Chapter 2
# Chapter 2
The infant's tiny body trembled inside the cot.
No.
Something was wrong.
His breathing quickened as unfamiliar thoughts crashed into one another. Where was he? What had happened? Why couldn't he move?
He tried to raise his hand, only for a tiny arm to emerge from beneath the blanket. His eyes widened. That wasn't his hand. His fingers were too small, his arm barely thicker than a branch. He tried moving it again, but it flailed uselessly before falling back onto the blanket.
Panic surged through him.
He wanted to shout, to demand an explanation, but all that escaped his mouth was a weak cry.
"Waa..."
He froze.
Then his memories came rushing back.
His name wasn't Leon Rosewood. It had been Kai Shen, a twenty-seven-year-old man who had spent most of his life working himself into the ground. He remembered the noise of the city, the glow of electric lights, the smell of instant noodles during another sleepless night, and the exhaustion that had become part of his everyday life.
He remembered wanting nothing more than to sleep.
Then came a flash.
And darkness.
He couldn't remember exactly what had happened after that. The next thing he knew, he was here, wrapped in blankets inside a wooden cot, trapped in a body that barely responded to his commands.
"This..."
His thoughts raced.
"No way."
Before he could make sense of anything, someone gently lifted him from the cot.
Kai froze in the arms of a beautiful woman with long black hair. Her face was pale, and dark circles beneath her eyes showed how exhausted she was. She had clearly not fully recovered from childbirth, yet she looked at him with a warm smile.
"There, there..."
Her voice was gentle as she cradled him against her chest.
Kai stared at her, desperately searching for a reasonable explanation.
Maybe this was a dream.
He had been working too hard and probably fallen asleep at his desk. After reading countless isekai novels, perhaps his exhausted brain had decided to give him the ultimate fantasy.
Reincarnated as a baby.
How cliché.
He almost wanted to laugh.
Then the woman began feeding him.
Kai's thoughts came to an abrupt halt.
The warmth, the sensations, the sheer reality of it all left little room for denial. He tried to convince himself otherwise, but the longer he remained there, the more ridiculous that explanation seemed.
His tiny fingers curled around the blanket.
I've been reincarnated...
Outside, thunder rumbled across the dark sky.
Kai stared at the ceiling, his breathing gradually settling as he tried to process the impossible situation.
Reincarnation was something he had read about countless times in novels, games, and anime. It belonged to fiction, not reality.
Yet here he was.
Apparently, reality had decided to stop making sense.
Several days passed.
Leon Rosewood lay in a small wooden cot near the corner of his mother's study, watching Baroness Emma Rosewood work through an absurd mountain of paperwork.
She had mostly recovered from childbirth.
Mostly.
Because despite having given birth only days ago, she was already buried beneath documents. Papers covered her desk and nearby table, while several more stacks occupied the floor.
Leon stared at the mess with an expressionless face.
She's insane.
Emma calmly picked up another document, read it, signed it, and placed it aside before moving on to the next. Every so often, she glanced toward Leon and smiled. Sometimes she would pick him up, talk to him for a few minutes, or simply hold him against her chest before returning to her work.
Leon watched her resume signing documents.
How does she do that? I'd rather fight a boss battle.
His attention soon drifted back to the problem that had been bothering him since his reincarnation.
No way... No way... No way...
He repeated the words in his mind, hoping they would somehow make the situation less absurd.
I've read stories like this a thousand times just to pass the time. But I never thought I'd actually become one of those reincarnated protagonists.
He moved his tiny fingers. They barely responded.
Out of everything I could have reincarnated into, why this world?
There were plenty of terrifying things in Blessed by Heaven, but nothing compared to its ending. Out of thousands of possible routes, only three led to a happy ending, and even those required enormous sacrifices.
Leon remembered the final events clearly.
The world had been destroyed. Kingdoms had crumbled, cities had disappeared, and millions upon millions had died fighting an enemy they could barely comprehend.
And at the center of it all stood one woman.
Lilith Frostwolf.
Even remembering her name made him uncomfortable.
Nobody had expected the developers to take the story that far. Players had entered the game expecting romance, adventure, magic, and beautiful fantasy characters. Instead, the story had gradually descended into catastrophe.
The protagonist gathered companions, fell in love, saved kingdoms, and fought countless enemies. His party grew stronger, and they sacrificed everything to protect the world.
But in the end, they failed.
Lilith Frostwolf won.
The Outer God descended, the final calamity began, and the world players had spent hundreds of hours exploring was destroyed.
Leon stared blankly at the ceiling.
I'm screwed.
That was the only conclusion he could reach.
The worst part was that Lilith already existed somewhere in this world. He didn't know where she was or what she was doing, but he knew how the story would eventually end if nothing changed.
He needed to prepare.
First, he had to understand his current situation.
The Rosewood Territory.
He remembered the name from the game's guide. It wasn't particularly important at the beginning of the story, and most players probably wouldn't remember it. The territory was destroyed in a war before the main events of the game even began.
However, it held one secret.
A hidden piece of the game's world that most players would never discover without following a guide.
Leon couldn't remember every detail, but he knew enough to understand that he had been born somewhere connected to the game's story.
I have time.
The thought brought him a little comfort. He wasn't standing in the middle of the apocalypse yet, and he had been born early enough to prepare.
The question was how.
Leon thought for a moment before arriving at the most obvious answer.
Magic.
Of course. This was a world filled with magic. If he wanted to survive what was coming, he needed to become stronger.
Surely, I must have some insanely overpowered magic.
He paused.
Or maybe a system.
His eyes widened.
Wait. What if I have a system?
He tried to speak.
"System!"
What came out was a pathetic little sound.
"Pffffhh..."
Silence followed.
Emma immediately looked up from her paperwork. Her eyes widened as she stared at Leon, apparently impressed by his sudden noise.
"Oh?"
She walked over and gently poked his cheek.
Leon stared at her.
Damn it. I hate being a baby.
Emma smiled before returning to her work, leaving him to silently curse his useless body.
He couldn't sit up, walk, or speak. Even controlling his own arms was a struggle.
How do people in novels handle this so easily?
Still, there was something he could attempt before he learned to talk.
Magic.
He knew the basics of the world's magic system from the game. A person's mana capacity determined how much magical power they could naturally hold, and people were classified into ranks ranging from F-rank to S-rank.
Genetics played a major role, though it didn't guarantee the result.
F-rank was the most common level, with roughly one in ten people possessing that amount of mana. Their magic had little combat potential and was mainly useful for everyday tasks, such as lighting rooms, heating objects, and cleaning.
E-rank was much rarer, appearing in roughly one person out of a hundred. At this level, people could cast minor combat spells and temporarily reinforce their bodies.
D-rank appeared in approximately one person out of a thousand. Magic became genuinely useful at this stage, allowing people to pursue military careers or work as combat mages.
Then came C-rank, found in roughly one person out of ten thousand.
A C-rank mage was already a significant force on the battlefield. They could reinforce their bodies enough to shatter stone, conjure flames capable of consuming houses, and even heal injuries that would permanently cripple ordinary people. Many kingdom knights and licensed battle mages aimed to reach this level.
Even among nobles, a C-rank child was considered valuable.
B-rank was rarer still, appearing in roughly one person out of a hundred thousand. A single B-rank mage could change the outcome of a battle, destroy city gates, or protect entire groups of soldiers with powerful barriers. Their bodies also adapted to mana, granting them longer lifespans and greater resistance to disease.
Generals, famous heroes, and court magicians often belonged to this rank.
Then came A-rank.
One in several million.
Leon felt a chill run through his tiny body as he remembered the descriptions. A-rank mages weren't merely powerful. Their magic could carve apart mountainsides, summon storms over battlefields, and destroy entire cities. Kingdoms granted them authority approaching that of royalty because antagonizing one could bring disaster upon an entire nation.
And finally...
S-rank.
The highest rank, one that most people believed didn't even exist.
S-rankers were described as beings comparable to demigods. No confirmed S-rank had ever appeared in the world's historical records.
At least, that was what the public believed.
Leon knew better.
There was one.
His expression grew serious.
Lilith Frostwolf.
The strongest existence in the game.
The woman who destroyed the world.
Leon slowly clenched his tiny fist.
If I want to survive, I need power.
He had no idea whether his new body possessed any special talent, and he couldn't afford to rely on luck. He needed to understand his abilities and find a way to grow stronger before the disasters began.
Just as he was thinking about where to start, something flickered before his eyes.
Leon froze.
A transparent panel appeared directly in front of him.
He stared at it in disbelief.
Wait...
Is this actually a system?