The Georgia sun streamed through my bedroom window, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air. It was Day 1 after my "awakening." Day 1 of a 12,775-day countdown. I sat up in bed, staring at my small hands. The contrast between my adult mind—filled with cynicism and anxiety about the future—and this four-year-old body was almost unbearable.
But I couldn't make mistakes. I couldn't be a "child genius" who terrified his parents. I had to be "special," but not "anomalous."
[OVERCOMING SYSTEM] Notice: Past life compensation applied.
Academic and cultural knowledge detected.
Skill Unlocked: General Knowledge (Lvl 15)
Skill Unlocked: Languages: English (Native), Spanish (Basic - Lvl 4)
Note: Your INT of 15 allows these skills to remain stable despite your infant neurobiology.
"Step by step, William," I whispered to myself.
I headed downstairs and found Dad in the kitchen, drinking coffee before heading to the shop. Arthur was a block of granite in a flannel shirt. I walked up and tugged on his pant leg, putting on my best look of innocent curiosity.
"Daddy? How do you make the noisy truck get better?" I asked, pointing toward the garage.
He let out a raspy chuckle, lowering his newspaper. "You want to see how the engine works, Will? It's a bit dirty for a little guy."
"I want to help. I want my toys to get better too if they break."
Arthur took me to the workshop. The smell of grease, gasoline, and rusted metal hit me. It was the smell of survival. He sat me on a stool while he disassembled a carburetor.
"Look, Will. Everything has an order. If you take this screw out, you have to know where it was, or the engine will get angry."
I spent the morning "helping," passing small tools and asking "Why?" at every movement. My mind processed the information at a speed Arthur couldn't possibly imagine.
Skill Unlocked: Mechanics (Lvl 1) — Progress: 12%
Skill Unlocked: Engineering: Structures (Lvl 1) — Progress: 5%
After lunch, I sought out Mom. Elena was organizing her nursing bag. I sat beside her on the sofa, flipping through one of her medical anatomy books. The images of muscles and bones were fascinating under the new lens of the System.
"Mommy, why do people turn red when they fall down?" I asked, pointing to a circulation diagram.
She smiled, stroking my hair. "That's the blood working to fix the bump, honey. Look, I'll show you how to put on a bandage so the dirt doesn't get in."
She handed me a roll of clean gauze. I practiced on my teddy bear, mimicking her precise movements. While she explained things in simple terms, I connected the dots with my previous knowledge of biology.
Skill Unlocked: Medicine: First Aid (Lvl 2) — Progress: 45%
Skill Unlocked: Perception: Diagnosis (Lvl 1)
When bedtime arrived, my parents gave me a kiss and turned out the light. In the darkness, I could finally be myself.
System, open Subdimensional Storage, I thought.
A nearly invisible rift in the air appeared before me. I reached in and felt the absolute vacuum of that full cubic meter as if it were a part of my own body. For now, it was empty, but soon I would begin to fill it. A screw here, a can of food there... things no one would miss in 1975.
Tomorrow I would start with the books. I needed to learn languages: French (from what I remembered about clues regarding the virus's origin in France) and perhaps some wilderness survival.
I checked my stats. The 40-point limit felt like a distant mountain, but the silent training was already bearing fruit.
[CURRENT STATUS]
Strength (STR): 2.1 (Training with heavy tools)
Agility (AGI): 3.1
Endurance (END): 3.0
Intelligence (INT): 15
Perception (PER): 5.2 (Observation in the workshop)
"Thirty-five years," I murmured before closing my eyes. "When the world falls, I won't be hiding in a hospital like Rick Grimes. I'll be sitting on a throne of metal I built myself."
The darkness of my room wasn't a place for rest; it was my first specialized training ground. While my parents believed their "little Will" was sleeping peacefully, I was sitting in the center of the bed, legs crossed, forcing my infant biology to adapt.
I couldn't afford to only think about the living dead arriving in three decades. If I wanted to be the master of my destiny, I needed my senses to be perfect now. In school, on the street, in the workshop... information is power, and the senses are the antennas.
I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. Inhale, exhale.
I tried to filter out the sound of the cricket in the garden, then the hum of the fridge in the kitchen, until I reached the sound of my father's heartbeat in the next room.
[Notice: You have processed low-frequency auditory stimuli. Perception (PER) +0.1]
I practiced Touch with a small marble I pulled from under my pillow. With my eyes closed, I rolled it over each of my fingertips, trying to feel the microscopic imperfections in the glass.
Skill Unlocked: Perception: Fine Touch (Lvl 1)
I used Visualization to reconstruct every tool I saw in Dad's shop today in my mind. Where was the 10mm wrench? How many oil stains were on the floor? I forced my brain to render the image with precision.
[Your Intelligence (INT) stat facilitates retention. Perception (PER) +0.1]
Before exhaustion overcame me, I activated the Subdimensional Storage. The dark rift opened silently over my blankets.
System, space report, I thought.
[Capacity: 1 m3 — Occupied Space: 2%]
Items:
1 First Aid Manual (taken from the low shelf)
1 Old screwdriver
3 Chocolate bars (energy reserves)
I smiled. Tomorrow in the garden, I would start collecting smooth stones and metal scraps. Not for play, but to practice Throwing. If I could hit a can at ten meters with the strength of a child, imagine what I would do when my stats broke the limit.
I slumped back onto my pillow. My four-year-old body was exhausted, but my mind was vibrating. The system gave me one last summary before entering power-saving mode.
[ STATUS ]
STR: 2.1
AGI: 3.1
END: 3.2
INT: 15.0
PER: 5.5
Storage: 1 m3 (2% full)
"Tomorrow," I whispered. "Tomorrow I'll learn to listen to my parents' conversations from the other side of the wall. Information is the first line of defense."