Yes!
This means that there are other prerequisites to gaining skills. Simply listening feeds into the listening skill but I’m guessing that I was able to listen to people who didn’t realise I was listening in order to gain my new skill. Another difference is the level of experience gained for this skill. I got 200 experience instead of the usual 100, so there must be stages to the skills. Beginner and at least intermediate but I’m still starting out so probably advanced and above too!
Maybe each one of my skills has a tree of skills based on it to level up to. Listening then Eavesdrop what would be next in this tree and what do I need to do to be able to get it? Are there different branches?
Mother is singing again. It sounds nice and is comforting. I’m not alone here even if I can’t respond. I was wondering if I can get smarter by listening to her singing. Fairly sure that was a thing back home people playing Mozart to babies to make them smarter. I remember thinking that seems a bit strange but it’s only got my brain thinking.
Now, I’m listening to the words trying to work them out, well working out what they mean might be impossible. But maybe I can get begin to get the sounds used and understanding what they are. I remember when I first started learning Japanese then it all just sounded like a big blur of sounds. Actually being able to hear the separate sounds took me at least 3 months to work out where one word started and the next ended. I’m guessing I’ll be learning a new language here. Then at least I can get a leg up.
There's nothing like eavesdropping to show that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head. It isn't so much that the world inside my head is different it's that I simply don't know what anything is. Everything is a guess and the only way to work out what the world might be like is through listening. Eavesdropping on others to make a guesstimate at what I might be expecting.
I’m listening to this house trying to imagine what the world outside looks like and even if I don’t know what the words mean yet, I can start guessing. Maybe I can even learn the songs you don’t need to know what the words mean to sing along. Other than that it is taking me longer and longer to level up the skills I have.
1 hour for the first level
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2 hours for the second
4 hours for the third
8 hours for the fourth
Finally, 16 hours for the fifth level of each skill and that skill level isn’t gaining me any more experience than the first. Compounded with the fact that the experience required for my overall level to improve is also going up exponentially. I might have made it to Level 5 for my time sense now but the key to my continued overall growth is going to be getting intermediate skills and hopefully advanced skills as well.
To that end, I need to think about how I can build on the skills I have to gain their intermediate versions. What can I get from Time sense? Are there things I can time? What else could I get from listening? What would be the next stage after Eavesdrop? Where could meditation lead? If I can sense Mana can I absorb or expel it? Might be a little limited on the swimming as I don’t have a lot of room in here. But maybe I can get breath control seeing as I haven’t taken a breath in 2 weeks.
Still proud of my progress in reaching level 4. Level 5 looks a lot further off but hopefully, I can think my way along a skill tree or two.
Also, I have remembered that hearing begins around halfway through pregnancy so assuming I'm human and that the gestation period is the same wherever I am I think I must have around 20 - 22 weeks to go to term or at least another 140 days.
I must have spent the first 20 weeks or 140 days drifting in and out of consciousness or maybe my baby brain simply wasn't big enough to hold my consciousness. Either way, I should have ten times the amount of time left that I remember so far.
That's a long time to be without a way to interact with someone. I remember traveling on my own or taking a break out to hills, forests, or the countryside where I was unlikely to meet anyone but the option was always there. I know I'm not alone, I'm literally surrounded by family. But the inability to communicate in any manner makes me feel lonely.
I want them to know I'm here, to feel my presence, to something . . .
I push, stretch, kick.
I want out.
But it doesn't happen and won't for a long time yet.
I push, stretch, kick, and then suddenly there's a response.
A gasp, an inhale of air, and without warning an extra pressure pushing down on me in here.
I push once more and am pushed back in return. The muffled, sound of a word murmured meets my ears. Then I'm pressed again from two sides.
I'm not alone.
I might not be able to see much or hear much of the world outside but the world outside knows I'm here. I give them a last kick goodnight before drifting back to sleep my stamina is stretched by the simple movements made to gain their attention and wrapped in what I hope is my parent's warm embrace.
Level: 4 Experience: 200/3200 Age: 14 days
Health: 40/40 Stamina: 13/33 Mana 50/50
Vitality: 4
Endurance: 3
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 3
Senses: 7
Mind: 50
Clarity: 5
Magic: 5
Free Points: 40
Skills: Time sense (LV 5) Listening (LV 4) Meditation (LV 3) Sense Mana (LV 2) Swimming (LV 1) Eavesdrop (LV 1)
My last thought before sleep claims me once more is can babies get claustrophobia?