According to Pennyworth, he was currently in the 1980s. And from the nurses' and the doctors' accents, he could deduce easily that he was in the States. From what he'd overheard, his family was coming to pick him up the next day. He was glad to hear that. Apparently, his family was coming over from the UK. He was looking forward to meeting his new family. He had grown far too tired of the stale smell and visual of the hospital ceiling.

  He also experimented with his chromesthesia. It turned out that he could literally see sounds as colors. It was pretty cool, though; he didn't know what advantages it could bring. He figured that it would be far more useful in a field like music.

  Pennyworth, please put one more long-term goal: At least learn one musical instrument.

  [Done.]

  William woke up the next day. The day passed as usual. The nurse came in to play with the babies and feed them some milk, including him. He reluctantly accepted. He was never the type to socialize with someone, especially a stranger, though he appreciated the nurse for taking care of him. It was very clear from the stats. He had 3 charisma, according to the system. Though he didn't know if it was the physical aspect of charm or more of a conceptual aspect, he suspected it was a combination of both.

  He asked Pennyworth, Mate, what time is it now? I can't see the clock.

  Pennyworth replied. [Sir, it's 13:00.]

  He groaned, It's so bloody boring, being a baby, that is. I can do literally nothing except wait around and sleep. I can't even read! Then, he had an interesting thought. Pennyworth, is there a chance you could create an overlay for me? So that I can see all the details about my current body?

  [I can certainly do that, Sir. It's within the System's capabilities. What features would you like in the overlay, Sir?]

  That's great then. I'd like you to display my stats in the top left corner, very tiny but magnifiable whenever I focus on it. I want you to put information like my body temperature, heart rate, and the time on the bottom right corner. Take an abstraction of my stamina and convert it into percentages: 100% whenever I'm fully refreshed, 20% when it's physically dangerous, and 0% when I might drop dead. I wouldn't want a repeat of last time. Put the stamina in the top right corner, along with my daily goals and reminders. In the bottom left corner, I want all my skills. Plus, I want my learning progress. This includes learning languages, learning new fields, etc. I want all these in percentages.

  [Certainly, Sir. Give me a moment.] After about a minute or two, a blue overlay appeared in his eyes. It didn't obstruct his eyesight but instead stayed neatly in the corner. From now on, he only needed to glance at the bottom right corner of his sight. Truly convenient. He could magnify or reduce the visibility of the stats and skills whenever he wanted.

  Pennyworth, add long-term goals: Grow up to be at least 6 feet tall. Nah, just kidding. Make the goal: Learn at least 10 languages before the age of 18.

  He wanted to challenge himself, since he was being given a second chance. He knew that baby brains learned languages faster, though he wasn't sure how true this would be in his case. Still, he truly trusted himself to put a lot of effort into this goal, and effort usually came with results. He knew how hard he had trouble focusing, so he made Pennyworth put his learning progress, skills, and stats in the overlay, so that he would not lose motivation. He knew his brain far too well, and he knew that he needed to see his progress to keep going.

  The time finally came. Apparently, his grandparents and uncles were here. A nurse picked him up and brought him with her. He chatted with Pennyworth, What do you think they'll be like?

  [I can't say, Sir.]

  Fair enough, I suppose. While William was quite apprehensive about meeting his new family, especially after the attempted infanticide by his 'father', he was still cautiously optimistic. It was quite weird, being picked up. It really was weird, being a baby.

  As he and the nurse approached the meeting room, he could hear voices with very distinctly British accents. They sound even more posh than Pennyworth. The nurse announced as they finally entered the room, "Here's little William."

  He could finally see the people in the room. There were five people in there: two very old people and three middle-aged people. The elder woman, presumably his grandmother, looked at him, "So this is Eleanor's son." She didn't reach for him yet. She nodded at the nurse, "Put him in the crib. You may leave." Her sound looked very purple. He didn't like that color.

  The elderly man, his grandfather, narrowed his eyes as he looked at William, "Heterochromia? How... distinctive. Eleanor always did have a penchant for unconventional taste." His voice contained more disgust than interest. William didn't flinch. Although he would like to say he didn't expect this, he did. Will I never have a family? He wondered. This happened in the past, too. When he was at the orphanage, other children were adopted, but he was left alone. He only ever had three friends in his past life. Hannah, Aria, and Raven. They took care of him when nobody else would. He only considered them and the staff at the orphanage family. Even then, the staff at the orphanage were regularly switched, making it hard to form a proper connection with them. But then, one day, Hannah was adopted. While he felt sad that she was leaving him, he knew it was what it was. Still, they regularly kept in touch. She even bought him and her sisters, Aria and Raven, presents at their birthdays. That's how they kept in touch with each other.

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  And since he had reincarnated, he knew that he would never see them again. He thought he could get a new family here, but that hope was dashed, with his mother dead, his father being a psycho, and his grandparents being stupid.

  The grandmother continued, "Given Eleanor's passing and the complexity of the situation back home, it would be best for..." She paused, "William, to remain here."

  One of the younger middle-aged men nodded, "The family has enough scandal as it is. If it ever comes to light that Eleanor eloped with an American, we would face more scrutiny." He sounded like blood-red.

  The younger middle-aged woman replied, "Indeed. It's best for him to stay here. We'd set him up with a house and give him like ￡10,000,000 for his expenses. That should cover him until he's 18." She sounded like vomit green.

  The other uncle nodded, "That's a good idea. Let's make a trust fund. ￡10,000,000 seeded and the trust expiring when he's 18. So that would be... ￡46,296.30 a month. It should be enough to make him dependent on that money." This guy sounded a lot like Cash Green but as soon as he mentioned dependent, he started to turn more bile.

  The previous uncle grinned, "That'd take care of him with nothing on our hands. He wouldn't know how to continue his lifestyle."

  "Do it. I'm going back to London," the grandfather said as he walked out of the room with his grandmother. The grandfather had a similar color to the grandmother.

  William just stared at them with no emotion. He grinned in his mind, You'd regret this, you pieces of shit. Pennyworth, make a new long-term goal: Take down my family.

  [As you wish, Sir.]

  William was set up in Florida with a mansion. It was transferred to his name, and he was given a trust fund of ￡10,000,000 or $23,300,000 USD. The fund would be withdrawn monthly and was designed to run out in 18 years. He was given a nurse, a maid, and security guards.

  He passed the first three years doing nothing but eating and sleeping. He really couldn't do anything much, as even one wave of his hand cost him 3% of his stamina. When he reached half a year old, he was able to crawl. When he reached a year, his vocal cords had developed enough to start talking. His muscles had also developed enough to start walking, though albeit very slowly as not to lose balance and fall. He'd leveled up, crawling up to level 4 by the time he started walking. And by age 3, he had already leveled and Crawling to level 7, with Speaking to level 5 and Walking to level 3.

  1984, December 9th

  William was sitting at his desk, reading a book. It was a French-language book. He had already gained the ability to read French fluently, though it was quite hard for him to speak in French as his immature vocal cords were far too used to English. The maid, Sarah, peeked into his room, only showing her head, "Master William, it's time for a bath."

  Sarah was around 25 years old, if he had to guess. She had a good figure, 5'6" tall and had a melodious voice. Her sound tended to be more yellow, like the rising sun.

  William sighed, "How many times do I have to tell you, Sarah? I can take a bath myself."

  She chuckled, taking his complaining as childish. "Come, Master William. Let's get you clean."

  He was helplessly picked up and bathed. She dressed him up and said, "See? Aren't you clean now?"

  [Sir, how are you enjoying your new life?]

  He groaned, Just kill me. I'm being bathed. I'm an adult, for fuck sake. It would be far better if I didn't have the maturity of an adult.

  [I can arrange that, Sir.]

  He froze. You can? That means you can interact with my brain? He narrowed his eyes.

  [I can only do so if you give permission, Sir. The System itself is restricted from modifying your body or your mind.]

  I see. Well, I do want to experience a proper childhood. Fine, seal my maturity until I'm 18. You can not change anything else.

  [As your wish, Sir.]

  William suddenly felt lighter. That's better. Though I don't find myself too different. He suddenly felt the desire to play around. Wait, it seems I want to play? I see. Even though I have my memories, I would really be a child now. That's good.

  He looked back at the maid, "Sarah, is there a playground nearby?"

  She looked at him in surprise, "Oh, you've never asked me that before. What has gotten into you?"

  William smiled, "It's just that I want to play. I'm bored."

  She smiled gently, "Of course. There's a playground a few blocks from here. I'll take you there."

  Sarah POV

  Sarah was truly surprised. William was the mildest-mannered kid she had ever babysat. He had never thrown a temper tantrum, and he had never really bothered anyone, preferring to keep to himself. Though he had the unfortunate habit of blurting out everything in his mind, he was still by far the nicest kid. And the pay was nice too. She only had to cook for him, bathe him, and put him to sleep. She was given a free room at the mansion.

  She didn't really expect William to ask to go to a playground. Usually, he just reads. But that day, he felt somewhat more like a kid. After leaving William to prepare for a trip to a playground, she went to the security guard, Peter, who was also the driver. "Peter! William said he wanted to go to a playground."

  "Truly? What a surprise!"

  Sarah nodded, "I know, right? It's nice that William's finally going out. It's not good for the kid if he's only holed up in the room."

  Peter was around 6'5" tall. He always wore a suit, even in the summer. When she asked him why, he just replied that it was professionalism. She just thought he had read far too many spy books.

  A few minutes later, they were in a Chevrolet Cavalier as they drove to the playground. She noticed that William did not look around like the other children. Instead, he just steadily looked at the road.

  William looked straight, deep in thought. Ever since he had decided to 'seal' his maturity, he had been feeling younger and younger. It wasn't like he lost any of his memories. In the past, he felt like he was an adult in a child body. Now, he felt like a child with an adult memory. It was quite an interesting experience. He found that the thoughts he had now were very different from before. Before, he would be thinking of his goals. Now, he was still thinking of his goals. It was just that his thoughts were far more geared towards fun.