After he leaves Magnolia, Ben goes to National Fiore Council Branch. It is located near Capital Crocus and about 4 to 5 hours by car from Magnolia. Ben will report his finding of the anomaly on Fiore's sky.
Bella is sleeping peacefully on her seat after she drank her milk. She didn't do much today, but what happened has made her tired.
They arrive at the Branch's location after 4 hours. Ben immediately goes inside after waking Bella up. They pass the securities easily after showing their job letter.
Ben & Bella then go to an office where they will report their finding. Unsurprisingly, the one in the office is Geld, the one who always took care of Ben's business with Magic Council.
"Sigh, you again," says Ben with a defeated expression. Even Bella sighs too and shakes her head before sleeping again on Ben's head.
"Haha, indeed, it's me again," says Geld nonchalantly.
"Whatever, I'm here to report what I found in my job," says Ben.
Geld nods and Ben starts to tell Geld what he found before. Geld notes everything that Ben tells him without interrupting. Only after Ben finished, that Geld starts to ask some questions.
Ben answers Geld's questions based on what he found. But Ben doesn't say anything about Lisanna's condition. His job is just to investigate the anomaly with the Ethernano on Fiore's sky.
"Alright, thanks for your report. It gives us more details than the other investigations that we've done so far," says Geld while closing his notebook.
"I don't think I found a lot though," says Ben while raising an eyebrow.
"No, it's a lot. So far, our investigations only found that the Ethernano in the sky reduced mysteriously. We never know that it gets absorbed by something and it even absorbs Magic Power from spells or living beings," says Geld.
Ben tilts his head and says, "You guys are very bad at investigating, aren't you? This thing has happened for some time, but you only found that. I am worried about Ishgar's Magic World now."
Geld feels his heart is getting stabbed a few times because of Ben's words. His head plopped on the table and he says, "Please spare us, we have a lot of things to handle here."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you do. Now, my job is done, so I will take my leave," says Ben while turning around to leave.
"Alright, thanks for your help. Your reward will be transferred to your bank account like usual," says Geld.
Ben just waves his hand as he leaves the room. He leaves the Branch immediately after that. Ben doesn't like to be in this place for too long and just wants to go home.
Ben puts Bella on her seat before he drives away from the Branch. It's evening already, so he needs to drive carefully because of the dark road.
On their way back, Ben thinks about the strange phenomena that happened before. He know the Ethernano in the sky was being sucked, but by what or who?
He thinks of many possibilities, but can't find an answer. Even AI Chip can't find anything with all information that it has in its database.
"My knowledge is still not enough. I need to gather more knowledge. This thing doesn't seem big now, but it might lead to disaster in the future. The scariest thing isn't death, it's the unknown," says Ben seriously.
Ben has died once, so he's not afraid of it at all. But the unknown always pose danger to him and what he wants to protect. If he doesn't know what he'll face, then he won't know how to fight it.
He knows he is not omnipotent even with all these powers. Even if he reaches his max potential, there might still be something that can kill him. If even Escanor could die, then so he is.
He is not afraid of death, but he is afraid because he can't protect what he needs to protect if he dies. He needs to live to do what he wants and do what he needs.
So Ben needs to prepare for any situation. He needs to amass more knowledge about this world. He needs to know more about magic and all its mysteries. The most important thing is that he needs to get stronger.
'Speaking of getting stronger, I remember that I have a big problem inside me that can give dangerous effects as I grow stronger. AI Chip, does the Dragon Seed get affected by my growth?' asks Ben in his mind.
[Yes. The Dragon Seed is getting affected by your rapid growth. In fact, it wants you to grow even faster, so it can turn you into a dragon fast.]
'So did it also help me grow if it wants that to happen?' asks Ben.
[Yes. Because of the Dragon Seed, you can grow faster than normal humans, even the ones with the highest potential. However, the remnants of Smog's soul have reduced the danger that the Dragon Seed can cause.]
'Have you found the limit before it starts to affect me completely?' asks Ben.
[Calculating..... Your current limit is 230 stats points on STR, AGI, & STA. If you grow past that before you reach the age of 18, the dragonization will start immediately even though it should happen around 7 to 9 years again.]
(a.n: It's not a nerf)
'Why 18? Also, what about INT?' asks Ben.
[Your body will be fully developed at the age of 18. Your bones & muscles are still too young currently. They will break if you keep growing past that limit. The Dragon seed will then starts to change your body structures into that of a Dragon.]
[As for INT, you don't have any limit because of me. I am like your second brain and keep growing as I get more knowledge. The only thing that limits you is your physique, not your brain or magic power.]
Ben ponders about it and understands it a little. His physique is still too young to hold that much burden. He has grown very strong physically and even surpass many adults mages. But his body isn't ready to hold that much power in it.
Ben isn't happy with that because he can't grow stronger again, physically. But he's glad that he still can grow in other aspects like his INT and MP. His physique is strong enough now, so he's not that worried about it and will focus on INT & MP.
'My physical stats almost reach the 230 limits, so I can't train too much on them. I will focus on increasing my INT & MP until I become 18,' thinks Ben while looking at his stats.
[Name: Ben Cooper
Age: 15
Status: Alive
MP: 146,184/146,184
STR: 205
AGI: 199
STA: 218
INT: 221]
'Hmm, this means I can train more with my magic and increase my mastery over my spells. It's not that bad actually because I don't need to train everything together,' thinks Ben positively.
Ben has trained all aspects of his power in these last 5 years since he arrived in this world. He grows a lot, but he can't reach his magic's max potential because he also needs to train his physique and other things along with it.
Now he will have 3 years to focus on developing his magic. So he's sure that his magic's growth will be a lot faster than before. This is a Magic World too, so magic power should be more important than physical power.
'3 years, I will focus on polishing my magic in these 3 years. I will also gather more knowledge about this world. Limit? Heh, that's not a real limit. I will still grow, one way or another,' thinks Ben while smirking.
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