Please Note: Statements between % something in italics % are game system messages. 

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Swamy was in a fix. And a fix in which he seemingly had no options to choose.

He had just opened the Long Island forums hoping to find news and updates on the other players progress. He had expected that some people would have learnt the language by now and would be moving on to do different things. He had also expected to find people getting quests.

What he absolutely didn't expect to find was that almost everyone had already learnt the language and were posting about the different quests they received. What he also didn't expect to find was that some people learned it in 1 day flat and did not bother to post about it, till today.

'In 1 day? How? Seriously how many hours do they play? Do they play all day???!!!' were just some of the questions bothering him. Swamy had heard about people, gamers by profession, who make their living off games, selling game items and converting game currency. They spent most of their time in the game. What he couldn't understand was how they could make money when the game had not even reached a level where anyone would be buying stuff. And what things could you sell, certainly not food.

'Have they started hunting already?!' was a suspicion which took a deep root in him. Swamy knew that the age restriction on the gates could be changed as it had been for him. Playing for so many hours, they very well could have discovered ways to get the stats and were being silent like before.

In short, Swamy was slowly being caught up to and possibly overtaken. He simply did not have more time to spend on the game. After a hellish time yesterday, having gone through virtual sickness literally, and before when he spent most of the time asleep in class, he made a decision.

He could not play all night. He needed the time to sleep or he simply couldn't function in class. If he failed, his parents would bury him alive. If he didn't get an 'A' his parents would still chew him out, discovering his playing, and in all likelihood confiscating it. He had thought of skipping classes and covering it later on. And had discarded the idea on the premise that his Aunt would notice leading to his parents finding out. Pretending to be sick was an even worse idea, his parents would hop on the next bus here! Living just one hour and ten minutes away had its disadvantages.

In order to look at this problem with an objective perspective, Swamy made timetables. He jotted down every hour of his day, in his college and home. He had about 14 hours after college ended. The 15 min commute to and fro from college could not be avoided. After all he wasn't driving the Ekishaw. He doubted even a Ferrari could cut short that time in morning or evening traffic. Taking 20 mins to get ready for college, another 20 mins for dinner (and hearing his aunt speak), it left him with almost 12 hours 50 minutes. He also had to make sure he slept atleast 5-6 hours leaving him with 6 hrs and 50 minutes. Even on a good day the most time he could spend was only seven hours. If he slept a bit less, he could probably make it eight. That's like only one day in the game for every two days he would miss. He could spend more time on weekends but he couldn't skip his job. He still had to earn enough to pay for monthly fees of the game.

Of the people who could devote their whole time to the game, he was definitely jealous.

'Life is difficult' Swamy sighed. 

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Raka had a discussion with Lady Altia about his problem. He could only appear for one day and would have to disappear after, for two days. He also couldn't be sure of the exact time of day he would appear, it could be day or night. He apologized profusely but he explained he had no choice.

Lady Altia simply accepted the situation. "The Goddess does what the Goddess wants!" she simply nodded.

Lady Altia thought for a bit.

"Well if that is your situation, it cannot be helped. However the training will now take much longer than I anticipated. I cannot be away from the school that long. The days you do not show, I will go back to the village. I will try to come every third day, but I cannot be sure. So lets do things like this.

I will make you a training plan to follow. The days we do meet, we can continue our lessons. On the other days, you will train according to this plan. Agreed?"

"Yes, Master."

Lady Altia, waved her hand and soon got a piece of paper and a pen with a long feather. Later, he would find out the pen was called a quill. She started writing a list of things to do and gave it to Raka to read.

"Can you understand what is written? If yes, could you please read it aloud so that I know."

"Um...okay. Uh..One, climb up and down the mountain 5 times. Two, uh...practice forms for 5 hours. Three, try striking the dummy with full force following the forms."

"Master, what dummy?"

"He he he the training dummy we will make and put here. There is a lot of wood around and with a bit of rope, I think we can make you a very nice training partner!" Lady Altia smiled.

"Alright so do you understand the instructions? do you have any questions or doubts?"

"Um...master, this isn't related to this list but I have a question. May I ask?"

"Go ahead, but better make it snappy."

"Yes master! I would like to know how do you make things appear just by waving your hand?"

"So that's your question? I thought it was a bit more important. Anyways the answer is magic. I use magic to connect to my house. All things I bring out are things which are already at my place."

'Magic sure is convenient.' If he could learn this, travelling would become a lot simpler. He asked,

"Master, could you teach me this magic also?"

"Ah! I am sorry. But I think that you rather learn this from Verina. She's the expert. But even if you learn, I don't think it would be of much use to you. After all, this magic is very limited in range. You would need a place to store things, like a house, which is expensive in the village. And then you could only connect to it from close by. This hill is still within range. Once you go far away or leave the island this would not work for you. Well you better ask Verina. I only learned a few magics, but mostly because I could instinctively use it. I wouldn't be able to explain properly anyway."

'So that's how it is.' Raka could still think of a few uses for it but as Lady Altia said, Lady Verina would be the one to answer his questions.

"Well thats that. So shall we begin your training now! He he he, I wonder how fast you have become."

After which he was politely asked to climb the hill 5 times.

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Next day, Swamy could stay attentive in his classes. Well, he had decided that he didn't have a choice in his playing time. He could only try his hardest within the time he could play. The only things which suffered were his cooking and flute playing skills. Without Lady Altia teaching him, and he unable to hunt, he did not know how to proceed. After all you do not find a one horned rabbit the size of a dog, in the convenience store.

Swamy still felt that he should at least try learning the flute in real life. And for that he would need a quiet place, away from people who could listen and complain and where he wouldn't draw notice, if he sucked. Also, he had to find such a place in the university.

'Is there even such a place in college filled with thousands of students!' Swamy sighed.

Still he went around looking for such spaces like large closets, unused classrooms and whatever else he could find. Soon he ended the search. Closets were full with tools and equipment. The unused classrooms were haunts of romantic couples. And the 'whatever else', he did not find. 

Ofcourse it was still a large university with many buildings with many departments accessible to their students only. Swamy thought if he could have gained access to all of these buildings he might have been able to find one such place.

That wasn't going to happen however, his getting access to all buildings required him to be either a faculty or a part of campus security. There were some people with access to other departments but they had asked for access only for that department, permitted by a professor of said department and approved by the dean. The ones getting that were generally research assistants.

During lunch with the loverfools times 4 that is Rajan, Sneha, Manish and Himali, they again started discussing Long Island. All of them had completed learning the language last night. 'Yep that's the time a normal person, with normal working hours should take' thought Swamy. They were excitedly discussing the posts of the quests people had been posting. Most of them were of a basic nature, transport this thing to there, help with cleaning the shop, etc etc. Ofcourse people were also learning skills related to cooking, tailoring, blacksmithing, etc or to say they were trying to learn everything they could staying in the village. It seemed that the quests required them to impress someone with their work to actually learn. In this case, the person who gave you the quest.

'And I have to impress Lady Altia at that, eh!' thought Swamy.

The talks went on with them wondering what kindof quests they will find tonight. All fans of virtual reality games, they could almost smell some kind of secret quest hidden there. Swamy simply shrugged. Still no information on or by the silent ones.

Lunch was almost over, when Swamy simply blurted.

"Hey do you guys know where someone could play or simply practice a musical instrument?"

"Ofcourse, the sound rooms!" replied Sneha.

Swamy had not expected that he would get an answer so easily. He asked,

"Where are these sound rooms?"

"Oh they are in the music department. They have a bunch of sound rooms where you can shut the door and no one will be able to hear from the outside. I think students of the department use them, but they usually have a few which they rent out by the hour. My friend uses them all the time."

After college, Swamy headed out to the music department. He had a pretty good idea of all the departments and their locations after a month but he had never been inside. He walked inside, hoping that he would not encounter those gates, which allow a student in by scanning their id. He asked the students there, for the sound rooms and was directed to them. Reaching there he soon found a reception type area with a board on it 'Sound rooms: Music students free, please register. All others, Rs. 200 (about 3.5 dollars) per hour'.

'Wow, so the rent is greater than my hourly pay!' Swamy sighed. He had been earning a bit extra and he was hoping to save it for pocket money. But it seemed like that will be blown away soon. He asked for a sound room, showed his id and paid.

Swamy entered. The room was fitted with wood paneling on the walls. Also some sort of foam covered the doors probably for sealing. The room also had a mike, and a sound recorder. Swamy thought it was a good idea to record his playing. It could be possible to learn from his mistakes per se. Then he got out the flute, he had tucked under his shirt and started playing.

An hour later he left.

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The next time he logged in, Lady Altia was not present. It was day time in the game. Raka started training according to the list given. He climbed the hill 5 times. He then practiced forms for 5 hours. And then, he hit the dummy for the time that remained.

It went on for days. Sometimes Lady Altia would show up. And train him herself. She had now moved on to teach him blocking. She would try to strike, stopping her staff just close to his body, and Raka had to react and block it. Ofcourse she slowed down a lot, otherwise he wouldn't even be able to see it coming. Raka realized once again, how incredible Lady Altia is.

One problem which crept up, after so many days, was of food. Raka had run out of all his pies and apples.

"Master, I have run out of food. Is it alright if I went into town to get some more?"

"Um...no. That will be difficult. After all getting you out was a special case."

Not explaining further, she thought for a bit and said,

"Lets do this. If I am not able to come, I will hunt the day before and hide the meat wrapped in the ground. Its cool underground, so the meat won't go bad. I will put a sign on where I buried it. When you come, you can dig it out and cook it. Ah! also if you come during the night, don't go down the hill. The animals are active at night though they don't come here usually. Just warm up over here, and triple your training for the forms and the dummy. Even though I would not be able to watch you personally, I still expect you to keep at it.

He he he, you wouldn't disappoint me now, would you?" Lady Altia smiled.

"No Master! I will do my best Master!" like any other answer would be allowed.

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Almost a week had passed in real life. It was again Friday. Swamy had now settled into a routine of going to college, practicing his flute after quickly eating his lunch, hurrying home in the evening and dropping his dinner down his throat as fast as possible. Then logging in. And there, he trained.

He soon found out another way to train. Ofcourse he couldn't start swinging a staff, but he found that he could practice his forms at home to move around while he got ready. Sometimes even at college if he found an empty toilet room where he could practice for a few minutes between classes. And when he got upset with his bad playing or simply tired of blowing on the flute, he used the empty room to practice his forms and calm down.

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He climbed up the hill, which was now becoming a little easier, reducing his time. Not having Lady Altia behind him all the time, he actually wanted to relax. But remembering all those people who were soon catching up and those who had overtaken him, he couldn't afford to relax for a minute. He hurried to the top as fast as possible than ran on down as fast as possible. He practiced his forms diligently and struck the training dummy with as much force he could.

Slowly, very slowly, he was improving. He had reduced his climbing time to almost 3 and half hours now, giving him more time to spend on his other trainings.

When he got hungry, he cooked the meat Lady Altia had left buried. He cut a part of it with the small knife she had lent him and buried the rest, putting a stick on top to mark the spot. Then he put it onto a skewer or a stew, in the pot, again on loan, and practiced cooking. He very soon found out, that cooking something just right was very difficult. He kept checking his uncooked meat every once in a while, but a moment of distraction and it would be overcooked. A moment earlier and it would remain undercooked. Trying to cook the undercooked meat, ended up burning them. In short, he had to eat his cooking while imagining the perfectly cooked, juicy and delicious food of Lady Altia.

'Atleast it still fills the stomach' as he got the message of Satiety increase, though the increase was small.

Raka was still practicing on the dummy, one late night. Lady Altia hadn't shown up today. He was fully absorbed in getting his forms correct and steps right while swinging his staff from above his head, swiftly smashing the dummy's head. The training dummy, even though being made by Lady Altia, was still a basic effort with two fat sticks placed like an upright cross and tied together with rope. A bit of more rope made the head on top of the cross.

Being so engrossed in his training, he could be forgiven when he did not notice some other sounds coming close.

Grunt, grunt....grunt...thup thup...grunt.

Raka only noticed now that these strange sounds had come close. He quickly whipped around trying to see in the darkness. Near the fire, he found a one horned rabbit. In the light of the fire he could see that the rabbit was injured with scrapes all over his body, with a few places having blood oozing out. Seen in the light of the fire it seemed a lot larger than a dog. If Raka had not seen an actual specimen before he wouldn't have believed that this was still the size of a dog.

'The shadows must be playing tricks.'

The wounded animal soon started sniffing around and looked up and found Raka. It opened its mouth, baring its razor sharp teeth and bounded straight at him. Raka moved on reflex, bringing the staff down on its head. And it simply dodged and closed in the distance. Raka jumped out of the way, rolling on the ground and back up again getting his stick lined up in front of him like a spear.

'Damn! Its fast!'

The rabbit landed badly, perhaps because of being injured, but it took a moment to right itself. Then he looked again at Raka, opened its mouth wide and jumped at him. 'Wow this thing can jump' was the only thought he could think before he decided to aim for its open mouth. In this situation, the only thing that would save him was probably hitting the animal in a soft part of its body. Raka imagined that the rabbit would attack straight through and in the darkness might miss the stick in front of him. He moved the stick and aimed for the inside of the mouth.

'Yes!!' He got the stick right up in its mouth. 'Now to push it and kill him', Raka moved to shove the rest of the staff down its throat.

Chomp!! chomp!!

The one horned dog sized rabbit, bit a bite of his staff with its large sharp teeth and started eating it.

Raka simply turned around and and ran away screaming!!

After finishing up the part of the staff it had bit off, the rabbit again sniffed around and then chased its prey. Raka was in trouble. He knew he couldn't go down the hill, so he did the opposite. He went up the peak. In this case a bunch of big rocks piled on top of one another ending in a jagged peak. Raka jumped at the lowest rock scrambling to reach a crack to pull himself up. The rabbit reached him just then, and Raka only avoided it by swinging in the air and pulling his leg up at the last moment. The rabbit hit the rock face on, and fell dazed below.

Raka kept scrambling up, sticking close to the rock, trying to find footholds in the dark, relying only on the little bit of moonlight shining through and his luck. Thankfully, the rocks on top were not severe but had quite a bit of joints and cracks all the way through. He pulled himself using his hands and feet, going on because of the adrenaline rush the fearful encounter had bubbled up in his tired body. He soon reached the top which was just ten metres away from the ground. He hung on that jagged peak using his hands and feet hoping the rabbit couldn't climb or jump that high.