A few days had passed since Harry's life took a sudden turn for the weird. Though he had been thoroughly convinced that the whole 'Gamer' thing wasn't a hallucination by the end of the first day, that didn't mean he was completely used to the boxes popping up everytime he did something they deemed important. Which apparently included cooking and cleaning as he had gained skills in both of those. He was surprised but happy to note that neither skill had started on one, he supposed his experience of doing them before had been taken into account. They had both started at level five.

While being busy around the house a few small quests had appeared. He accepted them as it certainly made washing the dishes more fun when he knew he would be rewarded for it, even if it was for only 10xp. These small quests had brought his experience points to (190/500) which made him wonder what would happen when they filled up. He would level up, obviously, but what did that mean. He could see the levels above his aunt and uncle's heads, but what did it mean that they were over ten levels ahead of him. Was it due to their age? Their Job? Had they just washed thousands of dishes?

These questions plagued Harry's mind as he watched Aunt Petunia level up while they cooked breakfast. It wasn't overly obvious, the bar above her head merely flashed, the numbers changing. From looking at her he could tell she hadn't felt a thing. The manual had helped explain a bit, it was where he learned they were called experience points, that you got them from completing quests and something called dungeons. The tidbit about dungeons had not helped at all as he couldn't picture his Aunt wrestling slimes. He had amused himself for a minute with the idea of his aunt smashing zombies with an old broom while wearing her floral patterned nightdress, but that wasn't realistic at all. The Dursleys hated anything abnormal so they certain wouldn't waste time seeking out mythological monsters to fight!

The idea that people had to complete lots of quests seemed to fit, however he couldn't picture his aunt going on quests. Sure, he got small quests like washing the dishes or cooking lunch, but those quests gave such small rewards they would have to do them thousands of times over to get anywhere. He couldn't imagine any of the Dursleys accepting the type of quests with big rewards, like the Why Me quest, or any typical quests you read about in books. His aunt could never fight a dragon, or his uncle help some fairies.

If the Dursleys truly did get to their levels by doing just the mundane and boring quests, that must mean there are other people out their who did do dangerous quests and must have huge levels. There must be people with levels 100 and higher, while here he is, a measly level one. A wave of determination rose in him, he may be level one now, but he can change that. From what he could tell, only he can see these levels, only he could see what would give him the experience points, this gamer thing made him unique. It would be hard, the Dursleys certainly wouldn't help, but he could rise above them. Harry's eyes shone with resolve as he swore to be better than those who would put him down.

Quest: Progress

Become better than those who would see you fail.

Goal: Achieve Level 100

Rewards: Isn't success its own reward here?

[Accept/Decline]

Harry accepted the quest. The no rewards thing was slightly disappointing but he supposed the game was right, Level 100 would be its own reward. Though judging from the levels of the people around him, it would be extremely difficult. He hadn't seen anyone with a level higher than forty, and even then that was Mr Graham from Wisteria Walk, who rumour said was a retired martial arts master.

'This is going to be hard' he thought as he put away the dishes into their appropriate places. It was all well and good saying he would get stronger, but he had to come up with a plan on how to do it. Obviously he had to get quests, but he needed higher paying ones. Ten experience points for getting the plates washed and put away quickly was appreciated, but it wouldn't get him anywhere near his goal. However, he should probably not make a habit of choosing huge quests like Why Me, not only was the goal ambiguous at best, his life depended on completing it successfully. There was risk taking and then there was tempting fate. Too many quests like that and he was asking to fail. Accepting one or two should be fine though…

What he needed was a quest with a middling level of difficulty. Something risky with a small amount of danger. But where was he going to find that? No quests fitting that description had come up. Not to mention that with low stats like his he probably couldn't even do the quests if they came up. Currently just running from Dudley's gang was dangerous as he wasn't fast enough to outrun them.

'Oh'

For reasoning things out and finally coming to the logical conclusion you have gained 1 Wis and 1 Int.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and glared up at the floating text, the answer right in front of him. He had to raise his stats. At the moment he couldn't get better quests because he wasn't strong enough. It was like running a race. You can't start by doing the marathon, you had to build up the skills needed first or you wouldn't be able to do it. In his case he had to increase his stats and skills to increase the difficulty of his quests.

"Status" Harry muttered quietly. He didn't want his relatives to hear him talking to himself, that wouldn't go down well.

Harry James Potter

Level 1 (190/500)

Titles: The Gamer,

HP: 150/150

MP:150/150

Dex: 3

Str: 2

Vit: 3

Wis:5

Int:6

Luck: N/A (Potter Luck)

Stat Points: 0

Money: 0

Harry James Potter is your not so average seven year old. An orphan made to grow up at his maternal Aunt's house, he never quite fitted in. Always considered weird by his classmates due to his abilities, Harry wants to find out about his parents and why strange things always happen around him.

Skills

Perks

'Right' he thought, 'I need to work on my Str, Dex and Vit if I want to keep all my stats at a similar level. If I can increase my Intelligence and Wisdom by thinking and making wise decisions, I should be able to increase the others in a similar way. Str and Dex are obvious but what about Vit?'

Quest: Baby steps

Time to take your first steps on the road to greatness. Everyone starts somewhere, you just started with bad stats. Increase them to make life easier for yourself

Goal: Increase all your stats by one

Rewards: 50xp, 1 stat point

[Accept/Decline]

Harry pressed accept, he was planning on doing that anyway and he wasn't going to say no to easy xp. That did raise the question of how he was going to do it though.

He was snapped out of his musing by the appearance of his cousin. The boy was wearing a smug grin and was surrounded by his entourage of friends. Harry grimaced, knowing exactly what was going to happen next and the information above the gang's heads was not reassuring.

Dudley Dursley, Bully Leader, Lv 4

Piers Polkiss, Bully, Lv 3

Gordon James, Bully, Lv 3

Dennis Johnstone, Bully, Lv 3

Malcom Morrison, Bully, Lv 3

All three of the bullies were a higher level than him, with Dudley leading the pack. Quickly, he glanced around trying, and failing, to find an adult whose presence would deter the boys. No one was there. Not that they would believe him, his aunt was too good at making everyone believe he was a lying troublemaker and Dudley a well behaved angel. Looking at the boys he wondered just how blind everyone was to believe that. Dudley grinned as he realised what Harry was looking for. He whispered something to his followers which made them laugh. The group made a beeline for him, the means grins on their faces told him all he needed to know. He wasn't getting out of this easily.

"Oi, Freak. Up for a game of Harry Hunting?" Dudley yelled, phrasing it as the question it wasn't. All of them knew that Harry had no choice in the matter. Frustration built up inside Harry, he was done with being forced into this game. Before he knew what he was doing, he yelled back at the approaching mob.

"Not today Dudders, I can't be bothered to try and catch you and your little friends." he snarked. Ruthlessly, he pushed down the sense of fear, panic, and why the hell did I just do that that came about due to his actions. The pop up telling of a new skill was also ignored.

Now, Dudley's gang wasn't made of the smartest individuals, but even they could detect the sarcasm in that sentence, and they didn't like it one bit. As one, they glared at Harry causing the emerald eyed boy to take an involuntary step back. Dudley, being the leader of the group, was the one to start the chase with a cry of "GET HIM".

Harry turned on the spot and fled, his best bet was to run and find somewhere to hide. That's what usually worked. Using his right hand, he shoved the latest pop up to the side, he would read them when he wasn't at risk of being beaten to a pulp.

"GUYS! I think he went this way" Malcom yelled, pointing at the exit of the small ally that led towards Magnolia Crescent. He sprinted that way, the rest of the gang following his lead. If anyone was in the abandoned ally they would have heard a sigh of relief echo from behind the dustbins by the entrance.

Pushing himself up, back onto aching feet, Harry looked at the exit the boys had run through. Gagging at the smell of rotting chicken coming from the bins, he started walking the opposite direction the boys had come from. Dudley's gang may realise he had hidden himself soon and start backtracking. From previous 'games' Harry knew the library wasn't far, just on the corner of Magnolia Road. Dudley and co avoided the library at all costs so they would never look for him there.

From the outside the library didn't look all that special. In fact, if it wasn't for the sign above the door you would never have known what the building was used for. However as soon as you entered you were bombarded with the smell of books, both new and old. The library was separated into many different sections each containing a different topic varying from classic literature to instruction manuals. Within each section there were many isles filled with shelves upon shelves of books. Little Whinging boasted one of the largest libraries in the area, a fact Harry was very happy about.

To the left of the door as you came in there was a table with five computers on it. Judging from the sound of keys being pressed at least one was in use. Opposite the entrance there was the front desk where the old librarian vigilantly watched for anyone who tried to break the library's rules. As long as he didn't break any he was safe here, a fact Dudley hated as he was banned from the library after the librarian caught him bullying someone in the year below Harry. The library was a safe haven for everyone who had run into trouble with Dudley Dursley.

Harry walked over to his favorite spot in the library. It was right at the back and it took skill to navigate your way through the bookshelves to get there. Right between Ancient Literature and Advanced Physics was a small area with three beanbags and a small table, it received just the right amount of traffic. None. When he got there he collapsed onto the beanbag and relaxed. He closed his eyes and lay there, ignoring the sound of another box popping up.

Eventually he opened his eyes, the knowledge he had quite a few boxes awaiting his attention making him unable to relax properly. Waving the boxes over, he looked at the information they contained.

By insulting an adversary you have gained the skill [Taunt-Lv1]

Taunt: Level 1 (0/100) {Passive}

Want to anger your opponent into making a mistake? This is the skill for you.

20% chance at distracting your opponent, 10% chance at angering your opponent, 5% chance of causing them to make a mistake

By attracting the anger of a large group you have gained the skill [Detect Intention-Lv1]

Detect Intention: Level 1 (0/250) {Passive}

Can't read the atmosphere? Lucky for you this skill does that for you. This skill tells you what emotion people are projecting at you

Currently tells you: the source if they are in your sight, the emotion, the basic reason why.

Warning! [Detect Intention] has detected anger towards you

Source: Dudley's Gang - They want to beat you up.

By running until you got tired you have gained 1 Dex and 1 Vit

By running from Dudley's gang you have gained the skill [Running-Lv7]

Running: Level 7 (350/700) {Passive}

How fast you can run

Current speed: 4.2 mph

(Passively increase Vit and Dex by 1)

Quest Progress: You have made progress on quest 'Baby steps'

You have entered {Little Whinging Public Library}

10% more xp when learning from books

Harry smiled, he could use this, he could definitely use this. The new skills were welcomed with open arms and he was glad to have found out how to raise his vitality, that had confused him. The progress on the quest was good and the bonus from just being in the library was amazing. If locations had bonuses that could be extremely useful.

Getting up from his seat, Harry decided to make use of the library bonus and get a book to read. Not knowing what to get, he decided just to look around and see what peaked his interest. Harry didn't even bother to look at the advanced physics section, they had only started basic science last year so there was no way he would understand anything over there. Meandering over to the Ancient Literature section he went to pull out a random book before being stopped by a message from the game.

Error. The Iliad; a translation, requires [English reading] skill Level 40, [Ancient Greek] reading skill Level 5.

Harry blinked. Books had level requirements, that was new. It made sense if he thought about it, a grade one reader would seriously struggle to read college level books. It seemed like he would have to get better at reading before he could read any of the nearby books.

Leaving the area he moved back out into the main section of the library. With no idea where to go he merely picked a direction and started walking. After a few minutes he finally found something that caught his eye. It wasn't the title that peaked his interest, rather the fact that it was glowing. The books around it were dull reds, blacks and browns whereas this book was shining with a gold light.

There was only one other person in the isle, a young woman, and she showed no reaction to the book. Either she didn't find this strange at all or this was another thing that only he could see. As expected a message appeared when he touched the book. However the content of the message was a surprise.

Skill Book: Astronomy for Dummies

Would you like to learn skill [Astronomy]

[Yes/No]

'What! I can learn skills simply by touching books! Of course I want to learn the skill if it's as easy as that!'

He pressed yes and then fell back in shock as the book exploded into golden light that flew into his chest. Wide eyed, he stared at the place where the book had been just a few seconds ago. Scrambling to his feet, he looked around frantically to see if there had been any witnesses. He didn't want to be kicked out of his Dudley free haven!

Luckily for him the isle was empty, the woman from earlier having left. Harry released the breath he didn't realise he had been holding. That had been lucky, he didn't want to imagine what people's reactions would be if he did that in public. Thank god the bookshelves provided some privacy.

Looking at the box floating next to him, he was happy to see he did actually get the skill. The book hadn't just dissolved for nothing.

Astronomy: Level 1 (0/100) {Passive}

Astronomy is the study of celestial objects (stars, moons, planets and other space stuff).

Knowledge Level: Awful, people who pay attention when they watch documentary's know more than you.

He could have done with the skill being less insulting, but he was still glad he got it. The game always managed to insult him in some way anyway, he was starting to get used to it.

Seeing as he had just learnt the skill, he decided to pick up some books on the subject, might as well while he was here. After checking he could actually read them, he grabbed two before going down a different isle. When he finally got back to his spot he had added another book to the pile in his arms.

For carrying heavy books around you have gained 1 Str

Harry placed the books on the table and sat down. Reaching over and picking one up, he cracked it open and settled in for spending a few hours reading.

"The Library will close in ten minutes" the tannoy rang, making Harry jump. He was part way through the last of the books he had picked out. Two being astronomy and one on cooking.

[English Reading has leveled up] x 5

[English has leveled up]

[Astronomy has leveled up] x 2

For reading a lot of books your Int has increased by 2

Dismissing the boxes as he got up, he stretched and picked up the books. As he made his way through the library he put them away, taking note of all the skill books dotted about. They might come in useful in the future.

He was almost out the door when he overheard a couple of teens playing on the computers. Normally he wouldn't pay them any mind but seeing as his life had become a game recently, they might have some good information.

"Guys! My inventory is full but if I log of now we'll lose the staff of power!"

"Shit, where are you. I've got some space"

"Where we killed the boss"

"I'm coming"

"Inventory?" Harry tested the new word, he glanced to his right and saw a new box. Unlike the others this one wasn't full of words, instead it was filled with smaller boxes. He closed it for now, he could figure it out later. Knowing how late it was, Harry started running. The quicker he got home the better.

By the time he had made it back to the Dursleys house he had increased both his Dex and Vit by one. Walking inside, he heard laughter from the dining area. The Dursleys were sitting there eating dinner. As soon as he entered the kitchen they immediately turned and glared at him. Harry merely rolled his eyes, their glares were nothing new to him. On the kitchen side there was his dinner, a banana that his aunt had left out for him. He grabbed it more making his way to his cupboard, this inventory thing wasn't going to test itself after all.

Harry pulled up his inventory as soon he shut the door. Unlike the rest of his ability, this wasn't immediately obvious as to how he should use it. He thought back to the conversation he had overheard, they had talked about it being full and losing something if they didn't put it in there. So a type of storage space then.

Eyeing the boxes, Harry wondered if it was just that simple. He picked up the banana with his right hand and tried pushing it into one of the boxes on the screen. The screen rippled and the banana was sucked from his hand. One of the many boxes now had a picture of the banana with a small number one below it. He looked at it before attempting to take it out. Reaching a hand into the screen, he found the fruit and was able to bring it out. The picture disappearing as he did so.

A small grin spread across his face, if he could stockpile food in here he wouldn't have to try and sneak by the Dursleys every time he was hungry. Excited now, he looked around the cupboard to see what else he could put in there. His eyes came to rest on the old plastic army figurines he had 'borrowed' from Dudley. Grabbing one off the shelf, he cocked his arm back and threw it into his inventory. The smile on his face grew as he watched the screen ripple and accept it, his eyes alight with all the possibilities.

Harry found the leftover money from his birthday that he didn't use. Carefully he pushed it into his inventory. If this worked he didn't have to worry about Dudley stealing it anymore. The screen took the assortment of coins and flashed. Harry panicked for a second as the money didn't go into a box like everything else. He calmed down though when he saw it appear at the bottom of the screen.

Money: £7

He tried to get it out again by reaching like he had with everything else. It didn't work. Instead, he was greeted with a screen asking how much he would like. There was a keypad, like what you see at cashpoints, there for him to type in the amount. Pressing five he was surprised when a five pound note appeared for him to grab. Not that he was surprised at the amount, he just wasn't expecting a note. He had only put coins in after all. He inspected the note, it didn't look fake but he wasn't the best judge.

Harry put it back, he didn't need it now anyway. This was interesting to keep in mind though. Looking around the cupboard, Harry put everything that had any value to him into the box. Now he had a Dursley proof storage area he was going to use it.

After storing away everything, Harry closed the box. He had one more thing to do before going to sleep. Pulling up his stats he looked at his progress.

Dex: 5 (1)= 6

Str: 3

Vit: 5 (1) = 6

Wis: 5

Int: 8

Luck: N/A (Potter Luck)

Stat Points: 0

"I just need a point in Wis and I'll have completed that quest. I still need to work on my strength though. It's my weak point." he noted, "If I go back to the library again tomorrow, I can work on my skills again and get more points for strength by carrying books around. Maybe I should check out the fitness section to see if there are any tips in those books."

He nodded, a plan made. If he continued to make progress like this, things would surely improve. Harry closed his eyes, his last thought before sleep claimed him was about how amazing this ability of his is.