Chapter 3 Reborn
2967 Words
The newborn sprites lined up in the hall. The elder placed the staff in the middle of the stage and called, “Each of you, newborn, come up and touch the Staff of Myoire and receive your name.”
One by one, the newborn sprites flew up the stage and touch the staff. Each time they touched it, the crystal on top of the staff lighted up and some ancient rune symbols will float up. The symbols then will form into the name of the newborn sprite.
The boy looked at the event in amazement. He wondered what his name will be. Then he remembered, he already had a name according to his status screen, but he cannot read it. The naming was going smoothly. Many newborn sprites acquired a name.
Then, something happened, a brown-haired newborn sprite came up and touched the staff. Same, as always, the staff alighted but this time, the staff glowed another light. It shone on the newborn sprite then another set of runes appeared above.
“Oh, the loving Mother Tree has gifted us a rare talent. This newborn sprite obtained a Title!” The elder announced.
The boy wondered, “A title?” Did he not have a title, too? There were three of them, in fact. He whispered, “Status open,” to confirm it.
Name: J¤•■ A¤<□♡□$
Level: 1 (Exp. 0.01%)
Race: Human
Class: None
Age: 1 Day
Health: 2000
Mana: 2750
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 100
Vitality: 100
Wisdom: 50
Agility: 10
Skills: Universal Language (Max), Telekinesis (Lv.1), Float (Lv.1)
Title: Anomaly (Unawaken), Tatiana’s Son, Contracted
Status points: 0
He looked at his titles. Then he noticed two new skills, Telekinesis, and float. “When did I learn these?” he thought.
The naming ceremony continued and aside from that one special sprite, no one else acquired a title. Then, it was Chip’s turn to touch the staff.
“See my name, okay?” she told the boy. She excitedly flew up the stage and immediately touched the staff.
The Staff of Myoire alighted and bathe Chip in light. The runes formed into a name. “Diana.” The boy read.
Chip or rather, Diana, smiled sweetly and flew down to her mother. “Mother, did you see my name?” she asked happily.
“I did, Diana! Congratulations!” her mother said. “Congratulations, Diana!” Tatiana also said.
She smiled to them sweetly and said, “I wonder what his name will be?” They looked at the only giant newborn in the crowd. It was now his turn. He slowly walked to the stage, but he did not come up. The stage was so small for him to step, it might be destroyed.
“You can stand there. Just reach out and touch the staff.” The elder flatly said.
The boy slowly lifted his finger and moved it to touch the staff. When his finger touched the staff. It alighted brightly.
The crowd started to murmur as the light was unnaturally blinding. “What is going on?”
“He is going to receive a title, too!” some of them thought.
Then, runes started to float above. They danced and danced until they formed a name. The sprites became even more rowdy.
“Reborn?”
“What kind of name is that?”
“No one in our long history has receive such name!”
The boy acquired a name. His name is Reborn. All of them thought that, but the child heard something else in his head.
“Ting! Title “Anomaly” awakened. Name cannot be changed. Title “Reborn” has been created. Skill “Divine Light (Broken)” acquired.”
When he got down, his mother hugged his cheek. “Congratulations, Reborn!”
“Congratulations!” Diana’s mother also chimed in.
“Hey, hey, Reborn, did you see my name?” Diana asked the boy.
He smiled to her and nodded. “Hello, Diana.” The newborn sprite giggled when she heard him.
After all the newborn sprites were named, the crowd dispersed and went back to the Mother tree. Reborn was still carried by his mother back to their tree hole.
“Hey, Reborn! Let us play tomorrow, okay?” Diana invited him.
“Okay, I will ask mother first, though!” he replied. Then Diana flew away home.
On his nest, Reborn checked out his status again. He was confused when he saw it. There were a few big changes in it.
Name: J¤•■ A¤<□♡□$
Level: 1 (Exp. 0.01%)
Race: Human
Class: None
Age: 1 Day
Health: 12000
Mana: 17250
Strength: 15 (+300)
Dexterity: 10 (+300)
Intelligence: 100 (+500)
Vitality: 100 (+500)
Wisdom: 50 (+300)
Agility: 10 (+300)
Skills: Universal Language (Max), Telekinesis (Lv.1), Float (Lv.1), Divine Light (Broken)
Title: Anomaly (Awakened), Tatiana’s Son, Contracted, Reborn
Status points: 0
“What is this? What happened?” He thought. He started to study his status. The boy wanted to understand it.
“What is health?” He asked then he suddenly heard a sound.
“Ting! Health is the life gauge. When you are wounded it will slowly go down. Beware, if health becomes 0 points, it will be death.”
He was not as startled as at first. He was expectant of the sound. Then he asked other questions like what mana and his other status means.
“This is like an RPG!” he blurted. “Wait, what is RPG?” he confusedly muttered. Why did he think about that unknown word? He was so puzzled.
“Voice in my head, please tell me about my titles.” he whispered.
“Ting! Anomaly (Awakened) title grants 300 points to all stats. Holder is immune to disease, curse, and binding. Tatiana’s Son acquired as, the sprite, Tatiana, declared the holder her son. Contracted, details are sealed. Reborn, the name granted by the Staff of Myoire, but due to Anomaly title, name cannot be changed. Reborn title grants 200 plus points to intelligence and vitality stats.”
“Wow, this status is so OP!” Reborn blurted, although he has no idea what OP means.
“Son? Are you okay over there?” Tatiana asked.
“I am okay, mother!” he answered.
“Okay, supper will be ready in a minute.” She informed him.
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In the next morning, “Reborn! Let us go!” Diana called as she flew around Tatiana’s tree hole.
“Mom, I am going to play with Diana and the other kids!” Reborn said.
“Okay, you kids, stay safe. Steer away from the borders, alright?” she reminded.
“Yes, mother!”
“Yes, Aunt Tati!” Diana giggled an answer.
The newborn sprites flew down the tree while Reborn climb down from a vine. “Look at the monkey sprite coming down the vine!” the other sprite kids jeered.
“Hey, stop that!” Diana scolded them, “Reborn is not a monkey!”
“Its alright, Diana.” Reborn said when he reached the ground.
“Oh, see, Diana? Reborn does not mind.” The bigger sprite said. “You don’t mind us calling you monkey, right?” He turned to Reborn and said.
The other sprites laughed out loudly and flew away. “Don’t mind them. Come on. Let’s go play in the river!” Diana said to him.
“Yeah, okay.” He nodded his head.
The two of them went to the river. One, a half-foot tall sprite and the other, a 3-feet tall human boy running towards the river.
“When do you think your wings will grow?” Diana suddenly asked.
“My wings?” Reborn was surprised. “I do not know. Maybe I won’t grow one.” He said. He knows he will not. He is human not a sprite.
“Oh, don’t say that. I bet your wings will be beautiful and colorful like mine!” she giggled.
The two of them played along the river until noon. Diana asked Reborn to go home for lunch, but he refused. “Go on, Diana. I am not hungry yet.”
“Are you sure?” Reborn nodded at her. “Okay, but don’t go too far! Aunt Tati said not to go near the borders!” she reminded.
“I know. Please tell my mother that I will go home later. Tell her I am picking some berries for our dinner.” He said.
“Hm, okay. See you later, Reborn!” Diana said and flew away.
When Diana was gone, Reborn sat down on a boulder. He thought about some things. “What did I see last night? Did that happen?” he muttered.
Last night, Reborn had a very vivid nightmare. He saw people screaming and floating around. There are debris here and there. There were burning buildings, collapsing buildings.
But the buildings were different, they are not trees like the sprite’s houses. There was a giant black hole in the sky. It was sucking everything around. He felt himself floating towards it. He can even hear himself screaming. Then, he woke up.
He did not tell Tatiana because he doesn’t want to worry her. “Ha!” he sighed. He decided to try his skills. “Okay, let me try my float skill. How do I activate it? Should I just think of it?” he whispered.
He closed his eye and thought about floating. Several minutes later, he did not feel anything. But then when he was about to take a step, he found out, there was no more ground to step on. He was floating.
“I did it!” he laughed.
He tried to move forward but he just tumbled in the air. He tried moving left, right, up, and down. He was not able to, he was just, as the word implies, floating.
“This suck!” he grumbled. “Voice in my head, show me the details of float, please.” He thought.
“Ting! Float, a skill that enables one to float. Costs 1 MP per minute.” The voice ended.
“Oh, thank you, Voice!” he said. “Now, let’s try Telekinesis!”
He found a small rock to be his practice target. Then, he whispered, “Telekinesis!”
Reborn stared at the rock for several minutes until the rock started to tremble a little. Then it slowly floated. “Yes!” he cheered.
He spent the afternoon practicing his skills that he forgot to gather berries for dinner. “Oh no! I have to gather some berries!” he immediately run around the forest and looked for berries.
While running, he checked his status. His level did not go up, but his skills had some changes. His Float skill became level 2 as well as his Telekinesis skill. The activation also shortened so much. He only needs to think about the skill, and it activates.
“Berries, berries, where are the berries?” he wandered around the forest still could not find the berries. He walked so far that he did not notice he was getting closer to the border.
He soon found a brush full of berries. He slowly walked towards it. Reborn did not notice that he passed through the border. Of course, an alarm sounded in the sprite soldiers’ tree.
“Someone went out of the barrier in the western border! Go, find out who went out and bring them back here!” A soldier sprite with 4 stripes on his uniform ordered. The soldier sprites immediately flew towards the western border.
Meanwhile, Reborn had his shirt full of berries, he even ate some. Then, he heard a growl. He glanced around. Was there some kind of animal around? He thought. Of course, there are animals around, his in the middle of a forest!
He slowly tiptoed back to where he came from. “Please do not come out yet!” He prayed. But he is out of luck, a tiger-looking animal jumped out of the bush and attack him.
“Ah! Stay back!” Reborn instinctively raised his hand for cover, unconsciously activating his telekinesis skill. The tiger-like animal was deflected away. “Ha! Ha!” Reborn was so scared. He bolted away, trying to get away from the vicious animal.
“Ting! Fear Resistance skill acquired. Sprint skill acquired. Force Shield skill acquired.”
The familiar voice rang in his head, but Reborn did not have time to notice what that were. He only though of getting away to safety.
The tiger chased him. “Get away! I am not delicious at all!” he screamed.
“Ting! Coward title acquired. Title skill open. Danger sense skill acquired.”
“Mother! Help!” the tiger pounced from behind. Luckily, Reborn, somehow, sensed the attack and dodged the claws. He stumbled and rolled on the ground. “Argh!” He looked back and saw the animal. It looked like a tiger, but it has huge saber teeth, and red blazing eyes.
“Oh no!” The tiger pounced in on him again speedily. Reborn subconsciously raised his hand, then a transparent shield appeared blocking the tiger’s claws. “What?”
“Graaaaohh!” The tiger slashed its claws against the transparent shield.
“Argh!” Reborn raised his other hand and reinforced the shield. “Ah!” He pushed the shield against the tiger. It was a success. The tiger was pushed away. Reborn decided to fight the animal.
It was utterly ridiculous for a child, 3-feet tall to fight a bike-sized tiger-looking animal. But Reborn had this curiosity to try and fight. He was very afraid; this is not to be argued.
He waved his hand, activating his telekinesis skill. He imagined grabbing the neck of the animal. He felt it, he successfully grabbed the animal by the neck using his telekinesis, but it was weak. The animal shook its head slightly and it got loose.
“Graoh!” The animal jump on him again. Reborn rolled to the side, dodging the sharp fangs by a hair’s breadth.
Using telekinesis, he propelled himself away from the beast. He also activated his float skill. Thanks to that, he gained a considerable distance from the beast. He turned tail in an instant. He was too weak. His control of his skills is not yet able to fight equally with the monster.
This time, he ran without looking back. He started using float and telekinesis conjointly to run fast and propel forwards much faster.
However, he can still hear the tiger-like animal chasing him. He is almost to the border. Then he saw tiny winged people flying towards him. The sprite guards finally arrived.
“Help!” he screamed.
Two guards swoop down from the air, brandishing their wooden staff towards the animal’s head. A small boom echoed, and the animal was flung backwards, heavily.
“Cool!” Reborn exclaimed when he looked back.
“Don’t stop running!” One of the guards told Reborn.
“Deploy the shields!” the sprite guard with a red turban ordered. He appeared to be the Captain.
Five sprite guards stomped the ends of their wooden staff on the ground. Then a transparent shield appeared, separating the sprites from the animal.
“Don’t kill it! Push it back!” the Captain sprite ordered.
“Yes!” the other guards responded.
Meanwhile, Reborn reached the Sprite’s territory. “Ha! Ha! Ha!” he was panting heavily.
The Captain sprite arrived, hovering face-level at Reborn. “Why did you go outside the border?” he asked.
“I did not notice. I was picking berries when that animal suddenly attacked!” Reborn’s response. “Why did you not kill it?” he asked.
“Surprisingly, you survived an attack from a level 10 Saber-toothed Panzer as a newborn! There is no need to kill, it will not go inside our territory.” The Captain answered.
“It was level 10?” Reborn was surprised when he heard the Captain. How did he survive that?
“Go on. Go home and do not go outside again!” The Captain said then flew back to his soldiers. Reborn just nodded to him. He looked at the soldiers pushing the animal away. “Ha!” he sighed. He did not stay longer, anymore. He ran home.
When he arrived at their tree hole, Tatiana was flying back in fort at the entrance. She was clearly very worried. When she saw him, she immediately flew towards Reborn and inspected him.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?” she worriedly asked.
“I am fine, mother!” He replied.
“Why did you go outside? I told you not to go beyond the borders!” She scolded.
“I was only picking some berries!” He answered. He thought, how did she know?
“You made me worried! Next time don’t go beyond the borders, okay?” she hugged his cheek. A smidgen of tear wetted Reborn’s cheek.
“Alright! I am sorry, mother!” Reborn felt sad. He does not want to see his mother cry. After that thought, he saw a flash of memory. It was a face of a middle-aged woman, estimated to be 48-50 years old.
“Go inside and wash up!” Tatiana ordered as she wiped her tears. That roused Reborn from his slight stupor. He nodded to her and walked inside.
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“Sir!” The Captain sprite landed in front of an elder sprite.
“Who was it that went out?” The elder asked.
“Reporting to Elder Malik! It was Tatiana’s son!” he reported.
“That kid?” The human kid is already causing trouble. He thought. He was one of the elders that opposed the raising of the human child. He agreed to the suggestion of banishing Reborn from their village.
“How was he?” the elder fiddled with a wooden glass filled with wine.
“He survived an attack from a level 10 Saber-toothed Panzer, elder!” The Captain said admiringly.
“What?!” The elder was surprised. How can a level 1 newborn survive a level 10 beast’s attack?”
“We saw him running, unbelievably, fast away from the monster. The other guards suspected child of already having a skill.” The Captain said.
“A newborn with a skill?”
It was already rare for a newborn to acquire a title during the Naming ceremony, but it was even rarer for a newborn to acquire skills after a day of being born.
The human kid is surprisingly talented. The elder thought. However, such thought was only passing. He still despised the child and wanted to drive him out of the village.
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At nighttime, while Reborn was lying on his bed, he decided to inspect his status. He heard so many rings earlier while fighting and fleeing from the animal.
Name: J¤•■ A¤<□♡□$
Level: 1 (Exp. 0.01%)
Race: Human
Class: None
Age: 1 Day
Health: 12100
Mana: 17085
AP: 4380
DP: 8623
Strength: 15 (+300)
Dexterity: 10 (+300)
Intelligence: 100 (+503)
Vitality: 100 (+505)
Wisdom: 50 (+285)
Agility: 10 (+302)
Skills: Universal Language (Max), Telekinesis (Lv.2), Float (Lv.2), Divine Light (Broken), Fear Resistance (Lv.1), Sprint (Lv.1), Force Shield (Lv.1)
Title: Anomaly (Awakened), Tatiana’s Son, Contracted, Reborn, Coward
Title Skill: Danger Sense (Lv.1)
Status points: 0
“I learned four new skills and a title! What is this new title?” he muttered.
“Ting! Coward, a title given to those who flee from battle. -15 Wisdom. +5 Vitality. +3 Intelligence. +2 Agility.”
“I am not a coward! It was a strategic retreat!” he complained. Again, he did not understand how he knew about strategic retreat. It just popped in his mind.
He also noticed a new feature in his status screen. There was an additional AP and DP.
AP is Attack points while DP is Defense points. “What is its use?” He asked himself.
“Ting! AP, attack points determine holder’s attacking power. DP, defense points determine holder’s defensive capabilities.” The voice answered.
“How do I use this?” he complained. “Danger Sense is obvious.” After inspecting his status, he went to sleep.
- Writer
