Grandpa’s startled gasp rang out while Mother quietly covered her mouth in shock. Grandpa’s eyes began to greedily roam all across our traits, stats, and skills.

  Grandpa embraced the both of us in a hug while laughing freely.

  “You two little rascals! This whole time, do you have any idea how worried I was about you pushing everything you did until a skill formed? I thought we were going to have to figure out your whole future with skills like climbing or meditating!” His attention goes back to the Uncleaned Soul Trait.

  “You know, me and my friends used to joke about what was better: unlimited time or unlimited potential. It seems the two of you have the potential to shine like a falling star.” Grandpa ruffled my hair.

  “Grandpa, is that all you care about?” Callia asks. We were both honestly concerned about how Grandpa might feel about the strangeness of our traits, but he just merrily chuckled.

  “Little Lia,” he gently rubbed her shoulder. “The important thing is always potential. Grandpa is a bit sad you won't live longer than him, but that doesn’t mean your lives won't be worth living. It looks like something beyond my understanding happened to the two of you, but there are many strange and wondrous sights in the world. I just happened to find another in my family.”

  “Cal, Lia, you were always both so composed whenever I was teaching you. You were actually listening to me, weren’t you?” Mom gently added in from the side with an affectionate laugh, “Here I was thinking you just liked me talking seriously to you!”

  We just nod before adding on, “Whenever Mom got serious explaining things, Sis and I knew to listen because you taught us things we didn’t know. It was comforting to understand even if we couldn’t do much.” Callia hopped off Grandpa’s leg and gave Mom a grateful hug.

  “Oh, Lia,” Mom scooped up Lia in a big hug. “But you know this whole time you’ve been running around making messes wherever you please.” A dark smile spreads across Mom’s face. “I believe since you're so mature, it’s time for the two of you to help around the house!”

  Grandpa chuckles from the side. “I’m sure there will be time to set the little ones straight. We still need to talk about their futures. Cal, Lia, Would you mind explaining everything you’ve learned about your traits, and we will work from there.”

  I nodded and leaned back onto Grandpa’s chest while Callia made herself comfortable in Mom’s embrace. “Ok, let’s start at the top.

  "This trait has made me and Callia aware even before we were born. Our thoughts were complex, but we didn’t understand much. We were aware when the system gave us some alert and felt as if we were split in two. That’s when we got the Soul Bond trait."

  Grandpa nods along, chiming in. “I don’t know if anyone else remembers such an event, but there have been many cases of twins being linked like the two of you. If you are close together when you slay a monster, the experience you receive will be shared instead of going mostly to whoever finished it off. A lot of highly skilled twins use that balance to train complementary builds.”

  Cal listens patiently and continues, “I’m not sure what our lifespan cap means, but the age is when we died in a previous life. I was really sick when I got my affinity because it was using my mana to remember things from that life.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “Can you tell us what it’s like?” Mom chimed in from the side.

  I hum in thought for a moment. “It’s like a story. We are still both Mom’s children, but we were told a long and generally boring story about someone else in excruciating detail.” We pause for a bit, and Mom takes a breath in relief. “Now for the next one.

  In our previous life the world was known as Earth. So I think the name was based on the origin of our souls. The first two effects are continuous, so we haven’t really noticed them.”

  Grandpa breaks into laughter. “RIGHT, you haven’t noticed, have you? How do you think a boy your age has any skill above level 20? Even level twenty for a skill at your age is something powerful nobles would adopt to raise you into positions of power. That’s how your dad became a knight. A visiting noble saw the apparent potential, and he was whisked away for 30 years of training before being sent here just as he established relations with your mom! Right, anyway, go on.”

  My eyes go wide in interest. Mom and Dad clearly loved each other, but we had always been wondering why Dad had to leave before we were born. However, that’s a story to pry from Grandpa later. I refocus on my explanation. “So the Max Skill Cap. In my previous life there was no system, so my current guess is that while people shaped by this world are limited as a balancing function, my soul was designed to grow to accommodate anything I learn. Without stats or the system to support it, there was a different balance in that world.

  As for any skills I learn, aptitude and time are still needed so I can learn whatever I like without limits, but there is still the limitation of time investment into skills. I’m not entirely sure of the implications, but Sis and I have just considered it a convenient restriction removal.”

  Grandpa leans back and tugs at his beard, quietly muttering, “Still limited by normal acquisition factors.” Then he leans forward, rejoining the talk. “Specialization has always been the most fundamental path to success. Many who seek to reach greatness are limited by their foundation. I was only ever able to reach tier 3 with my skills. Most higher-tier skills need magic. Your trait ensures that whatever path you want to branch into, you will be able to form a base of fundamentals.

  While it may not seem extraordinary, especially because your time is still limited, you will be able to acquire more high-rank skills than any human alive. I can already see you have some skills I’ve never heard of.”

  Grandpa finishes his commentary, and I start up again. “I think you both already know about Human Physique, and Soul Bond so we won't go in-depth there. As for your affinity it's unique to everyone. Exploring how it affects your future will depend on you."

  I’m not quite sure how to describe my affinity other than a connection to somewhere between reality and thought. It’s some kind of space, but it holds everything material and immaterial, including my memories. It’s like I'm blind, grasping in a room I can’t see or feel unless I grab something with a personal connection to me.”

  Grandpa patted my head. “That’s fine, but you are thinking of an affinity like it's a skill. It’s not an affinity that is an aspect of you. Lia’s regeneration stems from her life affinity, and my stone skin from my earth affinity, but all skills are colored by affinity. It’s not about using the affinity as much as it is about learning how the affinity naturally colors your being.”

  Grandpa picks me up, lifting me onto his shoulders. “Now, little Cal, how about we go outside and you two show off all the tricks you’ve picked up?” Grandpa takes us to a small clearing in the training woods and sits to the side with an eager expression. Mom stands by him, smiling encouragingly.

  “Right, I’ve found magic to be the skill I'm more interested in.” I focus on getting a feel for the mana in the world around me. When I was little, feeling mana came naturally because it was so odd. My mind was adjusted to earth; the contrast between mana and no mana made it so much easier to focus on. At first I could only feel the mana in my body, but as I got older, my perception expanded.

  Sense mana is honestly far more like listening to sound than seeing with eyes. Powerful magic makes a disturbance in the calm sedimentary mana, and those waves are what you feel. The stronger my sense of mana, the further I can sense. Eventually I noticed that the act of perceiving mana altered it, and strong willpower can move mana.

  I impose my will on the mana around me, and there are shimmers about an inch from my skin as I demonstrate the mana zone. This skill is more an act of pure will, as I’m using natural mana around me instead of my own, but I’m unable to do any more than establish the zone; it breaks the moment something disturbs it, probably because it needs more Will stat.

  Then I instead impose my will on my own mana, activating Mana Boost. It doesn’t make a huge difference, but my body feels lighter, and I’m a bit faster. Finally, I utilize control mana to spell out HI and then materialize it by willing it into visibility, making it glow faintly while floating in the air.

  Mom seems enamored by the glowing light, and Grandpa looks visibly satisfied. I drop the light as I exhaust my mana and begin to pant from the exertion.

  “I don’t have much mana yet, so using any of these skills takes a lot out of me.” I admit taking a seat and letting Callia stand up. Grandpa pats my back and declares

  “Seems I was right about accessing higher-tier skills because of your stronger foundations. You are discovering magic entirely on your own and shaping mana in ways most mages wouldn’t dare. There are a lot of magic-type skills, so most mages don’t dare explore it like you. They have to fear getting saddled with a useless skill. Curiosity is strictly forbidden unless you are forcing an apprentice to try it. A lot of rejects or low-talented people are used to explore strange skills like the ones you showed us.”

  I sit back and watch Callia show off her physical skills and while I reflect on what Grandpa had said. It seemed a whole world of magic was out there, unexplorable to anyone except me, and that thought excited me. It seems my future as a mage was set. I planned to learn it all and eventually show the world just what humanity can do.