Ben went back to home with excitement and enthusiasm. But when he thought about the money, all of it went to drain. He had a lot to think about. Mahaansh had given two important information to Ben. One was the fact that he had to prepare for Aatva in the next 6 weeks. The leave from school will be arranged, but he will still have to do the work. The second piece of news was that the genetic memory from aether lupis can be activated by him. It is mainly done through meditation. But the most successful way to do it is life or death struggles. The second best choice is sparring. And Mahaansh was doing just this. After a week he Ben will be sparring with someone. So he had to prepare for that.
Ben did not tell about the money to his parents. He chatted with his family for a while. When his sister went to bed, he told them about Aatva. They were a bit concerned, but still they could not always keep him home. He went to bed. As he went to sleep, he tried to think about aether lupis. This was done so that the genetic memories might surface during his sleep. It was easier said than done. When he could not sleep, he began to meditate. He was not only using 'Jamadagni Bhavana' but also 'Vasishta Vachanam'. At first nothing happened, but after a few minutes he began to have some visions. In the endless cosmos, the aether lupis was using its claws to destroy planets, rip of stars and rip off space itself. Its howl echoed through the vast expanse of the universe, demanding respect and reverence. It traveled through the space with its head held high and with regal footsteps. With one step, it was covering vast distances unfathomable to lower life forms. Ben was in awe at seeing all this. At some point he went into deeper meditation and his aura took a light red color. The aether lupis was angry. It was angry at itself and at the universe, because it felt it was being confined, it felt it was alone. It wanted to be free and roam beyond the universe. It felt anger at itself for being weak. Too weak to destroy the confines. Then its gaze sharpened. The rage it felt became determination. Determination to be strong. Determination to ascend to a higher life form. Determination for the freedom it yearned. It combined the rage and serenity in its heart.
Suddenly Ben heard an alarm. It was already morning. Ben was stunned. He was in meditation for almost 7 ½ hours. He could feel some subtle changes. He looked at the shamanic script. He felt it had become a bit big and had a more pronounced contrast. He also felt his strength had increased and he felt clarity in his mind. But he did not have time to ponder on that. He was going to school. Only in school could he train properly and do his works. To do his school work, it was better to sit with his friends.
Soon, Ben and his sister reached school. Ben directly went to his designated practice area. He was mainly training alone. Mahaansh would only occasionally come to give him guidance. Today he was going to try and use his powers. He tried to imagine the attacks that was done by the aether lupis in the dream. One such attack was the attack with the claws. He imagined creating a claw with his attack. He did not know the subtle understanding required for the external manifestation of aura. But out of instinct he did it. The primary meridians in his hands began to supply aura to his hands. Especially the muscles, bones, tendons, nerves in his hands. Especially around the wrist. It strengthened and a bluish outline of a claw formed around his palm and wrist. Ben looked at it with excitement. He could feel the power in it. This time to test his attacks he used the training equipment meant for middle level knights.
Ben used his claws to attack the equipment in a haphazard manner at first. Then he began to use the techniques from ' Vyali Mardanam'. He struck the equipment at various angles and in a way with which maximum damage was dealt. As he deeply delved into the various techniques in 'Agastya Parvam' he had come to understand many things hidden within the various techniques. He also thought about various ways to use the three techniques simultaneously. After that he combined the movements of 'Sharabha Chalanam' with it. Then came 'Airavata Stanam'. He combined these three techniques in a crude manner at first. But slowly but steadily he began to integrate these 3 techniques. He moved unpredictably, stopped at irregular intervals and struck at impossible angles. It did not happen spontaneously. It happened slowly and steadily. It could be said that in 2 hours he made a progress of about 10%. There were many blind spots and irregularities. But progress was progress. Ben persisted for 3 ½ hours. There was some level of integration and Ben could see some holes in his combat prowess. He also though about many avenues for improvement. But it all bore to one thing. Ben had absolutely 0 experience in knight realm combat. The only way would be to spar with teachers. But many of them were much more pewful than him and thus he may not get any meaningful experiences from them.
Ben stopped the practice for the day and prepared some school works. He managed to get some done and, in the evening, he discussed sometime with his friends. The work for them was hectic. Because they had yet to undergo meridian seed implantation, they could not entirely forego sleep when necessary. The school work made them tired. Ben was not faring that much better than them. Because he was knight now, he had more work. His evaluation was also going to be different. Then there was the matter of debt. All this made him under pressure. There was only about 5-6 months for the school to end. That also added to the pressure for students. Ben had an advantage in that respect. Because by the time he had to enroll in military, he would have accustomed to his meridian seed. Many others did not have that much luxury. Ben knew he was not a genius. He knew the main reason why he got his martial implantation done early was because of the 'Saptarishi Samhita'. But he made up for that with his consistent work. And it was working for him.
For the next 6 days, Ben came to the school to train. He integrated the three techniques better each time. He used claw, palm and fist attacks. He trained his manoeuvring technique by combining it with the movement of aether lupis. He was gradually developing something which infused the muscles, motor nerves, tendons and ligaments with aura and using it efficiently. He imitated the movement of aether lupis first and then tried to integrate the 'Sharabha Chalanam' into it. It was very difficult. Because aether lupis is quadrupedal animal and marthyas are bipedal. Copying the movement is therefore difficult. He could only derive some elementary forms here and there. Also, there was no corresponding reference for 'Airavata Stanam'. This made defence a problem. He did not know how to work on defense yet.
Mahaansh did tell this problem to him. Mahaansh also gave him some pointers. This helped him in combining the 3 techniques properly. Mahaansh also said that there are martial techniques that can be purchased. But it had its cost and said that he had to understand himself and his martial seed better and he should then purchase something which will help him in filling the gaps in his combat. Mahaansh also said that in 4-5 days he will be arranging a sparring partner who will help him to understand where he stands in terms of power and experience. He did not provide any details about that.