Three weeks later, Alruk was finally able to stand.
Barely.
With support from the cave walls around him, he managed to keep himself upright, becoming one of the first few babies to do so.
During these weeks, he meditated every day, then slept for about three hours at midday and six hours at night.
Although he could not accurately tell time, the rotation of the goblin guards at the cave entrance and the feeding schedule gave him a rough sense of the passage of time.
Since the previous week, an additional young female had begun helping care for the infants.
Unlike the others, she was not responsible for breastfeeding, as she was not lactating.
Instead, she was assigned to monitor the infants and learn how to care for them.
From her appearance, Alruk deduced that she was an adolescent.
This suggested that the tribe was organized enough to separate its younger members into different age groups.
Although she could not breastfeed the infants, she was able to pacify them, helping reduce the burden on the lactating females.
The supervision of the babies increased as more of them began moving around—some crawling and others even walking.
To prevent serious injuries, at least two females were now always present in the cave.
Of the infants who had previously been sick or deformed, only six remained alive.
The two deformed infants were killed by one of the males, while three others succumbed to illness.
This reduced the total number of babies to thirty-two, with only seven females remaining.
The six survivors were simply fortunate to still be alive.
That was not all that had happened during this period.
His information had also changed.
[NAME: Alruk
RACE: Goblin
TITLE: Strong Baby (Common)
COMBAT CLASS:
Shaman – Level 0 (0/50 EXP)
LIFESTYLE CLASS: None
MANA: 100/100
QI: 50/50
STATS
Strength: 4
Speed: 4
Dexterity: 5
Stamina: 5
Intelligence: 10
AFFINITIES: Wind (Low), Death (Low)
SKILLS: Monster Language (Vulcan), World Language (Tebanik), Human Language (Halvanish), Mana Sense (1/10)]
A few days after learning Mana Sense, Alruk received his first title.
Ding
[Title Acquired – Strong Baby (Common)]
[Description: A common title given to an infant perceived as strong by those around it.]
[Effect: 5% increase in growth and development, as well as a reduced risk of illness.]
[Duration: Until the toddler stage.]
It was an extremely useful title for a reincarnated soul like himself.
Although the effect was only five percent, it could go a long way.
Titles like this could significantly accelerate growth.
More importantly, development did not refer solely to physical growth—it also influenced mental and statistical development.
The effects might not be immediately obvious, but they were there. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
The duration meant he would retain the title until he reached three months of age, after which he would be considered a toddler by goblin standards.
Then there were his stats.
Several of them had increased.
Lower stats were easier to improve, especially at a young age.
His repeated attempts to stand had raised both his Strength and Stamina.
As for Intelligence, it had increased by four points over the past three weeks—one of the advantages of belonging to a fast-growing race.
In his previous life as a human, following the same routine would have yielded far slower results before the awakening of his bloodline.
For now, his main focus was learning how to walk.
After three more days of effort, he finally managed to walk without support.
Among the other infants, only a handful were capable of doing the same.
The good news was that the hobgoblin infant, Draz, had also learned to walk two weeks earlier.
This alone gave him a chance to escape the fate that had been looming over him.
Now that he could walk freely, Alruk could finally search for a place to clean himself.
The cave reeked.
All the infants relieved themselves there, and while the waste was regularly removed, the area was never properly cleaned with water or anything similar.
At that moment, Alruk truly wished he possessed a water affinity like he had in his previous life.
It would have made things much easier.
As he wandered around, he eventually discovered a small puddle.
It was dirty.
But it was better than nothing.
‘I guess it’s time for my first bath.’