After leaving Magnolia, Ben went the Fiore Branch of the Magic Council. It was located near the capital Crocus and was between 4 to 5 hours away from Magnolia. Ben will report his findings on the anomaly in the sky above Fiore.

Bella was sleeping peacefully in her seat after drinking her milk. She didn't do much today, but what happened exhausted her.

After 4 hours, they finally arrive. Ben immediately went inside after waking Bella up. They passed through security easily after showing their job letter.

Ben and Bella then head to a office where they will report their finding. Unsurprisingly, the person in the office was Geld, the one who always handled Ben's business with the Magic Council.

"You again." Ben sighed with a defeated expression.

Bella sighed as well and shook her head before falling asleep on his head.

"Ha ha, indeed, it's me again." Geld said nonchalantly.

"Whatever, I'm here to report what I found on my job." Ben muttered.

Geld nodded and Ben told him what he found before. Geld noted everything Ben told him without interrupting him. Only after Ben finished, did Geld begin to ask more questions.

Ben answered Geld's questions based on what he found. But he didn't disclose Lisanna's condition. His job was just to investigate the anomaly with the Ethernano in the sky above Fiore.

"Alright, thanks for your report. It gave us more details than the other investigations that we've done so far." Geld said while closing his notebook.

"I don't think I found a lot though." Ben admitted.

"No, it's a lot. So far, our investigations only found that the Ethernano in the sky was reduced mysteriously. We never knew it was absorbed by something and it even absorbed magic power from spells or living beings." Geld said.

"You guys are very bad at investigating, aren't you? This thing has been going on for a while, but you only found that out recently. I am worried about Ishgar's magic world now." Ben said after tilting his head.

Gelt felt his heart being stabbed a few times from Ben's words.

"Please spare us, we have a lot of things to handle here." He said after his head plopped down on the table.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you do. Now, my job is done, so I will take my leave." Ben said while turning around to leave.

"Alright, thanks for your help. Your reward will be transferred to your bank account like usual." Geld replied.

Ben waved as he left the room. He left the branch immediately after that. Ben doesn't like being here very long and just wanted to go home.

Ben put Bella in her seat before driving away. It was already evening when he left the branch, so he needed to drive carefully due to the dark road.

On their way back, Ben thought about the strange phenomena that happened before. He knew the Ethernano in the sky was being sucked up, but by what or who?

He thought of many possibilities, but can't find an answer. Even A.I Chip couldn't find anything despite all the information in it's 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." Ben said seriously.

Ben already died once, so he wasn't afraid of that at all. But the unknown always posed a 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 reached his max potential, there might be something that can kill him. If even Escanor could die, so can he.

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 it's mysteries. The most important thing is that he needs to get stronger.

'Speaking of getting stronger, I just remembered I have a big problem inside my body with dangerous effects as I grow stronger. A.I Chip, is the Dragon Seed affected by my growth?' Ben asked in his head.

[Yes. The Dragon Seed is being affected by your rapid growth. In fact, it wants you to grow even faster, so it can turn you into a dragon quickly.]

'So did it also help me grow if it expects it to happen?' Ben asked.

[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 of the Dragon Seed.]

'Have you found a limit before it starts to affect me completely?' Ben asked.

[Calculating...your current limit is 230 stat 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 start in 7 to 9 years.]

'Why 18. Also, what about INT?' Ben asked.

[Your body will be fully developed at the age of 18. Your bones and muscles are too young currently. They will break if you keep growing past that limit. The Dragon Seed will then start to change your body's structure into that of a dragon.]

[As for INT, you don't have any limit there because of me. I am like your second brain and keep growing as I gain more knowledge. The only thing that limits you is your physique, not your brain or magic power.]

Ben pondered and understood it a little. His physique wasn't developed enough to withstand that burden. He had grown very strong physically and even surpassed many adult mages. But his body isn't ready to contain that much power.

Ben wasn't happy with that because he can't grow stronger again, physically. But he's glad that he could grow in other aspects like INT and MP. His physique was strong enough now, so he wasn't that worried about that and just focus on INT and MP.

'My physical stats almost reached the 230 limit, so I can't train them too much. I will focus on increasing my INT and MP until I become 18.' Ben thought 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 actually because I don't need to train everything at once.' Ben thought positively.

Ben had trained all aspects of his power over these last 5 years since he arrived in this world. He grew a lot, but he can't reach his magic's max potential because he also needed to train his physique and other things along with it.

Now he will have 3 years to develop his magic. So he's sure that his magic's growth will be a lot faster than before. This is a magic world, so magic power should take priority over physical power.

'3 years. I will focus on polishing my magic over the next 3 years. I will also gather more knowledge about this world. Limit? Heh, there's not a limit. I will still grow, one way or another.' Ben thought with a smirk.