Author's Note: The site was crashing again and again, sorry for late update. You can expect another chapter today. I'm not April fooling you

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World of Mana

It was almost morning and I started getting up a little early. I was wondering how, since I’m still a one year old, and that I’d still require more sleep. As I woke up and saw Olivia’s sleeping face in front of me, I felt energetic to get up but simply turned around and slept using her arm as a pillow. Again don’t misunderstand the situation.

I’m still confused about yesterday’s status, what was the [ Gift of Time ] skill anyway. As I continued to sleep more, I used [ Status ] to check as I was going to wake up in a while anyway.

[ Status ]

[ Name: Orian Mellinus ]

[ Age: 1 year ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Growth: 5 ]

[ Skills ]

[ Language Comprehension ]

[ Equipment Builder +1 ]

[ Unique: Gift of Time ]

[ Strength: 9 ]

[ Intelligence: 105 ]

[ Resistance: none ]

[ Endurance: none ]

[ Agility: 6 ]

[ Mana: 404 ]

…..WHAT?!

My [ Growth ] is 5, I remember it was still 2 yesterday and consequently my [ Strenght ], [ Intelligence ], [ Agility ] and [ Mana ]. My [ Strenght ] is 4 times what it was yesterday, does that mean I’m four times stronger. Same with [ Agility ] , am I six times faster?

It was disappointing to see my [ Intelligence ] and [ Mana ] haven’t improved much. I try to concentrate on my [ Skills ] like last night, to see if something happens.

[ Language Comprehension ]

[ Your ability to understand a given language. You have learnt the language of humans. ]

….WHAT?!

So I could check more details about my skills. Let’s try the other one.

[ Equipment Builder +1 ]

[ You are capable of creating certain equipments for wearing purposes. You are a First level Equipment Builder ]

I continue doing the same on my unique skill.

[ Unique: Gift of Time ]

[ ]

Hmm…. Nothing. So much useful is the [ Status ] magic.

I suppose it doesn’t contain any information as it is a [ Unique ] skill, then why does it have information on the others? If I had to make a guess, then for any [ Unique ] skills there wouldn’t be any information known by this world. If I go by that theory then the rest of the [ Skills ] I may learn may already be information stored by this world. So who stores this information and where?

I only have more questions when I think about this. Olivia did say [ Magic ] was knowledge from the Gods. Then the information should also be handled by them. I don’t really want to trust them handling this information about myself. I did somehow kill a God in my previous life, they might even think I may be hostile to them. I don’t really want to meet them for now.

Getting back on the matter, I suppose I’ll find out more about [ Status ] magic later. There’s another thing bothering right now, why did [ Growth ] increase so much, in one night? Is it what’s called a Growth spurt? I guess I should check my height against the wall later. I don’t want to be this short my whole life.

As I’ve kept my eyes closed, I feel like I’m losing my pillow. Olivia must be awake by now. She gently places my head down and tries to leave the room thinking I’m still asleep.

……….I get the feeling I’m being watched. Leave the room already mother, I’m conscious of people staring at me.

The [ Status ] had closed, while I was distracted. I suppose for any [ Magic ] you would need to concentrate. The human mind even at its best can focus only any single task. So that would be same for the people here as well. Of course, I don’t think that would apply to monsters. Like the picture of the three-headed beast I saw that day, it could probably think with three heads. But then again, it has only one body luckily.

I slowly raise from my sleeping position. I check my height on the wall. From what I could guess from the previous marking from a few days before, it looked like I had grown a little taller. I check my hands, they had grown a bit bigger and a little longer. Same with my feet. I realized this height would be appropriate for a child of 4 to 5 years of age.

That would explain why I thought Sara was much older before. The growth rate of humans in this world was high. With 9 months making a year, a child would grow 3 times as fast when compared to humans of the previous universe. I think I finally understand why Olivia said she was 20 but looked older than 25. Though I say older, she still looked young. I was wrecking my head the past months when I found out she had Sara at 12 years old. That would mean 12 years would be equivalent to 16 or 17 in this world. That’s still surprisingly young though.

Was the mortality rate of this world high or was it only my family that was strange? Did Dari do something unforgivable? It was probably Love.

Thinking about it, why did they decide to have another child after 7 years? Was it hard for human species to reproduce, a decline in birth rate? I probably think it was something associated with money to take care of one. But then again, they did have the tradition of keeping me safe from harm by trapping me the house for a whole year. Maybe it was just me who was growing up too fast, that would be the case. I’ll ask Sara about it later.

I go see Olivia, since she had asked me to meet her. As I go into the kitchen, turning behind she looks at me and smiles. I see her holding something in her hands.

“Here you go, Orian. Look at you, grown up so much already. Hope you like your new clothes.”(Olivia)

I check my appearance from my feet to the corner of my collarbones. I’m still wearing only a small cloth for my lower body and my upper body is still bare. I really should become a man and grow out of my diapers, huh?

The new clothes were a brown colored short pant and a yellow colored T-shirt.

“Thank you, Mother”(Orian)

Olivia looks at me with astonished eyes. I suppose going from mama to mother in a single day is something to be surprised about. But humans grow up so fast in this world. I wonder at what age they become old men and die.

Hmm…. I remember reading about it in a novel in the study room. It was about a powerful magician who lived for a long time. Although it looked to me like a fairy tale, it did speak about Gods who were the strongest at magic were alive from a long time ago. Olivia also told me about those had a large amount of [ Mana ] lived long lives and still looked young even when they crossed 50.

Does that mean I could be immortal if I wanted to in this world? It’s not like I desire a long life, I lived long enough until a universe ended anyway. But having more [ Mana ] wouldn’t be bad though. One of the main things this world differed was with [ Magic ] anyway, so that meant I had to improve having more [ Mana ]. The book about magic didn’t mention how to improve [ Mana ] anyway, so I’ll have to guess how it’s possible. I came from a world where nothing was impossible if you had the right knowledge for it.

“Mother, what about [ Status ] magic?”(Orian)

I asked her after wearing my new clothes. Goodbye my friend, you stuck with me and shared with my troubles from the time I was born. But now we must part. I gave my old cloth back to Olivia. Olivia smiled at my new look and spoke.

“It’s one of the basic [ Magic ], Orian. You will probably learn it when you become 10.”(Olivia)

After hearing that, I don’t think I should tell her I can use it.

“When you grow up, a [ Mage ] will help you learn how to use it. Although I can use it, I can’t teach others. Only mages who have learned [ Magic ] for at least 10 years, can teach you how to use [ Mana ]. I also learned how to use these magic tools from a long time friend. I’ll introduce them to you when you’re old enough. That magic textbook in your father’s room was also from that person.” (Olivia)

I couldn’t help but be baffled at what she said. Then how did I use it until now. I confirmed that the [ Status ] magic I used was correct, but does that mean people can’t learn by themselves from a book. Wait if no one in my family how to use it, then why keep the magic textbook. Was it a gift? Maybe they thought one of the children may become a [ Mage ].

I suppose no one would quickly get a easy idea of how to use [ Magic ] at the first try, even I was doubting if it actually existed when I failed the first time. That explains why Sara also didn’t know. Wonder if I could patent my method and actually make money of it? No, if people found out a child had created such a method then they would get suspicious.

I’ll at least teach it to Sara. But I’ll probably have to make her promise not to tell anyone. Would she listen to me? I hope my own family doesn’t end up putting me in more trouble. She would probably learn herself after two more years anyway.

Once the [ Mage ] arrives, I could ask them about [ Magic ] in detail.

“Mother , I’m heading out now.”(Orian)

“Alright, take care of yourself Orian.”(Olivia)

She sends me off with a smile.

Alright my first step in to the village. I’m a little nervous right now though. It’s like going to school, meeting strangers, making new friends, make enemies also and get bullied often. On second thought, I can go outside tomorrow too, can’t I?

No use procrastinating, I slowly open the door. I suppose I am a little stronger than I used to. Maybe I simply thought I had the strength but I had a really hard time opening doors when I was an infant. A child’s growing body is the best one to train to be strong in the future.

Now to head outside, I take slow steps and look outside. To my left, clear and To my right, clear. Now to the sky………clear?

…….

………

…………I’m slowly remembering something. Something’s missing right? I keep staring at the sky dumbfounded.

The sky is great, it’s the same blue color as many habitable planets are. It’s bright outside and everything’s fine but where’s the Sun or should I say Star?

There was no sign of any star which was providing the light for this place. Light was there but it’s source was not. How could there be light without a Star? Where does the light come from? Or is the source invisible? How did the night come then?

I had many questions, but no answers. I couldn’t ask anyone, as they would just ask what was a Sun or a Star in the first place. I finally understood at this moment that this world was absolutely different. I can confirm it now.

I had read in a book about this world, also what Olivia said that the Gods looked after from atop and from beneath. The Gods were trying to peek at something from beneath us.

What I had read was that, at the top in the sky was the [ Sky World ] which would stretch the further up you went. There were many things to explore in the [ Sky World ], one would mainly be one of the other races of this world who were called the [ Avius ]. They were just like us humans, but had wings on their back. And similarly the ground beneath us would lead to the [ Underworld ]. But the book had no information about, as less explorers had gone to the place.

I’ll say it again, this world is really interesting. But this world wasn’t just about that, there were lands which were unexplored, the Carthos Continent and its nearest Mivash, the desert continent were the only ones humans knew for now. They were many other places which were unexplored as there was danger which inhibited humans from advancing. They were the [ Unknown].

From this information I can’t really say much about this world. But if my theory is correct, then there is no planetary system in this world. The absence of the Sun confirmed it for me. With the [ Unknown ] being there, it was impossible to tell if this world was even a planet. I think this universe had been created from its center and the [ Unknown ] existing was probably because of the forever expanding universe.

The universe would keep expanding in all directions but there would be only a single world. A single world expanding , with unlimited possibilities. That means I won’t have to build a rocket or live to wait until it was built.

Alright, let’s not lose focus here. I have to at least learn everything I can about the village and if possible somehow about the forest as well.

I wandered from one house to another. When I saw the rest of the houses, I thought the house I lived in till now, was much luxurious. Few of houses were just simple huts. Some of them were wooden ones, but they weren’t built much large. I don’t know what I expected.

It wasn’t a grand place, but it was a quiet and relaxed one. The people were doing their work, some were farming, there was a blacksmith building some weapon maybe, a few carriages moved around, there were kids running around. I didn’t know what they playing though. I’ll join with them once I’m done surveying the entire place or maybe not.

I could see this place had a lot of trees, it would almost look like a mini-forest. Was this village built within the forest?

Well I learned a lot. The location of the village, how carriages looked, farming and smithing existed, kids were loud and annoying and there were lazy people who slept in the day under trees. I saw a lot of griffons. Looks like there was no monster to domesticate which could provide milk and eggs.

Probably something like that existed outside this village. Dari didn’t wear anything fancy, so he was hardworking merchant but still a denizen of the village.

I wonder what Sara is up to. Shouldn’t the big sister be helping her cute little brother by showing him around? Oh well, I actually preferred doing this alone. I’ll find her as I search the place anyway. I should use the empty book I bought to draw a map.

-------After a few hours-------

I went back and forth, through all the nooks and corners and made a decent map of the village. I made sure it was perfectly organized. Good documentation always spells an easier life. This was something I learned when I learned to code for hacking certain structures in my previous life. But this rule applied to everything I did later on as well. But I had to make sure that such information should fall into enemy hands.

I had made a basic outline of the village and described about the houses and shops in the next pages. I managed to meet with Sara, looks like she had come out get some food to feed the Griffons. They weren’t hard to feed, all they ate were certain fruits and sometimes meat. She had gone to forage the fruits from the forest with Guez guarding her. Luckily it seems the bushes which contained the fruits were quite near the village.

When Guez saw me, he held me up and smiled. I also smiled back at him. I still wonder how he got the scar. What type of monster was that dangerous to an adult? I should take this into consideration if I plan on entering without them knowing. It’ll be hard though, Guez and other hunters guard 24/7, so it’ll be quite hard for me to check the forest.

There was also a lake nearby where people gathered the water from. Hope the water doesn’t contain life threatening.

It was almost night, and I finally saw how the usual night came down. Instead of a sunset the sky didn’t turn red as expected and instead it simply became darker as the light kept fading. The villagers started planting fires on some strange dark pillars. They were magic tools, since the villagers simply placed their hands on it to create the fire on top of the pillars. Mostly they were sending [ Mana ] through their hands. I still couldn’t do that though.

I returned home, had dinner and went to sleep. Eating two meals was enough for humans in this world. Actually it was enough in the previous world as well, as some races similar to them followed this style.

--------Next day------

Today I went through the village quickly checking all the places and was bored since there was no more to the village and it had been sealed with walls made from wood against the outside forest. There were outposts near the wall where probably hunters would use bows against the monsters which threatened the village or to look far away for any signs of danger.

I planned on entering the forest at some point, but I knew I wasn’t ready yet since I wasn’t strong enough to ensure my safety. My [ Status ] had changed but there was no increase in any [ Physical Attributes ]. I had obtained the skills, as the [ Status ] told me [ Skill: Exploring learned ] and [ Skill: Organizing learned ]. This was probably due to the book I made yesterday.

But today, I wanted to experiment and learn about [ Mana ] by myself. I remember how the textbook taught me on [ Status ]. I always wondered, how did [ Mana ] feel. Since I knew how to send [ Mana ] to my brain, it would be helpful if I could understand by feeling [ Mana ] through my whole body. I could probably use it with my hands like the villagers after a while.

I practiced a few hours and time went by fast. I check [ Status ] repeatedly to check if I was using [ Mana ] by feeling the blood in my body. But as the [ Mana ] used was and it regenerated fast I couldn’t exactly if I was perfectly using it. I wish I could see [ Mana ].

Wait …..what if that’s possible? But that meant, I would have to send [ Mana ] into my eyes and with the desire to see it. Although I had the latter, the former would be difficult to achieve. Just sending it to the brain , I had to understand the logic. It probably wouldn’t work easily if I simply practiced like that. There would also be the fact that one couldn’t actually ever see [ Mana ] since it is similar to energy and putting useless amount of effort would only leave a person depressed.

But I had to try it once at the least, so I remembered the feeling of using [ Mana ] on the brain. I thought about how the frontal lobe connected to the eye sockets and slowly imagined energy flow into it. I didn’t close my eyes though, since I had to see if it worked or not.

After a while, I saw something blue in front of me. But it immediately disappeared. Was that [ Mana ]? I had to confirm, I opened [ Status ]. I didn’t get any skill, but my [ Mana ] had dropped from 405 to 400. It was a success.

I wanted to try doing that again, but this time it failed. I tried many times after that but I still couldn’t get that feeling. It was like I couldn’t remember it. Why was that? I am confident in my memory, so why can’t I even get that small glimpse. As I kept my eyes open without blinking, they started to hurt. When I checked my [ Status ] , the [ Mana ] had fully regenerated and it looks like after that first attempt I couldn’t get it to work.

I was disgruntled. It felt like something was preventing from remembering how I did it the first time. Was there some sort of mind barrier I had to overcome? Just once more, I want to remember that feeling. If I could go back again and feel it once more…….

……

………

………..

…….what the?

I got it again, I saw the blue mist again. But what surprised me more was that I was back to standing again and that my eyes didn’t hurt in the least. I again lost the moment I saw the blue mist, and my eyes returned to normal. I was feeling a little thirsty now. My mind was still feeling weird, I remember sitting down just a moment earlier.

I went to the lake to get some water. It was nearby, although this is my first time going near it. As I reached, I saw my reflection. This was the first time, I saw how I looked in this world. There was no mirror at home and nothing which made a reflection. So I finally knew how I looked. To be honest, I looked a lot like Olivia. I had her blonde hair and a bit doll like face.

But… I saw one more thing…….it was something which reminded me of the past. It was my left eye, it had a something like dark colored clock hand attached to it. I remembered the power he gave me right before I died. Did I use this? Was that the strange feeling? Did I rewind myself to the point when I first saw the blue mist?

I immediately opened [ Status ], everything remained the same but my [ Mana ] had dropped to 300. Wait with my desire to go back did I use [ Gift of Time ]. I think that would most likely fit the case. Does that I meant back or did I rewind time? But it didn’t feel like I went back in time. If I had, there should’ve been another me. So did I rewind time then? I’m sure that God only told me I could use it to go back. He could’ve rewound time the moment I was about to kill him.

So he didn’t use it? No , I think it’s better to say he couldn’t use it. The concept of time in this world and the previous world may not be the same.

……Ah..

I suddenly remembered. He told me about time strands, small fibers of time which had arranged in the universe creating its concepts. Couldn’t I see time strands in the white room at that time? Then I should check how time is in this world.

By focusing my left eye, I carefully saw my surroundings.

…..WHAT?!

……..There are time strands, but they aren’t like the previous one. The previous worlds strands were all linear, if I had to put a better comparing it to this one’s then I would say they were organized better. This world’s time strands were a complete mess, it felt they were just about everywhere. Was it my fault? Did I probably do this? Did I rewind this?

This time I open [ Status ] and check on [ Gift of Time ].

[Unique: Gift of Time ]

[Ability 1:Can secure your future experience and return them to the present time. ]

What the……

Hmm….so that means, I couldn’t rewind it. It means whatever I felt in the future, I was just feeling it at that point. But then how did the skill activate, was it because I was focusing my [ Mana ] to my eyes that it activated and simply showed me the next few minutes of work I put. If it is as the [ Status ] analyzed it, then that means I kept pouring [ Mana ], into my eye as I kept my focus into future minutes of hard work.

I suppose I’ll thank that I was able to understand the feeling of pouring [ Mana ] into my eyes again, but I should be careful of depleting my [ Mana] so fast using this skill.

I see… so if that was possible then, I don’t know why that God lost. He could’ve simply observed my actions and easily read my moves using this skill. Is it because time is applied differently here?

I suppose I should learn more about [ Gift of Time ] for now. Looks like there’s more than one ability for this skill, since the status clearly said [ Ability 1 ]. Does that mean through [ Status ] I wouldn’t know about much about the power, but I would know how deep it could be?

That day I practiced using [ Gift of Time ], so I could understand how it worked. It consumed less [ Mana ] if I timed it correctly. So I kept repeating the moment I saw the blue mist through my eyes again and again until the feeling was fixed in my mind.

In order to use [ Gift of Time ] it seems I had to set a particular moment and from there I could register the future experience again and again. By shortening the time I had spent counting from the event from minutes to seconds. I was able to control the amount [ Mana ] which previously used about 105 to use only 30.

It was the span of using 30 [ Mana ] for 6 times until the feeling stuck to my head. I was able to see blue mist permanently and it didn’t cloud my vision. It was as though it was covering everything I saw. I tried moving [ Mana ] to my hands, and that feeling was there as well, I could see [ Mana ] move from my centre to my hands. I wanted to try it on the black pillar, but it was still hours away from night, since I literally hadn’t spent more than one minute from training my eyes to adjust [ Mana ].

I opened my [ Status ] and saw a new skill had been added.

[ Mana Sight Learned ]

[ Mana Sight improved to +1 ]

[ Mana Sight improved to +2 ]

[ Mana Sight +2]

[ The ability to see Mana. You are able to control how much your eyes can see the flow of Mana. Your vision won’t be blocked. The second level of Observing the flow of Mana. ]

Right now, I felt like I could fall down anytime. I was really tired. I opened [Status] , my [ Mana ] was at 15. Seriously, is [ Mana ] like stamina? I suppose I’ll go home and rest for now.

It was at a later point I would realize about the usefulness of [ Mana Sight ] and how [ Gift of Time ] would make a great change in my life.