Crawling

In the current Li Patriarch family lineage, Li Kui and Jin Hui Xian had three sons in their twenties. Frustrated that he was unable to have a daughter, Li Kui asked his wife to try again with him to have another one when they were in their thirties. Lucky for them, Li Xian was finally born. It was to be expected that Li Kui would spoil and love this daughter of his even more. 

Passing Li Tian to Jin Hui Xian, it was finally grandma's turn to get a good look at her grandson. A very familiar smile appeared on Jin Hui Xian's face. Li Tian could tell that the old lady was definitely his grandma. After all, both his mother and Jin Hui Xian had the same smile. Li Kui's deep dark eyes were passed on to Li Xian. Seeing the two elders, Li Tian could only smile brightly as he could not speak. It seemed that his vocal cords were still not as developed as it could be. 

"Ah, my grandson smiled. He smiled!" Li Kui noticed the smile on his grandson's face. He started laughing heartily. "My Tian Er, he can clearly recognize that we are his grandparents!" 

"Stop talking nonsense, Lao Kui. He must've thought that your long white beard looked especially funny." Jin Hui Lian retorted again, even though she herself was very happy with Li Tian's smile. 

"Okay, enough bickering… Tian Er is happy to see the both of you." Li Xian quickly answered for her parents. She herself was very glad that she was able to have Li Tian. Although this birth was rather dangerous and the doctor said that there was a high chance that she may lose her life, Li Xian still went ahead with her birth of Li Tian. 

This was why her confinement period of a month was not long enough for her to recover her vitality. In this world, people recover their vitality by regulating and absorbing Qi from their surroundings. In The Land of Hua, since the beginning of the very first empire, the concept of mana was conceptualized as Qi. The general term was only later coined as mana by the western continents. Li Xian's absorption rate was deeply affected when she gave birth to Li Tian. Six of the twelve main meridians were blocked. Even with the abundant amount of resource the Li Clan had, only three of the blocked meridians were saved and the rest were too damaged to recover properly. 

With the grandparent's visit, more time passed once again. By the third month, the night before the due date of the mission. Li Tian just barely managed to release his last poop and that marked the end of the mission. 

[You've completed the mission 'Baby Tasks'] 

[Reward 'Receive 100 Exp for 'Mandarin Proficiency'' shall now be distributed.] 

['Mandarin Proficiency' has upgraded from F tier to E tier.] 

'Phew…' A series of notifications appeared in Li Tian's head. The little baby could finally sigh in relief that he was still alive. Never would he have known the importance of shitting until today. 

With this, Li Tian checked his profile. 

Name: Li Tian 

Age: 3 months old 

Body Type: Perfect Unity of Elements 

[Stat] 

Strength: F tier (10/100 to next level) 

Stamina: F tier (10/100 to next level) 

Agility: F tier (0/100 to next level) 

Intelligence: SSS tier 

Perception: F tier (15/100 to next level) 

[Skills] 

English Proficiency: A tier (0/1000000) 

Mandarin Proficiency: E tier (30/1000 to next level) 

With the completion of the first mission, Li Tian was given his next mission. Praying that it wouldn't be a death penalty again, Li Tian checked the description. 

[Mission: Crawling] 

Now that you have completed the most elementary of baby tasks, it is now time for you to move on with your life. Learn how to crawl for five minutes without stopping. 

Reward: Receive 200 Exp for 'Mandarin Proficiency'. 

Failure: Crippled lower body 

Deadline: Three months (Time left: 90 Days) 

'Okay, this should be very doable.' Li Tian thought to himself. Although the penalty of failure was a little cruel to his liking, he believed that this mission is achievable. 

The first order of business was to first roll around. Both his parents were asleep and so, it was the best time for the little baby to train. After constantly controlling his lower body muscles for the past three months, Li Tian started to focus on controlling his upper body muscles. Many times, he wanted to roll over, but his upper body was not able to gain enough momentum to turn. 

'Practice makes perfect.' 

Within three days of constant practice, Li Tian could finally turn over. Now, the next step was to move my four limbs. Coordination was key. Left-hand, right-knee, right-hand, left-knee. That was the general movement Li Tian had to follow along. A problem the little baby was now facing was his lack of strength. He needed to tackle this first. 

'Baby steps... Baby steps…' Li Tian repeated in his head as he started to do lift ups and flip overs in a swift motion. It was like doing burpees. If Li Tian's parents were to see their son doing this right now, both would be extremely shocked. After all, which 3-month-old baby would be so active. They would have thought that something was wrong with their child. As such, Li Tian would try to nap as much as he could in the day and at night, he would practice crawling. 

A month had passed and now, the four-month-old baby had out crawled the crib he stayed in. The crawling space was now too small for him. Maybe it was time for him to move on to open space. This meant that Li Tian was going to reveal his crawling to his parents now. 

On a fine Saturday morning, Li Xian, and Ming Guang Rong sat in their chairs as their jaws had dropped on the ground. The parents of Li Tian were beyond surprised when they realized their four-month-old had started crawling. Moreover, he looked as if he could crawl for a long while already. The idea of a four-month-old crawling was out of the ordinary. Most babies only start crawling between 7 to 10 months of age. Yet, here was their son moving about like a speed demon. 

"Honey, are you sure what you have been feeding our son is milk?" Ming Guang Rong could not help but question his wife. When Li Xian heard what her husband said, she herself started to doubt her own self too. 

"Yes? We have not reached the stage where Tian Er start to consume other solids or liquids. When Li Xi and Li Mei were born, they did not start crawling until six months of age right?" 

"Yes, Tian Er's growth is definitely out of the ordinary." Looking at his wife's chest, Ming Guang Rong, looked at her with a dirty look. "Maybe I should give it a try myself." 

"You old lecher!" Li Xian gave her husband a good smack on his shoulder, not giving him the chance to take advantage of her. 

Below, Li Tian was not paying attention to his parent's interactions. Right now, the little infant was counting down for his crawling. 

'150,151,152… 180!' Li Tian finally stopped after making his umpteenth round around his parents sitting area. Although he looked a little stupid crawling around the place, Li Tian did not have a choice as the requirement was for him to crawl for five minutes straight. In a month, Li Tian was already able to crawl for three minutes. This growth speed was thanks to his late-night baby burpees. The strength training had increase not one, but three of his stats significantly. 

Name: Li Tian 

Age: 4 months old 

Body Type: Perfect Unity of Elements 

[Stat] 

Strength: F tier (60/100 to next level) 

Stamina: F tier (60/100 to next level) 

Agility: F tier (40/100 to next level) 

Intelligence: SSS tier 

Perception: F tier (30/100 to next level) 

[Skills] 

English Proficiency: A tier (0/1000000) 

Mandarin Proficiency: E tier (40/1000 to next level) 

Other than Strength and Stamina, Li Tian came to realize the importance of Agility too. With a higher agility, it allows for Li Tian to have better coordination with his muscles. This is very important when it comes to not wasting his stamina. Li Tian's Perception and Mandarin Proficiency had also increased with time. For now, he would rather work on his other three stats as he does not want to come close to the deadline like last time. 

As Li Xian was a stay-at-home mother who cared for her three children, many times she would carry Li Tian and bring her two children around the Li Manor. In the modern era, there were high rise building scattered everywhere in The Land of Hua. Especially, in Ningguo, where the Li Clan was situated, the number of skyscrapers were many times higher than many well-developed cities. However, in the case of the Li Clan, their family lived in a manor, which was built by their first ancestor and his descendants over 200 years ago. The Li manor was encased in a private compound built by the country's government. There were only four of such manors scattered across the country. Each were owned by one of the four major clans in The Land of Hua. Although Li Tian could not fully grasp what everyone in the family was saying, he could tell that his family was one of the top dogs in the country. There were guards scattered everywhere around his home. Compared to where he stayed in the past, this place was the difference between an emperor's and a peasant's lifestyle.