Galaxy Martial God Temple - Reincarnation (3)
I stared at my reincarnated avatar, currently riding in a car toward our new home in real-time, and fell into deep thought.
When is it normal for a baby to start talking?
If I accelerated time recklessly and skipped too much, the avatar might end up being diagnosed with developmental delays or autism. While time was accelerated, the avatar merely followed my pre-set commands, making any real-time communication with others impossible.
Maybe it's fine to fast-forward through the first hundred days?
Accelerating time whenever my avatar fell asleep shouldn't pose any issues. The only catch was that, as a newborn, the avatar woke up and fell back asleep every three to four hours, mostly to drink formula.
In the hospital's newborn nursery, nurses had been on duty twenty-four hours a day in three shifts, so there hadn't been any problems. And Siwoo, who was now tasked with taking care of me, was an android, so she probably didn't need sleep either.
While I was lost in these calculations, we arrived at the house.
Siwoo carried me inside, still nestled in my baby carrier. The spacious interior of the house was populated by several other android robots.
"Welcome back, Lady Siwoo."
Unlike Siwoo, the androids waiting at the house looked distinctly robotic and spoke with heavily synthesized, mechanical voices.
"I have returned. Are there any reports from while I was away?"
"One report. A message has arrived. Would you like to display it?"
"Display it."
Siwoo and the android robot clasped hands. Siwoo's eyes scanned the empty air as if reading data scrolling before her.
"I see. I am glad to hear all legal procedures have been successfully completed. How did the sterilization of the house proceed?"
"Sterilization complete. Reporting successful execution."
"Very well. Management Androids Raiden 1 through 12, transition to normal maintenance mode from this moment forward."
"Transitioning to normal maintenance mode."
At Siwoo's command, the android robots dispersed. I later learned that these management androids usually remained integrated with the house's smart appliances, only taking physical form when manual labor was required.
Siwoo gently lifted the carrier, bringing me up to eye level, and offered a warm smile.
"We will now head to your room, Young Master. I have prepared everything for you."
Even though there was no practical need to do so, Siwoo kept talking to me. It was actually the correct approach; babies needed to constantly hear language to learn how to speak. That is, assuming the sleeping newborn could actually process any of it.
Carried in Siwoo's arms, I was brought into a beautifully decorated nursery and laid down in a crib.
Should I accelerate time now?
I had been observing at normal speed to gather information about this world, but there was really nothing more to learn through the body of an immobile infant. In fact, if not for my 3rd-Person Avatar ability allowing me to adjust my camera view and look around, the only things I would have been able to see were the ceiling and the mobile hanging above me.
As I was about to initiate the acceleration, Siwoo slipped off her gloves. She began to gently touch various parts of my body, infusing a strange energy into me.
Startled, I halted the time acceleration and stared up at her.
Unaware of my internal panic, Siwoo spoke softly, as if explaining her actions to me.
"This is called Blood and Qi Circulation Therapy. It is a specialized massage that activates the body's meridians and prevents waste from accumulating."
Blood and Qi Circulation Therapy!
That legendary technique from martial arts novels! The one that supposedly cleansed a baby's marrow and changed their bones, granting them a constitution akin to a reborn being!
Of course, settings varied from novel to novel, but didn't performing Blood and Qi Circulation Therapy require a master of incredible caliber?
Whether she knew what I was thinking or not, Siwoo continued the massage for several hours, explaining the process in detail. Her explanation sounded a bit like she was reciting a wiki page, but to summarize: Blood and Qi Circulation Therapy was a grand technique that normally required either a Transformed Realm master or several Transcendental Peak masters working in unison. Unlike adults, infants possessed incredibly flexible meridians, meaning the therapy provided them with immense comfort and accelerated their physical growth.
It seemed the therapy she was performing was indeed the legendary technique I knew of.
But that meant Siwoo, who was performing this grand technique entirely on her own, possessed a cultivation level at the Transformed Realm or higher.
Can androids actually practice martial arts?
More questions piled up, but once she finished the therapy, Siwoo sat beside my crib and began to recite an unfamiliar scripture as if reading me a bedtime story.
"A tree must have deep roots, a sturdy trunk, and supple branches. In breathing, one must be like a tree..."
As she spoke, she infused mana—no, Qi—into my lower abdomen. She traced her fingers across my body, guiding the infused energy along my pathways.
For a moment, I couldn't comprehend what she was doing. But as I monitored the movement of the Qi through my consciousness, which was linked to the avatar, a sudden realization struck me.
A cultivation method! Is she teaching me a cultivation method from infancy?!
If that was the case, it would be far more effective to fully inhabit the avatar's body and experience the flow directly, rather than just observing it through a shared sensory link.
Without hesitation, I dove into the avatar.
Several days had passed since I reincarnated into this infant body and arrived at the house with Siwoo.
During this time, I focused entirely on experiencing the cultivation method Siwoo was teaching me, attempting to guide the Qi on my own.
Initially, the complex pathways made it incredibly difficult to move the meager amount of Qi within my tiny body. While I could sense the energy, the internal Qi was far too sparse, and drawing in external Qi proved to be an uphill battle.
However, it seemed they were mixing some kind of elixir into my baby formula. Every time I drank it, my entire body temporarily overflowed with rich Qi. Seizing those brief post-meal windows, I practiced the cultivation method with absolute focus.
Eventually, a notification popped up in my status window, much like when I had first acquired my Magic Bullet.
Clear Wood Cultivation (Qingmu Gong) — Lv. 1
Just because the skill had registered on my status window didn't mean the actual practice suddenly became effortless. At its core, the status window was merely an indicator of my current state. Still, seeing Clear Wood Cultivation appear was a clear confirmation that I was on the right track, which was fantastic news.
Moreover, considering the method was called Clear Wood Cultivation and my current surname was Cheon, it was safe to assume I had indeed been born into the prestigious Cheon Clan. Since the Clear Wood Sword and Clear Wood Cultivation were known as the foundational martial arts taught to the young children of the Cheon Clan, my deductions had been spot on.
As I began to cultivate the Clear Wood Cultivation on my own, Siwoo, who had been guiding my energy, paused with a look of confusion.
"Oh... is it normal for a child to learn this quickly?"
Although she had introduced herself as my nanny android, raising a baby seemed to be a first for her as well. Her initial attempts at feeding me formula or changing my diapers had been somewhat clumsy. She quickly became highly proficient after a few tries, but those early moments had definitely been awkward.
Once my infant body grew accustomed to the Clear Wood Cultivation, I began to practice by shifting my consciousness back and forth between my avatar and my main body.
In my infant avatar, the flow of Qi was incredibly smooth and natural, likely because the body was entirely free of impurities. My main body, however, struggled significantly to absorb and circulate the energy. It made sense; my main body was already fully grown and lacked the benefit of the high-grade elixirs mixed into the infant's formula.
Even though I had achieved a decent level of proficiency in the Clear Wood Cultivation, Siwoo didn't introduce any new techniques. Instead, she kept me focused on refining my foundational cultivation and continued the daily Blood and Qi Circulation Therapy.
I guess this is the limit of what I can learn for now.
Leaving my avatar to repeat the cultivation practice like an automated macro, I initiated the time acceleration.
As time sped forward, my infant avatar steadily grew.
By the time I passed my hundredth day, I could roll over and crawl on my stomach. By two hundred days, I could support my own weight and sit up. And as my first birthday approached, I was finally able to babble basic words and take my first steps.
I hadn't spent the entire year on fast-forward. Every now and then, I would slow down time to personally practice the cultivation method within the baby's body.
No matter how much the avatar practiced on autopilot, it would eventually hit a bottleneck. While the physical meridians were being tempered by the automated repetition, the training would ultimately be meaningless if I didn't personally internalize and master the sensation of the cultivation.
Subjectively, I had spent about thirty days experiencing life as a baby. In the real world, only about fifteen hours had passed for my main body. Because of this, my Tower avatar had to purchase extra sandwiches and transfer them to my inventory to keep my main body fed.
Now that I was finally capable of basic communication, I decided to scale back the time acceleration and spend more time directly controlling the avatar.
"Young Master, are you awake?"
"Ung."
I got up from my bed and took a few toddling steps. Perhaps due to the cultivation, my physical development felt remarkably rapid.
"Young Master, breakfast and cultivation practice must come before watching television."
"Mmh, okay."
My teeth hadn't fully grown in yet, causing my pronunciation to slur, but I was perfectly capable of uttering simple sentences. Siwoo lifted me up and placed me in a high chair, setting down a bowl of baby food prepared with refined elixirs.
Apparently, all the formula and baby food I had been consuming were part of the standard support package provided to direct descendants of the Cheon Clan. Though the food was completely unseasoned to suit a baby's palate, Siwoo's culinary skills were so exceptional that it tasted delicious regardless.
"Fufu. I am so glad you eat everything without throwing any tantrums, Young Master."
Siwoo smiled warmly as she praised me, likely referencing some parenting community she had researched.
Of course I ate well. My body might be that of a baby, but my mind was that of a fully grown adult. There was no way I was going to throw a childish fit over food.
"All done."
"You finished it all. Good boy."
Siwoo lifted me down from the chair and cleared the table. As an android, she didn't consume food; instead, she sustained herself by absorbing the ambient Qi of the environment and recharging via electricity.
I toddled over to the dedicated cultivation room and plopped down onto the floor. I wasn't entirely sure of the underlying technology, but the room was designed to gather and lock Qi within its walls.
I had only started using this room two days ago; before that, I had been practicing the Clear Wood Cultivation while lying in my crib. Although I had only directly controlled the avatar to train for about thirty days, the constant, macro-like repetition in my sleep had already allowed a proper dantien to form within my body.
According to Siwoo, my progress was exceptionally fast, even when compared to other direct descendants of the Cheon Clan. It was only natural, given that an adult mind was constantly reciting the mnemonics and guiding the energy without a single moment of distraction.
Still, I couldn't afford to get complacent. It was common for children hailed as prodigies due to early mental advantages to end up as completely ordinary adults. To be frank, I knew I didn't possess any extraordinary physical talent. This body was my avatar, meaning its baseline potential was fundamentally bound to my own soul's limitations.
I didn't harbor any grand ambitions. My minimum goal was simply to become strong enough so that I wouldn't find myself helpless and facing unavoidable death while climbing the Tower. If possible, I just wanted to achieve slightly above-average results in this world as well.
Settling into position, I began to circulate the Clear Wood Cultivation.
The daily training routine Siwoo set for me lasted two hours. It was a demanding task for a mere one-year-old, but since my mind wasn't actually that of a child, I pushed through the training with absolute diligence.
Once the cultivation session ended, it was time for my favorite part of the day.
I was allowed to watch a comprehensive historical documentary produced by the broadcasting division of the galactic information conglomerate, Gaebang.
Thousands of years after humanity had left Earth, Gaebang had shed its ancient identity as a mere den of beggars. Alongside the Haohmun, it had evolved into a massive information enterprise that held a dominant grip over the entire galaxy, standing tall as one of the colossal pillars of the Orthodox faction.
I picked up the remote control and turned on the wall-mounted display, ready to immerse myself in the documentary detailing the history of the Murim, Earth, and the grand era of galactic colonization.