For the remainder of the day, Zeke finished his quest then did Mana Circulation again.
The next day, the father-son duo got stopped again by Gaia.
"Uhm, can I please join with you, Sir Charles, Ezekiel?"
Gaia shyly asked.
"Of course, little girl! Have you jogged before?"
"N-no, Sir."
"You don't need to call me 'Sir', little girl. Just call me Uncle."
"A-alright, uncle."
Charles nudged his son who was silent the whole time.
"Since you both are almost the same age, you teach her, son. While you're doing that, I'll be speeding up my pace so as to let you guys have time. Is it alright with you, son?"
"Yes, Father!"
Zeke then looked at Gaia.
"Let's go then! Do you know how to run, right? You just need to run but slower, like in the middle of running and walking. Can you try it?"
"Y-yes."
Seeing the two kids, Charles left them and sped up his pace.
It was the first time Gaia did this so her speed was slow. She also stopped multiple times along the way that Zeke had to wait for him. Still, Zeke didn't complain or anything as he has all the time in this world to complete his quest.
After completing a lap, Gaia plopped on the ground butt first. She was panting heavily as sweat poured down from her body.
"Can you continue?"
"W-what? you're still going to go? aren't you tired?"
Hearing this, Zeke lightly laughed.
"Haha, I am a bit tired but it's not enough. I can still do more laps. Don't worry though, I also am like you for my first time. The ground I stood for a minute got soaked from my sweat and I was barely able to move. You did good on your first run, Big Sister!"
"R-really? When is your first time, then?"
"It was the day before you saw us."
"E-eh?! You can already run for more laps after a few days?"
"Yes..? What's wrong? My stamina went up after hellish jogging, so it's natural for me to get used to it, you know?"
"I-I see."
"Alright, just rest here for a bit and you can join me after this lap, okay?"
"Un."
Gaia found Zeke's behavior to be quite pleasing to the eye. He didn't force her to continue, but instead gave her a choice on whether to continue or not. It was clear that he cared for her.
After a lap, Zeke looked at Gaia, who already stood up with a determined expression, and smiled. He nodded at Gaia then continue jogging. Gaia, receiving the nod, followed along.
After another lap, Gaia and Zeke sat in front of Gaia's part of the palace.
"Are you alright?"
Zeke asked Gaia. He was worried that she would find it hard to recover after that. Zeke thought it wasn't a problem for him since he had the mind of a teenager, but Gaia is different. She is still a 3-year-old child and a 3-year-old child running for almost half a kilometer would certainly be tired after it.
"It was good."
Gaia smiled. Although she's very tired, she felt satisfied with what she achieved.
"C-can I join you and your father every day?"
"Huh? I'm fine with that and I'm sure father does too, but are you sure you want to join us?"
"Yes! it feels refreshing and I don't have much to do, so I guess I could do this every morning."
"Then it's settled. See you tomorrow!" Zeke waved and left.
Zeke did his usual routine after his exercise. He meditated in the morning, read books in the afternoon, and practiced Mana Circulation in the evening.
A day passed by and Zeke saw Gaia in front of their door. They jogged again and Zeke's daily schedule happened again.
After a month of doing the same thing every day, Zeke checked the result of his everyday routine.
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Ezekiel Flamehaven
Male; 2 years old
Pure Blooded Half-Dragon
Titles: Otherworlder; Unrestrained; Pandora's Champion; Perfect Mana Core User; Undying;
Level: 3 (35/300)
Str: 90
Agi: 100
End: 271
Int: 346
CP: 40
Skills: Aura; Mana Skin;
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'Damn. My rate of growth is just absurd. At this rate, I'll really surpass my parents under 10 to 20 years!'
He leveled up twice after a month of doing his quest. When he leveled up, he noticed there were some additional stat points and he added it in his Str and Agi. There were also 2 skill points that he could use to quickly level up his skills. He held on to it and decided to use it on his Mana Skin when his Mana Circulation reaches a level where he could cast his Mana Skin. Right now, although Zeke could control his mana, it still wasn't to the point of being useful in a battle. He still needed to fully control it before he could use Mana Skin.
In fact, Zeke could actually use this skill point right now and learn Mana Skin but he refrained to do so as he wanted to solidify his foundation in circulating mana first.
Zeke leveled up his Aura into level 3 too. His aura right now is still a bit faint, but the distance from which it can be felt increased.
Zeke also achieved level 4 in his Mana Circulation. Right now, he could now freely move mana inside his body albeit in a very slow way. He also still needs to concentrate on himself but he considered his progress to be good.
When he woke up the next day, what surprised Zeke is the change in his quest.
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Daily Quest "Strengthening"
Run/Jog, Meditate, Strength-related workout
Hint:
-1km run/jog
-1hr meditation
-1 hr workout
Progress:
Distance: 0%
Duration: 0%
Workout: 0%
Difficulty: D+
Reward:
10xp
+10 Strength
+10 Endurance
+10 Int
+10 random stats
Quest Failure Penalty:
-20 random stats
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'So it scaled the difficulty now, huh. System, what do you mean about Strength-related workout?'
*Yes. Strength-related workouts include anything that could make your core muscles stronger."
'I see. Does it include exercise that are from my world?'
*More or less, Zeke. Maybe the exercise you have in your world already exists here.*
'Haha, maybe.'
After the daily jogging with Gaia and Charles, Zeke rested for a bit in front of their part of the palace. After a few minutes, Zeke started doing push-ups. The push-ups he did are made for beginners as it doesn't strain the person's body that much and it's suitable for people new to workout.
"Oh? Now you're doing that, son?"
"Uncle, what's Ezekiel doing?"
Gaia didn't know what Zeke was doing. Recently, she already got rid of her stuttering and jogged with Zeke every day, so she eventually got closer to Zeke too. The two would have a race together sometimes. Of course, Zeke always won because of his fraudulent training methods. His current agility right now is comparable to a normal human adult's speed in running. He made sure not to fully sprint as his father might notice Zeke's abnormal speed.
"That's also a kind of exercise, little girl, but it's dependent on the person's strength. You see, jogging increases our stamina while what my son's doing right now is to increase his upper body strength. Do you want to try?"
"Un."
Gaia imitated Zeke's stance as she started to do it. She failed miserably on her first time as her hands couldn't support her body and also because of poor posture/stance.
"You need to lower your butt more and..." Zeke started guiding Gaia into having the correct stance.
Charles was surprised that Zeke knew how to perform push-ups. He hadn't done it ever since Zeke was born, so there was no way Zeke learned it from him. The only thing Charles could only think of is that Zeke read it from some book in the study.
After that, Zeke's normal routine got changed a bit with the addition of new strength workouts.
Another month passed, and the two other daughters also joined on their morning exercise. The first to join out of the two was Rosaline. She heard about it from Gaia and she became interested in what Zeke was doing. Then a few days later, they also invited Aura, the youngest. Just like that, Charles, Zeke, and the three little girls were all having their morning exercise. Of course, the two daughters only stuck to jogging while Gaia was already getting used to some of Zeke's other exercises. Charles also stopped going with his son after the third week of the month as he noted that Zeke already has three more companions. Fritz and Alcazar also joined them once or twice a week, and they were extremely satisfied and gratified to Zeke for helping their daughters.
In this way, Zeke became more of an older brother for them as the four of them continued their routine.