I started walking through the forest, searching for a rabbit or anything that could possibly be eaten. Walking felt strange. My steps were incredibly small, and keeping my balance was harder than I expected. Each movement required more focus than it should. My body swayed slightly with every step, and sometimes I had to spread my arms just to steady myself. My legs felt weak and uncoordinated, as if they didn’t belong to me yet. It was honestly frustrating.
Seriously… being a baby is inconvenient.
Still, it was better than lying helplessly on an altar waiting to die.
As I slowly made my way through the tall grass, another thought crossed my mind. The sunlight filtering through the trees was still soft and pale. When I first woke up earlier, the sun had barely risen above the horizon.
What time is it anyway?
I tried estimating it based on the brightness of the sky.
I guess it's around seven in the morning. The sun wasn't fully up when I woke up in this world.
Which meant something very important.
Breakfast time.
“Right… I definitely need breakfast.”
Unfortunately, breakfast didn’t exactly come easy in a forest. I continued searching, carefully pushing aside small plants and peering beneath bushes. Every now and then I stopped and listened to the forest around me—the rustling leaves, distant bird calls, and the occasional snapping twig. My senses felt strangely sharp despite my small body.
After a while, I finally spotted something moving in the grass ahead. I leaned forward slightly to get a better look.
But it wasn’t a rabbit.
It was a slime.
The creature was a small blob of translucent blue jelly about the size of a basketball. Its body wobbled as it moved, stretching and compressing like living gelatin. The slime slowly slid across the ground, leaving faint wet marks on the grass.
“Seriously… a slime?”
Well, monsters are monsters. Experience points are experience points.
“Appraisal.”
Name: Slime | Race: Monster (G-Rank) | HP: 1 | MP: 2 | STR: 1 | VIT: 2 | AGI: 1 | INT: 1 | Skills: Slime Breath, Low Regeneration
Low regeneration?
That could actually be useful.
“Skill Collector: Activate.”
Adapt Low Regeneration.
“Success. [Low Regeneration] added to learnable skills list.”
The slime suddenly trembled. Its gelatinous body compressed inward as if something inside it was building pressure.
Wait…
That movement looked suspicious.
The next moment—
PSSHHH!
A jet of sticky slime burst out from its body and shot straight toward me.
“Whoa!”
Thankfully I had anticipated the attack. I immediately activated Levitate, lifting myself slightly off the ground. The slime breath splattered across the grass beneath me instead of hitting my body.
“That was close…”
The slime’s attack pattern was simple. Its body squeezed inward first before releasing the slime breath attack. That meant the moment it compressed, the attack would follow immediately.
Which meant its weakness was obvious.
Through the translucent body of the slime, I could see a small glowing crystal core floating inside.
So that’s the target.
“Stone Bullet.”
Mana surged through my arm as the familiar grinding sound echoed in my palm.
Krrrk… krrrk…
The stone formed quickly.
“Fire.”
Fwhoosh!
The projectile tore through the air and struck the slime’s crystal core.
CRACK!
The crystal shattered instantly. The slime collapsed into a puddle of lifeless goo.
“Target neutralized. 1 Experience Point gained.”
Only one EXP, huh.
Well… it was still something.
I continued moving forward through the forest. After walking a little farther, I suddenly heard something unusual. The sound was faint but clear.
Footsteps.
They were heavier than the movements of small animals. It sounded more like something walking upright.
A human?
Or a monster pretending to be one.
I crouched instinctively.
Better safe than sorry.
Activating Levitate, I lifted myself about half a foot above the ground so I wouldn’t leave any footsteps. Slowly and silently, I drifted toward the direction of the sound. A bush stood ahead of me, and I carefully peeked through the leaves.
What I saw on the other side made me narrow my eyes.
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A goblin.
It was small—about the size of a human child—with grayish skin and long arms. Its yellow eyes moved around restlessly while it gripped a crude knife in one hand.
“Appraisal.”
Name: Goblin | Race: Monster (F-Rank) | HP: 8 | MP: 2 | STR: 3 | VIT: 2 | AGI: 3 | INT: 2 | Skills: Sword Mastery 1, Minor Ambush
F-Rank.
Stronger than the G-rank monsters I had fought so far.
And I was still… an eleven-month-old baby. Direct combat was definitely a bad idea. But something about the situation felt strange. Goblins usually moved in groups.
So why was this one alone?
The goblin suddenly stopped beside a tree and leaned casually against it. It stayed completely still as if waiting for something.
Ah.
Tricky little bastard.
It was bait.
Waiting for prey to approach.
Still… this was also an opportunity.
“Skill Collector: Activate.”
Adapt Sword Mastery 1.
“Success. [Sword Mastery 1] added to learnable skills list.”
Good.
Now for the attack.
I carefully raised my hand and aimed.
“Stone Bullet.”
Mana gathered in my palm once again. The stone formed quickly, but this time the energy felt different—more stable and controlled.
Then I fired.
Fwhoosh!
The projectile shot forward faster than before.
CRACK!
The stone smashed directly into the goblin’s skull. The creature collapsed instantly.
“Target neutralized. 3 Experience Points gained.”
But before I could relax—
Rustle!
Two more goblins suddenly burst out from another bush nearby.
So it really was bait.
“Notification: 3 Experience Points gained.”
“Level Up!”
“You have reached Level 4.”
No time to celebrate.
The moment I saw them, I immediately ducked deeper into the bush and quietly canceled Levitate. The two goblins rushed toward the corpse of their fallen companion. They looked confused as they examined the body.
One of them poked the corpse with its foot while the other scanned the surroundings suspiciously. They had no idea what killed their ally. Unfortunately… they were now walking toward my hiding place.
One goblin turned toward the bush where I was hiding while the other watched the opposite direction.
Perfect positioning.
From inside the bush, I quietly used Lesser Mage Hand to move a few branches aside just enough to create a clear line of sight.
Then I raised my hand.
“Stone Bullet.”
Before the goblin could react—
Fwhoosh!
CRACK!
The stone struck its head instantly. The goblin collapsed without even making a sound. The remaining goblin turned just in time to see its companion fall.
For a moment it froze.
Then fear spread across its face.
And it ran.
Straight into the forest.
Typical goblin behavior.
When left alone, they often panic and flee.
I stayed hidden inside the bush for a while longer, making sure the remaining goblin had truly fled. The forest slowly returned to its normal quiet state. Only the distant chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves could be heard.
Once I was certain it was safe, I relaxed slightly and opened my status window again. Something about the level-up notification earlier bothered me. The way the system distributed my rewards seemed… structured.
Status.
While observing the numbers, I suddenly realized something.
The amount of stat points and skill points I received matched a pattern.
“Voice… I have a question.”
“Yes. Please state your inquiry.”
“The stat and skill points I receive when leveling up… are they based on a fixed formula?”
There was a brief pause before the calm voice responded.
“Yes. The growth of this world's power system follows a structured progression.”
Then several lines of system text appeared in front of me.
System Notice: Level Growth Mechanics
Level 2 → Requires 2 EXP
Reward: 2 Stat Points | 1 Skill Point
Level 3 → Requires 3 EXP
Reward: 3 Stat Points | 2 Skill Points
Level 4 → Requires 4 EXP
Reward: 4 Stat Points | 3 Skill Points
Level 5 → Requires 5 EXP
Reward: 5 Stat Points | 4 Skill Points
And so on.
I stared at the screen for a moment, processing the information.
“So the amount of experience needed to level up is equal to the level itself… and the rewards scale with it.”
“Yes. This pattern continues for all levels.”
That meant leveling up would become progressively harder as my level increased. But the reward would also increase at the same rate.
Not a bad system.
But something else caught my attention.
Another notification appeared.
System Notice: Level Cap System
Current Level Cap: 50
I frowned slightly.
“Level cap?”
“Yes. All beings are restricted by level thresholds.”
More lines of information appeared in front of me.
Level Cap 50
Requirement to exceed the cap:
You must gain 50 EXP at one exact moment.
The experience must be obtained simultaneously.
Accumulated experience over time will not unlock the cap.
I blinked.
Wait… what?
“So if someone reaches Level 50… they can’t level up anymore unless they gain fifty experience points all at once?”
“Correct.”
That was… brutal.
Another system notice appeared.
Next Level Cap: 100
Requirement to exceed the cap:
You must gain 100 EXP at one exact moment.
Accumulated experience will not unlock the cap.
Next Level Cap: 150
Requirement to exceed the cap:
You must gain 150 EXP at one exact moment.
And so on.
I leaned back slightly against the bush, thinking carefully.
“So leveling itself is already difficult… but breaking past the level cap requires defeating something extremely strong.”
That meant people—or monsters—would need to defeat powerful enemies or large groups at once to break their limits.
No wonder power hierarchies would be so extreme in this world.
Weak creatures would remain weak forever.
Strong creatures could break the cap and grow even stronger.
The system was basically forcing people to challenge stronger enemies if they wanted to advance.
In other words…
Survival of the fittest.
I looked down at my tiny hands.
“…And I’m trying to survive all of this as an eleven-month-old baby.”
While I still checking my status window.
Something immediately caught my eye.
Stone Bullet (Mastered)
“Oh?”
Looks like my constant usage improved the skill automatically.
Nice.
For stats, I allocated 2 points to MP, 1 point to HP, and 1 point to Agility. After that, I used my skill points to learn Low Regeneration and Sword Mastery 1. I still had one skill point remaining, so I asked Assistance Voice what I could do with it.
“Voice, what can I do with a skill point if I don't have any learnable skills left?”
“You may use skill points to upgrade existing skills.”
Upgrade, huh.
Right now my only offensive spell was Stone Bullet.
So upgrading it made the most sense.
I spent the final skill point.
Current Status:
Name: Unknown | Race: Human | Age: 11 Months | Sex: Male | LV: 4 | HP: 5 | MP: 10 Strength: 1 | Vitality: 1 | Agility: 2 | Intelligence: 75 | Luck: 9 | Magic: Earth Magic | Skills: Assistance Voice, Basic Skill Collector, Basic Appraisal, Nutrient Absorption, Mage Hand, Low Regeneration, Sword Mastery 1 | Spells: LV:2 Stone Bullet (Mastered)
New:
Learnable Spell: Stone Wall
Stone Wall... How did I get this?
"This appeared because upgrading Stone Bullet unlocked a new path in the Earth Magic skill tree."
Woah! Interesting!
So there's also a skill tree system here.
This something I desperately needed. My heart raced a little.
Finally, a defensive spell! Not just another attack—this could actually keep me alive if things went south.
After finishing my upgrades, I stepped out of the bush and approached the goblin corpse. I picked up the crude knife it had been holding.
I might be able to use this for hunting rabbits.
Since my arms were weak, I tried controlling the knife with Lesser Mage Hand. The blade lifted smoothly into the air, and strangely enough, it really did feel like another hand. Not a physical one, but something similar—a floating extension of my will.
“This is actually pretty amazing.”
After practicing for a while, I finally noticed movement in the distance.
A rabbit.
The small animal was eating berries near a bush.
Finally.
I carefully aimed my hand. Because the rabbit was small, accurate aiming was extremely important.
I held my breath.
Focused.
Then fired.
Fwhoosh!
The Stone Bullet struck the rabbit with tremendous force. The impact launched it across the bush.
I walked over and picked it up. Placing the rabbit on top of a flat rock, I prepared to cut it. Even though I felt a little disgusted, I used Lesser Mage Hand to control the knife and sliced the body in half.
Not all of it.
Just enough for my needs.
Then I activated Nutrient Absorption on one half of the meat.
A warm sensation flowed into my body as the flesh slowly shriveled. I didn’t taste anything, but the feeling of fullness spreading through my stomach was unmistakable.
“I’m full…”
The skill worked perfectly. Then, after finishing my meal, I looked around the forest again.
“Alright.”
Next priority.
Shelter.
I needed a safe place to stay—a cave, a hollow tree, anything that could serve as a home.
But before choosing a direction, I remembered something.
The goblin that had escaped earlier caught my attention. I had clearly seen the direction it ran, which meant something important. That path probably led back to its group, and I definitely didn’t want to walk straight into a goblin nest. Carefully, I turned away from that path, choosing the opposite direction, and began searching for a safer place to live.
