I remembered my dream and cursed my stupid hormones. Out of all the dreams I could remember, why was this one the most vivid? Our eyes met for a millisecond as I kneeled down to slap the cool water over my face. Should I apologize? She said there's no need right? I'll just go back for breakfast, since my stomach is killing me with hunger. I didn't feel the pressure yet since I had skipped meals yesterday. I'll try sitting in the stalls for a while after breakfast. As I started walking away, I heard her voice, " I thought you wanted to apologize?"

D: "And I thought you were cool with it."  

S: "I thought I was, but I suddenly got curious when thinking about it after training. I came here getting a gut feeling that I would come across you today. Just a bonus over my self reflection time."

I stepped back to where I was kneeling down and also sat with my legs dipped into the water.

D: "Honestly, I was on my way to relieve myself. The longer one. And you stopped me suddenly accusing me of something I wasn't . I probably also got angry that my body features in the dark made you think I was an Asura. That probably hit me the most. Did you think I was a goblin or something? So yeah, both the feelings of irritation derived from holding something back and the insult made me use harsh words unnecessarily." I was surprised at the flow of words coming out of me one after another. This was unlike me. "I totally ignored the hard work you might have put in, assuming you were simply talented just because you were one of the chosen students. Ah, also the fact that you could already materialise your kundalini made me jealous. That was all I guess. So yeah, I'm sorry for acting like that."

S: "That was a believable answer. And a genuine apology. I will accept it. But why are you jealous? You aren't lagging behind at all."

D: "Wait, you can see my current condition? People also have powers like that? This is so unfair."

She chuckled brightly. "It's not a power. You have activated your chakra but haven't learnt to hide it properly yet. Yesterday it was only like a little film covering your body. But a fierce red fire is burning around you now. People who already have awakened their chakra will easily notice it. You are continuously circulating your kundalini within your vessels right? You have to stop doing that. Try it."

I closed my eyes and concentrated. In semi manual mode, I was the one responsible for the kundalini movement within the distribution vessels. I gently willed the kundalini to stop wherever they were and stay stagnant inside the vessels. It hated to be bounded like that but kundalini inherently was better at listening than Shakti. It slowed down and stopped in its tracks. I filled my intake vessels with Shakti to the brim to make sure no more of it could enter, stagnating the intake vessels too. It was quite easy to do, but without the information you wouldn't even think about doing it.

"Thanks for the tip." I said getting up. It's been a few minutes since the breakfast bells rang. I needed to recover my Prana points too, so skipping it wasn't an option.

"Let's go." she also stood up from her position stopping me in my tracks.

"It will be better if you go first. I don't want to put a target on my back." I said and waited for her to leave.

I heard a slight giggle as she disappeared into the jungle. She was fast.

I dragged my zombie ass to the Dining Hall and started eating. I waved at Saiyan when our eyes met from far away. Maybe he was making sure that I atleast came for breakfast after skipping dinner. There were one third of the students who didn't know about cloaking their kundalini and stood out like Power rangers in the wild. Most of them were either green, orange, red or yellow. There were other people who probably have also walked the same path of self humbling like me.

After breakfast, I waited around to talk with Saiyan.

"You've also learnt cloaking. Someone else is helping you other than me right? I feel jealous now." Saiyan teased me.

"It was just a tip from an acquaintance." I dismissed it like it was something insignificant.

"You met her didn't you?" he suddenly teased. This damned mind reading...

S: "I guessed so, only we know about cloaking right now. So someone who's an acquaintance other than me, and from the seven people is only her. I was surprised to find you not shining among all the other students."

It suddenly crossed my mind that Soovam also wasn't emanating anything when we talked yesterday. He was also getting help from one of the chosen ones probably. He already knew about cloaking by yesterday. 

"Oh by the way," Saiyan continued, remembering something. "Yesterday you were asking about skills right? If you like drawing, you can start with Aksharas. You know stick figures right? You can imbue Kundalini into the symbols to realise them into the world. Charm creation will be derived from it in future. The runes will slowly get more complicated and take more time to complete, how fast you can complete them becomes the most important factor in these skills. The more detailed they are, the more kundalini you can imbue and more powerful the effects will be. Just try drawing something by emanating your kundalini like you're using a pencil instead of spreading it everywhere. Try it. You'll be able to do it."

"Got it. I hope your training is also going well. By the way, what are you guys planning to do during Rakshak Vrata?" I asked looking around to make sure no one was around us. "You have already drunk that Amrita no? Will you consume it twice?"

He got surprised for a moment, but came to terms with it real soon. Probably he was wondering how I came to know that.

S: "We are supposed to help the seniors from the side lines to farm as much experience as possible. Don't tell it to anybody, but just getting a hit will give you enough exp for levelling up at the beginning. It will get progressively harder later on, but right now the faster we level up the better."

I felt like the fact that he was getting such undue advantages over us was making him feel guilty. That's why he was giving me these bits of information to make himself feel better. Who cares? I'm getting the benefits after all.

We again parted and went on our ways. Two more days left before the Vrata. I need to start preparing. That 'getting a hit' information was precious as a diamond. I need to develop some method that will maximize the number of hits I can make, while also optimising the amount of kundalini used for each of them. 

I activated automatic mode where Panna took care of retrieving the stored kundalini while also activating my skills, as I started drawing shapes in the air with my ring finger, trying to imitate what the wardens had done. Something I needed lots of. Ants? I tried drawing an ant with two dots, one small and one longer, followed by six bended lines for legs. The kundalini left my body and started floating away instead of staying together like those videos of water I have seen floating in the space station. The two dots didn't stay together and moved away like the two actors driving away in two different directions in that famous music video with most amount of views.

"It's really been a long day." I thought to myself, right after breakfast, wondering how to crack this new problem. Controlling the kundalini within our body is manageable, but after it went outside, it felt like the connection between us was severed forcefully. I have to try with a small problem and build up upon it, not dive in head first. I released a fist sized red kundalini from my ring finger and let it float in front of me. I tried establishing a mental connection with it like I have with Panna. I tried touching it as it deformed and floated away from me. I saw that it stayed like that instead of regaining its previous almost spherical structure. Is this like sculpting instead? I thought while touching it again. I pinched at one end of the kundalini sphere with a bent side, and made a pointed end. I chuckled, "Looks like a really huge bee." 

If different blobs of kundalini repel each other, I will have to make something from the same blob of kundalini it seems. Continuing with the shape of a bee in my mind, I pinched and pulled from the top of the shape to bring out two deformed wings. Then twisting six threads by pulling from the sides. Then I made two indentations for the three body sections. I got confused once, are there three parts or two? Well let's go with what's already done. I finally made an antenna on each side of its head and ended my sculpting project. The bee kept floating like a dead fish in an aquarium. Okay, let's try again. I slowly released Kundalini again, trying not to push it during the process so that it keeps floating near me then tried making an elongated snake. It also floated around my body like a satellite. By this time, my auxiliary chakra point was already depleted and it started vigorously borrowing energy from the root chakra. Float, float float, two indentations, six legs, big mandibles, ant done. Next! pinch top for the beak, two wings extending out, flat tail, two thin stick legs, bird done. Dead Kundalini animals kept floating around me without life. Some were completed, some were half done, being too hard for a small blob to take after its shape. It's not working, prompting me to think something was missing in my own understanding. It's tough to gain an understanding with only bits of clues everytime. I stopped everything and this time, activated field of protection, recovery, wood flesh and bonk to make the space inside the cave bigger. I needed to see how many bonks I can use before getting empty. It counted to about 23 times. Not enough, and I doubt people will let me come to the front lines to get hits like that from a close range. Do I learn using a bow? I don't think it's possible to learn it properly within two days either. It was really frustrating. I went back for lunch to replenish Prana and came across Somi and her three friends while walking out of the hall after I was done. She flicked her wrist, extending out two fingers without raising her hand as a greeting, and I returned a slight nod. She looked pretty cute with a pony tail. Not again, I thought hurrying away. 

"I think you need help." Prana chimed in. My mind was quite lonely, I realised, as soon as her voice intruded my mind like a bright sunshine. I decided to take a bathroom break and freshen myself up before returning. 

"That is actually something I think I might really need." I answered after a long time after going through my bathing routine.