Wow, that was the best series I've ever read. I love his character development, going from a shut-in pervert to one of the greatest mages in his verse.
"I would give up everything to be Rudeus Greyrat. Well, it's not like I'm giving up much though I'm an orphan who goes to a poor school. But that doesn't stop me from being the best. If I were Rudeus, I'd become the world's strongest, maybe even stronger than Orsted."
"It doesn't matter anyway; isekai's aren't real."
"Oh shit, it's past 10; the caretaker's going to give me an earful if I don't get to bed."
I turn off my lamp, put my book away, and get under my covers. "I wish I'd wake up as Rudeus Greyrat…"
Huh? Why is it morning, and why do I feel wet? Who's this man in front of me, and what language is this? Why does it feel familiar? What are these faces he's making? He's weirding me out.
Wait, this scene feels familiar. I can't put my finger on it. Am I dreaming, or did I get put into Mushoku Tensei? I have to be dreaming, because that's the maid, Lilia, and the guy making weird faces is Paul.
Someone turns me around, and I face them. It's my new mom, Zenith.
It's been a month, and it's still hard to believe I'm here, but what truly made me believe I'm actually in Mushoku Tensei is the fresh poop in my diaper.
It's kind of embarrassing, but I can't control my bladder, so I've also been peeing myself. I feel like a helpless piece of flesh. I can't even crawl yet. I don't cry much, but I cry from time to time for milk and my diaper change. I also cry every time Paul is in my face, not really for any other reason than it's funny. Lilia still seems distant from me, but a little less, as I cry more than Rudeus did in canon. She probably still thinks I'm some demon.
With nothing else to do, I just lay on my bed and try to conjure my mana. Every time I try, I instantly faint. Also, something is off: once, I tried to feel the mana and course it through my body, and before I fainted, I could see the mana in the air.
Three months have passed. I can finally crawl. I'm still trying to adjust to being a baby; everything is just so big, and I'm so small. I can fit under almost everything. I crawl around everywhere, and Zenith and Lilia always come looking for me. It's kind of like a game of hide and seek.
Another big thing that happened was my progress with Lilia. I think she's warming up to me. I crawl around her and ask her to pick me up; she has a small smile on her face. She deserves this happiness after what she's been through.
My mana is increasing slowly but steadily. I definitely don't feel the big mana increases that Rudeus got, maybe because I'm a baby. But I have a theory: I don't have the Laplace Factor. It's still just a theory for now. I've also kind of learned to understand the language. I think the reason I'm learning it so fast is that I've been teaching myself to read.
Because of my baby brain, I learn at an accelerated pace. They say babies learn faster than normal humans.
I still pass out after manipulating my mana a bit. It lasts longer, but barely.
I'm finally one year old. I think I'm at an appropriate age to start magic now. I won't be at risk of injuring myself if I use magic due to mana exhaustion.
Lilia opens the door and sees me looking at the magic book.
"Master Rudeus, can I ask what you're doing with that book?"
"I'm just looking at the pictures. It looks really cool."
"Okay, Master Rudeus, I'll be back here to tell you when it's time for dinner."
Lilia closes the door, and I hear her walk away. She goes downstairs to get ready to cook.
"Finally, I can start. So, this waterball spell—I'll start off with the basics."
I point my hand out and close my eyes. I start to imagine a water droplet and the feeling of running water. I can feel the mana in my body start to flow into my hand and swell up. I open my eyes and see a water ball. My vision starts to go black.
I wake up and see Lilia.
"Next time, young master, go to the bathroom before you pee."
"I'm sorry, Lilia. I'll go to the bathroom next time."
"This is so embarrassing. I'm way too old to be peeing myself at this age."
After that, I practice the next day, bringing a vase to drop the water in. I keep up this practice for a month; I can now use ten water balls before I pass out.
I haven't really been interacting with my family much. I just eat with them, practice my mana control, and go to bed. I still have some hard, lingering feelings about family from my past life. My old family abandoned me and left me for the orphanage. I've never had a real family before. I can feel that Zenith wants to get close to me, but it's hard because I don't want to get attached. They might just abandon me and throw me away because I'm not the child they wanted.
"Lilia, can I ask you something?"
She looks down at me and stops doing her maid duties.
"Yes, Master Rudeus, ask anything you want. I'll answer to the best of my abilities."
"Well, do you think Zenith loves me? I don't know because I'm not a normal child. I don't cry much; I don't play around. I just stay to myself."
She looks into my eyes with a look of pity and sadness.
"Miss Zenith loves you with all her heart. She would sacrifice herself for you as long as it meant you got to live. Although you are distant, I know you well enough to know that you have the capacity to love her; you just have to give her a chance."
"I'll think about what you said."
I walk away from Lilia and let her continue her job. I walk around to find Zenith, and I see her caring for her tree. I know she loves that tree; she cares for it every day.
"Umm, can I help you with something in the garden?"
I look at her shyly with my head down. She notices my presence, and when she sees me, she has this heartwarming smile on her face.
"Sure, you can help me with these plants here."
She gives me a watering can and shows me what plants to water. It's pretty heavy; I need two hands just to carry it. She helps me tip it over so it doesn't fall out of my hands. I spend about an hour helping her in the garden with activities. When we're done, I see Zenith with a big smile. She's also crying. She runs up to me and gives me a big hug, placing my face against her bountiful chest. It's hard to breathe; she's squeezing me so tightly.
"Oh, Rudy, I can't believe you're actually opening up to me."
I can't help but have a little smile on my face. The hug she gave me feels so warm. I've never had someone hug me like this before, but it feels nice.
It's been two years since then. All I've done was condition my body and train my mana. I haven't really practiced that many spells; conditioning was my number one priority so I could start sword training faster. I did push-ups till my body felt like it couldn't do anymore, then sit-ups till my abdomen burned, and ran around the house till I collapsed. I did all of this before Paul and Zenith woke up. The only person who knew was Lilia.
"Master Rudeus, I have a cold towel and a bath ready for you. Just go into your room; it's already set up there."
"Thank you, Lilia. Also, thank you again for keeping this secret."
She nods at me with a small smirk and points me upstairs to my bath. It was a little hard to adjust to this type of bath, but it's alright. I wish I could take a shower though.
It's getting close to the time where I should make a big hole in the wall so Roxy can come and tutor me. I think I'll do that today, actually. I've been getting impatient.
I quickly wash my body and go into the room I practice magic in. I flip to the spell Water Cannon; I already know it for preparation for this moment.
I put my hand out and close my eyes. I set the speed and size. I imagine a hose spouting water out at fast speeds. I feel my mana start to gather all up into the palm of my hand. I open my eyes and see a big water ball. I let go of the spell, and it effortlessly goes through our wall. It flies at breakneck speeds, ending up over a field of crops and disperses.
After that, I hear running. I know it's Paul and Zenith. I have Everything was set up just like in canon. The first person to enter the room was Paul; he came in and looked at me.
"Rudy, are you okay? Did a monster attack or something?"
Not long after, Zenith ran in and lunged at me, drawing me closer to her and hugging me tightly.
"Rudy, are you hurt?"
She looked at my body, searching for any bruises, and found nothing. Just then, Paul looked at the book.
"What's this?"
Zenith took a closer glance at the book, and her eyes lit up.
"Rudy, you didn't happen to read the words here?"
"I'm sorry, Mommy."
I looked at the floor with a fake expression of sadness. Zenith had a look of glee on her face; she started to squeal.
"Our son is a mage!"
Paul looked at Rudy, then at Zenith.
"Hey now, you promised if it was a boy, they would be a swordsman."
Zenith looked angry.
"Don't talk to me about promises; you break them all the time."
They started to bicker back and forth until Lilia came in.
"How about he trains magic in the morning and sword in the evening?"
"Lilia is right, Mommy and Daddy. I want to be a magical swordsman."
They looked at me in confusion. "A magical swordsman?" they said in unison.
"Yes, I'll be good at magic and the sword. Probably make my own sword style."
Paul's eyes shot up in glee when I started talking about being good at the sword.
"Well, that settles it. We need to get Rudy a magic teacher."
Paul and Zenith rushed out of the room. They went downstairs and started to make plans about getting me a magic tutor. Paul decided to go out to Roa today and post a job listing. Hopefully, Roxy is still the one to accept it.
The next day, I woke up later than usual. My head hurt, and I didn't know why, but my eyes were aching. Because I woke up so late, I heard a knock at the door, and that only meant one thing: Roxy!
My mother and father opened the door, and to my excitement, I saw a blue-haired demon at my door. I saw them talking to Roxy, and I decided to meet her myself. I walked over to join the conversation.
"So, where is this student of mine?"
"I'm right here."
Roxy looked down and saw a kid no older than 3 looking up at her with a strange emotion in his eyes. It was like he was looking at food ready to devour it.
"Sigh, idiot parents see a little spark of genius in their child and think he's an early bloomer."
"Umm, you know we are right here."
Roxy looked flustered.
"I'm already about to be fired."
She looked downcast.
"You know, I already know some elementary spells."
Roxy eyed me with suspicion.
"A child like you could never understand the intricacies of magic."
"Our Rudy is a special boy; you will be surprised."
Zenith looked at Roxy with pride written on her face.
"Fine, come with me, my young student."
I followed Roxy, and we made it in front of the tree.
"So, I'll test out your abilities. We will do an elementary spell, water ball. Copy after me."
Roxy pointed her staff aiming at the tree and started to chant.
[Let the vast and blessed waters converge where thou wilt and issue forth a single pure stream thereof— Waterball!]
A water ball launched from her staff and hit the tree, knocking it over and breaking it.
"Umm, miss, my mother loves and cares for that tree almost daily. If she saw this, she'd kill you."
"Oh shoot."
Roxy hurried and ran to the tree, pulling it to the trunk stuck into the ground and started to chant another spell.
[Let this divine power be as satisfying nourishment, giving one who has lost their strength the strength to rise again—Healing.]
As she finished, the tree started to reattach, and it grew back to how it was before.
"Okay, hopefully, she doesn't notice. Now, it's your turn."
I put my hand up and waited a couple of seconds, then shot three water balls out of my hand. They flew past the tree and dispersed in the air, making it rain a bit. Roxy looked at me with her mouth wide open; she looked like she'd seen a ghost.
"H-How did you do that?"
I put a smug grin on my face.
"Heh, oh that? It's nothing, just incantationless magic. It's pretty easy; I taught it to myself."
"You—how… what? How did you teach yourself that?"
I put my hands behind my head.
"You know, Roxy, I could always teach you it. It could be our little secret; you teach me magic, I teach you incantationless magic. It's a win-win, how about it?"
Before she could answer, Zenith came out of the house and found both of us in the yard. She looked at me and Roxy talking and had a warm smile on her face.
"It's time to eat; come in, Rudeus. You too, Roxy; you're a part of this family now, come on."
I walked into the house; Roxy was still standing there in shock from my deal and what she had just seen. She slowly started to walk inside, thinking about how her life was about to change so much.
A/N: It gets better the writing here isnt the best i think my writing suffers from too much exposition