Aria slowly opened his eyes, still sleepy. Looking up at the familiar ceiling room, but not at the same time, in a daze, while gathering his scattered thoughts, too-early-wake after effect.

'Is it morning already?' he thought. He glanced to his side, up above at the small gap in the corner of the ceiling that led to the outside. No yellow glitter could be seen passing through, it seemed the sky was still in a gloomy mood.

'Ah, of course, my biological clock starts acting up again,' he had grumbled like this for several days already. Having had enough to laze around, he started surveying his surroundings. Carved wooden poles that he didn't know what type of wood they were made of, but smelled good with delicate carvings, circled him around, making it a kind of prison with no top cover. Yes, a prison special for someone like him, a baby crib.

On the one hand, soft snoring with a regular rhythm was heard from the direction of the bed which was giant compared to this one. On top of it, his parents and sister could be seen, still, fast asleep.

'Ah, this is my chance,' didn't want to waste more time, he quickly turned his body, quite agile for a baby, crawling to one side of the bed. Slowly, he grabbed a wooden pole that was small enough for both his palms to wrap around it, leaning on it to support him up. It's easy, but because of the limitations of his tiny physique, he had to deal with considerable effort.

Fortunately, perhaps because the crib was made of good quality woods and the craftsmen were quite skilled too, no creaking sound was heard… that or the wood couldn't be bothered to make a sound with such baby-force; making him more depressed.

He began to climb up, something he had practiced time and time again, both in imagination and in reality, with great caution. He considered it as part of his baby workout. Just one slip of motion would cause him to fall like an adult fall from the second floor. It'd hurt real bad. And with a body like this, yeah, that seemed to be the light case.

Nope, he denied, because it would alarm the three sleeping people over there.

After struggling with slightly sore palms, he fished himself out of his prison successfully.

'Yeah, I've done my workout for today,' after swiping slight sweat on his forehead, he looked to the still unmoving shadows. Turning toward the door, 'but it's not done yet!'

He crawled, sneaking his way to the door leading to outside. It's not that he couldn't properly walk, nope, he could. As a baby of several months, he was fast enough to be able to walk, even run. But with how unstable his baby's step was, it wouldn't accomplish his sneaky goal. He didn't want to risk being found out after all that effort he put through.

In front of the large sliding door, he pushed it open. Unlike what its appearance, it wasn't too heavy to push it open.

'Nice craftsmanship,' he thought. Although with great difficulty, a gap was made, small enough for him to slip out.

As if freedom was before him for the first time, he quickly crawled out. After glaring from right to the left, not finding an eyewitness, he hurriedly navigated toward the place he had in mind from the start.

Feeling slightly sore on his knees from crawling since earlier, he stood up and accelerated his unsteady steps which would surely invite smiles and laughter from those who saw him. He was quite disgraceful for him, and he was determined to put full effort to fix it.

It didn't take long for him to almost reach his destination. Along the way, he didn't find a soul as well. Even this early, there should have been some servants that had woken up. Of course, they wouldn't just wander around, especially near their master's resting place.

When he saw the first person, he arrived at the place where he was headed, the kitchen. Yup, the kitchen, because he's thirsty and thought he could grab something to eat if he's lucky.

Just as he found the person, at the same time the middle-aged woman who served as the cook in the kitchen also found him. Surprised for a moment by the presence of a baby walking alone at this time of the hour, the aunty chef then smiled happily at her guest.

"Ah, little young master, you're up so early, is it okay for you to come here?" the aunty chef greeted him as she approached, then crouched down, "Have the young master told the madam you want to come here?"

Aria had been staring here and there looking for what could fill his little tummy. He was a little distracted, not paying the woman in front of him any attention. Just a bit shaking his little head as a polite reply.

The aunty chef was tickled by his behavior, "Oh, then what do you want young master? Want this aunty to get you something?"

"Drink!" his short answer, then he put his hands on his tummy as a gesture, "And eat!"

Laughing, she chimed in, "Oh, young master want to eat already? There is warm drinking water ready, is it okay? But if it's the milk that you want, it's going to take some time. Which one would you prefer?"

"Milk," he said at once, but after some thoughts, he changed it, "Water first, milk later," he answered with a serious face, and that made it even funnier to the chef, also the figure behind him which he didn't realize yet.

"Okay, here, please sit down and wait for a while," the chef grabbed a small stool in one corner she usually used after getting a nod of confirmation from the little one.

The aunty chef handed the baby warm water. Of course with a special cup, in both size and shape, special edition for baby. The boy shuddered a little with the cup in his arm, feeling depressed but he accepted it nonetheless. It was something he often did and he became used to it.

"Ah!" he felt his thirst quenched as soon as his throat was moistened with water. Just as he was about to gulp it down at once by lifting his head, he caught the image of a person at the end corner of his peripheral vision. Curious, he turned his head.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Mommy!" Aria was stupefied, realizing his sneaky movement was not so sneaky with his mom here.

"Having fun with your little adventure, aren't you, you stubborn little brat? Didn't invite your mother at all?" Alisa grinned at him, then crouched down next to him, "Thirsty?"

He nodded, staring at his mom.

"Hungry?" his mother rubbed his head affectionately.

The boy nodded again, still staring at her.

"Would you like Mom to make you something delicious? Or..." his mother smiled while teasing him like she always did, "Would you like to drink mother's milk first?"

Aria's face turned red in embarrassment. His mother burst into laughter, as did the aunty-chef who watched from the side. Unfortunately, it only made him want to hide more.

.....

"So this morning my little brother had been acting up again?"

Rosalind asked about her brother's misbehavior at breakfast. The table could accommodate ten people, but only a family of four used it, so it was quite spacious.

"He was acting as usual, but this time he managed to sneak off unnoticed, almost. Fortunately, mother had adjusted my wake-up time with your brother's habits," Alisa said while feeding Aria.

"Hee, you naughty brother! You should have woken up your sister. We can sneak into the kitchen together!"

Aria just ignored his sister's words, which got him a little affectionate pinch on his cheek. Now his attention was divided in two. A little to respond to the soft food in his mouth, the rest focused inside his body.

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Energy Source Detected!

Start Accumulating!

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Physique

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It had been several months since his confusion last when the first time these words and mechanical voices popped out of nowhere inside his head. And that was when he... um, drank his mother's milk. The same thing would continue to appear, even though he didn't understand where it came from, but he could make a hypothesis a little about what it was used for.

Then his attention was drawn to a corner marked [Physique] section. With his will, the words suddenly turned into a three-dimensional chart of the human body, complete with the anatomy of its internal organs.

From this posture, he could tell it was his body. Fortunately, this chart was not made as close to his real body. If that was the case, Aria felt what he saw was his body as a specimen ready to be dissected for vicious experiments like in science fiction. It certainly wouldn't be a pleasant experience for anyone, even for someone deemed as the strongest and bravest of humanity.

Here, he focused his will on the right arm on the chart. Immediately, data appears that showed the numbers, attributes, and performance of the arm, something like a pre-requisite. Yes, that's what he thought the function of the accumulated numbers was, for body enhancement.

Unfortunately, nothing has been proven yet. Months passed but the accumulation of energy never reached the lowest numbers on the chart.

He assumed that perhaps the type of food that lacked energy was a contributing factor. But it also became his resignation. What? Did you expect a baby to be able to eat a steak? Are you crazy? My mother was the first one to make trouble with someone who would propose that to her baby boy.

"Here's open your mouth," his mind was distracted by his mother's voice, "Why do you look so quiet, the foods taste bad?"

Alisa found out her son was a bit quieter than usual.

The boy just shook his head.

"Maybe he's sulking because you caught him in the kitchen this morning," chimed in his father, who instead got an annoying glare from his wife. His father just smiled sheepishly.

"Is that true?" but she still wanted to make sure. Even though she found her baby boy's endeavor with vigor was hilarious and brilliant; she as a mother was of course very proud of it; and partly because she was concerned about her baby boy wandering around unsupervised.

But of course, she didn't want to dampen his enthusiasm because of the event this morning. If that was the case, of course, she would feel guilty. She knew that her son was very different; he's a genius, and that's because he's her son, that's the mother's belief.

It did not cross the mind of Alisa, as well as the others, that this baby boy was only lost in his thoughts. Who would have guessed a baby could contemplate? Who was?!

"No, mother," Aria kept shaking his head. Realizing that his mother's worries had not changed, he simply said, "I want that," while pointing at the food on his mother's plate.

"You want this?" Alisa was stunned looking at her food. There was nothing special there and she marveled what and why her son wanted it.

Aria nodded, "Look," as he opened his mouth, revealing six cute white teeth that had just grown up. The top four teeth, the rest at the bottom, at most one or two millimeters long.

"Oh, what cute teeth, you've grown up," Alisa couldn't help but melt. She was excited because her child's teeth had grown again. On one hand, Rosalind's eyes also sparkled, as if she had seen some new toys. His father just shook his head at the behavior of his wife and daughter.

The corner of Aria's eyes twitched from his mother's reaction. He immediately closed his mouth fast. His mother let out a sigh as if saddened by that and caught her son's meaning just now.

"So, you want to eat solid food like this," his mother confirmed again.

"Yeah," he was earnest.

"Oh, but your teeth just came out. Of course, we don't want those cute teeth to chip in just because of that, do we?" he was stunned by his mother's excuse, which she continued, "It would be a pity if that happened. What do you think, Rosalind?"

"Yes, yes, I agree. Brother shouldn't eat solid food yet, just give him some congee," Rosalind called out as she stood up excitedly as if this matter was important for her.

Aria still had his eyes wide in disbelief, while his mother kept going, "See, let's just continue the soft food then! Instead, I'll make some other, tastier food! I guarantee you will like it!" his mother stroked his head with a triumphant smile.

He still couldn't believe what he heard. Weren't these teeth used for chewing food?! Why would his mother even want to protect his teeth from food?! No wonder he sneaked into the kitchen so many times. His mother was just too unreasonably overprotective, now his teeth became her protection's objective.

Then he turned to his father, who had been trying to enjoy this morning drama at the side without trying to get involved in it. Seeing his son's gaze asking for help, he laughed out loud.

'As I thought, Mommy is the last boss in every family,' he thought, feeling dejected. He became even more determined to redouble his baby workout in the future.