Shivansh heard the familiar call of his mother and he sighed. He got up and rushed outside. Today was going to be a long day...
Shivansh looked at the familiar van. His old school's van was in front of him. His friends and Akshay were sitting inside it. His mother seated him and after a goodbye kiss, the van hurried forward.
The van took twists and turns but Shivansh's mind was somewhere else. He was planning how he would be able to complete the rest of his tasks. He was brought out of his thoughts when the van stopped. They had reached the school.
The plan was kind of formulated. He would just breeze through the school hours first, practice the weapon training while his parents were taking the afternoon nap and finally practice the movement skills during the evening and hopefully the 2Km criteria would be fulfilled.
He signed and sat in the classroom....
***
"Bye Bye Shivansh, let us meet again tomorrow" His friends bided him goodbye.
Shivansh had finally reached home and he had only walked 500 meters since the morning. His mother helped him put the bag down and he changed his clothes. He freshened up and had food.
As expected his mother laid down and started her afternoon nap. He finally had enough free time. He took out his toy wooden sword, currently this would have to do. He closed his eyes and simulated the stick fighting style first.
The stick fighting style that he was presented with was named Spear Of Gods. It was one of the most powerful stick or spear method in the future. As humanity evolved their need for entertainment boomed. The argumented reality games were the cherry on top. These games promoted hand to hand combat to another level. Anyway this story is for another time.
This stick fighting style consisted of only two motions, slash and pierce. While it may seem easy, it in fact was not. This style tested our persistence over anything. It made these simple motions your muscle memory and the combos of the actions your whole style.
Shivansh took a deep breath and viewed the simulations. He was shown the basic version of it. The person had the same body as him and the sword as also same. The first slash came down. Feet firmly placed down and the slash as straight as line. Then the next and next, the slashes started to go sideways. The motions so fluid and mesmerizing.
Suddenly the figure stopped and took a step back. It suddenly placed its right leg forward and using the motion did a simple and swift piercing motion. It then looked at him and bowed down, disintegrating.
Shivansh was awed by it. He took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. New information flowed in his mind. He had to do 30 slashes, equally divided in three directions, right, left and downward. He also had to do 10 piercing motions.
He got ready and did the first slash. Hmm? It was not registered as a correct slash. The simulation appeared behind him and merged with his body. Red glow suddenly highlighted his mistakes. He tried once again, still to no avail. Finally after 5 attempts, a slash registered.
"This won't be as easy as it looks." Shivansh cursed in his mind and steadied himself.
***
Finally after 3 hours, his task was finished. Bad news, his hands were burning. His arms felt heavy and he was unable to use them. Good news, the experience for it increased by 5%. He was totally exhausted by now. He threw the sword to the side and just flopped down on the bed in the living room.
***
He was woken up by his mother. He stretched and saw the time. He had taken a 5 hour nap and was feeling refreshed. Although a bit of pain was there but Omega took care of most. He had used the maya to massage him, and lessened the pain by a lot.
He got up and washed his face, he drank a glass of milk and went outside to play. Only two more of his tasks remained. He quickly rushed out and sat on the side of the ground, this time visualizing the movement skills.
The movement skill was known as Light as a Feather. The skill mainly focused on speed and stealth. You had to become light as a feather so that you would not make any sounds and also you could move like a feather in a breeze.
It also comprised of only a few exercises. The first one was diagonal dashes with all the weight focused on the toes. The second one was balancing. He stood up after seeing the figure once again and started to do diagonal dashes. He had to do 50 dashes. Well at least he could explain himself right now as just running around.
***
Shivansh finally had dinner and laid down on the bed. He had completed all the tasks other than melee fighting. He would complete it on the other side. Taking a deep breath he let himself be consumed by the dreams.
***
After what felt like an eternity he woke up. He looked around. This time some things had changed, instead of being on the hard cold floor, he was in a soft bed. A animal skin blanket covered the mattress. His surrounds were also a bit better. He had a cupboard, a table and chair. A bit of light seeped in through the windows covered by curtains. As the breeze flowed in the scenery also became visible.
He heard knocking on his door. He got up and stretched and saw his father Rene standing outside. He was ready to hunt. He handed him a sandwich and a dagger. Seth had a terrible foreboding.
"Quickly freshen up and get ready. We are gonna go hunting today." He said with a smile....