Swamy was walking funny. Though he did not realize that. He walked usually to class, but everyone who saw him was secretly laughing. He entered the class and made his way to his seat, or to say where he regularly used to sit. He groaned! Rajan and Manish were animatedly chatting with Sneha and Himali. As Swamy approached, all their eyes moved towards him. Swamy greeted them and moved to his seat. Everyone kept looking at him however.

Swamy sat down. But quickly stood up. And then slowly relaxed on the bench. He sighed. He looked up at the four who seemed to be still looking at him, surprised, for some reason.

"Hey whats going on?" he asked.

They looked at each other and then Rajan decided to speak,

"Swamy, are you suffering from constipation or something?"

"Eh!! No I am not, what do you mean?"

"Well, just that you were walking sorta weird. And then you jumped before sitting. So we wondered whether you had an incident with your um... *back*, you know", Rajan smiled.

Saying which the girls started giggling. Even Manish couldn't keep a straight face and started laughing.

Was Swamy walking funny! He hadn't realized it. And now that he thought about it, he had jumped up while sitting down, but that was because....no, there had been no pain. Though if he was, he had a strange suspicion as to what had caused it. He shivered remembering it. Though he felt no pain in the real world, he was still affected. A couple of hours later his walk returned to normal, though he still slowly relaxed onto his seat while sitting down.

Back home Swamy tried to search for his condition. He was worried that maybe he was affected mentally which would not be good. Soon he found what he was looking for. It said this condition was "realized mental awareness". When the mind is affected by something in virtual reality, it treats the body as if it had gone through the same experience, even though the body is not actually affected. Normally the brain forgets the sensations of virtual reality as soon as you log off, working off the input received by the real body. But sometimes, extreme sensations may cause the brain to unconsciously remember the sensations of the game. In these situations, it takes a little while for the mind to readjust to listening to the real body's input. Ofcourse, because the brain believes in the sensations, it affects the body unconsciously. The article said;

"Your real body would act the same as your virtual body for a while. It happens because your brain which has been receiving information from virtual reality takes a while to realize that it is now not in the game. To simplify it consider your brain sharing two bodies. When you are playing the game, your brain acts on your virtual body. receiving information from it. But when you wake up, the brain is now getting information from your real body. Sometimes it happens that your brain takes time adjusting, so a subconscious part of the brain still believes it is within the game. For example, when you had a long car or train ride or even a cruise ride, you still feel like you are shaking or bouncing even when you are lying on your bed. In that case your brain realizes that you are still, but your body has trouble adapting. Reverse it, and your body is alright, but your brain takes time adapting. That is what is called in common terms virtual sickness or realized mental awareness.

Depending on the extent of sensations, this effect may be temporary or permanent. It is the reason why researchers insist on dulling extreme sensations like pain in the virtual reality environment. It may still affect us temporarily which can be easily solved by resting and not moving immediately."

'Oh, so this was happening because I didn't sleep. What a pain!' Swamy sighed.

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Raka was trying to climb as fast as he can. He looked behind at the monster chasing him and scrambled to find the next foothold. This was the third time he was climbing this hill, but he still had trouble remembering all the footholds he used in the previous climbs.

Whack! And a painful feeling came up from his behind numbing his mind. He willed his legs and hands to move from sheer fear of the monster behind her. Raka had a hard time believing people when they say that they had run away from monsters in other games. He always guessed that was because the monsters were strong and they did not want to lose their experience. Now he knew that he was wrong. It was because they were terrified.

'Terrifying' had a whole new meaning and it was what chased him.

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The first climb up the hill, resulted in the most painful 5 hours he had ever experienced. After the first whack, Raka ran up the gentle slope as if his life depended on it, however ten minutes later, he got hit again. He tried increasing his speed but the slopes simply started getting steeper and steeper till he was climbing using his hands and feet, finding toeholds and holding up branches or grasses to lift himself up. But still ten minutes later, another whack!

As he reached the rough part of the slope, he started slowing down, most of it due to the difficulty of the climb, but also because he was getting tired. He realized that his stamina stat came to play as normally he would already be exhausted by now.

Raka got hit every ten minutes till he finished that first climb. He fell face down exhausted not even looking at where he had landed up. Instinctively, however, he felt Lady Altia's presence behind her and scrambled away protecting his behind with his hands.

Taking heavy breaths he said, "Hah...hah...please don't hit me with that. Its painful!!" almost shouting by the end. Lady Altia simply smiled.

"He he he well wasn't that a fun game. And ofcourse its training"

Looking at her happy face, Raka thought this seriously 'I am gonna die here'.

"Alright then, now that we know how fast you really are, we will aim to beat your time in the next climb. For now, you need to run on down as fast as you can. Oh and its all training~" saying which she tried to make a cute pose whirling her little stick.

Raka did not wait for her to say anything more. He quickly got up and started scrambling his way down.

Going downhill did not prove to be any less painful.

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By his third climb he had reached his limit in both pain and tiredness. The only thing moving him was utter fear. Or adrenaline, he wasn't sure anymore. Then he saw,

Stamina increases by 1

He started feeling less tired than he was before the message. Seemed like the more he pushed himself, the more his stamina would increase. In fact after coming this far, every few minutes he was getting this message saying his stamina is increasing. His third climb over, he had increased his stamina by an incredible 25 points.

Raka swung his hand and leg over to the top of the hill and pulled himself sideways and rolled on the ground as he reached the top of the hill once again. He quickly rounded on his side, as his behinds started hurting the moment they touched the ground. And then,

Endurance stat has been created. Endurance reduces suffering and pain of the body, but only through undergoing such pain and suffering can you truly develop it.

Based on your efforts, you get 15 points to Endurance. This stat increases based on your actions.

Lady Altia soon came up behind him and said,

"We will rest here for tonight and begin tomorrow morning. If you are trying to escape during the night, let me tell you that the fierce animals around here hide during the day and get active during the night!"

Which kindof made sure that he couldn't run. He thought that dying would be better for a bit but he did not want to lose all the stats he gained after undergoing so much pain.

Raka felt so tired he wanted to drop down here and sleep. But he was quite near the edge and could fall off during the night. He tiredly moved away from the edge closer to the center of.... now that he noticed there was this large flat area very close to the peak where he was in. A little ahead he saw a lake. Being close to the peak meant that there were not many trees or plants, and it was mostly hard ground with patches of green grass here and there. It did not look like animals came here. The lake formed a stream which fell down the other side of the hill and he thought that animals could drink their water off the stream, not needing to come up to the lake.

Raka also hoped that he wasn't wrong about this. Without Lady Altia, he would be mincemeat in a matter of seconds. Now that he looked around, she wasn't there!

'Did she leave me here? No I don't believe that such good luck is possible. Knowing her she is still around here somewhere.' thinking which he decided to log out for a bit.

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Swamy came out of his capsule, rubbing his eyes. He looked up at the time and decided to get something to eat before he logged back in. He had quite a bit of yesterday's dinner in his fridge so he went next door and told his aunt that he won't eat dinner tonight as he just had something to eat.

'Maybe I should learn cooking myself.' This way he would not need to bother his aunt so much. Although he decided he would still have to show his face everyday. His mom would definitely be talking to his aunt about him.

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Raka looked up to find Lady Altia had returned. She had started a fire going. It looked like some kind of dead animal was beside her. A little while later, she started to skin the animal. As she lifted the animal, Raka got a good look at it. It looked like a one horned rabbit but this one was almost as big as a dog. And what big teeth. Looking at it, he could easily imagine it being able to bite off someone's hand.

Lady Altia soon skinned that rabbit, cut its meat into pieces, rubbed the meat with stuff she got out from small bottles which Raka assumed were spices, skewered them on a stick and then hung them over the fire to cook. Looking at her, it did not seem like she was putting any effort into it at all. Everything went seamlessly from the skinning to putting it on the fire. She rotated the skewer every once in a while. Soon...

"Here this one's for you. A reward for all the hard work you did today."

Raka put the meat in his mouth, and felt juicy mouthwatering deliciousness. Lady Altia can cook, was the only thing he had time to think before he quickly gobbled it up.

Stamina and Endurance increase by 10 for 1 hour

Satiety increases by 50.

After eating their fill, Lady Altia then wrapped the rest of the meat in some kind of large leaf. She made a hole in the ground and put the wrapped meat in there. She then closed the hole. Then she waved her hand, which disappeared in thin air and reappeared with a few blankets. She put down two on the ground side by side, folded up one for a pillow and said,

"Here this one is for you. The animals do not come up to this place during the night and also the fire keeps them away. So you can rest here or disappear wherever you go to~ yes I know that Goddess's children have a habit of appearing and disappearing and they hardly sleep when they are in this world. However, if you are not here by tomorrow morning then you will wish that you had disappeared." Saying which she wrapped another blanket up as her pillow and put one on herself and went to sleep.

Seems like there is a lot more to Lady Altia than meets the eye.

Raka laid down on the blanket next to Lady Altia, closed his eyes and soon dozed off. This was his first experience of sleeping in the game and according to him, not bad at all.

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Raka woke up next morning finding the sun up in the sky. Considering that he had only slept for a couple of hours in real life he felt really good and full of energy. He didn't know why.

He looked around for Lady Altia, and saw that her blankets had disappeared. But she was nowhere to be found. Soon he heard sounds coming from the side of the hill. Lady Altia soon came up. She said she had been climbing the hill for her warm up.

"So now that you are up, shall we begin by a light warm up. So lets climb the hill once again. Ofcourse you will have to beat yesterday's time~" Lady Altia smiled.

And the devil is back.

It took less time to climb the hill today. Raka remembered the footholds on the difficult parts and his increased stamina helped a lot. He only got hit twice this time, his endurance helping him dull the pain a little bit, before he made the top. He took a deep breath of the clean morning air on top of the hill. Lady Altia came up behind him and smiled,

"He he he, seems like you have become just a bit stronger. I will have to try harder now!"

"Seriously, please don't try hard. Taking it easy is the way of life. So please relax and have a cup of tea or something........"

"Alright, now that you seem to have gotten used to climbing up and down the hill, lets begin phase two of your training" and she did not listen.

She walked down to the line of trees on the side and cut out two thick branches. She brought it back to the campsite. She cut one down into about 6 feet length. Then she trimmed it from all the sides making it thinner. It soon became thin enough to be held by one hand comfortably. She looked at it lengthwise trimming off little bits trying to make it straight. She twirled it around checking from different angles and then satisfied put it down. She repeated it with the second branch.

"Alright now that you have gotten a little bit better, time to teach you how to fight. These here are staffs, I used common wood but you could find other kinds of staff as well. Both metal and wood but for our purposes these will do well. The main advantage of a staff is its range." Saying which she handed Raka a staff.

The staff was a little bigger than Raka just about clearing his head. He could hold it in one of his hands and grip it tightly. He lifted and moved it around. It was a little heavy but still Raka could wave it around.

"What do you think?" asked Lady Altia.

What should he think. Thinking for bit,

"Its not too heavy. I think I can wave it around. Its kinda like a big stick. Um I always thought that most warriors used swords. Even you have one, don't you. So why are we learning with a stick" Ofcourse Raka did not want another stick in Lady Altia's hands. Now that he thought about it, he didn't want to face her with a sword either. But with a sword you could kill things so it should be more useful, Raka figured.

"Good question. You seem intelligent enough. Why don't you try to figure out the answer yourself. So what is the difference between a staff and a sword?"

"Um...range,i think. A staff is longer than the sword so has more range. Also the kind of strikes you do is different I think. With a sword you are usually cutting or piercing but with a staff you are usually smashing or pushing." Raka replied after some thought.

"Correct. Now why do you think you are learning the staff instead of the sword?"

'No idea' was what he wanted to say but he still thought about it a bit.

"I guess to keep my enemy away?!! Though I could do that with a sword as well I think."

"Half correct. Yes you do want to keep your enemy away. But you also want to keep him as far away as possible so that he doesn't strike you. In your case where even a scratch can kill you, would you still prefer the sword?"

Raka quickly nodded in the negative. He had forgotten that without the strength stat he couldn't have any offence or defence. So right now, keeping any enemy as far away as possible was the best choice. After all if Lady Altia didn't hold back, she could kill him with one strike accidentally.

"Alright then, pick up your staff and get ready. This is the stance. You hold your staff one hand in the middle and the other almost three fourths towards the end. Yes, just like this. Keep your strong hand in the middle. So now you swing it down and smash", saying which she swung down her staff in a swift fluid motion. Raka tried to copy her and swung his own staff down.

She then showed him how to swing his staff to the side and how to block incoming blows. She moved on to show him how to move your body while keeping your staff steady.

"Keep your body steady. Your power comes from your balance. If your form is not correct, you will not be balanced and the force when you swing your staff will be reduced. In worst cases you will find yourself in a situation you do not want, so get your form correct!"

Raka repeated the motions. She corrected him time and again fixing his form. He then had to repeat the motions 200 times, till he could move with his form correct. It took another 400 tries to get Lady Altia satisfied that he could move with his form correct.

"Alright, time for breakfast." She said as she dug out the meat from last night. Wrapped in the leaf, Raka half expected it to go bad over the night but it hadn't. They finished the meat and started training again.

"Now try to hit me!" said Lady Altia.

Raka swung the staff with as much force as he could toward her. Lady Altia simply took the blow with her staff. Raka could feel the vibrations from the strike right up his arm. His fingers felt the vibration the most and almost became numb.

"Again" and again and again Raka went trying to hit Lady Altia. He swung up and down, sideways and at different angles, all in the way she had taught him. Everytime she blocked the blow with her staff.

And "Not bad....Again", and so Raka went swinging his staff till late afternoon.

Afterwards Lady Altia went hunting again, and this time came up with some sort of two headed wolf. Seeing her take out her knife,

"Lady Altia, would be kind enough to teach me how to cook? I would like to help prepare the food as well. After all isn't it the student's job?"

"Ah so you want to learn cooking is it? Well alright, watch, this is how you skin this two-headed wolf....."

Skill Cooking: You can now learn the skill Cooking. The world is a treasure trove of ingredients. Knowing how to use those ingredients is a cook's greatest joy and responsibility. Lady Altia has agreed to teach you the skill.

Requirements: You must cook atleast a decent dish for Lady Altia without her help.

And so Raka tried to learn how to skin and cook a two headed wolf. Lady Altia let him use the knife, instructing him on how to cut the meat, prepare it using salt, how to cook it in a stew using water from the lake and adding spices for flavor. Raka tried to learn diligently. Even though he made mistakes, with the precise directions of Lady Altia, he soon prepared a nice stew. He tasted it, and it was delicious. He memorized the recipe. He would write it down when he logged out so he wouldn't forget.

After preparing dinner, they resumed their training again. Raka would keep trying to hit and Lady Altia kept blocking, yelling at him if he made mistakes or simply if he was too slow. They continued for quite some time even after the sun went down.

"Alright enough for today" Lady Altia said, after Raka collapsed to his knees while swinging his staff.

"This is a good time to teach you meditation. Focusing your mind will help not only in fighting but also in recovery. Sit while folding your legs and stretch your hands out onto your knees. Now close your eyes and take deep breaths. Think only of your breathing and nothing else."

Raka followed her instructions and sat in a yoga pose of meditation. He had done meditation in this pose before so he could easily do it. He started taking deep breaths and tried to focus on his breathing.

Raka had been meditating like this for almost 15 mins now when he suddenly heard

Swish...slip....soon after Splash....splash...

'Um is it an animal? No but master is here.' He tried to go back to his meditation but soon curiosity won out and he looked around. It was dark so he could not see well, but he stared at the lake. For a while he couldn't see anything. Then a shadow rose up from the water.

Raka gaped at the scene with his mouth open. True he could not see anything more than a shadow in the light of the fire but his imagination filled in the rest. Lady Altia was swimming in the lake. Even her shadow seemed beautiful. He could almost see her curves and proportions on the shadow. He forgot to breath.

Raka quickly shut his eyes as he felt the shadow leaving the lake. He tried hard to get that image out of his head and get his breathing to normal. He took deep breaths and tried to calm himself down as best as he could.

Soon it was time to sleep. Lady Altia again started laying out blankets. Raka laid down beside her but this time he couldn't sleep. He was too nervous, too excited and too self aware to be able to sleep. He kept fidgeting. He was trying too hard to forget, which made it even easier to remember.

"Are you not able to sleep? Or do you need to disappear for while?" asked Lady Altia.

"Um master, I am just too restless from all the things we did today, yes its because of that."

"I see. Well in that case it cannot be helped." Saying which she waved her hand and it appeared holding a flute.

She started playing. It was the most beautiful music he had ever heard. She played a piece with a lot of soft notes. He felt that in the moonless night her music made the stars twinkle even more. The soothing music calmed him and sent his spirits soaring at the same time. Slowly his restlessness was gone and he was listening to the music wholeheartedly.

"That was beautiful! You are amazing! This was incredible!"

Lady Altia was simply glad Raka couldn't see her blushing.

"Master, I have a request. Would you teach me how to play the flute? I want to learn to play such beautiful music which soothes the mind and the soul!!"

Lady Altia smiled and nodded. "But that will have to wait for tomorrow. For now sleep lil eggplant. You need your rest."

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Swamy logged out. He quickly got ready to go to his part time job. He had taken an off day yesterday so he wanted to go today. After all if he missed a lot, they would hire someone else.

They were moving stuff again today. This one was for some guy who had moved overseas and had left a lot of stuff around he couldn't sell. He was planning to rent it out so he had called the movers to get his stuff out. He had asked that if they could, they should take whatever they could as he didn't need it, and throw away the rest. Yeah, some people did that. We did have a small business selling things which were whole or could be repaired. Mostly the guys who saw something they liked picked it up, a game of cards deciding if more than one wanted it, and the rest got sold or given to garbage companies, for recycling and what else.

Swamy was operating the machines today, lifting up the bed frames and the steel almirahs. Before lifting up those he had to make sure they were empty. He found one which was not empty. There were a few musical instruments in them. A guitar with broken strings, a kids piano and a wooden flute which seemed to be made of some expensive wood. He asked around to see if anyone wanted these, but everyone who saw them gave up. Swamy took all of them.

Swamy was overjoyed with the flute. Now he could practice what he learned in the game, in real life as well. He looked at the broken guitar and the kids piano. He had tried playing the piano and it had worked. He thought he could sell it if he couldn't find any use for it. And the guitar with the broken strings, well he would try to get it fixed and see what happens.

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Raka logged back in and found it almost noon in the game. It seemed Lady Altia was practicing her sword. She moved it in graceful poses with fierce strikes. It looked like she was performing a routine which included swift turns and quick jumps. Soon she noticed him and stopped.

"Ah! You are finally back. Well then shall we begin"

"Yes!"

After which he continued running up and down the hill a few more times, practiced his forms for a few more hours, learnt cooking a flat headed boar with really big tusks and tried to hit Lady Altia till evening. After completely exhausting himself, he started meditating. Hoping he would be lucky again tonight, he remained on the edge but nothing happened. A little disappointed, he could finally get his focus together.

Tonight Lady Altia started teaching him how to play the flute. She had simply waved her hand and out came another flute which Raka used to practice by looking at the movements of her fingers as she played a very short piece.

He needs to ask how she gets these things by simply waving her hand. But for now, he was content practicing the flute as he was taught by her.

Skill Flute music: You can now learn how to play the flute.

Music is in many instruments and is also a part of nature.

Requirements: You must be able to play a decent piece of music on your flute for Lady Altia.

And they slept side by side. And the days went on....

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Swamy came out of the capsule and looked at the time. It was almost time for college. He had been playing, the whole night.