"Damn dirt, ptooey, ptooey!"
Coughing out a mouthful of dirt, Xander cursed his baby physique. He thought he could crawl like he used to when he was still an adult, but he didn't expect his arms to be so jiggly and weak!
Granted, he was indeed moving a bit too urgently. The baby's body was still of soft bones and soft muscles, after all.
And why is the garden so damn slippery!
Fortunately, his mother equipped him with a protective babysuit. One that covered the body while not preventing his movements.
Tsk tsk, Extraordinary World truly had interesting gadgets.
Xander cast a deep look towards the shadow cast by the bushes at the sides of the garden. Bugs, insects, I shall conquer!
Nothing could stop me from affirming what those nametags are!
With now careful yet swift gallop worthy of a baby with an adult intelligence, Xander closed the distance in no time.
When a familiar nametag appeared, his eyes lit up.
Aha!
『Wisdom +0.02』
Seeing this, Xander's baby face fell into deep thought.
Ant, which had the attribute Physique, was known for its strength, capable of lifting ten times its total weight.
Cockroach... Hmm... Is it a smart bug? Xander doesn't particularly understand, but since the name tag showed it with the intelligent attribute, it should be, right?
So something with the nametag Wisdom should be something that is wise, right?
...Xander's face turned strange. He felt like thinking such a thought would brought down his intelligence, even though it should be factual.
Shaking off his thoughts, Xander cautiously scurried into the bushes slowly, his skin protected by his mother's god-given gift of a suit, allowing him to play wildly without worries.
Soon, a fuzzy creature with two huge eyes appeared in his sight, with eight stubby legs. It seems like it was a spider variant, though somewhat small.
Well, for a baby like him, it's not really small at all.
Although he's not particularly invested in animal kingdoms, this fuzzy spider was somewhat famous in his feeds everytime he opened up his social medias.
"Jumpy spiders!"
Xander widened his eyes. Indeed, if the Wise attribute was stamped on it, it wouldn't be so odd.
Now that he found one with a nametag, what should he do?
Xander's baby brows furrowed, his chubby face filled with hesitation and conflicts. Killing it wouldn't work, feeding it wouldn't work. What else can he do?
Eat it?
Xander stared at the jumpy spider, with its two prominents big eyes and stubby legs. His mouth, tongue, stomach and intestines trembled just by the thought of eating it.
I'd rather die! Might as well kill me!
"Damn nametags, just tell me how it works. Would you die just by telling me?!"
Son of a—!
Xander slapped his baby cheeks with his baby hands, snapping him back to focus.
In the end, Xander, indecisive, confused, and lost, laid down like a dead dog.
Thinking adult thoughts with a baby brain was truly tiring. Xander's tongue lounged out, no different than a dead dog.
The jumpy spider observed the odd juvenile bipedal creature in front of it curiously, confused at the sudden action of this juvenile.
In its eyes, the juvenile was excitedly crawling towards it when the juvenile just stopped on its track. Its face seemed to have changed a lot, and in a blink of an eye, it laid down like an exhausted dog it saw on the roadside just yesterday.
Ah, bipedal creatures with particularly warm temperature, always doing confusing things. At least it knew that the dog from yesterday was laying down pretending to be dead because its bipedal owner was trying to force a particularly long consumption (hotdog) down its throat.
Clearly there was no forced compulsion nor there were threats, and yet the juvenile just collapsed.
『Impression imprinted successfully. +0.02 Wisdom』
『Personal Information has been unlocked!』
『Xander Sa』
Physique: 0.01
Intelligent: 1
Wisdom: 0.03
Energy: 0.01
Xander, who felt like giving up, froze on his dead dog posture. He slowly looked at the jumpy spider who was looking at him curiously, its twin big eyes reflecting his dumbfounded face.
The moment the prompts appeared, something clicked in his head.
"So that's how it is..."
Impression.
Xander pondered over this word, and his eyes gradually turned dumbfounded. His baby face was stupid, and if newlyweds saw him, they'd definitely get an urge to get one themselves.
"What does that supposed to mean? How am I supposed to make an impression on animals? Can their cognitive even register me?"
Looking at the prompt, Xander was thoroughly floured. What do you mean by impression imprinted successfully!
That's a damn bug! What impression could possibly be imprinted!
Is this something a human can understand!
Speak! Speak to me you damned system!
Xander was on the verge of breaking down. He swore he would play wildly! Screw adult intelligence! I shall enjoy my delightful carefree days as a baby shamelessly!
Enough thinking! I'll just play, play, and play!
With a thunderous roll, Xander dominated the garden by rolling his body around like an unstoppable ragdoll. It was a shocking spectacle.
Every bug was crushed, and every insect was intimated!
On a stalk of grass, a larva was peacefully eating when a shadow loomed over its tiny form.
The larva dumbfoundedly looked up, only to find that a juvenile bipedal creature was actually rolling like a log of death. With a mournful curl, the juvenile bipedal creature ruthlessly flattened the larva.
A tragedy!
Dirt splurged about, and mournful cries of bugs and insects could be heard (crossed out). Xander, the culprit, doesn't care at all. Today, he will play wildly!
Mimi, who was fiddling with her terminal, a communication item resembling a mobile phone with a more advanced and intricate model, happened to look at the wildly playing Xander in the garden through the transparent door from the living room.
Her mouth twitched. What the hell, why is her kid rolling around in the garden like a pin?
Could it be that amazing intelligent came at a cost?
Mimi fell into deep thought, her brows furrowing.
After thinking for a while, Mimi calmly accepted the situation. It doesn't matter, as long as little Xan behaved, this little bit of play was nothing.
Back then, as a baby, she even caused the toilet to explode!
While the mother was being proud of her past, Xander was still dominating the garden. It wasn't until the umpteenth roll that he finally stopped rolling.
Xander blankly stared at the sky, his baby body full of dirt and little dots that looked like flattened bugs, though the dark dirt hid them deeply. If not for the protective bodysuit, he may have long been harbouring diarrhea.
Diarrea is deadly for babies!
There are also numerous prompts.
『Impression imprinted successfully. +0.04 Intelligent』
『Impression imprinted successfully. +0.01 Wisdom』
『Impression imprinted successfully. +0.02 Wisdom』
...
『Xander Sa』
Physique: 0.01
Intelligent: 1.21
Wisdom: 0.23
Energy: 0.01
Just by rolling around to dominate the garden, he got 0.21 points of Intelligent and 0.2 points of Wisdom.
Xander sat calmly on the dirt, his face as serene as a monk who attained enlightenment.
I was told that I have to 'imprint' the impression of myself in bugs and insects with particular nametags, therefore I was frustrated and decided to roll around the garden.
And now those bugs actually had an impression of me imprinted in them just because I rolled around the garden like a pin.
Xander's baby head turned upward in a 45-degrees angle, his eyes filled with complexity and wisdom beyond his age.
Indeed, the system didn't lie. Xander indeed felt much smarter and wise after his Wisdom and Intelligent attributes got increased.
"I think, therefore I am..."
After fooling around for a while, Xander, out of his foolishness, began to notice something.
"Although Intelligent and Wisdom got enhancement, none increased my Physique and Energy. Wait, what exactly is Energy anyway...?"
After pondering for a while, Xander felt like he got the gist of it. It was somewhat reasonable.
In order to have an impression, one must be aware of their surroundings. With the level of intelligence of the majority of bugs and insects, how could you expect these simple-minded beings to understand things?
Thus, only insects and bugs with particular intelligence or wisdom realized what he did and thus with their realization came an impression.
Xander rubbed his hair perplexedly.
Good news: impressions required to imprint weren't as stringent as he expected.
Bad news: only bugs and insects with intelligence and wisdom could make an impression.
Xander sighed as he poked his own biceps, feeling no hardness like it used to be, only soft and weak muscles.
And, since his panel information only showed his physique as an enhancement target, it was expected that it would definitely cover every single body-related attribute.
Strength, Stamina, Agility, etc.
"Damn it! This is definitely picking on me!"
The most irritating thing as a baby with adult intelligence is the fact that his mental battery could easily be drained just by thinking of complex thoughts.
Although whether the strength of the brain could be enhanced by increasing physique remained unknown, it could at least increase his stamina.
After revelling in his increased attributes, Xander collapsed, laying down on the garden like a salted fist at the beach, just waiting for death to come.
"Hm, you played quite wildly. Tsk tsk, my little Xan was so exhausted. Let's take a bath, alright?" Mimi, who had been watching the absurd spectacle yet had no reaction whatsoever, cheerfully walked into the garden and picked up little Xan, not minding the dirt and squashed bugs on him.
Xander dumbly nodded as he fell unconscious the moment he was held by his mother.
No matter how intelligent, it seems like he was incapable of resisting his baby body's instinct. Nothing more comfortable than to lie in his mother's arms!