Chapter 12. Galaxy Martial God Hall - Reincarnation (3)
I pondered as I watched my reincarnation clone heading home by car in the normal timeline.
"At what age is it normal to start talking?"
If I accelerated time too much and skipped ahead too far, I might end up being diagnosed with autism.
When time was accelerated, the clone only followed the commands I had set in advance, making communication with others impossible.
Should I just fast-forward time until the 100th day?
There shouldn't be any issues with accelerating time while my clone was sleeping.
The problem was that, perhaps because it was a newborn, the clone would wake up and fall asleep every three to four hours, and it mostly drank formula whenever it woke up.
Since nurses were working in three shifts to watch over the neonatal unit 24 hours a day, there were no problems at all.
Siu, who was taking care of me, was an Android, so she probably didn't need sleep.
I was thinking about that when we arrived home.
Siu, who had picked me up along with my carrier, entered the house, and there were several more Android robots inside the spacious home.
"Welcome back, Siu."
Unlike Siu, the Androids waiting in the house looked like robots even at a glance, and their speech was mixed with mechanical sounds.
"I'm back. Is there anything to report while I was away?"
"One report. You have a message. Would you like to play the message?"
"Play it."
Siu and the Android robot held hands, and Siu's eyes scanned the air as if reading something.
"Hmm, I see. It's a relief that all legal procedures have been completed. How did the disinfection of the entire house go?"
"Disinfection complete. Reporting."
"Good. Management Androids Raiden 1 through 12, switch to normal management mode from now on."
"Switching to normal management mode."
At Siu's command, the Android robots headed somewhere.
I learned later that those Android robots usually connected to the home appliances to manage the house and only revealed themselves when physical labor was required.
Siu carefully lifted the case I was in, met my gaze, and smiled brightly.
"We will head to the young master's room now. The room is fully decorated."
Siu kept talking to me even though there was no need to.
Well, it was the right thing to do, as a baby would learn language by constantly hearing speech.
That is, if a newborn could hear it while sleeping.
I was carried by Siu into my intricately decorated room and laid down in a baby crib.
"Shall I accelerate time now?"
I had been observing at normal speed to see if there was any information about this world, but it seemed there was nothing more to find with a baby's body that couldn't move.
Then again, I could adjust my view thanks to the 3D Avatar ability, which allowed me to look around; otherwise, all I would have been able to see was the sky or the mobile hanging from the ceiling.
As I was thinking that, Siu took off her gloves, touched various parts of my body, and channeled mana into me.
I was so surprised that I stopped trying to accelerate time and stared at Siu.
Siu, not knowing that I was watching, spoke as if explaining to me.
"This is called 'Cleansing the Meridians'. It is a massage that activates the body's energy channels and helps prevent the buildup of waste."
Cleansing the Meridians! That thing that appears so often in martial arts novels!
Is this the thing that supposedly gives the effect of a rebirth of bones and change of body if done to a newborn?
Of course, the settings vary from novel to novel, but shouldn't one have to be a master to perform Cleansing the Meridians?
Whether she knew my doubts or not, Siu continued to explain while performing the Cleansing the Meridians for several hours.
Although the explanation sounded a bit like it had been scraped from Wikipedia, to summarize Siu's explanation, Cleansing the Meridians was a grand technique that could only be used when several masters of the Transformation Realm or the Peak Realm gathered. She said that for newborns, whose meridians and vessels were flexible unlike adults, it provided comfort and beneficial effects for growth.
It seemed it really was the Cleansing the Meridians I knew.
But that meant Siu, who was performing it alone, was at the Transformation Realm or higher.
Can Androids practice martial arts?
I had more questions, but after finishing the Cleansing the Meridians, Siu sat by my bed and recited an obscure scripture as if reading a fairy tale.
"The tree must have firm roots, a sturdy trunk, and soft branches. In breathing as well, like a tree..."
While speaking, she channeled mana—no, Qi—into my lower abdomen and moved the channeled Qi by scanning my entire body with her fingers.
For a moment, I couldn't understand Siu's actions, but through the consciousness connected as if by a single step via the 3D Avatar, I realized one thing about the movement of the Qi scanning my body.
"A cultivation method! Is she actually teaching me a cultivation method from the time I'm a newborn!?"
If so, it would be better to enter the clone's body and feel it directly rather than sharing the sensation as if connected by a single step.
I immediately entered the clone.
* * *
A few days had passed since I was reincarnated into a newborn's body and came home with Siu.
During that time, I experienced Siu's cultivation method training and tried to move the Qi myself according to the method.
At first, it wasn't easy to move the little Qi in my body due to the somewhat complex movements of the Qi.
I could feel the Qi itself, but the Qi inside my body was sparse, and it was difficult to draw in the Qi from outside the body.
However, perhaps because there was some kind of medicinal herb mixed into the formula, my body was filled with Qi for a short while after drinking it, and I practiced the cultivation method by aiming for those moments after meals when I was full of Qi.
Then, just like when the Mana Bullet first appeared in my status window, 'Azure Wood Technique Lv1' appeared.
The fact that an ability appeared in the status window didn't make things any easier.
The status window was, after all, just an indicator of my condition.
But it was good news, as the appearance of the Azure Wood Technique in the status window meant I was learning it properly.
By the way, seeing as what I learned was the Azure Wood Technique and my surname had become Cheon, it seemed I had been born into the Cheon Family Clan.
Since it was said that the Azure Wood Sword and the Azure Wood Technique were martial arts learned by the children of the Cheon Family Clan, my intuition hadn't been wrong.
When I practiced the Azure Wood Technique on my own, Siu, who had been teaching it to me, looked puzzled for a moment.
"Uh... is it normal to learn this quickly?"
Siu had introduced herself as a nanny Android, but it seemed I was the first baby she had ever taken care of.
The way she fed me formula or changed my diapers was somewhat unnatural at first.
She became proficient immediately after trying a few times, as if she had learned from it, but it was definitely awkward at the beginning.
Having become somewhat accustomed to the Azure Wood Technique in my newborn body, I practiced it by switching between the clone and my main body.
The clone, being a newborn, had no waste in its body, so the movement of Qi was natural, but my main body felt difficulty in absorbing and moving the Qi.
It seemed that while the clone was eating medicinal herbs along with the formula, my main body had aged quite a bit and hadn't been able to consume any medicinal herbs.
Even though I had become somewhat accustomed to the Azure Wood Technique, Siu didn't teach me anything else and continued with the Azure Wood Technique practice and Cleansing the Meridians.
"Is this the extent of the learning for now?"
I had the clone repeat the Azure Wood Technique practice and accelerated time.
* * *
As time passed, my clone, with its baby body, grew.
After passing 100 days, I was able to roll over and crawl, and by 200 days, I could hold my body up to some extent.
And as I neared one year of age, I became capable of some pronunciation and taking my first steps.
I didn't spend the whole year just fast-forwarding.
I often took the time to practice the cultivation method in the baby clone's body.
No matter how much the clone practiced, it was just marking time.
Of course, I felt my meridians being tempered to some extent as the clone practiced, but it was meaningless if I didn't actually internalize the cultivation method myself.
The perceived time as a baby was about 30 days.
The time for my main body had passed by about 15 hours.
Thanks to that, the Tower clone had to buy more sandwiches for the main body to consume and move them into the inventory.
Now that I could communicate with Siu, I decided to reduce the acceleration time and increase the time I spent directly controlling the clone.
"Young master, are you awake?"
"Uh."
I got up from my seat and toddled around.
Perhaps because I had learned the cultivation method, my body's growth rate seemed quite fast.
"Young master, breakfast and cultivation training come before watching television."
"Umm, okay."
My pronunciation was slurred because my teeth hadn't fully grown in, but simple speech was perfectly possible.
Siu lifted me and sat me in a baby high chair, and baby food made with medicinal herbs was served in front of me.
It seemed that all the formula and baby food I had been eating were regular support items from the Cheon Family Clan.
Although there was almost no seasoning to my taste, Siu's cooking skills were excellent enough that I could eat it deliciously even without much seasoning.
"Hehe, it's great that you eat everything without being a picky eater, young master."
Perhaps she was referring to parenting communities while raising me, but Siu smiled and praised me for eating well.
I do eat well.
Even if my body is a baby's, the contents are a full-grown adult, so I have no choice but to behave.
"All done."
"You've finished. Well done."
Siu took me down from the chair and cleared the table.
Although she, an Android, didn't eat, she occasionally absorbed the surrounding Qi as if practicing cultivation and recharged with electricity.
I toddled into the dedicated training room prepared for practicing the cultivation method and sat down with a thud.
I didn't know what kind of structure it had, but it had the effect of gathering and trapping Qi in the space.
I had started using the training room directly about two days ago, and until then, I had practiced the Azure Wood Technique while lying in my baby crib.
Although I had only been training the Azure Wood Technique by controlling my clone for about 30 days, I had already formed a Dantian in my body because I had practiced it like a macro while lying in the crib.
According to Siu, my progress was very fast even among the direct descendants of the Cheon Family Clan.
It was bound to be fast, as I was consistently practicing the cultivation method while reciting the formulas with an adult's mind.
Still, I could not afford to be complacent. While I might be ahead for now thanks to my mental advantage, it was common for a child hailed as a genius to be dismissed as mediocre once they reached adulthood.
To be honest, I knew I didn't have much talent for physical pursuits.
This body was my clone; fundamentally, it shouldn't be much different from my own aptitude.
I didn't have grand ambitions.
My minimum goal was simply to reach a level where I wouldn't end up in a situation where I was too weak to escape and forced to die while climbing the Tower.
If possible, I hoped to achieve at least above-average results in this world as well.
Sitting in my spot, I practiced the Azure Wood Art as scheduled.
The training routine Siu regularly assigned lasted for two hours.
I wondered if such an order was even possible for a baby, but since my mind was not that of an infant, I practiced diligently.
The time after my training session was my favorite.
It was time to watch a comprehensive historical documentary produced by a broadcasting station under the Galaxy Information Conglomerate, the "Beggar Sect."
Thousands of years after leaving Earth, the Beggar Sect had moved beyond being a den of beggars and, along with the Hao Sect, had become an information conglomerate that dominated the entire galaxy and a massive sect of the righteous path.
I picked up the remote and turned on the display on the wall to play the documentary introducing the history of the Murim, Earth, and the exploration of the galaxy.
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