The World of Tactics

Chapter Two: Ten Years

"Over the years, I have had no peers. Regardless, if they were a noob or a professional, I could easily defeat them ten times or more with just one hand. During my prime (not even over thirty yet), I have come to learn many things, and yet, why is it so hard to be a baby again?" From a certain someone who became a baby again.

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Although there were a lot of embarrassing side stories, John Smith grew up to be a proper man at the age of ten. Well, ten is the age that marks adulthood for most children in this fantasy world. Anyway, for the last ten years, he has been through a lot. Some embarrassing events had happened at the beginning of the years of his rebirth. Thinking about it, everything that was to be blamed was his undeveloped parts. Such shame was washed away through the first four years of age. While there were some demerits, there were some merits in his ten-long-year journey.

Firstly, he realized that he was the only one that was seeing names and levels hovering above everyone else. Not only that, if he focuses enough, he is enabled to see the status of the said person and their affiliation. He realized that his current stats are below average compared to most of the kids his age. However, every other had a major difference from John Smith.

The common ground was himself, who gained a level every birthday like most other kids his age. For every level up, he gains a single allocated status point along with a single increase in health points (HP). But, something is strange about this setup. Like what was said (above), he could see a person's status and that includes their growth rates. This is no joke, this is tested, this is verified, this is not scientific! He had tested it on his father's second son (currently six years old, level six) and his mother's first daughter (currently four years old, level four). There are drastic differences.

His younger brother, Hugo, currently has fourteen status points allocated to his status. As for her younger sister, Savannah, she currently already has twelve status points allocated to her status. However, the most apparent difference between the three of them was that he unconditionally gains a point in health points. Other than that, it seems that he does not have a set of growth rates, which is destroying his morale. Finally, compared to his two siblings, his health is abnormally high for a growing teen (adult in this world).

Secondly, he also noticed that the soldiers stationed in the west wing of the mansion at every single training session. They could only practice two sets of moves, no footwork, pretty primitive. But, the most concerning part was the swing of their weapons. They seem to have a destructive force behind the two sets of moves. The sound was especially shocking to the ear. The status of those trained soldiers was those that have strength above or a bit below ten. As for their health points, they range from the lowest at nineteen and the highest was twenty-five [*1*]. He could only last one to two stabs with his current self before his health points went down the drain.

Thirdly, the class system. It seems that having a class is what enables a person to become stronger and break their limitations. Comparing his current status, he could see what the number represents within the bar graph. A person born without a class limits their status to only five. Those that hit the maximum of the class' limits turn the number green within the status. The green number signifies that a certain status can no longer increase. However, the health points do not seem to have a maximum limit for now, since he could not give a conclusive conclusion.

Finally, the only way to become stronger is to form his emblem. Abnormally, it seems that every entity within this new world is considerably stronger than the normal average human on Earth. Likewise, in the beginning, when a baby is born, the baby's body unconsciously absorbs the surrounding mana. Gradually, their bodies become stronger and stronger bodies, which was started in a book he had read. After the age of ten, the said baby could use the absorbed mana to condense and form an emblem. To be precise, he also does not know what the emblem looks like nor the formation of the emblem.

He had only read it in a book and it seemed to be important. What he did know was that an emblem is the condensation of worldly power, or, famously, known as mana. Mana is an unexpurgated universal energy power source and those sources of energy are used to form an emblematic slate. Later on, the crest comes after the emblem slate is formed. The emblem slate is like storage to contain and expand the limitations of the human body.

However, the emblem is just a blank slate without any engravings. Only later when the accumulation of mana reaches a certain point would there be enough to officially create a crest on the emblem slate. The main point is that John knows that he needs to form his first crest to breach his level limits. While that may be true, he does not know how to, so he was a bit unhappy because his little siblings were surpassing him. The pressure of a useless older brother, label, is real.

Hence, he had turned to the lance just like his father. The day he holds the lance is the day he has been training on the lance. At that time, he had unlocked the weapon mastery, WEA for short. He had started the weapon mastery of RANK: E. The last four years were gruesome training, he could barely get his spear mastery. His current weapon mastery of RANK: D. The reason why he had not changed to any other weapon was that he seemed to be able to train in only one weapon mastery until he fulfilled a requirement to learn another weapon mastery. In truth, he had wanted to wield the sword, but curiosity had led him into using the lance.

It seems that he will only be able to use one weapon in his whole life unless he changes his class. Ever since the day he unlocked the mastery of the weapon, he has also seen the weapon mastery status of others. The most surprising gain of learning the other's weapon mastery was the fact that there are benefits to the rank of the weapon mastery. At rank E, the weapon adds a ten percent hit chance. At rank D, the weapon adds a bonus might to the weapon's might which will increase the attack damage output. For those with mastery above rank D, there is much to be observed.

For example, his current strength is three, while his practice lance has one mighty, one hundred hit rate, and a weight of three. With his current weapon mastery and dexterity modifiers, it increases his hit rate to one hundred twelve, while his attack damage is a total of four. Sadly, even with the modifiers. His attack damage is at the very least three times lower than an average soldier stationed in the mansion. That is why he had so much time to read books about the world, geography, and so on. He knows that he could no longer get any stronger without forming his emblem [*2*].

Well, enough going inside his thinking process. He just woke up and lamented how weak he was compared to the others. I got dressed. Usually, a maid or a butler would do such dressing for nobles. However, they are newly granted nobles on the poorer spectrum. He did not have the luxury of having a personal maid/butler dress himself up. The luckiest thing that he could have gotten from not having a personal private life was that he was able to be more carefree from the noble's strict etiquette. Only his mother follows such crippling rules and is more similar to his father.

Anyway, it puts etiquette behind us. He knows that today is special. It was his birthday today because he had already put points into his strength. Now, he is making his way into the grand hall where parties and birthdays are usually held. Along the way, he saw his younger sister Savannah Smith tagging along with his younger brother, Hugo Smith. Savannah had her hair tied into a ponytail with a silky cloth in a red and blue dress. As for Hugo, he had a silly, snotty, and a few freckles on his face. Hugo is currently wearing a black suit along with a blue bow tie. His hair is properly groomed and styled.

Savannah was the first to run up to him the moment they met up. She said, "Wai-! Pho me! Big browth-her!" Her voice was so cute and he could not resist the moe-i-ness. So he had to pat her on the head. As for his younger brother Hugo, Hugo was more clumsy than the agile Savannah. Hugo almost tripped while running along with her. Hugo's politely structured voice echoes in his ears, "Older brother, how is your morning?" The snot on his nose, his little piglet body, and the politeness of his baby voice, are so funny. He, as the eldest brother, could not help letting out a chuckle, but also pat his head as well.

While the both of them were following him, John said, "Walk along and we will talk." Giving a brief pause for air, he continued, "Hurry, today is a special day." Then he ended the conversation with, "Come along." Visually and verbally, he did not sound excited but his heart and feeling did not disappear because today is truly special.

A little bit later, in the hall room with some comfy sofa. The two were hovering around John, and the two's cuteness was enjoyable. One was so silly with a proper suit and the other was speaking in lively broken English. The two are so unimaginably innocent, naïve, and cute little buggers. Mostly, the two were the ones to babble the most while he was having a good morning's refreshing tea. The world is at peace. The whole world was peaceful the whole morning until noon arrived and he enjoyed every piece of it.

However, peace does not last. His father, Sir Roylis Smith, had come back from his daily inspection of his territory along with the soldiers. Sometimes, John doubts that the land was just a peaceful disguised war-torn land. Many roaming monsters are plenty, in the wild and human settlements such as villages and as well as classifications. Judging from the use of the lance and the bloodied tips, a battle had taken place. The soldier's lance was also clipped, chipped, and worn out. The battle must have been huge, judging just from the remaining health points left by the twenty-some soldiers.

Even so, the odd thing is that every single living being in this world has naturally strong vitality. One of the soldier's health points was left exactly at one point. The soldier did not have any signs of dying anytime soon unless the soldier's health points were zeroed out on health points. It was an illogical concept, but everybody treats the dying soldier without care. On the other hand, the soldier at one health point was given a mouthful of vulnerary [*3*]. The greatness, the awe, the soldier restored over half his health and was brimming with strength again. Such a miracle is expected since this world has illogical concepts.

Snapping out of thoughts. John quietly approached his father. At level seventeen, the levels above his father's head were quite high. His father's current class was armored knight, health points at twenty-five out of thirty points, strength at fifteen, magic at three, skill at eighteen, the speed at eight, luck at twelve, defense at sixteen, and finally a resistance of meager four. For his father to have lost five health points, the battle that they went through must have been quite devastating. It was no wonder how the remaining soldiers were back with b****y battle scars.

"Welcome back, Father," he said.

Sir Roylis Smith was not in the mood to answer, however, in front of his oldest child's birthday. He could not stay quiet, he said, "Follow me, John. Today should be a happy day."

Following along with his father, John, he calmly contemplates what is in store for him on the following evening.

[1: Hugo Smith - Hugo Smith's tummy maybe the size of a small piglet now. However, in the future, many virgin maidens will fall for the fantastic freckles that outlined his jawline, further enhancing his handsomeness. Even with some small flaws, his handsomeness outshines the flaws. He is famously known as the younger brother of the main character.]

[2: Savannah Smith - From head to toe, she was almost the same replica of her mother. She is lively and cute. Her talent on the magic side of the spectrum was discovered at the age of ten and she had not been arranged into a marriage like her mother. She is famously known as the younger sister of the main character.]

[*1* - The average soldier has an average health point of twenty-two. This is the reason why his health points were considered to be high for a ten-year-old child. His current health points are eleven right now, which is half the health of the average soldier's health points. This reason will be reinforced later on when you guys (readers) get the whole story and how the class continues.]

[*2* - Attack damage (AD) equals strength modifiers, weapon mastery, weapon's might (Example: Enemy Defense (ED) = 3, AD = 3 + 1 + 1 = 5, Damage = ED - AD = -2). Hit Percent equals dexterity modifiers, weapon mastery, weapon's might (Example: Enemy Avoid (EA) = 25, Hit Rate (HR) = 2 + 100 + 10 = 112, Hit Percent = EA - HR = 87%).]

[*3* - Vulnerary is a potion that restores health. Depending on the quality, the restorations are set from a minimum of ten to fifteen. The last two or three mouthfuls. For those taken over half, the restorations are 50% higher. Likewise, it becomes only one use out of two instead of two out of three. These are not cheap, they are worth close to an iron weapon's general price. The price ranges from 340 gold coins to 540 gold coins. The price is not set, so it could be higher or lower depending on the situation. An iron weapon's price ranges from 450 gold coins to 650 gold coins or more. Vulnerary is pretty costly. The average commoner could get one to two vulnerary per year if they were to tighten their purses.]

*NOTE: FE references all over the whole story. If you guys know, you guys know. If you guys do not know, you guys do not know.*