Chapter 4: Improvement

"Hmmm… well isn't this a pleasant surprise"

 

Although I was expecting cramps all over my body after that tough workout yesterday, I didn't feel any pain at all

Rather than pain, I instead felt more refreshed

 

It was like my blood flowed slightly better and my body felt more energized.

 

"Is this an effect of my gift? Does my gift also improve my regeneration or something as well?"

 

"Jericho! Breakfast is ready so come set the table with your siblings!"

 

Being called by the beautiful head nun I immediately went down

 

"I'm here."

 

"Well look who decided to show up, did you have a good dream sleeping beauty?"

 

"Shut up Fred"

 

"What~? I'm just asking. There's no need to be so uptight about it Millie"

 

Millie Adolf, one of the few children here who has a last name and is also the oldest of us all, being a month older than Orson.

 

She had short red hair and sharp sky-blue eyes that matched it. Together with her cute plump face that makes you want to squeeze them, even as a child she was already quite attractive. It was almost assured at this point that many men will want to court her in the future after she grows older.

 

She used to have short black hair but after receiving her gift her hair color for some reason changed to fit the gift's characteristics.

 

Among the people in the orphanage, she had the most noticeable change in appearance after receiving a gift.]

 

"Hey hey hey! Big sister Millie! Could you do that 'thing' again?"

 

Said a cute girl a year younger than me

 

"Oh? Ok ok, if that's what you want then--- Hup!"

 

With her red hair slightly lighting up, a bright warm flame suddenly appeared on her palms

 

"Wahhh! So pretty!"

 

[Fire Bender] The ability to create and manipulate fire using only your imagination. The gift itself was the definition of simple yet powerful.

 

It was by far the most powerful gift in the orphanage and combined with the natural genius of Millie, will without a doubt help elevate her to even further heights in the future.

 

"pant*, hah…hah… ok that's my limit."

 

Exhausted, Millie turned her gift off. One thing I have noticed is that, unlike novels where an energy like mana is needed to activate certain skills, gifts simply required the user's stamina to activate

 

So being the 6-year-old girl that she is, her stamina would expectedly be lacking.

 

I think this is also one of the main reasons why adults are growing stronger quicker than children.

 

I don't know if this is the same for other people but based on what I heard from other adults and my observations on the orphanage, gifts are the same as the muscles in our body, the more you use it the stronger it gets.

 

Adults who typically have more stamina than children, they can use their gifts longer and more frequently than us, giving them a significant advantage when it comes to raising their gifts.

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{Well, except for gifts like mine which act something similar to a passive skill that stays on without the need for stamina that is.}

 

"Guys breakfast is ready, wash your hands and go to the table."

 

"Yes, Head Nun!"

 

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"Well then, now that breakfast is done it's time for me to check whether or not I really did improve. First, push-ups."

Somehow a little excited, I went into position and started doing push-ups

 

"1…2…3...6…annnnddd 7!"

 

Squeezing out as much energy as I could. Breathing heavily I plopped onto the ground

 

"hah..hah…hah… so a 1 ½ improvement from yesterday huh?...heh"

 

{I… can actually…improve this fast? I think I've come to understand why bodybuilders like checking themselves out in the mirror so much. Observing your "gains" is quite satisfying.}

 

Although the level of change didn't seem too much, the feeling of experiencing growth and seeing improvements so quickly was truly… addicting.

 

"What about my speed and stamina then?! mwahahahahahha!"

 

{Ah wait, I should test out agility first, let's learn from our mistakes now ok}

 

"heh, although I may be behind everyone right now in terms of future potential I am without ahead of them. I'll soon catch up to their strength, surpass them and maybe after then... sigh, forget it."

 

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[Present]

 

"Hmmm…. did 65 pushups, ran roughly 400 meters of distance in under a minute, and did the lateral training drill in under 20 seconds. not to mention all were completed with very minimal breaks."

 

Light smoke was coming out of my sweat-drenched body. I always made sure that every time I trained I pushed myself to the limit. This allows me to abuse my now seemingly faster regeneration speed leading to better results the day after.

 

{Strength, Speed, Agility, and Stamina. All of them improved by leaps and bounds… if you take into consideration my light weight that made the workouts easier, within two months I improved from an average 5-year-old to an average 13-year-old huh

Although I am still much weaker than a 13-year-old athlete, the fact that I already have this level of strength should help me prove that I have the gift [Physical Enhancement].}

 

{The adults were starting to get suspicious considering how weak I was a month ago compared to the other children who had [Physical Enhancement], this level should clear their suspicions hehe.

But though I say that why do I have this strange feeling that I'm not using my gift to its full potential?}

 

“It’s more of a hunch than anything but it’s still uncomfortable either way.”

 

After a few seconds, the uncomfortable feeling was finally gone however, at the back of my mind, I took note of it as maybe I can find the answer in the future.

 

Until then I decided to no longer pay it too much mind and focused on a problem I encountered currently.

 

{If only there was someone who was experienced who could teach me how to fight, that would be cool.... alas, such an opportunity will probably never come}

 

Thought the boy mischievously, not daring to share his gift just yet.

 

Unbeknownst, thinking that he was the only one around the area he ended up not noticing the figure of the Head nun observing him from afar with an amused grin on her face.

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