“Get up, love. You’ve slept plenty,” Mariah requested, sitting on the bedside, caressing Peter’s forehead. He looked so peaceful while sleeping that she didn’t have the heart to forcefully wake him up.

  “Umm… just five more minutes,” Peter mumbled, turning his back on her and pulling the blanket over his head.

  Mariah sighed. “That’s what you said five minutes ago, too. Come on, get up and get ready. Breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes.”

  “Okay…” Peter replied, half-heartedly, just wishing to be left alone.

  Mariah couldn’t help but shake her head, giving up. She decided to collect his blanket and bedsheet later. Leaning forward, despite Peter’s struggles, she planted a kiss on his forehead before getting up and leaving the room, returning to the kitchen.

  Peter frowned, offhandedly wiping his forehead before returning to his dreams.

  …

  “Good morning, Mom. Good morning, Dad.” Peter took his seat at the wooden dining table, glancing at the mouth-watering roasted bird placed in the middle.

  “Woah, it smells delicious.” He added, enlarging his nostrils to smell it better.

  “I wish I could say I cooked it, but Dad had Matilda make it. She has a much higher level in cooking than me.” Mariah informed, sitting on the opposite side of the table, sounding a bit jealous.

  “Your food is my favourite, Mom.” Peter knew that she was just teasing him, but he praised her regardless.

  “Quite the charmer, aren’t we? I wonder who taught you such things,” Mariah laughed before playfully glaring at her charming husband.

  He lifted his hands in resignation, and they all laughed.

  “Happy birthday, my sweetie.”

  “Happy birthday, son.”

  “Thank you for the wishes, both of you.” Peter nodded, feeling giddy from inside and grateful to have such caring parents.

  “Come on now,” Mariah clapped once. “Let’s enjoy the food before it gets cold, and then we can discuss your status and the plans for the day.”

  She started distributing the dishes, and the three of them enjoyed breakfast in a pleasant silence.

  …

  “Let’s look at your status,” Joseph said, getting their attention.

  After breakfast, they sat together on the couch. Yes, couch. Made up from animal hide and filled with feathers of different kinds of birds. Something of a luxury in the village. Joseph had decided to stay home today.

  “Did you check it yet?” Joseph asked, leaning back comfortably.

  “I did.” Peter nodded. To be honest, he felt a little guilty hiding things from his parents, especially after receiving so much love from them.

  He had thought about it a lot.

  In the end, he decided to live as normally as possible so his parents could experience raising a child properly. He would tell them his secrets once he was strong enough not to worry about hiding things.

  And when that time came, he would sincerely apologise. He loved them, respected them, and an apology was the least that they deserved.

  He had already decided that one day, he would set out to explore the world. But before that, he would make sure his parents never lacked anything. Using his abilities, he would give them a life of comfort and luxury.

  “Well, you don’t seem too disappointed, so I’m guessing it’s not as bad as you imagined,” Mariah noted with a smile, gently caressing his cheek.

  “We’ll be able to see your status in a few hours when we visit the church for your registration, but I can’t wait that long.” She confessed, feeling impatient like a child at her age.

  “Tell us about your stats, and any skills if you saw any.” Joseph urged, nodding his head, feeling the same.

  Peter agreed and read his Status Screen aloud. Mariah and Joseph listened carefully.

  “That’s everything,” he finished, telling them his fake status screen, word by word.

  “Impressive, you’ve already unlocked an uncommon stat,” Joseph noted, rubbing his chin in thought. He lacked a beard since Mariah was not fond of it.

  “That adventurer seemed to have spoken the truth then. You do have real potential for magic,” Mariah added, remembering that woman from years ago. She would have forgotten about it if not for her unusual eyes.

  “What about the skill?” Peter asked, hoping to glean some insight about their knowledge level. He didn’t want to blurt out something that a normal child wouldn’t be aware of.

  “Well… Mana Sense is not that rare of a skill by itself, to be fully frank with you, Pete. Almost everyone gets it one way or another in their life.” Joseph shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

  “It is still a boon, no? He has it from the beginning. Usually, people have to meditate for a few months before they can start feeling mana inside their bodies,” Mariah reasoned with her husband, trying to keep Peter from feeling disappointed.

  “Really?” Peter asked, expecting a study session to be incoming.

  “Your mother is right. I guess it's time we start giving you lessons on things like this now that you have your status unlocked.” Joseph hurriedly added, once Mariah gave her a death stare.

  Joseph continued, “We want you to unlock a few of your mental stats as soon as possible if we want to take advantage of your high mana pool.”

  “Okay, it’s decided then,” Joseph insisted, sweating a bit from the pressure. “Let us teach you a few important but basic things before we go and visit the church.”

  “Are you up for it, my boy?” Joseph asked, and Peter nodded, playing along.

  “Good. So, where do we begin? Hmm… Let’s talk about stats first.” Joseph said, putting on a serious face after running his brain a bit.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “I know three branches of stats: Physical, Mental, and Spirit. Make note of the fact that other branches exist besides these three main ones.” Every child was taught about stats once they were capable of understanding. Peter was a bit mature for his age, thus, Joseph didn’t see any reason not to tell him these things a bit early on.

  “Are you following along?” Joseph enquired, willing to explain it in an easier format if needed. Peter nodded to show that, yes, he was capable of understanding it.

  “Generally speaking, on the first awakening, people definitely unlock Constitution, Spirit, Strength, and Agility. Do you want to guess why?” Joseph wondered how much he was able to understand and decided to give him a test.

  “Umm, Constitution represents how healthy you are, Strength tells your physical might, and Agility shows how quick you are. Spirit… maybe tells how powerful your soul is?” Peter bashfully answered, feeling ashamed for cheating. He was a grown-up in a child's body.

  “A very good guess,” Mariah added from the side, feeling proud.

  “Indeed. You are right. Exceptional for your age. I’m a bit surprised that you didn’t unlock any mental skill, title, or additional skill. Quite the oddity.” Joseph honestly expected him to have at least one of those.

  “Regardless, let’s continue. Did you notice that these four stats are either very essential or easy to calculate?” Joseph asked, getting back to the topic at hand. In a way, it was good that he didn’t have any unusual skill or title.

  “Constitution and Spirit are crucial for any person or beast. One represents the body, and the other represents the soul. They are also linked to Health and Mana pools.” Both were the most important stats for a being.

  “Meanwhile, Strength and Agility are both physical stats and are routinely utilised. They are also easy to measure. Thus, these four are always unlocked from the start.” Joseph flexed his biceps, leaning forward, to hit the point across. Peter’s lips twitched, looking at the show-off.

  “Are we good so far, or do you want me to repeat any of it?” Joseph asked, smiling fondly at his son.

  “You seem to be enjoying this, my love,” Mariah giggled, relaxing on the side and watching their exchange. It was the first time she had seen this adorable side of her loving husband.

  “Well, I also want to spend time with my child and teach him things. Most of the time, I’m busy with my duties, so I’m glad I finally have an opportunity to guide him.” Joseph replied, cheeks turning a bit redder from her teasing.

  “I hope you don’t come to regret your decision later on. Our son is very curious and demanding.” Mariah interlocked her fingers with Joseph while bantering with him.

  “I understand. You can continue, Dad.” Peter nodded, studying his stats and popping their love bubble.

  “People need to meet certain requirements to unlock other stats. Like your Luck stat, I think no one else in the village has it besides you.” Joseph guessed, continuing the teaching session.

  “Do you know what it does?” Peter looked at both of his parents.

  “We don’t. Physical stats are the easiest to raise, you just need to train your body. Mental and spiritual stats also have their training exercises, though they’re much harder to raise.” Joseph shook his head, feeling helpless.

  Joseph sighed, “But luck…”

  “Luck is an unknown. The only way we know to raise it right now is by using free stat points, which the System rewards either for accomplishing feats or for raising class levels.” He shrugged.

  Peter didn’t have that option available for now.

  “You’ll get a class once you turn ten, and since we don’t know how useful Luck is as a stat, I’m not sure if you should spend your precious free stats on it instead of other attributes,” Joseph warned, despite knowing that there was plenty of time before he unlocked his class.

  “It’s a tricky situation. We can’t know how effective it is without increasing it somewhat, and we can’t afford to invest in it without knowing if it’ll be worth it for you.” Mariah sighed as well, lamenting his misfortune.

  “That’s why I’m jealous of nobles,” Joseph remarked, turning his palms into fists.

  “Why?” Peter asked, curious about them. His past life only had oligarchs, nobles were a thing of the past.

  “Because they likely have lots of books containing information about various kinds of skills, stats, and probably a few titles too. They keep all that information to themselves to always stay a few steps ahead of the general population,” Joseph explained, feeling sour in his mouth the more he talked about them.

  “Why are you explaining politics to our five-year-old child, dear? He’s too small to be worrying about things like that,” Mariah interjected. “What if he ends up repeating stuff like that to a visiting noble and offends them? Will you take responsibility?” She glared at him.

  “You’re right. I apologise. Listen to me, Pete. Try to stay away from nobles until you’re old enough not to say something that might make them hate you. Will you promise, Dad?” Joseph nodded, admitting his mistake. That was a slip of the tongue.

  “I promise,” Peter nodded, just to assure them.

  “Good. Let’s continue. Your mother will start teaching you calculation and morals from tomorrow, so you can quickly unlock your Intelligence stat,” Joseph said, after receiving a nod from his wife. Teaching academics was not his forte.

  “You’re too small to decide what path you want to choose in life. Having a high mana pool as well as Mana Sense unlocked from the start shows that you have potential for a combat-oriented class.” Joseph smiled, feeling more at ease while earning excited looks from his adorable son.

  “We’ll help you unlock a few stats that are important if you decide to choose a combat-oriented class when you get older. But you don’t have to, if you want to choose something else, that’s fine too.” Mariah added, worried for her precious child’s safety.

  “They would still be very useful. A scholar or a merchant requires a high Intelligence stat just as much as a mage, though for different reasons.” Mariah nudged him towards non-combat professions, speaking only the truth.

  “I’d refrain from telling you too much at once. Your mother can teach you all the finer details during your studies.” Joseph said, letting his son make his own choices once he grew more mature.

  “Let’s finish with a warning. Do not accept any skill the system says you can unlock. There’s a limit to how many skills a person can have.” He added, as an important afterthought.

  “For now, just understand that the number of skills a person can have depends on the strength of their soul. Generally, every 10 points in a stat allows a person to hold one extra skill.” It was not a perfect measurement, but it was very close.

  “So, make sure to consult with us before accepting any skill,” Joseph insisted, very seriously, staring right into his oceanic blue eyes.

  …

  Peter nodded, making it clear that he understood everything.

  “Good. You can go to your room and try to digest what you learned today, or play if you’d prefer that,” his father said, setting him down from the couch. “Let me help your mother with the dishes, and then we’ll go to the church to pray to the gods and have you registered.”

  Excusing himself, Peter headed to his room.

  It was simple, containing just a bed and a cabinet for his clothes and toys. The rest of the space was empty. His room didn’t have a window, there was always the possibility of some creature breaching it and getting inside. And it wasn’t just magical beasts that posed a threat; even a venomous snake could be deadly.

  Now alone, he had the opportunity to decide what to do next.

  Knowing that he could only have a limited number of skills made it even more important to choose carefully.

  At the moment, his Spirit stat sat at 278. Raising any of his stats would be significantly harder now that he had awakened. The reason he had been able to raise his Spirit to such a level likely had something to do with having a reincarnated soul.

  How much of a role that played, he wasn’t entirely sure. Not that it was something he needed to concern himself with. At the end of the day, it was a good thing.

  What mattered now was deciding which skills to add to his arsenal and prioritising them properly.

  Peter already had Mana Sense, IDE, and Status Camouflage. That left 24 open slots for now. However, he needed to keep one slot empty since his parents believed he had only 28 Spirit stats and had already unlocked Mana Sense.

  That meant he had 23 slots left to fill, and he needed to choose wisely.

  Picking an impractical skill at this stage wasn’t an option. To narrow it down, he set some criteria. The skill had to be useful both now and later in life, and needed to align with his existing skills. If he used a skill that didn’t appear on his fake status screen, others might become suspicious.

  If the skill was level-based, he had to be able to train it without drawing unwanted attention.

  A skill like Fireball was immediately ruled out. As much as the thought of throwing fireballs excited him, it was far too flashy and wouldn’t serve any real purpose right now. The village was close to a forest, but magical beasts never ventured out.

  With the garrison regularly patrolling the area, any threats, whether magical creatures or predatory animals, were swiftly dealt with.

  Telekinesis, on the other hand, would be extremely useful and much less conspicuous, but training it in secret would be difficult.

  Social skills like Silver Tongue, Poker Face, and Irresistible Charm were excellent choices, but not for the present. Nobles likely had those skills, but Peter didn’t need to rely on them anytime soon.

  Similarly, leadership abilities such as Tactician’s Aura and Inspiring Presence were powerful skills utilising Charisma, but not something he would need soon.