The Reincarnation of Alysara. Chapter 6

AN1: Happy Halloween! Sorry, this took so long. I'm trying to work things out.

AN2: Got some editing suggestions? Suggest it on the Google Docs here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10yY5MrKF_rZGJ1DyOVcTqdKK7AqevhGIQb7dv2pPFFE/edit?usp=sharing

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“Lá xk eso,” Mom says, holding me in her lap.

“Lá sk Eswo,” I repeat.

Ever since I spoke my first actual word, Mom has been trying to teach me words and phrases. Today, I am being taught how to pronounce the greeting, although it is different from what everyone else says. I think this is the formal way, but everyone says “Láeso” instead because it’s easier to omit the ‘xk’.

“Xk eso,” Mom corrects me.

“Sk eswo,” I parrot back.

Speaking is surprisingly hard.

The first word I was taught was “Mom͞árá” which means “parent”. The second word I was taught was Mom͟árá. That confused me because I had just learned that word, right? Nope, it means “child”.

Apparently, this is a pitch-accented language, meaning that variations in pitch can be used to express more or less of something, depending on the context. For example, “O” means light, but “O̅” means bright light. In the case of “Momárá”, one means parent, while the other means child. This is because the “má”, which means something along the lines of ‘succession’, is being pitch accented high for ‘parent’ and low for ‘child’. However, it could also mean ‘another one’ if you are asking for more of something.

I fruitlessly continue my speaking lessons for another hour before my throat starts getting tired.

Noticing my voice getting raspy, Mom stops and sets me aside before patting my head and praising me. She then gives me my plush doll before standing up and going to her work room. I toss the doll aside, disinterested—my tail is softer anyway. 

Instead, I practice [Sense Mana Quantity] Skill by trying to make the fuzzy shapes around me clearer. 

I grab my rattle and rub my hands over it, feeling its shape and focusing my mana sense on it, trying my best to make out the slight difference of mana between the rattle and air. However, it seems that the air here is either very close to what is naturally in objects, or mana seeps into objects until it matches the ambient mana. 

Feeling frustrated, I put down the rattle and unfocus my attention in the mana sense’s equivalent of staring into space. And that’s when I notice. The mana in the air is slowly drifting around. 

I lift up the rattle again, my attention back on it. Sure enough, the mana in it is stagnant.

2nd Breakthrough: You've learned to differentiate mana in objects from ambient mana, letting you see the general shapes of objects around you.

Sense Mana sense has reached levels 13-16.

Ting! Sense Mana Quantity has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling to level 30.

Joy bubbles up in me as I finally figure out how to sense objects! Now I won’t have to bump my head into things, Yay!

The last time I got a breakthrough was several days ago when I was in the presence of that super scary monster, I gained a new breakthrough in [Mana Toxicity Tolerance].

1ˢᵗ Breakthrough: You’ve survived the presence of a powerful being, letting you resist their mana.

I don’t know what that monster was, but Mom and Dad were speaking to it, so I’m guessing it is not hostile. Whatever the case, I really don’t want to meet it again! It was so scary!

After ruminating on my gains for a bit longer, I went back into working on my [Sense Mana Quantity]. Although the breakthrough is helpful—it’s still far from enough! However, after about an hour, I grew bored and start exploring the house. We recently moved out of the tiny hut we lived in previously and into a proper house. I also finally have the freedom to explore and not just lay in my crib!

“Alysárá! Fa! Faun!” Mom calls out to me as I crawl toward the weird, jagged slope in the house. Mom quickly rushes over and picks me up to rescue me from endangering myself. 

“Fa” means to stop or cease. I don’t know what “Un” means, but given the context, I’m guessing either “danger” or “immediately.”

“Edich tl moku?” Mom sighs as I struggle to try to get free from her.

Freedom, my precious freedom!

Mom walks me into a room I recognize as the bedroom when my crib enters my mana sensing field.

Nooo! Don’t put me back in that prison!

I struggle even more frantically, but luckily, she sets me down on the floor next to it. She then grabs the crib and begins pushing it toward the room’s doorway. Interestingly, this building doesn’t have any doors aside from the main entrance. Instead, the rooms are sectioned off using curtains.

Wait… Mom is going to block the door, so I can’t get out! I must stop her!

I can’t outcrawl Mom’s walking speed so there’s only one thing I can use—the secret technique passed down through the inherited memory of all babies!

“Momáwá,” I say as I try to hug Mom’s leg. I pronounced “Mom͞árá” wrong because Rs are still hard to do, but it has the fortunate side effect of being cuter. Which must have given me the extra oomph that I needed as I hear chimes ring in my head.

You have gained the Charm skill (adept)!

Charm: You have used words or actions to change someone’s course of action significantly. This skill will help you charm people more easily.

Charm has reached level 2!

Bingo!

Mom sighs, picking me up and placing me in her lap as she sits down on the bed. She strokes my head and scratches behind my ears, making me purr involuntarily. Mom starts humming a lullaby to me, thinking that I want her attention.

We sit there for a few minutes as Mom’s hypnotic humming seems to make me sleepy. After the song, she puts me down on the pillows before picking up the crib and walks over to the door curtain to lock me in the room.

Eh… Wait a minute… I’ve been tricked! I crawl as fast as my little arms and legs can, but I get tied up in the loose blanket.

“Mom͞árá tl eddiun.” Mom says matter-of-factly.

More new words and syllables I don’t yet know—all I understood was “Mom something.” What was she doing before? She was at a desk, making some noise. She sits at that spot doing whatever she does for long periods of time. The only things I can think of are work and some sort of craftsmanship hobby, seeing as it’s before the after-work bath. In conclusion, I think Mom said something along the lines of “Mommy has to go work”, given the context.

Welp, I’m too small to break free, so I have to explore in this room. I climb down from the bed, dropping the pillows on the floor so I can land safely, then spend the next couple of hours trying to sure my boredom. I hit my rattle on objects, but I quickly got bored of that, so I start attempting to walk on my unstable legs. 

I quickly discovered how well my long tail makes me fall on my bottom. It's hard enough to find a good balance when the sheer length of my tail makes it very easy to overcorrect. And yes, my tail is definitely much longer than others. With recent growth in mana-sensing abilities, I can sense myself, and my body-to-tail proportion is different from that of other people.

Suddenly, a squeal of delight sounds from the direction of the door. My [Sense Mana] doesn’t fully reach across the room, but I can guess Mom saw me trying to walk.

“Momáwá?” I call out. Is it time for an after-work bath already? 

I hear a thud as Mom pushes the crib out of her way, and she rushes to my side. Against my expectations, she holds my hand instead of picking me up.

Ah, I see. She wants to help me learn how to walk.

We spend the next several minutes walking. I’m glad I no longer have to fall, with Mom supporting me.

My other “Mom͞árá”, my dad, comes home, calling out to Mom.

“Ij!” Mom replies. “Aly tl wá!”

I may not know what “tl” and “wá” means, but Mom definitely said I was walking or learning to walk.

Dad runs upstairs, exclaiming, “Aly tl wá!?” he joins Mom's side, watching me.

Mom and Dad continue to help me learn the surprisingly difficult act of walking but after several more minutes of walking, Mom and Dad takes me to the after-work bath. Since we’re late, most people are done by now, but there are a few other late people too. After the baths, we go home where I get another lesson in speaking. 

The next day after work and an hour after walking practice, that goes a lot smoother than yesterday; Dad is trying to teach me new words. While he means well, simply saying words to me without context doesn’t help much.

“Fyda,” He waits for me to respond, but I just furrow my brow.

“Fyda,” He makes a motion with his hands, but I just look confused.

Dad sighs and mutters, “Xo̤ic̤ Aly tl t͟á?”

That “tl” appears a lot, like in most sentences. Yet, I can’t really figure out what it means.

“Aly tl t͟á?”

Dad brightens at my question and smiles. He nods at me, says another sentence, and looks expectantly at me.

Dad, please don’t change the subject.

“Aly tl t͟á?” I ask again and tilt my head for cuteness power.

“Dawww!” Dad embraces me in a crushing hug as I struggle to get free. 

The moment he loosens his grip, I gasp for air. I could have died there. Who knew being so cute could be so scary? Taking this moment to heart, I sent a silent prayer to Myrou and vow never to use my overwhelming cuteness for the sake of evil.

“Aly tl t͟á?” I ask yet again after I calm down.

Dad thinks for a few moments.

“Aly,” he says, after touching me with a finger.

I got that pretty easy, Dad. I don’t know what the other words are.

“Tá,” Dad says, still touching me. Then he takes my hand to touch him “Tá̤”

Hmm, something I am that Dad is not... Is he calling me short?! Well, it’s not wrong.

“Tl?” I ask.

Dad thinks for a little more before answering.

“Aly tl tà,” He says, then he touches my hair. “Te tl shy.”

Wait, I know “Teshy” refers to my hair, and my hair is blue; the common word structure is subject matter first, which would be hair, so it means “hair blue.” Splitting the word, Te is “hair,” and “shy” is blue. “tl” probably connects two words; in other words, “Te tl shy” means “hair is blue.” Aly is my nickname, and “Ta” probably refers to me being short, so “Aly tl ta” means “Little Aly.”

Makes a lot of sense in hindsight

After our speech lesson, Dad plays with me for a little bit before needing to make dinner. After that, we attend the Lojyo, the party the village attends every night, with Mom holding me.

People are dancing and socializing for some time, according to my limited mana sense, then some people we all gather around a spot where people show off something they made—one person even plays a very beautiful song. Then Mom hands me off to Dad, and she shows off what she’s been working on.

It’s hard to tell how good it is with my mana sense as limited as it is. Shapes are still fuzzy to me and detail is completely lost to my ‘vision’; I can’t even differentiate materials by color as there is no color for me to sense. What I can sense, though, is the abundant mana in the jewelry. It’s clear as day to me, but what I notice is that it seems almost like the mana in the gem is different from the mana in the metal.

I have to wonder, are there different types of mana? I mean, it literally appears so to my senses. Maybe if I train my [Sense Mana Quality] to differentiate the mana, I’d be able to see specific items and even people? Right now, everything looks like silhouettes to me and I miss being able to see detail.

I focus on the mana in the gem and the metal around it. Trying to make sense of their difference.

Eventually, Mom walks away to let the next person have their spotlight, but instead of returning to me, she goes off somewhere else outside of my sensing range and consequently removing the object of my study. I sigh and tilt my head downward, letting the focus of my mana sense wander. That’s when I notice a peculiarity—the earth beneath us has the same mana that was in the gem. A differing amount, sure, and with some others, but it’s majorly the same type.

Earth mana?

I focus specifically on the earth mana, and suddenly, the world gains color as chimes ring in my mind.

Sense Mana sense has reached levels 17-19.

Ting! Sense Mana Quantity has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling to level 40.

3ʳᵈ Breakthrough: You have learned to see different types of mana, letting you sense elemental mana.

Sense Mana Quantity (Minor) has Ascended to Sense Mana Elements (Adept)!

Sense Mana

Total Levels: 19
Base Skill Description: You have opened your mind to one of the energies that fuels this world. You can now sense mana in its raw form.
Base Skill levels: 7
Action
First use: x
Frequent use: x
Extended use: x
Large quantity at once: x
Mastery: 
Knowledge
Simple: x
Basic: x
Knowledgeable: x
Advanced: 
Mastery:

1st Breakthrough Description: You have sensed an overwhelming pressure of mana, letting you sense mana in high quantities and better see slight differences in mana quantity.
1st Breakthrough levels: 6
Action
First use: x
Frequent use: x
Extended use: x
Large quantity at once: 
Mastery: 
Knowledge
Simple: x
Basic: x
Knowledgeable: x
Advanced: 
Mastery: 

2nd Breakthrough Description: You've learned to differentiate mana in objects from ambient mana, letting you see the general shapes of objects around you.
2nd Breakthrough levels: 3
Action
First use: x
Frequent use: 
Extended use: 
Large quantity at once: x
Mastery: 
Knowledge
Simple: x
Basic: 
Knowledgeable: 
Advanced: 
Mastery: 

3rd Breakthrough Description: You have learned to see different types of mana, letting you see elemental mana.
3rd Breakthrough levels: 3
Action
First use: x
Frequent use: 
Extended use: 
Large quantity at once: x
Mastery: 
Knowledge
Simple: x
Basic: 
Knowledgeable: 
Advanced: 
Mastery:

Pain Tolerance
Total Levels: 13
Base Skill Description: You have been subjected to great pain; this will help you tolerate such pain again.
Base skill levels: 9
Action
First use: x
Frequent use: x
Extended use: x
Large quantity at once: x
Mastery: 
Knowledge
Simple: x
Basic: x
Knowledgeable: x
Advanced: x
Mastery: x

1st Breakthrough Description: You felt soul retaliation; this will help you tolerate the retaliation pain
1st Breakthrough levels: 2
Action
First use: x
Frequent use: 
Extended use: 
Large quantity at once: 
Mastery: 
Knowledge
Simple: x
Basic: 
Knowledgeable: 
Advanced: 
Mastery: 

2nd Breakthrough Description: You have felt magical pain. This will help you ignore magical pain.
2nd Breakthrough levels: 2
Action 
First use: x
Frequent use: 
Extended use: 
Large quantity at once: 
Mastery: 
Knowledge
Simple: x
Basic: 
Knowledgeable: 
Advanced: 
Mastery: 

Mana Toxicity Tolerance
Total Levels: 6
Base Skill Description: You’ve been exposed to high amounts of mana density leading to a build-up of mana, poisoning you. This skill will help you tolerate mana poisoning.
Base skill levels: 3
Action
First use: x
Frequent use: 
Extended use: 
Large quantity at once: x
Mastery: 
Knowledge
Simple: x
Basic: 
Knowledgeable: 
Advanced: 
Mastery:

1st Breakthrough Description: You’ve survived the presence of a powerful being, letting you and resist their mana.
1st Breakthrough levels: 3
Action
First use: x
Frequent use: 
Extended use: 
Large quantity at once: x
Mastery: 
Knowledge
Simple: x
Basic: 
Knowledgeable: 
Advanced: 
Mastery:

Charm
Total Levels:
Base Skill Description: You have used words or actions to change someone’s course of action significantly. This skill will help you charm people more easily.
Base skill levels:  2
Action
First use: x
Frequent use: 
Extended use: 
Large quantity at once: 
Mastery: 
Knowledge
Simple: x
Basic: 
Knowledgeable: 
Advanced: 
Mastery: