The Runesmith

Roland kept looking at the status window, he was someone versed in computers so he knew what those meant.

ʼAm I stuck in some kind of game world? Did someone put me into virtual reality?ʼ

He pinched himself to see if he was feeling any pain and to no surprise he did.

ʼDid I really die... is this the afterlife...ʼ

He was shocked, not too long ago he was tinkering in the computer repair shop and now he woke up in a young boyʼs body. He even knew who this child was as he regained all of his memories and what the child knew about this world. The place he was in was called the Kingdom of Caldris and he was the 4th son from the house of Arden. His new father was a Baron and he was the youngest son, besides that he even had two sisters one being younger than him.

ʼThis kid... his family doesnʼt really think much of him, does it?ʼ

He looked at the shabby room he was in. He knew from his memories that he wasnʼt really in contention for the noble title of this house. This ʼhonorʼ belonged to the firstborn, maybe the second-born still had a shot at it if he was especially talented. But he was only the 4th in line, unless all of his brothers died he had no chance.

He wasnʼt sure what this boyʼs fate would be in the eyes of his family. He was too young to know how the political structure in this world worked. He only knew that he was the son of a noble, so it was probably still better than being a commoner.

ʼI should be safe here for the time... not sure what the age of adulthood in this world is, but the bigger question is...ʼ

He looked to the hovering window in front of his face, it looked like some kind of status screen of an RPG character. It had things like strength and endurance, just like in games that he used to play. Most of his stats were low, but some of them stood out.

ʼMy intelligence is quite high, so is my willpower and dexterity. Arenʼt the first two mage stats?ʼ

He needed more information first, he needed to figure this status screen out. This was something that the people leaving in this world saw as natural, the boyʼs memories reflected that as he could recall him using it.

ʼOkay, I need to think status and it should show up...ʼ

He strained his thoughts, the game-like screen appearing in front of him again. He could see all of his main stats, if he guided his gaze to the desired option he could even get some flavor text to give him an explanation.

Name:ExplanationStrength:Indicates the physical power of an individual, increases attack damage, and stamina slightly.Agility:Indicates how agile and nimble a person is, increases speed, quickness, and stamina slightly.Dexterity:Indicates skill in performing tasks, especially with the hands, increases attack damage with finesse weapons and attack speed.Vitality:Increases health points, defense, physical resistances, and the life span of an individual. Endurance:Increases an individualʼs stamina, stamina regeneration, and health points slightly.Intelligence:Increases an individualʼs mana points, magic attack, and learning speed.Willpower:Increases an individualʼs resistance to elemental attacks, status effects, and mana points slightly.Charisma:Indicates an individualʼs charm. A measure of personality, persuasiveness, leadership.Luck:Increases the chance or critical attacks and other various skills related to chance.
He started reading the short explanations for the attributes and looked at his own to see what he was good and bad at. Most of his stats were quite low but some were uncharacteristically high compared to the others. For one, his intelligence stat was really high at a whopping 35. Followed by willpower at 18 and then dexterity at 15.

ʼIntelligence increases my mana and magic attack... am I a mage or something? Iʼm resistant to status effect and good with my hands?ʼ

Besides those three everything else was below ten, he had no idea how the stats of an average personʼs in this world looked like. He tried recalling something from the memories that he got from this child, but there was nothing concerning this.

The boy left a boring life without anyone really telling him anything. This was due to how low his social standing was in this family, he was the lowly 4th son and he wasnʼt even the child of the main wife but came from a mistress that wasnʼt even allowed to live together with him at this estate. He tried recalling how the boyʼs mothered looked, a face or even the shape but he couldnʼt.

ʼDonʼt think he ever saw his mother...ʼ

He tried thinking about what kind of world he was in now. There was a window in his room, but he was still feeling sickly. By the looks of the doctor and the maid he was somewhere where the technological advancement wasnʼt that great.

ʼGreat... how am I supposed to live without the internet now?ʼ

He became dejected, all those shows and movies that he was eagerly waiting to devour in his free time were all gone now. What was he even supposed to do here, go to school like a normal kid and then become some kind of court official?

ʼIs that even an option? My status is fairly low... wonʼt they just toss me out, or tell me to go join the army or something?ʼ

He wasnʼt sure how things worked, from his internet knowledge he knew that noble sons sometimes became servants of higher nobles. Some were even forced to join the clergy to become a monk.

ʼUgh, I donʼt want to shave my head... or be forced to take some vows...ʼ

He moved his attention back to his status, did it always look like this. He tried recalling the memories of the boy that had previously looked at his own attributes.

ʼIʼm sure those three stats were lower... though his intelligence was above 10 from the start...ʼ

He had somehow influenced these stats but what was the reason? He decided to investigate and looked at his status screen again.

ʼWhat is that... there is a skill menu...ʼ

He willed the skill menu to open, with some mental gymnastics he managed to bring out the window, this one showed him all the skills and traits that he had.

NameTypeDescriptionDebugger L 5Passive SkillAllows the user to find and resolve defects. Bonus to Intelligence +5.Logical ThinkerTraitA person with this trait thinks calmly, can analyze the problem and come to a rational conclusion. Receives a bonus to Intelligence +5 and willpower +5.Circuitry L 6Passive SkillBonus to repair and creation of circuits or circuit equivalents. Bonus to Dexterity +6 and +6 intelligence.Fast Learning TraitPeople with this trait absorb knowledge at an increased rate.Bonus to Intelligence +5. Knowledge RetentionTraitA person with this trait is able to retain more information and at a faster rate.Bonus to Intelligence +3 and willpower +5.Sleep Resistance L 4Passive SkillYou require less sleep and feel less tired.Tinkerer L 5Passive Skill
Increased proficiency in the creation and repair of various components.Bonus to Dexterity 5.

Identify L 1Passive Skill
Used for identifying and analyzing the world.

Mana Sense L 1Passive Skill
Allows you to sense mana.

Rolandʼs eyes went wide, he didnʼt expect to find so many various skills in there. He knew that most of those werenʼt in here before, this also explained why he had an increase in stats.

ʼMost of those passive skills and traits increase my intelligence, willpower, and dexterity...ʼ

The traits and skills that were there before he got here were: Fast Learning, Knowledge Retention, Identify and Mana Sense. He could also recall that this kid read a lot of books in his past time. Though that probably had to do with the fact that there was nothing else for him to do besides that.

ʼThose nights I spend playing games must count for that sleep resistance passive...ʼ

ʼOkay, so why am I here, did I overwrite this brats brain or did he die and then my soul jumped in, or something?ʼ

He tried recalling why the boy was sick, the moment he did he got a slight headache. He recalled that the boy was trying to do something, he managed to see some kind of glowing mist in the air and he tried to somehow absorb it into his body?

ʼThen something went wrong and he got sick. Didnʼt that doctor say something about my status already recovering?ʼ

He looked at his status screen again, the moment he thought about it the window expanded and showed him a new part.

Roland ArdenHP 40/52MP 492/492SP 35/67Status Effects: ???? Sickness ( Recovering)
ʼ???? Sickness?ʼ

ʼWhy are there question marks there... do you need some kind of knowledge to see what it actually is?ʼ

He squinted and concentrated on the question marks, but nothing changed. He did have some kind of identification skill, but maybe it wasnʼt high enough being only at L 1.

ʼWell he got sick after that glowing mist entered his body...ʼ

ʼDoes it have something to do with that mana sense skill... I sure have a huge amount of MP compared to everything else.ʼ

This was a really odd situation to be in, he thought of what happened that night. Two murder trucks turned him into a bloody pancake and now he ended up in someplace with a game system. From the kidʼs memories he was sure that he wasnʼt the only one with this system, everyone had it with them since birth. The rest was unclear as no one really explained much to this child, this was probably also why he suffered some kind of backlash from absorbing that glowing mist.

While he was at it he looked at his stats and then compared the bonuses from the passive skills that he was receiving. Most of his intelligence came from his passives and traits, if he removed them all then he would end up with 11.

ʼStill over 10, though is that even a lot for a 5-year old?ʼ

ʼStill with those two traits that he had it would put his int at 19... maybe his weak body couldnʼt handle the excess mana?ʼ

He started doing some mathematics in his brain, trying to count how much his stats affected his HP and MP. It didnʼt take him too long to figure out that he gained 10 MP for every 1 intelligence, and 4 MP for every point in willpower. The surprising thing came afterwards as after he was done with his calculations.

You have learned the Basic Mathematics Skill.
”What?”

The sounds belonged to a woman and she sounded quite gentle. He looked around to see if someone came into this room, but there was no one to be seen.

ʼSo, Iʼve gained a new skill...ʼ

He checked the description, but it didnʼt say much besides it being an indicator that he knew mathematics, it didnʼt even increase his intelligence stat at all.

ʼGuess you donʼt get stat bonuses for every skill?ʼ

He had no reference point, the boyʼs memories didnʼt answer many questions about these skills. The identify skill was something that apparently showed up after time passes, maybe it was something everyone had? He really needed more information about his situation, but he was only a five-year-old child that wasnʼt taken seriously around here.

ʼMaybe that maid will answer some questions?ʼ

He thought back to the old lady that showed concern when tending to him. Her name was Martha and from the looks of things, she was the only person that tended to the young boyʼs needs. He had a vivid image in his mind of the woman bringing him food, helping him put on clothes, or cleaning around the room that he spent the most time in.

He remembered something, there was a certain book that the youth was reading before succumbing to the sickness. In the corner, there was a large desk with a chair. Some old cushions were placed there by the maid so that the boy didnʼt feel uncomfortable while reading. There was a pile of books there and one, in particular, was the one he was interested in.

ʼThink I feel better now, should be able to move...ʼ

He wasnʼt sure if it was due to his willpower stat that supposedly helped with status effects but he was feeling better with each passing moment. He wiggled down his bed and moved over to the desk which had the book in question.

”The basics of magic...”

”So, he started learning this and something went wrong... thatʼs harsh...”

He thought back to the poor child. He was more or less abandoned by his family, the doctor was too late to save him. He might have even been too lazy to bother by how he acted when he saw him recovering.

He left the book on the desk and moved to the sole window that was right next to it. He peeked outside and noticed that there were some people there. They looked to be working the field, some kind of plow was attached to a farm animal.

ʼIs that an Ox?... why is it so big and why does it have three horns?ʼ

He was clearly not on earth anymore, the farmer there was using the large animal to help him plow the field. He could see other people walking around, even some in not so well kept armor. While he was preoccupied with sneaking glances outside the window, the door opened up, Martha returned to check up on the boy.

”Master Roland! You shouldnʼt be out of bed, here I brought you some porridge.”

The man in the childʼs body looked at the smiling woman, he wanted to speak up but decided on just nodding and going back to bed.

ʼThis will take some time getting used to...ʼ