“New Level attained. 10 Attribute points, 2 skill points, and 2 spell points gained,” said Arya.

  “Oh yeah! I definitely needed that!” said Uruvi, stretching her arms.

  They found themselves back in the urban sprawl of Bengaluru city, standing before a deserted intersection. The sun was high up in the blue sky, shining upon the city embroiled in chaos.

  She looked around the place and couldn’t recognize it. “Where are we?”

  Ashwin looked down at the map and replied. “Quite far from where we started. But well within the city limits.”

  “That’s good. But how much time did we lose in that place?” asked Uruvi. “I reckon at least 2 days.”

  “No. It has been just 2 hours since we started,” said Ashwin.

  Uruvi and Rambha exchanged confused looks.

  “Stop messing with us,” said Rambha.

  “Why would I be doing that?” asked Ashwin, with a straight face.

  They had no answer. Ashwin returned to his screen when Rambha whispered to Uruvi, “we got a straight… forward guy with us.”

  “And is that a problem?” asked Ashwin, which made Rambha jump a little.

  Uruvi let out a scoff and said, “not at all.”

  “There looks to be a vending machine nearby. Want some refreshments?” asked Ashwin.

  “Yes, please,” said Uruvi.

  ***

  Uruvi was slowly getting addicted to the taste of cold soda after a battle. So much so, she wanted to hoard a bunch to have after every battle.

  “What do you want?” asked Ashwin.

  “Is there anything with alcohol?” asked Rambha.

  He shot a glance at her and said, “really?”

  “Is that no?”

  “There is a can of beer.”

  “Yay!” She began to chirp like a bird.

  Uruvi looked down at her screen. The attributes screen was open, as she was deciding what to do. She switched over to the Skills and Spells screen and browsed through the Skills until she found the one she was looking for. “Dual Wielding.” The icon had been greyed out, and beside it was two more icons. Sacral Lvl. 2 and Root Lvl. 2.

  ‘Great. I need to switch focus to a different chakra if I want to use that.’

  “Whatch you doin, babe?” asked Rambha, before taking a sip from her can.

  “Thinking about my upgrades. I will get back to it.” She closed her screen and turned towards Ashwin. “How close are you to Level 15?”

  “About halfway there. Should be able to get there by the end of the day,” said Ashwin.

  “Already? I barely crossed Level 13!” said Rambha.

  “I just crossed Level 14. So, how do we get the remaining XP? Do we do another Dungeon Run?” she asked.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “That is an option…” Suddenly, his phone began to ring. “Hold on.” He pulled the phone out of his pocket and saw who it was before answering it. “Yes…? I had been inside a dungeon… What…? Where…? Oh… Let me see… Alright. I will.”

  He cut the call and turned his attention towards his screen. He had a very serious expression on his face, which worried the ladies.

  “Ashwin. Is everything alright?” asked Uruvi.

  “Not really. There is a bloodbath happening out there,” he said.

  “What do you mean?”

  He looked towards them and said, “The contestants are going at each other, and they aren’t holding back.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Don’t know. But the number of Contestants has dropped to 1265.”

  “1265… Wasn’t it supposed to be somewhere around 1800?” asked Rambha.

  “Yes. It was. And I am doubtful most of them fell to monsters,” he said.

  “Is it happening all over the area, or at one particular place?” asked Uruvi.

  “It is where our Rank 1 is at,” he said.

  “Sandhya Nagar,” said Uruvi.

  Rambha looked up into the sky, blocking the sun with her hand. “Guys, I think there's something coming this way.”

  By the time they spotted it, the figure in black landed before them with a deft thump. Uruvi’s face lit up on seeing the massive figure before her. “Bhadra?” she said.

  The faces of Ashwin and Rambha were drained of color as they saw the colossal figure rise and walk towards them.

  He looked down at her and said, “good to see you again.”

  “Same here,” she replied with a wide smile. “Guys! This is Bhadra!”

  They quickly got down on their knees and bowed before him. “Greeting!”

  “I already gave them a short intro about you,” said Uruvi, with a guilty grin.

  He let out a chuckle. “Don’t bother. I don’t care for such formalities.” Once they got back on their feet, he continued, “you are Ashwin, right?”

  “Yes. I am.”

  “One of your friends told me you can broadcast a message. How far can you send this message?” he asked.

  “At the moment, the whole of the city.”

  “Hmm…” He crossed his arms. “Could you send something further?”

  “Sorry, but I have no idea how things are outside the city,” said Ashwin.

  “I do. The majority of places with people have figured out how to set up towers for themselves. They are operating at different frequencies. But, if you can hack into the system, you should be able to send a universal message.”

  Rambha leaned towards Uruvi and whispered, “it is so weird seeing him talking so… technical.”

  “Don’t worry, you will get used to it,” said Uruvi.

  “That should be possible. However, I am still under-leveled for that. What message do you wish to send?” asked Ashwin.

  “In 2 days from now, there is another convergence set to happen. If we want to prevent what happened last time, we'd best ask people to take cover in safezones,” said Bhadra.

  “Another one?” asked Uruvi. “How do you know?”

  “I ran into a Rakshasi (A female demon). Quite a powerful opponent. She was an accomplice of the Creator. She let slip a few details she considered unimportant.”

  “Oh… Did she also say who the creator is?” asked Uruvi.

  “No. But I have my guesses on who it could be.”

  Her eyes lit up on hearing that. “Would you be okay to share?”

  “Not sure if you have heard the name, Mayasuri. She is the only one I know who has the power to do something like this.”

  ‘Mayasuri…’ The word Maya meant illusion and was interpreted in many ways. ‘Sounds like an Asuri (Female Asura) with the power of Maya.’

  “I haven’t heard of her before. But if she is that powerful, I don’t see why she couldn’t be the one to do it. Unless…” said Ashwin.

  “She is not someone I expect to do something like this. She has saved reality on multiple occasions,” explained Bhadra.

  “Do you know where she might be now?”

  “It doesn’t work like that. The cosmos is vast, and many of us live in isolation. It can be hard to find someone unless they want to be found.”

  Ashwin nodded. “I can try and get a signal out. But I think you should ask others as well.”

  “Already have. The more people who can send a signal out, the better.” He walked back into the open space before turning towards them. “Till we meet again.” He leapt into the air and vanished, leaving behind a trail of smoke and dust.

  “Whoa! An actual Asura! Was certainly not disappointing!” said Rambha.

  “Looks like he is on our side for now. But let’s see how things unfold,” said Ashwin.

  His statement irked Uruvi. “Why do you say that?”

  He shook his head and replied, “no reason. I was just thinking out loud.”

  She wasn’t satisfied with his response but decided to let it slide. “Okay. Quite a lot on our hands. How do we go about this?”

  “Our first priority is to get to Level 15. I am not far behind, so a few more boss battles should get me there.” He opened up his screen again and began looking around the map. “There. I found one close to our destination.”

  Uruvi peeped into the map and said, “we ain’t getting there by foot.” She looked around and spotted a sedan sitting across the intersection. “Do either of you know how to drive?”

  Rambha drowned the last drops of her beer and said, “you can count me in.”

  “Didn’t you just drink 3 cans of beer?” said Ashwin.

  “Three?” exclaimed Uruvi.

  “Just three,” said Rambha, with a dreamy smile on her face.

  “No chance. I will drive,” said Ashwin, as they set out.

  “Aww…” said Rambha, as she followed them with dropped shoulders.