Prakash woke up feeling refreshed as purple smoke gushed out of his body and condensed into his 'Record'.
<Strength: 110.47 >
<Agility: 209.48>
<Toughness: 37.22>
<Reaction: 10.50>
<Perception: 35>
<Karma: Mosquito-3 (0.00%)
Dog-1012 (11.48%)
Gharial-3 (0.00%)
Pigeon-2600 (1.84%)>
<Karmic Arts: Convert (20.34%)>
There were major changes in his 'Record' once again. Prakash didn't get up in a hurry in fear of hurting himself once again as he tried to feel the changes that took place in his body.
His muscles could contract and relax at a greater magnitude than what he was capable of earlier. The muscles in his legs had improved in such a manner that allowed an explosive rise in running speed while the muscles in his arms became capable of bearing greater loads and momentum.
There were also other minute changes that had occurred to the senses of his skin that enabled him to perceive his surroundings at a slightly increased clarity.
"Now, there is a percentage bar next to my Karmic Art too," Prakash thought about the numbers and related it to the percentage of his Karmic Art's conversion efficiency.
When he converted the Karma of a fish into the Karma of an Ant, he gained one unit of Ant Karma for every five units of Fish Karma. Calculating the conversion efficiency into percentage form, it turned out to be twenty percent which was what displayed in the brackets next to 'Karmic Arts: Convert' in his 'Record'.
"Hello there," A beautiful woman who seemed to be in her twenties interrupted his thought process as she approached his mattress and sat at a hand's distance away from him.
"Umm, hi?" Prakash immediately inspected his nearby berths and noticed that all of them had been occupied. Thinking that the woman had approached him to remind him to vacate the spot for another tired person, Prakash carefully sat up in an effort to not exert too much strength in his hips.
"I-It's fine, you don't need to get up yet. Sorry if I disturbed your sleep," The woman hurriedly waved her hands in front of her in a fluster as she gazed at the figure of Prakash who had a strained expression on his face as he got up.
She thought that his body still needed to rest in order to cure the exhaustion from the previous battle, but what she didn't know was that Prakash had a strained expression on his face only due to having to fully focus on controlling his increased strength.
"Aren't there more people waiting to sleep? I don't think it's thoughtful of me to occupy this spot for more than necessary," Prakash replied as he finally brought himself to a sitting position and gazed at the face of the woman who appeared to be somewhat familiar.
"It's fine, we have plenty of resting space and moreover, it's not yet the time to rest for us. The only ones resting are the people who had participated in the battle before," The woman replied when she noticed Prakash looking at her with squinted eyes. It looked like he was trying to recall where he had met her but seemed unable to remember anything positive.
"This guy, he hadn't even noticed me till now?" The woman thought as her eyelids twitched. The woman was almost 6 feet tall when she was big, a head taller than most women in her city. With a sharp nose, big eyes, eyebrows that naturally arched like a bow, pink lips, and a slender jawline, she had a well-defined face.
Adding on to her tall figure that was a rarity in her city, she had encountered numerous pursuers till now. Even after the apocalypse, there were many confident youths who had the guts to court her.
She was beautiful, smart, and also had battle strength that was in the upper levels in their base, not to mention she acted as Vikram's secretary due to her skilled transformation prowess. She was also one of the few people who had survived outside the shopping mall after the descent of the apocalypse before finding her way to the base.
"Didn't the four of us travel to the room filled with pigeon and zombie carcasses just now?" The woman said as she pointed a finger at her and then at Prakash.
"Ahh yes, you were with Vikram….you are…"
"Vidya," The woman interjected with a sigh.
"Yes, Vidya; sorry, I had my mind occupied with many things at that time so your name slipped out," Prakash offered an apology as a wry laugh leaked out of his mouth.
"No worries, it happens sometimes," Vidya laughed it off and seemed to remember the reason she had come to meet him in the first place.
"Vikram just woke up a couple of minutes ago. He asked me to fetch you the moment you woke up," Vidya said.
"Did something come up?" Prakash inquired with a worry. If their base was raided by the birds again, the casualties might increase exponentially. The amount of Karma he had gained from the 10 pigeons was a far cry to what he had been expecting before. He couldn't think up the reason why they gave out so little Karma.
"We were attacked by two waves of insects in the time you and Vikram were asleep but we had measures set up in place for such an occasion beforehand, so we took care of it with no casualties. I'll brief you up on the way," Vidya said as she inched closer towards Prakash and placed his left hand over her shoulder.
"It's fine. I can get up by myself," Prakash said as he gazed at the woman who supported his body weight as he was getting up.
"It's fine, I insist," The woman seemed intent on helping him as her right hand wrapped around his hips, treating him as if he had sustained a leg injury.
"I think you misunderstood," Prakash waved with his free right hand, "I am not injured by any means. It's only because my strength has risen recently that I am struggling to control it, nothing serious that needs help,"
"Oh, is that so? Ahaha," Vidya let out a wry chuckle as she let go of her hold on him and stepped aside. There was a slight blush on her face that made her look even more beautiful.
"This way," Vidya said as she led the way in front while Prakash followed behind her. With her back faced in his direction, there was a slight smile on her face while a cunning light flashed in her eyes for a second before reverting back to her previous bashful demeanour as she turned her head and made some small talk with him.
There were currently four people seated around a round table within another meeting room and seemed to be engaging in some serious talk.
"That's reckless," Prakash commented when he finished inquiring about the full details of their next plan of action.
Vikram wanted to lead a hundred-man team through one of the AC vents they had previously scouted and breakthrough into cinema hall number 1. Cinema hall 1 was situated on the fifth floor at one corner of the shopping mall that was exactly opposite to their base, meaning, they had to traverse at least 500-600 metres on foot to reach their destination.
With their small sizes, it would take them a considerable time to traverse such a long distance not to mention that they would be unguarded against any bird or insect attacks on their journey. They would be chicks waiting for slaughter if they end up using all of their Karma to fend off their foes each time they appeared.
There was also another aspect that had to be considered here, even if they manage to reach the cinema halls, they had to then enter into one of the cooling vents to reach their location.
Only a few metres had been investigated within the cooling vents in a hurry by a scout team that had to return when their Karma levels became critical. The cooling vents were cold, with bursts of cold air flowing within it not to mention their dense network of structures that would make a person easily lose their sense of direction.
There was also the fact that there was practically no light within it, so it might become dangerous if they encountered enemies within. First was due to their lack of proper sight and second was the fact that they might become zombies if they stayed transformed for long periods of time.
It had been a day since apocalypse hit them and the shopping mall was fully filled with their aroma so anything could happen on their journey. Even the locations that were supposed to be perfectly safe before might now be filled with hideous insects lying in wait for them.
Even suppose the hundred-man team managed to brace through all the difficulties and managed to enter cinema hall 1, how were they supposed to safely transport the people trapped inside back to their base? The greater the number of people huddled in an area, the greater the aroma wafting out of their bodies would condense in the air, meaning a greater risk of encountering a flock of birds or a swarm of insects.
"The risks are not worth the return," Prakash said with a shake of his head.
"But there is a prime element that might make this mission a definite possibility," Vikram said with a smile.
"You mean," The eyes of Shreya lit up in surprise when she realised the train of thought running through the head of Vikram as she too gazed at Prakash with expectant eyes.
"What are you planning?" Prakash began to feel restless as he gazed at the three pairs of eyes that were solely focused on him, making his skin crawl.
"You know about the mini Victoris that many people seemed to possess in my base right?" Upon his question, the eyes of Prakash lit up in surprise. He hadn't expected Vikram to bring up this topic on his own volition.
There were two questions that were puzzling his mind ever since he first gazed at the huge Victoris and the numerous mini Victoris'. He knew that Victoris was a manifested form of a Karmic Art Vikram possessed as he too had one of his own, but what he failed to understand was how so many people could possess it too, though inferior to the one possessed by Vikram.
"Go ahead," Prakash replied as he rested his head atop his chin and gazed at the trio before him with calm eyes, masking the turbulent thoughts that churned within him.
"Victoris is the manifestation of my Karmic Art, Karmic Arts: Supplement," Vikram said when purple smoke gushed out of the pores on his skin and transformed into the huge figure of Victoris that seemed to be even more defined than when he previously saw it.