I woke up to face darkness, my common ally in all of this mess. I was kinda surprised at the time, though. I was expecting to have woken up by tomorrow morning at the latest, but I guess I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be.

Not that I was angry. Rather, this was good. This made it way easier for me to be able to sneak out and get my night training on.

I looked around, making sure no one was nearby before I headed to the window in my room. Of course, this was designed to be difficult to reach for a kid like me, but I had my ways of getting there.

Silently, I moved the crib so that it was directly underneath the window, and began using my bed as a means to get out of the house. Thankfully, the crib's edge was just high enough to reach the window, and the furniture itself was strong enough to support my weight, so I was able to get on the platform and look around.

No one was outside, and the time was pitch black. The moon was shining brightly, giving me some light to look around, but other than that, there wasn't much to do around here. Not only that, but there didn't appear to be any kind of useful prop that I could move so I could climb back inside.

... Great, I should have thought about this much more. I guess I'm going to have to sneak in through the front door and make it back inside without making too much noise. I can only hope everyone in the house was somewhat heavy sleepers because I'm not even sure I can sneak in as quiet as a slippery snake sneaking up on its prey.

Oh well. Worst comes to worse, I'll just have to take a lecture or a punishment of some minor degree. Shouldn't be too bad, right?

I climbed over and landed on the ground softly, with my bare feet. I didn't feel any kind of pain, and my movements were good as well. Looks like I'm good to go, then.

I headed over to the shed where we stored the dried firewood and grabbed a random stick, one that was close to the size of a sword designed for a kid. I made sure the weight of the makeshift weapon wasn't too heavy, and then headed over to a random empty field.

The area was filled with nothing but grass and dirt, along with fields of crops that were growing well. There was the chicken coop that my family kept, which was currently housing all types of sleeping birds. Then there was me, standing in the dark, holding the weapon in one hand as I silently breathed in and out.

I put the stick down, and got myself into a karate stance, like the ones I've seen before in my TV shows. I took a deep breath and then launched a strike from my left fist, before twisting my body and launching a strong right punch. After that, I kicked the air before twirling and launching a back-kick with my left leg.

Naturally, that was the plan, and I fell while attempting to do the backflip. I landed on my side and groaned as I got back up. That didn't hurt, but it was still rather annoying to have fallen.

I repeated the steps over and over, at least until I was able to do the combo fully. By that point, I was sweating a bunch, and gasping for air. I felt like I must've just done a marathon or something because I really wanted to just lie down and go to sleep.

I looked up at the moon, wondering how much time I had wasted, and to my shock, the blasted thing hadn't even moved an inch. Seriously? I did all of that, and almost no time changed?

Then again, I was relying on the location of the moon to figure out how much time had passed. Maybe that wasn't a good idea. Nevertheless, if I still had the energy to stand, maybe I was capable of doing more.

I picked up the

with my right hand... well, tried to. I was too weak to even pick that up, and I wasn't capable of wielding it like earlier today. Not only that but when I looked at my bandaged hands, the wrappings were dark red, hinting at its overuse.

My body is obviously telling me that I am way too weak right now to continue and that I should probably take a rest and wait for my hands to heal before I bother doing more. That was something I really wanted to do, too. Just head back inside after that rough training, and just go to sleep and relax. Let my body feel better, and maybe let the wounds on my hands be healed before I do more intense exercise.

However, in the back of my mind, I knew that I couldn't take a break right now. I had wasted two years of my life just getting used to my body and being able to speak, along with making sure my mental health was fit. If I didn't become stronger now, if I couldn't get any better at fighting before my teenage years, if I couldn't break my limits before I had to leave and enter the outside world…

Then surely, I would be behind everyone else in the competition of strength and power. Since right now, I don't have any magic potential, I needed to do everything to maximize my physical strength. I definitely had plans to get magic in the future, but not now. Especially since there was most likely not going to be a way for me to learn magic -

Wait. Hang on a second. Couldn't I just cheat with my 'Skills Crafting' and make myself a mage that way? Or even then, couldn't I just make some random skills that I could use to make guns or something? I've been doing this all wrong! It's time for me to break the system!

I silently looked deep into my consciousness, meditating as hard as I could so that I could get gun smithing down. I dug through my synapses, and I could see the interface itself.

Calling it 'large' would be a bit of an understatement. My mind was filled with so much information and options that I nearly passed out from the massive amount. Nevertheless, I knew I had to do this, so I started cramming everything I could, spamming command upon command to get what I needed to be done.

However, all of this action was for naught. My attempts at getting the skill to make firearms were shut down permanently and with one message: 'This skill is unavailable for crafting due to massive lack of knowledge, skills, and possible connections. Please try to create another skill.'

I wanted to scream at the interface, calling it an idiot and a bastard for ruining my chances, but I stayed calm. Okay, no need to be pissed off. That was one thing. I could come up with a bunch of other cheat skills to get my way through. And thus, I took all my willpower, and pulled through, beginning once more with another load of cheat ideas.

It didn't work. None of them worked. The skill to recall any knowledge from my past life. The ability to call forth all combat information from my world. The power to be able to remake anything in the modern era that was Earth. The capability to hold a God's power within my body.

None of them worked. I couldn't cheat like I wanted. All previous knowledge of my old world that I could've tried to cheat and grab didn't work. No skill I made was allowed period by the interface, stating that it was impossible and that I was basically wasting my time. All I got was the same message over and over again.

No matter what kind of cheat I tried, it failed. No matter how hard I tried to work around my limitations, the plans fell apart like sand. I headed deeper and deeper into despair, as I realized that my attempts were truly and utterly futile.

I was stuck here, in this death world, with a shitty cheat that I couldn't use to even break the system, a skill that only allowed me to analyze myself, a single item storage, and a pain resistance that was only added on as an insult to my death.

Externally, I just laid down face front as I just contemplated what to do. Internally, I was screaming and banging my fists on the ground, angry at my situation and how fucking worthless I was as a human being.

It took a while, but I managed to force all those negative emotions down, almost like I was drowning an angry dog trying to bite my hand. I slowly got up and picked up the stick again almost mindlessly.

I stood there, posed in a kendo stance, staring at the moon while I watched its trajectory. In a single second, I took a deep breath and then launched a strike.

Of course, I hit nothing, but I continued my strikes. Continuously swinging in mechanical and meticulous order, I kept aiming at one point on the moon, never-ending my attack. Perhaps I wanted to vent my frustration out at something, and that one thing was the big sphere of white that I couldn't reach.

I kept moving. My body slowly heated up, and I began to sweat more than previously. I kept swinging because I knew I had nothing else to show for what I have done in two years.

My arms were on fire. I kept swinging because I knew that I couldn't do anything else.

My hands were screaming in agony. I kept swinging. There was literally nothing else I could do at this point.

Then, the bat flew away from my hands, and I fell to the ground, panting as if I had just gotten away from drowning to death. I looked at my hands, and I found that they were covered in my own blood, the bandages no longer doing their duty as they were completely filled up with red.

My hands couldn't stop shaking, and I felt weak. Weaker than my old life, weaker than when I went to sleep earlier, weaker than anything. I felt like I was dying.

But, I couldn't stop here. I had to get inside. Slowly, I picked myself up and headed towards the window, wondering if I could climb up. After all, if I jumped up just enough, maybe I could reach the windowsill and get to my crib without a problem.

... wait a second. I looked at the stick I had thrown away, and to my horror, I realized that the object in question had blood marks over it. Upon looking at my hands, I realized why: my hands had been leaking blood this entire time, and since the bandages weren't doing their job anymore, they were leaving marks all over the place now.

Shit! I was going to get caught if I didn't do something to avoid leaving blood marks all over the house! I had to think of something, quickly, before I ended up incriminating myself and getting blocked off from being able to practice at night!

I quickly looked around, before I found something with the glint of the moon: a small blink. There was a river somewhat far away from this place, but I could reach it, wash my hands temporarily, then rush back inside.

I immediately grabbed the bloody stick and headed over to the river, before my leg muscles started to scream in pain. Of course! The practice I did had made me weakened due to excessive strain, no wonder this was going to be difficult. I had to do this fast, otherwise, the blood will come up again!

I ran to the river, despite the fact that my body shouted with anguish with every step, and quickly undid my bandages. I used the river to wash my wounds, the bandages, and the stick at the same time, hoping and praying that the blood would stop coming out so much.

I wanted to boil the bandages, but I couldn't risk it. If I started a fire, that could most likely alert someone in the town, and they'd have to investigate. Getting caught definitely wasn't a thing I could do, so I quickly wrapped the bandages around my hands while they were both underwater. I could only hope and pray that I didn't get an infection from this.

This tactic was difficult to pull off, but in the end, I managed to do just that. I took them out of the water and grimaced. Of course, if I doused my hands and bandages in water, they were going to have to dry, and that took a while even with the sun.

With the moon out... who knows how long they'll take to dry. But... maybe, just maybe, this was fine?

I mean, if I left marks outside the house, then they would surely dry off before my family spotted them. If I managed to get back inside, then the bandages and my hands would dry before anyone woke up, right? The twig wasn't a concern, I was going to just leave it back in the shed, where there wouldn't be too much confusion.

With my game plan in mind, I headed back to my house. At this point, I had to steel my mind and bite the bullet. I was regretting my decisions, but I couldn't take them back anymore. I just needed to make sure I didn't get caught at this point.

I put the stick back in the shed, then headed over to the window and tried to jump high enough to climb up.

As I expected, no dice. I couldn't do it. The opening was too high up, and without any kind of support, I couldn't get stable enough to climb on over. As easy as it would be to just jump on over and get into the crib, I just wasn't tall enough for that yet.

Alright, I guess I'll have to do the door tactic. Even though I didn't want to do this, I really had no other choice. I just had to steel myself and hope for the best.

I made my way forward and quietly started to open the door. I acted slow and meticulous, taking my time to get the door open just enough for me to slip through, and ensuring that no creaks or sounds were made.

Thankfully, that was done without much problem, and I silently but surely redid the process to close the door. My father's snoring was quite loud, and he was the only one making a lot of noise. Perfect, he would provide the best cover in order to get back to my crib.

With every loud noise he made through his mouth, I started moving forward. Each snore meant a few steps towards my room, where there was only an open entryway. I was the closest to the kitchen, while the rest of the family had to share two rooms together.

Thankfully, I was designated to be by myself for now, since I was the youngest and sleeping together with a bunch of older, heavier kids could mean the death of me. I just needed to tiptoe towards the house, and I'd be safe.

That was when I heard Nellie's loud yawn and movement from the kid's room. I froze instinctively before I made my body to move as fast as possible, as if I were a jailbird trying to get away from a prison warden.

I managed to get back into my room, and I quickly climbed into my crib. I had to ignore the pain I felt, and when I laid myself on the crib, I felt sweet bliss.

My bed felt so comfy, almost as if I was floating on marshmallows. I snuggled myself in, as I heard Nellie stepping towards the kitchen, grumbling and rubbing her eyes. I took a sneak peak. Why was she awake at this time?

That was when I noticed her grabbing a spoon, a bowl, and getting some stew for herself to eat. I casually watched her eat mindlessly as she sat at the kitchen table, half asleep and chewing through the meal like a robot.

Then, after she was done, she 'cleaned' the dishes, and put them away, before heading back to bed. I silently just blinked at the mess, before I started to nod off, my body's exhaustion finally kicking into overdrive within this nice and comfy bed.

Oh well. Worst comes to worst, I could use that as some kind of blackmail if Nellie catches me doing something awful. I snuggled in and started to drift off to sleep.

-----

Another rooster crowed in the morning again, and I wanted to kill that one. However, because one dead bird was suspicious enough, I couldn't do that. Maybe in the future, but not now.

I tried to get up but failed. My body hurt everywhere. My nerves screamed in pain as I tried to lift myself up, obviously tired and completely injured from the training I did yesterday. I really wish that my minor pain resistance would be applied to muscle pain because that would be helpful in allowing me to build up my strength.

Unfortunately, as is, I was too tired and weak to get up. I felt myself burning up as I struggled to even get up to a sitting pose.

"Feliza?" I heard Alise ask as she walked towards me, before gasping at my hands. "Your hands are worse! Oh no, I knew I should have changed them earlier! Come on, let's go fix them up."

She took hold of me to carry me up, and I cried out in pain as she did so. She blinked and then started to put me back down.

"Ah... that's right. You must be so tired from picking up all that firewood and bringing it here. I'll just treat you now." She said as she left my room, and came back within an instant with a brand new cloth roll and some strange pale green paste.

She took off my bandages and applied the paste to my injuries. They started to spark in ignition as pain overload took over, and I couldn't help but grit my teeth to avoid screaming out loud in pain.

After she applied the gel, she then wrapped the bandages around my hands. However, with each wrap, the pain brightened up more and more, almost as if one was dumping a load of gasoline onto a bonfire.

I just had to endure it. It was just mentally pain. I wasn't dying, despite the fact it felt like it. I could do this. I could take this pain, and tell it to go fuck itself.

After an agonizing, brutal moment, I felt her finish the bandages. The pain didn't subside, but I was slowly getting used to the feeling. That was good... right?

"Alright, Feliza. Just stay still. I'll go get you your food." My dearest older sister said as she went into the kitchen for a brief moment, before coming back with two bowls of warm stew, and what appeared to be a hefty slice of bread.

"Here, say 'ah'! Here comes the birdie!" She stated as she took a spoonful of food and left it hanging right in front of me. I couldn't wait any longer, my stomach was screaming in desire.

I took a bite, and I felt myself being rejuvenated. Truly, food was much, much more delicious when you were starving.

"Here, here, have some of this bread too. Mama got it today at the marketplace for a cheaper price!" She said as she prepared another spoonful of stew, this time putting on a piece of bread, straight from the soft, fluffy portion.

I took another bite. Truly, this was good. I couldn't help but feel glad being pampered like this.

After all, what was there to be upset about? Alise looked really happy doing this for me, I was getting fed by the handful, and best of all, I didn't actually have to move all that much. My injured body was lying down in peace, and I was doing alright.

This situation wasn't so bad after all, huh? Might as well just relax and enjoy the moment for now.

After all, like mother always used to say, cherish the good times, because they can always help you in the darkest times.