…

Agatha: “Yes my little one…”

Agatha was sitting in a room similar to Fate’s original one, however, this room had other amenities such as a larger window, cards with the Ilthean language on them, and toys of varying shapes and sizes. Indeed, this was the room of Fate’s new brother, Atlas Schneider.

Agatha: “Now, which one is the moon?”

Agatha was holding up two cards, one with the sun on it and the other with the moon. Atlas looked between them, his forehead seeming to scrunch further with each second.

Atlas: “Uuu….uuuu…da!”

Atlas pointed to the card holding the sun, causing a slight twinge of disappointment to come over Agatha’s face. Her aura seemed to become colder and fiercer. Atlas shivered and attempted to crawl back to his crib to get away from his mother.

Atlas: “Uaa…!”

His mother had grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a small hug, and her aura seemed to return to normal.

Agatha: “It’s alright, little one. I won’t hurt you…”

She released Atlas from the short hug and sat in front of him, pulling out the cards once again. She smiled warmly.

Agatha: “Now, try again. Which one is the moon?”

Atlas still seemed confused, but tried to avoid giving a look of discomfort. Agatha pointed to the ground and traced her finger to the window, which Atlas followed. It was dusk outside and the moon was clearly visible.

Atlas looked at the cards and then towards the window and the moon outside, before selecting the proper card.

Agatha: “You did it! I’m so proud of you that you can recognize the symbol of our holy and beloved Goddess at your age is truly astounding!”

She hugged the child with a satisfied smile and the child broke into a large grin. Agatha seemed genuinely delighted with Atlas’ progress.

-I will make my children into the next great figures for this household, but I almost lost it when I saw that frustrated expression…

Agatha did not like to see anger on her child’s face because it reminded her of her first child, who had been extremely intelligent and apathetic. The child which she had endeavored, fueled on by her overwhelming faith, to disown and forget ever existed.

-But I just can’t forget that disgusting look it gave me! It dared to voice discomfort when I was teaching it and tried to steal the attention of my beloved! Such insolence, I could not abide. However, now I crave it’s screams and suffering again…

Agatha continued to contemplate over her newfound desire, all the while stroking the back of her son. Suddenly, she had an idea.

-If I attempt to teach it again, it might look suspicious...However, if his brother grows up a truly valorous individual…!

Her gentle smile twisted into an evil grin, one that was indicative of the kind of plan she had in mind. The beloved son in her arms, the hated one she intended harm upon, and her beloved husband, however, were none the wiser to her desires.

…

-Seriously, I had no idea I would have to wait an entire night to be able to get back up...It’s like when my parents on Earth set my laptop with a ‘bedtime,’ which sucked so hard! Except, this time...I’m the laptop and there’s not an autistic kid pressing power and trying to f*ck with the settings to bypass some sh*tty software his parents installed…

Fate had finally managed to recover from his sudden consciousness shift inside of the mana bubble, last night. He had checked his body to make sure that he didn’t have any injuries or odd mutations that had resulted from his new skills.

-I seem fine, but I do feel like I can sense my surroundings a little better. Also, I can feel what is probably mana, flowing through my body. It feels like I was on a stuffy train, crowded in by a sh*tload of people with no windows open, and then me getting out into the winter air!

He reminisced about his life when he moved to England...no friends, his family developed for the worst, and he had become a near-complete isolationist…

-I want to live better in this world than I did on Earth and to do that, I need to get a hell of a lot stronger than I am now...and I need to escape this damn house!

His ambition reaffirmed, Fate proceeded to stretch out his muscles and test to see if his newly-awakened, mana-centric abilities had improved his strength.

He kicked, punched, and ran around the room...but there was no certain improvement in his strength or movements, none that were noticeable anyway.

-So that’s a no...But...whatever that voice-alert system is, said that I have 5 【Magic】now, right? That means that I can finally access the tutorial section!

Without wasting any time, Fate called his journal out in front of him.

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

• Name: Fate
• HP: 78/78
• MP: 11/11
• Level: 0
• Race: Human
• Age: 2 year-old(2 year, 2 months (20+ years old)))
• Job: None
• Previous Jobs: None
• Titles: 【Familiar of Fate】

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

• Stats:
  • Strength: 9.0
  • Endurance: 17.424
  • Wisdom: 4.5
  • Intelligence: 6.0
  • Stamina: 10.21
  • Agility: 9.93
  • Fortune: 1.0
  • Magic: 5.0

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

• Passive Skills:『Balance - (Lv.2)』, 『Natural MP Restoration』
• Active Skills: 『Mana Manipulation(Minor) - (Lv.1)』
• Unique Skills: None
• Equipment: Fate’s Journal(Soul-bound)

(Found typo with his age, apologies)

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

Fate: “Message page.”

The journal flipped to the first page, once again displaying the blue screen. When Fate attempted to reach his hand to touch it, his hand was repelled by something in the shape of a lock.

『Demonstrate your ability to manifest and control mana to unlock feature, ‘tutorial section.’』

-I still can’t access it, what the actual hell?!

『As you have reached the basic stages of mana control, please practice basic mana-manifestation to begin your training. To manifest your mana, simply focus and attempt to channel your naturally occurring mana into one point.』

-It’s actually starting to give me tips without having access? It seems the ‘Witch’ planned for this after all...Still though, one point? Is this going to be like using a sword skill in an RPG?..Or at least what the lore says they do…

Fate tried to isolate the feeling he had when he had just woken up, attempting to stir it within his veins and focus it outward.

Fate: “Flow…”

Just then, he felt it. It seemed to sputter like a small flame that had just been lit, within his body. He could feel it gradually working its way through his veins until finally!

*ping*

A small orb suddenly appeared in the air, it seemed to be a hazy white sphere that floated at his fingertips. It was barely larger than one of his fingernails, but it was definitely there.

-I did it!

Fate suddenly felt tired and the orb flickered out of existence.

-Crap…! Why do I suddenly...feel tired? It’s...it’s like...when I crawled for a while...after building up my...stamina…

Fate: *Yawn* “Is there a way... to check what’s wrong with me...?”

At that moment, he noticed a detail that he hadn’t before. In the corner of his eye, he could see a small bar that seemed to be half grey and half blue.

-Could it...be?!

He looked closer, trying to understand exactly what it was. As if responding to his desire, the small bar enlarged itself within his vision. It was the same half-filled bar that he had seen, but he could now see numbers above it.

- 0, 11, and 6...No doubt about it, this is...my very own MP gauge, a staple of...Isekai and RPGs!

From how he read it, the gauge seemed to indicate that his mana level was a little more than half of its original amount.

-This explains, why...hey! I feel a bit..better, now!

The gauge had now increased by a small amount and Fate was feeling less fatigued. It must have been...

- 『Natural MP Restoration』! It must have regenerated a point of mana after a set duration of time passed...sh*t, I gotta time it!

It was common in games that when someone used MP or SP, it would always decrease the more one used it and would increase at a set rate over the course of a certain amount of time.

- 57, 58, 59, 60…

The mana gauge went up by a point and the fatigue became even lesser.

-It seems that my MP regeneration is 1 MP per minute...That’s kind of crap, but I expected far worse given that my mana manipulation is minor and went away the moment I stopped paying attention.

『【Magic】has increased by 0.05!』

-...The hell, did my【Magic】stat just go up?

Fate pondered about this strange phenomenon for a moment before making a seemingly-sensible conclusion.

-...If I gained my current MP levels by absorbing those bubbles...since I’m now absorbing it naturally, the more I use...the more my reserves increase!

Fate quickly brought his attention back to the MP gauge, observing that it had increased to 9 and the number on the end had increased to 11.1.

-Now, this is what I’m talking about!

With that, Fate thrust himself into his new routine of tiring himself out then, waiting for his MP to regenerate and increase...