November 3, 2022
Day 14
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Dronacharya, the royal teacher of the Kuru Kingdom, was responsible for the education of the Kuru princes - the Kauravas and the Pandavas.
While teachers were not supposed to have favorites, a particular disciple had earned the favor of this legendary weapons master. Arjun, the third among the five Pandava brothers was a prodigy with the bow and arrow and Drona's most accomplished pupil.
One day, particularly impressed by his student, the guru decided to demonstrate to everyone the reason why the prince had earned his favor.
He took all his pupils near a tree, and on that tree, he mounted a small toy bird and spoke.
"Your task today is to shoot the eye of this bird."
With that announcement, he called to Duryodhana, the eldest among the 100 Kaurava brothers, and asked the young prince.
"Tell me Duryodhana, what do you see?"
The prince hesitated, failing to see the point of the question and its relevance to the task, but replied respectfully.
"I can see the bird, the tree, the falling leaves, and the sky."
The guru looked disappointed, but not surprised. Without even giving his pupil a chance to take aim, he called forth the next one.
Yudhishtra, the eldest among the Pandavas, gave a similar answer, as did everyone else who followed, with every other prince adding a new detail, under the impression that the ones before them had failed to spot something.
Before long, the answers were tediously long, but their guru seemed displeased. There was unease and discontent among the princes as well. Why were they being dismissed without getting a chance to shoot at the target? Even the guru's son failed his father's mysterious test and was sent back to stand with the princes of Kuru.
Finally, it was Arjun's turn.
"What do you see, Arjun?"
His reply was simple.
"I see the eye."
The guru suppressed a smile and pressed on.
"Do you see the tree? The branch on which the bird is perched?"
Arjun replied calmly.
"I see only the bird's eye."
Dronacharya was unrelenting.
"Do you not see your brothers, the trees, this forest? Do you not see your guru standing in front of you?"
The boy shook his head and replied respectfully.
"Forgive me, esteemed teacher, but I can see only my target."
Dronacharya smiled and told Arjun to take aim and shoot.
The arrow inevitably struck the bird's eye and the toy came tumbling down.
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Rahul smiled as he recalled the story from the Hindu epic Mahabharata that his mother told him as a child. To best honest, it had sounded rather ridiculous to the young Rahul.
At the very least, the guru should have given his pupils the chance to take a shot. Maybe they could see the surroundings and still hit the mark.
He had thought back then. But now, as his senses filtered out the surroundings and honed in on the moving shadow, he supposed the story's message about single-minded focus had some basis after all. Of course, this single-minded focus was not the product of a childhood memory, but minutes of concentration and dozens of punches taken across his body.
It all started when Rahul spotted the gliding shadow of his opponent for the first time and soon received a notification.
You have gained a new skill.
Keen Sight - Observe your surroundings with increased perception.
Effect: Passive 10 percent increase to perception.
You have unlocked the secondary stat perception. This stat belongs to the category of derived stats and will increase with your primary stats Dexterity and Intelligence. You can't directly invest free stat points into perception.
You have gained 10,000 experience from this skill.
This passive skill had helped him trace and follow the movements of the hooded man, but hadn't been enough to resolve the ethereal shadow into the tangible physical form of a man. Because of that, while Rahul had known when the attacks were coming, he couldn't see where.
Which explained the numerous bruises across his body.
When Rahul guarded his face, he received a punch to his gut. When he guarded his midsection, the punch came straight at his nose. There was no element of luck when it came to blocking correctly, as his enemy was fast enough to alter the trajectory of his punch to target the body part that was left open.
Not only was Rahul's perception insufficient to overcome what was likely an obfuscation skill being employed by the rogue, but he was also too slow to match the enemy's exact movements, even if he could somehow see them.
The second notification solved the first problem.
Keen Sight - Observe your surroundings with increased perception.
Effect: Passive 10 percent increase to perception.
Changed to.
Keen Sight - Observe your surroundings with increased perception.
Effect: Passive 10 percent increase to perception.
Specializations (1/unknown)
Singular Vision - Significantly enhance your perception of a certain target at the cost of losing peripheral awareness.
You have gained 100,000 experience from this skill.
The events leading to this particular notification were what brought back Rahul's childhood memories.
Taking punch after punch, Rahul had kept his eyes glued to the moving shadow, and after four or five rounds, felt himself slowly losing awareness of his surroundings. His first reaction had been panic and alarm, concerned by the loss of peripheral vision, but as he saw the shadow's form grow more and more tangible, Rahul realized what was happening.
That's when the story of Arjun came to his mind, and Rahul embraced the loss of peripheral awareness in favor of a single-minded determination to follow his target.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The shadow turned into a hooded figure, still impossibly fast, but now in a human form, no longer ethereal.
That's when the skill specialization notification appeared, and with it came 100,000 XP.
Since crossing level 20, each level had started to require 200,000XP, and so this sudden and unexpected XP gain had fallen just short of level 23. And for the first time since the start of the integration, Rahul was happy about not leveling up. Because if he reached level 25 before this fight was over, he would no longer be eligible to challenge the second tier of the dungeon.
And after the insane bonus that the synergy with Immutability has brought to the dungeon, it will be a crime to end up missing a tier. Hopefully, Ivan can soon accumulate enough intent to purchase that bonus.
Rahul was woken free of his thoughts when someone close to him fell to his knees, groaning in pain. His turn was coming and Rahul activated singular vision. He immediately felt the disorienting effects of tunnel vision but shrugged it off.
Seeing the gliding shadow resolve into a sprinting man was worth a bit of nausea.
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The attack came, and Rahul saw every motion clearly. He guarded his face and saw the rogue change the trajectory of the punch toward his abdomen. He knew he could not react fast enough to block the blow, and did not want to give away the element of surprise by trying.
Rahul kept his expression neutral the entire time and did his best not to look into his opponent's eyes. Only after the punch landed against his gut did his expression change into agony.
For that painful expression, Rahul didn't have to pretend.
Satisfied that he had given no indication that he could now see the exact target of the attack, Rahul forced himself to smile. The enemy had moved on, none the wiser, and with the issue of perception solved, he could get on to the next step of the plan.
Rahul checked his stats.
Character Overview Name Rahul Sharma Race Human (F) Class Melee Level 22 HP 220/220 MP 270/270 Stamina 643/720 Intent Points 2/7 Strength 50 (55) Endurance 72 Dexterity 27 Vitality 22 Intelligence 27 Perception 27 (29.7) Presence
Name Momentum Level 1
The first thing he noticed was the new row - Perception.
Rahul had guessed that perception was based on dexterity and intelligence in equal parts, but since both the values were 27, it was impossible to say for sure.
After what I have planned next, the answer would be evident. But 3 points are all I am willing to risk before consulting Martin. With this expenditure, I'll have 22 points to spend when I'm level 25. Enough to somewhat balance my stats before class specialization.
Finishing that thought, Rahul invested a single point into dexterity. It went up to 28, and perception changed to 27.5.
As he had guessed, perception was a combination of dexterity and intelligence in equal parts.
P = (D+I)/2
Rahul wondered if there were other such secondary stats, but couldn't ponder for long as he realized he was the next stop on the punch train.
He had already thought through how he would test out the limits of his dexterity and put his plan into action.
Changing his guard in tandem with the change of the punch's trajectory would give away his newfound ability to see the attacks, and so Rahul acted aloof, pretending he had lost track of the enemy and was not prepared for the punch.
Then, at the last moment, he made a show of realizing that the attack was upon him, and moved to block the targeted spot.
There was no time for the hooded figure to change his trajectory, nor was the time sufficient for Rahul's arms to get into the correct defensive position.
Still, the punch that was headed for his nose caught the edge of the hands that were rising to guard Rahul's face and got deflected upward, earning Rahul a very painful blow to his temple.
Not quite there, but close. Hopefully, the hooded man will see the decision to guard my face as a last-minute instinctual reaction and brush off the partial block as a fluke. What I have planned next won't work if he starts to take me seriously.
Rahul thought, and knowing that the same ruse won't work twice, and unwilling to raise any further suspicion, invested two points into dexterity, bringing it up to 30.
Character Overview Name Rahul Sharma Race Human (F) Class Melee Level 22 HP 220/220 MP 270/270 Stamina 643/720 Intent Points 2/7 Strength 50 (55) Endurance 72 Dexterity 30 Vitality 22 Intelligence 27 Perception 28.5 (31.35) Presence
Name Momentum Level 1
I get only one chance with this.
Rahul thought as he slid a small knife into the sleeve of his shirt, and raised his hands to guard his guts. He wanted to alert his teammates of his plan, but couldn't risk it.
His effective perception had gone up almost two points, and with the tunnel vision, that difference was multiplied manyfold. The two additional dexterity should be enough to let him block the attack. His accumulated intent was at the high twos. If he blocked this attack successfully, Rahul felt confident that the level difference would be enough to raise the intent to three.
All the pieces were in place.
The hooded figure came, and Rahul held his position, waiting for the attack to come.
As expected, the attack came for his face. As the shaded figure came closer, Rahul raised his hands to guard his face instead, being deliberately slow about the motion.
The hooded man changed the trajectory of his attack downward, only slightly surprised by what he assumed was Rahul's hesitation and indecision.
Rahul of course noticed the new target, and once the hooded man was too close to change the attack, Rahul lowered his hand, placing them right in the path of the attack in the nick of time. He lowered his body into a crouched position, bracing for impact.
And for the final part of the plan, just before the impact, he stared right into the enemy's eyes.
The punch resonated against the bones of Rahul's forearms, and some cracked. Despite having crouched and prepared for impact, Rahul was pushed back a few steps, the same as every other time he had been punched.
But this time, he didn't lose balance, and in one smooth motion, his arms straightened and the knife slid out into his palms.
The shock of his attack getting blocked followed by the unexpected eye contact delayed the hooded man for barely a second, but that was enough.
The accumulated intent had crossed the threshold into 3, and Rahul poured it all into his next movements. His feet kicked off the ground behind him and Rahul appeared within arms reach of the enemy. His knife hand was already in motion, an intent-empowered stab aimed right at the enemy's throat.
Empowered by kinetic intent, it was now Rahul who was too fast, and the knife slid two inches into the enemy's neck before coming to a sudden stop.
Fuck.
The attack had failed to seriously injure or incapacitate the enemy, and Rahul saw no pain in the opponent's eyes, only hot burning rage. Rahul's grip loosened, and letting go of the knife, he took an unconscious step back.
The hooded man pulled out and then equipped the same knife that had been embedded in his neck, and rushed into motion again.
His singular vision disabled, Rahul only saw the shadow of the man coming. But even if he had seen a knife coming for his throat, Rahul was too paralyzed by fear to do anything about it.
Fortunately, the next attack landed on his gut as Rahul stood defenselessly, still immobilized by fear. The small knife that penetrated his stomach hurt a lot more than any punch, and that stabbing pain finally brought Rahul back to his senses.
He saw the shadow glide away from him, to its next target. Everywhere the rogue went, he left in his wake a trail of painful screams and spilling intestines.
Rahul had just drawn first blood from his opponent, and in doing so, he had escalated the conflict.
Had the hooded man been taking it easy on us so far? Was he toying with us? Have I made a terrible mistake?
Rahul thought grimly and saw even the strongest individuals unable to cleanly block the attacks now that the knife stabs tore into their defending forearms and palms.
The hooded man was no longer playing.