For the next 7 days Ben was in full swing. He was completing his assignments and studies, along with his exercises. The 3 chapters of Agastya Parvam were being practiced by Ben like there was no tomorrow. He also trained in 'Jamadagni Bhavana'. His mental faculties were at its peak, so were his physical abilities. He was getting a bit tired. The school works along with the martial class had become tedious. A lot of papers had to be submitted. A lot of assignments had to be completed. These assignments were not something that could be completed by merely collecting information or by copying from others. Each of these assignments required thinking from the part of the students. That was why these works were so much tough.
Another thing was that he could not tell his friends anything about the implantation. Ben also understood that other than his martial teacher, the principal and Delvin, no other teachers knew about his implantation in the school. The strain of keeping it secret was eating him away.
Ben's strength, speed and other physical faculties had improved substantially over the past months. His concentration was also on a different level. Even with all those, he was having a tough time completing the assignments.
The meditation exercise, 'Jamadagni Bhavana' had a kind of soothing effect. After practicing it, he only needed 5 hours of sleep or even less for all the fatigue to go away. His senses were also at its peak. Ben had read about the working of brain and had some knowledge of it. He imagined that his brain had undergone a rewiring. Although there are many neurons in brain, their interconnection depend on how you utilize it. Based on utilization, some neurons may become redundant. He was under the impression that due to meditation all these neurons had become activated and hence his mind power had increased.
The martial class was boring at first. This was because Ben had undergone a metamorphosis both physically and mentally in the past few months. His physique became more robust and resilient. The muscles were not pronounced. But the power it packed was on a whole new level. His mental faculties enabled him to better coordinate his body and channel his strength more efficiently. Now he was at a level where he could 'think' during combat. When one first starts sparring, even though a person will have thought of many strategies, due to nervousness and other emotions, one will forget them. This will gradually fade away and will be replaced with the presence of mind to think and formulate strategies, even amidst tense combat. Ben had reached 50% close to this level. No one in his martial class was his opponent. Only his friends could stand against him for some time.
In order to prevent him from becoming arrogant, Mahaansh stepped in. He did not use any powers, but his rich combat experience was much more than Ben's age. He defeated him in a matter of minutes. But the fact that Ben could fight Mahaansh for minutes spoke volumes about his capabilities. Luckily Ben's body was healed by the treatment after the class.
The students were in a state of urgency and excitement, thinking and worrying about their future prospects. For ascending the martial path, a lot of resources are needed. Most of the students did not have the background to acquire such resources. They could only work and earn it. Some students who had to cultivate expensive professions like alchemy, beast mastery etc. belonged to this category. Ben, however, was in quite a dilemma. He did not know what entailed the growth of his martial seed and thereby his martial journey.
While the school was preparing, the nation and its agencies were having trouble of their own. Countless attacks happened on various consignments to various places around the Gyagar nation. All investigation and secret service agencies went into emergency mode. For the stability of the nation and in order not to make students afraid, many such incidents were hidden from public eye. But some incidents had to be reported in the news because they happened in front of the public. The various agencies began a crackdown on the various forces. Countless Marthyas, Naturas and Metallas were killed. The boundaries including air, water, land and astral were under close surveillance.
Ben had substantial gains in terms of physicality and mentality. His understanding of various subjects deepened. He had more control over the coordination and balance of his body. He could enter the state of flow- a hyper concentrated state where one forgot oneself and immersed in something. He could enter the state for about 30 minutes now. That was voluntarily and deliberately. He did not know how much time he could enter in that sate if it was done involuntarily.
There was only 2 days for the martial seed implantation. These two days were off for Ben. As he was meditating today, Ben suddenly had an epiphany. He entered a unique state. He suddenly experienced a silence. A silence where he was more comfortable than the most softest mattress he had ever felt. He felt as if he was a small boy in his mother's embrace. He was in a state where each and every cell in his body resonated with his desire. The primordial desire of any organism to ascend to a higher form of life. His metabolism became more efficient and began to flush out waste that was deposited in his body for many years. It did not flush out everything. Just 2%. But that was quite an achievement. This was because, this was not the normal flushing of waste. But the Ben literally flushed the waste by sweat. The changes were not limited to physicality. Changes were also happening in his brain too. The neural plasticity of the brain had undergone subtle transformations. Now substantial changes began to happen one by one. The visualization method was active throughout this time. First the hippocampus activated. The visualization method became deeply imprinted in him such that it invoked the desire to elevate himself to a higher life form. Then came the cerebrum, cerebellum, thalamus and various parts of the brain. With the activation of the brain stem, the various systems in the body also began to experience the blessings of the visualization technique. The blood pump rate increased, thereby increasing the nutrient and oxygen supply to various parts of the body. The increased metabolism increased his temperature and destroyed some of the unfit cells. But due to the same increased mechanism, more cells were created and those cells had the capability to adapt to the increased temperature. His breathing and heart rate entered a state of synergy where the more and more oxygen was being supplied and more and more nutrients were being broken and being supplied to the body. Slowly but steadily his body was being repaired from inside. The body also engaged in autophagy as well. This state could not be maintained indefinitely and thus when fatigue engulfed him Ben was forcefully yanked out from this state.
He was not very happy with being forced to quit the state. But he had not choice. But unknown to him, he had fulfilled one condition for ascendence : ' Resonance'