Four years later, I was sitting at dinner with my parents. Opening up my Quest Screen, I looked at my remaining Daily Quest.

[Daily Quest: 4/5]

[Contents: clear plate of food at all three meals]

[Rewards: +1 Health]

"Charles, what's wrong? You're not eating," Mother asked.

"Oh, nothing wrong, just thinking," I replied. I had to forcibly dumb down my speech so that I sounded like a four-year-old boy. Then, grabbing my utensils, I dug into my food. Within minutes, all of my food was gone.

[Daily Quest: 5/5]

[Contents: clear plate of food at all three meals]

[Rewards: +1 Health]

[Complete]

[All Daily Quests complete]

[Completion Reward: +40 XP]

Excellent, I'm close to leveling up again, I thought with a grin. Excusing myself from the table, I then went to my bedroom. Opening up my Status Screen, I glanced at my level with a smile.

"I didn't expect to already be level 20 so quickly," I thought aloud. "I also wasn't expecting to get a Skill with every level up, a Power with every 5 level ups starting at level 5, and both a Spirit and a Transformation every 10 level ups starting at level 10."

I looked over my list of Skills with satisfaction. There were 22 different Skills in the list, all of which I was happy to have. The 22 Skills were , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and , all of which I had earned through leveling up or experimenting.

I also had four Powers, two Spirits, and four Transformations. My Powers were , , , and , my Spirits were and , and my Transformations were , , , and . With these, and my Skills, I felt confident in taking on pretty much anyone. However, the main restriction on my fighting strength was my age, size, and stats.

While my stats were decent enough thanks to the Daily Quest Rewards and the stat points earned from leveling up, they were still below what I wanted. Plus, some of my abilities were limited due to how low my stats are. Even still, I was feeling pretty satisfied.

"And what's got you so happy?" Father asked.

"Nothing, just thinking something funny," I replied. Getting up from the table, I carried my dishes to the kitchen. Placing them in the sink, I smiled at Mother, who had started loading the dishwasher. She smiled back and rinsed my dishes off before putting them in the dishwasher. Now that my dinner dishes were taken care of, I headed outside.

Stepping outside our house, I stood on the grassy front lawn. Despite being in this world for several years now, I still couldn't get over how different it was. The entire city was encased within a dome of some kind that projected what the sky outside looked like. I was told that the dome exists to protect everyone from the monsters and other creatures that roam the land outside. However, it was also amazing to see the technological marvels that were throughout the city.

But I wasn't out here to admire the city, I was out here to practice. Walking around to the back of the house, I made sure that no one was looking before activating , multiplying my physical stats and destructive power by 10. It also allows me to continuously increase my physical stats and destructive power even further without limit using my rage, but also makes me lose control. That's why I decided to practice using, so that I can hopefully learn to fully control it without going berserk.

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"But this is so much harder than I thought it'd be," I panted. The strain the Transformation put on my body as well as the stamina it took to remain in control was much greater than I had been expecting. Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to keep pushing. "The only way to become stronger is to push through my limits and keep going! If I want to control this power, I've gotta push it to its limits!"

I then activated , which further increased my physical strength and energy attack strength. However, my stamina was being consumed even faster now and the strain on my body was even greater. Luckily, kicked in and began strengthening my body to counter the strain. I roared in pain as energy overflowed from my body, my aura exploding outward.

"Th-this is just too much! Why did I think this was a good idea?!" I screamed. Doubling over, I noticed that the ground beneath my feet was starting to crumble from the pressure my aura was exerting. "I-I need to increase my durability!"

Activating , my entire body becoming harder, tougher, and stronger. I then activated , which strengthened and toughened my body, turning the outside of my body black. Gritting my teeth again, I bore the pain and stood there, the ground beneath me crumbling away.

It's not like I can just release this energy with an attack, it would hit the dome that keeps the city safe, I thought. Trying to come up with ideas, my thoughts were scattered as even more pain shot through my body and mind. I could feel the Transformation triggering, which I couldn't control at all. My physical stats and energy attack strength was once again multiplied, but it also put an even greater strain on my body.

Eventually, I couldn't handle it anymore and I passed out. As the world around me went black, the last thing I saw were my parents running towards me.

* * *

When I woke up, I was laying in bed. Mother was sitting next to me, wiping my forehead with a cool cloth. As soon as she saw that I was awake, she smiled and kissed my forehead. She then stood up and left to tell Father that I was awake.

When they both came back, Arthur immediately began hugging me. I was crushed by his massive arms for what felt like several minutes. When he finally pulled away, I saw that his eyes were red from crying.

"Charles, my boy, I'm glad you're alright," he said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"Honey, what exactly were you doing?" Vanessa asked, a worried look flashing across her face.

"I was testing my magic," I replied. "I lost control."

"Yes, we saw that you lost control," Arthur stated. "But what we don't understand is what you were doing. It seemed like you were somehow increasing your strength and Mana."

"I was. That magic made me strong, like Daddy! But it hurt a lot to use it," I explained, pouting my lips. "I will control it better!"

"Yes, I'm sure you will, but for right now, you need your rest," Vanessa replied with a smile. She leaned in and gave me another kiss on the head. Father ruffled my hair and they then both left my bedroom. As soon as they were gone, I tried to get up. However, pain racked my entire body as soon as I moved. Huffing for breath, I laid there, thinking about how stupid I was.

I should never have tried to use both the Transformation and the Skill at the same time, I thought. It was just too much power for a four-year-old to handle.

Focusing on my and Skills, I channeled my Ki throughout my body in a restorative manner. After several minutes, I had exhausted most of my Ki, but I was also feeling much better. I then received a System Message.

[ Skill created]

"Ooh, that looks like it'll be helpful," I thought aloud. Opening up the Skill's info page, I began looking it over.

[]

[Description: those who have learned this technique are able to use their Ki to heal their wounds, even in the midst of battle]

[Type: Active]

[Max Level: infinite]

[Level 1 Effects:

1. Recover 2 HP per second]

[Cost: 2 Ki per second]

"Very nice, this'll be really helpful in a fight," I said. Then, I decided to lay and wait for my Ki to refill. Once I had all my Ki back, I activated . The Skill began fixing up my damaged body, though the healing process itself turned out to be painful as well. Biting my blanket, I kept myself from yelling out so that I wouldn't attract attention from my parents. "I didn't think this would be so painful. But it'll be worth it since I'll be able to recover that much faster."

After several minutes, I had finished fully healing myself. However, as I continued to lay in bed, I got an unexpected System Message.

[ activated. All stats permanently increased by 5>

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that," I said, shock evident on my face. However, my shocked expression soon turned into a Joker-like grin as I realized what this meant. But I decided that it wouldn't be worth it to get a stat boost by putting myself into life-threatening danger. That also didn't mean that I was going to just sit idly by and let others get ahead of me in becoming the strongest.