The morning mist was still on the river when I finished my prayers.
I stood in the cold water and looked up at the sun.
I could not look to the heavens for shortcuts.
My path had to be carved through my own effort.
I went back to my private room in the palace and sat down on a floor mat.
It was time to practice my energy control.
I closed my eyes and focused on my Prana (life force).
I had already mastered the five main types of Prana (pancha prana), so moving the energy through my body was as easy as breathing.
I used this energy to clear the blockages in my Nadis (the energy pathways inside the body).
Back when I was in Hastinapur, I had managed to clear 10 more Nadis.
But I still needed to clear exactly 1,990 more Nadis to completely finish the system and unlock my full physical strength.
It was a huge number of 72000, but everyone who wanted true power in this world had to do it.
There were no shortcuts.
Even if you knew powerful divine weapons ( powerful Astras like rudrastra or Brahmastra) , you could not use them properly without a strong energy system(you can use normal divine astras without powerful strength of practicing any systems ).
If you tried to use that powerful divine weapon with blocked pathways, the raw power would destroy your own body and explode your heart.
Besides, you cannot fight a whole war using only divine weapons.
Most of the time, an archer just uses normal arrows .
The real trick is to infuse your practiced Prana energy directly into that normal arrow.
When you do that, a normal arrow becomes strong enough to shoot straight through thick steel shields.
The same rule applied to swords, spears, and maces.
There were special Shastra Mantras that could turn any normal weapon into a temporary divine weapon.
Before Guru Parashurama found out who I was and kicked me out of his ashram, he taught me four of these shastra mantras
The First mantra (Fire),this made any normal weapon spit out continuous, raging fire.
Whenever I attacked, the fire would follow the weapon and burn the enemy.
The Second mantra (Water),this was exactly like the fire technique, but it covered the weapon in high-pressure, blasting water.
The Third mantra (Wind) If I threw my weapon into the air, this mantra made it spin at high speed to create a massive hurricane.
The wind was so strong that it would pull the weapons right out of the enemies hands.
A truly powerful warrior could even use this hurricane to lift enemy soldiers off the ground and throw them into the sky.
The Fourth mantra (Earth) this infuses the power of the earth into the weapon.
With this, a single strike could crack the ground open or break a mountain.
I still remembered what Guru Parashurama told me while I was learning from him.
He said:
“Learning a lot of different things does not make you powerful.
Even if someone only knows a single technique, if he practices it to his absolute limit, he can defeat an entire army with it.”
To show me what he meant, he once used a shastra water mantra in mace.
The power was so terrifying that it flooded the landscape for kilometers around us.
That was the level I needed to reach.
I had to practice until my power reached that standard before I could try to learn new things.
When I first started training under Parashurama, he did not teach me the most destructive divine weapons right away.
Most of what he taught me were for strategic astras .
I knew the basic elemental weapons: Agneyastra (Fire), Varunastra (Water), Vayavyastra(Wind), Bhaumastra(Earth), Parjanyastra (Storm), and Suryastra (Sun).
I also knew binding weapons to trap enemies, like Varunapasa (water ropes) and Agnipasa(fire chains), along with the Adityastra which used dispel darkness.
For stopping armies without killing them, I had the Prasvapastra to make people fall asleep, and a few illusion type and illusion destroying astras.
The truly deadly, high-tier weapons in my mind were the Rudrastra, the Khatvanga, his personal masterpiece—the Bhargavastra—and the ultimate Brahmastra.
But before I learn other more powerful astras(like brahmashira and other powerful weapons)
I was kicked out.
I thought as I finished my practice.
I stood up and put on my royal clothes.
It was time to act like a king.
“Guards,” I ordered.
“Call the military minister adhirupa to the palace dining hall immediately.”
Adhirupa entered the royal palace some time ago and waiting for my summon.
When the soldier called him ,he entered immediately.
The table was full of hot food.
“Come, sit down.
Let’s eat together,” I said.
He stepped back and said, “Your Majesty…
how can I do that?
You are the King.
It is against the rules for a servant to sit and eat with the king.”
I smiled a little and teased him in a joking voice.
“Are you refusing to eat because I am the king, or do you just hate the idea of eating with a low-born person like me?”
Hearing those heavy words, adhirupa panicked.
He set down with a loud BANG, and started wolfing down the food.
I laughed a little.
I liked people who could make quick decisions.
“Good,” I said, leaning in.
“Listen to me.
Recruit new soldiers into the army.
Go to every village and border town.
I don’t care about noble blood just find people with real talent.”
The minister paused with his food.
“How big do you want the army to be, Your Majesty?”
I looked him straight in the eye.
“I want my army to be 3 Akshauhinis.”
Adhirupa almost choked.
A single Akshauhini was a massive army with over 20,000 chariots, 20,000 elephants, 60,000 horses, and 100,000 foot soldiers.
Asking for three of them meant building a massive force of over 650,000 men.
“Three Akshauhinis?” Adhirupa stammered.
But seeing the determination in my eyes, he straightened up.
“I will do my absolute best to find the finest talents for you , my Majesty.”
After he left, I changed into simple clothes so nobody would recognize me.
I went out into the city to inspect things myself.
I spent the afternoon walking through the markets, watching the traders, and looking at how the normal people lived to understand what the city needed.
By the time I got back to the palace, it was already late at night.
I finally had a general idea of what I needed to do next.