Over time, I got used to navigating the labyrinth. It wasn't just a confusing maze of rooms; it was more like an obstacle course designed to test my patience. Through a lot of trial and error, and with my new-found 'skills', I'd managed to map out the best route to the study.
During my labyrinth expeditions however, I'd come across several strange occurrences. If this were a game, I'd call them buffs and debuffs. Some were irritating while others were oddly beneficial.
Buffs like:
Enhanced Neuroplasticity (constant buff) - the affected user's neural pathways are extremely flexible meaning learning is much quicker than normal.
Care and Attention (conditional buff) - when adults see the affected user, they are forced to stop what they're doing and immediately give you love and affection.
Care and Attention was nice every now and then—especially from Silvia—but it was the Enhanced Neuroplasticity that really made a difference. My brain was essentially on overdrive, letting me learn things at a speed I'd never thought possible.
It seemed like the sudden influx of my previous knowledge, memories, and experiences into such an underdeveloped brain stimulated it to develop faster than usual in order to compensate. I suspected that the neuroplasticity would only really show its full effectiveness when I started my formal education.
And then there were the debuffs:
The Crying Curse (random debuff) - affected user bursts out crying whenever this debuff activates.
Shaky Legs (random debuff) - forces the affected user to collapse when trying to use the sitting or crawling skills.
Pee Body (random debuff) - the affected user will pee themselves whenever this debuff activates.
Anytime the debuffs procced it was an instant run ender. The worst thing was how they would often chain. Pee Body leading to Shaky Legs and eventually the Crying Curse... just thinking about it brings back awful memories. The worst memory being from 2 months ago.
At that time, all three debuffs procced at once and superman Glyffe had to pick me up, calm me down and change my pants. Thankfully that was a onetime thing. Since then, only at most two of the debuffs have procced at once.
Another thing I noticed is that my dad's name was not Glyve but Glyffe. My mini baby ears had misheard the 'v' sound and mistaken it for the 'ff' sound.
Surprisingly, I had accurately made out the name Silvia. If I had made it out wrong again and her real name was actually Silffia - then her name would be a little too reminiscent of a certain silent bodyguard elf.
I still hadn't gone outside just yet - my body was quite frail and I needed all the nurturing I could get. Usually, Silvia would stay home and take care of me while Glyffe went out, did the shopping, exercised and did whatever else he did. I couldn't know.
They rarely reversed the roles where Silvia went out and Glyffe stayed home though it did happen from time to time. Admittedly, that was my own fault, because I made such a scene whenever I was left with Glyffe.
It wasn't intentional - it was just the crying curse... Okay, maybe it was a little intentional. Glyffe was just so much less understanding and comforting than Silvia. Sometimes you don't want to be spun around and thrown in the air, you know?
Plus, it was just so easy to cry with this baby body. Like a genius child actor, I could flick a crying switch at any time. It wasn't hard to take advantage of that when I needed some attention.
As of late, Silvia had caught onto to my fake crying and would frequently exclaim "Reno, not again!" when she noticed. In that sense, maybe I'm not the genius actor I thought I was.
Reno. Reno Frostworth. That was my name in this new world. A nice sounding and fairly cool name if I do say so myself.
I still didn't know what I looked like in this world because, while I knew there was a mirror in the bathroom, I also knew I was still too small to reach it. It still wasn't time for my face reveal - not that I had any subscribers to appreciate it.
Something else I realised was that they were definitely speaking a foreign fantasy language. At least it was nothing like anything I'd ever heard on Earth. It also didn't help my baby ears still weren't very developed yet.
I'd managed to decipher quite a few words like "not, okay, dinner, come, ready, again" which was impressive considering the circumstances. Still a lot to work on in terms of language though.
During these nine months, I also came across my first big decision as a son. My first word.
Specifically last month, I was sat in our library, a book lay flat opposite me and I was reading away intently. Then, suddenly, I felt a familiar sweep and flew off the ground accompanied by a sweet voice.
"Reno dinner's ready," Silvia spoke jovially. She caught me off guard.
One second, I had been trying to decipher the words of the books from afar and the next moment Silvia's face was strangely close to mine. Being caught by surprise like this I let out a sudden cry.
"Mama."
Not my proudest moment calling a young woman that as a fifteen year old adolescent but a moment to take pride in as a 9 month year old baby. I had managed to say my first words and all it took was a moment of surprise. I did always know I was a mama's boy.
What I didn't expect, however, was Silvia's reaction. Her face froze in shock and her smile stiffened slightly. Her dazzling azure eyes glistened and small drops of water condensed deep in the corner of her eye.
Droplets of water fell slowly onto my navy-blue baby clothes as I watched Silvia cry for the first time in my life, her tears falling like raindrops. Then her face bloomed into an even wider, brighter smile, which only accentuated her beauty.
Unfortunately, Glyffe wasn't in the house at the time - probably shopping. After hearing what happened earlier, a strange situation unfolded where Glyffe started trying to get me to call him 'daddy'.
Now as shameless as I might be I wasn't that shameless. Unluckily for Glyffe I wasn't about to call a grown man daddy - my pride was still a little too much for that.
Glyffe was surprisingly persistent since learning I had said 'mama'. He would often pick me up randomly throughout the day and say, "Hi Reno, I'm your daddy! Can you say daddy?".
I shuddered internally at the thought but I couldn't let him know I was secretly a fifteen year old reincarnated into his son's body. I had to think of something fast.
Glyffe had begun to suspect me for always crying when he picked me up. He began routinely spinning me around in an attempt to get me to stop crying. To his surprise, it worked. And it worked really well.
I despised being spun like that. I might've loved roller coasters in my past life but being spun around like that left a very sour taste in my mouth. After a thorough, in-depth analysis, I determined a blow to my pride was the best case scenario here.
Eventually, I caved in under the pressure of being spun constantly – finally calling him papa a few weeks later. Glyffe couldn't contain his joy and spent the entire week laughing like a drunken fool. But that's a story for another time.
It was a blow to my pride but the concession was ultimately necessary - he was my dad in this world after all.
Like this I'd been getting closer to my new parents and adapting to life as a baby. And that's how I spent my first nine months since my reincarnation.
.
.
.
Some time had passed, and I was now two years old. Having grown physically, many of the challenges I faced nine months ago were a thing of the past. For instance, the random debuffs had finally worn off.
Take the dreaded Crying Curse, for example. I could control my tears, and mastery of my bladder was in sight. I guess you could say potty training was only a hop, skip and a flush away.
Bad jokes aside, it was a relief to feel more in control of my day-to-day activities. Having your body act unpredictably wasn't enjoyable - and I'm sure everyone would agree.
The most noticeable improvement, at least to me, was my leg strength. I had even unlocked a new skill: Walking. With this ability, I could now... well, walk. It's an ability most people take for granted, but I definitely wouldn't.
Being able to walk made my daily activities much easier; trips to the house library became smoother and took less meticulous planning.
Since I was able to access to it more often, I had now visited the library dozens of times. Having scanned through my fair share of the books within, I'd uncovered a frightening truth about a large portion of the books.
They were empty.
Yes, you heard me right - empty. Well, that isn't quite the full story. Less of empty and more of blank. Completely blank. It seemed like many of the books were there simply to provide paper for letters, maps or anything else.
Drawing in the blank books was surprisingly fun - much more than I would've expected. While it wasn't great for learning about the world around me, it was certainly enough to amuse me from time to time. I guess my age in this world affected the things I enjoyed too.
Among the heaps of books, a few stood out - the honoured ones you could say. Though I couldn't read this foreign language very well as of right now - I could tell those eleven books were bestsellers.
From the eleven books there was: eight fairy tales, one about civilization and another about other races.
The fairy tales spoke of mystical lands beyond imagination: great heroes embarking on epic quests, strange floating continents defying the law of gravity, and forgotten islands shrouded in the mists of time.
There were disappearing cities, breathing jungles pulsing with life, frost volcanoes erupting with bursts of icy fury and cursed citadels steeped in dark legends. These stories were so vivid they felt surreal, even to a seasoned fantasy light novel reader.
Even though I referred to them as fairy tales, each author insisted the stories were based on reality in some way. Truthfully though, that seemed so ridiculous, I considered them pure fiction.
The book about civilization featured detailed maps and portraits of the great kings of old. It delved deeply into our continent's ancestral history and how it shaped the world of today.
Comparatively, the book about other races differed. It outlined their race's continents and their ancient history and what that meant for humans as a race.
There was even a section on the unique traits and quirks of different races and how humans should interact with them if given the chance. Just in case of culture shock or something similar.
These books were a nice find as it just about confirmed my suspicions of this being another world. I mean normal earthlings wouldn't have books which were this detailed on fantasy races and ancient magical empires, right?
I couldn't be sure how to read a lot of the words in these but using the pictures was a good first step. Learning to read books in a completely foreign language was a tall task - so any bit of progress was worth celebrating.
I mentioned there were eleven books, but only described ten. That was intentional as the eleventh one was slightly special compared to the rest.
It was a grimoire.