Friday unfolded much like the previous days, a grim cycle of chores, scarce food, and careful avoidance, but layered now with the invisible structure of the System. Harry woke up with a dull throb in his shoulder – despite his 60 HP max, the physical discomfort of living on the floor was a constant presence. He pushed down the familiar gloom, [Gamer's Mind] providing its now-routine mental filter.
📊 [STATS]
Name: Harry Potter
Level: 2
HP: 60/60
MP: 12/12
STR: 4
DEX: 5
INT: 9
WIS: 7
LUK: 16
CHA: 10
Experience: 81/200
81 EXP. Still 119 points from Level 3. But his other tallies were looking more promising.
🎯 [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: 4/7 days survived safely (Current Week Status: Fri)
Reward: +100 EXP, +1 LUK, unlock passive skill [Pain Resistance I]
Failure: Serious injury, revelation of the System, prolonged starvation. Unknown penalties.
Only two days of surviving the week left after today. The end felt close enough to hope for.
🔔 [POTENTIAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT]
Evasive Maneuver (Potential Agility/Awareness skill)
Action Trigger: Successfully avoid or escape immediate physical threats/ambushes.
Current Progress: 4/5 (Successes needed to unlock!)
Focus on one more successful Evasion.
Detected Action Pattern: [Subtle Movement]
Action Trigger: Move through spaces quietly and unnoticed, particularly near conscious, alert entities.
Current Progress: [Significant Progress - Near Trigger Threshold!] (Continued deliberate application advised)
Continue conscious application of stealth techniques.
Detected Action Pattern: [Situational Awareness]
Action Trigger: Proactively seek information about threats or environmental details.
Current Progress: [Steady Progress] (Consistent use of [Observe] on relevant targets helps)
Continue conscious use of [Observe] and environmental cues.
One more successful Evasion. Just one! Harry felt a surge of determination. That was his priority for the day, besides staying alive and getting food. He just needed one opportunity. Given Dudley's nature, he was confident it would come. He focused hard on practicing his Subtle Movement from the moment he left the cupboard, making his minimal morning tasks as silent as possible. The notifications about 'Near Trigger Threshold' felt encouraging, spurring him on.
Breakfast chores yielded a standard +5 EXP, pushing him to 86/200. Cleaning the small front porch and weeding the unhappy flower beds added another +7 EXP, bringing him to 93/200. He used [Observe] freely on items (+0 MP cost), noting details the System provided (Condition: Neglected, Items Present: Weedlings, Rusty Trowel). He occasionally risked an [Observe] on a noisy bird or a passing cat outside his zone of immediate threat (+0 MP cost – maybe living things not actively threatening him didn't count as 'Complex Targets'?) and practiced environmental checks (+WIS, progress towards Situational Awareness).
The opportunity came in the late morning. Harry was told to bring Dudley a glass of juice from the kitchen to the living room. He grabbed the glass, filled it carefully. As he approached the living room doorway, he could hear Dudley and Piers inside.
He peered cautiously around the doorframe. Dudley and Piers were spread out on the floor right in front of the doorway, trading cards noisily. They were effectively blocking the entrance, sitting in a way that required anyone entering to either step over them or try to squeeze past in the narrow gap near the wall, right by where Dudley was sitting.
🧍 [PERSON: Dudley Dursley]
Level: 3
Current Mood: Comfortable, Engrossed (in game).
Notes: High spatial obliviousness when focused on entertainment. Threat Level (Stationary & Occupied): Low. (However, proximity bypass carries moderate risk of incidental contact & resulting anger).
The System offered useful data. Dudley was preoccupied, low immediate threat. But trying to squeeze past him was a moderate risk. An Evasive Maneuver, the System prompt suggested, involved avoiding or escaping immediate physical threats. Trying to pass without being caught or touched while he was blocking the way? That counted. This was his chance. He just needed to execute it perfectly, silently.
Harry took a deep, steadying breath, using the enhanced focus from [Gamer's Mind]. He needed to move very quietly, leveraging his practicing Subtle Movement skill, and be agile, using his DEX (now 5). He held the glass of juice steady, trying to keep the liquid from sloshing.
He stepped forward, placing his bare feet with excruciating care. Heel first, then the ball of the foot, gently taking his weight. Each step was deliberate. He focused entirely on his movements and the reactions of the boys, whose heads were still bent over their cards.
He shuffled past the edge of Dudley's trainers, inching sideways. The space was narrower than it looked. His knee brushed lightly against the edge of the armchair beside the gap. He froze internally, willing himself to be a shadow. Neither boy looked up. Dudley's hand, splayed carelessly on the carpet near Harry's foot, twitched but didn't move.
He was halfway through the gap. His focus was absolute. His progress on Subtle Movement felt palpable; it wasn't just a concept now, but something he was doing, a tangible (to the System, anyway) effort.
Another silent, slow step. Almost clear. He could see the edge of the room beyond the blockage now. One more foot to go. He lifted his last foot, moving it silently past Piers' leg.
Success. He was through the doorway, standing silently in the living room, untouched, unnoticed, the juice glass steady in his hand. He held the stance for a moment, processing what had just happened.
🔔 [Evasive Maneuver: SUCCESSFUL!]
[Specific Classification: [Proximate Avoidance] via [Subtle Movement]]
[Potential Skill Development Progress Updated: Evasive Maneuver: 5/5 SUCCESSES ACHIEVED!]
[Processing Potential Skill Unlock: [Evasive Maneuver] based on repeated successful execution...]
The blue light of the System intensified, bathing his internal awareness in a soft glow. A different kind of notification window appeared, larger and more prominent than the others he'd seen.
⚡ [NEW SKILL UNLOCKED!] ⚡
Congratulations! Through repeated successful attempts to avoid and escape physical threats, User Harry James Potter has developed the passive skill [Agile Evasion]!
✨ [Agile Evasion Lv. 1 (Passive)] ✨
Description: User has developed an instinctual talent for avoiding danger and navigating challenging physical situations.
Effect: Increases Dexterity (DEX) during active Evasive Maneuvers (+1 to +3 DEX, depending on threat/focus level). Provides subtle sensory warnings of immediate physical danger (Range: Very Close, Effectiveness: Low at Lv 1). Slightly improves physical coordination in tense situations.
Persistent Effect: Minor permanent increase to base Dexterity. (Applies Now!)
He felt it instantly. Not a sudden jolt, but a faint, internal 'click' accompanied by a sense of being slightly lighter on his feet, his body a little more ready to move quickly. It was subtle, like his Lv 2 stat boosts, but felt active. A minor permanent increase to base Dexterity. His STATs window shimmered, showing an update he'd almost missed.
📊 [STATS Update!]
Name: Harry Potter
Level: 2
HP: 60/60
MP: 12/12
STR: 4
DEX: 5 --> 6 (+1 base from Agile Evasion Lv 1)
INT: 9
WIS: 7
LUK: 16
CHA: 10
Experience: 81/200
His base DEX was now 6! The skill had given him a permanent point, on top of the temporary boost (+1 to +3) it provided during an evasion! This was incredible. He had a new skill, a passive one that just... made him better at dodging and moving in danger, all because he'd managed to avoid Dudley five times. And it even gave him tiny warnings?
🔔 [Skill Application Noted: Subtle Sensory Warning Triggered]
System detected proximity of moving leg (Dudley's foot restretching). [Agile Evasion] passive warning provided extremely subtle directional impulse to user's leg (Effectiveness: Low, success: Threshold).
He hadn't consciously felt a warning, but maybe that tiny nudge to shift his foot had been the skill working, so subtle he didn't even register it as a 'warning beep', just an instinctual feeling of needing to move that last bit.
He finished delivering the juice to Dudley, setting it down on the floor where Dudley could reach it without getting up, minimizing further interaction. He backed away quickly.
[Task Completed: Delivered Dudley's Juice]
[Evasive Maneuver: Successful via Proximate Avoidance + Subtle Movement]
[Action contributed to Potential Skill Development - Stealth/Subtle Movement (Progress Significantly Increased)]
[+18 EXP]
Current EXP: 81 + 18 = 99/200
Eighteen EXP! That was the most he'd gotten from a single action besides maybe the full Garage clean. Successfully completing a required task while executing a successful, skillful evasion paid big! He was up to 99/200 EXP again, just one point shy of Level 3! This felt familiar.
He finished the day's chores, carefully practicing his Subtle Movement whenever possible. He constantly tried to be aware of where the Dursleys were using his ears and quick glances (progressing Situational Awareness). He secured his meal during dinner (+10 EXP, EXP: 109/200 – Passed 100 and kept going!). Quest Objective achieved for Day 4.
Curled in his cupboard, now Level 2 with Dexterity 6, possessing the [Agile Evasion] skill, nearing another skill unlock (Stealth/Subtle Movement seemed closest) and Day 4 of the quest complete, Harry felt a deep, quiet sense of accomplishment. He still hurt, he was still hungry, but he was actively changing. Growing stronger. Learning. And there was still that letter, the impossible letter in the study... the study that Uncle Vernon had left unlocked yesterday... a location he now knew slightly more about. He fell asleep, the knowledge of its presence a quiet hum beneath his awareness, along with the silent glow of his rising stats.