As we made our way towards the dairy farm, I felt like it was time to take a look at my status since we were walking slowly. There were already a lot of things going on in my mind, so I decided to tackle them one by one. I had already taken a nap, eaten a hearty dinner and the only thing left was cleaning up my stomach a little. Oh, I finally realised. I had been sitting so close to the two elder sisters, and they didn't even say a thing. I remembered that I hadn't taken a bath for a few days. To stop my mind from breaking down in embarrassment, I opened my status and concentrated instead.
_________________________________________
STATUS from [Panna]
Name: Dhruva
Species: Human
Age: 12
Trait: Fabrication (Auxiliary)
Class: Guardian of [Panna] (Auxiliary)
Level: 5->14
HP: 400->580
Attack: 29->47
Defense: 13->24
Crit chance: 0.07->0.11
Crit damage: 0.15->0.19
Stat points: 0
Lives left: 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STATS(Auxiliary)
Strength: 10->32 (+17+5)
Stamina: 9->19 (+8+2)
Agility: 6->36 (+30)
Dexterity: 37->54 (+15+2)
Intelligence: 23->25 (+2)
------------------------------------------------
Shakti(divine energy): 8->4
Kundalini(internal energy): 4->8
Prana(life energy): 17->21
Prana to Kundalini Conversion: 2.8->3.5
------------------------------------------------
Curse resistance: 0
Enchantment resistance: 3->5
Poison resistance: 0
Ailment resistance: 6->13
Mental resistance: 10->16
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SKILLS(Auxiliary)
Passives:
Reasoning: LvL 3->4
Intuition: LvL 2->5
Visualization: LvL 4->5
Space Comprehension: LvL 2->4
Chitram: LvL 6
Chanting: LvL 2->3
Concentration: LvL 5
Mental Fortitude: LvL 2->3
Parallel Processing: LvL 2
Kundalini Conductivity: LvL 3->4
Kundalini Tethering: LvL 4->5
Shakti To Kundalini Conversion: 0.63->(0.67+0.05)
Active:
Field of protection: LvL 5->6
One with nature: LvL 1->2
Recovery: LvL 5->6
Wood Flesh: LvL 2->3
Bonk: LvL 2
Akshara: LvL 5->6
Kundalini Cloaking: LvL 2->4
Skill Transfer: LvL: 2
_______________________________________________
I had been allocating points willy nilly, I realized. There were also a few bonus stats that increased automatically over the ones I had added manually it seems. I wanted to go take a peek inside my memories and get an idea of how many points I added and where, but I didn't feel like dwelling on it now. What's done is done, no point mulling over it. Skill Transfer and Lives left fields were new, guess Panna updated it to keep reminding me not to be reckless. Mental and Ailment resistances have shot up quite a bit, because of Pishachas and Vritra. Good job Asuras. But curse resistance was still 0. Another way of working around Somi's curse was to develop resistance to it... Hell, what am I even thinking? I remembered the conditions of getting cursed by her and berated myself. Will you just stop thinking about her? My Prana was now 21. With a factor of 3.5. This was the most refreshing news in a while to be honest. Generator needs to become a power plant in the future. I remembered how I had Skill Transferred my Prana conversion skill and felt giddy inside. Now my friends can use it without getting accused of breaking the taboo. My Shakti absorption vessels were a total mess inside my body with one small and one thick attached to my solar plexus, so the amount of Shakti I can hold now has also decreased. Should I go back to my cave once before leaving Ashrama, to rearrange them again? Let's decide after we get the milk. If I part ways after visiting the dairy, I'll be tagged as a father who didn't return after going to get milk for his daughter. Ugghh, what a dilemma!!
We are almost at the farm, so let's just take a look over Kalpa's status and stop overthinking for now.
_________________________________________
STATUS from [Kalpa]
Name: Dhruva
Species: Human
Age: 12
Trait: Quick Acquisition
Class: Vaidya
Level: 7->11
HP: 170->210
Attack: 9->13
Defense: 8->10
Crit chance: 0.01
Crit damage: 0.15
Stat points: 0
Lives left: 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STATS
Strength: 5->6
Stamina: 3->4
Agility: 5->23 (+18)
Dexterity: 15->17
Intelligence: 12->16 (+4)
------------------------------------------------
Shakti(divine energy): 2
Kundalini(internal energy): 2 [#$€!!]
Prana(life energy): 17->21 [????!!!?*******]
Conversion???!!: [Taboo] (Seal!!!)*******
------------------------------------------------
Curse resistance: 0
Enchantment resistance: 2
Poison resistance: 0
Ailment resistance: 2->4
Mental resistance: 3->5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SKILLS
Passives:
Concentration: LvL 1->2
Mental Fortitude: LvL 1->2
Kundalini Conductivity: LvL 2
Kundalini Tethering: LvL 1->2 (Verify!!!)******
Shakti To Kundalini Conversion: 0.63->(0.67+0.05) [€π¥√!!]*****
Beginner Swordsmanship: LvL 1
Active:
Wide Heal: LvL 1->2
Recovery: LvL 2->3
Kundalini Cloaking: LvL 1
Skill Transfer: LvL 1 [¢¥¥=|×¥=********]
_______________________________________________
I laughed out loud seeing Kalpa's status. There were GTA style wanted stars after the weird expressions now. It will soon be time when the elder sages lock up those skills probably. Doesn't matter, I got Panna's ones anyway. I was not at all concerned with what was happening in this status. Though it did feel like the stats from two status were adding up. If I compare with the seven's 8 points that they get every level up, I only get 5 from Panna and 2 from Kalpa, which is still less than them. So it should make sense that they add up. Well who cares, as long as Panna is fine, I'll be too...
But the new Swordsmanship is a welcome addition, thanks to Quick Acquisition. I remembered Kalpa's disappointed attitude when she found me without any useful skills. Can't wait to reach level 100 and throw the same attitude back at her face.
"Bold of you to assume that, how will I level up then?!" Panna's voice finally came from the other end of the channel. It felt like an eternity had passed hearing her voice.
"Stop thinking like that, you're forcing me to start the conversation from my side." she complained.
"Ohh Panna, now you're acting like a shy girl. So cute!!" I couldn't stop smiling after finally hearing her voice.
"I've been going through your memories because I was unable to see anything that happened inside the Mahal at that time. The anomalous Shakti Rekha was disturbing our communication channel. Since I was getting nothing from your side, you don't have any idea how worried I was. Please, don't lose any more lives..." she said softly.
"You saw everything then...?" I asked after a pause.
"Yeah."
...
...
"You're not gonna..." I started to say after an awkward silence.
"Let's not talk about that. Next time, try something else. It hurts me to see you struggling because of the guilt." She intervened before I could finish and ended the topic.
"You always try to make things easy for me. Thanks..." I thanked her with a dry smile.
"Go get that milk for your little daughter. She'll be a handful, so be careful." she said, cutting off the connection from her side. Just a few days ago she was saying to always talk with her since she was lonely. Now she's keeping her own private matters separate, like a teenager wanting her own room.
"What do you guys want? Milk? Curd?" a monk tending to the cows asked, while herding them to the shed for the night.
"Easy to digest milk? Not too thick." Anik said with a bright smile. Quite the eager father on his first errand.
"Okk, I'll bring it out in a while. Having extra milk will always be beneficial for growing Rakshaks like you." he said and went inside a special storage room beside the shed. Looking closely, I realized it was detached from the sleeping quarters of the cows.
We observed the prancing calves for a while that kept sneaking out of the shed despite being pushed inside by another monk and entertained ourselves until the monk arrived with four floating glasses of milk. I realised he was holding them with invisible Kundalini hands. Neat telekinesis magic trick.
"Thanks Sage. What should we call you? Which tree do you give lessons for?" Dweep asked, curious.
"Call me Sage Vrishikesh. I usually give lessons on techniques for taking down the monsters and special creatures that you might encounter around the Lokas and Mandir dungeons."
"Can you bring out one arrow head?" I asked Saiyan. It would be a nice interaction I guess, if we show him the Kaalbheriya tooth. He'll also remember our faces incase we took his lessons.
"Will you take a look at this?" Saiyan brought out the tooth and placed it on the sage's palm.
His face expressed a knowing smile.
"So you're the ones huh? That was a round about way of introducing yourselves. But which idiot polished the grooves on the sides of the tooth?" he said suddenly.
We snorted and looked at Anik.
The sage looked at him and started giving an explanation, "See, the grooves on Kaalbheriyas' teeth are pointed outside, like an Ajagar's teeth rows. Once they go inside, you can't pull them out. You might have polished them thinking they would make it difficult for the arrow heads to penetrate properly but it doesn't. It only gets deadlier with the grooves. I'll teach you how to effectively hunt Asura derived beasts and also looting them, so make sure to attend my classes." he advertised himself casually.
"We'll do..." Anik's face was a spectacle to witness with the fake smile he had on his lips. I was this close to mentioning how he was good at skinning and chopping up but refrained remembering him vomiting back at the dining hall. There was also the Kaalbheriya with tattoos. We'll talk about it sometime later. I had a feeling no more mishaps will happen for a while.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I often wondered why the villains never came to take down the heroes when they were only level one, but here, the Asuras have been quite hardcore in the subject of attempting to eliminate us. With the mass invasion during the Vrata and the teleportation incident. I wondered how many students have actually been removed from the pool. I'll check the number of red labels in the data sheet later.
"By the way, how was the fight between Garuda and Vritra? It will be written in the history pages of Satya Marta forever!!!" the other younger monk arrived after locking the door to the shed, successfully putting in the calves that were running around.
"It was awe inspiring." I said honestly, "Our Vimana was this close to exploding because of all the offensive antics of Vritra. Lord Garuda put himself as a shield between us and the attacks multiple times. We wouldn't have been able to return without him and all the other people who provided the energy to summon and maintain his incarnation."
"Didn't Vritra bring about rainstorms and water sprouts? How were his attacks?" the younger monk asked.
We four looked at each other, confused. "He didn't use any water attacks. It was only a poison blast, physical tail attack, summoning huge spikes from the ground and a weird ghostly thousand snake attack at the end."
The sages fell into deep thought. In the stories, Vritra had been hoarding all the waters of other Lokas for his own people to flourish, creating a disbalance in the order. Indra, the King of Gods was bestowed with the divine weapon Vajra for defeating Vritra and bringing back balance to the Lokas. This was the outer story. Apparently there was some already ongoing history between Vritra's progenitor and Indra.
"Vritra himself said that he has arrived in his original form because of the advanced summoning technique developed by Shukracharya. Doesn't he need to be in water to be able to manipulate it?" I theorised, but the sages were not convinced.
"What's in that special room by the way?" Saiyan changed the topic when he saw things were going nowhere.
"Ohh that? It is where the daughter of Kamadhenu rests. We are incharge of taking care of her and getting food items in return for the young Rakshaks." Vrishikesh described. "She can't fulfill all material wishes like Kamadhenu and is only constrained to producing milk products without any delay."
"Wait? Without delay? Does that mean she directly gives out Paneer?" Dweep asked stealing a glance at Anik once.
"Yeah. Not gives out. It just appears!! She can produce items depending on how satisfied she is with our care. So make sure not to cause a ruckus near the dairy farm. Just two days ago there was a couple's feud early in the morning. You're all only twelve years old. Keep your hormones in check!" Vrishikesh gave me double damage in a single paragraph.
"See!!" Anik shouted out obnoxiously, with a smirk on his face, "These guys just don't believe me and keep making jokes out of me. Thank you for giving them an important lesson. I am truly grateful!!!"
"Thanks for your teaching, Sage Vrishikesh..." Saiyan smiled and pulled us away from the dairy.
Anik 1. Us 0.
"We just let Anik get an upper hand over us." Dweep whispered seriously.
"It's okay, let him have his moment." I whispered back, "Being called an idiot made up for it at the beginning of the conversation."
"Hey, Saiyan! I have been thinking... Did you store my Kundalini sword away when I held the baby while on your shoulders? Or did I lose it somewhere in the forest?" I asked suddenly wondering what had happened to the weapon, "So many Pishacha claws were there too...we couldn't loot anything after the Kaalbheriyas. Such a waste!"
"It's still with me, don't worry. I also made sure to store Dweep's shield and Anik's bow when we went together to the healing station. Anik was quite jealous of you, just so you know." Saiyan reported the events. "Makes sense, having two pretty elder sisters taking care of you..."
The other two started making 'ohhhh' sounds.
"They were only taking care of me. While you got two batchmates obsessed all over you." I defended.
"Wait! What is this about?" Anik was surprised.
Saiyan looked at me helplessly.
"These two were arguing with some girl while you were vomiting your entails out." Dweep updated clueless Anik.
"I think after what we went through, they should know about what is expected out of them in this world. You got a lot of things to say already, so this can be a good place to start." I supported him a bit forcefully.
Saiyan started the story of Kalpa and her plot to preserve the human race. He made sure not to include my interactions with Somi in the story, making me regret a bit for opening his box of secrets without his consent. But they still needed to know. While his actions may have made sense to me, the revelations for my other two friends might have been quite shocking since they didn't have any prior information about Kalpa and her plan with the Seven. We left the dining hall behind and made way to our dorm when Saiyan, midway through his story, nudged me with his elbow.
I followed his line of vision and saw Somi standing awkwardly, a bit far from the entrance to our dorm, soliciting curious stares from the occupants of the building.
"Didn't you say you were going to talk with Ashwatthama about the child?" Saiyan prompted.
"Seriously?" I sighed, getting his motivations, "Okay, I'll do that. Won't take long, probably."
I assumed her mentality was in a fragile condition currently after what had happened, so I just went with it. It felt like a bad decision, going against everything I made up my mind for, but sometimes a few words go a long way. Maybe through helping her I can also get a closure in my feelings of guilt after murdering Mahabali's daughter and her attendants. I walked slowly until Saiyan took my friends into the dorm and arrived infront of her when they disappeared.
Her brown eyes had little glitters of green inside, that were missing their usual shine. Before, they were luminous, but now they only seemed dull and fake.
"How many do you still have left?" she asked, her voice flat.
"Two. Lost one because of Kalpa's antics." I couldn't stop my spiteful self from saying that. He... No, I wanted to make sure that she knew what kind of an entity she's going to work for in the future.
"Aren't you too harsh on her?" she smiled with pursed lips.
"You know why that is the case. I have already told you how I felt about you." I said directly, without mincing my words.
"Felt..?" she said quietly, mumbling out the words.
"Don't get too down about what happened to your friends. It's much better to forget than to stay traumatised remembering that. And you don't have a choice other than staying strong and moving on because of the reasons you started this right? Vasistha Gurukul is known for its scholarly students, and I joined it to make my parents proud. You're technically doing the same thing, from your own viewpoint. So keep at it. Whatever regret, guilt you'll feel in future, use them as a fuel to propel yourself forward." words came out of my mouth eloquently without pauses. Surprisingly while talking with her, I often feel the gears in my brain turning. I haven't moved on at all. What a hypocrite I am. I suddenly felt Panna eavesdropping on our conversation, with a small connection from her side, making me conscious of myself. When she realised she has been caught, the line again went dead.
I couldn't supress a smile because of her actions. This isn't the time to smile!!
Somi took notice of my gentle smile and got surprised.
"So cheer up. Talk with them more when you're at the Gurukul. Being oblivious to all this can also be compared as a blessing." I tried using words that would go with my current expression.
"Do you regret meeting me? Not knowing about me would have saved you from a lot of trouble..." she asked.
"Today? Yeah. The first time? No." I stated honestly, "Don't appear in front of me like this when I am trying so hard, only in vain, to move on." saying the rest of it almost quietly.
Her ears perked up, not missing any of it.
"Yeah, I get it. Sorry for that. When I heard that your team has finally returned, I just..." she sighed, looking down.
Her expression moved something within me, lighting up the fire that had been doused with cold water before.
"I'm asking for one last time. Is there no way we can work this out?" the words came out making me surprised at myself.
"It might be okay now. But what about later? Ten years down the line? Will you still stay the same, knowing we can't do even the basic things as couples?" she said with a look of disappointment.
"I have seen what happened to the people before me. I'm not the first case you know... So many failed stories and broken promises. The hurt will still be bearable now, but later, I'm not so sure."
I went silent hearing her words. If I knew she had forgotten and moved on, or that she never had any feelings for me, it might have been easier to move forward. But hearing all these, it just punched a hole through my heart.
"Your feelings were not so pronounced before..." I said, my heart breaking again.
"When you die, you tend to look at things from a different perspective, like you suddenly feel getting liberated from a narrow tunnel and find yourself in a big wide field, with possibilities and choices that you never even considered. And when you go through it eight times... you feel your fake self washing away. I decided to say what I mean and be honest to my feelings and to the people around me. I wanted to say and act like you didn't matter to me, but I couldn't. I don't want to. Even if it makes things harder for you." she said looking straight at me this time.
"Eight... times???" I stumbled through my words, "They only killed you?"
"Apparently it was a spectacle. The look of despair on their faces when the other three lost their lives one after another while being locked in a cage, watching me getting torn and eaten up by a dozen demonic beasts was addicting, Baali said. The way how I burst out the bellies of the beasts to recreate my body was quite popular too. It gave quite the entertainment to Baali's court ministers. By the third time, my mind suddenly went blank and all my insecurities just vanished. It was a helpful experience I guess." She smiled weakly, "By the sixth time, I realised the only thing I could think about was my family, and you... When my life flashed infront of my eyes. I was focused on my regrets first, thinking how much more that I could have done. But later, to keep my sanity intact, my thinking evolved to repeat only the happiest moments of my life, to keep myself from falling into a spiral of depression. I realised, that there were only a few instances of happiness in my life, that can be counted with a single hand. But you were there, in my recent ones, when my family was not. Thank you for these precious memories."
I looked up, frustrated. How difficult are you going to make things for me?
"Thanks for saying all this despite how hard it might have been. I sometimes wondered back when I was at Sutala, what if you were just someone with a simple background?" I muttered, half complaining.
She thought for a while and a repressed smile flickered on her lips for just a second. "Maybe, then we wouldn't have come across at all. You came to know me, because it's me, right?"
"That makes sense. I only know you and that troublemaker Ariya. None of you are normal." I commented with a laugh.
She giggled too, "You don't know how angry she had been after you guys offended her like that. I missed it because I skipped dinner. She was fuming after returning back to the dorm. She often gets angry instead of feeling sad, so don't worry. I'll take care of her. But ask Saiyan to atleast give her a chance..."
"Ahh, so this was your actual agenda?" I asked.
"Just a side quest, if I'm honest." her voice has gotten a bit cheerful by now after that depressing story.
I had again underestimated her, thinking she would be depressed after what had happened. The events were more gruesome than I had imagined, but hearing her talk about it made me feel glad that I got to know someone like her. Can I still smile like that after going through something as soul crushing as that? And here I was breaking down in guilt instead of taking responsibility of the things I had done. I could have made a different choice. This regret and guilt is for me to bear. For now, I'll raise the last blood of Mahabali's nation to the best of my capabilities. Ohh, we were talking about Saiyan and Ariya.
"I'll also try asking Saiyan to talk with her once. And about him stalking you... He was doing it for me actually. So don't hold it against him. Ohh, Ariya might have also misunderstood who Saiyan mentioned as 'her'. She's not from here, that's all I can say." I clarified.
"Not from here... he likes someone back in Alik?" her eyes got sad. "What a twist of fate... That's why he was never as interested as the other two guys in the selection process. His actions make sense now. We all got the impression that he was looking down on the other candidates. What did he decide to do? Has he already moved on?" she asked at the end.
"We are not that fickle, Somi. We might get crushes here and there, but the first person we fall in love with, reserves a place in our heart forever." I said looking right into her eyes. I patted myself in the back mentally, for not coming out like a creep while saying those words.
The green highlights in her eyes gained back their light, shining beautifully. Ughh, my heart...
"Can I hold your hand once? We have already done it before..." I asked suddenly, wanting to test out something safe.
"That... was a sudden change from our current topic." she said, her face clearly surprised at my request. She looked away, her ears surprisingly red.
She caught my hand, interlacing our fingers and bringing it in front of my chest. My heart was galloping like a race horse already.
Last time, the contact had only been for a couple of seconds, when she had pulled me up from the muddy pool while we were renovating it. But this time it lasted only for a few seconds more, until a weird sensation paralysed my mind. I fell on my knees, losing control of my body and fell side ways, hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"See? It's hopeless. I can't even help you while you're falling helplessly. If I touch you in this state again, the effects might even be permanent, from what had been recorded by my predecessors. I'll stay here until you recover, so relax." she said, her expression was now dark.
While I was lying there helplessly, some people came to take a look but were shooed away by her. I got afraid worrying what kind of rumors might be spreading about me right now.
Damn... since when is handholding considered to be something that can destroy someone's purity? So illogical!!! I lamented at the fact.
After five minutes I finally got control over my body, but it was still a bit sluggish.
"Thanks for the demonstration. Couldn't we have done that somewhere more private?" I looked at her with a fake annoyed look.
"Just tell them I was trying out my new skill on you." she suggested.
"They'll think I'm bluffing, further staining my image. Well, let's leave it at that. Only an hour left, before we go back to the Gurukul and I also need to go meet Lord Ashwatthama. Good bye for now. We will meet again after a few hours then..." I said, waving my hand.
"I remember that you told me not to appear in front of you again right? Your wish will be granted. It will be a while until we meet again." she slowly voiced the words leaving them hanging.
"Ohh, so you'll be staying here for rehabilitation? Two weeks it is, then." I said, not realizing the true intentions behind her words. Looking back on it, she technically didn't lie, nor did she say that I was wrong. And she had said that she would be honest to the people around her. We both were such hypocrites.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I stood in front of the Central Banyan and touched one of the roots dangling from the branches above, that was trying its best to reach the ground.
"I already know about the Asura baby you brought here from Sutala. Lord Mahabali has allocated a caretaker for her who'll be reaching soon." Lord Ashwatthama's voice vibrated gently inside my head. "Were you looking forward to meeting me? In person?" he asked. "You better not see my sorry figure."
"Yeah, but this also works, since I just wanted to talk. I can't forget the sight of your Brahmastra in action. It makes me wonder if I'll get to use divine weapons some time in the future... Vritra and the Asuran terrorists were so above and beyond in their power levels when compared to me that it made me feel so helpless and minuscule infront of them." I expressed my feelings honestly.
"Minuscule..." Ashwatthama laughed gently, "Your inner stability and constitution are a total mess right now. When you return after two weeks, I'll be waiting for you. For now, don't come close to the Banyan so recklessly, or you might feel the effects of my curse. I've also got a lot of complaints from Kalpa about you, so we'll need to talk about it thoroughly." he said with a soothing voice. "Have fun at your first day in school. This time, a lot of people have been forgotten from Satya. So don't talk about things outside okay? Out of your consideration for them. Good bye for now."
That was a really quick interaction. He might be thinking two steps ahead already, just to make sure lesser amount of people come into contact with him.
Returning back to my dorm room, I saw the three of them watching the kid drinking milk intently. She now was a bit bigger, and with crimson strands, the same color as her eyes, that now dotted the lower part of her hair acting like a series of pulsing neon highlights on her head. What kind of an Asura gave birth to her??
"It's taken care of." I let my roommates know. "Lord Mahabali has appointed a caretaker for her. We don't need to worry about her anymore when we are not here in person."
"Ohh, that's good news." Dweep and Saiyan agreed.
"And about Saiyan's dimensional pocket." I got curious, "Did you secure any loot? Anik, what about the runed wolf pelt?"
"I had picked up a dozen Pishacha claws at the beginning of the fight. But as it got harder later, I only concentrated on killing them." Saiyan communicated his intentions during the fight.
"It works fine, I guess. Anik will work out something with that. You gotta make your own special arrows right." I said looking at him, waiting for his answer.
"That pelt and a few other things that were together was left back at the room we were grounded in." he finally remembered where we had lost them.
"Well, nothing can be done about that then. Atleast I still have that Asuran chakra. Did the Pishachas drop any?" I asked Saiyan and remembered that it was a gift from Anik to me, unknown to them.
"Yeah, I got one Asuran chakra while looting the wolves we defeated. I gave it to Dhruva as a gift of appreciation." Anik explained since I had already said it out loud.
"It's fine. He healed you after you were injured seriously. It's good to find out that you were trying in your own way to thank him." Dweep said seriously. I half expected him to make fun of him, but guess we all developed in the span of the last couple of days.
"We have half an hour left now. My Shakti absorption vessels are a mess inside, I'll be meditating for a while so I'll excuse myself." I said sitting on my yoga mat.
"Congrats on your first meditation inside our room." Dweep and Anik smiled at me. Now that I think about it... they were indeed correct.
"Someday, you'll also have to spill your secrets. We will be waiting." Saiyan said before I closed my eyes.
Anik suddenly clapped his hands forcing my concentration to break.
"What now?" I asked.
"Let's remove our Kundalini cloaks once. I know you won't tell us everything, but I just wanted to witness a little bit of the mystery to satiate myself for now." Anik said looking excited.
When we took a nap after arriving at the dorm, the Shakti Rekha that went over our room had filled up my Kundalini storage points passively. I now had to rearrange the absorption vessels only and fine-tune the distribution ones. With full Kundalini, mine will be comparable to a seventh standard student. Should I show them that?
I've been feeling guilty for a while by making Saiyan spill his secrets. It won't hurt too much to show my ride or die mates a bit of myself.
"Start with yourself then." I said in return.
"Okay." Anik deactivated his Kundalini cloaking skill, as a blue and stable abstract film wrapped his body. It was the Kundalini from his throat chakra, Visuddhi, the chakra of self expression that we had seen before in Sutala. The filter seemed unreal and ghostly. Ether, it is called, the building blocks of space. It is the most subtle out of all the elements and is really hard to control, since it always moved at its own pace just like Anik. He's always been a free spirit, never thinking once before blurting out whatever he meant. His hair got temporary strands of deep blue as he showed off his internal energy. I was already getting nostalgic over our first expedition into a different dimension remembering our disguise in Mahabali's fort city.
Dweep turned red having awakened the same chakra as mine, his aura unmoving and stone like. It was pronounced and deep, giving an impression that he had precise control over his actions and responsibilities. Saiyan got an yellow fire that violently spread around him. It was fierce and destructive, threatening to burn any obstacle to ashes that dared to stand between him and his goal. He can't activate any skill because of their consumption requirement right now, but he'll be formidable later on.
"Don't get surprised. Just remember, you're in good hands with me as your support." I said deactivating the cloaking skill.
My red aura burst out, overwhelming theirs. It wasn't stable and unmoving like Dweep's but was alive and pulsing, trying to free and latch itself onto others, following the actions I had repeated a thousand times using my Tethering skill. It was as if dozens of huge leeches were bound to my back with one end, as they wiggled their suckers trying to get a hold of anything infront of them. It was terrifying now that I showed it off in its full glory. I activated cloaking after witnessing their tensed faces.
"Bro, that was demonic as hell." Anik nervously voices out his opinion.
"It was clearly much more than us, but with only a single color. You sure you have awakened a single chakra?" Saiyan asked. I didn't think he would be surprised this much.
"Yeah, for now I only have my Muladhara one. The way I set up Kalpa's vessels within my body...you can say that it was a bit creative. Also, your amount will technically increase if your Conduction skill increases. The same length of vessel gets stretched out more and becomes capable of holding increasing amounts of Kundalini." I explained properly, omitting a few things still.
"Do you attach those things whenever you're treating someone?" Dweep's face was pale. He often gets concerned with the most useless of reasons.
"I thin it out so much that they become spider threads. So don't worry, you won't find a worm attached to your back or something when I'm taking care of you." I consoled him.
"Still, it made me squeamish. Uggh..." he trembled in disgust and calmed himself down.
"Don't worry. Until you put a blade in my back, I'll always be on your side. So treat me well." I gave a smile and started meditating, starting the process of breaking down the thick vessel attached to my solar plexus and spread it out again to different parts of my body. Hopefully I'll complete it before going back to the Gurukul.