The Numerical System

Chapter 3 - The Rules

Chapter Three — The Rules

Kael did not sleep.

Not properly, anyway.

He spent most of the night staring at the ceiling of his small room, replaying what had happened on the hill.

Numbers.

They had appeared everywhere.

On the tree.

On the ground.

On himself.

And somehow, he had changed one.

He had increased the tree’s durability from nineteen to twenty.

Then, in his panic, he had discovered something else.

He could decrease them too.

Kael turned onto his side.

A faint blue window appeared in front of him.

[Numerical System]

He stared at it.

Unlike the other numbers, this window didn’t seem attached to anything.

It simply existed.

He reached toward it.

His finger passed through.

“Can anyone else see this?”

Nothing happened.

Kael looked toward the other beds in the room.

The other boys were asleep.

He whispered.

“System.”

The window remained.

“Numerical System.”

Still nothing.

He sighed.

“Of course.”

Kael sat up.

He had spent hours experimenting, but there were still far more questions than answers.

What exactly could he change?

How much could he change?

Why could he see these numbers?

And most importantly…

Why him?

He looked at his hands.

His parents had been adventurers.

They had discovered something during one of their expeditions.

Something that had eventually been given to him.

Kael didn’t know what it was.

He had been too young to remember.

But perhaps…

This was connected.

He pushed the thought away.

There was no point guessing.

He needed information.

And information meant experimentation.

⸻

Before sunrise, Kael quietly left the orphanage.

He returned to the hill.

The same tree stood exactly where he had left it.

Kael approached it.

The moment he focused on the tree, the numbers appeared.

[Ancient Oak]

[Age: 143]

[Durability: 20]

Kael stared.

Twenty.

He had changed it yesterday.

So the System had preserved the alteration.

That was useful.

He placed his palm against the bark.

“Increase.”

[Durability: 20 → 21]

Nothing obvious happened.

Kael frowned.

“Again.”

[Durability: 21 → 22]

Still nothing.

“Again.”

[Durability: 22 → 25]

The bark became noticeably harder beneath his hand.

Kael pulled his hand away.

“So it works.”

He looked at the number.

Then another thought occurred to him.

“Decrease.”

[Durability: 25 → 24]

He smiled faintly.

“Again.”

[24 → 20]

The change was much larger this time.

Kael stared at the tree.

He had done it.

He could alter things.

But how?

Why?

He needed rules.

Kael sat beneath the tree and began thinking.

The first thing he’d noticed was that he could only change values he could actually perceive.

That seemed obvious.

But there was something else.

Yesterday, when he’d first tried changing the tree, he’d only managed to increase it by one.

Now he could change it by several.

Was his control improving?

Or was there another reason?

Kael focused on the tree again.

[Durability: 20]

He imagined the number becoming one thousand.

[20 → 1000]

Nothing happened.

Kael blinked.

He tried again.

Nothing.

“So there’s a limit.”

He lowered the number.

[20 → 0]

Nothing.

Kael frowned.

“Why?”

He stared at the word.

Durability.

He understood what it meant.

Perhaps that was the problem.

He could understand durability.

He couldn’t simply command reality to do whatever he wanted.

There had to be a connection between understanding and manipulation.

Kael stood.

He looked toward a nearby stone.

[Durability: 37]

He picked it up.

“What if I increase the weight?”

Nothing.

There was no weight value displayed.

Kael frowned.

He turned the stone around.

Then he noticed another number.

[Mass: 2]

His eyes widened.

Mass.

He understood what mass was.

He focused.

[Mass: 2 → 5]

The stone suddenly became heavier.

Kael nearly dropped it.

He caught it with both hands.

“Okay.”

His heartbeat quickened.

“So I can change different values.”

He looked at the stone again.

[Mass: 5]

He tried decreasing it.

[5 → 1]

The stone became almost weightless.

Kael tossed it into the air.

It floated for a moment before slowly descending.

His eyes widened.

This was different.

This wasn’t just strength.

This wasn’t magic.

He was changing the properties of reality itself.

Kael slowly sat down.

For the first time, excitement gave way to fear.

What else could he change?

⸻

He decided to test himself.

[Strength: 11]

Kael focused.

[11 → 12]

A strange warmth spread through his arms.

He clenched his fist.

He felt slightly stronger.

He increased it again.

[12 → 15]

The sensation intensified.

Kael stopped.

He didn’t know what would happen if he pushed too far.

So he tried something else.

[Mana: 3]

He stared at the number.

Three.

That was pathetic.

Even children who had awakened at fifteen possessed far more.

Kael hesitated.

Then he tried increasing it.

[Mana: 3 → 4]

A tiny pulse of energy moved through his body.

Kael immediately stopped.

He could feel the difference.

He understood now.

Numbers weren’t just information.

They represented something real.

Changing them changed the thing itself.

But if that was true…

then he needed to be careful.

Very careful.

Because there was no way to know what would happen if he changed something he didn’t fully understand.

Kael closed his eyes.

He thought about the possibilities.

Strength.

Speed.

Mana.

Affinity.

Durability.

Age.

Distance.

There had to be hundreds.

Maybe thousands.

And perhaps…

things far more dangerous.

He opened his eyes.

“I need to learn the rules.”

A sound came from behind him.

Crunch.

Kael froze.

Someone—or something—had stepped on a branch.

He slowly turned.

Nothing.

The forest was silent.

Kael stood.

“Who’s there?”

No answer.

He scanned the trees.

Nothing moved.

Then the System appeared.

Not beside the trees.

Not above the ground.

Directly in front of him.

[Warning.]

Kael’s expression changed.

A second message appeared.

[Unknown numerical fluctuation detected.]

His heart began pounding.

“Unknown?”

The System had never said that before.

Kael looked around.

The forest remained completely still.

Then he heard it.

A voice.

Faint.

Almost impossible to hear.

But unmistakably real.

“Ardyn…”

Kael stopped breathing.

Nobody called him that.

Not like that.

The voice came again.

“Ardyn…”

Kael’s hands clenched.

“Who are you?”

Silence.

Then, from somewhere deep within the forest:

“She gave it to you.”

Kael’s eyes widened.

“Who?”

Nothing.

“Who gave me what?”

The forest fell silent again.

Kael waited.

No answer came.

But the System remained in front of him.

[Unknown fluctuation: Disappeared.]

Kael stared at the message.

Then at the dark forest.

His mother.

That was the only person who came to mind.

She had given him something.

Something he had never known about.

Something that had remained inside him for twelve years.

Kael looked down at his hands.

For the first time since the System awakened…

he wasn’t thinking about becoming stronger.

He was thinking about his parents.

And for the first time in twelve years, a forgotten memory surfaced.

A woman’s voice.

Soft.

Warm.

Humming beside him.

Kael couldn’t remember the song.

He couldn’t remember her face.

But he remembered one thing.

Her hand resting gently against his forehead.

And a voice whispering:

“One day, you’ll understand.”

Kael’s eyes widened.

He had never remembered that before.

The sun began rising behind the mountains.

And somewhere far beyond the forest, something ancient had just noticed that the Numerical System had awakened.