Achievement Unlocked! Time Skip

Waking up the next morning with a decision firm in he's mind. One of the key mechanics in this 'game' seems to be his skills. Skills govern how well he do… well, everything. As he scan through the skills menu there seems to be one for every conceivable thing. A skill for flipping? having Acrobatics. A skill for sewing someone's wounds closed? That seems to be governed by heal. A skill for playing the bagpipes while doing high kicks as part of a chorus line?

… I'll guess that that one's 'perform'.

But no matter what it is that I want to do, it'll help to have the skill to do it. So when I wake up the next day I decide that I've been loafing around figuring out that walking thing for long enough. I need to work on my skills.

It starts easily enough. Mom's still blissed out after her visit from the noble and wants to mostly lounge around and eat grapes, but Tokei isn't the grape eating kind. I'm able to bother him enough to let me go back to the park and do some more exploring. It takes time to find another quest, but when I do…

{Quest Acquired! Squirrel Hunter!}

°"Those pesky squirrels have had it for too good for too long! They've become bolder in recent days, and they've begun stealing any shiny object that they can get their greedy little paws on! Find out where they've been keeping their ill-gotten loot to start putting an end to their reign of terror!"°

^Success Condition: Track a squirrel back to it's den without being spotted!

Grade: Practiced

Skill: Stealth

[]On Success: 'Squirrel's Den' added to your map!

[]On Failure: Reputation decrease (Konoha Squirrels)

… it's not exactly what I thought would find. It's two grades higher than mine and it's not repeatable so I can't farm it, but it's a quest! And really, what's the worst thing that can happen if my reputation decreases with the Squirrels? How do they even have their own reputation bar?!.

But I don't do it right away. Instead I keep looking for more. There have to be some good quests in Three League Park- ones that aren't just finding baby toys. I'll find them all, and then I'll start doing them.

After the Squirrel quest comes a repeatable one involving playing in a sandbox.

Then one about swimming down a creek. After that I find one about birdwatching, and the one about making people laugh by smiling at them. I'll guess I'm only going to have access to that one while I'm a toddler.

Before I can find anything else to do, I'm distracted by the Yamanaka and Nara Matriarchs rolling their strollers into the park once more. I leap on the opportunity as fast as I can; unlike the others, this one requires other people to be here! I've got to take it while I can.

Again I find Shikamaru's toys, and again I'm told how helpful I am be. With that taken care of I move on, trying and failing to swim in the creek, walking through the large forest looking for bugs, flailing away in a sandbox, and doing everything I can. It's dusk before Tokei finally drags me home.

The next day is more of the same. And the next. The one after that interrupts my pattern, but I'm right back to it the day after that. I don't hit Three League Park every single day, but I do every chance I get.

Even when I am not at the park, I'm looking for quests. Mom's frequent walks around the village area cornucopia of opportunities that I just can't find on my own. They don't benefit from the boost from the Oasis, but each new opportunity still provides a trickle of XP towards my skills- especially after I found out I still get some XP if I fail the quest.

… which I find out after failing another squirrel related quest. Fucking squirrels. Why are they so common?!

Days turn into weeks, which turn into months. Talking is the next major obstacle to fall.

I can't spit out complete sentences, but I can say words and get my meaning across- thank all that is holy. It was maddening being unable to make myself understood. And as a bonus, the day I say my first word, Mom buys me a cake! Cake is still awesome, no matter how old you are!.

Talking opens up whole new quests where none were before. I lose the 'smile at them' quest, but I get the 'cheer up with innocent words' quest and it's counterpart 'make people feel like shit with innocent words' to make up for it.

I can now say my name and introduce myself to people, and I can tell people what their own name is, which seems to entertain them to no end. I've never seen anyone laugh as hard as Kasai did when I pointed at tiny toddler Ino and proudly yelled "NO!" at the top of my lungs.

Speaking of the Yamanakas, they and their companions the Naras become regular companions of mine. Not the Akimichi for some reason; I'm unclear as to why Setsuko Akimichi doesn't bring her own child to the park, but she never does. But I get to know Shikamaru and Ino fairly well.

I am not bound at the hip by any means and I'm not honestly sure if they know my name, but they recognize me.

They've also stopped throwing their toys. Which sucks for my questing. But they've started playing with them instead which opens new branches. The whole thing is kind of a wash.

The two heirs aren't the only people I get to know as I grow older. When I'm not questing and seeking to level my skills, I spend most of my time with Mom. Or 'Mother' as she insists on once I start being able to call her things.

Mother is never anything less than doting, but from observation I get to learn of her less kind side. She mostly exercises that side with her sharp, cutting tongue, verbally flaying people who've displeased her and those she considers beneath her almost every day.

The subject for most of those tirades is of course Tokei, but the samurai takes the broad side of Mother's tongue with a glower that could curdle cheese.

Aside from that, he doesn't show much reaction to her at all. She might as well be a piece of furniture for all the attention he usually pays her. It's an attitude that is passed on to me.

He still walks me to the park when Mother can't, but aside from that I seem to just be an object to him. It's an impression reinforced by my relationship web- it's lost the 'amused disdain' modifier, and now he just tolerates me.

Bizarre. I'm not sure how anyone can just 'tolerate' me. I'm F#cking adorable, and I know it.

But I put aside the mystery of Tokei as the days go by and start to regard him in much the same way he does to me. He's just a part of the house. There's the Go Board. There's the bonsai. There's Mother's vanity mirror. There's Tokei. There's the oven. All just things I see around the house.

Instead of giving him more attention, I redouble my focus on my skills. And it starts to pay off.

By the time I hit five years old my skills, while not incredible, are at least passable. Every skill on my character sheet has some XP in it. Eight of them even got to the next level, with two of those eight reaching to the level above that! Finding toys and singing songs for the win!.

But it isn't until I finally hunker down and finish my Reading quest that I get in the next breakthrough.

I am pouring over a scroll of kanji, desperately trying to match pictures with meanings in my head before looking at a simple piece of folklore to read it when something clicks. I don't know what every kanji here means, but I know enough of them that I think I've got this. I can use context to fill in any blanks and read the whole story all by myself without bothering Mother!.

The bugles sound in my head.

[YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE QUEST 'ART OF THE WORD'! READING SKILL ATTAINED! YOU MAY NOW UPGRADE YOUR MENTAL ATTRIBUTES BY VISITING YOUR JOURNAL!]

That message barely gets my attention. I've gotten used to it as I've gotten older. Where before phantom trumpets and invisible scrolls may have caused me to freak out, now they're just another part of life. No, the one that really draws my focus pops up next. Golden text forms in front of my eyes.

[YOU HAVE ATTAINED THE ACHIEVEMENT 'A WHOLE NEW WORLD'! CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT!]

Huh. That's a new one.

The golden text fades, but the scrawl speaking in my ears doesn't let me forget it.

["Congratulations! You've just received your very first achievement! Achievements are how 'Elemental' keeps track of your progress and milestones while you play the game. Let's take a look at them now! Open up your main menu and select 'Achievements'."]

I do so quickly, pressing the new button that's just appeared. An enormous list unfurls in front of me. There have to be thousands of entries on here! Most of them are blacked out- I can't even read what they say. But some stand in stark, clear relief to the darkness, and one glows gold.

["This is your Achievements screen. Don't get too disheartened that you don't have many unlocked- that's sure to change as you grow and advance through the world of Elemental. For now, let's focus on the one you just unlocked. Press it now!"]

A tap on the golden one brings it up in a larger size. I scan it quickly. ('A Whole New World'. A brief description blurb. Unlock condition: attain walking, talking, and reading skills. Status: unlocked. Reward: None. Knowledge is it's own reward.) "Well, that sucks," I mutter to myself.

["As you can see, this Achievement is not one that offers a reward, but most of them do! They can be as large as new techniques or as small as a new outfit! Try and get as many achievements as you can! You'll find that pursuing them opens up new paths in the game that you would never have thought of on your own. If you're ever struggling to find something to do, pick an Achievement you can clear and start working towards it!"]

["For now, let's continue the tutorial by getting an achievement on your own. Pick one! The tutorial will resume once you have attained One (1) additional achievement!"]

With that, the voice finally stops talking, and I'm free to peruse the achievement list on my own. At first it's a pain, with so many spots I can't even see, but that's cleared up once I find a button that removes all 'undiscovered' Achivements from the list.

What I'm left with is still sizable, but not nearly as overwhelming.

Some of the entries are glowing slightly. Those, I presume, are the ones the game is recommending me clear to push on with the tutorial.

But nothing in the scrawl said I had to choose one of those. After all, I am a big boy now! I can walk, I can talk, and I can read, all before I hit the tender age of five!

I can do anything.