[Authority is sufficient]
[Your god has been selected]
[Your system has been granted]
[Ares System is being installed]
[Host has been put to sleep for a smooth procedure]
My eyelids grew heavy, and I felt extremely dizzy, causing me to roll onto my back.
I tried to cover my eyes from the bright stone emitting light towards the top right corner of the prison cell.
"Ga," I mutter before passing out.
…
[Ares System has been installed]
[Please say "Status" in order to get started]
My eyes snapped open, but when I tried to sit up, I just felt my body roll up and then backward like a doll made of wood.
My head hit something soft, and I realized I was lying in my sleeping mother's lap.
Flashbacks of before I passed out flipped through my mind.
And once everything had passed, I snapped back to reality.
What the hell is that?
In front of me were two red rectangles with bright white text that almost blinded me.
I squinted my eyes before reading it.
It was confusing, even when I had finished reading all of it.
I had absolutely no clue as to what a system was.
Context could've been useful, but I decided to move on for now.
… Yeah… I had absolutely no idea what saying status would do… so of course, I said it in order to find out.
"Ga," Came out of my mouth, but in my mind, I said, "Status."
『Status』
[Name: None]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 1/10] (0/100) XP Needed
[HP: 10/10 MP: 5/5 SP: 5/5] - Normal Human
[Strength: -1] - Sub Human
[Defense: -1] - Sub Human
[Magic: 0] - Normal Human
[Speed: -1] - Sub Human
[Skills: [None]
…
My eyes scanned the large vertical rectangle in front of me, and this, I kind of understood.
My race was obviously human.
The level… uhhhhhh… yeah, I don't really understand that.
Ummmmm… HP, MP, and SP I also don't understand.
Strength was most likely how strong I was… And somehow, it was negative.
The same thing with defense and speed. Also, both were pretty much self-explanatory.
But magic… like magic in fairy tales? Where you can create fireballs, an armory made of water, shoot lightning from your hands, control the weather with your mind… That kind of magic?
I was very intrigued by the magic section but decided to move on downwards to the next thing called [Skills].
I also had a hypothesis as to what this was, but nothing to really branch off of.
And then… there was my name.
I had avoided the subject yesterday and the day before, but now I had to face it as it was glaring right into my eyes.
I have no name.
And though I didn't want to think about it, I knew the reason as to why I wasn't given one.
My mother didn't want to get too attached to me in case I died.
Our living conditions were extremely harsh, and she knew that if she slipped up once, both of us could die without any notice at all.
"Ga," I say once again, waking up my mother from her peaceful nap.
"Ah, are you hungry, baby?" She asks before pulling down her tattered brown dress.
The material rubbed against my skin, but it felt like sandpaper instead of actual cloth.
As I looked up at my mother's beautiful face, I noticed red tears marks on her cheeks once again, notifying me that she had cried herself to sleep.
I wanted to help her, but all I could do for now was just slightly grip onto her dress, showing the bare amount of love I could give.
"Yes, yes… It's okay. We'll be fine," She says, stroking my head which had only a few strands of purple hair.
…
One year has passed.
I counted every single day since my birthday, which was today.
I lost track a couple of times, but coincidentally, I managed to land on my birthday.
Words were still something I couldn't say, but I could make more sounds than just "ga."
But, getting points across to my mother was impossible, so eventually, I just gave up and let my mother spoil me.
"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, happy birthday… Happy birthday to you," Mom sings.
Her voice was coarse as she hadn't had water since last night because she gave her small bowl to me.
But, I still enjoyed her singing.
And once she gestured for me to blow out the single branch with a tiny flame on top, I did just that, smiling wider than I had ever before.
"Happy birthday," She says before hugging me tightly.
I hugged her back with my not-so-chubby arms.
In fact, I was getting a bit too thin due to the lack of nutrients.
Occasionally, I would still drink my mother's breast milk, but that was only when she had to eat the food given to us, in order to survive.
In the beginning, I tried to get my mother to have all the food to herself by moving my face away from the spoon she put near my lips, but she would get mad and force it into my mouth, so I had no choice but to give in.
"*cough* *cough* *cough*... *cough* *cough* *cough*"
My mother suddenly slumped down, coughing into her hand.
When she brought back her hand, she tried to hide it from me, but I caught a glimpse of thick red blood.
There was no way I could misunderstand something I was all too familiar with...
I looked up at my mother, who forced a smile for me, so I smiled back.
She overexerted herself for me again…
In order to light the branch with a tiny flame, she used what I had figured out was magic.
But apparently, the shackle attached to her right ankle suppressed her magic power completely, so in order for her to force some out, she had to sacrifice part of her life force.
"Damn, I'm losing too much life force… I need to conserve for now… I need to last until he grows up, big and strong," She mutters as she slumps her chin against my shoulder, hiding her exhausted face from me.
This was how I found out about all this… my mother talking to herself.
I wanted to cry.
I wanted to scream for help.
Anything to help my mother… but I couldn't.
I was helpless.
Even with the system that I had, I couldn't achieve anything.
'What is the point of the system?' I kept asking myself over the past year.
What was the point? The purpose? Anything?
I racked my head continuously, but even till now, I couldn't think of anything.
With no context, I was absolutely helpless.
I then moved away from that question for a bit, but then scarier questions came to mind.
Where am I? Who are these people that keep insulting my mother? How did mother become like this? How come I can remember my past life? Or do all reincarnations not lose their past life memories?
Too many questions, absolutely no answers.
I was miserable, just like my mother.
Suddenly, just as I heard my mother's light snores, a ding rang in my ear.
[A year has passed with no progress]
[A tutorial will be given]
Suddenly, I felt something smash my chest, and I was sent flying backward into the air.
But just as I closed my eyes to brace for impact, I felt a familiar floating sensation.
I opened my eyes, only to find myself floating in the air with a somewhat ethereal body.
But, my real body was on the ground, setting my mother's head to the side and standing up.
.
[Tutorial has begun]
.