Section 008: A Harvest of Skills! The Evasive Step! The Grass-Skimming Lightness Skill!

He muttered to himself. Xu Ran returned to his crib without a sound, his face beaming with a smile as he drifted off into his dreams.

The following period was one of disciplined routine.

During the day, his mother would carry him to the crawling center, where he used "Tiger Girl" as his training dummy, grinding his "Hide-and-Seek" proficiency to the limit. Late at night, while his mother was sound asleep, he would obsessively practice his "Gecko Wall-Climbing Technique."

One hundred days flew by in an instant.

On the 366th day after his birth, Xu Ran turned exactly one year old. It had been exactly one hundred days since his "Run Fast" and "Hide-and-Seek" skills were first triggered.

At 8:30 in the morning, the moment Xu Ran woke up, he felt his physical strength surge!

"So, after turning one, the conversion rate from blood-qi to physical strength increases from 5% to 10%, right? That means I’ve essentially doubled my power!" He smiled contentedly. "And my Fortune stat has increased to 28 points!"

It was a double blessing.

After washing up and eating breakfast, his mother took him to the infant crawling center as usual to socialize and watch the children with the other mothers. Resting on his mother’s shoulder, Xu Ran’s eyes were bright, his expression calm and serene.

"Only 100 points of progress left. Just one more day of playing with Tiger Girl, and I’ll be able to reap a massive harvest of skills." Xu Ran’s heart fluttered with anticipation; he couldn't wait to embrace that joy!

...

At the entrance of the crawling center, Lin Qian and Chen Lizhen bumped into each other.

"Good morning, Liuli's mom."

"Good morning, Xiao Ran's mom."

The two mothers greeted each other warmly. Xu Ran was placed on the floor by his mother, while Tiger Girl was tightly gripped by the hand by her own. Three months had passed, and Tiger Girl could no longer be kept on a leash. If they were even slightly careless, she would run wild like a young tigress, possessing boundless energy.

In her mother's words: "She has monstrous strength and is incredibly mischievous. As long as she’s full at home, she’ll find ways to tear the house apart."

"In the blink of an eye, she’ll knock over tables, kick chairs across the room, flip the sofa, or shove the bed..."

"Her strength is so immense it gives me a headache. I wish I could chain her up like a dog!" Tiger Girl’s mother sighed incessantly.

...

Inside the crawling center, the moment Tiger Girl appeared, the other mothers shivered. They hurriedly scooped up their children and retreated to the corners, clearing a vast space for her to roam.

Xu Ran chuckled to himself. Every child in the center, except for him, had been made to cry by Tiger Girl at some point.

Tiger Girl’s mother looked helpless.

Lin Qian said, "Xiao Ran, why don't you play with your little sister?"

Xu Ran nodded. Looking at Tiger Girl, who was 85 centimeters tall—twenty centimeters shorter than him—he clapped his hands in provocation.

"Yi-ya, yi-ya!"

The energetic, tiger-headed toddler bared her teeth and charged at him. Xu Ran feinted, led Tiger Girl toward a small area with a few other kids, and then, with a sleight of hand, ducked behind the mothers standing in the distance.

With her sub-one-year-old intellect, Tiger Girl could only stare repeatedly into the small holes in the wall. Kids were like that—she genuinely thought people could hide inside a black hole the size of a fist.

Seeing this, the mothers giggled.

"Xiao Ran is so smart. He plays hide-and-seek with little Liuli every day and always manages to hide for so long."

"You are such a clever baby!"

The mothers would occasionally lean over to kiss him. Xu Ran wiped the saliva off his cheek, his expression indifferent, and lay in the shadows, quietly waiting for his proficiency to rise.

Tiger Girl was truly "tigerish"; she had incredible stamina and searched the entire center for Xu Ran. Unfortunately, Xu Ran could not only hide but also possessed "footwork." After circling the pillars like a seasoned warrior, Tiger Girl became confused and ran to another hole, pressing her head close to inspect it.

"Yi-ya, yi-ya!"

Where could he be? Her tiny head was filled with big questions.

Xu Ran lay there, grinding his progress. Occasionally, he would appear to race Tiger Girl, making her burst into peals of laughter.

The day passed quickly.

[Current Hide-and-Seek progress: 10,000/10,000... Maximum value reached. Automatically promoting to: Phantom Steps (Novice)...]

[Phantom Steps (Novice): 0/10,000...]

[Current Run Fast progress: 10,000/10,000... Maximum value reached. Automatically promoting to: Lightness Skill: Grass-Skipping (Novice)...]

[Lightness Skill: Grass-Skipping (Novice): 0/10,000...]

[Current Blood-Qi value: 301/1,000...]

Hearing the notifications, Xu Ran felt a sudden surge of spirit.

"After 100 days of fanatical self-discipline, the harvest has finally arrived."

As the skills finished their promotion, Xu Ran felt a tingling, electric sensation wash over his entire body, bringing him an unparalleled sense of bliss.

Comforting! So very comforting! The joy at this moment was beyond words.

One must realize that he was only one year and one month old—an age at which one absolutely should not be cultivating. Yet, relying on the "Disciplined Baby" achievement, he had accumulated a full 301 points of blood-qi! This figure was already 30 times that of an ordinary adult.

At the same time, he now possessed three movement-based martial arts: the Gecko Wall-Climbing Technique, the Grass-Skipping Lightness Skill, and the Phantom Steps. If he ever encountered a kidnapping, he certainly wouldn't lack the ability to escape.

Xu Ran felt immensely happy—so happy he wanted to immediately test out his new skills. But to avoid scaring his mother, he chose to keep them hidden for now. He would wait until the dead of night, when his mother was sound asleep, to experience them for himself.

The day came to an end. The mothers began to leave one by one.

"Say bye-bye to little Liuli and Auntie Xu."

"Say bye-bye to big brother Xiao Ran and Auntie Lin."

"Goodbye!"

Leaning on his mother's shoulder, Xu Ran waved goodbye to Tiger Girl, who had made such a monumental contribution. If nothing else, she had truly done the heavy lifting over these past 100 days.

"Yi-ya, yi-ya! Tiger, tiger, tiger... brother!"

Tiger Girl grinned broadly, looking endearingly fierce, revealing her sparse few milk teeth. Xu Ran found it amusing. She was truly a funny little thing.

"Huh?"

Xu Ran narrowed his eyes once more. For the first time in a hundred days, he saw a golden light bloom from Tiger Girl’s chest. This time, the glow was richer than it had been two months ago, yet it was also more fleeting. It vanished almost in a flash.

"What exactly is that? A 'Golden Legend' talent?"

People are always curious, and Xu Ran was no exception. This was the second time he had seen the golden light on Tiger Girl's chest. It was peculiar and felt incredibly powerful.

"Is this light something only I can see? Or did it just happen to bloom by coincidence?"

"Judging by the reactions of those around us, it seems I'm the only one who sees it..."

"I hope I'm not being targeted by someone with ulterior motives."

Resting on his mother's shoulder, Xu Ran pondered. "It should be fine for now. During our infancy, we never leave our mothers' supervision, nor do we leave safe zones."

"As for kidnappers... surely they wouldn't try to abduct both of us in broad daylight, right?"

"Still, for the sake of caution, I must prepare for the worst. I have the intermediate Gecko Wall-Climbing Technique, the novice Phantom Steps, and the Grass-Skipping skill. As far as mobility goes, as long as I don't run into an exceptionally strong gang, I can handle it."

"But for absolute safety, I need an offensive skill."

"Yet, the skills I want to try won't trigger. It's frustrating..."

Over a month ago, he had secretly tried "Infant Turtle Fists," "Infant Palms," and "Infant Iron Mountain Lean," but the system hadn't responded. He guessed that there might be a threshold for practicing martial arts—he hadn't reached the age for training (over three years old), and his power-generating methods weren't standard, which was why the system wouldn't trigger the skills.

As for other skills, he was still experimenting!