Darkness... nah, not really. More like this weird, fuzzy nothingness. Then, pressure—uncomfortable, suffocating—and suddenly... LIGHT!
And cold. And noise. So much noise. My brand-new ears were buzzing like crazy. I tried to scream and—surprise, surprise—what came out was a high-pitched baby wail. What the hell...? Oh, this is bad.
I opened my eyes—or tried to. Everything was blurry, just giant shapes moving around me. I could hear voices: one deep and male, sounding relieved; the other, soft and female, tired but overflowing with joy. Then, big but surprisingly gentle hands wrapped me in something warm and soft.
"He's a healthy boy, honey. A strong one," the man said. Through my crappy vision, I made out a massive figure—muscular, dark-haired, sharp features. Even in my dazed state, he radiated power.
"Oh, look at him... He's beautiful, Garen," the woman whispered. She leaned in, her light hair and kind, sky-colored eyes coming into view. Just looking at her was soothing. "What should we name him?"
"Lexo," Garen said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "His name is Lexo, love."
Lexo. That's me. Or... was me? My mind was a whirlwind. I remembered something else—another world. Books, screens, tech... a pretty anticlimactic death (truck-kun? A dumb slip-and-fall? The details were conveniently fuzzy). And now... this. A baby. Whimpering, helpless, and completely unable to control my own bowels. Yep, definitely reborn. What kind of light novel cliché is this?!
Right as that cynical thought crossed my mind, something flickered. Like a hallucination—except way too sharp. A translucent blue screen popped up in front of my eyes, visible only to me.
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[Lexo]
Level: 0
HP: 10/10
MP: 5/5
STR: 1
VIT: 1
INT: ?? (Locked)
WIS: ?? (Locked)
DEX: 1
MAG: 1
Status: Newborn, Conscious Mind.
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Aha! Stats! Knew it! INT and WIS locked, huh? Makes sense—my baby brain probably isn't fully wired up to my adult consciousness yet. And that status... Conscious Mind.
The system knows I'm aware. Interesting. And kinda creepy.
They placed me in the woman's arms—my mom, I guess. She smiled down at me, and I swear I felt a faint, comforting energy flow from her when she touched my forehead.
Definitely a healer mom type.
Garen—my dad—stayed close. His hand, huge and rough, scarred even to my blurry vision, patted my head with a kind of clumsy tenderness. Ex-hero or soldier type, I thought. He looked the part. Strong. Protective.
Man, what a set of parents I lucked into.
The room around me was simple but clean. Smelled like wood, dried herbs... most likely a village. Firstborn son, possibly OP parents... the setup was solid. Now came the hard part: surviving infancy as a mental adult stuck in a useless baby body.
The cycle of eating, sleeping, and... well, pooping was painfully slow but necessary. I watched everything I could, absorbing every little detail.
Weeks turned into months. My vision sharpened, and my muscle control got slightly less pathetic. I could turn my head, babble in ways my parents thought were cute (if only they knew...). I started noticing patterns: Dad left often, sometimes coming back smelling like the woods and sweat. Other times, he trained in the backyard with a wooden sword (a sword!), moving with the kind of power and precision that confirmed my suspicions.
Mom took care of me but also treated other villagers who came by with injuries or sickness, using a mix of herbs and that gentle, healing light I sometimes felt from her.
My status screen hadn't changed much—maybe a point or two in HP and MP from natural growth.
The question is... what now?
I'm a baby with an adult mind in a fantasy world, probably rocking some broken skills eventually. The possibilities are limited right now, but they're there.