I stood in front of the huge mountain like an idiot. Do I now have to climb this whole mountain after coming this far? I'm sure as hell that it was not possible for me. I inspected the boundary of the pool to discover if there was some kind of a secret chamber hidden in the fog behind the waterfalls, but couldn't find anything. Let's follow the mountain face and try to find a groove that goes inward enough to take me closer to the Shakti Rekha. Wading through the dense shrubs I finally found what I wanted.

P: "We still probably need to go inside by more than a dozen meters from here. Try finding another one like this."

Me: "I have walked enough, it's time to try my active skills. Hopefully they'll also increase in level by repeated usages." I said, rejecting her suggestion

Taking a long breath, I whispered, "Wood Flesh!!"

Nothing happened.

Panna interrupted with a sigh, "You'll need Kundalini to use your active skills. And for Kundalini, you'll need chakra centers that will purify and convert the divine Shakti absorbed from the surroundings, into your internal energy. You're putting the cart before the bullocks."

"Can't I get Kundalini in a different way? What about Prana? I have enough of it. Can't I use skills by consuming it?" I said looking at my status which mentioned Prana having 10 stat points.

"You surely want to die!! Don't use your Prana recklessly! Never!!" Panna got agitated, "You'll die if it depletes to zero!!!!"

"What if I keep just enough of it? Teach me how to convert Prana to Kundalini." I kept persuading her.

"Fine, I know you're stubborn. My sap on your left hand will take care of it. Remember to only use skills with your left hand while you're using Prana. I'll work as an intermediary who will manage the conversion. I'll stop the skill forcefully after your Prana reaches 1. Give me your permission." Panna seemed angry.

"Yes, I allow you to take care of the mechanism that you described." I said getting motivated.

"Wood Flesh!" I said out loud as the skin on my left hand turned dark, wrinkly and ugly. I lost all sensations from it and felt like someone had shoved a cricket bat up my shoulder joints. It was inflexible and lifeless. Without wasting my precious time, I started hacking away at the base of the groove. As I succeeded to make a proper hole because of the soft earth, that had been conditioned with the water of the falls over hundreds of years, I used my Bonk! skill to make it deeper.

"Don't use this skill. It takes away quite the amount of Prana. Wood Flesh requires only a little of it to maintain so use only that."

No shortcuts then, I muttered and continued scraping away at the soil from the mountain. I kept hoping to only find the sediments brought down by the waterfall and not hardy granite.

"How far still?" I asked like a little child waiting for a long journey to end. The sun had set two or three hours ago and I heard the distant echoes of a bell ringing back at the Ashrama.

P: "Only a couple of meters. I don't think we can continue any more today. It was foolish of us now that I think about it. We should have gained some Shakti first from the dorm and then come here. But... Whatever. The grass is always greener on the other side. You might have taken two days just to understand how to take Shakti into our body. We'll never know. Let's have dinner and return here. Prana is replenished by taking in life energies from other entities. The fruits here must be teeming with Prana. Hopefully we can recover whatever we have lost fast."

The journey back to the Dining Hall was excruciating. Three hours took away 9 points of my Prana leaving me with only 1. You could say I'm a zombie right now.

"You knew what you were getting into." Panna said with a hint of affection and worry in her voice. "But I loved seeing your determination today. Made me glad being bounded to you."

She's so good with words, I thought, while melting from inside because of her wholesomeness.

"I'll work hard for us, so keep supporting me." I whimpered, soliciting a laugh from her.

"That didn't come out as cool as you wanted it to be." her voice appeared, amused.

"I know, no need to say it aloud..." I said suppressing an embarrassed smile.

I had never felt so famished before. Even Saiyan was surprised as he was the only one who sat both times back at Gurukul to eat with me, and saw me how I often struggled to complete whatever food it was. I had never eaten such juicy fruits before. A single bite from the Apple left my hand covered in juices. I felt a bit guilty eating the mangoes but Panna didn't seem to mind much. The litchees were my favourite. The ones I often had back home had big seeds and little flesh but these were majestic. Nothing came close. I took a glance at my green status screen to see that my Prana was now around 7, recovering two hours worth of manual labor. Raising my hand, I asked for some more litchees as people around me snickered, subconsciously labelling me as a glutton. The boys in the hall were quite agitated, I felt after calming down a little. They kept glancing towards the side where the ladies were sitting.

I found my mind full of thoughts about breaking rocks. You got no time for ladies when you have mining work to do, I guess.

"Did you guys already create your Chakra centers?" I asked Saiyan, wondering what kind of extra training they were doing. Everybody has their own path to follow. Right now my top priorities were finding the hidden Rekha, and learning Charm Creation.

S: "Naah, usually it takes four days. But the seven of us might be able to create one tomorrow. Please try to create one as soon as you can. I think something crazy is going to happen at the Rakshak Vrata ritual. This time both the sixth and seventh graders will be coming to protect us. I'm also getting a weird gut feeling. Something is happening in a place hidden from us. The Asuras might be plotting something. Atleast learn the recovery skill before the ritual as an insurance." Saiyan replied, clearly worried.

We waited for our turn to leave the Hall. Anik and Dweep came up to me asking where I was all this time. They left in a hurry asking me to come to our room if I still haven't found a place.

As I snuck away to my mining spot again, I wondered how awesome it would be to create a Chakra point by tonight.

"I think it will be possible with my help." Panna confirmed my wish. But it will be painful. The feeling of having raw unhindered Shakti rushing into your body will be excruciating, but you'll need to grit your teeth and endure. When I grew my first leaf and felt the Shakti in this world, I also felt like dying but somehow managed to endure. You'll also be able to, so trust yourself." She must have also gone through her own struggles even before she met me.

I again started breaking down the earth of the groove, creating a small cave inside, using up only two points of my Prana. I realised mid way that whatever skills, whatever knowledge I had currently all came from Panna. Without her, right now, I was nothing. She's been working so hard for me unconditionally and without any complaints.

"Thank you..." I whispered under my breath.

Panna stayed quite sending a complex set of emotions through our mental bond. The emotions rolled throughout my body giving me an intense goosebump over my spine and brought tears to my eyes. Were they tears of happiness?

This time I worked for four hours consuming only two of my Prana points. Maybe there is some conversion factor, that keeps getting higher the more you use it.

The cave was vibrating with so much energy that for a moment I hesitated. It was as if I was preparing to touch an electrical wire all the while knowing that it could lead me to my death. Sweat broke out over my body.

"Trust me." Panna whispered trying to console me, "You know that you need to do this. I'll keep you safe."

Steeling myself, I sat on the ground, shifting until I felt like my body was starting to break down.

"I didn't think it would be...." I failed to form coherent sentences anymore. I felt the Shakti which was intruding my body, disappear after reaching my left hand, making me realise Panna was doing what the sages were supposed to. She was taking some of it for herself, balancing the amount that stayed within me. I felt the Sap Vessels which were once dormant within me come alive and start twisting around like an injured snake. I might die, I thought for a second as Panna's voice rang deep and clear inside me.

"Please hold it, Dhruva, please. It will be all for nothing if you give up on it right now. You have already come this far, only a little bit of the path is left. Remember why you started. You need to win. Create a Chakra before everyone else. When did you start leaving things as it is??"

This was the first time she spoke my name. I thought, as her scolding jolted me back into focus. Before everyone else. After I got admitted here, I have been losing myself slowly. The drive I had that made me study hard for the admissions had disappeared somewhere. Finding myself lagging behind everybody sent me into path of self doubt, sub-consciously accepting that there was nothing I could do about everybody who had an early start before me. I had decided to move forward slowly, taking my time to learn things.

But that won't take me anywhere. I won't be able to catch up with everyone with a mentality like this. I now had Panna with me. With her help and knowledge, I can match their level and even surpass them if I work harder and smarter than everybody else.

Deciding to take control I imagined invisible hands travelling within my body. The pain was making me unable to even think about the image of a hand. What is the concentration passive even doing?? As soon as a hand materialised in my mind, I imagined it holding on to the necks of snakes that were wiggling inside my body. Imagining the sap vessels as snakes, I made them bite my skin from inside. Their heads will be the points that would swallow Shakti from outside. I slowly made another hand with the earlier one still clutching the snakes' heads and keeping them in place. With the new hand I took hold of their tails and tried to tie them together in a knot. That knot will be my chakra center.

"That's a good way to visualise your Kundalini vessels. Now let the Shakti decide where it wants to nest in your body. The thoughts you had while accepting Shakti will dictate which chakra center will be created. You will feel a sudden rush of incoming energy, so prepare yourse....." Panna's voice got replaced with a shrieking scream, as if I was standing right in front of a massive tornado. My ears started ringing and my body almost broke its formation as the weight of the world crashed into me from above. It felt like bullets were entering into my body through the mouths of the snake like Sap Vessels. The base of my spine grew hot, trying to burst out as if wanting to create a tail. A red glow appeared from behind my back, right where the tail bone was supposed to be, dyeing the cave walls with the color of a sunset. I felt a solid organ materialising there, which suddenly started twisting and turning. The snakes in my body started to grow wild, swallowing Shakti from the surroundings like their lives depended on it. I could feel hot liquid trickling all over my body, flowing down and meeting the organ, to be stored there, like when you drink some cold water only to feel it travelling down your throat and chest as it reaches your stomach.

I felt the organ getting filled up which slowly overflowed to even fillup the snakes that were feeding it. Just before the hot liquid could burst out of my body, it stopped, leaving my body with the sensation of a filled stomach. As if any more would burst my body into a hundred pieces.

As the pain subsided, I fell back, and stared up at the cave walls. The outside of the cave had a bluish hue heralding the arrival of sunrise. We had dinner about three hours after sunset, and now it was already dawn. It didn't even feel like so much time had passed.

"You did it, Dhruva, you did it!!!" Panna cried out in excitement. You got the root chakra as your first one. I saw in your memories how you came to accept your shortcomings, that you were indeed lagging so much behind everybody. While also deciding to work harder than anybody else to catch up with them. You were arrogant before, being able to achieve in just a year, what your peers couldn't in two. But after coming here, you were grounded to the earth, realising that you were just a frog in a well. Good job!! This realisation often comes very late to naturally gifted people who can learn things at a glance or those who have been learning specific things from the very beginning. I think it's better to go upwards one by one. So the next in line will be....ahh" she suddenly stopped awkwardly.

Yeah I know. I still haven't felt the effects of testosterone yet but within the next year I might, as we usually hit puberty around twelve or thirteen. I remembered how the only thing in my mind today, was mining. And then creating a chakra point. Being able to have such single minded thoughts was so awesome. Thinking that soon my mind will be filled with useless clutter kind of intimidated me.

"That is just a part of growth, I think."Panna added, "Being able to feel those emotions while also controlling them will make you a better person overall."

"If I ever start acting in a way not expected of me, make sure to put me back into my place. Can I ask you that?" I asked her for a favor.

"I will stop you before you can even think about it. Watching you acting like that, will only make me want to die in embarrassment." she said with a lively chuckle. "Let's go back and take some rest. You deserve it."

As I walked back slowly, Panna started a small talk.

"Just hypothetically, why do you think we are learning all these things? There is a lot I know, but there is also so much more that I don't. These things are all meant for fighting right? Are you going to fight someone just because the people here are asking you to? Or will you just indiscriminately kill whoever shows you hostility? How will you decide who to kill or whom to save?" she asked almost quietly.

"Are the ones we have to fight mindless beings bent on destruction?" I asked back.

P: "More often than not, there will be beings who have a genuine reason for fighting, I suppose, unless you choose to be totally blind to their motivations."

Me: "Standing at this point with no information whatsoever, I'll just predict what the consequences of their actions will be. If they serve to destroy what I cherish and have acknowledged as important to me, I'll fight them with whatever I have, whoever it is." I said sternly. "I don't care what the bigger picture is, I'm fine as long as my family, you and the friends who'll be close to me in future are safe. It might be a selfish answer but I'm not a great hero, sacrificing myself for the sake of others I don't even know. If I have to do charitable work it will always start with people close to me."

Panna didn't say anything after that. I wondered if my answer made her upset. Maybe she expected more of me.

"Did my answer disappoint you?" I asked her.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. Probably someday when I'm in trouble and you arrive to save only me, disregarding other people who also needed help, maybe I'll be glad. I might feel sad for the others, but I'll also be happy that you came for me." she paused for a while, maybe for collecting her thoughts, "Maybe everything in this world is like this only. You get something by losing another, save one by sacrificing others. I feel like this question will often come up in your journey. I hope we can come up with a satisfactory answer together."

I agreed.

I sat on the edge of the pool, dipping my feet in, staring at the snow capped peak high above. Continuous drops of water dotted the surface leaving concentric waves all over. I sat there quietly until I felt the pressure to relieve myself. The pain at the base of my spinal cord had transformed, travelling further below, threatening to come out right then and there. The sap vessels twisting and turning inside might have also played a role in churning my stomach to create such an outcome.

Just as I turned around after getting up, I saw someone entering the clearing infront of the pool, crossing the boundary of shrubs signifying the perimeter of this area.

"Are you a student here? Which Gurukul are you from? Answer fast, or I would take it that you're someone not supposed to be here." A beautiful voice chimed in.

"Yes, Vishwamitra!!" I answered the two things she asked for in a concise manner. I realised her hand was glowing with a green energy as it slowly disappeared again.

"Ohh, okay... sorry for getting hostile. I thought you might be an Asuran scout." she defended herself.

"Yes, your imagination must already be at level 10. I'm so jealous." I retorted back.

"I also wish it was. But unfortunately I don't even have the skill it seems...ah."

She already knows what her skills are? Is she also a guardian like me? She slowly walked towards the edge of the pool where I was standing. On second thought, I needed to leave. Soon. Or I would be faced with the embarrassment of a lifetime. The light blue color of dawn when the sun was still below the horizon lit up her face which was dark under the shadow of the trees just a few moments ago. I realised she was one of the seven people who were chosen.

"So I guess you and the other six people have already consumed the Sanjeevani Amrita. And you have also created your first chakra center judging from the green kundalini you activated moments ago, probably inorder to kill me. Well good for you.  Considering you achieved all these in a single day while others might need a week for it." I observed, as I started walking back. "That is quite an elaborate way of bragging that you demonstrated. I need to hurry up and go take notes."

My walk broke into a full on sprint as I got dangerously close to the point of eruption. I wanted to stay and probe her for more information but nothing can be done right now. I also realised that I was getting quite irritated from holding everything in my stomach back and unnecessarily teased her, making me now feel guilty. She was only taking caution. I definitely overreacted. I could have worded things differently to interrogate her, in order to get an idea of where Saiyan and the other chosen people were currently standing with their chakra creation. It might be safe to assume that many more people have already created their first chakra centers, maybe much earlier than me. I decided not to give it any more thought. I have decided to atleast try my best and leave the results to Providence. My efforts in that cave were the best I could give and I was satisfied with it. That is the only thing that mattered.

I cleared my stomach at one of the bathroom stalls and decided to take a bath. It was so hot inside the stall that I sweated buckets.

Freshening up, I decided to return to my room and take a small nap. I must have been really exhausted to feel sleepy in this place where people usually stayed awake, training for seven continuous days. Lying on the yoga mat I succumbed to the threats my brain was making of shutting down.