Chapter 12: Chapter 11: Sometimes you need a little magic

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."

Roald Dahl

I always believed in magic and now I've found it.

Somedays it is easy to forget who I was and only focus on the here and now. But as I start to stock the library in my mind fortress I reflect on all the books I've read. My Recall skill is working overtime as I struggle to remember all the books I've enjoyed reading as well as all the ones I've used to teach others.

Certain authors spring to mind quicker, the children books filled with rhythm and rhyme coming the quickest. While the huge novels of high fantasy and science fiction are far beyond the level my Recall skill can reach. Yet still I'm hopefull that one day they will be mine again. For now I begin to fill my shelves with the shortest books I can remember. One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.

My illustrastions aren't the best but with time they will improve and time seems to be all that I have at the moment. That and my mind.

My Mind Fortress skill is fantastic. It might have taken 100 days of isolation to build it, or hit the requirements for it but the skill will be with me for the rest of my life.

I might be reborn.

I might be inhuman.

I might be born at either the dawn or sunset of a civilisation.

But . . . I will in time be able to bring part of my own world with me. Even if it only ever exists in my head.

I've started to add more detail to my spartan fortress.

Room 1A now has a Mariners Windrose Compass ingraved on the floor. I was always a fan of the their names. Tramontana for the Northern point and Greco for the north east. Levante to the East and Scirocco for the South East. Ostro for the South and Libeccio to the South West. Ponente for the West and finally Maestro for the North West.

I've also added a constellation or two to the ceiling Aquarius and Aquila. Leo and Orion as well as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Maybe when my mind stat increases and I can handle building more rooms to my fortress I can make my own planetarium. I wonder what the night sky looks like wherever it is I am.

The self portraits are still a work in progress. Art was never one of my strengths but again with time maybe this life I will be able to make better progress.

I have tried to move my Stats on the central wall from which this all spirals to reorganise them but I have yet to be successful. However, with my Time sense surprisingly hitting (Lv 10) this week and I was able to add some extra detail to my age. I am unsure if this happened because I have created a clock for each of my rooms within my mind fortress or for some other reason as I had thought that it would take me a full 64 days to reach what I thought would be the final (Lv 10) in Time Sense.

Now I am unsure if there are other tricks to levelling skills or even if (Lv 10) is not the cap for a skill after all. Although it took the full 32 days to level up my other skills to reach (Lv 9) so not convinced either way yet.

Today I will have been aware for 4 months, 2 weeks, 6 days and 20 hours. Assuming my baby brain was well enough formed to cope with an adult consciousness just before midway through a normal human pregnancy I believe I have up to 1 month and 2 weeks left to my delivery day. Again assumption being the mother of all failures I won't be pinning my hopes or plans on it.

If consciousness magically began at the day of conception I could have as many as 5 months 2 weeks left, and in a world with magical stats anything is possible. Alternatively if I did not drift into consciouness midway but later, then tomorrow is entirely possible too. Hoping for the best preparing for the worst.

But how do you plan for being reborn?

I'm not quite sure.

Still looking once more at the Stats I'm so proud of I have two major concerns.

My first concern is my rather lopsided set of stats I have managed to build up in here. Restricted by my location I have focused on the mental skills and physical senses that I could use, test and practice. Apart from my Mind stat which was 44 times higher than anything else at the conception of my consciousness. This seems to have helped my Senses, Clarity and Magic grow twice as quickly as physical stats of Vitality, Endurance, Strength and Dexterity.

Will this restrict my physical growth once I am born or put me at a disadvantage? Should I see if I can somehow raise my physical stats to reflect similar levels of my mental stats and how would I go about doing that?

My second concern is that does this mean that a typical baby would be born with stats ranging between 8 and 12? If so, will they, my parents, relatives, society in general be able to tell? Is there someway I can hide the mental progress I have made in here?

I can hide my senses by pretending not to hear or feigning incomprehension which won't be too hard as I still can't understand what they are saying. I don't see how they could see what my mind stat is at but maybe I can thicken the wall of my mind fortress somehow. Again I don't see how they could see my clarity sense, but who knows?

It is my Magic stat that worries me the most as not only is it over double my physical stats it is also responsible for my Mana pool. Something I believe they will be able to sense, if they haven't already, when I am born.

You see when I use my echolocation to sense the world around me I am able to see their positions and size. Furthermore this week to my delight I have discovered that this world really is full of magical things. Patiently waiting for my senses to grow sharper I am now able to see past the glow of my mother's mana that still surrounds me and when I add this sense to the picture I get from echolocation I can gain a sense of their strength in magic. If I can see their pools of mana, won't they be able to see mine?

That is my worry.

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It might be best not to stand out too much till I know the consequences.

That ship might have already sailed with the progress I have been making so far in here. But I don't think I could have done any less and stayed sane. Keeping busy has kept my mind occupied and apart from the odd day or two, free from doubt and depression.

There is nothing I can do regarding my phyical stats and their progression. So I am left wondering how can I hide my magic.

I think the answer will be to double down on practicing it.

If I can lower my mana by expelling it, using it, compressing it, hiding it somehow then I can pretend to be a normal baby at least until I can finally work out what everybody is saying outside.

I've continued to try and work out what they are saying but other than translating 'Ow' from when I've accidentally kicked or stretched, which is 'Aiy' by the way, I've yet to make much progress on it.

Still with hopefully 2 months left I can find some way to hide my mana pool.

Looking at my stats once more before leaving my mind fortress I am happy with the consolidation I have made in my skills levels over the last month. I might not have made it all the way to Level 8 overall but the filling of my library with songs and simple books has continued to give me origin experience and the skills were always going to take longer and longer to level up.

That said it is the longest I have gone without getting a new skill and all the more reason to see if I can't get another focused on using my magic somehow.

Stepping outside of my mind I return to the inside of my mother's womb. It is certainly getting tighter in here, it is hard not to panic as I get used to the pressure again. I had forgotten what it felt like whilst wrapped in my own mind. I try to fall asleep in the real world as the first time I fell asleep in my meditation room it was incredibly disorientating to wake up back in the womb with all the physical senses returned.

I think it was the first time I truly panicked in here. The change too abrupt for me to remember where I was. It was the certainly the eureka moment for working out that Ai meant Ow. I try now not to fall asleep in my mind fortress, as without conscious thought the skill ends and I return to my physical body.

Anyway I'm tired mentally and physically.

Growing this much takes a lot out of me. I might not be doubling in size every week now but I'm still growing a lot.

Maybe next time I'm in my mind fortress I could add a count down clock to my rooms.

Approx. 40 days to D day

Tired.

Orange . . . glow.

Close . . . eyes.

Sleep

Level: 7 Experience: 12,100/25,600 Age: 4 months 2 weeks 6 days 20 hours

Health: 140/140 Stamina: 107/107 Mana 180/180

Vitality: 14
Endurance: 9
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 9
Senses: 24
Mind: 82
Clarity: 18
Magic: 18

Free Points: 70

Skills: Time sense (LV 10) Listening (LV 9) Meditation (LV 9) Sense Mana (LV 9) Swimming (LV 6) Eavesdrop (LV 9) Memorisation (LV 9) Echolocation (LV 9) Recall (Lv9) Composition (Lv 7) Mind fortress (Lv 5)

Skill experience: 3000
Origin experience: 8000

Can I make it to level 10 before I'm born?

 

If you want to keep reading further I have posted up to Chapter 20 on  and up to Chapter 25 on  but I am in the process of editing and posting them up here now as well. Hope you have enjoyed so far. If you have time and energy I'm hoping you might give me a 5 star rating on Scribblehub and Royal Road as well as favourite and follow on both sites. Thanks for your support. Notlimah

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