…

I didn't know when exactly but I somehow changed room. Meaning I must have slept or somehow missed it, because I do not remember anyone taking me away from where I was before. Being a baby certainly made mater harder in term of concentration and active brain time… I probably slept a lot more than I actually realized and that was with the mind of a-probable- adult, although I didn't remember my age exactly prior to being trapped here.

As to how I could tell it wasn't the same room? That was actually a good question as I couldn't see a lot with my still defectives eyes, and my line of sight was being hindered by the box I was placed in again. But this one had a different coloration, a lighter grey. I didn't know if there was a meaning to it, but judging as I was 'put on the list' and transferred to a new place the color might have some kind of signification.

Gazing through the plastic case that was my cradle I could again see other babies similarly in display, though we were way less numerous than on the other room...no more than a dozen probably.

The other thing of note was some kind of machinery attached to the boxes. Basically it looked like some kind of machinery meant to disperse something to breath or some sort of cooler. It was almost as big as the boxes we were in, with numerous vials of different color protruding out at the edges and plastic tubes connected the cribs.

I turned my head as my attention was caught by the sound of pumping and the vibrations of a motor, and discovered that, of course, my bed was connected to one of those very same machines. Said piece of junk decided to activate itself apparently. It only took a few second before some kind of fluid began to travel through the tubes, I could see its neon blue colored content advance until it reached the last place it was supposed to. Namely, I.

I watched with fascinated horror as the nozzles fitted to my crib started to spray the substance in my enclosed bed space. Some part of my mind tried to reassure me, believing that people wouldn't try to kill babies in their sleep, but I couldn't bring myself to believe it wholly, I was tetanized by the idea of dying… That could have sounded stupid as I had reincarnated, but I held no memory of my possible previous demise, so the probable one in front of me was the only one I knew of at the time.

The gas slowly expanded and started to cover me, I could feel a small itch as it was encasing my skin, but it was when I couldn't hold my breath anymore that I truly felt his horror. I could feel it, going in my windpipe, burning me from within, the pain sent electric arc through my undersized pain as I contorted in erratic movements fueled by agonizing pain. I could feel every part of my body burn, my muscles contract and relax at random, I could even swear hearing my bones snap under whatever pressure they were subjected to.

Every bout of new pain would make me hurl against my prison walls, my shouts soon required me to take in more breath starting the cycle anew. My mind was starting to break as forms, light and sound started to mesh in a cohesive yet incoherent whole throbbing through my temple, then, somewhere in between the impression of discovering the greatest secret of the universe just before awakening from a fever dream and dying, I passed out…

I hesitantly opened my eyes, still disoriented by what I swore had been hours of tortures… I supposed that one good thing was that I still lived. The other one, more concerning, was that I either was still groggy, high from whatever I literally smoked for who know how long or that I had hit my underdeveloped skull way harder than I thought against the plexiglass restraint of my coffin, because a holographic letters were now floating in front of my eyes.

You have been selected as the [Pseudo-Player].

Somehow, I knew what it was, I couldn't remember tits or tats of my name, friends, family, attitude, past jobs or hobbies or whatever, but I knew that this was a form of system to give me an edge. Something I had probably fanaticized about a lot in my previous life. And yet, now that those words were hovering soundlessly over my head, in the basement of whatever torture hospital I was in, I didn't know what to think of. There was no prompt for it to continue, no quest, no indications… The only thing I remarked was that it stated that I was a 'pseudo-player' and not simply a player. Whatever the difference was I had no idea.

'Accept?' I thought hesitantly, hopping that it would make the message change, explain its purpose or at the very least make it just vanish… although I didn't really want that, a system would be nice.

My try seemed to bring some change though as the later dissipated before another prompt appeared.

Status of [Pseudo-Player] successfully granted to [ ], opening target status.

Well there was some sort of progress.

Stat chart

Status

Name: Lvl: 0 newborn
Title:
Health: 10/10
Aura: 37/50

Strength: 1
Vitality: 5
Intelligence: 1 ~ (12)
Wisdom: 1 ~ (11)
Dexterity: 1
Charisma: 1
Luck: 5

My stats were truly underwhelming, although it was to be expected, I was still in the body of a baby. An unnamed baby at that, either my parents really didn't care, or the society I was in decided to name their kids after some years or feat they did. That was a possibility, but I highly doubted it, because no sane parents would willingly submit their kids to torture by poisonous gas or whatever that was. And because of one little detail in my status: Aura. I pondered for a moment, I wasn't sure what it could be but I felt like I had it on the tip of my tongue. It was just under my health point… so maybe some kind of mana or magic? Because I didn't think it would be some form of charisma, even though charismatic people are described as having some sort of aura. No, it couldn't be. For one, I did not believe an overly plump baby would be extremely charismatic, and if my stat in that particular area was anything to go by… well… I couldn't get any lower, so it had to be something else.

So, to recapitulate, something that can be spend, and is somehow similar to magic… not to forget that the word was familiar. 'Oh…' A realization hit me. No, that wasn't possible… was it? I mean I couldn't remember my kriffing name for tits sake; thanks to my very selective amnesia; but I could tell that if Aura meant what I believed it did, then somehow I was now in for a world of overly contrived plot, betrayals and killing… sweet.

That last bit of information left me staying still on my back for a moment. Oh don't get me wrong I felt all sort of emotions at that revelation. I was elated; being able to walk the world of Remnant was an incredible thing. I wanted to meet the cast, see them in action, help them, and prevent the worst from happening if I could. It was really weird somehow, having feelings for people that, hours before, didn't really exist, and were now complete stranger to me… 'Are they even still alive? Or born at all…' I realized I had no idea of when I was in the show, nor where actually, which could hinder me in getting to see them... And from what I could wager, I wouldn't get some information on those matters before a loooooong long time.

Other than happiness I was also kind of apprehensive. Knowing that I lived in a world where mankind was but mere moment before its fall after millennia of wasting away… yhea… that wasn't exactly the best kind of realization in…ever, really. Nor was the fact that, if I wanted to be able to have any sort of impact in this world, I would need to be able to fight against waves of giants monsters… which my system would certainly come in handy 'Got to appreciate the little things huh'. And the fact that I had also awakened my aura… meaning those bastards did try to kill me with the fucking gas after all! 'What kind of sick psychos try to gas babies to death? Seriously!?'

Bah… no matter, I got the better of it, and I will take every advantage I can get. Beggars can't be choosers and I won't be able to move by myself for month if not years, so I might as well familiarize myself with my system.

Well then…Welcome to Remnant I guess.