Damion was quite happy he had managed to complete the quest, but what really made him happy was that he could now understand his parents. He was not entirely sure, but he felt that the magic of the Magic System had somehow granted him full understanding of the Otash language. Before the notification, he had only figured out a few words, and he certainly was not fluent. After the notification though, he could understand his mother fine, even if she was using baby talk.
'Status,' Damion thought, bringing up his system status.
[Magic System]
[Full System unlock in 17:337:15:30:49]
[System Level: 1]
[User: Damion Wells]
[Age: 0]
[Magic Talent: Locked]
[Magic Affinity: Locked]
[Mana: 25/25]
[Magic Power: Locked]
[Mana Recovery: Locked]
[Strength: 0]
[Dexterity: 2]
[Vitality: 85]
[Intelligence: 114]
[Experience: 100/1,000]
[Store Credits: 1]
After taking a look at the changes to his status, Damion was beginning to understand more about how the system worked. After learning all he did about his new world and his new language, Damion had gained 2 points to Intelligence. He was also growing and beginning to get control over his body, as evidenced by his 2 points in Dexterity.
From everything Damion learned from the Magic System, he knew that as he grew, in mind and body, his attributes would grow. With this knowledge, Damion planned to make full use of his growing body to reach as high of attributes as he could before the Magic System fully unlocked when he turned eighteen. He was not sure of all the features he would unlock when the system was ready, but he was sure the features would be amazing.
Knowing the native language of his new world allowed Damion to learn his parent's names and more about them. His mother was named Sharon Wells and his father was Caleb Wells. They were ordinary people and lived ordinary lives. Sharon, before Damion's birth, worked as an accountant. Caleb worked as an architect, designing houses and apartments for their town's government. Neither of his parents could use magic, in fact, he was the first in either of their lines that was able to use magic, which made his injury at birth even sadder for his parents.
Over the next few months Damion continued to grow stronger and learn more about his new world. Two things he learned surprised him. The first thing that surprised him was that despite magic existing in this world, only one in ten thousand people were able to become a mage. The second thing he learned was that even with magic and all the wonders it could bring, this new world was far more dangerous than his old.
On Earth there were wild animals and if you wandered into their territory they could be quite dangerous. On Nerotath the wild animals were not just dangerous, they ruled most of the world. Beasts fell into three categories, common beasts, which were very much like those on Earth, but could grow often to two or three times the size of their Earth counterparts. Ferocious Beasts which were deadly monsters that had magic powers of their own. And finally, Demonic Beasts, which were monsters that were actually formed by magic.
From what Damion's mother told him, though he had to piece it all together as she was not trying to teach him, just talking to him about random things in a soothing voice to get him to fall asleep, there were different rankings for the beasts depending on their powers. Just like the rankings for mages based on their power, but she had yet explain the rankings to him. When Damion inquired about it to the Magic System, it merely responded that this world's ranking system was separate from its own and that it would adapt as more information was gathered.
The beasts were so dangerous that even cities in areas that were considered safe had thick magically strengthened walls to keep out the Ferocious and Demonic Beasts that would from time-to-time wander into the areas humans considered safe. Damion had yet to see a beast of this world, unless you counted the normal household pets, but the way people spoke about them, told him that the beasts of this world were no joke.
Where Damion and his new family lived was a Green Zone city called Saung. From what he had seen of the city, he estimated it to have around 50 to 75 thousand residents. Green Zone referred to the safety of the area. A Green Zone only had a beast wave, as they called a massive stampede of beasts that could flatten a city, once every ten years. There were the occasional wandering beasts, but they were quite rare, and the city walls kept them out and protected the city from the beast waves as well.
In addition to the Green Zones, there were White Zones, the safest areas of the human domains. They only ever encountered a beast wave once every thousand years. Then there were the Yellow Zones, which had to deal with beast waves every five years. Most of the communities in the Yellow Zones were small towns or military outposts. The outposts would fare well through the beast waves, as that is what they were designed for, to disrupt and minimize the beast waves' effects on communities. But the towns in the Yellow Zones usually did not have strong enough walls and so people either hid, fought, evacuated or died.
The final zones were those considered the wilds by most people. Red Zones, areas unsafe for humans to live in, but there were frequent patrols and operations through them to keep the large beast populations down as this helps to limit the frequency and severity of beast waves in other zones.
Black Zones were areas where only the strongest of humans dare to venture or even have a chance to survive passing through. The Black Zones are completely controlled by the beasts and any human entering them is not only risking death, but also could cause a beast wave into other areas as once most Ferocious Beasts or Demonic Beasts tasted human flesh, it would drive them to consume more.
Damion was unsure why his mother treated knowledge about beasts something to tell her child like a bedtime story. The knowledge was certainly important to know, but ordinarily a person would not remember anything from when they were a few years old, let alone a few weeks. This left him wondering if this information was more important than he thought, or if his mother simply did not know any bedtime stories to tell him.
While Damion was thankful he had been reborn, being trapped in a baby's body was rather frustrating to him. Luckily, he knew he was going to grow up eventually, he just had to make sure he did not do anything too unusual for a baby before then.
At six months old, Damion started trying to walk, which was not as easy as he thought it would be. Balance, strength, even his perception had to be changed from a grown man's to a child's and to make it more complicated, he was constantly growing, so each day his new body was a little different keeping him off balance.
When Damion reached a year old he started his baby talk, carefully making sure he would speak as a baby would. His parents were quite happy as they watched him grow and behave as an ordinary child. The scare of his mana pathways being crippled after birth seemed to be willfully forgotten.