He wanted to find the answer to his burning question by finishing all the quests for the month: "How can I unlock my exclusive system?"
Acknowledging the need to comprehend his circumstances and the world around him, he knew that unless he got stronger fast, his likelihood of uncovering the answer was low.
With this thought, he got out of bed, ready to make the most of his time.
"I shouldn't waste any more time. I need to start doing the daily quests. It's probably going to be noon soon. But first, I should look around the house to get to know it better," he decided.
Walking to the first floor, he thought about the second floor he had checked earlier, with only three rooms, one being his own. The stairs creaked as he stepped on them, and he felt a bit excited as he was about to explore the other parts of the house.
When he got to the first floor, he looked around and saw the dining table, some empty chairs, a kitchen on his left, a door to the yard on his right, and a hallway behind him with a room beside it.
Looking outside, he saw two girls playing with toy dolls under the tree in the yard.
The house was fenced with iron fences, and all around were trees, making it seem like the house was in a forest.
"Why do they live in the middle of a forest? Isn't it dangerous here? I haven't even heard of any wild animals. It must be safe, right?" he thought quietly, considering their peaceful life.
"Forget it! I'll figure it out later. Right now, I'm safe, and that's what matters," he decided, putting aside unnecessary thoughts.
"Rayna has to go to work in the morning, leaving us alone... Should I try to get information from the kids? No, I'll just focus on my daily tasks for now, and take it slowly," he decided, stepping out into the yard.
As soon as he walked into the yard, the twins saw him. One of them waved excitedly, inviting him over, while the other looked upset and turned her head away.
To avoid looking suspicious, he approached them with a question in mind.
"Are you feeling better, Erebus? Come play with us, please!" Riona said with excitement, holding his hand.
He thought to himself, "How can I refuse that? Well, I could, but Erebus probably shouldn't." He let go of her hand, and she looked a little worried as if she had made a mistake.
"Sure, I'll play with you if you answer one question first. Deal?" he asked calmly, looking directly at her.
"Absolutely! I'll answer anything to play with you!" she replied excitedly, fists clenched in determination.
"So am I part of your family?" Erebus asked.
Riona was shocked by Erebus's question. Her eyes lost their spark and her enthusiasm faded away. Machaira, who had been looking away, turned to him with wide eyes, bewildered by his question. She seemed lost in thought, trying to understand why he would ask such a thing.
"Why are you asking now?" Riona stammered nervously, looking down with her hands tightly clasped together.
"Just tell me the truth," Erebus insisted firmly.
Riona nervously replied, "Y-yes... y-you've a-always been one of u-us," averting her gaze and trembling hands.
He thought, "This kid really can't keep secrets, huh?" as he gently patted her head to reassure her, assuming Erebus wouldn't leave her upset.
"Got it. No worries. Let's move on. Let's play for two hours only. I have other stuff to do," he told Riona gently. When she heard this, her smile came back, and her mood changed back as if nothing had happened.
He played with them for two hours, engaging in various childish games. Despite appearing cheerful on the surface, he felt incredibly embarrassed as a 40-year-old man trapped in the body of a 12-year-old boy."
After playing with them, he said goodbye to the girls and promptly went to his room. He then intended to do 100 push-ups and sit-ups for his daily workout. After that, he intended to run 10 km in circles near his house to stay safe.
When he got back to his room, he immediately dropped to the floor to do some push-ups. He had taken off his shirt to avoid sweating on it.
"Alright, here we go!"
But after just 10 push-ups, he realized he had pushed himself too hard and felt tired.
"Ugh, Erebus, why are you so weak? I'm the one suffering because of your lack of strength," he grumbled to himself, a bit disappointed but determined to keep going.
He told himself, "I will do it no matter what. I've already felt worse pains. This is nothing!" He started doing push-ups, taking small breaks in between. After what felt like a day of torture, Aisam finally completed his first daily quest after almost an hour and a half.
*Ding
[You've completed the daily quest: do 100 push-ups.]
[Reward received: 0.3 random stat point added to...]
[Mana increased from 1 to 1.3]
"Huh? Why that? I can't even use that now," he said, out of breath and exhausted, as he fell to the floor.
"I should get a water bottle before exercising from now on," he added, still panting on the floor.
After a few minutes, he got up, went downstairs, drank some water from the sink because he couldn't find a water bottle or a replacement so he had to go there every time he needed it, and then started his daily quest of doing 100 set-ups.
He fell on his back after arriving in his room and clutched his feet under the bed to pull himself up and do the set-ups.
"Here we go again," he said after taking a deep breath and started doing set-ups and taking breaks every time he got too tired.
*Ding
[You've completed the daily quest: do 100 set-ups.]
[Reward received: 0.3 random stat point added to...]
[Dexterity increased from 1.5 to 1.8]
He said "*huff *huff, again...? *sigh," after noticing a stat that has improved but is now useless for him. He was lying on the floor, struggling to catch his breath."
"I need to improve my luck. Otherwise, all my efforts will be wasted. How has he survived with such luck?" he pondered. He closed his eyes, hoping to remember stories from his past life that could guide him to better luck.
After a moment of reflection, he exclaimed, "Artifacts!" He got up from the floor, surprised and satisfied by this revelation.
"I need to find an artifact or something similar to enhance my luck and other abilities. But how?"
He wondered where he could find one of those artifacts. He tried to remember something to help him locate them and get a general idea of where they're usually found as he never read the novels in his past life intently and only read them once in a while as a time-killer.
But his memories were blurry and mixed up. They all overlapped and created meaningless jumbles of all things that didn't help him even get a general idea of where they were found.
"Damn it! I never thought I'd need to remember things I casually read," he muttered to himself, frustrated by his lack of memory of the situation.
He calmly stood up and went downstairs to get a glass of water before his 10 km run.
"Whatever, even if I know where they are, it's not like a weak 12-year-old can find it. I'll just take my chances with my bad luck and hope for the best. I don't even know if anything can change my terrible luck," he mumbled to himself before shrugging off those thoughts and sticking to his original plan of getting strong enough.
Add to your library, and your support is greatly needed if you want this series to get better and continue.
If you're eagerly anticipating his Fantasy Terror System, please be patient as I work on further developing the story in a more refined direction and enhancing its quality.
The storyline may evolve according to my upcoming ideas and plans.