The sun had barely started rising, with only a few rays making it through the window as I finished exhausting my stamina and mana.

Crawling out of bed, I yearned to continue practicing my usual routine. Despite having no problem with fusion for a few days now, I still suffered from a terrible headache that seemed to linger endlessly, often causing me to stumble when I picked up even a little speed or tried to turn, affecting my balance for the first few hours after depleting just a lttle over 50% of my mana capacity.

Every time I pushed my mana past the halfway mark, I'd get this killer migraine that turned me into a clumsy oaf for hours.

Although I would have loved to practice outside again, today I just didn't feel like it. Instead, I decided to do my training here in my room.

"Alright, what to do with these things now?" I glanced at a few random items I had bought yesterday before my mother brought back the usual large, bear-like monster. I had actually inquired about the materials, such as the long black nail the monster possessed, thinking it would be cool to experiment with such exotic items. Fortunately, my mother was in a good mood and only asked me a few questions out of curiosity with a casual gesture, she gave me the items stating that she would discard them anyway. So it was alright for me to have them.

After some pondering, I was messing around with this fruit knife trying to see how tough this big black nail was. Attempting to slice through it with my knife I had to use both hands to lift the damn thing, it was so heavy. Turns out the nail was just as hard as the knife. I slashed and hacked at it without one of them even got a scratch literally.

Neither seemed to break as I slashed them against each other repeatedly, they were like two stubborn mules refusing to budge.

The loud noise I caused in my room echoed so loudly that my mother in the living room preparing food raised her voice. The racket I was making must have echoed through the whole house causing Mom yelled something I couldn't quite make out who she was talking to or what she was saying. I heard my name being called twice, probably scolding me a warning to keep it down indicating that my noisy behavior had bothered whatever she was working on. Guess I was being too loud with all my clanging and banging.

I'm holding a knife right now, and I can already tell that swinging an axe, a hammer, or a spear would be a total disaster. I imagined how impossible it would be for me to lift them at all. Forget about those massive shields – I wouldn't be able to lift one an inch off the ground, even if I had the world's best instructors showing me the ropes. Wooden sword or shield? Maybe. Dual wielding? No way in hell.

I mean, sure, there were probably some awesome instructors at the barracks who could whip me into shape, and I could study all the manuals I want, but let's be real – I'm starting from way behind the curve, the more I think about it.

I gave my trusty fruit knife one last swing before sliding it back into its sheath. That satisfying "clang" always put a smile on my face. Sweat dripped down my face as I realized this knife was probably way better than anything provided in the standard guard's equipment in the city. But my head was spinning, and my legs felt like jelly. My swings were sloppy, and my balance was all over the place. It seems my dizziness and lack of balance indicated that my stamina was at its lowest; my body likely couldn't handle any more physical training, let alone magical acts like some random bun baking.

My stamina was shot, and my body was screaming for a break. Forget about fancy magic stuff like fusing items no more– I needed a nap.

I had also been reading those books and papers over and over, and there were still so many words I still didn't get. And don't even get me started on those academic manuals–they were like written in some alien language. It was a total headache trying to understand the content, let alone the crazy complicated sentences.

Back on Earth, a 13-year-old kid would have been chilling in middle school learning basic stuff from textbooks. And even that was already such a drag, especially when you would have rather been outside playing instead of stuck with your nose in a book. But here, they expected you to learn all that boring academic stuff plus combat skills and survival tactics, and actually be good at it. It was insane. No wonder everyone here looked like they had lost their puppy. In the short time I had been here, I had seen more depressed people than happy ones, and the newspapers were full of crimes that would have made even the worst Earth criminal's blush.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

So, in this world, being 13 years old was likely equivalent to attending college. Children typically took their first steps out of basic education toward their chosen career paths at this age. While some still lived at home, others moved in with their teachers to learn.

Anyway, I was laying in my bed when BAM! Someone pounded on some wooden thing could be heard that turned out to be a loud bang on my door that startled me thus prompting me to rise and open it. "Rikt, what are you doing making so much noise?". Even though I was dead tired, I jumped up to open the door like my butt was on fire.

Maybe it was just the old Riktor's habits kicking in, or maybe I was scared of what my mom would do if I didn't obey. She seemed like the type who wouldn't hesitate to ground me for life.

"Uh, yeah, Mom, I was just studying, and some of the stuff you gave me yesterday was really tough, so I was trying to see how strong it was by testing it out. Turns out, it's super strong!" I scratched my head, trying to come up with a believable excuse while catching my breath. I was exhausted, and I didn't want to slip up and do something out of character.

Mom said she wouldn't take my knife away, but she was going to keep it in the kitchen for safety reasons. She was worried I'd hurt myself with it, especially after all the noise I was making. I felt a pang of guilt when she mentioned that she thought it was one of the kitchen knives Dad had brought home from some random merchant he had bought from recently. She even raised an eyebrow at me like she knew something was up. I really needed to be more careful.

"Go get ready for breakfast, but first, dont forget to take a bath when you got this many sweats all over you like this, dont push yourself too hard okay." Mom said, gently wiping the sweat off my face. My legs were wobbly, and I almost collapsed. She had to hold me up and guide me back to my bed.

"Yeah, Mom, I'll do that in a bit. Just let me rest for a while," I mumbled, feeling like a wrung-out dishcloth.

The rest of the morning was a blur of parental fussing over every little thing. Dad seemed to have lost something important for work and was freaking out, even arguing with Mom. It was kind of funny, actually.

Despite the chaos, I couldn't help but feel grateful for these lively moments. This whole family life thing wasn't so bad, realizing that such everyday events were something I had never experienced back then it was way more lively than my boring mornings back on Earth.

It was the dead of winter, and the weather outside was colder than a witch's kiss. Not much snow, but the wind was like a thousand tiny needles stabbing my face. The temperature had dipped below freezing, turning everything into a giant ice cube.

Riktor, being the delicate flower that I was, bundled up in a thick coat, locked my door gotta keep that magic thing a secret, and resumed my peaceful me-time.

I looked at the neat script lying around on my bed, my mood slightly improved. I had experienced too much today be it physically and mentally exhausted, my magic power depleted, injured, and my stamina drained. I didn't even want to glance at the ghost story manuscript that the magic keyboard had written.

Enduring the dizziness caused by magic exhaustion, I checked my personal attributes.

Host: Riktor

Race: Human 98%

Innate Bloodline: Unknown

Class: None

Profession: None

Cultivation: None

Abilities: Arcane Materialization lv 2

Skills: Drawing lv 3

STATISTICS

Level :1(0/20)

Health: 0.25

Magic Power: 0.45

Strength : 0.36

Defense : 0.36

Agility: 0.45 +(0.5)

Stamina : 0.10

Vitality : 0.4

Endurance : 0.15

Dexterity : 0.4

Intelligence : 0.15 +(0.3)

Luck : 0.1 +(0.5)

Alright, so I was totally expecting my stats to take a nosedive after that whole training fiasco. However, what surprised me was that the maximum value of my magic power attribute had actually reached 0.45, which was an unexpected joy. Thinking about what I had experienced these few days, I understood a bit.

In my previous life, I was just an ordinary human with no superpowers or anything. Although I had relatively strong work abilities, it still couldn't change the fact that I was an ordinary person.

A dude who, in one day, had expanded his worldview to include a new extraordinary world.

I had actually witnessed the cruel terrorist attacks and killings of this world, broken free from fear and despair to face the enemy in battle, and later, seen the power of a high-level professional.

Besides amazement, there was also a yearning for strength. The pursuit of power is human instinct. The entire day had been a baptism and stimulation for my spirit, something I hadn't experienced in many years combined.

It appeared that the spirit was related to magic power, so the increase in my magic power was only natural, probably.

But,

HEY. hey!

"Is it just me, or is my humanity stats actually decreasing by 1 percent?"