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Chapter 3: Influencing Yourself

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I think it’s been 40 days since I’ve been born into this weird world, and I haven’t really made much progress, and my twin sister seems to be about 5 days ahead of me in development. I don’t exactly know how she suddenly sprinted ahead; one moment we were laying in our kryb playing and the next she was sitting up. I swear she’s bigger than I am; it’s noticeable that her arms are a bit longer, and she’s stronger than I am since she’s able to take toys from me despite my feeble attempts to resist.

What the Fuck?

Was it all that moving around?

Did shi somehow build more muscle when I wasn’t looking?

Could it be that she handles the local temperature better?

Here’s the thing; somehow my sister is more comfortable with the ambient temperature than I am.

Even our mother noticed and I’m dressed a bit warmer than my twin sister.

Vnora aren’t born with Fur like the Knora so we’re not automatically resistant to cold climates. However; what I’ve seen of my sister tells me that those of Dvern heritage might handle colder temperatures better than those of Svern heritage. It is likely that the fact that the Dvern specialized in controlling water and ice made them resistant to the negative effects of those elements. The Svern who specialized in controlling Lava through controlling Earth and Fire are likely resistant to heat and weak to cold.

Come to think of it the reddish babies at the meeting were slightly smaller.

Could it be that the Svern are incompatible with Knora on some level?

Are we going to be at a disadvantage in this colder climate?

If my math is correct the half-Svern should be 29.41% of the newborns from the 15 million. That means the vast majority of Vnora will be half-Dvern. The Vnora likely already include a sizable population of half-Gvern but if all the child bearing age females not already pregnant give birth to 70.59% half-Dvern it means an estimated 38.83% of the Knora population is half-Dvern; assuming that 55% of the Knora population are the child bearing age females.

It is assumed the half-Knora are weaker than full Knora given the low compatibility with Knora traits but the half-Dvern Knora variant may actually be more powerful than both Dvern and Knora due to the high compatibility of Dvern and Knora traits. If they somehow end up more powerful than normal Knora my twin sister will end up being at the centre of power. Given the access to memories of their lives on Earth there’s likely to be a revolution in Knora societies. In that scenario the ones to counterbalance the half-Dvern Knora are likely to be the half-Svern Knora.

To protect and support my twin sister I have to somehow control the half-Svern Knora.

The best way to control a faction is to be the one that starts the faction.

Nevertheless no one will follow a weakling.

I’m gonna need Power.

Lot’s and lots of Power; enough to be automatically recognized as a leader.

But what is power?

Is it physical superiority?

Or is it mental superiority?

Should I go for half-physical and half-mental to produce optimal superiority?

Or will going for half-physical and half-mental produce something half-assed?

A lot of novels make it look like it’s possible to do both, but instinctively we know that it’s impossible; otherwise football stars and other sport stars would be PhD’s in astrophysics.

In my previous life I started out as the athletic type but I get the feeling that athleticism isn’t my thing in this life. It’s likely I’m more suited for magic given that when conscious I simply don’t like to move around. But I get the feeling that going all magic is a bad idea given that the demonic enemy is powerful both magically and physically. I can’t build a life strategy focusing solely on Knora society; I have to consider the larger picture at all times.

Wait?

That’s it!

BUILD!

Damn-it!

Why did I think that I have to focus on combat?

There are other options!

The half-Svern Knora would likely be very good and building with stone since they can make stone. I don’t have to have a full strategy right now but the way I see it money is the only path to liberty; to be free I have to be wealthy.

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It’s been X days since I was born.

Yes I’ve lost count; what do you expect I’m an infant and I can’t exactly write in my mind.

Ah; the thing is the more conscious I am the less adult my mind becomes.

I’m making new memories and those memories are a priority.

I seem to truly enjoy playing with my twin sister.

I’m slowly becoming this new person.

And I think it’s a good thing that I’m not that other person in a new body but actually a new person with the memories of that other person.

It means I’m able to reinvent my self.

I’ve determined that my name is Novid Ollo and my twin sister is Ovis Ollo. I’ve just recently confirmed the Ollo part.

There’s some good news; the older I get the easier I find it to direct my infant mind. The breakthrough came when my twin sister started crawling; the baby me was not interested in crawling so when asleep I had to repeatedly recite follow Ovis follow Ovis follow Ovis follow Ovis. Surprisingly it worked; I had found a method of influencing the baby mind. This proves that the infant mind is somehow affected by what is likely a type of dream state.

Being able to direct my infant mind into crawling opened the door for me to be able to direct my infant thoughts in other directions. However it’s not that simple; the infant mind largely relies on instinct, so the directions in which I can point the mind have to be aligned with the infant mind’s instincts. Therefore I’ve been limited to what the infant mind considers enjoyable play; the mantra I recite when asleep is find mother, find Ovis, find food giver, find mother, find Ovis, find food giver, find mother, find Ovis, find food giver; the food giver is the guy who provides me with Breast-milk.

My infant mind seems to enjoy the finding game and actively uses the Forehead Crystal Third Eye thermal imaging to search nearby rooms for people. The other benefit is that the finding game also stimulates mobility since the infant mind’s thermal imaging capabilities are limited to a small range; I can basically only see behind a single wall and if it’s too thick the thermal images are hazy. I know from the memories of my genetic father that as I get older my thermal imaging will improve to the point where I’ll be able to see things at vast distances.

For now my infant mind is having fun with the find game. However there’s a slight problem with the find game; mental fatigue. The experienced mental fatigue takes a heavy toll on the infant mind; it has gotten to the point where my infant mind is forced into as much sleep as when I was several days old. I’ve seen looks of concern from mother; she must be concerned that I’m somehow a weakly child given that Ovis is awake almost twice as long as I am.

I haven’t been able to moderate my infant mind’s playing of the find game; what I’ve been able to encourage is rapid mobility. The logic being that if the infant mind refuses to moderate the use of the Forehead Crystal Third Eye thermal imaging then I should at least get as much physical activity as possible during the conscious period. Therefore instead of steadily crawling around to look for this person or that person I’m essentially sprint crawling like a race horse. I’ve used the infant mind’s desire to complete the find game by locating the target as quickly as possible to get a lot of physical exercise.

I can only hope that all this rapid mobility doesn’t do too much damage to the infant body since Ovis has taken to following me during my sprints. The extra physical activity doesn’t seem to tire Ovis out; meaning she is likely in far better physical condition than me. I can’t help wondering what Ovis is doing with her Forehead Crystal Third Eye given that it’s tailored to detecting crystalline ice structures and water flow. I can’t help wondering what Ovis sees.

The memories of my genetic father indicate that the Dvern are as good at healing magic as the Gvern since healing magic comes in 2 prominent forms; Water Magic and Psionic Magic. Both blood and cells have a lot of water and that means controlling water is a key component of water healing; the other component is using Mana to repair tissue. Healing magic is a specialized profession requiring years of training to gain proficiency in the application of healing magic.

Using Psionic Magic to heal is similar to using water magic with the difference being that since your not using water as the medium you’re affecting everything which makes the Mana cost 2 to 5 times more depending on level of skill. Therefore it is traditional for the healing profession to be dominated by water mages. The only group to practice Psionic Magic healing to an appreciable level are the Svern since they had low compatibility with water magic and had to be reliant on Psionic Magic healing.

The Gvern being Plant Mages had to be adept at Earth and Water Magic which allowed them to use water to carry nutrients from the earth to provide sustenance for the plants. However the true talent of the Gvern is in directing growth of plants through Mana injection. The Gvern even managed to tame and breed plants that are independent of the soil and walk the land like other beasts. It is these tamed plant creatures that are the primary fighting force of the Gvern.

I should make it one of my life goals to have a pet plant and become good enough at plant magic to sustain its life. I want to give it a Heroic Name.

On the subject of names; the people around us rarely mention their own names so I still don’t know them.

Come to think of it the attendants rarely talked to us; the only ones talking to us are the care givers who also breastfeed us.

Thus in order to learn the language quickly I have to direct my infant mind to listening; make listening to private conversations a game.

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It’s been more than several days since I decided to direct my infant mind to listening; making listening to private conversations a game.

At first I couldn’t get my infant mind to care about the adult conversations; children are essentially selfish creatures who are interested in those interested in them.

Then it occurred to me that like everything else it had to be a form of play; a game the infant mind would readily accept.

Since starting a new game would be problematic I integrated the listening to the finding game which slowly transformed into a target tracking game.

Basically I encouraged my infant mind to play a game where I follow someone without being seen and listening for the target’s conversations, footsteps and such became part of the game.

Surprisingly my infant mind readily took to this modification; likely the result of pronounced Knora hunting instincts. Even my sister Ovis took to playing along and we would hunt for this person and that person and pounce on them. The adults seemed to play along and would reward us with treats and affection. I’m guessing that the hunting behaviour is normal for Knora children and mother seemed particularly delighted by our attempts to conceal ourselves while tracking her.

What seemed to be a complete surprise was my sister Ovis making tentative attempts to stand on her feet. I’m guessing that it is unusual for an infant that young to be using objects to try and stand up. Now all that excessive moving around she had been doing since we were born made sense; she’s some kind of prodigy. I can’t lift my self up but she’s already learning to stand; she’s likely 20 days ahead of me in that field, and this is surely a significant sign of things to come. I’ll never be able to keep up with my sister.

Anyway my goal is not to keep up with my sister Ovis but to be her eyes that watch over her from the shadows.

It occurred to me that it’s entirely possible that Ovis was a man on Earth.

No; it’s not my wounded pride at being outdone by a girl.

I mean; have you seen Knora women?

They are muscular giants with big boobs and a pretty face.

Anyway; Ovis being stronger isn’t a problem. It actually means that she’ll be more important than anticipated and won’t be seen by the Knora as a mere Vnora. If the Knora recognize her strength it will make it easier for them to take me more seriously when I make my move. It’s just unfortunate that my baby instincts are to only do things that I enjoy and I don’t seem to possess that same instinctive determination that Ovis seems to have been born with. Ovis might be of the Heroic variety.

Honestly; I’m a bit jealous.

Hopefully being around her will push me from the slacker route.

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Day number …….. I don’t know since birth

Fuck it!

I’m not gonna bother trying to keep track of the time until I’m older.

Let’s get on with some derived lessons from my previous life:

Lesson 4: There’s no substitute for Hard Work.

I get the distinct feeling that the instincts of my infant mind are inclined towards laziness. I had already seen the signs that my new body is shaping my psyche to wards a personality of a slacker; devoid of ambition and content to take it easy. Since I hadn’t been that sort of person on Earth and the memories of my genetic father indicates he was a studious diligent person so my infant mind must be suffering the effects of genetics and not something caused by the memories.

So unless I somehow find a way to overwhelm the genetic tendency towards becoming a slacker I won’t be able to become anything I want to be.

I’m therefore forced to take drastic actions.

I’ve been reluctant to push my infant mind to the extreme for fear of damaging the psyche and creating psychological trauma.

But now the gloves come off.

I won’t allow a slacker tendency to get in the way of my goals.

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