New Family

A FEW WEEKS LATER

"I was finally able to calm down and come to my senses. The fear, confusion, and overwhelming strangeness of this new life had dulled into a quiet curiosity. Maybe it was resignation… or maybe it was the first flicker of acceptance."

"Surprised as I was, I decided to examine the system I'd been mysteriously granted." A shimmering window appeared before my eyes, displaying multiple functions: Gacha, Shop, Inventory, and Status Window—each pulsing faintly with energy. It reminded me of games from my past life, only now it was terrifyingly real.

"I half-expected to wake up and find this all a dream. But every time I opened my eyes, the same world stared back. Wooden beams. Strange voices. Warm arms. This was no illusion."

I first inspected the Gacha. It required tickets, a kind of currency. The Shop, in turn, ran on Points. I learned quickly that both were only obtainable through Quests and Achievements—tasks the system assigned, ranked by difficulty and reward.

Quest Rewards:

"Common – 1 Ticket, 10 Points"

"Uncommon – 2 Tickets, 100 Points"

"Rare – 3 Tickets, 1,000 Points"

"Epic – 4 Tickets, 10,000 Points"

"Legendary – 5 Tickets, 100,000 Points"

Achievements, however, were a different story. "They granted ten times the reward of quests. A single great act—one shining moment—could turn paupers into kings."

"The idea thrilled me. It was like fate itself was gamified. Destiny, but with a progress bar. And for once in my two lives… I had a way to climb."

I explored further and opened my Inventory. It was a vast void—bottomless in quantity, limited only by the physical size of items. "I stared into that endless dark and imagined what I could store there one day—books, weapons, tools, food, relics. A whole life in my pocket."

Then I stopped. The Status Window loomed like a mirror I didn't want to look into—but couldn't avoid.

I opened it, bracing myself.

Status

Age – 0

Strength – 01

Defense – 01

Dexterity – 01

Stamina – 01

Intelligence – 15~20

"My heart dropped. I was a baby in every possible sense. Weak. Fragile. Useless. Except… that one stat."

"My intelligence was high—unnaturally so. A whisper of pride rose inside me. In another life, I might have dismissed such things as numbers on a screen. But here? They were everything."

I asked the system about these stats. It replied in its neutral, omnipresent tone:

"Average adult humans possess stats ranging from 5 to 7.

Trained warriors measure around 10 to 15.

The exceptional, the legends, reach stats of 25 to 30."

"So I was a genius. Trapped in a newborn's body. It was like being given the mind of a scholar and the limbs of a worm. A cruel joke—or a hidden advantage."

Then the system added one last thing, with something almost like irony:

"Strength and intelligence do not always coexist."

"I chuckled internally. No kidding. In my old world, I'd seen that divide too. Brutes who could lift cars but couldn't spell their own names. Intellectuals who could solve quantum equations but couldn't change a tire."

"But now? Now I had the chance to become something… else. Someone balanced. Someone dangerous."

Before I could dive deeper into that thought, I was interrupted.

The woman who'd been caring for me entered the room. This time, she wore a strange helmet—angular, etched with runes that glowed faintly. "Its meaning escaped me. Was it ceremonial? Functional? Or perhaps… sacred?"

She lifted me and the other baby beside me and carried us with practiced ease. Her footsteps were steady, graceful. Her arms—soft, but solid. I could feel the warmth of her through the thick cloth she wore.

"I studied her. Everything about her. The way she moved. The way her breath never faltered. There was strength in her silence. She wasn't just a nursemaid or servant. She was trained. A warrior of some kind."

As we left the room, I took in more of the building around us—its wooden frame, the hand-carved beams, the scent of smoke and crushed herbs. This was not Earth. This world breathed like a myth come to life.

We stopped. And there he was.

The man I had only glimpsed once before. Now fully visible.

"He stood like a monument to survival. Towering. Broad. Eyes like stone and thunder. Muscles like knotted cords beneath a cloak made of scale and leather. He looked like he'd hunted dragons. And maybe he had."

His beard was thick and wild, and like the woman, he wore a helmet—his adorned with horn-like protrusions and deep, old scratches. Battle-worn. Revered. Feared.

"I stared. In awe. In disbelief. In something close to instinctive reverence. This man… he wasn't just strong. He was someone. A figure out of legend."

But the woman didn't hand me to him.

She walked past him. To a bed. A figure lay there, propped up with furs and pillows. She looked at me immediately.

Our eyes met.

And something inside me… cracked. Opened.

Warmth flooded my chest.

She was radiant despite the exhaustion. Her face was pale, but her expression glowed. Her eyes were soft. Her lips trembled into a smile.

She took me in one arm, and the other baby in the other.

Then, softly—like a song made just for our ears—she whispered, "My miracles…"

And it all clicked.

The man stepped forward and said, in a deep voice that rumbled like distant thunder, "Valka, you should rest. You just woke up."

She shook her head, her voice barely holding together. "That's exactly why, Stoic. I had to see them."

That name. Stoic.

And hers. Valka.

And then—everything aligned.

"She was my mother.

He was my father.

And the other child beside me… was my twin."

"In my past life, I'd been alone. Lost, After losing my family. Wandering through the days like a ghost with a heartbeat. But here… here I was held. Wanted. Loved."

I looked up at her again. Her hands were scarred. Her breath was shallow. But she held me like I was something sacred.

"I didn't mean to cry. But I did.

Through the tears, I smiled.

"This… this is my new family."

"And I will earn my place among them."