Chapter 3: chapter 2- a baby's life
"what's that! What's That! WHAT'S THAT! WHAT IS GOING ON!"
thus was a translation of the thoughts going through the young Ryans head. of course it is a translation because the baby does not yet know to speak.
It had been a week and some days since Ryan was born, and he was curious! Ryan already had a mature soul and mixing that into a child's developing brain meant he wanted to know everything. Sadly his body didn't agree, all he could do was lie down and his crib and cry when he needed help. because of this, Ryan was now intimately familiar with its room.
The walls of the room were made by interlocking wood logs, as one would see in a wooden cabin. the floor seemed to be made of the same type of wood, yet these ones were made into planks. the wood seemed strange in how dark of color they were and also the wired flow of the grains. the grain of the wood swirled around in a way that did not seem natural. They looked like a Van Gogh painting.
the furniture in the room was sparse. there was Ryans crib, which looked like a woven basket with a blanket inside. there were two simple wooden chairs next to the crib where his parents would sit as the watched him. finally, there was a simple wooden chest that held a variety of children's toys.
Now, what had Ryan been doing for this last week? simple, he did what he was best at; watched and learned. and like this time past and soon Ryan was one month old. he had a little more motor control, he could lift his head and move his hands. He had yet to leave his room in that time yet he had learned many things. Truthfully it seemed that his parents noticed his curiosity and decided to help him learn. they would bring in new things and tell him its name, of course, they didn't expect him to talk back but they still did it. Yet, today his mother came into the room with no new thing in her hands.
"No new thing?" Ryan thought to himself.
his mother approached him and lifted him out of his crib, putting him in her lap.
"Hey, little guy~~" she cooed as she tickled his sides. this is how almost all of Ryan's interactions with his mother started. she seemed to love the giggles that followed tickling. Ryan was of course not the biggest fan of this, but what could he do? after a few moments of playing, mother finally got to the reason she was here.
"Ryan~~ what to see something cool?" mother asked even though she knew Ryan couldn't reply. "I'll take that as a yes," she said cheekily.
then Mother held out her hand and seem to concentrate. little Ryan watched on in confusion. what was she showing him? Was mommy ok? there clearly nothing in her hand! As he watched her hand intently his soul shook. For a brief moment, he could feel something in the air. something that he remembered from his time as a soul. he felt that strange light again. then it was gone, lost to his senses. yet his mother was not done slowly a blue light covered her hand. Then ice started to form! He watched, fascinated as the ice slowly built until the was a large ice rose in his mother's hand.
"what do you think," his mother asked, but he didn't even hear her.
he felt it in both his body and his soul. his body cried out in longing, like the phenomenon before it was a long lost lover. his soul screamed! this is power! Both body and soul came together in perfect harmony with one desire. WE MUST HAVE IT!
thus started Ryan's training for power. he felt the first step should be to feel that power again so he tried to find it.
and tried...
and tried...
and tried...
he stubbornly held on until he was two months old and he just had to admit, it's not working. he was missing something. finally, he collapsed, it was night time and any normal baby should already be asleep. he didn't know what he was doing wrong! in his frustration he turned to look out the new window his father had installed. Outside under the light of the moon sat his mother and father. they sat with there legs crossed taking deep breaths. he didn't know what they were doing so he decided to just go to sleep. then he felt it, that power in the air and it was moving towards his parents. the feeling was gone just as quickly as it came, but now Ryan new that his parents were doing something that affected the power. so he watched and committed all of there movements to memory. the way they sat, the set of there shoulders, where they put their hands, the movent of there chest as they breathed, all of it was committed to memory.
Now it was his turn to try. of course, he couldn't get into all of the positions, he was still a baby after all. but he could most definitely copy their breaths. as he took in a breath he could feel there was a distinct difference from a normal breath. yet there was also a feeling of wrongness. he felt like his body was guiding him to make small adjustments. so he followed its guide and he could feel a warmth fill his body when he breathed. it was truly a minuscule amount but he was progressing. the warmth would fill his body then settle down in it. he filled his body as full as it would go then passed out exhausted.
slowly more time passed as Ryan improved on his breathing method. every day he would make a slight adjustment allowing him to store more energy in his body. He could feel the energy sink into his body making it better. Sadly it was a very slow process. soon he turned 6 months old and he cold sit agents the wall, this was good enough for him to start to practice the other parts of his parents' cultivation method. he then started the progress of making minor adjustments again.
But there was a problem with this new progress, it was very unusual to see a baby do this, and his parents would be fools to not find it suspicious. sadly Ryan only cared about getting this power he never thought to hide his efforts. his parents called the old doctor who helped birth, Ryan. they wanted to see if he was really cultivating, and if so was it dangerous to do so? His parents and the doctor hide outside his room and waited for Ryan to start. Ryan, not knowing that he was being watched started doing his thing.
"So doctor can you feel him absorbing any qi?" his father asked worriedly.
"shockingly he is. To clarify its a truly minuscule amount, but that is expected since he has such a small vessel to store it in." the doctor spoke in awe and disbelief. she seemed to not even believe it herself.
"So is he in danger? Is he hurting himself?" His mother spoke with worry and panic in her voice.
"I... don't think so... I mean I've never seen anything like this so I can't be sure, but theoretically, it should be good for him." The doctor started unsurely but got more confident as she spoke.
"I think he's refining his body in a similar way you do, yet not the same. You two work out and then cultivate qi so your muscles grow back better and with less impurities. Yet he isn't working out, but he is rapidly growing and developing. I think the qi he is gathering is used to make the new growth he is experiencing purer. this will give him a truly amazing foundation for cultivation, as well as making him stronger for his age." the Doctor spoke with excitement and awe in her voice.
His parents took a moment to digest the information the doctor had given them. then they two started two get excited. What parent wouldn't want good things for there child?
With Mother and Father reassured they left their son to do his work. Slowly more time passed yet not much had changed. The biggest change would be that the doctor came to visit a lot more. Ryan was now around 9 months old, and a big change was coming. He could now sit perfectly unassisted allowing him to perfect his cultivation method. as he made one last minor adjustment, something seemed to click. there were no more adjustments to be made, and with each breath, he could feel a huge difference. Qi rushed into his body and caused a huge change. He was lost in the feel of the qi rushing in his body. as well as the connection to the qi in the space around him that formed.
When he came back to himself he was covered in a layer of black sludge. there wasn't much but it had a pungent smell. He quickly cried for his mother, and when she saw him all hell broke loose.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Sloth_Pride
Sloth_Pride Wow, that's a lot more then I wrote yesterday! I hope you can excuse my lack of schedule, still figuring one out. Fun fact I looked up a guild for how quickly a baby should grow for this chapter! I'm sure google now thinks a dad... I'm not sure how to feel about that.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone