"Would you like to browse the available infatuation skills?
After a loud gulp, Leo answered the voice in her head with a thought once again.
"Yes."
Then, before her very eyes, a series of labels appeared. At the bottom of the list were three independent labels, and then they each branched off to various other labels.
Leo looked from the diagram in front of her to the maid, realizing that she was the only one who could see it.
"The base skills Lesser Persuasion, Minor Understanding and Minor Admiration are available at five points each. However, all three are available for a total of twelve points. Your current point balance is: One centillion and three."
Leo gasped.
"What's a centillion?"
"Answer: A centillion is the numerical equivalent of the digit '1' followed by six hundred zeros."
Leo took a moment to ponder how large such a number was.
"But how? How are there so many?"
"Answer: unknown."
It was a mystery to her, but since she couldn't figure it out she gave up on it for now.
There was a lot she was yet to understand.
"Is it possible to purchase every skill at once?"
"Clarify. Every available skill, or every skill under the Infatuation skill tree?"
"Every skill under the Infatuation skill tree."
"Answer: Impossible. Level Requirement has not been met, however, you can attain all the skills under Understanding."
Leo smiled, then took a moment to peruse the list of labels stemming from 'Understanding.'
She also realized that if she used her finger and tapped on those labels, additional information would pop up.
"Minor Understanding: Allows for a minimal matching of target wavelength, empathy, allowing user to comprehend certain feelings and thoughts of the target."
"Middling Understanding: Target skills and experience are open to you. Coupled with Middling Persuasion and Admiration, allows for user to acquire experience and skills of target, once target level is lower."
"Greater Understanding: Peer into the abyss of the mind and body. All secrets are yours to peruse. Coupled with Greater Persuasion, allows the unlocking of the unique skill, Mind Control."
"Master of Secrets, Level 1: User's odds of discovering hidden locations and items increases by 20%. Odds of instantly dicephering cryptic texts and solving puzzles increases by 30%. Odds increase by 10% every time skill levels up. Chance to unlock Understanding's Mastery Skill - Divine Introspection."
As Leo read through the details, she found that she was out of breath.
These skills were all too marvelous!
"How much for every skill that I have the requirements for!?"
"Calculated. Answer: 962 points."
"Purchase them all!"
Leo was incomparably excited. With the wealth of points that she had for whatever reason, she felt she would never run out.
Months had passed since then.
Ferris, Veronica, the maids and Sabien were all preparing for Leo's birthday the next day.
Of course, Veronica didn't see the necessity for all the extravagance. Leo didn't have any friends, and besides, such things were wasted on her. She was much too mature.
"Leo, what do you think about their plans for tomorrow?"
At night, while Leo comfortable lay in her crib, Veronica approached and sat in the rocking chair.
"I don't know. I've never had a birthday before. Also, what's cake? What's ice cream? What are sweets?"
Hearing this, Veronica was a bit puzzled as to why Leo didn't know these things.
"Were they not available in the world you came from?"
Leo thought for a while but shook her head all the same.
"Don't know. I can't really remember much."
Veronica sighed.
"What's wrong? Business stressing you out?" Leo asked her grandmother.
If not for the skills she purchased, she would never have been able to understand that something was bothering Veronica.
"Recently a bad plague has been steadily sweeping across farmland. Crops are dying, fertile soil is now infertile-- and it's only getting worse. Farming was our main source of income for a while, luckily I branched out into real estate, otherwise we'd be strapper for cash."
Looking at Veronica's eyes, Leo could see that there was a lot on her plate.
"What are you doing with the properties you bought?"
"Most of them haven't been sold yet, but one of them was bought by a small hunting party. They wanted a place to sell their game."
Leo nodded, but then something dawned on her.
"Wait, you mean you're going to sell all the properties?"
Veronica nodded.
"What about renting? Turn them into apartment buildings."
Hearing this, Veronica's brows wrinkled and she frowned. She was clueless.
"For example, if one property has a ground floor and a first floor, separate them and furnish them so they both become individual living spaces."
Her eyes slowly widened.
"Then we can have people live in those new spaces, and pay an agreed upon amount every month."
Once she thought about it, she flew up from her seat as she stared at the baby girl before her.
Veronica was beyond amazed. For just a moment, she was terrified.
"Ingenious." This as all she could say.
"I'm surprised you didn't think of that. I think, in the long run, you'd make a lot more money than if you merely sold them." Leo yawned, reaching for her little blanket.
"You regret selling that first one, right? I would too."
Veronica chuckled self deprecatingly.
"Yeah. I really do."
Leo covered herself from head to toe and curled up.
"Well, good night Gram."
Looking down at the tiny person in that crib, Veronica suddenly had a frightening premonition.
"Heh. Luckily, I'll be alive to see it for myself."
With a wry smile and hopeful, glistening eyes, the mature beauty got up and walked over to a window. There, she stared at the distant moon and all the land she could see.
Aside from the massive mansion, the scant trees and the brick road, there were flickering lights in the town. Further away in the sky, the castle was as majestic and silent as always, floating yet motionless.
What a funny thing, to be free yet have no will to soar.
Veronica had always wished to see this kingdom rise up, soaring to even greater heights.
Thinking about the revenue she would soon see coming her way, she got excited.
Then, she left for her room.
Though mostly everything was still at night, the same could not be said for two people in a faraway land.
This was a prosperous land, as magnificent as it was large-- and it was immense. It was much more than a kingdom. It seemed to be a entire continent.
However, the most amazing point was that it was floating high above, in the clouds, even higher than the floating kingdom.
At the very edge of that floating mass were two people, also staring at the moon.
One of them was wrapped from the neck down in cloth, like a mummy, with only his head exposed. He appeared to be middle-aged, but aside from the faint wrinkles near his eyes and mouth, there was little else that made him seem old.
The other person was wearing a simple blue shirt and long black pants. He was much younger looking and was sitting with his legs dangling, his blue hairs like crashing waves.
"Look at it."
The one speaking was the blue haired young man.
"I see it, Sir. But why are we looking at the moon?"
"I don't know."
Silence then reigned.
The winds of the upper atmosphere beat on their bodies.
They both continued staring at the moon, but the mummy man was clearly growing annoyed.
"Oh well."
That younger man got up, dusted himself off and then walked back toward a massive city not too far away.
All the mummy man could do was sigh and follow behind him.
"Damn weirdo."
_______________
"Happy Birthday, Leo!"
After that synchronized cheer, a maid came forward with a massive cake. Aside from the five layers of different cake, there was a coating of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla topped off with cherries and a magnificently fashioned wax candle.
"Amazing, isn't it baby?" Ferris kissed her daughter and giggled at her dazed expression.
Leo was so amazed that she did not even realize that Ferris had put a knife in her hand and was guiding her to cut a tiny piece of cake.
She only realized what was happening when a piece of cake was directly in front of her mouth.
"Say 'ah' my sweet." Ferris demonstrated with her own mouth before Leo opened up.
As soon as Leo tasted the cake, she lost all sense of shrewdness and maturity and instantly shouted out, "Yummy!"
This stunned everyone.
"Her.... Her first word!?"
This caused another series of cheers.
Leo didn't even have the time to think about her mistake; she was enjoying the cake too much.
So, too, did she enjoy the ice cream and various other sweets.
The pure delight on her face was enough for the maids, Sabien, Ferris and even Veronica to be consumed with admiration and happiness.
It went without saying that Leo was the thing that truly made them all feel like a family. She brought each and every one of them together in joy.
So, in a way, the celebration itself was more for them than it was for her.
Leo did not know it, but these little things would allow many larger things to become possible in the future.
That day, Leo experienced her first brain freeze. It was quite shocking seeing her wolf down so much ice cream. She quickly surpassed that which any normal child would be able to handle, but only after almost finishing an entire metal bucket of ice cream did she feel it.
All were amazed at this, but Leo was amazed at something else.
"Cold Resistance, level up!"
Apparently, Leo had obtained cold resistance and didn't know.
That night, she brought up the skill tree for cold resistance and perused the details.
Besides a superhuman immunity to below freezing temperatures, there was a chance to acquire various unique skills.
One of them amazed her.
"Cold Absorption: Store a large amount of cold energy within a separate space. This cold can be kept and released at will. If paired with the unique skill, Telekinesis, the control of cold energy becomes perfect and Mastery Skill: Ice Magic, becomes available."
What amazed Leo was that she already had Telekinesis.
She also had Lesser Cell Manipulation, Greater Magic Sense, Greater Five Senses and Physical Enhancement at Level 9.
"How many of the cold resistances skills can I purchase?"
"Answer: All skills up to Greater Cold Resistance can be purchased. The then unlocked skill, Cold Immunity, requires Cold Resistance to level up once more."
"Purchase them all."
"Purchasing. Total Points Spent: 1,200."
Leo smirked.
"Show me the skill tree for Physical Enhancement."
"Physical Enhancement is a passive skill. However, if its level increases one more time, it will be possible to purchase a better version of the same skill."
"How do I increase the level?"
"Answer: Perform simple tasks that require you to move your body. Exercise is recommended for the best result."
Leo pondered this for a moment.
Veronica didn't seem to be visiting tonight. Seeing this, she climbed out of the crib and stood on the floor.
"Alright. Let's do it."
Leo did some tiny jumps, some cute little push ups and then tried some squats.
Shockingly, just that was enough.
"Physical Enhancement can now become Physical Limitations. Do you wish to upgrade it?"
"Yes!"
As soon as she said that, the system informed her that she had spent five thousand points and then golden lights assimilated her body.
The glittering specks sunk into her pores and vanished just like that. Soon after, some black goo rushed out of her body in torrents. It was stinky and slimy, Leo hated it. After being unable to bear the smell any longer, some ice cream and cake resurfaced and flew out of her mouth.
Then, Veronica came.
There was a trace of surprise in her eyes, but she hid it well.
However, that could not escape Leo.
"You were watching me, weren't you."
Veronica stiffened, but eventually sighed and shook her head.
"Nothing gets passed you, huh. You looked quite cute at first, but then I saw that strange light. It was quite surprising."
"Well, you saw it all. I just made my body stronger. Wanna try me out?" Leo's brows jumped up and down a bit, but then she recalled her current state.
"Sure I will, but after you wash." Veronica giggled.
"Wash me then- oh, uh, please?"
Veronica sighed. She was about to wash and retire for the night as well.
"I've drawn my own bath. It's super hot. Let's make that your first test, shall we?"