Three months passed.
There are still two days for the Admission test.
Black Sand Village is bustling with activity. There are a lot of rich carriages arriving every day. And there are a lot of more boys in silk robes with their own entourages touring the market.
Followed by them, there are a lot of merchants that came for a temporary market. The local vendors all rented the shops out to these foreign merchants and started relaxing for a while.
This is the time of the year they like the most.
They could not only make some easy money out of it, they could even enjoy some foreign delicacies and experiences because of it. As for local hunters and fishermen, this is a great time as well.
Many youngsters that come from noble families will arrive over a month earlier. They tried to cozy up with some of the instructors and seniors in the academy to have a better life inside. Of course, at this time that is not the only thing they would do.
They had to have a taste of local experiences.
So, every day many fishermen who go on to the sea are hired by these youngsters to take a tour.
While everyone is in a festive mood, behind the orphanage within the vast campus of the Black Sand Academy.
Within a large tunnel.
*THUD* *THUD*
Steps echoed as Viswa ran with all his might. He is carrying a large stone bucket in his hands and it is full of other rocks.
He ran in the tunnel and soon he came across a large rock blocking the route, but there is a hole on the ground, he got in after putting the bucket through it and pushing it outward. He had to crawl for a few minutes while pushing the stone bucket before he reached a large opening once again. Of course, it is not the end of the tunnel.
He stood up, carried the bucket, and started running again. On his way, there are some stone protrusions on either side of the tunnel. Then there is a section that is completely full of twists and turns, not just horizontal ones, but some vertical ones as well.
He had to crawl, leap, and walk-in awkward angles all the while carrying a bucket and soon he came across another rock this also completely blocked is a path, except there is a large hole carved at its center.
It was also carved by him.
He pushed the stone bucket to the other side and crawled through it.
Then he ran again, walking through a thick muddy patch before walking through a very loose sand path, and finally a normal clay patch appeared.
Soon, he reached the opening of the tunnel. The large pit where he started digging.
He carried the bucket out and poured out the bucket of stones into an already existing stone heap.
There is actually a small mud hut beside the heaps. He walked in and saw a lot of shelves. At one corner of the hut, there is some clay ready to be moulded.
He picked up the clay and started making some shapes. He then started picking up some stone tools in the corner. He sharpened one of them on the abrasive rock he found and sculpted the clay.
He is still panting from the run he had.
After around twenty minutes of rest. He got up and had some water, before carrying the empty stone bucket and running back into the tunnel.
This time, he is faster. He is sprinting the whole time.
After crossing all kinds of different soil patches he finally came across a stone patch. A very small one that led to a room. That is just fit enough for Viswa to lay down. And of course he didn't come here to do that.
He looked above, there is a hole in the ceiling that could fit two of him and on the edge of this hole, there are some rock protrusions. Viswa placed the stone bucket in the corner of the room, before jumping up.
He did a vertical jump of over six meters and caught the protrusion and pulled himself up. There are a few more protrusions that allowed him to climb.
He climbed for more than a few hundred meters and finally hit the ceiling. There is nothing there except the rock of the mountain.
He clumsily took out what looked like a stone chisel from the pocket and placed it on the rock while he held himself on the small protrusions just with his legs with practiced ease.
He placed the sharp end of the chisel on the rock and held another rock of the same metal like a hammer and started hitting.
*BAM* *BAM*
With just two hits the rock cracked a bit and a few pieces fell down.
But he didn't stop, of course, he kept on chipping the rocks away and before long, he moved to that side and started chipping this side away.
Basically, he is shortening the ceiling and digging himself out of the mountain, and based on his calculations, he shouldn't be far away.
As soon as the thought came out, he felt the change in the sound of impact.
He excitedly smiled and slammed his fist on the rock ceiling.
*BAM*
A streak of light, shot out of it as the ceiling opened up. He hurriedly broke it more before finally crawling out.
He is almost near the peak of the mountain, in fact, it is just two feet away.
He stood there with sweat dripping all over his dirty body and took in the view. He looked around. He could see the orphanage, the village, and most of all, he could see the Black Sand Academy.
All of it.
There are many buildings and he could even see a fence far away into the forest separating this side and that side of the forest.
He looked at the hole and went down before running back to the other side.
By the time, he was there, there are a few other people inside the hut.
Manavi and Manas are looking through the clay dolls and rock sculptures in the hut as they cheerfully picked whatever they like.
Viswa smiled and didn't bother them. He just left silently to clean up at the lake. On his way there, he saw Jiva looking at a heap of things.
He looked at Viswa and waved at him with a smile.
"Oh, you saw that heap."
Viswa said with a smile. The heap is actually full of muddy things of a different kind. There are some bones, rusty daggers, and swords, there are some dead corpses of small animals, and many more.
"What are these things?"
"Those are all the things I found when digging the tunnel. They are useless and a bit gross, so I kept them away from my camp."
Viswa said and jumped into the lake as he washed himself up. He quickly changed into a different set of clothes and walked back to the camp along with Jiva.
"Its mine."
"No, its mine. I saw it first."
"But I picked it up first."
By the time they reached the place, the twins are fighting as they held a rock sculpture, it is a sculpture of a rabbit and it was the exact rabbit that he ate when he started to hunt.
He hurriedly ran to the kids and said.
"Hey, where did you find it? Didn't I hide it from you guys? Leave it, you are going to hurt yourself."
Viswa said as he grabbed the sculpture from it.
Twins looked at him pitifully and he shook his head with a sigh.
"Alright, I didn't have time to make two and only made one, that is why I did from you guys. Let me just make another one in the afternoon, then you can both have one each."
Twins' eyes lit up and they hugged Viswa before hurriedly ran back inside the hut to take more picks.
They are placing the clay dolls and the stone dolls into a pushcart.
Jiva looked at him and said.
"You always fall for it. They are exploiting you." He had a smile on his face. Viswa just scratched his head awkwardly.
After the previous incident and finding some animals in the surroundings, Viswa started training crazily and this caused the twins to miss him. So, after pestering Jiva endlessly, he brought them here to see.
Even he was also curious at that time about how Viswa was training.
When they saw him crazily digging a tunnel and then patiently and clumsily sculpting things they were dumbfounded.
They didn't understand what kind of training it is.
But the kids fell in love with the clay sculptures and the mud pit, so they kept on coming here to meet him along with Jiva.
They also brought back the sculptures to play with and even gave them to the rest of the kids. Soon, the two kids became the gang leaders of all the people below their age as they bribed them with different dolls.
In fact, Viswa built the hut for them. If they recklessly ran around, with all the sharp stones and the pit, they would hurt themselves.
So, he built the hut with his own hands and after persuading Mr. Guide a lot, he used large leaves for the roof along with some wood.
He even made some makeshift shelves by carving large rocks nearby.
The abrasive rock became his favorite tool as it could grind any other stone in the surroundings.
He managed to do a lot with it. He even had some knives purely made of stone.
Jiva and Viswa helped the kids put everything inside the cart and Jiva started pushing it.
"Are you coming?"
"No, I have something else to do. I will come back in a short while."
Jiva left with the kids.
Viswa went into the hut and took a stone block before taking out another stone chisel and started sculpting.
His technique is odd. The way he held the chisel and the way it is all amateurish, but it seems like he is very fluid with whatever method he is using.
And his speed is very amazing as well. Even though some sculptors take days to make stone sculptures even if they are of that small size, Viswa is doing it an unnaturally fast pace.
Soon, the sculpture started taking the shape of a rabbit.
After a few hours, Viswa was using the abrasive rock on the completed statue to grind out any sharp edges.
He placed both rabbit sculptures side by side and nodded in satisfaction at their similarity.
'My speed increased even more.'
Viswa muttered to himself and at this moment, the suit-wearing snob appeared in front of him.
[Not bad, you brat. You really finished all the tasks within the time limit.]
He said with a slight smile as he eyed Viswa.
Viswa is not surprised. There was indeed less interaction between both of them in the past few months, but they did have some interactions, particularly when Viswa was exchanging Karma points for refining the energy.
"Thank you. Mr. Guide."
[Alright, I won't bother you for the next few days. After you get into the academy, you will have your first lesson from me and also I will be issuing some homework from then, so you better be mentally prepared for everything.
You got it?]
Viswa nodded and the guide disappeared.
He got up and picked up both the sculptures with ease and started walking towards the Orphanage.
On his way, he started looking at his Attributes and his skills.
[ ATTRIBUTES
STRENGTH: 38
AGILITY: 28
STAMINA: 40
COMPREHENSION: 29
WILL: 48]
His stats increased drastically.
He already knew that the strength of an average person is just around 10. Of course, it is for a person who is training moderately. But Viswa is almost four times stronger than an average man.
He believed that this drastic and unnatural change is because of the weird energy that he got from the animals.
The only problem is his Karma points actually dropped to +50.
His recovery speed is only 50% more than his normal speed. But still, he felt like it is kind of a fair trade until now.
If he could have increased his strength even more, he would have done it, because he knew that Karma points would be coming to him sooner or later as he is going to interfere in other people's lives. But he doesn't have a surefire alternative method like this to increase his strength. He didn't regret it. He believed he made the right choice.
His gaze then landed on the skills page.
[SKILLS
BASIC HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT- 10%
BASIC KNIFE SKILLS- 12%
BASIC SHOOTING SKILLS- 15%
BASIC CLIMBING SKILLS- 18%
BASIC RECONNAISSANCE SKILLS- 9%
BASIC COOKING SKILLS- 6%
BASIC DIGGING SKILLS- 28%
BASIC SCULPTING SKILLS- 20%]
The change in his skills is not that unexpected. Right now, his digging skills are higher than any other skill he had. He even gains some insight into knife skills.
He doesn't know if he would be able to use these newly acquired skills that much. But he felt like sculpting could be a hobby from now on. He already gained the skill anyway.
The only problem is he spent three months digging every day and his skills are only 28% proficient and that too only basic skills. Back on earth, he is sure that his digging skills would have been pretty handy.
He is sure that he could easily dig out a landmine, without triggering it with his current skills and he would have done it in seconds.
He wanted to ask Mr. Guide, but there was no answer from him.
After shaking his head off of his thoughts, he went back to the orphanage where all kids are thanking him as they looked at the dolls and sculptures in their hands.
Viswa went and met the twins before giving them the rabbit sculptures.
He decided to take two-day break.
And this made them pass in a flash.
Now it is finally exam day.
Sir Warden looked at all six candidates from the orphanage, including Viswa.
His gaze landed on Viswa a tad bit longer, but he didn't linger for too long and spoke.
"Today, you are finally graduating from this orphanage.
This is you getting your second chance at life. I am bearing the price of your admission test and if you pass, you will get into the school and if you fail, you can get out of here and find a profession you like.
But whatever it is, you cannot stay here anymore. Of course, you can visit here whenever you want, but I want you guys to leave a proper example for the children behind you. So, don't disappoint me.
A lot of people call you freeloaders because you don't bear the consequences of failing the test. But I believe that you have already suffered enough in life since childhood to pay for this admission test.
If you fail and come back here, the word freeloader will be absolutely true."
With that, he turned around and led them to the main building of the academy.
As soon as they arrived, they saw a lot of people at their age. They are all of different kinds, some of them wore ordinary clothes, some wore luxury clothes, and some even had butlers behind them.
Some even came with a whole entourage.
When the group from Orphanage arrived, everyone gave them a look of disdain. It seems like everyone already knew who they are even though they never met.
This made Viswa curious. He turned to Jiva and asked about it.