Sunday dawned grey and unwelcoming, the usual stillness of the day punctuated by the low murmur of the Dursleys already awake. Harry lay in the cupboard, feeling the dull ache of his makeshift bed, a familiar discomfort the System hadn't eliminated, only categorized. Six years old, and this tiny space was his whole world, but the faint blue light in his mind promised there was more.
He brought up his stats.
📊 [STATS]
Name: Harry Potter
Level: 2
HP: 60/60
MP: 12/12
STR: 4
DEX: 8
INT: 9
WIS: 7
LUK: 16
CHA: 10
Experience: 187/200
He was so close to Level 3. 187 EXP. Only thirteen points stood between him and upgraded stats, more HP and MP, and whatever level-up perks awaited. Every tiny task, every evaded threat, every observed detail brought him closer.
🎯 [QUEST ACCEPTED!]
Title: Survive the Week
Goal: Avoid Dudley's violent games. Minimize interactions with Petunia. Ensure daily food intake (minimum one meal/day). Do not reveal the existence of the System.
Progress: 5/7 days survived safely (Current Week Status: Sun)
Reward: +100 EXP, +1 LUK, unlock passive skill [Pain Resistance I]
Failure: Serious injury, revelation of the System, prolonged starvation. Unknown penalties.
Day six. This day, then Monday. Just two more days of surviving. And that reward – Pain Resistance I – felt increasingly necessary.
Below the quest, the larger, glowing banner for the Wizard's Journey lay dormant, Pending Acceptance. A secret future waited, held at bay only until the mundane, brutal present could be successfully navigated one more day.
🔔 [ACQUIRED SKILLS]
Gamer's Mind Lv. 1 (Passive)
Observe Lv. 1 (Active)
Agile Evasion Lv. 1 (Passive - DEX bonus, subtle warnings)
Stealth Lv. 1 (Passive - Stealth benefit, DEX bonus)
🔔 [POTENTIAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT]
Situational Awareness: Action Trigger: Scan/monitor environment for info/threats. Current Progress: [High Progress - Near Trigger Threshold!] Requires conscious, deliberate application, particularly utilizing [Observe] on environment/threats.
Today was about pushing Situational Awareness. Unlocking that skill felt important. Yesterday had solidified Stealth, adding a layer of unnoticed presence. Awareness felt like its natural partner – not just being unseen, but knowing what to be unseen from, knowing where to go, knowing when danger was near without even seeing it.
"UP! And no dilly-dallying, we've got places to be!" Petunia's sharp voice jolted him out of his thoughts. Places to be meant trouble. Places to be meant new, unfamiliar environments where his usual careful routines of survival would be disrupted. This was a prime opportunity to test his Awareness.
Breakfast was simple, thankfully without major incident, adding a predictable +5 EXP (192/200). As he cleared the dishes, Harry heard them discussing the visit – "the Masons," Vernon grunted approvingly. Harry vaguely recalled a conversation or two about business, something boring and important to his uncle. He mentally braced himself. Visiting someone always meant intense pressure to be invisible, quiet, and cause zero embarrassment. High-stakes Situational Awareness and Stealth practice.
He was sent to tidy his corner of the garden before they left, staying away from Dudley who was already getting his clothes ready (a lengthy, noisy process involving lots of bouncing and shouting). Harry used the quiet chore to practice. Pulling weeds (+7 EXP, 199/200). One point away from Level 3! Just a simple chore, a tiny action, had brought him to the brink again. The feeling of standing on that numerical edge was sharp.
The rest of the preparation involved being washed, shoved into scratchy, too-big clothes of Dudley's, and told pointedly multiple times to "keep your mouth shut" and "don't touch anything." Each command reinforced the stakes. He moved silently (practicing Stealth Lv 1), keeping an eye on Vernon's face (Observing body language) and Petunia's hands (anticipating physical corrections). This was live-fire Situational Awareness training.
Getting into the car and the journey itself was tense. He made himself as small as possible in the backseat. His thoughts whirred silently, analyzing the passing world through the window. Cataloging shapes, sounds, patterns of movement – subconsciously sifting sensory input for anomalies, threats, points of interest. This felt like exactly what the System described for Situational Awareness: monitoring, scanning, recognizing details.
🔔 [Action Noted: Intensive Environmental & Threat Monitoring during Relocation Event.]
[User proactively applying situational processing to unfamiliar or changing environments. Strongly aligns with [Situational Awareness] Action Trigger.]
They arrived at the Masons' house. A neatly trimmed lawn, a small porch, bright, cheerful flowerpots. Inside, it was neat and smelled of polish and faint perfume, utterly different from the Dursleys' permanent aroma of frying bacon and dog. Harry slipped inside in the Dursleys' wake, relying on Stealth to pass through the threshold without drawing attention.
He was ordered to stay put near the entrance hall, but Vernon and Petunia were too focused on their greetings and subsequent immersion in polite conversation in the sitting room to pay him close attention. Dudley and Piers were soon loud somewhere else (likely already seeking a television or source of food). Harry seized the chance to observe.
Without needing conscious MP cost (as no complex target yet), he scanned the visible space – layout of the hall, entrances to other rooms, staircase. Where were people? Sounds from the sitting room; muffled noise identifiable as Dudley's grunt and Piers' giggle from further inside the house, perhaps towards a back room or kitchen area. Mrs. Mason appeared briefly from a doorway before retreating. His Awareness was active, building a mental map, constantly updating.
🔔 [Action Noted: Persistent, Multi-Layered Environmental Scan Initiated in Unfamiliar Location.]
[User integrating auditory and visual data points to construct mental map and identify entity locations. Sustained application contributes significantly to [Situational Awareness] Skill Trigger Progress.]
He didn't wander far, remembering Vernon's instruction, but he allowed his senses to extend. Listening, watching peripherally, categorizing movements and sounds. This constant, internal process felt sharper now, more defined. He stayed near the edges of the main room, a small shadow against a wall, appearing quiet and docile while his mind raced, building his network of awareness in this strange, vulnerable location.
He stayed like this for a significant period, perhaps twenty minutes, while the adults conversed and the boys presumably ransacked another room for snacks or entertainment. No one approached him directly. No immediate danger. Just sustained, deliberate sensory intake and processing in a potentially dangerous environment. It wasn't dynamic evasion, but pure, focused awareness.
🔔 [Action Outcome: Sustained, High-Intensity Environmental & Threat Monitoring Application.]
[User maintained deliberate state of broad environmental processing and awareness for extended period. This final push triggers the threshold!]
[Processing Potential Skill Unlock: [Situational Awareness] based on consistent, deliberate, and critically successful application.]
🎉 [NEW SKILL UNLOCKED!] 🎉
Congratulations! Through dedicated practice in monitoring your environment for details and threats, User Harry James Potter has developed the passive skill [Situational Awareness]!
✨ [Situational Awareness Lv. 1 (Passive)] ✨
Description: User possesses a heightened sense of their surroundings, able to process environmental details and potential dangers more effectively.
Effect: Adds passive bonus to Wisdom (WIS) and Perception when monitoring the environment. Provides subconscious recognition of potentially useful details or anomalies within sensory range. Improves effectiveness of [Observe] skill on surroundings.
Persistent Effect: Minor permanent increase to base Wisdom. (Applies Now!)
📊 [STATS Update!]
Name: Harry Potter
Level: 2
HP: 60/60
MP: 12/12
STR: 4
DEX: 8
INT: 9
WIS: 7 --> 8 (+1 base from Situational Awareness Lv 1)
LUK: 16
CHA: 10
Experience: 192 + [EXP for SA Unlock TBD]
A mental click, another faint surge of internal energy. His Wisdom stat went up by one. Situational Awareness, unlocked. His awareness of the room, the sounds, the positioning of people shifted, became less forced and more... natural. He still had to direct it, but the basic function felt enhanced, automatic. A low-level 'sense' now filtered through him constantly.
And the EXP gain for that concentrated effort:
[+25 EXP]
Current EXP: 192 + 25 = 217/200
[LEVEL UP IMMINENT!] User has exceeded required experience for next level! Level processing initiating...
He'd hit Level 3! Not with a bang, or dodging a bully, or doing some extraordinary feat. He'd hit Level 3 standing quietly in a stranger's hallway, observing the ordinary world around him with extraordinary focus, practicing his internal discipline until the System recognized his mastery.
The Level Up notifications didn't cascade immediately here; the System seemed to delay the full processing when the User was in a socially delicate situation, not wanting to plaster giant banners over Harry's vision during Vernon's crucial business dinner (perhaps another implicit System protocol). It registered the 'Exceeds Required EXP', noted Level Up is pending, and returned to a minimal display, leaving Harry to navigate the social visit with his newfound skill and latent Level Up knowledge.
The rest of the visit was tense, surviving the subtle discomforts and avoiding interacting unless forced. No extra food was offered (failing that potential Quest objective at the Masons), strengthening the importance of securing his meal back home. He stayed unseen, unheard, practicing his now-active Stealth and Awareness, subtly evading when needed (further training those skills).
Back at Privet Drive, dinner was minimal but present (baked beans again). He ate it, securing Day 6's food objective.
🎯 [QUEST PROGRESS UPDATED!]
Survive the Week: Ensured daily food intake (6/?) (Day 6 Goal Achieved)
Goal: Ensure daily food intake (minimum one meal/day). Status: Achieved for Day 6.
[Task Related to Surviving the Week: Achieved Minimum Sustenance]
[+10 EXP]
Current EXP: 217 + 10 = 227/200
Day 6 completed successfully. Level 3 reached, unlock pending processing. Stealth, Agile Evasion, Situational Awareness – all passive skills, all contributing to his quiet mastery of navigating his oppressive environment. He was a Level 3 shadow with sharp eyes and a keen sense of danger, hidden in plain sight.
Curled in his cupboard, the Level Up processing notification waiting, the Quest completion looming, and the Wizard's Journey Pending Acceptance banner glowing softly in his awareness, Harry finally allowed himself a small, hopeful smile. Monday was the last day. Then everything would change.