-Where am I?

I can see walls made out of flesh, convulsing and pulsing violently with every second that passes. It’s like something straight out of a horror film!

???: “....O..n ...p..u...h!”

- Where am I?! Ok, so you’re a guy who got…...those damn motherf*ckers!

???: “B..i..g...pu...sh!”

-Before I think about them, I feel the need to question what the…..

???: “One last big push my lady!!!”

???: *Unintelligible grunting and screaming*

-Not again!

I can feel convulsing behind me and what feels like a tube attached to my stomach being dragged across a slippery floor.

I can see light, it’s blinding!

-Don’t tell me that this is ...!

???: “It’s a boy my lady, congratulations!”

-Oh, holy sh*t, I was just born…

My eyes have adjusted to the light now, I can see a woman. She looks deathly pale and his panting heavily, but I guess she’s supposed to be my mother. She has long flowing black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a focused, cold gaze despite the events just a moment ago.

-Could you not have dropped my soul in a baby at the moment it was being born, you crazy witch!?!

???: “Well then…”

The male voice speaks and suddenly, the presumed umbilical cord has vanished.

-How the hell?!

I try to raise my head a bit, only to see an elderly man holding me with the umbilical cord clutched in his fist. His face is only slightly wrinkled, despite his completely ash-grey hair. His arms the same, slightly wrinkled and yet quite toned, with his sleeves rolled up above them.

???: “My lady Agatha, would you like to see your son?”

-I guess I learned my mom’s name if nothing else.

Agatha: “Jacob…”

‘Jacob’ seems to be leaning forward, as if expecting her to reach out her arms for me.

Agatha: “Why is the child silent, is it stillborn?”

-Oh, sh*t.

Jacob and my mother both look at me, confused. It’s at this point that babies are supposed to be screaming and crying, but I’ve just been contemplating my situation so much that I didn’t even notice. Though trying to say anything at this point is probably a bad idea, since it’d possibly pin me like some demon-possessed child for purging.

Jacob continues to stare at me, watching me breathe and blink for what feels like forever until finally telling my mother.

Jacob: “No, my lady, he is very much alive. Perhaps his vocal cords are not properly developed enough, but I believe given your condition that it is fine for the moment.”

Agatha: “Take it away and after you’re done, come back with the priest and beverages. My throat is parched.”

-Uhhhhhhhhh…..ok. This is an admittedly weird, childbirth. Although, I thought there would at least be some degree of emotion from my mother.

Jacob nods and proceeds out of the room with me in his arms and once we’re outside of the room, he pulls a blanket from nowhere and wraps me in it, before proceeding down the hall.

The floor tiles around the birth room appear to be made of marble or some similar stone, probably because it’d be easier to clean blood, off of it than wood. The halls seem to be lavishly decorated with various kinds of metal lamp fixtures, ashwood floors, paintings of presumed family members, and servants lining the halls.

These servants seem to notice me and bow towards me, even though I’m still just a baby. Jacob gives them all a look and they proceed down the other end of the hall, presumably to get the stuff my mother asked for.

Finally, we arrive at an undecorated door in the middle of a hall leading to what appears to be a foyer with stairs leading up a floor.

*creak*

Jacob opens the door with a creak and I get a good view of the room.

It appears to be a small room with wooden floors, a crib lined with blankets and pillows, what is presumably a changing table, a dusty bookshelf placed near the table, and a very high-up window that probably only lets in enough light to cover half the room, not including the crib. I can’t tell what time it is precisely, but safe to say that it is late night given the black, starry sky.

Jacob: “Here you are, young master.”

He sets me down in my crib and covers me with blankets before walking out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

-Ok, so I’m now a baby in a noble household where my new mother doesn’t care about me or is disturbed by the fact that I don’t cry. Still, the hell am I supposed to do now?

The window has most likely been placed high up so that I wouldn’t try to wander over to it for some reason and the room is barren aside from the changing station and bookshelf. I try to read the titles on the books, but as one might expect from an infant, I can’t read them.

In comparison to the window, the crib was, oddly enough, only elevated off the floor by about 8 inches or so.

Suddenly, a blue light shines through the window, blinding me for a moment before condensing into a spectral blue marble and rolling along the floor, into the pages of one of the books.

The foreign words on the binding vanish, before being replaced with English, settling on ‘for the familiar of fate.’

-Is this supposed to be an explanation for my circumstances?

Trouble is that I can’t exactly get out of the crib since even though the base isn’t that high the walls certainly are. Not to mention that even though an infant is at least sixteen or so inches tall, it doesn’t mean it has the leg or arm strength needed to climb effectively.

I examine the crib thoroughly, if the witch thought I could come over to read the book then this is either a joke, or she believes I can find a solution!

-I just genuinely hope it’s not an elaborate joke.

*clatter*

One of the planks projects a noise when trying to move it. It would appear as though the plank at the section is loose. I try shifting it some more.

*clatter* *clatter*

-It doesn’t seem like I can force it out the side….

I keep trying to exert as much force as I can through my stubby arms, to the point where I can feel some sweat beads forming along my forehead.

『【Wisdom】has increased by 0.1!』

『【Strength】has increased by 0.1!』

I hear alerts going off in my head before the plank slides to the side enough for me to barely get through the gap.

Fate: “Waugh!”

-Oops, I was so excited that I was actually able to do it and that this wasn’t just a joke that I tried exclaiming with joy! Oh well…..

I can suddenly feel fatigued. It looks like I pushed the stamina of my infant body too far with that last attempt.

-Is this actually a joke? Whatever...just gotta keep...go….ing!

Fate: “Uhh...hhh...aah…”

I throw one of the pillows to the floor and attempt to lower my stubby legs to the floor, but….

*slips*

The pillow slips from under me and I fall face-first onto the floor.

『【Endurance】has increased by 0.1!』

Fate: “Waah...ahh…”

-Whispering your crying and….. resisting the urge... to... cry is tough...but at least...the pain will…. keep me awake…

『【Stamina】has increased by 0.1!』

I wander over to the bookshelf.

-This had better ...be worth..it!

I finally managed to get over to the bookshelf and am now tugging the book out of the case, slowly.

-I really don’t want to whack myself in the face with a hard-copy book.

* pop*

The book is released from the shelf, it looks like it was packed in quite tightly.

-Wow... for once in this…. new life I’m glad to have tiny…*shakes head*...Let’s just get this... over with..!

I crack open the cover of the book, the first page seems to have some words from the witch.

Witch of Fate - ‘So, how did you enjoy your rebirth? I didn’t want to have to put a memory restriction on you, so for the both of us I did you a special service!’

All my fatigue seems to vanish within a moment of reading this crap.

-The f*cking hell you did me a service! I am now in the body of an infant with barely any strength and I just witnessed the hell that is childbirth!

I keep reading.

Witch of Fate - ‘So aside from that, did my spectral shard surprise you? I did try to make it pretty and even refurbished a book in English, just for you! But with that said, there is another reason I couldn’t set a restriction on your memories?’

-Aside from just screwing with me?

Witch of Fate - ‘Aside from just “screwing with you.”

-Why is this part in quotes?Wait...please don't tell me..she can read my mind?!

Let’s keep reading the words of the mind-reading 'Witch.'

Witch of Fate - ‘The other reason is that aside from the title I gave you earlier and the shard I’m giving you now, I cannot endow you with any other blessings.’

-Blessings? Why wouldn’t she be able to give me that if she can reincarnate me and ‘gift’ me these things?

Witch of Fate - ‘It’s part of why I brought you into this world. You see, my siblings are having me reincarnate their ‘champions’ just like I did you, but they’re forcing me to break off portions of my power into ‘blessings.’ These ‘blessings’ will be unique abilities linked to my own powers, but it appears that they wish to mix portions of their powers with the blessings to both power their ‘champions’ up and to bring my power down.’

-If you know that then why can’t you stop it?

Witch of Fate - ‘I am linked to the laws of fate, things like destiny and fortune are the basis of my faith. My siblings, on the other hand, have many temples in this world and armies of devout believers, meaning that they have a more constant stream of power as terms like destiny, fortune, and fate are concepts of their own and the power I gain from their acknowledgement, as opposed to prayer, is minimal. Thus, if I chose to directly confront my siblings, they might simply take my power for their own’

-Wow, I guess she had it tough too…

Witch of Fate - ‘But that said I, while the other reincarnators will have destinies and blessings that set them apart or draw them together, I gave you【Fortune】.’

-What’s the difference between that and a destiny, isn’t fortune still part of your blessings?

Witch of Fate - ‘While fortune is intrinsically linked to the balance of the world, not many have actually acquired 【Fortune】as a stat.’

-!!!

Witch of Fate - ‘Essentially you have the power to gain this as a stat through your own good luck and skill and not have it predetermined and limited. But that brings us back to the reason I don’t want to give you a restriction to your memories.’

-I hope it’s a concrete answer…

Witch of Fate - ‘Since I can’t give you any blessings, you will have to forge ahead without much help. Things such as 【Translation】, 【Destiny Compass】,【Boosted Growth Rate】,【Greater Full-Potential】, 【Magical Comprehension】, 【Absolute Understanding】, and other such blessings or skills are things I cannot give you and you will either have to acquire through massive efforts or not acquire them at all. Thus you require all the time you possess until the reincarnators get here to prepare, as there is no guarantee that they will not use bodies of heroes, recently deceased, or even those close to you.

-I thought they’d become babies like me, isn’t that how it works in these sorts of situations?!

Witch of Fate - ‘While reincarnation as an infant is the usual and most recommended option, due to souls not being decided yet, it is possible to reincarnate as adults or even corpses if enough divine power or ancient relics are used.’

-So it’s essentially using gold to power a furnace instead of coal.

Witch of Fate - ‘That is why I have provided you with the shard mixed into this book, making it a journal for essential information. Once you have learned something, the journal shall also know it even if you lose the memory, it shall know. But this means that aside from this message, you shall have to learn everything yourself.’

-Well, this sucks, but might as well keep reading.

Witch of Fate - ‘Keep note of the first page as I tore out the piece of shard representing it to communicate with you, it shall update its information with messages I send occasionally.’

-Occasionally?

Witch of Fate - ‘I do not wish to be discovered and I do not want you to be discovered as well, so you will need to keep a low profile and hide your alignment with me. Thus, keep your identity hidden and do not enter the churches of the other gods or interact with their high-priests. For keeping your identity hidden, assuming you join a guild or someone uses a skill like 【Scan】on you, see page 2 after you finish reading my message.’

-Ughhhh ...keeping my eyes focused at night like this is…tough *yawn*, especially with...no light.

『【Stamina】has increased by 0.1!』

Witch of Fate - ‘Regardless, once the reincarnators arrive there will not be any new information from me, as my fellow gods will attempt to continuously spy on me to ensure that I will not interfere with the ‘blessings.’ From then on, I will not be watching or helping, you will be on your own.’

-So she’ll be spying.... on me until then?

Witch of Fate - ‘That will conclude this introduction, as I said before all the information about the ‘journal,’ this world, and its inhabitants can only be acquired by your efforts. So train hard and don’t disappoint me, my familiar.~’

I’ve finished reading, but it looks like it’ll be pretty hectic in the future. Looks like I’ll have to put in some genuine effort for my revenge.

-I really hope page two has something that can help.

I flip to page two....it just has some odd sentence at the top.

- ‘Say the one word, if you’re so knowledgeable.’ Ughhhh…

Fate: “ww..auuww...u...aus…”

-Looks like I can’t even form a coherent word with my baby speech

There’s some fine print…

- ‘Awwwww, so cute!’.....

-I really want to hit her….

Suddenly, a spectral-blue screen projects from the page.

Stats

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Name: Fate
• HP: 0.9/1.1
• MP: 1/1
• Level: 0
• Race: Human
• Age: 1 hour(s) old (18+ years old)
• Job: None
• Previous Jobs: None
• Titles: 【Familiar of Fate】

--------------------------------

• Stats:
  • Strength: 1.1
  • Endurance: 1.1
  • Wisdom: 1.1
  • Intelligence: 1.0 (Knowledge of this world is low)
  • Stamina: 1.2
  • Agility: 1.0
  • Fortune: 1.0

---------------------------------

• Passive Skills: None
• Active Skills: None
• Unique Skills: None
• Equipment: Fate’s Journal(Soul-bound)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-I ...guess..this is….rather, these are my stats...gotta say though, I’m…*yawn*...pretty pathetic.

-She said pages one and….*yawn* two had something, but I guess the other pages are blank…

Just as I thought of that, words began appearing on page three.

『Endurance seems to be gained by dealing with physical pain』

『Strength seems to be gained by making great physical effort』

『Wisdom seems to be gained by thinking through situations for solutions』

『Stamina seems to be gained by exceeding physical limits and working through fatigue』

『Intelligence is probably gained by learning various things, though the rate is unknown』

『Agility is probably gained through training, though the rate is unknown』

『No known method of gaining Fortune.』

-Seems? Probably? No known method? Well, she did say I’d have to gain knowledge myself, but I didn’t think it’d be like this.

It looks like she wasn’t lying about having to gather information. When I’ve gained the ability to roam around I’ll try gathering some.

-But…*yawn*...that’ll have to wait till... tomorrow.

I kept working through my fatigue and managed to lift myself back into my crib with my stubby arms and legs.

『【Stamina】has increased by 0.1!』

-Come to think of it ...I think I should've needed longer to even be able to crawl...Whatever…