The Weekend

Soon it was night and Ben's came back home. His father had worked in the military for about 8 years. After that he retired. His mother also worked in the military for about 5 years and retired. They had fallen in love in the military and married. Later on, before having children they retired from the military and started their civilian life. Both of them found job . It has been 18 years since then. Soon it was time for dinner. His sister Miraya had made everything. He just had to go down and eat and later help with washing the dishes. He was a very bad cook. This arrangement was made after he made some dishes and the entire family had food poisoning for 2 days. Miraya was a such a good cook that the family wondered if she would get a meridian seed associated with gourmet.

 Soon John called out: " Come on everyone, it is time for dinner." Soon everyone was at the dinner table. Everyone came and sat down. John asked Ben "So, your martial classes started right?". Ben nodded and said, " Yes. It was enlightening". Malina, Ben's mother, said " Oh it is that time already. You have 1 and a half years for your 18th birthday. Make use of that time." John said " Yes, you need to work hard and build yourself a good foundation." Miraya jumped in " Bro, what did the teacher say? How do you become a martial Knight" John and Malina lightly pinched her on each of her ears. John said " When you reach the final year, you will get the explanation. Don't ask unnecessary questions". Miraya Pouted, but the parents just smiled. Ben was curious about this and asked " Why such secrecy? I don't understand". John said " I will tell it to you later alone. Also, tell us about your affinity after the test . I will arrange the full payment to the government. You don't have to work for them. " Ben shook his head and said " That won't do. I will pay for it myself. You don't need to worry about that. Let me take up some responsibility." Malina was about to say something, but John stopped her and smiled. Malina sighed and said, " Let us finish the dinner".

Later Ben found himself in front of his father. John took a sip of the juice and placed the glass on the armrest of the chair.

John started the explanation " As you know when you become a martial artist, your meridians will absorb energy".

Ben nodded.

John continued " This is actually a very simple explanation. There a re various intricacies to it. But in essence you have to absorb energy and convert it to your own power. This is a very delicate process. You see the movement of this energy is heavily dependent on your mental state and thought process. So, if contradictory information is spread through various sources, it can cause problems. There may be missing parts to some explanations or unnecessary additions to some explanations, which can cause new martial artists to circulate energy improperly. One's meridians are unique to them, even though it is the same type as other. That is why there is the affinity process and the implantation procedure. Almost 98 % of the meridian seeds are extensively researched upon and there is a well established procedure for enhancing one's prowess and power using them. For the more complicated ones, there are some well established conventions as well, making them safe. You will understand this soon enough." 

Ben listened to this carefully. He said " Alright dad, I understand. Any way, I will do my best to become a successful person". Then he said good night to his father and went to his room. John looked at this son with a tiny whiff of pride.

Malina came to John and placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her. She said : " How is everything? Is it viable?"

John said: " Don't worry Malina. I will figure out about the money." She smiled at him, knowing how he managed this family, she knew he would figure things out. He had done that previously as well. He had rejected all help from her family and his family and had got to this point. She knew he could.

Ben came to his room. He had some work to do. Soon he completed all those and went to sleep. The next two days were off for him and his sister. But form next week onwards he will have classes for 6 days. On the 6th day it is actually half day and will have their martial class only. He had some hard time going to sleep because of his excitement and stress of the unknown. He only went to sleep late at night. 

He woke up late the next day. By about noon, after having a brunch he went out to his neighbourhood. It was peaceful. But for some reason Ben felt that it was like a calm before the storm. Today was the day for the night market in the neighbourhood. Many exotic supplies would come here, not as exotic as the ones for the rich though. This was one of the traditions that was there in the country like the circulation of books. Even though the technology had developed to the point where planets could be moved and intergalactic travel was possible, these traditions were still there, even in the upper echelons of the society. This was done to increase the bonding and cooperation between people. That was the strength of Marthyas, which helped them to stand on equal footing with other races.

Ben went to a small park in the neighbourhood for some exercise. He wanted to complete his exercise before all the buzz started. He was some what reluctant to engage in such a gathering. His sister was the opposite of that. She loved to socialize with others and loved the night market. He stretched then did some warmup and mobility exercises and then ran a few rounds. This was not a new thing or an odd thing. All the students of his age would do the same for the purpose of implantation of meridian seed. It was important for the students to do it to keep their bodies in pristine conditions. After one to two hours of exercise, he sat down on a bench and closed his eyes for some time. Then he did some stretching again and then went back home. He soon had a bath and went to his room. 

He was bored. There was nothing to do. He looked at his shelf. There were some books on it. It consisted of novels and some religious texts. He looked for a book to read. He had read almost all the books several times. He then looked to another bundle. It was brought by his grandfather, his mother's father. He was a librarian of a community library. These books were discarded by the library and his grandfather had brought it here. He liked to read and hear stories from his grandfather, who would use stories form these books to make him sleep. He knew to read some words even before he knew letters due to familiarity with them.