After all the students completed their synchronisation ritual we had a five minute meditation session. The fluorescent bulbs were also switched off leaving only the bluish light that was emanating from the tree shaped shrine. I looked around and observed a multitude of faces bathed in deep blue light, all concentrating with their eyes closed. I realised I knew none of the faces here. I have to spend time talking with them and learning what their skills are. Hopefully they can give me a direction on how to gain more active skills. I'll also have to look at the my skills' description and try practicing them to get a feel of how they work. Lots of things to do. I also needed to do school work, which was the actual thing I came here for. If they find out their son is going around screaming skill names they'll surely send me to a mental hospital instead.

"What do people usually do during meditation? I refuse to believe it is just closing your eyes and concentrating into the darkness." I texted Panna.

"You can feel Shakti in Satya Marta. The Shakti that flows through Prithvi(The World) is locked behind a barrier of Maya that the Kalpa Vriksha maintains and doesn't allow it to trickle into this dimension thus separating Marta into two. During meditation what you generally do is filter this Shakti and store it in seven chakra points in your body. Since Shakti is divine energy and cannot be held by mere human vessels, you have to create chakra points one by one for both filtering the divine energy into Kundalini, your internal energy, and storing it to be used for a wide range of uses later." Panna replied back.

"I know that you read my thoughts regarding how your sentences were short, but you don't need to forcefully make them longer like this. You can talk in any way that's comfortable for you." I noticed how she added extra conjunctions for making her sentence longer.

"Given time, I'll be comfortable enough to use long and sophisticated sentences like these. But for that I'll also need some practice, so bear with me..."Panna explained her motivations.

"Where did you learn all these things from? Do you have other sources that you have other than my memories?" I added after a while.

"Ofcourse, I can already access Kalpa Yaal for some reason. There are a lot of things which are still hidden from me but basic knowledge of the Lokas was instilled within me from the moment I was born. I will try my best to answer any questions you have so ask away, I realised that I enjoy talking with you!" Panna expressed her gratitude leaving me with a warm feeling inside.

"Don't just wait for me to talk. You can send messages from your side anytime you want if you feel you're lonely. I also enjoy talking with you." I tried to return the feelings I experienced. I hope it reached her through the message. Texts, I believe, often failed to express emotions properly. I can't wait to level up fast and meet her again. I imagined her growing all alone in that grove waiting for someone to come and interact with her. I don't know how we were bounded together, but experiencing her innocent and child like personality, I felt an instinct to protect and stand beside her.

"I hope you won't mind if I do..." She answered with a hint of shyness. Even though we were chatting, her emotions were palpable. I got rid of the worry I had before, regarding the communication of emotions. The same thing must be happening both ways. Reading memories is one thing, and feeling the emotions attached to them is a different thing altogether. I made a mental note to give her enough attention, as children often require it the most while growing up. Is this how it feels to become a father?

My thoughts were interrupted as the bulbs lit up. We slowly left the hall one row at a time from the end. Some people were already holding their clothes that had come loose, fortunately we all wore half pants inside to avoid flashing other people in case of a mishap.

Saiyan left for a talk with Mr. Baagh. While I accompanied Dweep and Anik back to our room. "What do we do now?" Dweep asked looking at us. He was another guy with slight freckles on his chubby cheeks. He wasn't round altogether but was close enough. It would balance out if he grew a bit taller. He had his hair cut military style, with three inches above his ears being bald. It was a weird shape to be honest, his absence of hair made the upper part of his head thin but the lower part below the ears was round.

"Let's talk a bit about ourselves. What do you say?" Anik suggested, as we heard people outside saying we can stay in our rooms for the next two and a half hours. I need to tread carefully, and not give hints that I'm a total newbie at everything.

"Yeah, but what happened with Saiyan? What was that golden light?" Dweep asked, curious just like me.

"I asked him but he said that he's not allowed to talk about it right now." I let them know.

"We'll know about it after we enter Ashrama I think. Maybe the things related to the event are bound by Maya." Anik theorized.

I was curious about this Maya. Why does it allow certain things to be said while not allow others? How do I distinguish between what's allowed and what's not?

I was afraid to ask it aloud as it might be a newbie question. I'll message Panna later about this, I noted.

I need to be attentive right now since questions can suddenly spring up targeting me.

"I'll start with myself then." Anik started the introductions. "I've been studying at a local school before which wasn't strict with attendances. It's always been my dream to live in the Satya Marta so I never bothered with things in this fake realm devoid of Shakti. I've trained with Bows and Arrows since I was seven. There is so much less time in here. I wish I could have practiced more."

"Whoa!!" Me and Dweep clapped, clearly impressed.

"Next is me I guess?" This time Dweep started after getting a look of affirmation from me. "I have come from the south end of the state, near the Bay. My family has a history of using the Parashu so they have been feeding me too much from the very beginning to make me look like this..." He smiled, clearly embarrassed. "Oh, it is a huge two handed battle axe with a crescent shaped blade. They are quite heavy to lift. I wasn't strong enough to wield them until I was ten years old."

I was more impressed this time. This guy is a hidden powerhouse. Better not make him an enemy. I was in a pinch, wondering how to give myself a leeway enough to give them an idea that I wasn't that much of an expert in anything.

"Yeah, so I come from near the state capital. My parents wanted me to lead a normal life, but after learning about the truth I had to come here any way I could." I straight up lied. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the back later. "My parents allowed me here only under the condition that I have to mostly focus on studies and not get engaged in things that untimely took away my grandfather many years ago."

What an interpretation!! Kudos to the imagination passive. I saw my friends getting a bit apologetic.

"Don't worry guys, it's cool. I hope you guys will help me to manage things." I added at the end to make sure they don't have to feel awkward.

"Don't worry atleast about your studies here. You'll have enough time. Problem is with your skills right now. If you don't have any combat skills you can always be helpful as a support. Many people don't know but supports play a huge role in any aspect, whether it is a game or an actual war." Anik tried to console me.

"What will be the actual scale of the wars we'll participate in?" Dweep asked. He should have known about it, considering that his family already attended the Ashrama.

"Didn't your parents tell you?" I asked back curious.

"They didn't, knowing that I would hate it. I never truly understood why we have to go somewhere and fight for no reason. Is it just for honor? Or is it just an excuse for feeling like we are making a difference?" Dweep tried to explain. "They kept explaining how they can't say anything, and that they can only prepare me for what's to come. If Maya is so all encompassing, maybe it should have allowed us to atleast know what all my unconsented hardwork was for. I also wanted to play with the children in the neighborhood like a normal guy and not swing around heavy metal maces just so I can fight in some other dimension."

This guy was infact speaking facts. I was not in a position to say anything because I mostly had no idea about most of the things, but from my perspective, without enough information, I shared the same views as him.

"When you arrive in Satya Marta, I hope you get your answers." Anik said, "We might have to research thoroughly if we want to know which words are not allowed to be talked outside, making a list and finding patterns among them. Usually from what I have seen, important names are not allowed to be talked about."

Saiyan came back to room after 45 minutes looking exhausted. Anik and Dweep looked curious but did not bother him. He changed from traditional to casual wear by keeping the half pant as it was and wearing a round necked on top. Lying down on his bed just like us he scanned our expressive faces.

With a sigh, he let us know that he will be given some special training in the Ashrama and won't be taking normal classes like us. That a message arrived from the other six gurukuls with a mention of the same golden light which appeared on their side too. One person from each of the seven gurukuls have been chosen for some reason. Since it had never happened in the Ashrama's recorded history, the sages were quite anxious that things might get tougher from now on.

How much of it was a coincidence? Why did it have to happen when our batch got admitted?

"Do you know anything about a golden light that appeared during the synchronisation rituals? Also, I didn't know that there were six more Gurukuls like ours. I tried to keep my poker face when I heard it because it might be a known fact." I texted Panna.

"Yeah there are six more, so seven in total. All named after the Saptarishis, the seven celestial yogis of the sky."she answered. "About the golden light, I keep finding mentions of it in the Kalpa Yaal but the amount of clearance I have for the information is more or less equivalent to the ones who are asking questions about it over there. So yeah, for more information you need to level me up."

The Saptarishis are a group of immensely powerful entities in our myths. Each one of them referred to a star in the Big Dipper constellation. I don't have all their names memorized but they were the source of all morals and laws of the world. A single scolding from them would afflict even the Gods with terrifying curses.

So each of the Gurukuls were named after them. I thought, trying to extract more information from whatever stories I had heard before. Our Gurukul was named after Rishi Vishwamitra, who was the Guru of Lord Rama and Lord Lakshmana, sons of one of the most powerful emperor of Marta, King Dasharatha. Lord Rama learnt all about wielding divine missiles and weapons from Rishi Vishwamitra, who wanted to prepare Rama for his inevitable battle against the symbol of arrogance, Ravana, all of which is recounted in the epic of Ramayana. The other Rishis all had their own stories and played a huge role into the shaping of our Puranas.

"I can't wait to meet the students from other Gurukuls." Anik said suddenly, his acne was actually getting lighter on a closer inspection. While my body didn't have any noticeable changes, I felt like my senses were a bit more sharp. When I focused enough I could hear the insects that were buzzing around the light bulbs in the corridor. Kalpa's sap is quite impressive. I wondered in which form was it currently inside my body. Was it swimming incessantly in my blood stream? Or made nodules in different areas? Or made a new network like the blood vessels in our body but with sap flowing through it? What if something happens and it comes up in a lab test? Will the doctors start experimenting on me? I need to increase my ailment resistance as much as possible I guess. Also the curse resistance. Every story in our myths starts with a random curse inflicted by a sage on either a God or a King, who might have done something really negligible, but had still managed to offend the sage. A set of events would then follow afterwards, that will change the course of the Puranas forever. With 0 resistance if someone stronger than me, which is almost everybody at this point, simply told me to jump off a building I would probably do that seven times over.

I need to get an idea on how to increase the resistances. Do they increase simply by allocating stat points that we get after levelling up? Or do I need to get exposed to low amounts that won't kill me but prove to be enough for building up an immunity?

A bell suddenly rang out and continued for more than five minutes marking the end of our discussions.

What I understood from our discussions was that we would be given a trial of various skills that will be demonstrated by the gurus in Ashrama and we can decide whose lessons to opt for. We all went for dinner after that where there was a simple egg dish and over boiled white rice with some vegetables and milk on the side. It was such a far cry from what I have been eating back home that I had to struggle forcing the food down my throat. I probably won't grow properly if I keep eating like this, i thought, gulping down a glass of milk, which helped me swallow the leftovers getting stored up in my mouth cavity. The milk had a different flavor from what I had back home though. It was thicker with a hint of some indescribable smell, which I assure you wasn't helping it taste better. People have already made groups based on their rooms and were sitting together in every bench. Suddenly a thought crossed my mind. Wasn't Anik a long range damage dealer? Thinking in terms of games I have played or have seen streamers play, usually a party has a close range and a long range damage dealer, a tank and a support or a healer.

"What weapons do you use?" I whispered to Saiyan.

"Usually a Talwar." He replied. It is a single handed curved sword that is quite flexible and light in weight. So he must be a close ranged dealer. I can already imagine Dweep to be the tank considering his weight training and bulky figure. The last position is a support. Considering the skills I got from the green status screen it looked like I was a healer. Well, you can learn anything they say while binding us to these roles. How do they even know my disposition? They placed us into our rooms before the synchronisation ritual happened right?

I decided to not worry about this as I had already come to a dead end. It was fascinating though. As if they already know our futures.

We rinsed our mouth, brushed our teeth and set up the mosquito nets. I took a last minute potty break to make sure I didn't wake up feeling the pressure in the middle of my sleep. Will it even be a sleep? Do I dream of the Ashrama and control an avatar in that dimension or do I physically get transported to Satya Marta?

Our mentors came once to make sure everything was ready before switching off our lights at 10.30 pm.

"Ohh, the pills!!" I suddenly remembered.

Saiyan came out of his bed to give each of us one pill from his wardrobe. Apparently his hyperactive brain finds it difficult to sleep as small sounds put him into alert mode.

We all took the pills at the same time counting till one from three. After a few seconds of silence Saiyan's bed lit up. A network of neon white tendrils covered his body, glowing brightly in the dark. It started from the legs, travelling up to his head and suddenly poof! He disappeared. I laughed out loud. This wasn't what I was expecting at all. Dweep soon followed leaving me and Anik in the room.

"Finally, I'll be where I'm supposed to be!" Anik slowly whispered and disappeared in a flash of lightning.

"What will we do for only seven hours there?" I asked myself feeling my eyes getting heavy. The sap is so multi purpose. Almost everything that happened, occurred by the courtesy of Kalpa's sap. What other secrets does it hold? Everything will be answered in a few moments. In a flash of lightning which manifested over my closed eyelids, I felt my body floating for a millisecond, going through jelly for the next minute and instantly felt gravity as grass touched my feet.

I opened my eyes to a cloudy ash gray sky. I remembered the weather of a hill station I had visited in the north of my state a few years ago where even the clouds would come inside the hotel rooms once you opened the windows. I stood up to find myself in a familiar place. A beautiful green meadow surrounded by snow-capped mountains. A twin waterfall in the distance and a huge Banyan tree in the middle of the clearing. The huts which I thought were primitive, surpassed my imagination with their majestic size. I found myself wearing the traditional clothing that I wore during the ritual. Panicking, I checked to make sure whether my pants were still inside. Okay, thank God, it's definitely there.

So I am finally here. Taking in the cool and refreshing air with a long and deep breath I looked towards where my fellow batch mates were gathering. I scanned through the crowd, found my roommates and joined them at once.

"Was I late?" I asked Saiyan.

"Yeah, late by five or six minutes, I think." He noted.

"Wait, I was only late by around fifteen seconds, I'm sure."

"Oh, you probably didn't know, but a day here is an hour outside." He stated like it was no big deal. "Be patient and keep learning." He added. "There is always enough time here."

Well well, so I'll have to spend a week here. Wonderful.

Finally being free of Maya's bindings, I wanted to start asking him questions when a series of gasps suddenly erupted everywhere around us. While we stood on the right of the Banyan tree, the space opposite ours and at a stone's throw distance, slowly got riddled with innumerable cracks big enough to each hold a person. Hundreds of young girls also wearing white traditional clothes materialised and got surprised finding us crowded infront of their spawn points.

"Wait!!! You guys knew about this??" Dweep suddenly asked us with a shocked face. I'm sure I too had the same expression on my face.

Saiyan: "Yeah, I did..."

Me: "I didn't!!"

Anik: "That's why I said I can't wait to arrive here." He said with a knowing smirk on his lips.