new train cart I was entirely unprepared for.

I angrily tried to mentally fill in the blank with Vladislav. It didn't work. Maybe that gap was reserved for my parents to define me. Mom, you better name me Vladislav. I’ll settle for a Slava or Vlad even! At the very least, I would like my new name to start with a V. Yep, I already had demands for my theoretical parents and I wasn’t even born.

Also, female? FEMALE?! This is unacceptable! I will make it my new life's mission to get my gender back, so help me Gagarin!

Suddenly, there was a new, floating text window in front of me:

Quest: Become who you truly want to be.

The System was either taunting, challenging or aiding me. I wasn’t sure. I decided to take it as a positive sign. Being positive was a good trait to have.

I tried to recall what I knew about human development from scientific journals. During early development the gonads of the fetus remain undifferentiated; that is, all fetal genitalia are the same and are phenotypically female. After approximately six to seven weeks, however, the expression of a gene on the Y chromosome induces changes that result in the development of the testes. Did I have to wait 6 weeks and then I'd know for sure? Could [Identify] be wrong if it was only level zero? If so, why did I get a Quest notice about it?

I identified myself again to test things.

[ _______ Alana Skyisle] - [ Female human embryo ]

Mana:

0.1/1

Experience:

7/200

Well, that was a waste of .3 whole mana. I didn’t learn anything new and my experience didn’t even go up. I had hoped to cheat by identifying the same thing over and over, but alas.

Let's try that again. [Identify self!]

I didn’t even get to see the answer. Something akin to very extreme vertigo overtook me and my senses folded in on themselves.