Once we were home, I ran into my room and closed the door. Sitting down on my bed, I sat in a meditative position. Activating , I finished healing all of the injuries I had sustained from my little show earlier. However, once again, as soon as all of my injuries were healed, I received a System Message.

[ activated. All stats permanently increased by 2]

"Oh, perfect, it happened again. While I don't enjoy the sensation of causing my own body to break apart, it's nice that I get permanent stat increases every time," I muttered to myself. I then left my bedroom and walked back downstairs. My parents were both sitting at the dining room table, talking quietly. However, when they saw me, they both looked over and smiled.

"Hey, champ, how's it going? You're looking better," Arthur said. "Did you heal yourself?"

"Yes, I did. Is it really that different?" I asked.

"Well, yes," Father replied. "Most magic and spells can be learned and used by all mages, but there's some forms of magic that can only be used by those who are born with it. Healing magic is one those special magics. Not only that, but those born with healing magic are very rare. So for you to be born with healing magic is a very big deal."

"Really? How rare is it?" I asked.

"Well, now, I don't know the exact numbers, but I heard or read somewhere once that it was one in every ten thousand or hundred thousand mages would possess true healing magic."

"What do you mean by true healing magic?"

"Some elemental mages are able to cast minor healing spells using their elements, especially water mages. But true healing magic that only healers possess can cure any ailment, if they're trained well and their magic strong enough. That's why healers are treated so well, because they're rare and very valuable. So, if you can, make sure to train your healing magic and get it to be as strong and effective as you can, Charles."

"Will do, Father. But what are some of the other special magics that you have to be born with to possess?"

"There's a number of 'em, but I've never really researched that sort of thing. So, honestly, I couldn't really tell ya other than healing magic. But maybe you can learn about it if you want. Just make sure to not forget your studies and practice, alright?"

"Alright. I'm going to outside to train some more now."

"That's fine, just make sure to come back in for lunch when your mother or I call you."

"Will do."

I then went outside to the backyard. Immediately, I sat down on the grass and opened up my Status Screen. I hadn't had the chance to truly check yet, but I remembered seeing some System Messages pop after I beat that robot. Looking at the list of previous System Messages, I found the ones from earlier today.

[Defeated . Level increased by 2]

[Level increased to Level 22]

[5 stat points (x2)]

[1 Skill point acquired (x2)]

[Can spend Skill points to buy or upgrade Skills]

[Can select one of three Skills (x2)]

[Skills Available: , , , , , and ]

"Well, assuming that each of these Skills are what I think they are, let's go with and ," I thought aloud. "These should be sufficient to help me become stronger."

I then closed my eyes and began to meditate. Even though I already had , which allowed me to increase my Ki at all times by absorbing energy from the air, I figured that having would still be helpful. Besides, getting its additional Skill, , would be useful as well. As for , it would help to further enhance my hand-to-hand combat capabilities.

"I think I should test out my new Skills, but I'm not sure how to do that," I muttered to myself. However, I wasn't going to let something like that stop me. Closing my eyes, I began to meditate. Even though I could already draw in energy at all times to increase my maximum Ki, it went faster when meditating since that was the proper method to increase my maximum Ki. However, thanks to , I could already tell that the amount of energy I was drawing in and absorbing had greatly improved.

As I trained my Ki, I received an unexpected System Message.

[Total Ki has reached 1000. All stats permanently increased by 3]

"Wow, I definitely wasn't expecting that to happen. Maybe I have some kind of cultivation base that I raise when I increase my total Ki? But the System hasn't mentioned anything about it previously," I thought aloud. "I guess this means I should also focus on increasing my Ki, but I have no idea when the stat increase will happen by doing so."

Shaking my head, I decided to drop the subject for now. Walking over to a tree in our backyard, I decided to try punching it and see what happens.

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Okay, so, should be a Passive Skill, same as . That means that the increase in punching speed and power from should be something I always have automatically, I reasoned. My fist then shot forward, slamming full-force into the tree. A hole was blown clean through it, even though the tree was over a foot thick. However, the hole was only the size of my fist, so it wasn't enough to cause the tree to fall, luckily. Unfortunately, I guess me punching the tree was louder than I thought.

Mother and Father both rushed out of the house, looking around. When they saw me standing next to the tree and the hole in the tree, their eyes widened simultaneously. However, they didn't seem too shocked, thanks to everything else they've already seen me do. Father then walked over and placed his hand against the large tree before looking down at me.

"Well, Champ, guess we've gotta find somewhere for you to train. Otherwise, our yard won't have any trees in it before long," he said with a boisterous laugh. I smiled in response. He then told me that Mother had just finished making lunch, so all three of us headed inside to eat.

Sitting down at the table, I then eagerly dug into my food. As soon as I was finished eating, I excused myself. However, before I could go running off, Father stopped me.

"You know, what I said earlier about finding you a proper place to train wasn't just talk. Once you turn ten, you'll be able to enroll at one of the magic schools, where they have proper training grounds. Your mother and I are going to enroll you in one, so that when you're old enough, you can receive proper instruction and training," Father said in a serious tone.

"Okay, sounds good. I'm gonna go upstairs now!" I said in my four-year-old voice. I then ran upstairs into my bedroom and closed the door. Sitting on the floor of my room, I began meditating again, wanting to see just how much I could raise my Ki. However, even after several hours of meditating, I didn't receive anymore messages about my stats increasing due to my total Ki having increased. "Hmm, maybe every time my Ki increases by 1000, my stats also increase? But if they only increase by 3 every time, then it wouldn't be worth it to raise them this way. Maybe by increasing the level of my or Skills, I can speed up the process.

"Oh, but wait, while my Skill points would work to level up , I don't think that will work for . In the novel it comes from, the only way to improve the is to be struck by lightning and then refine the energy. Or is that only when improving the ?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I decided to just open up the Skill's info page and read it.

[]

[Description: opens hidden channels within the body that increase the absorption rate of natural energy, strengthens the body, adds the lightning attribute to Ki, and gives the additional Skill , but the Skill requires lightning to train and level up]

[Type: Passive & Active]

[Warning: requires being struck by lightning to train and level up the Skill]

[Max Level: infinite]

[Level 1 Passive Effects:

1. Increases natural energy absorption rate by 30%

2. Ki possesses the lightning attribute

3. Increases Strength and Constitution by 10 every time total Ki increases by 100

4. Lightning absorption]

[Level 1 Active Effects:

1. Can trigger a Yuan Power Swirl under the user's skin, increasing natural energy absorption by an additional 100% for 1 hour]

"Okay, so, it requires lightning to even level up the base Skill, not just the additional Skill . Guess this means that if I ever want to strengthen it, I'll have to sit out in a thunder storm or something," I thought aloud. Sitting down to meditate some more, I began drawing in and absorbing the natural energy around me. I then triggered a Yuan Power Swirl, doubling my already increased absorption rate.

The natural energy funneled into me like a whirlpool, filling my body. It began transforming into Ki, except now, my Ki crackled with electricity more and more. I grinned as I felt this happening, but my smile became even larger after I received a System Message a few minutes later.

[Total Ki has increased by 100. Strength and Constitution permanently increased by 10]

"Wait, so if my Strength and Constitution really do increase by 10 every time my total Ki increases by 100, then when my total Ki increases by 1000 again, by then, my Strength and Constitution will have increased by 100 on top of the increase to all stats from my total Ki increasing by 1000," I muttered to myself. I then got up, tired of just sitting and meditating.

Going downstairs and out to the backyard, I then decided to try out my third new Skill. Activating , I watched as my skin turned metallic and green, as if truly being made out of bronze. I could tell that I had become significantly stronger and tougher, but there was no way of knowing just how much without being able to test it out for real.

Deactivating the Skill, my body went back to its normal state. I then began trying to think of ways that I could train to help raise my level faster. Since my level went up by 2 after beating the robot, I figured that if I could fight or even train with others, then my level would increase faster. However, I had no ideas on how to go about doing this.

I could try to maybe sneak outside city's dome and fight monsters, but even if I could find a way out, I don't think I could handle any of the monsters out there. And besides, I highly doubt they'd fight me one-on-one anyway, I thought. Unfortunately, I wasn't coming up with any good ideas, and I figured I wouldn't be coming up with any anytime soon.

However, I was also curious as to just how much my body could withstand now that it'd been strengthened and I had the to strengthen it further. Activating , , and , I then activated , , , , and one I had never used before, .

Not only could I feel the overwhelming power surging through my body, I could also feel a newfound speed and swiftness. Dashing forward, I sped out of the yard and began running across town. I was moving so fast that no one even saw me, and anyone who did witness me just saw a blur and felt a gust of wind blow past. Within minutes I had made it all the way across the entire city, then ran back to my own backyard before my parents could even know I was gone.

However, as soon as I stopped running and the adrenaline rush wore off, incredible and indescribable pain rippled through me. All of my Transformations and Skills deactivated and I fell to my knees, screaming in pain. Blood was oozing out of cracks in my legs that I hadn't previously noticed as they broke down from the strain I had put them under, though the rest of my body wasn't faring much better.

"I-I...need to...use !" I grunted through clenched teeth. Forcing my body into a meditative position, I began running Ki throughout my body and then activated , increasing the rate and efficiency of the healing. My body had already begun restoring itself, and that was when I remembered that having should give me at least some minor level of passive regeneration, which I was grateful for.

Within an hour my body was restored to a passible condition. Standing up, I noticed that once again, I had received a permanent stat boost due to the effect of . All of my stats were increased by 7, though that also showed just how severe the damage to my body had been.

"Maybe I won't do that again anytime soon," I muttered. So I decided to end my training for today.