Arvin was getting irritated. It was very frustrating for him to obey everything that Lopt said. It was not that he thought what Lopt orders were just a wastage of time or something. He was getting frustrated because he didn't know what Lopt was thinking.
Arvin found out that meditating while being turned into a Corgan had phenomenal consequences on his body. He was using his shape-shifting skills for about 3 months and yet the time of the transformation remained the same. In these past three months, the level of proficiency in shape-shifting also increased to level-2. Increasing the proficiency helped in the fatigue that got accumulated after transformation, but still, there was no change in the time duration of each transformation.
But today, when Arvin started mediating after being transformed into a Corgan, the transformation period changed. Usually, the transformation lasted for only one hour. But now it lasted for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
One might say that 10 mins are not a lot. But Arvin knew better. Because with only one meditation session he was able to extend his time. That meant that if he does this regularly then not only his proficiency will increase, but also he had noticed that after one session his exp also increased. That told him that this meditation was not only helping him in increasing the proficiency but was also giving him a helping hand in increasing his level.
But the only downside of this mediation was that he had to do this in the Kalgan forest…
'Why the hell do I have to meditation in the forest?' Arvin asked. He was really frustrated living in the forest. It had been 3 days since they came here. And living here was not easy. Arvin didn't have anything to cooking utensils, while sleeping or meditating sometimes Lopt will wake him up, saying that there is a beast near his location. That may save his help life but it was annoying as hell.
{Have you ever seen or used an Air conditioner?} Lopt said nonchalantly
'Yeah.'
{Good. Then think of the ascending tower as an A.C. But instead of cool air, it emits mana.}
'Ascending tower is in the Kalgan Forest.' Arvin said as he had a realization.
{Correct. That is why we are here.}
'Wait if the ascending tower is like an A.C, then that means that most of the mana of the 1st floor is concentrated deep inside the forest?'
{Woah. Would you look at that, little runt has a brain.}
'…..'
{Any other questions that you may have?} Lopt asked sarcastically.
'When can we open the safe?'
{It is because of that fact that we have to open the safe, we are doing this meditation.}
'Why?'
{Just reach level-2 in meditation and then you will know yourself.}
'....'
............…
Except for bathroom and eating breaks, Lopt didn't let Arvin do anything else. He forced him to do mediation regularly. He was either eating, sleeping, or meditating the whole time. Arvin didn't know why Lopt was adamant about having him do mediation, but he was not complaining. It was because Arvin crossed level-30 on the 4th day. Seeing his level cross the mark of 30, Arvin started getting excited. And soon on the night of the 5th day, Arvin started feeling something different in his body.
It was a very difficult feeling to describe, but Arvin could feel some particle movements in his body. He didn't know what it was, what was he feeling? But the most simpler way to describe it was that he could feel, a power that behaved like water, that originated from his heart, and then it would start flowing through his whole body. And he could control, which parts of his body, Arvin didn't want this power to access. Confused by this phenomenon, Arvin asked Lopt about it…
'Lopt what is happening?... I…' Before Arvin could finish his sentence, Lopt cut him in between.
{Finally! Check your status kiddo…}
......…
STATUS
Name- Arvin
Level-30 Exp-50/100
Champion of-?????
Inventory-(Tap to expand)
Quests-(Tap to expand)
Skills-
1>Shape-Shifting={Level-3}
2>Mana Meditation={Level-2}
......
'I increased the proficiency of my mana mediation skill to level-2?' Arvin said, while seriously being impressed by his speed.
{Yeah. Now sleep for tonight kid. Tomorrow is going to be a very important day for us.}
'Ok.' Arvin said. It didn't take long for Arvin to sleep as he was seriously exhausted by meditation.
The next morning, Arvin woke up exciting. He was excited as today, he would do something different than meditating. It was very exciting for Arvin as he was seeing the difference in himself since he had to taken Lopt as his teacher. He wanted to see what would this god make him do next and how will that help him in increasing his strength.
Arvin then made simple porridge from grains that he got from the City Watch's HQ. As he didn't have any utensils so he had to improvise. On the second day of meditation, Arvin discovered a coconut tree. Seeing those coconuts gave Arvin an idea. He then harvested some coconuts and used those shells as utensils. He used very hard and fat shells of coconuts to cook his food.
It was not a hit idea. After all, they were just coconut shells, so excessive heating them tends to make them crack, thus spoiling a perfectly good breakfast. It was just temporary so Arvin seriously didn't mind it that much. Arvin wanted to go hunt an animal because it would be easier to cook. But Lopt always denied his request saying that hunting will consume more time and they didn't have a lot of time…
So today, when Arvin woke, he was excited from the fact that he would be able to do something other than meditation and also he will have a chance to eat something other than tasteless porridge…
After having a relaxing breakfast, Arvin took a relaxing bath near the small stream that he found. And then he came back to the small hill. Lopt didn't allow him to stay near the stream as many animals often come to the stream to quench their thirst…
{So Arvin are you ready?} Lopt asked as he saw that Arvin had his breakfast.
'Yes, I was born ready… But wait… Why I have to ready again?'
{To open the vault of course.}
'Cool.' Arvin said. Then he accessed his inventory and brought Alman's vault out of his inventory. Soon a small yellow vault appeared in front of Arvin. It had a small dial on it with some numbers written on it…
{Now Arvin do you remember the sensation of water-type power flowing inside you yesterday?}
'Yes.'
{That was mana. With Mana Meditation you can increase control over your mana plus also increase your mana capacity.}
'Ok.'
{Now. The reason that I told you to increase control over your mana through meditation was to inspect this safe.}
'Wait… Are you trying to tell me that I will able to have X-ray eyes with mana control?' Arvin asked excitedly.
{No you pervert. It was because I wanted to inspect this safe with mana eyes.}
'What is mana eyes?'
{If you send mana into your eyes, you will be able to see some things that one might not be able to see with naked eyes.}
'Really?'
{Yeah. Do you remember there was a book called 'The World of Runes' in Alman's library?}
'Yes. I have that book with me. Should I take it out?'
{No. Seeing that book in your memories made me believe that maybe Alman had drawn a rune on the safe. You see runes are magical words that cast magic… In a sense.}
'What kind of magic?... Oh, will I be able to do that attack that Alman threw at me which led to the explosion if I learned about runes?'
{….}
'Will I be able to?'
{Sometimes I think that maybe I am too old for sh*t.}
'….'
{No more questions for now. Listen sometimes runes are cast or made in such a way that they are not visible to naked eyes. But with mana eyes, one might be able to see them.}
'Oh… So want me to check that whether there is any runes caster on the safe or not? Right?'
{Yes.}
'Ok let me try.'
Arvin then closed his eyes and started to try to feel the power that was inside his body yesterday. And soon he was able to make a connection to that power. It took a lot of willpower and caused mental stress but Arvin was successful in sending the mana into his eyes. And as he did that, he opened his eyes and looked at the vault in front of him, he saw that on the dial there was some sort of purple color character written.