Chapter 2
I was supposed to have breathed my last in the hospital room—
And yet, when I came to, I was a baby.
Even with my eyes open, my vision was blurry.
I strained to focus on the face in front of me.
At that moment.
Letters suddenly appeared in my mind.
【Name】Maria
【Rank】Ⅰ
【Mana】E
【Skills】Life Magic
Life... Magic? And mana?
Apparently, this world had magic.
I stared at my tiny hand.
【Name】Noah
【Rank】Ⅰ
【Mana】D
【Skills】Appraisal Life Magic
Appraisal.
I see. So this is how I can see information.
And Life Magic.
Was it the power to heal wounds, or magic that let me toy with life?
Either way, it sounded pretty interesting.
As I was thinking, my body floated gently upward.
The arms holding me were different from before—hard and calloused.
Probably my father.
His large hands carefully supported my body.
I focused my attention on his hands.
'Appraisal'
【Name】Joseph
【Rank】Ⅰ
【Mana】E
【Skills】Swordsmanship
Swordsmanship, huh?
Looks like people use swords as well as magic in this world.
I heard a low male voice.
I couldn't understand the words yet, but his tone was gentle.
After a while, I was gently laid down.
Several layers of cloth had been spread beneath me.
But the fabric felt a little rough against my skin.
It seemed this wasn't a particularly wealthy family.
I could hear my mother's breathing nearby.
Her slow breaths came at steady intervals.
She'd just given birth. She must be tired.
My father's footsteps moved away.
I heard something being moved, then the door opening.
After a short pause, it closed.
Maybe he went back to work.
The room fell completely silent.
All that remained was my mother's breathing close by.
I turned my attention to my own body.
In my previous life, I couldn't get out of bed.
There was only one thing I could do in those circumstances.
Observe my own body closely.
How my illness progressed, and how much better I felt after taking medicine.
How my pain had changed compared to the day before.
Because I couldn't move, I had constantly analyzed the changes taking place in my body.
A baby's body was no different.
I could barely move.
In that case, there was no need to change what I did.
I observed my body the way I always had.
I quickly noticed one decisive difference from my previous life.
Of course, this time my body was healthy.
But that wasn't all.
There was a warm sensation deep in my abdomen.
Like a tiny flame had been lit there.
I tried focusing my mind on it.
The little light throbbed faintly.
It was responding.
Interesting. So this is mana.
I concentrated even more.
I focused my awareness on that warmth.
It became a little clearer.
Like my vision coming into focus, I could sense its presence more distinctly.
I can... control this.
Once I realized that, I wanted to try more.
First, I tried focusing on it more intently.
Then I felt the presence deep in my abdomen grow just a tiny bit larger.
Fortunately, as a baby, I had all the time in the world.
I decided to test this power little by little.
Day after day, I kept focusing on it.
The warmth deep in my abdomen had become clear to me now.
Not only that, it was slowly growing, like a balloon inflating.
And the result was this.
【Name】Noah
【Rank】Ⅰ
【Mana】C
【Skills】Appraisal Life Magic
My mana rank had gone up.
I could feel mana clearly now.
In that case, next I'd try moving it.
When I focused on my abdomen, warmth flowed through my body.
It reached my arms and legs, all the way to my fingertips.
Even in a baby's body, my limbs responded when mana flowed through them.
My body gradually began to obey my will.
When I focused on my head, my vision grew clearer, and I could make out light and color distinctly.
My growth was astonishing.
And then I noticed.
Every time I circulated mana, a “path” formed inside my body.
The mana hadn't flowed unless I concentrated at first, but now it flowed naturally.
Mana channels spread throughout my body, like blood vessels.
So this is how the world works.
Then what I needed to do was obvious.
Expand my channels as much as possible while I was still a baby.
Make my vessel as large as I could, too.
By the time ordinary people became aware of their mana, I'd already have a foundation on a whole different level.
I smiled to myself.
In my previous life, I couldn't do anything from my sickbed.
But this time was different.
This body was healthy, and I had time.
What's more, I'd gotten an interesting new toy.
And there was one more thing I wanted to try.
The medical knowledge I'd devoured in my previous life.
And Life Magic.
Cells, viruses, the immune system.
They should all exist inside this body, too.
Then could I sense them with mana?
I tried focusing on mana even more precisely.
I made the warmth flowing from deep in my abdomen as fine-grained as I could.
I turned my awareness inward, as if peering through a microscope.
I saw it.
No, to be precise, I felt it.
Countless tiny processes.
Cells dividing, blood circulating, invisible battles taking place.
Some things multiplied, while others disappeared.
A world I'd known only through diagrams in my previous life.
Now I could understand it with my whole body through mana.
Each tiny process came vividly into focus in my mind.
Every time I focused, I felt as though the workings of the world were laid bare in the palm of my hand.
I tried focusing on my throat.
There was a slight irritation. Probably a mild inflammation.
A baby's body was still unused to the outside world.
I poured in mana.
The inflamed area became more active.
No, that wasn't it. Something was gathering around it.
It was probably something like white blood cells.
I could use mana to promote my body's healing.
Then next, I'd target the pathogen.
The cause of the inflammation. A virus or bacteria.
When I directed mana at it—it vanished. Destroyed.
Apparently the mana had attacked it directly.
My knowledge from my previous life was proving useful here.
Activate the immune system and destroy pathogens.
Next, I tried focusing on my intestines.
Countless gut bacteria.
The beneficial bacteria. I gently poured mana into them.
The healthy bacteria multiplied, and the balance improved.
I couldn't help a smile spreading across my face.
By combining these two abilities, I could control my body however I wanted.
Now that I had knowledge and mana, the possibilities were endless.
The baby's tiny chest gave a faint, excited thump.