Viswa and the gang walked for two hours before taking a break.
Viswa didn't feel tired at all. His everyday exercise is much more taxing that taking a walk. Jiva is also good. He is sweating a little bit, but he was still in a good shape.
But the remaining three are out of breath. They are panting heavily and almost down for the count.
It wasn't a surprise though. Because as they walked deeper into the forest, for every hundred meters, the resistance they are feeling is increasing.
It is almost like the air is getting denser by the minute and it is trying to make them stop.
When the three candidates looked at Jiva and Viswa, they didn't even know what to say. They kind of felt guilty because they are obviously slowing them down, but they couldn't bring themselves to tell them to leave them behind.
Viswa stood on top of a tree and looked ahead.
He jumped down after getting an estimate.
"It would be tough to make it if we go at this pace. We have to speed up."
He didn't bother to say it straight to the faces of the other three. First of all, even if they are on the same boat and from the same team, he didn't really interact with them much.
He didn't make much effort and only the little kids were close to him. In fact, he barely tried to talk to Jiva too. But Jiva is way too friendly and way too effortful in his advances to befriend him.
Anyway, simply except for Jiva the rest of them are not really that close to him. There is no way he is going to risk his own exam for them.
The three couldn't meet Viswa's eyes, but they are still hesitant to just say the word.
Jiva looked at Viswa with a helpless smile, he wanted to say something to make Viswa more accommodating, but he understood that would be too selfish.
Viswa then looked around and then at the three once again before saying.
"Something is weird though. It seems like everyone is deliberately avoiding us. Either they are exerting their energy to move ahead of us or they are staying behind us, they are even increasing the distance between us horizontally.
Is it still because of the freeloader thing?"
Viswa asked Jiva, who shrugged.
He noticed this too, but he couldn't come to any conclusions. He can explain why they are a bit aversive towards their group, but that still doesn't warrant to the point that they should be avoided at all costs.
After another five minutes of rest, the group started moving again.
Just as expected, the resistance just kept on increasing. The distance that could be covered in a minute is taking almost three minutes now and he noticed that the three of them although enduring this physical resistance, their consumption of water increased.
"Your water won't last three days if you drink like that." He reminded them and when he noticed one of them is going for some dried food in the survival kit, he frowned and explained once again.
"You shouldn't be eating too much at a time. You just ate fifteen minutes ago, you will feel sluggish. Currently, your body is urging you to rest and a full stomach will just make it urge you more."
For the next half an hour, the three of them kept on hearing these things from Viswa.
Usually, he would have kept his mouth shut. He is not really that free or nosy to give unsolicited advice to people. But he acknowledged that they are indeed inexperienced in this kind of thing, so he tried to help them out a bit.
From the looks of it, there is no way, they would be able to scale the mountain, they might not even reach the foot of that mountain.
So, he decided to advise them so that they could maximize their energy and reach the farthest they could.
But soon they started frowning. They felt like Viswa is looking down on them and deliberately poking fun of them.
One of them even wanted to retort, but Jiva stopped him and said in a low voice.
"He is saying that for your own good. Look at him, he is barely sweating and is full of energy. He didn't even eat anything until now and barely took his water. He might know what he is doing and follow his advice."
Only then did they halt their outbursts.
Soon, they started feeling the pressure even more, and even Jiva started panting a little bit. Viswa still felt okay from this. It seems like the strength difference is significant between them.
He had a feeling that even if he ran instead of just walking, he would be fine.
And finally, they started seeing people who are down for the count.
Some fainted at the bottom of their trees and there are a couple of them that even crushed the stone tokens and shot some flares.
Within a few seconds, the people in brown uniforms came.
Viswa frowned as he looked at the person they are familiar with. The man who almost killed Manavi.
While his colleague gathered the kids that are fainted, he walked to Viswa and rest. He stopped before Viswa and smiled before patting him on the back.
"I am sorry about the other day. I was a bit hot-headed."
Viswa and Jiva exchanged a glance. They didn't expect this from him. They didn't even know how to reach for a second.
"You guys are looking good, you are one-fourth way there, if you make it, we will all be schoolmates. I will be senior, you can ask me if you need any help."
"Thanks?" Viswa replied in a doubtful tone.
At this moment, the colleague was done and came back to call this guy away.
"By the way, the beasts seemed to be oddly riled up, so be careful and don't hesitate to use your tokens if you are in danger."
The guy left along with his colleague and the kids that dropped out.
Viswa and the group started their journey again.
Looking at the people that dropped out seemed to have affected the morale of the three. But they looked at Viswa and Jiva who are still moving pretty easily and gritted their teeth in frustration.
After all, in their minds, they are all equals, why should these two be more competent than the rest of them?"
As time passed and the pressure increased, they barely reached halfway point by night. Viswa made a fire with the flint stone in the survival kit before setting up a camp.
The other three are in no condition to move forward. They ate their rations before deciding to rest.
Viswa looked at them and said to Jiva.
"I will guard for a while. If the beasts really do come, we need to be ready to react. You can take a rest for now, I will wake you up when my time is over."
Jiva nodded and went to sleep.
After a couple of hours, Viswa started hearing the howls and growls of the beasts far away. He even saw a couple of flares being lit up in the sky.
He just sat beside the fire with the knife given in the survival kit as he started carving a piece of wood. It is indeed much easier to carve wood compared to chiseling the stone. After another hour, he woke up Jiva.
"Wake one of them up in three hours. We need to move as much as we can. Early morning is the best time to cover the distance since there is no sun. It would save us a lot of energy.
From the looks of it, we won't be able to make it if we slow down for any reason. We are already lagging after all."
Viswa said calmly. He has half a mind to leave them behind and go on his own. The only reason he is sticking together is because of Jiva's presence.
He went to sleep, but he is still a bit aware of his surroundings, he didn't lose himself like the other three.
After three hours, he woke up by himself and stretched a bit. Jiva is still waking the group up. They started moving again, but soon they had a problem. One of the guys is out of the water and started complaining.
"Jiva can you give me some of yours?"
He directly asked after enduring the thirst for a while.
Jiva looked at him and sighed before giving his bottle out.
Viswa just shook his head at this and clicked his tongue. That guy gave him a look, but Viswa didn't bother with him.
As they walked, more and more people could be seen fainting. It seems like everyone is squeezing every last bit of their juice and most of them are out of water and food. Looking at this Jiva finally understood why Viswa said to use them sparingly.
If they just had their fill every time they felt hungry, they would have been out of their rations as well and their situation would have been similar to these people.
But even though they are still a bit better off, soon he realized the situation wouldn't last that long. The three started to lag them even more. It is taking three to four times the time to cover the same distance as yesterday.
By afternoon, the three didn't look good and Jiva's bottle is empty along with his rations.
The three looked at Viswa in askance. It is almost like they are asking him why he is not handing over his water directly.
Viswa didn't respond, he just stood there crosslegged and asked.
"Do you guys think you can continue on?"
His question is obvious. If they cannot they can just sit back here and he will take his leave by himself.
The three of them exchanged a glance. Jiva is also in a tough spot. He doesn't want to leave them here, but he is also sure that they wouldn't be able to make it much.
Out of the three, the one who asked for Jiva's water first spoke.
"How about you guys help us out a bit? I know it is asking a bit much, but think about it, since that man said that even if we do not reach the tower, we might get a chance at admission, if you guys can help us a bit and we reach the maximum we can, maybe all five of us might stand a chance to get in."
Viswa's frown deepened and even Jiva was surprised.
This is just asking the two of them to reduce their chances of getting in. After all, looking at Viswa who didn't look the least bit tired he might even make it onto the mountain.
They are simply asking him to give up his sure shot at admission for their probable chance. It is not a fair deal.
"Erin.." Jiva was about to explain it to the guy who asked the question, but Viswa cut him off.
"I am sorry. I won't be doing that. If we have to do what you said, I need to carry two of you since Jiva is also feeling a bit of exhaustion.
You guys would also need more rations which you don't have."
"But you still have yours, I think if we try together we can reach a few hundred meters. Seeing that so many people dropped before us, we have a great chance of getting in." Erin said through his gritted teeth.
Viswa's frown deepened and he looked at Jiva before saying.
"I don't know about you, but I am not doing this."
He said it directly.
"How can you be so selfish, we are all in the same boat. Are you so greedy to get all the good things for yourself?" Erin said in a loud voice.
Viswa looked at him coldly. He didn't even speak.
"Do you want to come with me or not? I will leave in two minutes. You decide."
With that, he turned away and stood on a tree.
Jiva tried to persuade the other three to leave, he doesn't want them to stay here and struggle. After all, they have seen quite a few people almost get attacked by beasts.
But after Erin spoke up the other two also started hinting at Jiva to convince Viswa to help.
After all, getting a shot at admission is something they don't want to give up.
But at this moment, they suddenly heard some hooves moving towards them with the rustling of leaves.
They saw a goat that is almost the size of a pony come out of nowhere and rush toward them.
Jiva was dumbfounded. He looked at his friends who had no energy to move and are already frozen in fear.
Jiva held the knife in his hands, but he is shivering in fright. The goat's horns looked like they are carved out of rocks and it was ready to ram into them.
When Jiva closed his eyes and got ready for impact.
*BAM*
*THUD*
The impact never came through.
Viswa jumped up at the last minute and landed a kick on the head of the goat, making it fall to the size.
But he was surprised to feel the hardness of the horns. His foot is a bit numb from the impact.
The goat stood up and shook its head before looking at Viswa angrily.
He held the knife in his hand.
The goat rushed at him. Viswa slipped to the side skillfully and held the goat by its neck. The goat just dragged him and got ready to ram into the tree.
Viswa just braced for impact and started stabbing it behind the neck.
*BAM*
With the momentum, it did indeed manage to get hit by the tree, his back crashed into the trunk violently.
But the goat also fell with the blood loss.
Viswa looked at the four people who are frozen in fear.
"You better decide soon. But in ten seconds I am out of here. I am not here to be your bodyguard and carry your asses."
Erin looked embarrassed which turned into anger. He looked at Viswa and shouted.
"If you had taken us as I asked, we wouldn't have been in danger at all. You are at fault here."
This time even Jiva frowned. He didn't expect Erin to be this troublesome.
"Come on, Erin. Be reasonable. It is indeed not his job to cater to your needs. His future us just as important to him as your future is to you.
You cannot just expect him to sacrifice his for yours. In fact, you cannot expect that even from me. You guys better crush your tokens now."
The other two pursed their lips and took their tokens out. Even Erin reluctantly took his out. He looked at Jiva and Viswa hatefully before crushing it.
The next second a guy in a brown uniform appeared.
It was the fact that they are familiar with it.
Viswa frowned at this. If this guy is that close, there is no way, he didn't hear the goat coming at them, so what was he doing until now?
But he didn't question him, as the guy took the kids away, Viswa focused on the notification that appeared in front of him.
[YOU KILLED A HALF-EVOLVED STONE-CRUSHING GOAT AND ENDED ITS LIFE BEFORE ITS DESTINED TIME. YOU ATTAINED 10 NEGATIVE KARMA]
He was sucked into a grey scene where the goat ran into all four of them. Jiva is sprawled on the ground with his injuries, while the remaining three died. The goat then left and lived a life as it evolved fully into a Mountain Crushing goat, a true spiritual beast that was then killed for some feast.
As soon as he came back to himself, he saw three more notifications.
[YOU CHANGED THE DESTINY OF JIVA BY SAVING HIM FROM GETTING INJURED. YOU OBTAINED 23 POSITIVE KARMA POINTS.]
[YOU CHANGED THE DESTINY OF ERIN BY SAVING HIS LIFE. YOU OBTAINED 6 POSITIVE KARMA POINTS]
[YOU CHANGED THE DESTINY OF VIRA BY SAVING HIS LIFE. YOU OBTAINED 10 POSITIVE KARMA POINTS]
[YOU CHANGED THE DESTINY OF RANJI BY SAVING HIS LIFE. YOU OBTAINED 10 POSITIVE KARMA POINTS.]
He lost 10 Karma points and then gained 49 points. Now he has a total of 89 points.
He didn't linger on it too much. But one thing that surprised him is the visuals that came for the latter three notifications. It is the visual of all three of these orphans quitting the admission test, but still managing to get into the academy.
The visuals of Jiva are also a bit different.
He climbed the mountain, entered the room on top of the peak and within those visuals, he actually saw himself.
He is also sitting in the room.
He shook his head off these thoughts and started skinning the goat. He broke the skull open and got those horns off.
The horns are indeed very strong and the pointed end is quite sharp too.
They really felt like they are made of tone.
Jiva took a deep breath and came back to himself. He looked at Viswa and said.
"That was close."
"That's true. It was dangerous."
"Viswa, please don't wait for me. I am pretty sure you held back enough. It is indeed not fair for you to stay back like this.
Please move forward by yourself, I will move at my own pace."
Viswa looked at him for a second and didn't bother saying anything to refute him.
"Thanks and all the best."
"To you too."
With that Viswa didn't linger there anymore and started running.
He still kept the two goat horns with him and ran smoothly through the forest. The pressure seemed to be non-existent.
Jiva also started moving. His pace is a lot faster than before, but not as fast as Viswa's.
At this moment, a few meters away from both of them, a guy in a brown uniform punched a tree angrily.
"Fucking hell. How the fuck did that bastard kill the goat? The opportunity is gone. I should have just let multiple goats on to them at the same time."
He cursed a bit more and disappeared into the forest. He followed the pace of Viswa and kept him in his sight.