Rishi checked his watch and realised it had only been ten minutes since he entered the dungeon. He decided to wait another nine minutes to avoid drawing more attention to himself.
This was only the first level of the Beast Tamer challenge. High-ranking clan members, such as the children of high-ranking elders and patriarchs, mostly awaken and progress to level 6-7 in a year, making clearing this dungeon a piece of cake for them.
They had never attempted to challenge this dungeon because they thought it was beneath them, but Rishi had no choice because he was already far behind in the competition.
He then emerged from the dungeon and informed the elder that it had been cleared. The elder checked the time before entering the dungeon. He was not surprised to see goblin corpses all over the place.
What surprised him was that they were clearly dead ten minutes before.
He could tell the time of their deaths simply by examining their bodies. "Why do you want to hide your abilities?" he inquired Rishi.
Rishi was surprised to hear the elder, and he wondered how the elder knew.
"People in the clan don't like me much, and I also have many enemies," he replied.
"I don't want to reveal my full capabilities to them."
"Understandable; I to had a lot of enemies in my childhood," the elder replied.
He pulled out a cloak and threw it at Rishi. "Since you like to sneak around a lot, take it; it hides your presence and also aids in disguise."
"Ha ha haha.. I used it a lot when I was younger to look around the clan; I used it especially for research purposes—research on women swimming pools," he continued, a pervy expression on his face.
"It's good to be young; I miss those days," he sighed.
Rishi was at a loss for words, so he simply smiled and thanked the elder. "Thank you, elder."
.
.
Rishi quickly went to see his teacher, Naman Rawat. He knew where to look for him and soon arrived at the banyan tree, where he saw an old man meditating.
Rishi approached Naman and noticed that he was so engrossed in his meditation that he completely ignored everything else. "Isn't it dangerous to do this?" Rishi wondered at first. "What if your adversary attacked you while you are meditating?"
He was about to wake him up when a branch stopped his hand. Rishi jumped back in terror as he watched the branch slowly recede.
He then saw the tree again and noticed that it appeared to be the same as before. He first thought it was his imagination and tried to approach Naman again, but just as he was about to touch him again, a branch appeared to stop him.
Rishi became curious about this mysterious tree, so he used his inspect skill, and a status window appeared in front of him.
[Spiritual Banyan Tree]
LEVEL: ???
.
.
Even with his inspect skill, he couldn't find anything significant about it.
He chose to ignore it and sit with Naman to meditate.
He also enjoyed meditating because it provided numerous benefits and calmed Rishi.
Rishi breathed in and out, and he began to practise a technique taught to him by his grandfather, which was to take a deep breath and forget about everything that was going on around him.
Its mantra was "Forget good, forget bad, forget friends, forget family, forget enemies, forget everything."
"You are alone in this; you must complete the journey of your life alone."
He repeated it several times, which helped him forget about his bad past. He took deep breaths and tried to focus his mind on one thing.
He concentrated on his breadth. He concentrated on it and attempted to comprehend it completely. His passive also activated, allowing him to focus even more.
He noticed that as he breathed in, air entered his nose, moved to his nasal cavity, then to his windpipe, and finally to his lungs, causing them to expand.
He focused on his breathing and forgot about everything, which immediately calmed him down.
He could see himself filled with positivity after meditating for three hours. He appeared to be a completely different person, and he soon realised that he could sense his surroundings a little even with his eyes closed.
He then began to sharpen his focus in an attempt to achieve the state of thoughtlessness. It was the stage that no normal person could reach because how can someone stop thinking?
Rishi tried and tried to reach this stage, but with the help of his passive, he finally reached it for 1 second before thoughts returned to his mind.
He was disappointed at first, but he quickly recovered and began to focus on his breadth.
Time passed, and Rishi reached a state of timelessness in his meditation, leaving him unable to tell how much time had passed.
Rishi continued to meditate before Naman awoke him. "Never try to do everything in one day, meditation is a slow process; it takes time to learn it," he said.
Rishi calmly opened his eyes, which surprised Naman because he had seen Rishi before and had always felt a negative aura emanating from him, but this time he was emitting a positive aura.
Naman thought it was a coincidence; he never imagined Rishi had attained the state of timelessness, as it was extremely difficult to achieve it in one day.
Other people needed many years to achieve it, but Rishi had his 'enhanced focus' skill, which appeared to be very simple and ordinary in one sense but appeared to be godly when you discovered its uses and potential.
"I have completed all of the tasks you assigned to me; when will my training begin?" Rishi asked.
"From now on," Naman replied to Rishi's question.
"Give me two wooden swords," he said to the tree.
The branches of the tree approached Naman, and then, before Rishi's eyes, the branches transformed into two wooden swords, which then separated from the branch.
Naman handed Rishi a sword.
Rishi examined it and was surprised to discover that it appeared to be very sharp and strong.
"Demonstrate to me all the basic sword moves," Naman said to Rishi.
Rishi demonstrated all of his sword moves in front of Naman, who scrutinized each move.
He observed Rishi performing all of the basic moves and commented after Rishi had demonstrated all of his moves.
"Your posture is good, but your weight distribution is terrible."
"You only use your arm strength when using your sword, which prevents you from reaching your full potential."
"It appears that I will need to first teach you the fundamentals."
He then showed Rishi how to correct all of his mistakes and how to use the strength of his entire body while wielding a sword.
He then told Rishi to come back after he had mastered his fundamentals. Rishi was surprisingly calm, even when he wasn't learning any new martial arts.
Instead of allowing his emotions to control him, he thinks critically .
He first accepted his shortcomings, and then he also came to a conclusion that in order to master more powerful martial arts, he needed to master his basics, which would benefit him in the long run.
He then asked Naman, "How can I achieve thoughtlessness state while meditating?"
"You must first conquer your all-negative emotions," Naman replied.
"You will easily reach it after some time of meditation, but the main thing is to increase the time spent in this state."
"You will have to try again and again until you succeed."