Meanwhile, Ben had reached home. He said everything to his parents. They were delighted. Being first in the competition and scoring 200 points was a great thing. It had brought him close to the scholarship. Ben was tired after all the work he had done. So, he excused himself and went to bed. Tomorrow was a holiday. So, he could sleep well tonight and do his works tomorrow. Having a test was not an excuse for the school work any more. They were being treated under the military law, where there was no excuses. It was said that there was a unit in the Gyagar republic army where even death was not an excuse for not completing the mission. Even though it appeared exaggerated, there was some truth in it. Ben like all the participating students had a deep sleep that night. The next day he woke up a bit late. He did his morning activities, talked with his parents and sister and ran of to practice. He did some warmups and then started the exercises in the ‘Agastya Parvam’. The intensity of his exercise was at its extreme today. He was excited due to his success in the test, which triggered his desire to grow strong. Also, he felt that there was still unused energy in him, which was not drying up. He continued to exercise for about 4 hours. It was intense to the extent where the callouses in his palm was bleeding.

He reached home. John was in the hall of the house. He looked at Ben a bit concerned. He said “Son, don’t you think you are pushing yourself a bit hard? You need to take some rest.” Malina also joined, “Yes Ben, you need to look after your health. You need a healthy body for the implantation of the martial seed. Once you have the meridians you can push yourself. Your body will be able to handle it.” Ben knew this was going to happen. He had a perfect counter for it. He said, “Well all the ‘pushing myself’ earned me a 500,000 Mudra.” Hearing this his parents were startled. His sister who was eating some chips choked on it and started to cough. Seeing this Malina went and began to pat on her head. John asked incredulously “How did you earn that much money? It is almost half of my annual income.” Ben said, “Well during the test, I and my team collected some herbs. Its amount was so high that the school decided to give us all the money without even deducting the tax. The tax was borne by the school itself.” The entire family looked at Ben with utter disbelief. 500,000 Mudra was not a small sum. It had to be known that with that much money one could buy some luxurious things or can live off for a year if used wisely. It can also be used for martial arts purposes, like injecting the body with various medicines and tonics that can enhance both the physical and mental parameters of the body. However, that was only limited to before the implantation of martial seed. Any medicine used to ascend the Martial Knight rank or higher was extremely expensive. Ben continued “I will transfer the amount to you. I have no need for that much money.” But John and Malina were not having it. Malina said, “That is your hard earned money keep it. You will have uses for it.” John also insisted on keeping the money with Ben. Miraya, Ben’s sister wanted some snacks and other things. She was pinched by both her mother and father. Ben laughed at this. His sister was mad at him. Ultimately, Ben agreed to buy her what she asked for.

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After the family session, Ben completed his school works. Before going to sleep, he took out the Saptarishi Samhita. His callouses had some blood in them. While he flipped through the pages, the blood on his callouses touched the book. He could understand the book till the 5th Page. When he reached the sixth page, he looked at it intently. Then he began to close the book, when he noticed that some writings were wriggling on the 6th page. He stared at it. On top of it in bold letters were the words ‘Jamadagni Bhavana’. A brief paragraph which read the following was written under that heading, which read as follows:

‘ The mind has unimaginable powers. It is often forgotten by us. The Marthyas, the most feeble race in the planet, survived due to our perseverance and hope for the future. The noble ones among us visualized the future and strived to achieve it. Yes, they visualized. Before you achieve, you need to visualize.’

This was all that was written there. Ben turned to the next page. He stared at that page. He was stunned when he saw himself there. But he was different here. His upper body was well built, like a sculpture. His entire body was pulsating with immense energy. His eyes, although calm, concealed unimaginable power. The most stunning part was, celestial objects and phenomena, were revolving around him. This include entire galaxies, erupting blackholes and birth of stars. It was like he was the center of the universe. Ben looked at this for a while. He understood that the sage wanted him to visualize the powerful version of the reader, so that he/she will strive towards that goal. Now he understood the meaning of the previous cringy writing.