I have no idea how long I lost my consciousness for. Opening my eyes and sitting up, I found the others moving about, doing their own thing. Yashvi had almost finished cooking, Trisha was treating Laksh, and my Healing Akshara was no where to be seen. Did it fail to work properly?
I realised during Charulata's lesson that my view was too narrow. There was so much I could do only with Akshara and Tethers that I've probably never thought about. There are so many combinations and everything was only restricted by my imagination and Kundalini. There were constraints ofcourse, but the fact that I didn't even know the limits of the skills made me realise that I haven't been utilising them to their full potential.
I felt a vial press against my lips and found Anik feeding me one of Trisha's medicines.
"What?" He asked looking like he was offended, "Did you want someone else to do this for you?"
"No no.. thanks bro." I muttered weakly, my brain threatening to burst out of my skull, "I thought you would be busy looting the monsters from the other sections that were slaughtered by the Prince."
"We already did that, since you've been sleeping for five hours. To be honest, I'm getting sick of these random encounters. Why can't we have a normal excursion for once?" He complained, "Incase it helps, Jhanvi had been watching over you while we were busy looting. Make sure to say your thanks later."
"She won't accept it, I can assure you. I think she believes in repaying her debts as soon as possible, so that people won't get an excuse to keep bothering her."
He looked at me doubtfully. "What makes you say that?"
"Considering how cute she is, it is easy to guess that boys like us have been bothering her till now. We always tend to find chances to talk with the girl we like either through helping them, or causing mischief around her to get her attention. It was a common tactic back in my previous school and the cuter ones had it quite worse. Well having an elder brother also exposes you to a lot of things. I have seen and heard things I regret knowing." I smiled wryly at him.
"Dweep also has a sister and Saiyan a brother right? Both young... Wonder how much they argue or fight among themselves." He wondered by himself.
"Siblings are supposed to have fights you know. My relationship with my brother is a little passive instead. He likes to take a part of my favourite food right from my plate sometimes though." I laughed remembering the times when he was still at home before leaving for college.
Yashvi came and handed me a chicken stew with papayas, potatoes and carrots.
"Eat up. Laksh is already out of danger, so you can rest assured. Your little minion did a great job." She smiled brightly as if the events before didn't even happen.
I sat idly, savoring the food and watched my Prana rise. Yashvi toasted some bread diced into cubes with butter and topped my stew with them. She looked genuinely happy being able to cook for us and watching our expressions while we ate.
"Trisha's medicines worked wonders I guess." I wondered, feeling like my job to help others recover was taken away by her.
"She's a Vaidya too. She's supposed to cure people better than you. Yashvi is single handedly putting out so much damage that it made me feel like I'm caressing my enemies instead of damaging them. If I think like you, I'll get even more depressed. Let them have their moments too." Anik tried to console me in his own way. Surprisingly, it worked quite well.
As everybody sat around the cooking pit, I activated my field of protection helping them recover Kundalini to the brim so that they didn't need to again convert Prana uselessly. After that I used up 6 points of Prana to help everyone recover from even the smallest of injuries to make them as good as new. You never know what might happen again, so it's better to stay in top condition.
Recovering properly from my over the top treatment, Laksh finally woke up and gobbled up food silently, to recover his energy before he even started talking.
"When are you going to attach your legs?" Saiyan asked.
"After lunch. I need to make sure everybody is taken care of first. My legs aren't that urgent. It has happened before, and I'm confident it'll join back." I said in a relaxed manner.
After lunch I first attached my legs, then went to Vihaan who provided me with the Blessing Orbs of section two and three.
Apparently, the Prince's body was vaporised from the Prana explosion being near the cocoon, but it left behind high rank artifacts that were damaged to some extent. Thank God my legs had somehow survived being thrown behind me and away from the point of explosion. The artifacts will be distributed after they are reconstructed with the help of Vishwakarma's assistants.
The two curved swords were given to Saiyan and Shreya who used swords as Yoddhas.
I suddenly realised, that after using the fog javelins, the Kundalini from Charulata had disappeared since I lost consciousness and consequently my control over the energy beads. I have to make it from the very beginning. Well, now that I knew the principle behind it, with enough time I'll be able to create and even tweak it to my needs properly.
It's okay, it was bound to be lost someday. So it's better for it to happen before I grew fond of it.
Let's take a look at my status.
Panna level ups: 2(from minions and Makara Boss) + 6(Prince) + 6(Charulata) = 14(previous)+14 = 28(Current Level)
Total points available: 70(14x5)
Kalpa's level ups: 1(minions and Makara Boss) + 4(Prince) + 3(Charulata) = 11+8 = 19(Current Level)
Total points available: 16(8x2)+15(3x5 from 3 blessing orbs) = 31
Active skill level ups from 3 Blessing Orbs: 2 Javelin and 1 Swordsmanship.
I also have my dimensional pocket now!!! Since we get one after reaching level 15 in Kalpa's status.
I was getting so much excited over these little things that it felt quite embarrassing. Only one more level for Kalpa, then I'll fulfill one of the conditions for awakening a new chakra point in my body. Can't wait!!
I walked around and saw Vihaan and Dweep discussing about overlapping Kavach layers. Saiyan and Shreya were sparring, getting used to their new weapons. Laksh was chilling, lying on his side and correcting Saiyan and Shreya on their forms and 1v1 tactics. Anik, Yashvi and Jhanvi asked for three retractable arrows from me and were now practicing trying to hit a particular point on the cavern wall.
I went and sat in front of Trisha. Her medicines that I were carrying in my pockets had proved to be really useful. It's time to learn how to manufacture medicines properly. Now, I can also store huge quantities of them, so there's no reason to keep myself from trying it anymore.
She guided me through the different chemical processes, at which temperature to mix the different herb pastes, and till when to boil a particular solution. Then she asked me to try it by myself.
I followed her directions properly yet only managed to form low grade poison. She brought out more herbs that the looting team had brought and we kept experimenting.
In 64 tries, 14 came out as normal grade medicine. 8 as medium level. 1 as high grade. The rest were all poisons, either medium in strength or really weak.
Trisha also showed me how to use the dimensional pocket system. It was like a quick button system that brought out similar class of items with a specific number.
1: Kundalini net for future.
2: Javelin, both normal(will ask Laksh for a new one) and Kundalini made.
3: normal grade medicine x14
4: medium grade: x8
5: high grade: x1
6: poisons
7: Organ regeneration medicine: x3 (Trisha's gift)
Let's keep it like this for now. Someday, this configuration might be totally different from how it currently is.
Yashvi came back from her practice and prepared another round of food after four hours. By now, about 23 hours had already passed from only the first day at the dungeon. 12 for clearing and resting after first section. 2 hours for the invaders from Satya. 5 hours of sleeping. 4 hours after the previous meal. After this round of eating, both my Kundalini and Prana were fully recovered.
After we cleared our plates, Vihaan suddenly stood up and looked at me. "I have an announcement to make. From now on, we won't use Dhruva's Prana conversion skill. We are just getting casual about using energy, thinking we can simply use up our Prana. What happens when he's not in our party? By that time we will have already inculcated bad habits that might be hard to get rid of. Everybody from now on will use what they have, properly maintaining their energy like other normal Rakshaks, focusing on their fighting skills. I hope you also got the same feeling of helplessness after he removed his tethers at the end of the fight. Without our own skills and Kundalini, right now any advanced enemies will just wipe the floor with us. Also Dhruva, you need to learn combat skills. They are totally trash. Your hand and leg coordination is like a toddler. Laksh has expressed interest to teach you so take lessons for the next few hours before we move on to the next section. Others can take rest or laze around, whatever you want."
I went to the bathroom tent and was surprised. I had expected express train washrooms but this was a totally royal experience. I could have sat there for hours without a worry. If only trains or stations had bathrooms like these, a lot of my childhood trauma would disappear in an instant.
I made my way to Laksh, after my headache subsided a bit from the medicines Trisha provided. He taught me to use Javelins in close ranges, how to pierce, parry, block or throw. He literally walked me through the leg and hand coordination exercises in which I got better with some time.
"Javelins require a balanced Strength, Agility and Dexterity." Laksh explained, "Arm and leg coordination, body rotation, waist movements, footwork are all derived from those stats one way or another."
"By balanced, do you mean same amounts? Or just a proper proportion?" I asked clarifying my doubts.
"Same amounts. Various combos of stats can often produce hidden effects so be in the lookout for them. Now try what I showed you. I'll correct you wherever you are wrong." Laksh again started the training.
I kept making gradually lesser number of mistakes, slowly getting familiar with the core movements.
"It's okay for now. Take a rest if you want. I need to take a nap." Laksh notified and went off to sleep leaving me alone.
Let's go to Anik and get some tips on archery. I also need to collaborate with him, trying to make more blossoming arrows, with the help of my Akshara and property imbuing skills. Did he use that one arrow I had made? I need to ask him for his opinions.
I walked up to the Dhanurdhar trio and made my presence known, halting their practice.
"Ohh you're hungry?" Yashvi asked checking her status to read the time. "It's already been four hours?? I should start preparing the next meal I guess. Thanks for reminding, I was having too much fun teaching these cute little children."
"I didn't come for that. I had something to ask of Anik. You two can continue..." I waved my hand insisting that I was not here just because I was hungry.
"It's okay. The others should also be feeling hungry by now. And I don't actually mind if you come to find me only when you're craving some snacks." Yashvi laughed, "I like cooking for you guys, like I've said before, and watching you all eat. Someday, I'm gonna open my own restaurant and you'll all be the first ones I invite!!"
"Whoa, I'll be waiting then." Jhanvi replied to her sudden confession, "My uncle runs a vegetarian restaurant, so if you want to expand your repertoire, I can ask him to make you an apprentice during the holidays!!"
"Thank you!!! Jaann!!" Yashvi hugged Jhanvi and patted her head, laughing.
The girls seemed to have bonded quite a bit in just a single day. I looked at Anik and saw him standing awkwardly. He must be feeling like a third wheel between the two of them. It's better for him to come and teach me advanced archery.
As Yashvi left the scene, I asked Anik, "Can you show me more? Last time we only went through the basics of archery."
"There's nothing to show more actually. The next part will depend on how much you're practicing and how accurate you're getting. While standing straight, or while moving. That's all there is to it. Disappointed?" He suddenly asked, "The most difficult things are difficult because people don't like to repeat the easiest parts enough."
"That's correct. I've been shooting arrows since four." Jhanvi agreed with Anik.
"Ohh by the way, did you use my Kundalini arrow?" I asked Anik.
"That was yours?? When the hell did you put it in my iron arrow quiver?" He was disappointed for some reason.
"Heck, why are you feeling disappointed? Did it not work?" I asked in return.
Jhanvi realised something and started laughing uncontrollably.
"Just kill me..." Anik scrunched up his eyes in embarrassment and hid his face with his hands.
"Wait, I'll ask Dweep about that, if you don't tell me yourself." I threatened playfully. "You did something stupid again, didn't you??"
"Arghh, please don't let others know. Can we just bury the topic here? Forever??" Anik pleaded.
This guy. He should have acted high and mighty after the arrow probably managed to deal some damage to Devantak.
"Jhanvi. What did this guy do?" I asked her instead.
She calmed herself down after laughing almost maniacally for a few seconds. Wiping away her tears, she started to say something and started giggling again.
"Okay, let's just drop it here. Tell me if it worked. It requires 5 points of Kundalini if I remember. I want to make it more efficient taking pointers from you two." I requested.
"You will?" Both of them said in unison, "That will be great!! Let's start after we eat. I think we are going to stay here for 12 more hours, for everyone to recover both mentally and physically." Anik continued after that.
"Then I'll get three more chances to recover my Prana. If I can't use it during the fight as ordered by Vihaan, it's better to use it before hand right? I'll make some prototypes before eating this round so that the Prana from the food isn't wasted since I'm already full with life energy." I said and started making the blossoming arrows.
My conversion ratio has increased to 3.6, so I made 10 arrows this time, five each for two of them.
Each arrows used 5 points of Kundalini so 50 points were required.
I already had 8 points before hand. Rest 42 needed to be acquired from my Prana. So I had to use up 12 points of life energy from my increased pool of 22 to create them.
After every round of eating, I could recover only 13 to 14 points of my Prana so 12 is the max I can convert for now, if I have to keep my energies filled after the last iteration of eating before we move on to the next sections.
They looked genuinely happy receiving the arrows as they carefully put it inside their dimensional pockets.
"What are your levels right now?" I asked, curious about whether killing the prince and Charulata distributed the experience equally among us.
"We didn't level up after the Makara Boss. We didn't even manage to hit the Prince or Charulata to receive anything. It was all you." Anik said with a mixed expression. "We damaged the four armed guy, but since he managed to escape, we didn't get receive any experience. Luck bro luck..." Anik said.
"But how did you defeat Charulata single handedly? While you were sleeping we had a discussion about that, but we have no idea what happened on your side of the battle." Jhanvi asked, her eyes shining with curiosity. Anik looked the same, probably at the prospect of cracking the enigma first, which had been bothering them for a while.
"You also asked whether we had a limiter or not. What was that for?" Anik remembered me asking the question from before.
"It's better you don't know. It's related to why Vihaan asked me not to use Prana conversion skill on you guys. It's dangerous. Probably the seventh standards know how I defeated her, but they don't want to tell you all properly, in order to save my face." I said, finally realising why we had that 'get independent' conversation while eating.
The two of them looked at me carefully before nodding with acceptance.
"I believe you won't intentionally hurt us. So it's fine if that is dangerous. After you saved me twice, I don't think I can view you negatively even if I wanted to." Jhanvi said, looking at me, "Thank you for attaching my arm, and defending against that attack. I've been meaning to say it, but didn't get the chance properly."
"That was... You're welcome. Thanks for saying this, it was reassuring." I found myself smiling hearing her and stopped after Anik gave a smirk.
"It seems you're weak to compliments." Anik laughed, putting his arm around my shoulder, "You don't have to worry about what I think. Until we are Forgotten, I'm gonna walk by your side, experiencing the same things as you. I'll always understand the reasons lying underneath your actions."
"He's blushing now." Jhanvi declared with a smile, "He's weaker to compliments from people closest to him."
"When did you become so smooth, Anik?" I asked playfully, poking him in his ribs.
"The Smooth chose me." He said bringing about another round of laughter from the three of us.
We practiced archery for half an hour until Yashvi called for us.
"So technically, we have cleared three sections within a day and four hours, counting the time till now." Laksh announced during dinner. Was it even dinner? Well let's go with that. "We are way ahead of our schedule even though we missed the experiences from the Boss. Thinking back on it now, the practical experiences we acquired while fighting the four armed Manava was much more valuable than simply leveling up."
"The four armed man is called Devantak." I made things easier for conversations about him later.
"Ohh. Okay?" Laksh looked confused for a while probably wondering how I got the name but decided to move forward. "Let's just laze around and start at 10 or 11 am today? Let's have a long 5 to 6 hours of sleep to get rid of any fatigue. Hopefully things will be normal from here on."
"I also wanted to ask something. We were the only team that moved into the dungeon right away correct?" Shreya asked raising her hand, "Charulata and the Prince intended to invade our dungeon from the very beginning. What if the other princes are also trying the same? For the other copies of the beginner dungeon?"
"That's... Good job. Why didn't we think about this? We need to warn the sages." Vihaan didn't waste time letting all his friends who'll be guides, as well as the sages know.
"I'll also let them know to deal some damage incase they decided to fight against the princes. Since the experience isn't shared equally among the other members for enemies not related to the dungeon." Laksh glanced at me.
The others followed his gaze.
"How many levels did you gain?" Saiyan asked, seeming weirdly competitive.
"7 only. The prince was probably good in skills, but not in levels. While half of Charulata's experience had been absorbed away by Subhra Munika through those violet Tethers. I'll probably reach level 20 after a few minions are killed." I answered Saiyan's question referring to only Kalpa's status. Panna's status was now at level 28, and I didn't even meet her after reaching level 20 as planned. After making the arrows for three hours, I'll go meet her for the last three hours when the others will be sleeping.We need to sit down and have a long talk.
Me, Anik and Jhanvi sat together, experimenting with different blossoming arrows, made from different amounts of Kundalini. I slowly adapted to specifying conditions within a property that I imbued.
Suppose, when I had created a blossoming arrow, it created 12 to 14 spikes that jutted out after bursting. That was not under my control before. But after a few dozen trials, using up a load of my energy, I could now reduce the spikes to 5 or 6 hence making its creation more energy efficient. The arrow shaft was made thinner, since all that was needed from the arrow was its burst ability. They used up a few prototypes to see whether the arrows were aerodynamic or not, suggesting proper changes to the shape of the arrows.
After it was satisfactory, the energy consumption was brought down to only 2.7 points of Kundalini.
I used up all my Prana leaving one, a total of 13 in number, as 8 points were used up for the trials from 22 points.
So, 13x3.6=46.8 points of Kundalini was converted to arrows, that required 2.7 points each.
A total of 17 arrows (46.8÷2.7~17) were created in four hours, out of which both of them took 8 each, and one was gifted to Yashvi. Anik and Jhanvi now had 13 blossoming arrows each, with 5 high quality, and 8 low quality ones.
"It was fun. Like a school project." Jhanvi clapped her hands as the final arrow was made.
"Yep, one guy does all the work while other two cheers..." Anik said sarcastically, roasting himself.
"You guys helped with your suggestions, so don't worry. I asked for that only." I consoled him ruffling his hair. "You're improving continuously, Anik. I won't mind following you if you keep this up. Knowing Charulata made me think. What if we founded a totally new one? Instead of inheriting one that already exists?"
Anik looked at me with a surprised expression. Then it turned into a pure and innocent smile. He understood what I was talking about. A new Kingdom in Satya. Where oppressed people like Charulata atleast had opportunities to make decisions for themselves. It was a fantasy for now, and required the attention of a lot of technicalities, but what's wrong with having a dream?
"What are you two talking about? Let me in on it too..." Jhanvi asked, sulking.
"It's a secret between The Boys." Anik teased her, not revealing anything.
Jhanvi didn't pester, smiling in defeat. "You four share a weird brotherhood among yourselves. It looks pleasant to the eyes, but makes me quite envious. Boys have always been quite mysterious to me, studying in a girls' school from the very beginning. My sister warned me about things before coming to the Ashrama, but I feel like sharing such a friendship isn't that bad."
She stopped, looking at us quietly.
Me and Anik exchanged glances.
"Is she saying she wants to be friends? Weren't we like that already?" Anik whispered.
"So Jhanvi. Fundamentally your question doesn't make sense in context of friendship between boys. We wouldn't have had this conversation at all. It's like an unwritten and unsaid contract. We already consider you a friend, so you don't need to ask us that." I explained to her.
"Really?" She looked confused.
Probably things roll quite differently for them. Who knows? Or her environment might have been different.
"Bro. You should stop assuming things before hand, okay." Anik whispered suddenly, "I just remembered what you told me about boys bothering cute girls to get their attention. I told you it wasn't about repaying debts or something."
"Yeah. I'm sorry." I whispered back.
"Why are you apologizing to me? Tell that to her!!" He again whispered.
"Will you two stop that? It doesn't matter what you thought about me before. It's fine." Jhanvi finally broke the silence after looking to and fro at our faces while we whispered among ourselves.
We smiled back awkwardly. "Sorry for that. We thought you were avoiding us so we had jumped to conclusions."
"Has that impression changed?" She asked.
"Yes ma'am. You're pretty chill." Anik replied with a smile.
"Then it's fine. I have also decided not to give much weightage to first impressions. Especially after watching Laksh. He was literally dead inside, back at Ashrama. And here? He's so much active during the fights. You can't easily tell how someone really is." She started the topic about seniors and we continued for a while after that. Gossiping is a basic human need. You just can't help indulging in it.