We opened our eyes to find ourselves inside the prayer hall, back at the position from where we had jumped.
From the entry door of the vast room, we heard Mr. Baagh announcing. "Get ready fast, or you'll all be late for school!!! Remember, not a single talk of Satya here. Your Forgotten friends are already waking up one after another. Be very careful."
We walked out quietly and made our way back to the rooms. The seniors were already undressing their white clothes while walking, revealing full trousers and shirts inside. It's just a typical day for them.
Thanks to the Gods for the comfortable white baggy trousers and shirts they automatically provide us with at the Ashrama. Since our bodies are only transferred, we don't have to carry what we have on us. By some convenient magic, we get a new set of clean clothes on our bodies. Good job Kalpa?
The next few hours were spent just following the crowd. I followed them into the bathroom stalls for a bath and the longer one.
How the bodies work inside different time zones was still a mystery. If I grow older at Alik's rate, then my blood flow, as well as the electromagnetic signals in my nervous system, should be moving much slower. How come we get to maintain our normal bodily functions?
Or do they go on like usual, but my vessel as a whole stays intact until its expiration date is reached? Like a separate counter?
It's like having forceful bodily changes that should have taken weeks within the period of only a few hours. Won't it slowly break my body because of overexertion?
Huh, let's not think about it too much. I was only trying to get rid of thoughts of Mahabali and his threats with the help of these useless shenanigans.
Our uniforms would still take some time to come, so we wore formal shirts and trousers to the assembly hall.
We saw Apsara's crush on the stage giving us a welcome speech. I need to go back to Ashrama and find out his name through the friend list. The assembly ended with thank you prayers to the Gods and the national anthem.
Everything was going fine, so why did everything feel so dull? By now, two days must have passed back at the Ashrama.
Two days... I wonder how many Kundalini beads I could have made and threaded in that time.
If I start thinking like this, I'll die of the fear of missing out. It's a weird situation to be in. My hands, in my free time, kept mimicking the Kundalini kneading technique I often use to create Aksharas subconsciously. Am I going crazy?
We finally found our classrooms and sat with two people on each bench. Anik and Dweep were in a different section, while me and Saiyan were in another one together.
The periods went away fast. One after another, the teachers came, introduced themselves, asked to introduce ourselves, talked about the subjects they'll teach, and left for the day.
Saiyan and I rarely talked, even while sitting beside each other.
After hearing and giving introductions four times before lunch and three times after, I was getting tired.
I just wanted to return to the Ashrama and start my routine of making useful things. Not waste time like this...
"Dhruva. Calm down. I understand how you're feeling, but you've got to learn how to enjoy your life in both these dimensions. Don't get too hung up on only one of them." Saiyan warned me on a serious note.
"I realized how we have nothing to talk about if we don't bring 'that' up. You want to play football after this? I used to play a bit with my brother's friends back home." I asked him and remembered how one guy five years older than me had charged into me two years ago, leaving me unable to stand for a while. Frightened, he had delivered me back to my home in a princess carry.
Everybody thought that I had busted my knee, but it had gotten better after only a day. Good times.
I had stopped playing with guys older than me after that, partly because they were afraid of hurting me and somewhat because I also got a bit fearful of getting hurt again. The panic that sets in when your body doesn't work as it should is horrifying.
If I'm playing with people my age, it won't be that bad.
At the end of the classes, a guy suddenly arrived beside our bench.
"Nikhil, right?" Saiyan started the conversation.
"Indeed." The new guy smiled. "You're the highest leveled guy around here, correct?"
"In the whole fifth grade. Considering all the Gurukuls." I corrected him politely.
"Sweet." The guy said, without looking at me, "Next time, you and me, Sword Arena. I want to test my skills against you."
"I'll be there." Saiyan accepted the offer without a second thought.
Nikhil walked away without a care after that.
"What even is his level? To be so sure of himself?" I wondered out loud.
"You, of all, shouldn't judge people by their levels." He gave me a side-eye.
"Haah..." I sighed, "Let's see what the other two are up to. You and Anik straightened things out?"
"No. He was busy rizzing up Jhanvi, who wasn't giving him much attention. While you were getting maltreated by Mahabali." He teased me, reminding me of the events just a few hours ago.
"I wouldn't have told you guys about that if I knew you'd keep bringing it up like this." I complained.
"Sorry. I knew you were tensed about that, but I just can't..." He snorted, "You've got balls of steel. I doubt anybody would have pissed him off like that. What were you even thinking?"
"Leave it there, and don't bring that up again."
"Yeah, got it. Sorry."
We went to our room to freshen up after a long day at school. I preferred pretending to listen to lectures rather than give some introduction every period. I still have four more subjects left, where I need to repeat that.
There were about 25 other people in my section, excluding Saiyan and me. Many of them looked pretty standard. Maybe they too, are keeping up pretenses in Alik like Saiyan's family have been doing.
Apart from the seven families, who I learned are advisors to the kings of the seven countries, there are many students here whose family plays some vital role in Satya.
Business tycoons, military generals, ministers, noble families with warrior blood, according to Saiyan, our section has it all.
There were a few whom he didn't know. They might have some small one-time connection like my grandfather, which is still a theory, by the way.
Their families probably decided against jumping around between the Lokas.
I realized that jumping between the Maya barriers was a privilege not everybody from Satya had. From Dweep and Anik's words, they too, hadn't visited Satya before yesterday, unlike Saiyan, who had been doing that for years.
Maybe their parents travel the dimensions, but they couldn't bring little kids along.
I wonder how Saiyan managed to make the jumps, though. He didn't have any Kalpa's vessels before, right? Or if someone else is facilitating your jump, you won't need any vessels?
In other words, if they were here, their families managed to give birth to them in Alik, which only powerful families can.
And between all that, here I was, not knowing how I even got into this place. Was that guy who used to study with me also like me? Or did he have some proper connection with Satya?
I didn't get to talk with him recently since he's been doing his own thing. Honestly, I didn't care that much. It's not like we had some connection before coming here.
Dweep and Anik finally arrived, discussing something. They locked the door after entering.
"I so want to talk about 'it' right now. This is torture..." Dweep suddenly said.
"Seriously, bro. I never knew sitting around doing nothing for six hours could be this challenging. I wanted to... Just do something. Whatever it is." Anik agreed with Dweep's sentiment.
"I used to feel like that before. But I realized that I liked A*** more. All my memories of S**** are not associated with good ones. So I couldn't wait to come back here." Saiyan said it out loud.
Kalpa's censoring system is working well, it seems. She converted the words Alik and Satya to meaningless beeps.
"I think we could at least say those words before. Kalpa sure is doubling down on the security now that there are actual Forgotten within the junior section." Dweep noted.
"I think you should go and ask Mr. Baagh to put up our main rope again." I reminded Dweep, who pulled out the rope this morning along with the pin holding it to the wall.
D: "Ahh, you're right. That's why I was feeling like the room was more spacious."
"So I wanted to ask you guys. Which studies should we choose tonight?" I asked, bringing the topic to the most crucial discussion. "And I also had something to share." I added.
They looked up at me, concerned.
"The knots in my body that you guys were afraid of, they are temporary storage vessels of Kundalini. That's why my reservoir seems to be bigger than others. It got created under special circumstances, and I don't think I or anyone can replicate it again." I confessed a half-truth.
They nodded and smiled.
"Finally, you're coming out with your secrets." Anik gave me an innocent smile.
"Next," I continued, "The Prana to Kundalini Conversion that I used before has now been locked away by Kalpa. I can't do it anymore. So I can't share it with you guys either. That's all."
I finished and kept quiet, waiting for their reactions. They seemed relieved.
"We thought things were much more serious than you made out to be. If that's all, then there's nothing to worry about." Dweep reassured me. "We got afraid that you were breaking your body for our sake. It feels better now that we know you're not in danger anymore."
The others nodded.
"Oh, one more thing. I want us to always settle our differences as soon as possible after any disagreement. You saw what we are facing back at Satya. If we don't have a proper support system, all of us will be wiped out." I said, looking at Saiyan and Anik alternatively.
"Privately or publicly. I don't want us to break bonds over miscommunication. What we have cultivated for the last few days across different dimensions is special. And I sure as hell don't want to lose it. This is how I feel. Let me know if you think otherwise." I ended my lecture.
Saiyan and Anik both sighed.
"We'll take care of it. Don't worry." Saiyan nodded at Anik.
"The little skirmish we had strengthened our bond." Anik gave an awkward smile.
Me and Dweep gave them 'bruh' looks in response.
"Okay. We'll have a private talk." Anik surrendered. "But Saiyan owes you guys an apology too. You guys are too merciful."
"No wonder. We got enough training by tolerating you from the very beginning." Dweep teased Anik as usual.
All three of us laughed at Anik, and he could only pout. Oh, how do the tables turn.
It was finally time to leave our rooms for a mandatory outdoor session. You can either walk around the campus or go to the park or playground to play. But you're not allowed to stay inside your rooms. It's a weird rule, but okay.
Little did we know that this rule would later make sense.
This playtime is what we will be looking forward to the most in the future, while staying in Alik.
-------------------------------------------
"Finally, we're back." Anik said, appearing beside me in a flash of dimensional jump lightning.
"We didn't get to discuss which studies to choose in the end." I finally remembered.
The crowd that was slowly appearing all around us started getting agitated.
They were all looking upwards.
Another eclipse?? I looked up in a frenzy and saw dark red numbers written in the sky, so prominent that they could be seen even through the clouds.
96.
"What do you think the numbers mean?" Saiyan, who had appeared last among us, wondered.
"Shouldn't we be the ones asking you this question?" Dweep answered him with a question instead. "Didn't Kalpa contact you regarding this?"
"Nope. She's been reticent for a while. She even teleported us back to Ashrama without any warnings or notice. Never gave an explanation either." He explained his circumstances with Kalpa.
She's been neglecting her main subjects and poking her nose into my affairs. What is she even thinking?
"Let's go to our dorm for now. We might be getting announcements soon during dinner." Saiyan started walking back to the boy's side of Ashrama.
It was dusk currently, thirteen days after we had jumped away from Ashrama last time.
"I'm going to go meet her once at the dairy. You guys continue ahead." Anik suddenly said and rushed away.
"I think we need to give that child a name. Who's good with those things?" Dweep suggested, walking beside me.
"No one. Could you not ask me to name people again? I've got bad memories." I said, remembering Panna.
"Anik will take care of that. Let's take a good nap for now. I'm already sleepy after having dinner back at Alik." Saiyan said from the front, without looking back.
Gosh, we will have Alik's breakfast as a dinner here in Satya. What a weird set of timings.
Saiyan suddenly stopped and turned to look at the central Banyan.
"Ashwatthama's calling." He turned to us and said, "Will be back in a while."
"You want to go somewhere too?" I asked Dweep.
"Nah, it's just you and me now."
---------------------------------------------
Dinner after a little nap was better than usual. Omelets in a thick orange gravy soaking up its essence, with white steaming rice... Heavenly, or should I say Svargik?
From tomorrow on, the classes for different studies will start. We are to choose which ones we want to try out and decide within this week the directions we want to take.
One course at a time. After we get proper evaluations from the Sage of that field, we can move on to learning a new course.
Me, Anik, and Dweep sat around in our Asanas, the wooly rugs, and discussed what our team required right now.
Saiyan hasn't yet returned.
"Let's just wrap this fast and go on our business." I said, unable to contain myself from running away to my training cave.
"We also have to take care of the thank you gift for the seniors. Saiyan and Shreya have to work the most on that since they were absent during the last raid. Agreed?" I listed out the to-do items. I conveniently ignored the fact that I had been sitting around for like three raids within the dungeon.
A: "Yep."
D: "Agreed hundred percent."
Okay. Our discussions started. Dweep realized after getting trashed by the final boss that his shield and the Kundalini covering it were too weak. He needs a better shield and wants to create one for himself.
I don't know how he came to that weird conclusion, but I couldn't say no to his plan. After all, I too, was thinking of pursuing something unrelated to my job in the party.
Anik asked him to join the Surakshak beginner course first, but I knew after our experiences he would only be taught redundant knowledge.
What he needed right now was either good equipment or a good and sturdy Kundalini manipulation skill.
The second he can't do with only 2 points of Kundalini right now. So the first option is left.
"Why don't you also try using your Parashu, the weapon you've been training till now?" I asked.
"It will be my third course. After Smithing and intermediate Surakshak courses are taken care of." He answered.
"Good luck then." I agreed to his proposal.
"I'll be doing some kind of mind-strengthening course." I declared.
"There's a course like that?" Anik asked, perplexed.
"I'll try asking Lord Ashwatthama to direct me to someone who has some idea about that. What I need right now is a strong mind and lots of time."
"Will he be biased towards a singular Rakshak like that?" Dweep posed his doubt with a worried face.
"There's nothing wrong with trying once. If not, I'll try going for the Skills 101 course. I don't even have a proper idea how the Skills we have work. You guys were taught about it from childhood and trained accordingly, right?" I asked them.
"Yeah, Father made sure to make me repeat some movements over and over again. He had said something like, 'Once you internalize the whole routine, your mind simply needs to activate it. The rest will happen automatically as if the set of movements have been engraved into your muscle memory.' It didn't make sense at that time, but after the synchronization, I got some skills that are related to those movements and routines. They are locked behind kundalini requirements." Dweep explained what he knew.
So that's why Saiyan said that most of his skills won't activate right now. His whole life had been spent mastering the physical movements that would create the foundations of his skills in the future.
They seem to have expressed themselves but currently are not usable. They must be some high-level skills.
But how do you even fight against that? Once someone activates a high-level skill in front of you, and if you don't know the movements associated with the skill as an opponent, you'll be utterly helpless.
Wow, so I'm also lacking in the skill department. No wonder I was allocated a support role. All you have to do is use your Kundalini in ways prescribed by Kalpa.
Thinking about it like that, there is a chance I won't be able to express any physical-based skills unless I train for a long time.
I also don't have Panna with me. All I have is my Akshara skill and Kundalini Tethers, which I have only a vague idea about.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It's a miracle in itself to think I have been able to use those skills without having a basic knowledge about them.
"Don't force yourself to stay inside constricted grounds surrounded by imaginary fences, Dhruva." Dweep suddenly said, after understanding my frustrated look.
"We have an understanding of the skills that have been taught to us by other people. Our mindsets have already been molded to a particular perspective. You have been learning it all by yourself and will be open to newer ideas and views. No wonder you can come up with deadly yet efficient ways to deal with your opponents. You need to keep at it. Don't bind yourself with the rules made by others." He reassured me.
"How do you think the Kshatriyas of old could perform feats that are impossible even to imagine? If they had only sent out Kundalini-reinforced arrows like me, their names wouldn't be recorded anywhere. They either had exceptional Gurus or were geniuses themselves to think out of the box." Anik explained, "Even the blossoming arrows you replicated from Yashvi are just a minimal application of the modifications we can do after gaining different skills and mixing-matching them."
"Yes, as you gain more knowledge, both from Satya and Alik, you'll devise ways to modify your Kundalini and make it do what others can't. Everybody will have their way of manipulation, based on their experiences, once they have enough energy to work with." Dweep added.
"Now that we don't have that luxury, all we can do is train and gain more skills as soon and as many as possible." Anik followed through.
I could only nod at their explanations. It's like I'm understanding their words but not comprehending the deeper hidden meaning behind them.
"Okay, enough about me. What are you choosing, Anik?" I asked him this time.
"I'll try out the basic Kundalini Handling course for now. I need to use my energy more efficiently."
"Makes sense." Dweep agreed. "And guess you're visiting the place where you often disappear for the night?"
I nodded when he asked the question, looking at me.
"Okay, I'll let Saiyan know about the gift and what we discussed here. See you at breakfast then?"
"Yeah. Thanks, and goodnight." I waved and walked out.
I made my way to the central Banyan and touched one of the roots dangling down from the branches of the tree. A part of the tree's trunk opened up, beckoning me inside.
"How's your curse training coming along?" Ashwatthama was lying in his usual place, fighting his curse. He was pretty active when Mahabali had visited, but now he's back in his sick mode again.
"It's not activating at all." I told him about the situation.
His eyebrows scrunched up in doubt for a second, and relaxed at the next.
"That's good news, then. Should I try a stronger one?" He asked enthusiastically.
"If you have something that will strengthen my mental capacity, you're free to curse me again. And I also wanted to talk to you about that. Do you know of a sage who can give me proper instructions on increasing my mental Fortitude?" I asked directly.
Lord Ashwatthama fell into deep thought. And then he smiled, "Actually, I have. Both the person and the curse you're looking for. The way things fell into place is quite astonishing. Feels like someone is pushing you towards a particular destination."
Not Kalpa again.
"I'll make the necessary arrangements tomorrow, so meet me after lunch. You're free to try out different courses in the meantime. Find out which will be beneficial yet easy for you. Since the instruction you're looking for isn't prescribed in our courses, you'll have to do one from the pool shared with you on the side. It will get hectic, but best of luck." He was talking a little too enthusiastically now.
"By the way, do you have any idea about the numbers in the sky?" I asked. It seemed like a doomsday clock.
"Think of the worst thing that can happen when the counter reaches zero. Think that all the days you spend doing nothing sends you closer to that outcome. Now, try your best to change that. Ask yourself whether you worked hard enough to overturn the worst outcome you envisioned. Then you'll be fine." He only said.
"You don't know, do you?" I asked in response.
"Get out!" He said playfully and turned away, "Remember to come here after lunch. It's good to have a talk with someone who doesn't keep covering their nose during the conversation. Have a good time in that cave of yours."
I only realized what he had said at the end after coming out of the tree. Nothing stays hidden from him in his section of Ashrama, I guess.
----------------------------------------------
The cave felt more like home instead of the dorms to me. I voluntarily took a different path that didn't require me to come across the waterfall pool near my cave. I needed to walk more, but that's fine.
I found a new group in KalpaYaal while trying to find out the name of our prefect.
Apparently, the two prefects of the junior section are chosen from the seventh grade, one who excels in sports and the other in academics.
That made sure both communities were represented.
What about the ones who are lazy? They probably don't care who the prefect is anyway. Neither do they get excessively bothered with the matters of the student community. That's just speculation though. I'll ask if I find someone like that.
So the prefect's name is Archit. Another name with 'A'. Why are their parents so lazy? They should come up with names that start with Z or something.
Knowing how exam seats and viva orders are scheduled based on alphabetical order, why send your child at the very beginning by giving them names starting with the first alphabet??
Coming back to the group, it seems that six of us fifth graders were in there. Esha and Aditi from Shreya's team weren't included.
Dweep created the group it seems, by removing the older roll numbers that belonged to the seniors.
He asked for suggestions on what to gift the seniors with.
Nobody has responded yet. As expected. After what happened, I don't think Jhanvi will strike up a conversation with me anytime soon. Saiyan and Shreya are still missing, so can't expect a response from them either.
I visited Lord Ashwatthama also to see whether the seven, now six, were inside or not. They might be training in some special place again.
Next, Ohh, I got a personal message.
A roll number from the newly created group had messaged me. Jhanvi, I realized at once.
"Can we have a talk?" It said.
"Yeah. Now or later?" I sent back.
She was typing something as a wave of dots kept moving perpetually where her following message was supposed to arrive.
"Later. I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to say." She replied.
"You don't need to go through all this. I have disappointed you, and you probably feel disgusted by my actions. I understand your perspective, and I don't blame you. You don't need to explain your behavior to me either. So it's fine." I sent it after restructuring my message a few times.
I again saw the dots for a few minutes. Soon, another message arrived.
"Don't make things complicated. I want to have a talk. That's all. Also, the last message you sent me has a few assumptions that are totally off the mark."
"Do what you wish, then." I typed with my mind.
"That's what I'm doing. Wait for a while, okay?" Was the last message she sent for today's session.
I sighed, a bit surprised to be honest. I didn't think she would handle it like this.
She turned out really sensible. Let's wait and hear what she wants to say.
We just knew each other for like what, five days? Let's just put ourselves into her shoes for a while.
I had attached her arm, healed her a few times from minor injuries, then gave her some arrows, and more arrows to deal with the final boss that allowed her to keep her life.
Well, if someone did this for me, I would definitely try to keep them around for convenience. It made some sense if I went along with this thought process.
But if I return all these graces with rude behavior, won't that stab at my guilty conscience?
Okay. This is a probable situation she's facing right now. All I can do right now is to let her talk when she feels she's ready.
Are the loose ends taken care of? I need a calm and clear mind to start my pearl and thread-making routine.
I think so. Let's start, then.
I sat over the Shakti Rekha, which passed through the isolated cave thankfully it hadn't changed positions, and started my Shakti to Kundalini Conversion—followed by manufacturing shape-modifiable Kundalini pearls. Whenever 8 of them were created, I used my Tether skill to connect the individual pearls, as if I were making a necklace out of them.
For now, I'll have to create the basic structure of the pearl and thread net. Later, I'll take parts of it and try changing their shapes to weapons. Finally, after confirming how many pearls go into making a weapon, I'll group all the pearls accordingly and then test how many groups I can handle at once. Every day, I'll start with one group of pearls and keep increasing it until I can't take it anymore. Repeat this as many times as I can for the next week.
Considering my schedule, I can do this only at night since I'll soon be having two courses along with this training.
The problem was each modifiable bead required 4 points of Kundalini. For the record, the basic blooming arrows that I made for Anik and Jhanvi were around 2.5-something Kundalini each. To even make a single primary thread of 8 beads, I had to keep filtering Shakti for a few hours. This is going to take a while, it seems.
I could have reduced the options inside the pearl to reduce the energy requirement, but I wanted to see how my ability would work at the upper end of its capacity. If I keep cutting corners from the beginning, it will be hard for me to keep up with others.
I only managed to make three primary strands, that is, 24 pearls till the start of dawn. If I still had the Prana to Kundalini Conversion skill, it would have been much faster, since I wouldn't need to wait for my Muladhara chakra again to fill my vessels with Kundalini after the filtration process.
It indeed was a significant loss.
I napped inside the cave for about three hours until I heard the breakfast bells going off at the dining hall.
Retracing the path I had used last night, I returned, met up with my roommates, and had a heavy breakfast with parathas and spiced mashed potatoes. So good. I need to see who cooks up all this food here. Try to make friends with them and hopefully learn some recipes. It might also help me with my medicine manufacturing training.
I again spent time post breakfast inside the cave to continue the process. 2 more strands were completed.
Can five strands together be able to make a single weapon?
Now, onto the weapon-making process:
First, the pearls of one strand will become a cylindrical handle or a stick. I experimented with different lengths and thicknesses to determine the correct shape that I wanted for a spear. If I have a wide range of weapons in my arsenal, like spears for penetration, hammers for blunt damage, daggers or swords for bleeding and slicing, whips for binding... Then, different groups will require different amounts of strands to produce a particular weapon after the pearls bind together according to the commands set during its creation.
I have to ensure the only thing I have to take care of during a fight is the position and movement of the weapons. Rest of the items need to be automated somehow. That means a particular group will be able to create a predetermined single weapon only.
Later, when my mental capacity to control and command the beads increases, I'll mix in some adaptable weapons, which can change shapes if I want them to.
I made the pointed head of the spear next using two strands, making sure it was dense and sharp. I tried hitting the spear against the cave wall several times to see which configuration worked better. The base of the head needed to be thicker than the top part, that proportion required a while to be worked out.
Finally, the last two out of five strands were used to create a Kundalini covering over the spearhead to ensure it could pierce through barriers of Kundalini protection called upon by others. Three beads of the last of two strands were used to connect to the Tether that was connecting the floating weapon to my body.
That extra strand will be used to change the flow of Kundalini over the spearhead accordingly to make sure that the energy it is trying to pierce is moving in the opposite direction of its own flow.
Finally, a single weapon has been created.
I played with it for a while, slamming it against the cave walls and trying to gouge out the granitic rocks that had banned me from extending the cave deeper.
It started with scratches first, and later, part of the stones began to get chipped off.
I have to increase the acceleration and the momentum of the weapon if I want it to penetrate deeper. But it required quite a generous amount of Kundalini.
Just handling, levitating, and controlling the weapon for fifteen minutes drained 3 points of my Kundalini.
Considering fights can go on for hours, I'll be severely incapacitated very soon into the battle.
I've finally got a blueprint for my attack strategy, and I need to keep it up. If I can control even ten such weapons, I wouldn't even need to participate in the fight for more than a couple of minutes.
Surely, I can keep adding modifications to the weapons if ideas come to my mind with an extra strand or two per group. So the hierarchy will be like:
Kundalini beads + threads -> Basic weapon Strands -> Groups of Strands -> Weapon -> Group of Weapons -> Network.
And this network will be stored inside my now dimensional box, which evolved from my dimensional pocket after I gained about eight levels from the last dungeon stage.
I also need to decide where and how to use my rewards. That skill evolution is quite delectable, and I don't want to use it now. What if I get an OP skill later and regret using it now? Let's hoard these things for now.
About the weapon from Ardhaguna, I'll try opening it later. I think it's better not to waste any time at all in learning those things.
Juggling between the physical and Kundalini-based skills will only make me mediocre in both.
I'm already much behind in weapon arts but somewhat have an advantage in using Kundalini and its forms. It's better if I keep sticking to it only.
If I'm to use weapons, they'll be in the form of projectiles only, made from my Network of Pearls.
For lunch, we had freshwater fish, fried and soaked in an orange spicy gravy with potatoes. Feels good to be treated right. I got the tail end piece, which usually contains a lot of bones, but that pink flesh in the middle... That one's taste is to kill for. Makes all the effort spent picking bones worth it.
Saiyan still hadn't returned. Well, it sucks to be him missing such good food. Wait, what if they are getting food made by special chefs??
Noo... I'm happy with this chef only. I'll go touch his feet sometime. For sure.
Now, let's see which sage is willing to teach me. But then I remembered...
'Wasn't I supposed to go around taking classes in the morning?'
Did I start bunking classes from the very first day? I got so immersed in my weapon-manipulating scheme that I totally forgot about everything. Ashwatthama's going to be angry...
I calmed myself down and hurried to the Banyan, opening my KalpaYaal once to see... Yes. I also got a message from Jhanvi, quite a while back.
She wanted to meet before lunch after the morning courses ended. About 2 hours ago.
I'm in deep shit.
"Sorry!!" I sent. "I should have let you know that I rarely open my status window. I didn't see your message."
"It's fine. Anik told me about it. When are you going to be free?" She sent back instantly.
"I'm not sure. I'm meeting my instructor right now, will let you know when I'm done." I replied and touched a root, closing the window.
"You missed classes. But I got to see you coming up with something interesting. I'll overlook it this time only. Come meet your Guru for the extra course you want to take." Ashwatthama spoke into my mind while the tree was busy opening up to provide a passage for me.
I remember that tall and bald figure very well.
I hope Mahabali didn't tell him about our little altercation. Otherwise, he would be negatively biased against me from the beginning, giving me a hard time.
"I truly am sent here to babysit, it seems." He said with a smile and a soothing voice.
"Uncle Caretaker. Sorry to take up your time like this."
"It's fine. Not every Gandharva gets to experience life of the beings living in the lower dimensions. Finding out new forms of entertainment is always a welcome surprise." He said, standing beside Ashwatthama with hands behind his back.
Now that makes sense. Gandharvas are celestial semi-divine beings, with some having lineages on par with the Devatas.
They are known as heavenly musicians who are perfectionists in the art of entertainment.
They cultivate the joy of living, and they love spreading their happiness to others.
Truly an incredible race of living beings.
Even the sacred scripture Rig Veda was supposedly composed by the very first Gandharva.
"I'm Dhruva. We have met before, but I never got to introduce myself properly. I thank you for agreeing to teach me your ways." I said while bowing, making sure he got my sincerity.
His voice was like a live ASMR. He must be a very seasoned singer.
"I'm Vishwajeet. It's been a pleasure to meet you. I also thank you for saving the last light of my Grace's Kingdom. It allowed me to experience the joy of caring for such an interesting life form." He looked straight at me with a gentle expression and uttered the words as if he was singing. It was weird yet enchanting.
"Vishwajeet, can you go outside for a while? I need to administer a new curse to him. It's better for him to stay here alone so that the intensity doesn't get reduced because of a third party." Ashwatthama asked him politely.
He nodded and left the tree.
"I saw you kneading your Kundalini so effortlessly. It was impressive. Seeing that, I came up with this curse. Something that will disrupt your life greatly will, in turn, give you much more resistance if you can fight against it. I'm going to impair the function of your hands." He explained.
Is everybody trying their best to turn me into a vegetable? What is happening??
Seeing my expression filled with horror, he laughed.
"Do not worry. Ten times a day, your hands will do exactly the opposite of what you want them to. If you can think of the opposite movements and make your hands do what you actually wished them to, then your curse will be successfully alleviated for that session, giving you a considerable amount of resistance each time." He explained the nature of this curse.
Well, now my pearl manufacturing process will get further delayed. If I'm getting something, I'll have to give up something too. Simple law of nature.
"Okay then. I'm ready." I said promptly, but much later did I realize that I should have thought about it carefully.
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I was inside a purple cube-shaped room that Vishwajeet had summoned behind the dairy with just a single click of his fingers.
"I want to know why you decided to train your mental fortitude." Was the first question my second Guru asked. The first being Charulata in my mind.
I told him about Charulata and what had happened inside the dungeon when the Prince of Satya had attacked.
His eyes lit up when I started the story. His expressions had so many forms that it was entertaining on my part too, seeing him reacting to the events.
"So you want to be able to do something that a person has probably trained more than a decade to achieve?" He summarised.
"Yes. I don't know how she came up with this strategy, but designing something from scratch and taking inspiration from a different work takes different times to implement. I also have the advantage of knowing people who can teach me the specific things I need. And I don't want to waste such an interesting opportunity." I explained my viewpoint.
"Thank you for sharing your story with me. It was entertaining. In return, I'll give you a trailer of what will be there in your training regiment. Try to stay awake for five minutes within this cube. Once you go to sleep, the session will end for today. From tomorrow on, we will start with a proper curriculum. Today is just a demo. What do you say?" He asked.
"Okay, let's do it then." I said. "I think I can manage it for some time. I don't know what will..."
"Sleep." His voice whispered beside my ears, and everything blacked out.
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"I thought he was not replying to my messages because he's occupied with something. Why is he sleeping in the middle of nowhere instead?" I heard a familiar voice beside me.
"Uncle Caretaker asked me to take him back to the dorm when I visited the dairy after dinner. This is what happens when you don't sleep when you're supposed to." Anik's voice was right beside me, trying to appear cool for some reason.
"You don't get to lecture me, chucker." I mumbled with a smile.
"See. He's finally awake." Anik sighed, "Get up now. I managed to get some hot milk for you. Dinner has already ended."
"I missed dinner?" I complained, sitting up straight. "What the hell Baldman. He knew I was knocked out cold here, and he didn't even bother to check."
On second thought, I didn't even last a second. Is he disappointed in me?
"You were fighting with him?" Anik asked.
"No. Mental training. He asked me to resist his command... s." I wanted to let them know that I have at least heard multiple commands instead of a single one. Call me petty, I don't care.
They gave me a concerned look for a second, and I finally met Jhanvi's not-so-judging eyes this time.
"Thanks for calling me, Anik. I was not sure when I would get a hold of him again. He's been dodging me for some reason." She looked down at me and tilted her head.
"Well, now that I'm here, let's listen to what you have to say." I only said in return.
"Can you give us some space?" She asked Anik with a smile.
Anik gave me a warning that looked like, 'I'll be watching you' and went on his way.
He can be pretty paranoid at unexpected times.
Jhanvi waited till Anik was beyond eavesdropping range and sat in front of me, leaning back with the support of her hands, straightening out her legs as if getting ready for a yoga pose.
An awkward silence followed. Maybe she wanted me to start talking?
"Did you talk with Aditi and Esha? Or are you still angry at them for leaving the raid midway?" I started.
"It's better to leave at the beginning than at the very end during a crucial moment." She said, looking up at the dark clouds, the night sky, and the red numbers.
"I realized I was frustrated with a lot of things back at the dungeon and decided on an outlet, the last person I thought who was alive with me." She said taking responsibility for her actions.
I blinked at the unexpected direction the talk was taking.
"About what I did... I had already explained the situation. But you probably didn't hear..." I added my defense.
"I understand that now. But still, I want to say a few things just because I feel like I should, to take my next step. First, thank you. I would have lost one of my lives if not for you. Second, I'm sorry for the way I acted. I failed to judge the gravity of the situation and the circumstances that forced you to take those actions. I gave up on my life too early. I saw how Yashvi and Laksh, who were much stronger than me, had died. All I did was sit outside the tunnel and hope someone would miraculously turn the tables on the situation. It made me realize how powerless I was. At that moment, a spark of self-hatred had lit up within me. I subconsciously decided to be disappointed in you, who did whatever it took to stay alive, instead of me, who lost hope as soon as things went south, as a coping mechanism. I have been losing my sleep coming to terms with it. About the self-hatred part." She paused for a while and took another deep breath. Then she started again.
"I'm confused right now. What do you think I should do?" She ended with a question.
I thought she would go on another rant.
Disappointment in oneself. Not achieving what you set out to. These are enigmatic situations. I'm pretty familiar with them right now.
"You are wrong about one part." I said, "I didn't save you. You saved yourself. If you hadn't released those arrows, heck, if you hadn't taken those arrows from me without a single complaint, I might have tried to do it myself. Probably resulting in failing to hit the boss' weak points and wasting those arrows. Your decision also saved me. You took the first step out of that mental state the moment you decided to shoot those arrows. So be proud of yourself, 'MVP of the final stage'."
This time, she looked back up, a faint smile rising on her lips. It was followed by a long sigh.
"Dhruva, we're cool then, right?" She asked, a bit doubtful.
"No. I'm cooler." I said with a snicker.
She gave me that side-eye again, but a smile accompanied it this time.
"You don't need to reaffirm it every time. Our team has been arguing and settling differences for a while. It strengthens our friendship. We don't ask if we're still friends after every fight. We roll with it. If you don't like something, come and duke it out. At the end of it all, we will reach a compromise in one way or another. So don't ignore Aditi and Esha. They also had their own reasons. Talk it out with them."
She nodded. "This conversation was an interesting experience. I came looking for something and am taking back something else entirely. Something much better. Thanks. I'll make sure to duke it out with my teammates. Will update you if you're curious."
"Nah. No need to tell me. I'll understand from your greeting the next time we meet. I think things will work out well. Try to put yourself in their shoes and imagine what decisions you might have taken. I started doing that recently. It helps, but sometimes your predictions can be wayy off." I suggested.
She got up after nodding.
"Good night." She said and walked away with a light spring in her steps. Her shoulders were much more relaxed now, as if a huge burden had been taken off her.
Anik was leaning against the fence of the dairy, holding a cup of milk, by the time I reached there.
"She seemed happy judging from the way she pranced away." Anik noted, handing me the cup.
"Yeah, she was mentally a bit burdened. Hopefully, the lesson I got from Uncle Caretaker today will also help her." I said, not wanting to explain to him the whole situation from the very beginning again.
"She could've asked me for advice too." Anik mumbled, but it was audible enough for me to hear.
"Someone here seems to have fallen for her." I ruffled his hair lightly.
"Yeah." He didn't deny and accepted it outright, his eyes looking distant.
Anik was good-looking. He wouldn't have much problems if he took care of his frail frame. He actually got a chance.
"Okay. Best of luck." I encouraged him, but he only gave me a judging look. As if I was insincere.
I understood what that look meant. He was wary of me. I never wanted these things to get between us. Crushes will come and go, but brotherhood, I knew, stayed forever.
I'm guilty of knowing about it only from books and stories, though. I've always wanted to have such friendships where I could entrust my 'brothers' with my back at any moment.
And often, emotions like this got in the way of such bonds.
I'll indeed support him in his endeavors. And for that, I need to extract myself first from the scene. If he's wary of me, that's the only thing I can do to calm his nerves.
"I understand." I said with a severe tone.
He gave me a nod in response.
"So, are you going back? You seem to have slept for a while. Another all-nighter then?" He asked after a few minutes of standing where we were, sipping the room-temperature milk.
"Yeah. I've got some ideas. And I'm working on them. I'll also need to make some Brahmi when I get the time. There's a lot of herbs to process."
"Someone named Nikhil has been trashing Saiyan in several group chats. Saying how he ran away despite knowing he was challenged for a fight. Who'll tell him that Saiyan got more important things to do?" He suddenly said.
Guess things escalated.
"Can't we send Dweep over and make him throw out dialogues like 'If you wish to meet him, you'll have to step over my dead body first!' It will be hilarious." I suggested with a snort.
"Dweep might actually wipe the floor with him." Anik mentioned, "He leveled up quite a bit in the dungeon. Last night, we also opened the weapon box that Ardhaguna had made for us after our course discussion. He got a high-quality shield from that. He skipped the Smithing course and joined the Intermediate Surakshak course directly."
"One of his problems has been taken care of then. Hopefully, he won't complain about his equipment any time soon. What did you get?"
"A medium-grade bow." He said with a disappointed look. "You guys who managed to stay alive till the end probably got high-quality items. Did you not open it?"
"What I'm looking for is a versatile attack strategy. If I get a good weapon now, I might be forced to learn it from here on when I could have used the time to learn something else. That's why I'm waiting to open it until I feel like the time is right." I gave a proper explanation. One that I had thought out myself some time ago.
"I know what you have in your mind." Anik suddenly said thoughtfully, "Charulata's skill greatly expanded my horizons. I can only imagine how restless you are. It's like finding someone getting acknowledged for something that you can also do, given that you have enough time in hand. Can't wait for the day when I can see you use that skill effortlessly. Keep at it."
It was my time to nod at his encouragement.
"Have you thought up a name for the child?" I asked, remembering my talk with Dweep.
"I have, will let you know when it's finalized." He answered.
"I'm leaving for now. See you tomorrow." I left after standing there for a couple of minutes.
It's time to keep making my weapons. I returned to my cave, preparing for another long night of hard work.