The Problem

With him being a baby, there was not much he could do either way. With that, his parents took care of most, if not all of his daily needs.

And so, a year uneventfully passed.

With the help of the skills in his loadout before his reincarnation, this past year had changed a lot of stuff for him.

Thanks to the help of [Inferior Adaptability] and [Inferior Enhanced Growth], his body grew quickly, with him being able to crawl on his own two months after his birth. Standing took four months after that, while walking only took a week after that.

Naturally, both of his parents were happy to see their youngest child grow up so fast, his mother Celia even more so. That was because for some reason, every time she fed him milk, she would feel like most of her energy had been siphoned out of her. Though, that was all due to Corius, who needed more nutrients in order to maintain the effectiveness of his skills. In any case, now that Corius could walk on his own, that meant that he could forgo the milk and eat actual food instead.

During the past year, he also increased his knowledge regarding the place's language and geography with the help of [Inferior Prodigious Intelligence] and the information he had received, accelerating his learning rate to the point he was called a genius by his parents. Then again, he was called a genius because he could already say a few simple words six months after his birth. Now that he was a year old, he could now hold conversations with somewhat limited vocabulary.

Of course, he could start talking at the very moment he was born if he wanted to. But as a Worldrunner, it was naturally more important for him to not blow his cover. After all, it was a waste of Worldrunner Credits.

…

On a certain day inside the Santos household.

"Asa, where are you?" Carlo asked, prompting Corius to head to where his father was.

"I'm here, Papa," Corius replied as Carlo looked at him with a light smile.

"It's only been a year, but look at how much you've grown," he said in response, lifting Corius up before kissing his forehead. "In just a few years, I'm pretty sure you'll be taller than your older brother Pugo."

"No! I'll be taller than Asa!" Pugo, who was playing with wooden toys by the side, could not help but say that in response, pouting.

Hearing that, Carlo could not help but chuckle as he asked Corius, "Wanna accompany your father to the fields?"

"I do, Papa!" Corius smiled in response as Pugo butted in. "Me too! Me too! I wanna come!"

"Sure, sure. The more hands I have on the field, the faster we'll get back home," Carlo said in response.

With that, he placed Asa down as he told the two, "You two, wait for me at the entrance, okay? Papa's just going to do something for a bit."

"Oh, and also, ask if any of your other siblings want to tag along," he added before leaving the two to their own devices.

"Let's play, Asa!" Surprisingly, at the very instant their father left, Pugo focused his attention back on the wooden toys, even going so far as to persuade Corius to join him.

Seeing that, Corius shook his head in response. "But Papa told us to wait for him at the entrance."

In response to that, Pugo lightly frowned before pouting once more. "You're no fun."

As he heard that, Corius could not help but take a long look at his older brother. In their family, Pugo was the second youngest, being born 3 years before him. Although he liked to play a lot, there were times when he acted a bit more seriously, which was somewhat rare to see in a four year old. Or at least, it was rare according to what Corius knew.

Other than that, Pugo was the brother he was closest to, with the eldest Cap being second closest. Then again, since Cap usually helped their father out in the fields, it's more surprising that Corius could even become close to him.

After placing the wooden toys back where they should be, the two then made their way to the entrance, finding the third youngest and fourth youngest, Eli and Shiela, playing tag.

Watching them play tag, Corius could not help but feel the itch to join them. "Eli, Shiela, can I join?"

"Eh? But Papa told us to wait for him at the entrance?" Unexpectedly, this time, Pugo was the one who reminded Corius of their father's words. However, rather than react the same way Pugo did when he heard that, Corius instead did the opposite. "Papa will take a while. We still have time to play."

"Plus, we could have Eli and Shiela join us after that," he added. "Come on! Don't you want to play as well?"

"Yeah, join us! It'll be fun!" the other two said in unison soon after.

Eventually, Pugo relented as he replied, "Fine! But you two better come with us to the field with Papa, okay?"

…

By the time Carlo had finished preparing, he was greeted by the sight of his children lying on the ground, all of them catching their breaths. Seeing that, he could not help but shake his head with a light smile on his face. "Do any of you still have the energy to come with me to the field? From the looks of it, the four of you are exhausted."

"Papa! I won!" Eli said while laughing, still catching his breath. "I'm the fastest out of all of you!"

"You're older than us!" Shiela complained. "Of course you're gonna win!"

"Someday, it'll be our turn to win!" Pugo said soon after, to which Corius profusely nodded in agreement.

"Alright, alright. Stop fighting, you four. So, does anyone want to accompany Papa to the field?" Carlo asked once more.

"We do! We do!" As if they've regained all of their energy, the four of them stood up and raised their hands in unison, making him let out a chuckle as he nodded. "Alright, then. Let's go head to the fields!"

With that, Carlo picked Corius up and gave him a piggyback ride, which allowed Corius to see more of their surroundings. After a bit of bickering between the three older siblings as they also wanted a piggyback ride, the five of them eventually started to make their way to the fields, which was located a bit far from their house.

Along the way, Corius finally got his first real look at the world beyond their house. For the past year, the most he had seen of the outside was the front of their house and the houses situated opposite and beside it. From time to time, he would come across their neighbors, who would wave at them when they met each other. With the information he had received before the start of his run, he knew this was the best opportunity to expand his knowledge regarding the local area.

With the help of a greater vantage point, he finally saw where he had lived this past year, which was in a small village. According to his father, the name of the village was Calesa, coming from the transportation method the founders of the village used in the past to get to this place.

Although it was small, with Corius estimating that no more than a few hundred people lived in the place, it had access to the three basic requirements of man: food, water, and shelter. Naturally, Corius would've preferred the village to have access to more than that, but at the very least, he was assured that there was no chance of him dying from hunger or thirst.

Arriving at the center of the village, he noticed a couple buildings standing out among the rest, which were the village's community store, meat shop, and school. With their family not having that much money, he did not have a lot of interest in the first two buildings. Instead, most of his attention was focused towards the school.

"Hmm? Do you want to go to school, son?" Feeling a slight shift in the weight on his shoulders, Carlo turned around to look at his son. In response, Corius could only nod.

From what he knew, education was important if he wanted to get far in his attempts, especially in an achievement such as Immortality%. After all, having proper education would allow him to get a job, which assured a stable source of income. Naturally, Corius knew of other ways to earn a lot of money outside being a Worldrunner, but education was definitely one of the safest paths to obtain a stable income in a run.

"We'll talk about school once you grow older," said Carlo in response as the five continued to walk through the village, eventually leaving through the village's north gate. After that, they walked along a dirt path for a while before being greeted by the sight of vast fields with various crops planted on them.

Once they had arrived, Carlo placed Corius down before heading towards one of the fields. Seeing that, Pugo and the others headed to where their father was and helped him out. Just as Corius was about to head to where they were, Carlo shouted out, "Just watch us from there, son! You're still too young to be helping!"

"If you say so…" muttered Corius to himself, deciding to heed his father's words.

As there was not much he could do aside from watching his father and his siblings work on the field, he decided to think about his plans regarding how he would achieve immortality for once.

Even though only a year had passed since his birth, that was already more than enough time for him to get over the regret from attempting the run haphazardly, instead wondering as to how he was going to make progress towards the achievement, even if just a tiny bit.

With that, he tried to recall all of the videos he binge watched in the past about Worldrunners attempting high-level achievements. Feeling like his brain was going to burn out at some point, his mind eventually gave him an idea on how to start making progress, with the memories his mind referred to all showing the same thing.

It was constant exercise and a balanced diet.

Even though it made a lot of sense as to why, he knew that his seed made achieving that a bit more difficult. First of all, their family did not have a lot of money, which was necessary if he needed to buy foodstuffs that would assure his diet was balanced.

Of course, he could start exercising at any time. However, a balanced diet was necessary for it to be effective. With their family only having quick access to their crops, which was made of starches and vegetables, the goal of achieving immortality become far more impossible than it originally was.

Though, surprisingly, rather than getting depressed, he instead shrugged his shoulders as he knew that he had just attempted this achievement on a whim. 'I may have come up with a plan, but if the world doesn't want me to find a way to do it, then so be it.'

'Then again, it would be great if I find another way to earn money in the meantime. I may not take this run seriously, but I'll still try to get as far as possible,' he said to himself, deciding to place the matter at the back of his head.

For now, he was going to enjoy being carefree for a bit more.