Date August 8th, 2251

  Half a year ter.

  In the wee hours of the m, I was still hard at work training my perception. As I was in the midst of that, I all of a sudde I had surpassed some kind of limit that had beerig my growth for a while now. The very instant I broke through that barrier, I felt a qualitative ge in my pseudo perception field and alongside that ge area, I could perceive jumped in size by at least 200%.

  Shit, that's a huge ge.

  It took me a few mio adjust to the new feeling I was experieng, which was remarkably simir to the sense of a cultivator as described in the books from my prior life. But once I finally got my bearings a like I had things under my trol, I opened up my status s to see what sort of perk I had gotten for reag 11 perception and what it did exactly.

  | All Seeing | Requirements 11 Perception: You've surpassed human limitations for perception, thus you've acquired the ability of a 360-degree field of awareness with a range of 11 meters. The range and strength of this perception field of yours will increase by 1 meter for every point of perception you have above 11 perception.

  Damn, that's a busted perk. Anyone who tries sneaking up ohin that range iure is fucked. This perk will also be super useful for training various close bat teiques, crafting, and numerous other things.

  Thinking of all the other applications this ability could be used for, I decided I deserved some rest. Thus I called it a day, threw my b over myself ao sleep after I calmed down a bit from my excitement about the future.

  …

  Ahh, that leasant sleep. I definitely after my and Alice's birthdays.

  Well rested and ready to start the day, I first threw the sheets off me before climbing out of my bed that was retly upgraded from my crib. Upoing up, I headed for my bedroom's door, ope, and moved down the hallway in the dire of the living room where mom robably. A short walk down the hallway and that was indeed where she was, together with my dad.

  "M mom, m dad." I said as I came walking into the living room.

  "M, buddy." Dad responded as he tinued sipping on his cup of joe.

  "M sweetie, how'd you sleep?" Mom said right after.

  "Good." I responded.

  Greetings out of the way, mom got up from the coud began preparing breakfast for the three of us. As soon as she had everything ready, I climbed up into a chair ao town on the scrumptious meal she made, which had the side effect htening my mother's usual positive and upbeat mood even further. After peting with dad for mom's cooking, we finally finished up breakfast.

  "I don't know how you're able to put all that food down, you little rascal, but you are much too young to beat me." My old man ented with a smug smirk right after we finished breakfast.

  "'t tell you, dad, it's a secret. But I'll give you a hint, part of it is because mom's cooking is just too good. And just you wait dad, it's only a matter of time before I have you beat." I said jokingly before seriously adding the st bit.

  "Very true, your mother's cooking is really something else and only time will tell whether you beat me one day, little guy. But today's not that day." He responded while looking very tent with the meal he had just fought tooth and nail with me for.

  "Alright you guys, it's time for you to get ready, go get ed up and dressed!" Mom issued with a smile, likely pleased to hear my and dad's ents.

  "Okay." The two of us answered simultaneously, causing mom to let loose a small ugh.

  With breakfast out of the way, everyoarted getting ready and when we were done doing so, we met back up in the living room.

  "Sweetie, your dad and I are going to head off to work when yrandma arrives. Also, your pymate Alice is going to e over for the day to py. Make sure you treat her well and the both of you have fun and stay out of trouble." Mom told me while she waited for my grandma Emelia to arrive.

  Looking up from the book grandpa John had gifted me retly, I answered. "Will do, mom."

  "Good, if you stay out of trouble, son, we'll take you to the bookstore this weekend to buy you a few more books." He added after hearing my response.

  "Deal." I said excitedly.

  Haha, I get my hands on those st couple of skill books I saw the previous time at the bookstore.

  As I was thinking of what books I her than the skill books I very much wanted, grandma let herself in through the front door and made her way over with a brand new book in her hand. When she reached us, she greeted us first, handed me the book she was carrying, spoke a few words with me, and began versing with my parents again regarding some not so important stuff.

  Another book for my rapidly expanding colle, nice, and it's ing a subject I haven't read about double nice.

  Whilst they were all talking, I climbed bato the couch, plopped my ass down, and began reading the new book my grandma Emelia just brought me. Several minutes had passed by when they finished up their versation, and ohey had, mom and dad rushed off to work a me here under grandma's supervision.

  Not all too many mier, the governor's wife rang the doorbell. My pymate at the drandma Emelia, ope, greeted, and talked with Alice's mother for a bit. Aliot waiting around with them, raced past the two of them into our home, specifically making a beeline in my dire. The couple of minutes were spent with me keeping Alice occupied and after doing so Alice's mom took her leave, but before she did, she left a few miseous things of Alice's behind.

  Thus, with Aliow, here I got to my task a her eained.

  It's hard being a babysitter this young. I holy 't wait till I'm older, but I'm thankful, sihings could be a hell of a lot worse, like Alice being an average baby. Thankfully, I've lucked out and don't have to deal with that and actually i and talk with her to a certaient, although the talking is pretty limited due to her current vocabury.

  I also don't have to act like a baby any longer with my entire family thinking I'm a genius, which I suppose I more than qualify as at this point with the stuff I get up to at my current age. Don't know of too many one year olds that are reading the kind of books I am, let alone adults. Going bay previous thought, those days were terrible. I almost died of boredom.

  As I was thinking over various things in my head with my sed thought process, I tinued iing with Alid keeping her eained.

  One hour of babysitting ter.

  I'm going to be here for a while, aren't I. Well, I better try my best to tire her out so she take a nap and I go get some reading doherwise I'll be here all day just like st time aplishing nothing of note.

  From there, I thehe few hours pying with Alid trying to keep her eained while our parents were off doing their thing. After another half an hour had passed, I noticed Alice was being tired.

  Finally, I take a rest, thank god it didn't take nearly as long as st time. I must be getting good at this… I hope so for my sake. Well, I better put her down for a nap and since I'm pretty tuckered out myself, I think I'll put my reading off till ter and join her for a nap as well to recharge my drained batteries.

  "Grandma, we're tired." I told my grandam Emelia.

  "Do you wao grab you anything like bedding, or are you guys going to use Dom's bed like the previous time?" My grandmother asked us both.

  "Bed!" Aliswered simply aedly in her limited vocabury right away before I could.

  "Oh, okay. Then I'll see you two little oer when you wake up." She said with a smile that appeared to have some meaning behind it.

  My grandma informed Alice, and I headed out of the living room and down the hall. But as we were departing from the living, I swear I heard something about grandma having a discussion with my parents and Alice's. Not paying it any mind, the both of us made it to my bedroom hand in hand. Opening my door, I led Ali and over to my bed where I helped Alice up onto it before I myself climbed up onto it as well.

  I got the two of us settled in and, with her led up against me, her eyes began to shut. Following a short few moments, she was out like a light and not long after that; I was out too, with my extremely fy b c us both.

  …

  Hours ter, we woke up, got fed by my grandma and not long after that, my parents returned home with Alice's parents in tow, where they had a versation of some sort between the bunch of them. Shortly into their versation, both of my grandads showed up alongside Alice's grandparents, and joined in on the discussion they were having.

  It's quite odd that they gathered here all at once. I wonder what they're talking about.

  Curious about what was taking pce, I started brainst to e up with ao find out what was going on.

  Mm, that'll work.

  As soon as I had a pretty solid one in mind, I looked towards Alid asked. "Hey Alice, you want to py a game?"

  "Nn." She answered while nodding her little head.

  "Okay good, we're gonna py ninja's. You have to be as quiet as possible to py this. you do that?"

  "Yea." She replied, appearing rather excited and eic.

  "Alright, here, hold my hand so you don't fall. We 't afford to get caught." I instructed her stly while presenting my hand to her, which she immediately held onto before I could even finish my sentence.

  It doesn't look like she pletely uood a few of my words, but I believe she got the gist of it. I hope so at least.

  With Alice tched onto my hand to ehat she wouldn't fall a us caught, we creeped over into the dire of the adults so I could find out what was being discussed. Shortly thereafter, the two of us, quiet as a couple of church mieared the area where the adults were having their versation that was being increasingly louder in volume bit by bit now that the rest of the adults from both families had gotten together.

  In position, I looked at Alid held up my right index finger up to my mouth to signal Aliot to make any he sed I received a nod back that she uood, I focused on what they were discussing using my enhanced hearing.

  "The two of them get along well enough and I see they like each other quite a lot and enjoy each other's pany, so why not tie them together early?" I heard my grandma say i beyond the wall Alid I were hiding behind.

  "You do have a point, but it is still very early to be engaging and tying the knot betweewo when they've only just turned one i few days." Grandpa, John, said in his usual gruff voice.

  "It's true that they're both young, however I see that my little Alice likes yrandson quite a lot and if they tinue spending as much time as they do together, they'll more likely than not end up together anyhow. Hence, why not ehat they do, or at least try, our best to see it happen?" Alice's grandfather said who I presumed was the patriarch of their family.

  "I 't agree more, and besides, it would be great if both of our families could e together and unite, so why not?" My dad added.

  "They are quite close from what I've seen and Alice is as cute as a button, so I also don't have any issue pairing the two of them together." My Mom said right after dad while Alice's mom Aura Rosalin Steele nodded her head in agreement before sharing simir feelings about me being paired up with her little girl.

  "Alright, that settles it then. We'll pair the duo together and if everything goes well betweeh of them, they'll end up together." My dad's longtime best friend and current Uy 7 governor David Ashton Steele said.

  I didn't expect to be ehis early on in life, I would've preferred to decide my partner or partners for myself on my own terms. But whatever, it's not the end of the world. I just Hope Alice stays as sweet as she is now and ends up a looker and seeing how her mother is a raven haired beauty with fair skin and a busty figure I don't think I'll have to worry about anything having to do with the looks department.

  The main issue is what her personality will be ter on down the road when she grows up and matures. If she bees a rotten person, I'll find a way to extricate myself from the situation. However, in the meantime, I'll try my very best to prevent that from happening.

  Alright that looks to be it. Guess I better return to babysitting before the two of us get caught listening to their discussion. Not that it really matters if they did discover us listening in on their versation with us being two kids and them being our family members.

  Whilst the adults were going over and finalizing the details for Alice's and mines e, I led Alice back over to the living room where we were inally pying and tinued keeping her occupied. Though this time, I was sitting down and reading a picture book with her, trying to slowly expand her vocabury, since I basically had to begin raising a wife.

  Ahh, I have a lot of work ahead of me besides preparing myself for the wastend. I now have to spend time making sure that my future partner is going to be a halfway det person. Well, this could also be a huge plus for me. Alice could end up being someone I rely upon out in the wastes and may even end up saving my ass one day.

  Although the ces of that happening are pretty slim because my capabilities will far out stretch her own iure with this system of mine. Unless, of course, she gains a gift that grants her a set of powerful abilities, in that case, that ges a lot of things.

  Regardless, with only a small popution among all biological beings oh ever having them since Armageddon, the ces of that are pretty slim to none. But now that I'm thinking of gifts, I wonder if there is any way to artificially create them… It would be an incredible card to possess if I could artificially grant biological beings gifts.

  Grand dreams of an army of gifted possessing numerous mystical abilities and powers aside, sihere is no resear it to my knowledge, the amount of time I would have to i into it to even have a possibility of making it happen is just not realisti the foreseeable future.

  Maybe when I get myself detly set up out there, I set aside and allocate some time to pursue it to see if I 't figure out a way to forcefully induce gifts in humans and animals. It would be awesome to have a pet Colossal Gi Mohat shoot poisonous fmes.

  I would basically have myself a sand dragon at that point, minus the flying bit. Something to think of ter on and even if I don't find a way to forcefully induce gifts. I quite like the idea of having a giant venomous lizard as a pet, although I would have to build meat produ up to a certain point before I could eveertain the idea of keeping one.

  Back to before I got sidetracked by gifts and keeping a gia lizard, overall things aren't all that bad if I py my cards right.