Chapter 13: Playdate

Date August 8th, 2251

Half a year later.

In the wee hours of the morning, I was still hard at work training my perception. As I was in the midst of that, I all of a sudden felt I had surpassed some kind of limit that had been restricting my growth for a while now. The very instant I broke through that barrier, I felt a qualitative change in my pseudo perception field and alongside that change area, I could perceive jumped in size by at least 200%.

Shit, that's a huge change.

It took me a few minutes to adjust to the new feeling I was experiencing, which was remarkably similar to the sense of a cultivator as described in the books from my prior life. But once I finally got my bearings and felt like I had things under my control, I opened up my status screen to see what sort of perk I had gotten for reaching 11 perception and what it did exactly.

| All Seeing | Requirements 11 Perception: You've surpassed human limitations for perception, thus you've acquired the ability of a 360-degree field of awareness with a range of 11 meters. The range and strength of this perception field of yours will increase by 1 meter for every point of perception you have above 11 perception.

Damn, that's a busted perk. Anyone who tries sneaking up on me within that range in the future is fucked. This perk will also be super useful for training various close combat techniques, crafting, and numerous other things.

Thinking of all the other applications this ability could be used for, I decided I deserved some rest. Thus I called it a day, threw my blanket over myself and went to sleep after I calmed down a bit from my excitement about the future.

…

Ahh, that was a pleasant sleep. I definitely needed it after my and Alice's birthdays.

Well rested and ready to start the day, I first threw the sheets off me before climbing out of my bed that was recently upgraded from my crib. Upon getting up, I headed for my bedroom's door, opened it, and moved down the hallway in the direction of the living room where mom was, probably. A short walk down the hallway and that was indeed where she was, together with my dad.

"Morning mom, morning dad." I said as I came walking into the living room.

"Morning, buddy." Dad responded as he continued sipping on his cup of joe.

"Morning sweetie, how'd you sleep?" Mom said right after.

"Good." I responded.

Greetings out of the way, mom got up from the couch and began preparing breakfast for the three of us. As soon as she had everything ready, I climbed up into a chair and went to town on the scrumptious meal she made, which had the side effect of brightening my mother's usual positive and upbeat mood even further. After competing with dad for mom's cooking, we finally finished up breakfast.

"I don't know how you're able to put all that food down, you little rascal, but you are much too young to beat me." My old man commented with a smug smirk right after we finished breakfast.

"Can't tell you, dad, it's a secret. But I'll give you a hint, part of it is because mom's cooking is just too good. And just you wait dad, it's only a matter of time before I have you beat." I said jokingly before seriously adding the last bit.

"Very true, your mother's cooking is really something else and only time will tell whether you can beat me one day, little guy. But today's not that day." He responded while looking very content with the meal he had just fought tooth and nail with me for.

"Alright you guys, it's time for you to get ready, go get cleaned up and dressed!" Mom issued with a smile, likely pleased to hear my and dad's comments.

"Okay." The two of us answered simultaneously, causing mom to let loose a small laugh.

With breakfast out of the way, everyone started getting ready and when we were done doing so, we met back up in the living room.

"Sweetie, your dad and I are going to head off to work when your grandma arrives. Also, your playmate Alice is going to come over for the day to play. Make sure you treat her well and the both of you have fun and stay out of trouble." Mom told me while she waited for my grandma Emelia to arrive.

Looking up from the book grandpa John had gifted me recently, I answered. "Will do, mom."

"Good, if you stay out of trouble, son, we'll take you to the bookstore this weekend to buy you a few more books." He added after hearing my response.

"Deal." I said excitedly.

Haha, I can get my hands on those last couple of skill books I saw the previous time at the bookstore.

As I was thinking of what books I needed other than the skill books I very much wanted, grandma let herself in through the front door and made her way over with a brand new book in her hand. When she reached us, she greeted us first, handed me the book she was carrying, spoke a few words with me, and began conversing with my parents again regarding some not so important stuff.

Another book for my rapidly expanding collection, nice, and it's concerning a subject I haven't read about double nice.

Whilst they were all talking, I climbed back onto the couch, plopped my ass down, and began reading the new book my grandma Emelia just brought me. Several minutes had passed by when they finished up their conversation, and once they had, mom and dad rushed off to work and left me here under grandma's supervision.

Not all too many minutes later, the governor's wife rang the doorbell. My playmate at the door, grandma Emelia, opened it, greeted, and talked with Alice's mother for a bit. Alice, not waiting around with them, raced past the two of them into our home, specifically making a beeline in my direction. The next couple of minutes were spent with me keeping Alice occupied and after doing so Alice's mom took her leave, but before she did, she left a few miscellaneous things of Alice's behind.

Thus, with Alice now, here I got to my task and kept her entertained.

It's hard being a babysitter this young. I honestly can't wait till I'm older, but I'm thankful, since things could be a hell of a lot worse, like Alice being an average baby. Thankfully, I've lucked out and don't have to deal with that and can actually interact and talk with her to a certain extent, although the talking is pretty limited due to her current vocabulary.

I also don't have to act like a baby any longer with my entire family thinking I'm a genius, which I suppose I more than qualify as at this point with the stuff I get up to at my current age. Don't know of too many one year olds that are reading the kind of books I am, let alone adults. Going back to my previous thought, those days were terrible. I almost died of boredom.

As I was thinking over various things in my head with my second thought process, I continued interacting with Alice and keeping her entertained.

One hour of babysitting later.

I'm going to be here for a while, aren't I. Well, I better try my best to tire her out so she can take a nap and I can go get some reading done otherwise I'll be here all day just like last time accomplishing nothing of note.

From there, I then spent the next few hours playing with Alice and trying to keep her entertained while our parents were off doing their thing. After another half an hour had passed, I noticed Alice was becoming tired.

Finally, I can take a rest, thank god it didn't take nearly as long as last time. I must be getting good at this… I hope so for my sake. Well, I better put her down for a nap and since I'm pretty tuckered out myself, I think I'll put my reading off till later and join her for a nap as well to recharge my drained batteries.

"Grandma, we're tired." I told my grandam Emelia.

"Do you want me to grab you anything like bedding, or are you guys going to use Dom's bed like the previous time?" My grandmother asked us both.

"Bed!" Alice answered simply and excitedly in her limited vocabulary right away before I could.

"Oh, okay. Then I'll see you two little ones later when you wake up." She said with a smile that appeared to have some meaning behind it.

My grandma informed Alice, and I headed out of the living room and down the hall. But as we were departing from the living, I swear I heard something about grandma having a discussion with my parents and Alice's. Not paying it any mind, the both of us made it to my bedroom hand in hand. Opening my door, I led Alice in and over to my bed where I helped Alice up onto it before I myself climbed up onto it as well.

Next I got the two of us settled in and, with her nestled up against me, her eyes began to shut. Following a short few moments, she was out like a light and not long after that; I was out too, with my extremely comfy blanket covering us both.

…

Hours later, we woke up, got fed by my grandma and not long after that, my parents returned home with Alice's parents in tow, where they had a conversation of some sort between the bunch of them. Shortly into their conversation, both of my grandads showed up alongside Alice's grandparents, and joined in on the discussion they were having.

It's quite odd that they gathered here all at once. I wonder what they're talking about.

Curious about what was taking place, I started brainstorming to come up with an idea to find out what was going on.

Mm, that'll work.

As soon as I had a pretty solid one in mind, I looked towards Alice and asked. "Hey Alice, you want to play a game?"

"Nn." She answered while nodding her little head.

"Okay good, we're gonna play ninja's. You have to be as quiet as possible to play this. Can you do that?"

"Yea." She replied, appearing rather excited and energetic.

"Alright, here, hold my hand so you don't fall. We can't afford to get caught." I instructed her lastly while presenting my hand to her, which she immediately held onto before I could even finish my sentence.

It doesn't look like she completely understood a few of my words, but I believe she got the gist of it. I hope so at least.

With Alice latched onto my hand to ensure that she wouldn't fall and get us caught, we creeped over into the direction of the adults so I could find out what was being discussed. Shortly thereafter, the two of us, quiet as a couple of church mice, neared the area where the adults were having their conversation that was becoming increasingly louder in volume bit by bit now that the rest of the adults from both families had gotten together.

In position, I looked at Alice and held up my right index finger up to my mouth to signal Alice not to make any noise. The second I received a nod back that she understood, I focused on what they were discussing using my enhanced hearing.

"The two of them get along well enough and I can see they like each other quite a lot and enjoy each other's company, so why not tie them together early?" I heard my grandma say in the kitchen beyond the wall Alice and I were hiding behind.

"You do have a point, but it is still very early to be engaging and tying the knot between the two when they've only just turned one in the last few days." Grandpa, John, said in his usual gruff voice.

"It's true that they're both young, however I can see that my little Alice likes your grandson quite a lot and if they continue spending as much time as they do together, they'll more likely than not end up together anyhow. Hence, why not ensure that they do, or at least try, our best to see it happen?" Alice's grandfather said who I presumed was the patriarch of their family.

"I can't agree more, and besides, it would be great if both of our families could come together and unite, so why not?" My dad added.

"They are quite close from what I've seen and Alice is as cute as a button, so I also don't have any issue pairing the two of them together." My Mom said right after dad while Alice's mom Aura Rosalin Steele nodded her head in agreement before sharing similar feelings about me being paired up with her little girl.

"Alright, that settles it then. We'll pair the duo together and if everything goes well between the both of them, they'll end up together." My dad's longtime best friend and current Undercity 7 governor David Ashton Steele said.

I didn't expect to be engaged this early on in life, I would've preferred to decide my partner or partners for myself on my own terms. But whatever, it's not the end of the world. I just Hope Alice stays as sweet as she is now and ends up a looker and seeing how her mother is a raven haired beauty with fair skin and a busty figure I don't think I'll have to worry about anything having to do with the looks department.

The main issue is what her personality will be later on down the road when she grows up and matures. If she becomes a rotten person, I'll find a way to extricate myself from the situation. However, in the meantime, I'll try my very best to prevent that from happening.

Alright that looks to be it. Guess I better return to babysitting before the two of us get caught listening to their discussion. Not that it really matters if they did discover us listening in on their conversation with us being two kids and them being our family members.

Whilst the adults were going over and finalizing the details for Alice's and mines engagement, I led Alice back over to the living room where we were originally playing and continued keeping her occupied. Though this time, I was sitting down and reading a picture book with her, trying to slowly expand her vocabulary, since I basically had to begin raising a wife.

Ahh, I have a lot of work ahead of me besides preparing myself for the wasteland. I now have to spend time making sure that my future partner is going to be a halfway decent person. Well, this could also be a huge plus for me. Alice could end up becoming someone I can rely upon out in the wastes and may even end up saving my ass one day.

Although the chances of that happening are pretty slim because my capabilities will far out stretch her own in the future with this system of mine. Unless, of course, she gains a gift that grants her a set of powerful abilities, in that case, that changes a lot of things.

Regardless, with only a small population among all biological beings on earth ever having them since Armageddon, the chances of that occurring are pretty slim to none. But now that I'm thinking of gifts, I wonder if there is any way to artificially create them… It would be an incredible card to possess if I could artificially grant biological beings gifts.

Grand dreams of an army of gifted possessing numerous mystical abilities and powers aside, since there is no research on it to my knowledge, the amount of time I would have to invest into it to even have a possibility of making it happen is just not realistic in the foreseeable future.

Maybe when I get myself decently set up out there, I can set aside and allocate some time to pursue it to see if I can't figure out a way to forcefully induce gifts in humans and animals. It would be awesome to have a pet Colossal Gila Monster that can shoot poisonous flames.

I would basically have myself a sand dragon at that point, minus the flying bit. Something to think of later on and even if I don't find a way to forcefully induce gifts. I quite like the idea of having a giant venomous lizard as a pet, although I would have to build meat production up to a certain point before I could even entertain the idea of keeping one.

Back to before I got sidetracked by gifts and keeping a giant pet lizard, overall things aren't all that bad if I play my cards right.