The hardest thing about being reborn while being a grown man is that your body feels like a tomb. Every time Kinkaru attempted to move or speak he was met with flashing red text that stated “your skill level is not high enough to perform this task” As the ragged man who assisted in his birth say him into a pile of soft hay, he understands that he was a conscious and intelligent mind stuck inside of a body unable to perform the tasks given to it.

“Check status”

The ragged man said while hovering over the newborn. At that moment a screen appeared with various writing on it. Unfortunately Kinkaru could not read the language. It was nothing he had seen previously before.

“Completely average” the ragged man was smiling while talking.

“At least he’s isn’t a weakling like the rest of our family. The odd thing is he already has a name. I’ve never seen this happen before”

The men say in confusion while staring at the stats. The main appears to have been waiting for a response from the mother. He looks over and his heart sank into his stomach. The woman lay motionless as the vibrant color of life was rapidly leaving her body. Kinkaru felt an overwhelming amount of pure sadness. This is his first day in the new world and he’s already causing death. Maybe this was the god of death saying no one is truly given a free second chance.

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The next few years went by fairly somberly. Every few days Kinkaru would attempt to talk and would be reminded that his skill level was too low. One day after his first birthday he noticed a blue bar under one of his status skills. The more people spoke around him the more it went up. Using this massive clue he came to the conclusion that this bar was relative to his speech skill. He also noticed when someone spoke directly to him it went up faster. What he didn’t understand was the lettering in reference to the level. His father began attempting to teach him to speak after his second birthday. It only took a week before the progress bar filled then reset. A message appeared in English saying “you may pick 3 words for auto-translation “one. Kinkaru thought hard and decided to say out loud “teach me more”. His father’s eyes gave a shocked look and he questioned his own sanity.

The next few years went by in a blur as Kinkaru’s father began to teach him regularly. His metered began to fill at an extreme rate and he could finally start repaying his actual thoughts out loud. He began to gain the function of his body and move as he had constantly thought of doing. His body now no longer felt like a Tomb. He then approached his father and asked to be enrolled in school. Kinkaru wanted to learn as quickly as possible but his father wasn’t very intelligent. This meant that his progress bar stopped moving on his 4th birthday. Kinkaru’s father reluctant agreed. He had been overprotective of his son, this was most likely due to the miner loss of his wife during childbirth. But Kinkaru is now 6 and he needs at least a miner education if he wants to be anything other than a farmer like his father. Kinkaru had one goal that was to learn how to read and write. Then he could unlock the secrets of his status menu.

After departing on foot for the town with his father Pair reached the tiny school. It was a dilapidated and old building. It looked as if it were made a hundred years ago and that the town failed to keep up with repairs. Kinkaru’s eyes however only saw the good. He can finally free himself from this curse that seems to prevent him from utilizing his mind completely. As they approached the worn down entrance his father ushered him to go inside alone.

“How can I expect you to grow if I’m always there babysitting you. I have done my best to keep you safe but, now it’s time for you to leave me and attend school. When I next see you, you will virtually be a man. Please be a safe son”

He held back tears as he hugged his son goodbye. Kinkaru wiped his tearful eyes and walked into the school, as he did he was blinded by a flashing light. He turned around and the door behind him was gone. He was now in a courtyard bustling with children of all ages. A message flashed on his screen that read

“confirming stats and age please wait”. After a series of unreadable text scrolled across they suddenly became audible.

“You have been granted admission into Meznor’s academy, welcome first year. “

Kinkaru was amazed at how big Meznor academy was. He never expected there to be all of this inside that small broken down building. Then he realized he must have teleported or maybe walked through a cloaked building. He was sure it had to be teleportation due to the fact that it would seem to take more room than the entire town had to hold just the courtyard. As he was pondering his first real view of magic he was greeted from behind. When he turned around he saw a creature flapping small black wings. The creature was a bright red with little horns on its head. It had giant yellow eyes and was around the size of a house cat.

“My name is Tenue I will be escorting you to your dormitory. After reviewing your stats I see you fall into the normal category and come from a farming background. You will be staying in the outer territory with people of similar stats. You can move up and into better classes and housing if you raise your stats comparatively to the students in the school. Right now you are ranked at number five hundred. The exact middle of our thousand students.”

Kinkaru was unprepared for such a unique ranking system. But after giving it some thought he remembered how in high school their similar rankings were based on test scores. The major difference was that no one but the super-intelligent actually cared about those.

“I see you have not learned to read yet. We shall put you into a class befitting someone of your current handicap. If you cannot learn to read within a month you shall be removed from the school and your slot will be given to someone who can read”

Kinkaru just realized maybe that was why his father lacked formal education. He must have been removed for being sup par. This meant the stakes were suddenly raised. But how could he learn without having any utilities at his disposal? “We will give you reading material and an audio translation stone which will tell you what each book says. It is up to you to decipher it with the two objects. Please follow me.”

Kinkaru’s heart pounded in his chest, this is his first test and he just got here.