Later in the afternoon I woke up alone in my crib. After a month of intense supervision being left alone felt somewhat strange. Not that I wasn’t grateful for the care they took of me or the moment of solitude. But it was a strange sensation, not being watched, how strange in my previous life I couldn’t wait to be on myself. Now I wanted to be among other people, better said among my parents.
So I started wailing like a baby, no just kidding. I started blabbering gibberish. Sure I knew how to speak in my mind, but my body wasn’t ready. Making different sounds was hard, making consecutive different sounds so it would sound like a word was even harder. But it was still early in my life. Not knowing regular development speed for my species or even a human I just kept at it.
It wasn’t long before my mother came in to the room to get me from the crib and place me on my trusty blanked in the living room annex kitchen and what looked like a stable. There I got to my “training”, rolling around pushing with my legs and arms to hopefully develop something called muscle mass or coordination. Twisting around to look at anything and everything in my eyesight. Curious as hell what this world had to offer.
So far the only people I had seen where my mom and dad. And next to that only the inside of the house. Was what it was like for al people in this world or were we an outlier. Then I was pulled out of my stream of thoughts, my dad came in. He was a quiet man, maybe because of that I rather liked him. He kneeled right beside me on the floor. Softly speaking to me “Son, you might not understand me now, but you made your first big step in life last night. For us, this is a great moment. It means you are growing stronger and being stronger means you will be safer. The commemorate this and help you grow I got you this. Then I saw he was hiding something behind his back and pulling it out slowly.
It was an old fashioned handheld catapult. One like teenage boy’s would have back on earth. But this one was expertly carved out of sturdy wood. It was a simple but beautiful design. The elastic band was made of some rubbery white substance. Being an infant I couldn’t help myself by putting the thing in my mouth right away. I didn’t know where that came from, but I did it anyway. To somehow show my gratitude for the gift I stretched my hands out to my father and tried to say DaDa. Whit the rubbery string still in my mouth it was an impossibility, but I tried nonetheless. However I saw that my efforts where not in vain, a gentle smile appeared on his face.
After that I tried looking closer to the implement. Turning it around in my hands playing with the band. Chewing on it. All of it was a comical display due to the fact that the catapult was way to big for me. My hands fit side by side on the handle with room to spare. My hands where definitely not able to encircle the handle or hold it up to aim in any way shape or form. But playing with it felt good, my first toy or weapon depending on how you looked at it. I found it calming and was thankful for the gift.
Notification
~First weapon acquired~
This beautifully handcrafted catapult is made specially for Taika by his father.
Carved out of a sturdy peace of oak equipped with a rubber band to shoot rocks at targets.
Quality: Excellent
[Dmg] ?/? Dependent on ammunition and [Str]
Several days later I was still playing with the thing. Swinging it around as best as I could. It was really helping me grow. Even in this short time I got 1 [EXP] and 1 [Str] from it. Motivated as I was wanting to gain strength, I was more careful. Trying to steer the thing exactly where I wanted it to go. From this point on the blanket to that point on the gate off the animal Penn just besides me. That afternoon I got real progress. An extra point in [Exp], [Dex] and [End], this was what I was looking for. More equal growth.
The afternoon I finally left the house in my mothers arms. The weather was really nice, some sunshine a few white clouds in the sky and an comfortable temperature. Around the house on three of the four sides was a wooden palisade wall. The fourth side was formed by a stream of crystal clear water. I estimated the wall to be around 2.5 meters tall and the stream about 4 meters wide. In the wall, which stood at a distance of about 20 meters from the house, opposite of the front door was and opening with a waist high gate. Looking from the front door of the house is saw on the left side of this opening a big covered woodpile. Looking further I saw and to the right side an animal pen containing a few goats, chickens and a donkey. Right next to it lay the river running parallel to the house at a distance of about 30 meters. between the river and the house was a vegetable garden.
A strip of gras lay in between the animal pen and the vegetable garden. On that gras lay my favorite green blanked. I was placed smack down in the middle of it surrounded by four logs. There was no way I would make it of my blanked to the surrounding gras or what lay beyond.
Thinking about the sight of what I assumed was the garden I wondered. ‘If my mother, father and me are beastman and there are “normal” animals to. Is eating meat the same as cannibalism. Or are beastman on the same level as humans in this society and not part animal. I very much enjoyed a good stake or even those sticks off meat they sold in Kabul. That was the last time I had some proper meat, not those drab wannabee kinds they served in the hospital or on base. Ha, what was I complaining about. I got porridge now and apparently goatmilk too.’ Contemplating my time away, I saw my mother feeding the livestock. And then the most wonderful thing happened right before my eyes. I saw magic, real life magic!
My mother, instead of using a bucket, pointed at the water in the river and made a sphere of water flow out of it. Then she moved it with her pointing hands to the empty water trough for the animals to drink out of. I never witnessed something so captivating and exhilarating in my live before. Not able to contain my enthusiasm I cried out in joy pointing at the water all the while. My mother clearly used to using this kind of magic just smiled at me and continued on. Moments later just a little spec of water hit my nose. I gasped out of surprise and laughed then a second spec hit my nose. Again not counting on being hit by something I gasped and laughed. I couldn’t help myself I was giggling like a little girl and my mom joined my with an mischievous grin on her face and hit me a final time. This was in my eyes a perfect afternoon.
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This was how we spend the next few weeks divided by mornings inside a nap and then a afternoon in the garden. Behind the house was a shed and also a gate in the palisade wall. Whitin my possibilities I scouted the surroundings and training my abilities. Now 5 months old I could sit on myself when my mother or father sat me down and tiger around on my blanked. Progress was being made and each little bit gave me a profound feeling of satisfaction and a renewed sense of motivation. So I was looking at my status again while lying in my crib cradling my catapult after my midday nap.
Status
Username (Hidden)
Luke
Basic
Life stage
Infant
Exp
14/25
Name
Taika
Alias
-
Species
Lepjag
Seks
Male
LVL
1
Age
5 Mths
HP
10/10
MP
0 of 0
Attributes
Equipment
Max att are lvl 10 due to [LVL] restriction
Str
7
Catapult
Dex
7
Agi
6
End
8
Int
9
Wis
7
Not knowing whether how my progress compared to the ordinary in this world I was proud of myself. Every day I was working hard and discovering more about the world I ended up in and about myself. But lying in my crib was boring, yes I needed the sleep so I could train more in a day. But after waking up it always took a while before mom would get me. Mabey that was a little bit my own fault, because I didn’t want to be a crybaby I lay there silently waiting. Today was it was difficult to wait so I tried to pull myself up by the wooden bars off the crib sitting myself up to my knees. Yes this was wonderful, this was great.
No it was not, this was an accident waiting to happen. So it happened, loosing my grip and by that any sliver of balance in my body I dropped like a ton of bricks. Banging my head on the other side of the crib. In the fright of the moment I cried out “MA-MA” and within a wink there she was lifting me out of the crib. Thank heavens there was no blood in sight, but a nice bump was developing on the back of my head.
Notification
[Blunt force trauma received]
- 3 [HP]
Against my best effort, I sobbed in my mothers neck. Somehow that was making me feel better, while a simple bump shouldn’t necessarily be that big of a deal. In my time I had plenty of scrapes and bumps which never let me to so much as spring a single tear. This time was different I had people I could lean on, and besides that my body screamed at me to let the waterworks flow freely. So giving in halfway I yammered on in the safety of the crook of mothers neck.
Looking back at the notification I was real happy whit my lvl-up. If I had been at my previous [LVL] the damage would be more than half my [HP]. Ruminating about it I intended to myself to double my efforts in building the basics, all of the [Att] and [Exp] I could get my hands on I wanted. Just to be safe.
After being cuddled by my mother for a while I spent the rest of the afternoon on my blanked in the garden. There I spent my time experimenting with my body and found out something new, something I should have known after finding out I was a beastman. No only were my hands covered in hair and my fingers a little bit shorter than a human. But inside each digit there was a small gap containing a razor-sharp nail. Feeling dump that it took me five whole months to find out I was still amazed by my sharp claws. Digging scars in the wooden logs surrounding the blanked to keep me contained on it the rest of the day passed quickly.
Notification
~Ability discovered~
You have discovered a congenital ability, [Claws]
Beastman of the feline variety have the ability to use [Claws]
Depending on the applied force [Str] and speed [Agi] [Claws] will apply [Dmg]
If a nail breaks by using [Claws], [Dmg] will be reduced for consecutive uses
Nails will regrow over time. Whit [Claws] you cannot hurt yourself
Minimal [Dmg] 1
Mother watched me from a distance but let me do as I pleased playing with the logs and carving intricate patterns in it. Afterwards we had dinner for the first time consisting out of small pieces of tender meat and some vegetables. I was like I was in heaven eating real food. That night I fell asleep in moments dreaming about al the possible futures that were possible.