Daily Short: Sleeper 03

Being reborn was not the adventure Thomas had been expecting. It had become quite clear during his nine-month imprisonment in the darkness why people feared it. It was a base instinct built into their existence from birth. He had wanted to practice magic, but the System didn’t unlock this world until after an individual was born. In Thomas's opinion, it was to prevent errors that could pave the way for Demons—a rather intelligent safeguard.

Would people look at someone so skilled from birth with awe? Thomas thought as he floated. No, they would look with jealousy and hatred instead. Humans aren’t so benevolent; any slum would teach you that.

The ordeal of birth was something Thomas let fade from his mind. Swaddled in warm clothing with a loving mother attending to his needs was a good fate. Hood had explained that he needed time to acclimate. According to the shady figure, the world’s System slowly registered an individual’s mana. Finally, the System became available after a decade when the mana signature was locked in.

Practicing magic has to wait until I’m five. So Thomas thought, remembering the information. Before then, the mana circuits in a body are in a state of flux. Using mana earlier than five years old carried inherent risks that Thomas wanted nothing to do with.

That wasn’t to say there was nothing he could do at all. Thomas knew that magic here was based around the runic circles carved into the brain. Unfortunately, he'd been contaminated due to his soul passing through the outer membrane that protected this world. Purifying the bits of contamination would allow him to build a rune for Earth. The more layers the rune had, the more efficient his magic would become in this new world.

Thomas focused on his inner world after each feeding. It took several weeks before he stopped falling asleep and finally managed to meditate. Building the rune was a rather fun process, much like carving. Thomas put his hobby of making miniature sculptures before he became a bandit to use. The blade to carve was mental power. Combining the bits of world stuff into a scrunched ball allowed him to get to work.

Life wasn’t fascinating except for carving his Earth rune. As a baby, he ate, shat, and slept, not always in that order. In his opinion, people who wanted to return to their past hadn’t thought it through very well. They wanted to return and live this almost insanity-inducing boredom again, thus were cracked in the head.

One full year of detailed carving finally created a lump that could generously be called a brick in Thomas’s mind. From here, the trick was to keep as much of the bump intact while carving the actual rune. The larger the rune, the more capacity it could handle.

More significant wasn’t always better, though.

It took far longer to upgrade a large rune than a small one. For most people, that wasn’t something they could afford. Water in present fields beats water in distant lands. It was a trade-off that most people made. Thomas didn’t have to make such a trade as his family was highly well-to-do merchants.

First, finish the rune. Then start attuning. Thomas thought through half-lidded eyes. After that, keep seeping the rune in earth mana until the System unlocks.

It was only a matter of time now, in his opinion.