"Yes!"
Damien's eyes lit up with excitement as he voiced his agreement to the System.
No sooner had his voice echoed than the photo of Doctor Heinz transformed instantly into a stream of light, merging into the boy's small body.
As the light penetrated him, a continuous flood of knowledge began to invade his mind.
The veins on his forehead started to swell and become increasingly visible.
An intense pain exploded in his mind. Damien gritted his teeth, enduring the suffering with fierce determination.
Beyond this sharp and overwhelming agony, his mind was gradually transforming into a superhuman version of itself.
The young boy could feel himself becoming something more.
Damien could never say how long he had to endure that pain before it finally began to subside.
Little by little, he felt the veins on his temples relax, their pulsing slowing until they almost completely disappeared.
After a moment of respite, the young boy slowly stood up.
His limbs were still trembling from the pain, but he managed to keep his balance.
The black hair of his new body had taken on a slightly brownish tint, and he had gained a few centimeters in height.
Yet the true change was not merely physical.
The mind of the man once known as Damien had evolved on many levels.
His thoughts were faster, clearer, and he now felt within himself a new depth, along with different ways of perceiving the world.
At first, these unusual perceptions disoriented him, but he eventually realized they far surpassed anything he had ever experienced.
"Fascinating… Was it really that simple back then?" he muttered, recalling his old struggles with mathematics and physics.
Damien fell silent for a moment, staring into space, his mind absorbed in processing the enormous mass of information that had just flooded into him.
Unfortunately, his trance-like state was interrupted by the appearance of a holographic panel from the System.
[ Option: Status ]
[ Host: Merlin Emrys (formerly Damien Smith) ]
[ Abilities: Eccentric Genius Beyond Norms (Rank: SS-) ]
[ Template: Heinz Doofenshmirtz ]
[ Current Template Progress: 15% ]
[ Optional Info: Weak for now, but the potential is already there ]
As he read this information, Damien's eyes gradually grew serious. He had not yet acquired all of Heinz Doofenshmirtz's abilities.
"System, is it possible to obtain all of Doctor Heinz Doofenshmirtz's skills?" he asked in a focused tone.
His face betrayed slight anxiety, and his still-childish voice echoed in the small rundown house.
[ Indeed, if you increase the progress of the Heinz Doofenshmirtz template… ]
The System's mechanical voice rang in his ears. Damien's black eyes lit up slightly.
"How can I improve the character template's progress?" he asked urgently.
[ In every universe, there exists a scenario played out by privileged children of destiny… ]
The System tried to continue, but Damien cut it off:
"Stop talking like a Xianxia novel. Limit yourself to one or two paragraphs maximum," he ordered, frowning.
[ Contacting and influencing the scenario characters of this world can accelerate the template's progress. The more important the character, the greater the improvement. ]
[ Aside from that option, you can simply act in accordance with your current template. ]
After receiving the answer, Damien broke into an impatient smile.
'My former self has only been in contact with Erza so far… and I've already gained 15% progress.
If I join Fairy Tail or a major dark guild, I'll be able to complete the template much faster,' he thought, recalling the story of the Fairy Tail manga.
Fairy Tail was a major guild in the Kingdom of Fiore, renowned for housing exceptional mages. Even if he wasn't yet certain he was a true mage, simply living in the town of Magnolia would already represent a significant step forward in his progress.
Damien also remembered that, in the manga, Erza and the village children had been kidnapped by a dark mage order and taken to the Tower of Heaven to become slaves.
"Since I'm here now, I can't let that happen… and they should have magical knowledge to 'study'," he muttered, reflexively touching his chin—a habit from his previous life.
His black eyes grew more determined, and quirky "-inator"-style ideas began flooding his mind, ready to solve his "problems."
As he prepared to decide on his next course of action, Erza's figure suddenly appeared nearby.
Holding a small bundle in her hands, she curiously stared at her friend's hair.
"What happened? Didn't you have black hair?" she asked, slightly confused.
Faced with Erza's bewilderment over this physical change tied to the Heinz template, Damien didn't know how to explain it. So he changed the subject:
"Is there food in there? I'm starving."
Erza set aside her curiosity for the moment and sat beside him with the small bundle, placing the food in front of Damien.
"Eat quickly, Merlin," she urged gently.
Damien gazed at Erza's innocent smile as she looked back at him.
Seeing the impatience and sincerity in her eyes, the young boy once again felt that unfamiliar emotion belonging to the body's original owner.
In two lifetimes, Damien had never felt this for anyone but Erza.
Was this love? Damien had no idea.
He had never had a girlfriend in his first life, but he understood this wasn't mere physical attraction.
Nothing pedophilic here.
'Maybe the original owner's death from loneliness was…' Damien chose not to overthink it—the answer was obvious.
The former Merlin had died from loneliness, caused by the disappearance of his parents and the prolonged absence of Erza Scarlet, his only friend.
"You can eat some too," he said, offering half his meal.
Erza hesitated for a moment, then shook her head: "I'm not hungry; you can finish it all."
At that instant, a loud growl came from Erza's small stomach, echoing through the rundown house.
No sooner had the sound faded than the little girl's face turned red, and she shyly looked away.
Even while playing the responsible big sister, she was still just a child.
"Eat quickly!"
Damien smiled and gently forced some of the food into Erza's hesitant hands, in an almost brotherly yet deeply complicit gesture.