My dad didn’t push me to make a decision. He wanted me to learn about the system, but he knew I would learn best if we studied a topic I wanted to know. I looked through the papers, and then to my dad.

“Before I pick, I want to ask you a question.” I spoke.

“Go for it.” My dad leaned forward.

“Which one of these do you think is the most important for me to learn?”

I wasn’t born yesterday. I knew there were gaps in my knowledge. Most of them came from not living in this world for long. I have been thinking a lot about classes, and stats. The only topic I hadn’t really given any thought was how to modify the system. The truth is, I didn’t even know what that meant.

That didn’t mean it wasn’t important.

It meant that I hadn’t realised it existed. Modifying the system gave me control over it. That thought was comforting, and if I could modify my system to help me then it might be worth the delay of the other topics.

I would get to them all eventually.

The only person in the room that had experience with each of these topics was my dad. I would defer to the person who was more knowledgeable. I had to use my time wisely now.

My dad took back the papers and shuffled through them.

“Did you know that you won’t be able to get a class for at least another few years?” The words slipped out with ease.

I shook my head.

“Then I’ll throw that bit of knowledge in as a freebie. No need to do the topic for it.” My dad chuckled. “Normally it’s five years, and it’s not a coincidence that this is the same amount of time you would normally need to get your mana measured. It might be quicker with your fast growth, but not as immediate as this stat rise you’re going through.”

Really?

If we had to have our mana measured to get a class, then I wonder how the manaless people get their classes.

“I would suggest one of the other two subjects.” My dad put away the paper on classes. “I feel classes require the most preparation, so earlier is better, but if you’re going for the most helpful…”

He pushed the paper marked ‘stats’ in front of me. “The system modifying will help with basic things, like modifying your skill descriptions, but that can all be done later. Right now, I think your stats are rising quickly, or else we wouldn’t be having this conversation. They will also continue to rise as you grow.”

I looked down at the paper. He was right.

I wanted to survive past my twenty-fifth birthday. That was my main goal.

To do that, I needed to activate my Mark, and raise my mana. That way I could practice my magic and increase my skill levels quickly. I would also gain a boost in my intelligence stat.

“That sounds good to me.” I nodded my head and flipped over the paper.

Intelligence.

Wisdom.

Strength.

Vitality.

“These are the four stats I wanted to talk to you about today.” My dad smiled. “Each one is important and will impact you in different ways as you grow up.”

He pointed out the word intelligence. “I think we can both agree that this is the stat we want to talk about first.”

“Absolutely.” I sat straight.

Then my dad pointed at ‘wisdom’. “First, I wanted to ask you if you have noticed this stat increasing at all. I’m not going to ask you what your skill is, because I feel that you would’ve told me already if you wanted me to know.”

I shook my head. It was true that my wisdom was higher than normal, standing at eleven, but it wasn’t a stat that was going to increase. Gerial had been clear about that.

“Okay.” My dad brought out a pen and crossed out wisdom. “Let’s leave that one for a little bit later. Here we go, intelligence.”

He brought out a new piece of paper and began writing on it.

Intelligence: 388

“This is how much intelligence I have.” My dad continued drawing. “This number does not leave this room. Don’t speak it out loud, even to your mother. I’m trusting you here, champ.”

He had that much intelligence?

I stared at the paper and then back at him. He was absorbed as he drew a symbol on the paper, and to my surprise the moment he finished it started to glow.

“This is the symbol for intelligence. It’s incredibly important that you know this, because if your intelligence begins to grow in number, you will eventually receive this symbol. I can’t say how, but I’ll be here to help you when it happens.”

My dad showed me the glowing symbol. It was the most complicated I had seen. Three circles ran across the middle from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. Two were half circles, open towards their respective sides, and only the middle one was whole.

“There are many ways to explain what intelligence is. For me, I like to think of it in terms of what it isn’t.” My dad kept the paper in front of me. “Firstly, intelligence is not knowledge. It is also not good decision-making.”

My dad wrote these two things down as he said them.

“The reason I like to say these two things first is because most young people, and even older people, tend to think that this is the case.”

“Let’s start with knowledge. A lot of people believe that if you are intelligent, that also means you’re knowledgeable. This is not true. That doesn’t mean that intelligence focused stat-builders aren’t knowledgeable. It just means that they are separate concepts. You can have intelligence without having knowledge, and you can have knowledge without having intelligence.”

I kept my own notes in my mind as my dad spoke. Even the simplest of knowledge was important for me to keep and know.

“Similarly, just because you are intelligent does not mean you make the right decisions. I knew someone with a high intelligence that thought his decisions were always right by virtue of his intelligence. He should not have chosen to become a scriber. Remember son, you can have one thousand intelligence and memorise the sun symbol, but you should still wear safety clothing no matter how much confidence you have that your regent won’t explode.”

I shivered. He was right, I’ve made plenty of dumb decisions despite having more intelligence than a baby.

“That’s what intelligence isn’t. So, let’s talk about what intelligence is.” My dad switched to a new sheet. “Intelligence helps us with a number of things. Memorisation, pattern distinguishing, and problem-solving of a certain variety.”

He paused. “I’ve also found that it brings with it a good deal of bragging, but I’m not convinced that’s a stat change.”

“I’ll let you know when I pass yours.” I poked my tongue out to show him I was joking.

“You think I wasn’t running my mouth off to anyone that could hear me? You’re lucky your mother hasn’t heard you speak yet. She put the fear of Fue into me.”

Really? I couldn’t picture my quiet mother doing that.

“Now, we’re just covering the basics of this stat. But it is important to remember a single truth. Your intelligence will plateau at a certain point.” My father drew a curve on the paper. “We call this the human limiter.”

He passed the paper to me, and I scanned it. It was a simple line that went up until a certain point, and then gently sloped down. It formed a semi-circle on the page.

“When you first started getting your intelligence stat, you probably thought something along the lines of ‘why are people still so dumb.’ Or ‘why can’t we solve the world’s problems?’.” My dad said the words without a hint of malice.

He was right.

That was exactly my line of thought.

“The reason for this is the human limiter. It is not physically possible for us to transcend a certain point. Even if we manage to accrue a ridiculous number of stats, there is only so much memorisation we can do, and after a certain point your brain will find a connection that it can’t make.”

“I don’t know much about magic, but I do know that this limiter is what stops the greatest magicians from being more than human. I’ve met people that are stuck at spells because they can’t work them out, and others have attempted to learn symbols and couldn’t put them together.”

“Part of this is what we call natural talent. The other part is simply that some magics, and symbols, are not meant to be figured out by our minds.”

“I will always tell you this for most things, but you can’t let an obstacle trip you up, and you can’t let yourself think you’re above these obstacles either. There are people you’ve met that may have higher intelligence than we ever will, and they will be able to solve problems you cannot, and you will be able to solve problems they cannot.”

I hadn’t considered that there would be a limit to what I could do no matter how many stats I obtained.

“I think that’s enough to chew on for intelligence.” My dad saw my pensive expression.

“Now, for the next stat that you’re raising.” My dad put two more papers in front of me. “I’ll be honest with you, I couldn’t work out which one you have, and it’s rude for me to ask, so I prepared notes on both of them.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. What other stat?

I brought the papers towards me and stared at them.

Vitality.

Strength.

My dad looked at me encouragingly and I gave him a blank stare. I hadn’t increased either of these stats. I didn’t even have a strength stat in my status window.

I nudged the papers back to my dad. I was interested in other stats, but there were more important things to focus on.

He pushed the papers back towards me.

“This is a safe space, son. The others haven’t asked you about it because it’s not their right, but I’m your dad. It’s okay to tell me about your strength stat. Or maybe it’s your vitality that’s higher than normal?” He probed. “Whichever it is, I prepared a nice set of notes and an explanation for both. Remember, we can’t run away from the unknown, we should work through it together.”

What?

I looked at my dad. “I don’t have a strength stat dad, and my vitality stat is normal. Why do you think I do?”

“Well, you’re nearly five months old. Babies can’t move like you do.”

… We can’t?

A shudder ran through my body.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” My dad smiled. “They can’t talk like you do either, even before yesterday when you were speaking less.”

No. Wait. I’d never had children; I didn’t know when they were supposed to hit milestones.

When did I start crawling and talking?

I concentrated, the memories of my life flashing in my mind. I’d crawled on the observatory floor, and my words were almost forming sentences when I spoke to Gerial. That was just yesterday.

Before that I was in the cultivation room. I’d asked questions, but they weren’t that elegant. I’d even sat on a rock.

I’d lifted myself up for meditation after meeting William. I’d even said simple words to people at that time, but they’d been basic. Nowhere near what I’d been able to say even a couple of days later.

There was only one period of time where I hadn’t been able to move or speak.

It was before I’d used the Mark.

My memories flashed through my mind. Every time I used the Mark I could do more than I could before. I spoke more. I walked more. My growth had only increased in speed each usage and I’d never noticed it.

This was wrong, something was wrong with me. I looked away from my dad and concentrated. The system’s words floated in my mind.

Mark of the Crijik(I): level 1. Experience 8.4%

The experience bar had increased again. It was at 8.3% this morning. A tendril of horror crawled across my heart. I’d seen the experience growing on its own since I first got the skill and felt the pain in my body when it activated.

The pain had crawled along my arms and legs. It had entered my shoulders and throat.

I’d assumed the Mark only changed my maximum mana pool. I’d thought my moving and the skill weren’t connected, and that the pain had been because of my mana running out.

I was wrong. I’d proven that fact this morning. The lack of mana hadn’t hurt. The pain was part of the skill, it was purely physical, and now I knew why it was happening.

The Mark was changing my body.