Surya didn't sleep that night.
The ancestral house, while structurally sound, was a museum of dust. If he wanted to charge fees, he couldn't let it look like a haunted mansion.
He spent the entire night waging war against cobwebs and grime.
He dragged the heavy teakwood dining table into the central courtyard (thotti), positioning it under the open sky.
He found a blackboard in the storage room—a relic from when his grandfather used to teach village kids decades ago. It was cracked, but after a coat of black paint (which he luckily found in the shed), it looked usable.
By 6:00 AM, his back was aching, and his hands were raw. But the house had transformed. It didn't look like a corporate office; it looked like an Ashram.
He swept the front yard and drew a simple Rangoli with white powder. He lit two agarbattis (incense sticks) near the photo of Goddess Saraswati in the hall. The scent of sandalwood masked the smell of old dampness.
"Atmosphere is everything," Surya muttered, brewing strong filter coffee in the kitchen. "If I can't dazzle them with AC classrooms, I have to dazzle them with 'Tradition' and 'Discipline'."
At 7:50 AM, the sound of a scooter engine sputtered at the gate.
Surya stepped out, wearing a crisp white shirt and grey trousers. He had shaved and combed his hair neatly. He looked every bit the young, serious academic.
Karthik and his father, Mr. Ramesh, climbed off a battered Bajaj Chetak scooter. Ramesh looked around skeptically, eyeing the mud road and the dense trees surrounding the house.
"Mr. Surya?" Ramesh asked, hesitating at the gate. "This... this is the academy?"
"Welcome," Surya smiled, opening the gate wide.
"Please, come in. Leave your footwear here. In this house, knowledge is worship."
The psychological framing worked. Ramesh instinctively straightened his posture and removed his sandals.
They walked into the courtyard. The morning sun filtered through the open roof, illuminating the polished red floor and the single blackboard set up against a pillar.
"It's... open," Ramesh noted, looking at the sky. "Where are the computers? The lab?"
"Physics isn't learned in a computer, Mr. Ramesh," Surya said smoothly, gesturing for them to sit on the wooden chairs. "Newton discovered gravity under a tree, not in an air-conditioned box. Karthik, sit here."
Karthik sat down, looking nervous. He placed his notebook on the heavy teak table.
"Right now, you have one month until the CET," Surya began, pacing slowly around the table.
"Most institutes will make you memorize 500 formulas. I won't do that."
He looked at Karthik. "Do you like cricket?"
Karthik blinked. "Yes. I bowl spin."
"Good," Surya picked up a lemon from the kitchen basket he had kept nearby. "Spin is just angular momentum and the Magnus effect. Tell me, Karthik, why does the ball drift in the air?"
"Air pressure?" Karthik guessed.
"Visualize it," Surya commanded.
[Skill Activated: Teaching Aura]
[Target: Karthik R.]
[Current Focus: Fluid Dynamics / Bernouilli's Principle]
Surya tossed the lemon up. "The ball spins. One side moves with the wind, the other against it. Where is the pressure lower?"
Karthik watched the lemon. Under the influence of the Aura, the invisible air currents seemed to materialize in his mind. He didn't see words from a textbook; he saw the airflow.
"The side moving with the wind... faster air," Karthik murmured, his eyes losing focus on the room and gaining focus on the concept.
"Faster air means lower pressure. So the ball gets pulled... that way." He pointed left.
"Perfect," Surya slammed the lemon onto the table. "That is Bernoulli's principle. You just derived a concept that most engineering students memorize without understanding. Now, write the equation."
Karthik grabbed his pen. Usually, his hand shook when he wrote equations. But the image in his head was so clear—high pressure, low pressure—that the math was just a translation of the picture.
P + 1/2ρv² = Constant.
He wrote it down without a single strike-through.
Ramesh watched, his mouth slightly open. He had seen his son struggle with tutors for two years. He had never seen him answer a question with such confidence.
"Mr. Ramesh," Surya turned to the father, deactivating the Aura to save his mental energy—it was draining him. "Your son has a processing issue with text. But his spatial intelligence is S-Rank. I mean... it is superior."
He leaned in. "I will teach him. Physics, Math, Chemistry. Three hours a day. Morning 8 to 11. I charge ₹5,000 for the crash course."
It was a steep price for 2001, especially for a class in a farmhouse.
Ramesh looked at his son. Karthik was staring at the equation he had written, a small, genuine smile on his face.
Ramesh reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet. He counted five notes of five hundred.
"₹2,500 advance," Ramesh said, his voice firm. "If he improves in the mock test next week, I will pay the rest plus a bonus."
Surya took the money. His hands didn't shake, though his heart was doing a victory lap.
"Accepted," Surya nodded. "Karthik, class isn't over. Open your math book to Calculus. We're going to learn about 'Limits' by looking at how the water level changes in the well outside."
Three hours later, the scooter sputtered away.
Surya stood at the gate, waving them off. As soon as they were out of sight, he slumped against the compound wall, exhaling a massive breath.
"First client secured," he whispered. "₹2,500 in hand."
[System Notification]
[Quest Update: The First Brick]
* Objective: Recruit first student.
* Status: COMPLETE.
* Rating: Excellent (Student Potential: S-Rank).
[Rewards:]
* Karma Points (KP): +100.
* Facility Unlock: 'The library of Focus' (Level 1).
* Personal Stat: +1 Intelligence.
[Urgent Quest Issued: The Debt Collector's Clock]
* Current Funds: ₹52,500.
* Debt Owed: ₹2,00,000.
* Deadline: 6 Days remaining.
* Objective: Earn ₹1,47,500 within 6 days.
Surya stared at the notification. The joy of teaching vanished instantly.
"I need one and a half lakhs in six days," he groaned. "Tuition won't cut it. Even if I find ten more Karthiks, I won't make that money in a week."
He needed a high-yield, short-term play.
He walked back into the house and looked at the newspaper lying on the table. It was the Deccan Herald. He flipped to the sports page. Nothing. He flipped to the business page.
Sensex dips below 3500 points.
Infosys announces Q4 results soon.
"Stocks take too long to settle," Surya dismissed it. He needed cash.
His eyes drifted to a small advertisement in the corner of the paper.
"Cyber Cafe & Gaming Center - Computers for Sale. Closing Down Business. Koramangala."
Surya's eyes lit up.
In 2001, Cyber Cafes were the gold mines of Bangalore. Usage was charged at ₹60 to ₹100 per hour. But buying new computers cost a fortune.
However, if a cafe was closing down, they would be selling hardware cheap.
"I have knowledge of hardware," Surya grinned. "I can fix junk PCs. If I can buy their 'broken' stock, refurbish them, and set up a browsing center here... no, not here. Here is too far."
He paused.
"Wait. The World Cup Qualifier matches are starting. People go crazy for live scores. Internet speed is garbage in 2001."
An idea formed. A side business that relied on his knowledge of data compression—something that didn't exist properly in 2001 yet.
"I don't need to open a cafe," Surya realized. "I need to become a content provider for the cafes."
He grabbed his bag and the fresh cash.
"System, can I use Karma Points to buy technical skills?"
[Affirmative. Available Skills in Shop:]
* Basic Coding (Java/C++): 50 KP
* Advanced Algorithm Optimization (Future Tech): 500 KP
* Hardware Repair Mastery: 100 KP
Surya looked at his balance. 100 KP.
"Unlock Hardware Repair Mastery," Surya commanded.
[Skill Acquired. Knowledge of circuit bending, motherboard diagnostics, and component salvage downloaded.]
His brain buzzed as schematics of pentium processors and CRT monitors flooded his mind. He knew exactly how to fix the "junk" that the closing cyber cafe would be throwing away.
"Time to go to Koramangala," Surya said, locking the door. "I'm going to turn trash into gold."