The next few months brought a whirlwind of activity to Noah's life. His early display of intelligence had achieved exactly what he hoped - Lily immediately began arranging for his education.
"A baby who can walk at eight months and speak so clearly must be nurtured properly," she declared to the maidservants. "I'll hire the best tutors the outer ring can afford."
Noah's enhanced mental development, now permanent thanks to his system, made learning incredibly easy. Within two weeks of speaking his first word, he was forming complete sentences. By ten months, he was reading simple texts with fluency that astounded his tutors.
[New Status Acquired: Academic Prodigy] - Accelerated learning of all subjects. Duration: 6 months [+] [-]
Without hesitation, Noah made it permanent. The rush of enhanced cognitive ability was intoxicating - languages, mathematics, literature, all flowed into his mind like water into a sponge.
"Master Noah, your progress is... unprecedented," stammered his elderly tutor, a former scholar of the main family named Elder Marcus. "In three months, you've mastered material that should take years. Perhaps we should introduce more advanced texts?"
"Yes," Noah replied with the careful articulation he'd practiced. "I want to learn about cultivation. What makes people like grandfather so powerful?"
Elder Marcus shifted uncomfortably. "Young master, such topics are typically reserved for those of proper age and... bloodline purity. Your father has not authorized such teachings."
Noah had expected this resistance. In a cultivation world, knowledge was power, and power was hoarded by those who had it.
"Then teach me about the history of our world," Noah said instead. "Surely a counselor must understand the broader context of events?"
The compromise worked. Through careful questioning during history lessons, Noah began piecing together this world's power structure. Cultivation was indeed real - people could absorb something called "Breath" from the environment to strengthen their bodies and minds beyond human limits. The strongest cultivators could fly, fight magical beasts, and live for centuries.
The Balvan family was a mid-tier cultivation clan, respectable but not among the absolute elite. Thomas, the patriarch, had reached the "gaseous stage" of cultivation - hence his ability to fly and fight dragons.
During his reading sessions, Noah discovered something crucial. Several texts mentioned rare herbs and pills that could enhance cultivation. More importantly, they described temporary effects that would fade after days or weeks.
'Perfect. With my system, any cultivation aid becomes a permanent enhancement. I need to get my hands on some of these materials.'
His opportunity came sooner than expected.
One afternoon, while Lily was meeting with the household staff, Noah snuck out of his room. His enhanced physical development, boosted by permanent status effects, gave him mobility far beyond his apparent age. He made his way to the mansion's medicinal storage, a room he'd observed during his walks with Lily.
The room was guarded, but Noah had noticed the guard's routine. During the afternoon shift change, there was a brief window where the room was unwatched. Crawling through a ventilation gap, Noah found himself surrounded by shelves of herbs, pills, and cultivation materials.
His enhanced senses immediately detected something powerful - a small jade bottle containing pills that radiated spiritual energy.
[Scanning: Meridian Cleansing Pill]
[Effect: Temporarily improves spiritual energy flow. Duration: 3 days]
[Warning: Excessive consumption may cause meridian damage in young cultivators]
'Perfect. Temporary effect means I can make it permanent.'
Noah carefully consumed one small pill. Immediately, his system activated:
[New Status Acquired: Enhanced Meridian Flow] - Improved spiritual energy circulation. Duration: 3 days [+] [-]
He pressed the plus button, and the familiar infinity symbol appeared. A warm energy began flowing through channels in his body he hadn't even known existed. This was his first taste of cultivation power.
But his triumph was short-lived. Footsteps approached the storage room.
"Who's in there?!" barked a stern voice.
Noah quickly pocketed two more pills and scrambled back through the ventilation gap. He barely made it to his room before Lily returned.
"Noah? Were you sleeping?" she asked, noting his slightly disheveled appearance.
"Just practicing walking, mother," he replied innocently. "I want to grow strong."
That night, Noah experimented with the energy flowing through his meridians. With concentration, he could direct it to strengthen his muscles or sharpen his senses. The sensation was addictive - this was real power, the kind that could shape destinies.
Over the following days, Noah carefully took the remaining pills, making each effect permanent. His cultivation foundation, invisible to casual observation but incredibly solid, began forming at an unprecedented pace.
[Enhanced Spiritual Sensitivity] - ∞
[Optimized Energy Absorption] - ∞
[Purified Meridian Network] - ∞
By his first birthday, Noah had the cultivation foundation of someone years older, all hidden beneath the appearance of a remarkably bright child.
His plans were progressing perfectly, until an unexpected visitor arrived at the mansion.
"Brother Rhys! It's been too long!"
The booming voice echoed through the outer ring courtyard as a magnificent carriage arrived. Noah watched from his window as a young man in expensive robes stepped out, flanked by guards in matching uniforms.
"That's your uncle Damian," Lily whispered, her face pale with concern. "Rhys's older brother. He's... not kind to bastards."
Noah studied the man carefully. Damian Balvan was in his early thirties, handsome, and radiated the confident aura of someone who had never been denied anything. More importantly, Noah's enhanced senses detected the spiritual energy emanating from him - this was a cultivator of considerable power.
'The second son of the patriarch. Father mentioned he's reached the liquid stage of cultivation. That makes him dangerous.'
During the welcome feast that evening, Noah was presented to the family gathering. He played his role perfectly - intelligent enough to impress, but not so remarkable as to threaten anyone.
"So this is the bastard everyone's talking about," Damian said, studying Noah with calculating eyes. "I hear he's quite the prodigy. Walking early, speaking clearly, reading advanced texts... almost too advanced for his bloodline, wouldn't you say?"
The implied accusation hung in the air. In cultivation families, genius usually correlated with bloodline purity. A bastard displaying exceptional talent might indicate... complications.
"The boy is simply blessed by natural intelligence," Thomas interjected smoothly. "I've observed him personally. His progress, while impressive, falls within acceptable parameters."
But Noah caught the subtle look Damian exchanged with his own son, Kelvin - a boy of six who had been watching Noah with undisguised jealousy.
'Politics. They're worried I might threaten their succession prospects. I need to be more careful.'
The next morning brought a test Noah hadn't expected.
"Uncle Damian wants to assess the family's youngest generation," Rhys explained tersely. "You'll join the other children for evaluation."
Noah found himself in the mansion's training courtyard along with several legitimate grandchildren of the patriarch. Kelvin, Damian's son, stood with two other boys and one girl, all older and all displaying the arrogant bearing of those born to privilege.
"Well, well," Kelvin sneered. "The bastard thinks he can play with us. Father says you're supposed to be some kind of genius. Let's see if commoner blood can keep up with noble breeding."
Damian watched from the side as his son and companions began a series of tests - physical exercises, memory games, and basic spiritual sensitivity measurements.
Noah quickly realized the danger. His system-enhanced abilities made him vastly superior to the other children, but displaying that superiority would mark him as a threat. He needed to appear talented but not overwhelmingly so.
During the physical tests, he deliberately made small mistakes. In the memory challenges, he answered correctly but with apparent effort. For the spiritual sensitivity test, he had to actively suppress his enhanced abilities to avoid revealing his cultivation foundation.
'This is harder than actually performing well. I have to constantly hold back without making it obvious.'
But his caution wasn't enough for Kelvin, who seemed determined to humiliate him.
"Look at the bastard struggle," Kelvin laughed when Noah pretended to have difficulty with a balance exercise. "I thought you were supposed to be special. Maybe commoner blood really is inferior."
The insult triggered something in Noah. Despite his adult mind, his enhanced emotions - a side effect of his spiritual development - flared with indignation. For just a moment, he let his true abilities show.
He executed the balance exercise perfectly, then moved into a complex series of movements that shouldn't have been possible for a one-year-old. The spiritual energy flowing through his meridians guided his body with impossible precision.
The courtyard fell silent.
Damian's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Interesting. Very interesting indeed."
Noah realized his mistake immediately. In his moment of anger, he'd revealed far too much. The system had made him incredibly capable, but it hadn't given him the wisdom to always control those capabilities.
"Father, did you see that?" Kelvin demanded, his face flushed with embarrassment. "No normal child could move like that! Something's wrong with him!"
Thomas appeared beside Damian as if materializing from thin air. "Brother, surely you're not suggesting anything improper about my grandson?"
The tension between the two powerful cultivators was palpable. Noah realized he'd just sparked a potential family crisis.
'My system makes me stronger, but I still need to be smarter about how I use that strength. Power without wisdom is just a fast path to destruction.'
As the brothers stared at each other, Noah made a decision. He'd have to be more careful, more subtle. His unlimited potential was meaningless if it got him killed before he could fully develop it.
But one thing was certain - his days of quiet development were over. He was now on the radar of dangerous people, and in the world of cultivation, that was never a good place to be.
[New Status Acquired: Political Target] - Increased attention from family enemies. Duration: Indefinite
For once, Noah chose not to modify this status. Some reminders of danger were worth keeping.
---