Creating Status Camouflage

He didn't want to make too many modifications at this stage—just enough to ensure it functioned as intended without any runtime errors.

Once compiled, there would be no debugging tool to fix mistakes. Any error could be life-threatening.

He had tested it extensively in the IDE testing environments, running simulations with all the mock resources available.

Now came the real challenge.

Taking a deep breath, he mentally clicked on the Compile option.

67% of his mana vanished instantly.

A sharp headache flared up. He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to endure it.

Was this his Luck stat kicking in? Maybe.

If he had any less mana, he wouldn't have been able to compile the skill at all.

He really was fortunate. He had so many advantages:

• Memories of his past life.

• A broken skill that gave him limitless potential.

• The ability to train his mana daily by exhausting it just before sleep, which kept increasing his max mana pool.

Once a Status was unlocked, growing stats like this wouldn't be so easy or fast anymore.

For now, he just had to wait for the compilation to finish.

Many had tried—both willingly and unwillingly—to increase their stats before turning five.

But that was incredibly dangerous.

Physical stats could be trained, but spiritual growth required proper care.

A child's body wasn't ready to channel mana, and their skills remained locked. The only way to increase mana capacity was to use external methods—forcing the body to drain its mana artificially.

Few could do this safely.

Maybe the rich and powerful nobles had the means, but for others?

It was a gamble with death.

Many children died trying. Some suffered irreversible soul damage before they could even awaken their status.

He first learned about this from his mother during one of their late-night story sessions.

She had once caught a glimpse of a noble's child from afar—a scion of a powerful family, trained since infancy.

Curious, he had asked her question after question.

And as always, she had been patient enough to tell him everything she knew.

'Maybe she told him all this so he wouldn't try something reckless on his own.'

She worried about him—a lot.

As if a normal child would even have the means to drain their mana using external methods.

While he was lost in thought, the skill compilation finally completed.

A new executable file appeared.

To better understand how the System worked, he had been piecing together its mechanics.

He thought of it like a Cloud Server.

That was where the entire System existed—a vast, primary space storing all skills, statuses, and functionalities.

Everyone had a client-side local system, which interacted with the Cloud System Server when they met certain conditions—granting them skills, updates, and even new stats.

Each client-side system had a unique address, like an ID string, used for identification.

He had already discovered his address by running a custom application that fetched it from his status screen.

Now, what he needed to do next fell into DevOps territory.

First things first—commit to version control.

That way, if anything went wrong, he could roll back to a previous instance. No immediate life-threatening errors so far—good.

Next, he containerized the skill and pushed it into the production pipeline.

Now, he just had to wait.

The CI/CD tests would run, verifying the container's integrity before pushing it live to the Cloud Server.

Then, the final step—deployment.

The containerized skill was pushed from the Cloud Server to the local system linked to his unique address—his status screen.

Status…

[ You have unlocked a new skill: Status Camouflage ]

He took a deep breath. No errors. No rollback.

Now, the moment of truth.

He checked the skill description.

[

Status Camouflage

An imitation of a skill created by Peter to imitate a false status screen to hide his real status screen from any skill or artifact.

Creating a false status screen requires 500 mana. Editing the fake Status screen charges the same amount of mana.

Keeping the fake screen active consumes 10 mana per hour.

Rank: Rare

]

It worked exactly as the description stated. No unexpected errors. No hidden drawbacks.

Mana was a fascinating thing—more than just a source of energy. The System seemed to use it as a communication pathway, similar to how the internet functioned in his past life.

As for the deeper mechanics behind it… he didn't know. Not yet.

[ You have unlocked 2 new Titles:

Skill Creator

Trailblazer: Skills ]

'Okay, I did not expect that.'

The sudden notification from the system left him momentarily stunned. Once he came to his senses, he opened the descriptions of both titles to learn more about them.

[ Skill Creator ]

A Title awarded to a person who created a new skill.

+5 Charisma

[ Trailblazer: Skills ]

A Title awarded to a person who developed a new way to create Skills.

+15 Charisma, +10 Luck

An unexpected surprise, but much appreciated.

These stats would definitely come in handy when it came to unlocking higher-grade class options.

It was late at night, and fatigue was setting in. Deciding not to push any further, he quickly set up his fake Status Screen and settled in for a peaceful sleep.

[

Name: Peter

Race: Human

Class: None

Age: 5

Title: None

Stats:

Health: 50

Mana: 280 

Constitution: 5 Spirit: 28

Strength: 4 Agility: 5

Luck: 3

Skills: 

Mana Sense lv. 1

]

'Done.'

He smirked, satisfied with himself.

'Maybe he should reward himself in the morning with some cookies.'

A yawn escaped as he pulled the blanket over himself. Adjusting the cushion for better comfort, he closed his eyes.

Sleep came easily.

That night Peter dreamed about living in a flying castle among the clouds and eating lots and lots of cookies. 

It was quiet and peaceful. Once he was done eating enough cookies to bloat his stomach, he walked into the balcony and saw a Phoenix flying in the sky parallel to the flying castle. 

It was the most beautiful creature Peter had ever seen. 

For a moment, the Phoenix turned its head — their eyes met. There was a strange, ancient intelligence in its gaze, as if it saw through him — past the five-year-old body — straight into the soul of a reincarnated man.

And then, just like that, it soared higher, disappearing beyond the sea of clouds.

Peter stood there for a while, a small smile creeping onto his face.

...To be continued