2.5 Status and Choices. (3.8k)

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The chirping of birds woke me up early at dawn before everyone else.

Surprisingly, those girls sleeping on the bed were snoring away loudly, harmonizing with Jevin's rough breaths. The cold must have blocked all their noses. Maybe, I was also a vital member of this orchestra just a few minutes ago.

Having nothing else to do, I opened up my status window after a long, long time.

Panna's level 28 status was dead grey. It didn't even level up once after the falling out we had. That means, Charulata and the prince she served were Panna's Last Supper.

Guilt crawled up my spine for not using the 70 unallocated stat points now blocked along with the window. What a loss. Before I could start wallowing in my sorrows, I opened up Kalpa's stingy status, which she uses to spoon-feed the Seven stealing experience from our achievements.

During the league, I was level 28, but now, it has increased to 31 from sharing experience with the other members of the Pilgrimage. No wonder they talked shit about me for not hunting and eating up the hard-earned EXP they received from defeating random beasts in the mountain jungles.

They couldn't say it directly in my face because I was taking care of some of the cooking, cleaning, setting up tents, extracting loot from the carcasses, and providing them with free low-quality potions made from the herbs I collected on the way— Most of these things I had learned from my first dungeon crawl, taught to me by the wonderful quartet of seniors.

I hadn't allocated any points to Kalpa's status, from the moment I entered the Beginner dungeon till now. It had been sitting around collecting a considerable stash of stat points. What can I do? Interactions with Panna had subconsciously left me with a feeling of distrust against both her and Kalpa.

How she quickly shut down her status after our argument left me wondering what might happen if the same thing occurred with Kalpa.

And after what Kalpa threatened Vivikta with, I lost even the little trust I had left for her.

Let's use it as long as I can. I'll give Kalpa crumbs and pieces of satisfactory results to keep her at bay.

Before I had entered the dungeon, Kalpa's status was only level 11.

After Charulata's defeat, it became:

11 + 1(minions and 1st chamber Makara Boss) + 4(Prince) + 3(Charulata) = 11+8 = 19

Total points gathered: 16(8 levels x2)+15(3x5 from 3 blessing orbs) = 31

We couldn't fight the second and third chamber bosses, which the invaders had already taken down. So we had moved on to the next ones.

Since the amount of experience required to level up increases after every level, the fourth, fifth, and sixth chamber bosses gave only a single increment: 19 + 1 = 20

Points: 31 + 1x2 + 3x5(Blessings orbs for each of the three chambers) = 48

The seventh chamber with the final Makara dungeon boss gave no blessing orb but an extra five level-ups over the three we got from killing it.

Level: 20 + 8(3+5) = 28

Points: 48 + 8x2 = 64

Next came the Pilgrimage, where I gained three more levels.

Level: 28 + 3 = 31

Points: 64 + 3x2 = 70.

What a coincidence.

On second thought, Dweep and Anik might have been getting extra stat points over the two we non-chosen ones usually get. Kalpa had indeed kept her word. Well, let's decide on how to allocate these next.

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STATUS from [Kalpa]

Name: Dhruva

Species: Human

Age: 12

Trait: Quick Acquisition

Class: Vaidya

Level: 31

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HP: 410. (100 base + 31x10)

Attack: 35. (4 base + 31x1)

Defense: 19. (4 base + 31x0.5)

Crit chance: 0.09. (probability of hitting fatal points on random attacks)

Crit damage: 0.25. (Percent of extra damage added)

Stat points: 70

Lives left: 2

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STATS

Strength: 6

Stamina: 4

Agility: 23

Dexterity: 17

Intelligence: 16. (Increases ability to handle Kundalini)

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Shakti (divine energy): 0/4 (capacity of absorption vessels)

Kundalini (internal energy): 0/8 (capacity of chakras(main and auxiliary) and distribution vessels)

Prana (life energy): 25

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Curse resistance: 15

Enchantment resistance: 6

Poison resistance: 3

Ailment resistance: 11

Mental resistance: 26

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SKILLS

Passives:

Reasoning: LvL 2

Intuition: LvL 2

Visualization: LvL 3

Space Comprehension: LvL 2

Chitram: LvL 3

Chanting: LvL 1

Concentration: LvL 4

Mental Fortitude: LvL 6

Kundalini Conductivity: LvL 5

Kundalini Tethering: LvL 6

Shakti To Kundalini Conversion: 0.76+0.05

Active:

Wide Heal: LvL 2

Recovery: LvL 5

Kundalini Cloaking: LvL 3

Akshara: LvL 6

Javelin Throw: LvL 3

Swordsmanship: LvL 3

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Some special items I had right now from clearing the Beginner Dungeon:

1 Two-Level Selective Skill Strengthening

1 Skill Evolution

I'll use them much, much later, when one of my future favorite skills reaches level 8 to Max it directly.

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My dimensional box hotkeys:

1: Bare Kundalini Tether network. (Need to attach primary fogs. Will Disintegrate soon if not provided with energy)

2: Secondary weapon fogs. (Currently empty)

3: Secondary healing fogs. (Currently empty)

4: Secondary utility fogs. (Currently empty)

5: Blooming arrowheads. (Currently empty)

6: Makara Staff

7: Training Javelin x3

8: low-grade medicine x24

9: medium grade medicine x17

10: high-grade medicine x11

11: organ regeneration medicine x2

12: Makara Armor

19: poisons/failed potions

20: Cheat sheet with hotkey list

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Some other items currently inside the dimensional box:

Preserved food that included biscuits and cakes, a living tent, a bio-toilet tent, a brush, toothpaste, sets of clothes, towels, handwash, cooking utensils, sacks of herbs and medicine manufacturing kit, a sleeping bag, Sarpagandha potions to reduce mental burden of my Kundalini network and a lot other miscellaneous items primarily distributed by Vivikta before we embarked on our Pilgrimage.

I was honestly surprised to see Alik-based items in Satya. Well, with so many people traveling between the two dimensions, intellectual properties are bound to be distributed here. They can consistently manufacture things here with the knowledge from our dimension, even though things can't be brought over physically.

Regarding Kalpa's status, I had allocated some points before level 11 to dexterity, agility, and intelligence. As a result, my stamina and strength are really lagging behind.

I was happy to see my resistance stats. Training with Ashwatthama's curses and Vishwajeet's mental images had bumped them up.

The first few basic passive skills were a reflection of my artistic capabilities. They help immensely in calculating the coordinates of my fogs and traps.

Since I created the Akshara skill from the Chitram one, the latter stopped leveling.

Chanting classes don't start until the sixth standard since the minimum energy required for casting spells is 4 points of Kundalini.

I can try learning, but the problem is, so much can already be done with that amount of energy. Losing it all in a single spell will make me regret continuously during some difficult altercation.

Javelin throw and Swordsmanship skills have increased because of the blessing orbs in the Beginner Dungeon. I have nothing to do with their advancement, and perhaps I'm still as inexperienced with them as before.

I heard rustling beside me and found Aditi looking down at me from the edge of the bed she was sharing with Vivikta and Pratyusha.

"So the reason I never saw you tinkering with your status is because you like to do it when the others are either sleeping or not around." She whispered, making sure not to wake the others up.

"Actually... After the event with that mass of plants, I felt too lacking in my physical capabilities. I'm thinking of allocating all my stored-up points." I felt something was amiss, "When did we start talking so comfortably with each other?"

"Right now." She slapped her bed hair back into the pixie-cut form that framed her face and ended at her jawline. "I finally understood last night why you and Jhanvi had been having problems so often. I wanted to convey my sympathies to you."

"I think you misunderstood a lot of things." I said, trying to understand why she came to that conclusion.

"I did?" She wondered, "Then, was it someone else?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm... Was it before you entered the dungeon with us?" She asked, trying to gain more information.

"Yes. And that's all I'm going to say about this."

"I understand. Who would want to recount their own failures?" She smirked, "I've got enough information already. I just need to trace any rumors related to you, if there are any... If I really have to get to the bottom of this. Which 'I' won't, so don't worry."

I saw Vivikta sit up from our tiny commotion, looking around as if she was lost.

"Where was I? Oh, yeah... I remember. Take Jevin and get out. We'll call you after we are done freshening up ourselves." She said while rubbing her eyes after finding me on the floor.

I poked Jevin's left glute with my toes and jumped back as he sprung to his feet, ready to battle.

"Let's go." I wrapped my arm around his shoulder after standing on my toes because of his height. "They need to change."

He said nothing and followed me outside obediently.

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"How many peaks did we conquer?" Pratyusha held her hair up and tied it into a high ponytail. I caught a glimpse of her smooth neck before looking away, giving extra concentration to the meat cooking before me.

Dinner is important. With it already being evening, darkness won't take much time to descend.

"Six? Seven?" Vivikta sighed, "I'm too tired to count."

"Atleast the villagers aren't kicking us out after imposing on them for four days." Jevin worried as usual.

"Jamadagni might have asked them to provide us with any help they can." I guessed.

"Aditi sure has made friends with the children of the village." Pratyusha noted, staring out into the distance where Aditi was playing with marbles, squatting on the ground with a bunch of kids.

It's a game where you have to hit others' marbles to remove them from a circle drawn on the ground while keeping yours inside it. The last one standing wins after all three marbles given to each one the players have been exhausted.

"Let her relax. She's much more like her true self when playing with them." Vivikta observed with a gentle smile, resting her chin on a fist while placing her elbow on her thigh.

"Should we stop looking for the thousand-petal lotus around the peaks? What if it's inside a cave like the sources of many rivers?" I grasped for clues from thin air.

"Like Gomukh is to Shivling Parvat." Jevin looked up expectantly. "The actual source is under the mountain, and the melted water from the glacier comes out through some cave exit."

"If the lotus stored water for thousands of years, it might also be spilling out some..." Pratyusha finally seemed to have found hope, "Didn't we see a few streams of water joining the Saraswati river while scaling the peaks?"

"We can ask the villagers if they know about some caves that are hard to reach." Jevin suggested, "If the quest was given here, the objective might not be too far away. Jamadagni's temple and our Pilgrimage... Everything might have been predestined long ago."

Watching their optimistic demeanor, I couldn't help but feel that all these theories will somehow end up going down the drain.

A sudden commotion from where Aditi was playing with the village children, grabbed our attention.

She was now lying on the ground, pressing down with her shield on... Nothing. The children were running away from something, and some even started floating.

"How did little children awaken Air Kundalini?" Jevin was perplexed.

"You idiot! Help her! The kids are being kidnapped!!" Pratyusha almost shouted at him and motioned to open a jar with her hands. "Lakshman Rekha!"

Two golden circles appeared on the ground, imprisoning Aditi and the floating children inside.

Vivikta and Jevin rushed inside the golden circle and body-slammed the floating children, making me flinch.

"Did they go crazy? Wait no, they..." I was interrupted by the village uncles bolting towards us with machetes and sickles. One guy was also carrying a huge hammer the size of Vivikta's now broken weapon.

"Dhruva, stay near and protect me. There might be more of those invisible things around." Pratyusha ordered me while she concentrated on maintaining the barrier.

If only I still had my Prana to Kundalini Conversion Skill, I could have been helpful right now.

"Okay, leave it to me." I bluffed, bringing out my training javelin.

The things happening inside the Lakshman Rekha were comedic, as if movie heroes were shooting a scene with CGI monsters that weren't actually there.

Vivikta and Jevin were punching the ground while Aditi and a few other villagers swung their hand-held equipments targeting thin air.

But something horrifying soon happened.

Mounds of flesh tore themselves away from the villagers' and Aditi's bodies and disappeared. Their blood showered the assaulters and finally revealed a series of shark teeth and a long jaw attached to a face with sharp features.

Aditi and the injured villagers fell back for a second, sharing my low-grade potions given to Aditi among themselves.

Blood dripped from the chins of those invisible assassins, staining their chests and stomachs— An oddly shaped human-like being suffering from a case of severe malnutrition. The also brandished ape-like long arms reaching down to their shins.

"Why did you come back, Lakeh?" An old Village elder arrived, supported on a cane, and shouted in his authoritative, deep voice.

No one stopped to hear what he had to say. They kept lunging at invisible targets and beating them down even while bleeding profusely. My potions couldn't out-heal their damages.

"Rescue the children first. There must be a reason those demons are not killing them right now." One of the muscular uncles with a sickle, swiped at one of the invisible demons, bursting out a fountain of green pungent blood into the air.

The anxious cries from the children kept breaking my focus on our surroundings. Pratyusha won't forgive me if something happened to her while I'm on guard. Even if I'm a Vaidya, who's supposed to be protected by others and not the other way around.

The dead Lakeh near Aditi and the sickle-man fell on the ground, lost its invisibility, and revealed the true ash-gray complexion and the monstrous features of these man-eating monsters. They had matted hair, sunken eye-sockets, crooked shoulders, and thin limbs. I could count its individual ribcages, from how thin they were.

Watching their fellow monster die, the air near the floating children rippled, revealing two more demons grabbing the children's necks with their long, crooked fingers and dirty yellow nails.

Another pair of them appeared, but they were lying either unconscious or dead near Jevin and Vivikta.

Out of four children, two had been rescued, and two were left.

Total Lakeh taken down: three.

"Let. Us. Gooo!!!" One of the tallest Lakeh hissed. He banged the Rekha's wall with his left fist and shook the crying child in his grasp while giving us a chilling look. The other demon brought its nails near to the neck of the child it was holding.

"Trespassers!!! Sacrifice. Mother... Angry!!!!" The tone variations in the monster's speech gave us an idea of their urgent motivations.

"We had an agreement. You said you'll spare our village!" The elder was first debating aggressively but soon fell on his knees. "Those are little kids... We told them not to go there. Please spare them." He started pleading.

"Four offerings. Young." The leader Lakeh hissed. "At Night. We come."

Well, the number matches up with ours. We are also children, technically.

Somewhere, a series of events must have triggered this situation. Indeed a work of fate.

I won't be surprised if their 'Mother' might possess this lotus that had been hiding away for centuries.

"Tsk." Pratyusha clicked her tongue in frustration, "Never knew it would feel this bad to have someone hand you the very thing you were supposed to work hard and discover."

"The Gods gave up on us, I guess. To send us an answer like this." I agreed.

"Should I release them?" Pratyusha asked everyone in general.

"Leave the children here. We'll decide on it by tonight." The sickle-man sneered at the demons.

The two glanced at each other and seemed to be communicating among themselves.

"Two. Or Six?" The leader Lakeh gave a malevolent smile.

I glanced at Pratyusha. Sweat beads glistened on her forehead.

Am I not pushing a lot onto her just because she's the group's leader?

"Can't you repeat making a targeted barrier like you did while getting us out of the silt?" I whispered. "If the barrier appears as a point inside the demon's body and you expand it..."

Her eyes grew wide after hearing what I said.

"I have never... tried it before. Pinpointing a location where he's standing is quite difficult." She whispered back.

"Release the barrier. Let them go." The elder mumbled, unable to say anymore.

"Don't release it." I said, my brain racking for options. "How do you change the nature of the barrier? How does it decide who to let inside and who not to."

"We don't have time for a detailed lecture."

"Two of them are going to be sacrificed anyway." I insisted, "Humans work wonders under pressure. If you succeed, they'll be saved."

"Unseal this barrier." The sickle-man also asked this time. He seemed devastated.

"Constrict the barrier. Let out the children and friends. Keep those Lakeh in." I ordered this time.

"What if I... He's clutching the kid so close to him."

"Just do it." I said, sending messages to Vivikta and Jevin, "Even a slight confusion will be enough for them to swoop in."

Not a single response came from her this time. Everybody was getting impatient. Any longer, and we would have another set of troubles on our hands.

I sighed, frustrated by her indecisive nature, "Prana is so easily available. And you have a way to use it. Why didn't you practice new ways of utilizing it?? Anybody in your place could have done so much more." I ranted without regard of her emotions.

Her face gave a complex expression. A mix of anger, frustration, and anxiousness. Her eyes had teared up a bit.

"You're going to take responsibility if something goes wrong." She didn't blink once and stared straight ahead, fearing that a few drops might crawl down her cheeks.

"I will."

"I'm releasing the barrier. Don't attack us after coming out of it."Pratyusha announced.

"Only. Young Blood. Hurry." The tall Lakeh seemed amused after witnessing the Manavas grapple with moralities and the instinct to save their own hides.

Few uncles seemed relieved. Two were devastated. They seemed to be already deciding upon sending us next tonight.

The edge of the circles nearer to us started converging towards the other end, which had the Lakeh sticking close to it.

It soon became a cylindrical ellipse. Aditi, Jevin, Vivikta, Sickle-man, the two dead Lakeh, and the villages all came out one after another, unharmed.

Pratyusha inhaled a considerable amount of air and held it.

It's time.

"Reduce the height first. Take out their legs. The children are near their chests so, they'll probably be safe..." I whispered.

According to Pratyusha, her Lakshman Rekha, even though it manifests as a circle, isn't a sphere but a closed-off cylinder. What we see is the lower circular face of its actual shape. There's another face up in the air that stays invisible.

She can manipulate the dimensions of the twin cylinders by instant calculations and her Will, as if she's working with clay like a potter.

As soon the lower face of the cylinder crossed their knees on its way to meet the other elliptical face up in the air, Pratyusha changed the conditions to keep everything inside instead of letting things out. Her entry conditions remained the same.

The barrier materialized instantly and separated the body parts outside the barrier from the main body inside as it kept moving upwards.

"Now!! Move move! Pratyusha, stop the contraction. A speed mismatch might cleave the bodies of our friends while entering." I shouted, prompting Vivikta and Jevin to rush forward, jump onto the elevated platform, and grab the wrists of those demons that were clutching onto the children's necks.

Vivikta was perfect. Her left hand grabbed the imbalanced side-kick Lakeh's neck, knocking his air out, and her right hand showed a weird movement. A green flash, and the next moment, the child and the lakeh's arm were with Vivikta. Another succeeding flash of green beheaded her target, releasing a fountain of Lakeh blood upwards.

Did they decide to tackle their worst with our best to save atleast one life instead of losing both?

Jevin's opponent was ready for a mishap. It wasn't a surprise that everything went wrong.

In an instant, the feet-less Lakeh slammed against the vertical wall of the barrier. He had jumped back using his bleeding stumps and breaking the child's neck in the process.

A horrifying cry came out of Jevin as he mounted his opponent and plunged his fists into the eyes of the giggling Lakeh who knew its end was near.

As the shield dissipated, the crunching noises from Jevin's punches shattering the Lakeh's skull kept resounding in the village plaza.

The child's parents also appeared, cuddling his corpse with a blank look. They simply stared at their child, who was lively and breathing just a dozen minutes ago.

The parents of the other kids looked relieved for a second but feigned worry at the next while glancing at the family who had just lost their young blood.

"We let one of them die..." Pratyusha sat down on the ground and hid her face with her hands.

Vivikta came and hugged her. "You saved a life from an impossible situation. You did great."

She moved on to Jevin next, who seemed devastated. He's probably putting all the blame on his shoulders for not being fast or strong enough.

I felt numb. Nothing. I stared at my palms and my knees. All of them were normal, as if all this didn't matter to me.

"What have I turned into." I muttered under my breath.

Pratyusha stood up, gave me a glance, and walked away, retreating to our village guest house.

Aditi, who had been standing around in a daze, opened her mouth to tell me something but decided against it. She also followed Pratyusha.

I walked up to Vivikta, who was standing beside Jevin in a solemn mood, and touched her shoulder.

"You should have something that can find out the nearest Shakti Rekha."

She handed me an orb from her personal dimension.

"Go towards the fourth peak we scaled. It will light up." She announced from behind as I walked away.

I haven't got much time. Worst case, tonight. Best case, tomorrow noon. I hope Pratyusha and Jevin can function their best in our upcoming ordeals.

I have to be ready. Something told me, we were not even ten percent into the scenario.