One

The man who had just rushed in had a robust build that showed clear strength. He had short brown hair, tanned skin and a slight stubble. He was wearing a blue tunic and dark pants that had simple yellow embroidery along the edges. What was most prevalent in the man's appearance was a large longsword hanging in a sheath from the man's waist. "I guess they're not very advanced yet" thought Charlie as he recalled the lack of advanced amenities in this world.

The man had finally finished questioning Giselle and looked over to Charlie. When the man looked over his eyes met Charlie's gaze. The man stared for a few seconds before cautiously exhaling and turning to leave the room. Once he'd left, Giselle remaining standing in place for a time before releasing a breath she'd been holding. Giselle looked over to Charlie before sitting back in the chair with her book. Charlie hadn't noticed before but he now saw that this book was the same book that she'd been reading for months. He decided to watch how long it took her to flip a page and noticed it took her over fifteen minutes! "Perhaps the lower classes in this world are largely illiterate? Does that mean my mother is from nobility?"

Charlie put these thoughts aside since he didn't have enough information to form an answer. He instead thought about the man who had come in the room. He'd entered just after Charlie had started cultivating. "Did he notice what I was doing? But he said something about a monster." If the man had sensed his cultivating and mistook it for a monster then does that mean that these so called monster can cultivate too? The man had the appearance of a warrior because of his long sword but his clothes were pretty casual. Charlie thought that the man must've been a guard or something but he again couldn't be sure. What Charlie was sure about was that he couldn't cultivate like that with others around which meant he couldn't do it for years at least since he was only six months old.

While Charlie was lost in thought, his mother had entered the room and took the place of Giselle on the chair which was now positioned next to the crib. She was looking down at Charlie's scrunched face when he finally noticed her and in surprise said "mama?" Charlie's mother's eyes opened wide in surprise when Charlie noticed what he'd said. "Wait are babies supposed to speak yet!?" For a few seconds, the room was filled with silence from a mother's shock and a baby's fear.

The tension was broken when the mother smiled widely and picked her baby up into her arms. "I'm so proud of you Charlie!" she said with unfiltered love. When Charlie heard these words he was still tense but they eventually reached him. The words hit Charlie like bricks, was this love for him? Tears started streaming down Charlie's face in torrents. He couldn't stop crying so he just let them fall onto his mother's shoulder.

——

It was a long time before Charlie stopped crying. He had long run out of tears but his face still heaved unaware. He had cried so hard that he had gotten hiccups but he didn't stop until his tears were all gone and with them, a burden. Charlie's mother had been holding him close to her chest the whole time whilst rocking him back and forth to calm him down. Charlie hadn't cried very much at all as a baby which concerned Giselle and his mother. This much crying almost was a relief to them but seemed to be without cause. He shouldn't be hungry or need a diaper change but he kept crying.

Once the crying had finally stopped, Charlie was exhausted and fell asleep in his mother's arms. She placed him back into his crib to let him rest and sat back into the cushioned chair.

——

Another six months had almost passed and Charlie's first birthday was coming up. Charlie didn't actually know if birthdays were a thing in this world but he thought it was likely. Lots of things had again changed for Charlie. He was now a proficient crawler and had begun walking two months ago. He was also now solely eating baby food and (cow) milk and didn't require as much sleep or diaper changes.

Once Charlie had shown his proficiency in crawling, Giselle and his mother had let him crawl around on the floor. They were always very careful to insure that Charlie didn't hurt himself but it was almost unnecessary since Charlie had been practicing. While no one was around, Charlie would stand in his crib and walk in circles to develop his leg muscles. Charlie had also been cultivating in his soul space these past months which had resulted in his core fully shifting to a shade of very dark red some time ago. Charlie was almost certain that this change signified an upgrade to his core due to a sudden increase in the speed at which he cultivated. Charlie also hypothesized that his cultivation was causing his body to grow faster. He felt noticeably—not by much—stronger after cultivating and walking wasn't a challenge for long. Lastly, Charlie had started teething which was just the worst. During these episodes, Charlie's mouth was in extreme pain which forbade him from cultivating. Although it was degrading, Charlie had begun to chew his rattle to ease the teething pain.

One day when Charlie woke up, he felt something was different. His room was still empty which was strange since Giselle was usually here by now. Charlie looked out the window to see the morning sun and figured that Giselle must've been running late.

After waiting for some time, the door to Charlie's room opened and his mother came inside. She looked at Charlie with a smile on her face and said something about "one" in a congratulatory tone. Charlie correctly guessed that she was wishing him a happy first birthday. Today, she was wearing a simple white dress that revealed the tops of her shoulders. While inspecting her, Charlie noticed that she was holding a small bundle of fabric. Charlie's mother grasped one end of the fabric with her hands and let the rest fall to reveal a simple white tunic and indigo pair of shorts. They were about the size of Charlie.

—

After being clothed by his mother, Charlie was brought out of the nursery for the first time. Charlie was in his mother's arms as he passed into a wooden hallway. There was a door in front of them as soon as they walked out and a large window to their right. Charlie's mother turned left past one door on their left and one on their right before arriving at a set of double doors at the end of the hall. Charlie's mother opened these doors and took Charlie down a set of stairs that followed. They arrived in another hallway at the bottom which led to a door to a small dining area.

There was an embellished rectangular wooden table capable of seating eight with only one spot outfitted with cutlery. There was another spot to this one's right that had a small spoon. Charlie was seated in the spot with the spoon which he now realized had some stiff pillows stacked on it to compensate for his height. Charlie's mother sat to his left and smiled at him. Giselle then walked in with a cart that had a simple breakfast of fried eggs, bread and ham as well as a bowl of porridge with cinnamon and a smaller bowl of what looked to be yogurt.

The breakfast was placed before Charlie's mother and the porridge, in front of Charlie. The yogurt remained on the cart. "Eat up little one, you've got a big day ahead of you." said Charlie's mother. Charlie glanced at his mother and grinned before picking up his spoon to begin eating.

Once Charlie and his mother had finished their meals, Giselle took their dishes to the cart and brought Charlie the bowl of yogurt. Charlie felt a bit disappointed in his birthday treat but then again he didn't have many options due to his lack of teeth. As soon as the yogurt made contact with Charlie's tongue his stance changed. "This is too good to be yogurt" thought Charlie. After his first spoonful came a second and soon, nothing remained.

Giselle had just taken Charlie's dishes away and placed them on the cart when the door to the room was knocked on. Charlie's mother asked who was there. "It's me, Lady Adrianna" said a voice. "Oh, come in Geralt" said Charlie's mother. Geralt came into the dining area, revealing himself to Charlie to be the man who had barged into the nursery when he was cultivating. The longsword still remained sheathed at his side.

"There's no sign that he's coming yet my lady" said Geralt. Charlie's mother sighed and looked down with a slight sadness clouding her face. "That's alright, I'm sure he'll make it"