Kael was in his crib, lying face up, when he suddenly remembered the cliché that always happened in anime, manga, and novels: the cheating system that always came back strong to the protagonist with little to no effort.
«Hey, System» Kael thought.
He stared into the air, waiting for something to appear, but nothing did. Maybe he didn't use the right word, or maybe he had to say it out loud.
«Panel, status, status screen, status bar» Kael thought, recalling all the words he could remember the protagonists saying.
He waited for a few seconds, hoping something would happen, but nothing did. If thinking didn't work, then all that was left was to say it out loud.
—Grr, grr, grr— Kael said, sounding like grunts.
He tried to speak, but no coherent words came out. He wasn't alone in his room. The maid who brought him was also there, sitting comfortably on the couch reading a book she grabbed from the shelf. Occasionally, she glanced at Kael to check on him. If anything happened to Kael, the maid's head would probably roll.
Noticing the baby's grunts, the maid placed the book on the couch and approached Kael, checking if he had made any wishes or peed on himself, but he hadn't done anything.
«My vocal cords still need to develop» Kael thought. It didn't seem to matter to him that they didn't give him a system; being reborn is more than enough.
After death, there might have been nothing, but if there had been, he wasn't going to waste this opportunity. Kael pointed with her arm at the books on the shelves, hoping the maid would hand her one. Indeed, she did. Kael grabbed the book and began to play with it like any baby does with a toy.
The maid returned to the armchair and resumed reading, while Kael did the same with her book. Her behavior wasn't unusual for a baby. Babies grow up copying others, and now the baby's behavior had become completely normal.
The book, indeed, was in writing she didn't understand, but she continued looking at it, hoping to decipher some words or at least some letters.
And so two months passed. In those two months, a routine had already formed. In the morning, she always ate some pureed fruit, at noon, she ate the same, and for dinner, when the sun set, she ate some pureed vegetables. She also drank smoothies, unsure of what they were made of or how they were made. At the time, there didn't seem to be blenders, so not knowing left him intrigued.
Kael knew when the sun set because he had a window. The window had glass to keep out the cold. His hair had grown a little, revealing a black color just like his eyes.
His mother came three times a day to breastfeed him and then left. She never showed him any signs of affection, treating him like a son she wouldn't have wanted.
«Humans are such hypocrites, haha» Kael thought. He didn't seem to mind his mother's indifference; he was already used to exclusion and the indifference of others.
Possibly she only came to prevent the milk from accumulating in her breasts.
The maids rotated shifts. He counted up to three different maids. When they rotated, they occasionally chatted. Between these conversations, he learned that his mother's name was Elara. He couldn't learn much more. The maids didn't talk much and only spoke when they were rotating shifts, nothing more.
Kael continued reading books, continuing to try to understand more. In those two months, he managed to understand much of what they were saying, and the maids' occasional conversations also helped his understanding.
Most of the books were just lullabies or bedtime stories, and so he didn't glean any valuable information. He still had the bottom right corner of the bookshelf to read.
—Grr, grr, grr— Kael growled.
Kael had grown accustomed to using this tactic to call the maids. The maids grew accustomed to it as well. Every time the baby grunted, it was to ask for a book. The baby only cried when he was hungry, never making a bothersome noise, which was unusual for a baby to be so quiet, but the maids didn't care; they could read in peace.
The maid approached the bookshelf, waiting for where the baby would point. The baby pointed to the bottom right corner of the bookshelf. This made the maid jump slightly, seeming surprised.
«What happened? Didn't I act like my usual self?» Kael thought
«Or there's something strange about those books» Kael thought. Now he wanted to read them even more enthusiastically.
The maid hesitated a bit, then grabbed a book and placed it in Kael's crib. The book had a peculiar title: "All About Ether." Kael ignored the title. After a while of pretending to play with the book, he finally opened it and read the contents. The more he read, the more surprised he seemed.
«Incredible! I knew I hadn't been reincarnated into a normal world» Kael thought excitedly.
«According to whatas this book says, there is an energy called "Ether", all beings are able to feel, manipulate and absorb it, although the amount you can absorb at once depends largely on your talent with it. You can also form ether cores. The maximum number of cores formed on record was five. Each core improves the ability to manipulate ether» Kael thought.
«Ether can strengthen our bodies, increase our longevity, and sharpen our senses» Kael thought.
«After forming the first ether core, some people are able to manipulate an element. The element depends on the affinity it has with the person. Among the known elements are: water, earth, fire, air, light, and darkness» Kael thought.
«Unlike ether, which can be manipulated by everyone, control of the elements is something they only receive. Some people's lineage plays no role in this regard. That's why noble families must prioritize having good ether manipulation before paying attention to it and depending on any elemental that appears in their family» Kael thought.
Amazed by his new world, which he didn't know the name of, if it even had one. On Earth, he would be forced to follow the same routine for decades, living most of it. of his life to be just another one of the crowd, someone who would be completing a loop, all so that in the end his body would end up being eaten by worms in a box underground.
Unlike his previous life, where he was inside a loop, condemned to repeat the same day before, where there was no point in searching for a purpose in life.
In this life, his purpose is clear: to have as many nuclei as possible, while living as long as possible, free from any monotony.