Cheat 13: Cheat finally understood

Prashant hoped to have a good night's sleep, but his cheat status window kept nudging him. Usually, sister M likes to pretend to be it. The actual cheat baba was always on official duty somewhere else.

[New user initialisation]

"..."

"Are you serious? I mean, you really needed killing to progress! What a sin, even cheats have become bloodthirsty these days. Look at Aladdin's lamp, it came with a djinn cracking jokes. Although there is a tiny possibility that it's my bias. I did watch far too many children's shows. Maybe the actual djinn story was also bloody."

[Expanded user stats summary available.]

[Name: Prince Prashant Patil

Strength: 8

Constitution: 23

Mana: 1

Luck: 9

Karma points: 1,52,890]

[List of spawnable items is being generated]

"Hold, hold. What's the meaning of this? Karma (the concept that all actions will have consequences) is not a currency like money. You can't bank Karma. India literally has stories where a person with a heart of gold made a momentary mistake, and karma slapped him hard. Go through any of the hunting stories. King Dasharatha, Krishna, and Karna paid a heavy price for a wrong aim. 

Hunting in the Indian context is often a landmine rather than a straightforward leisure activity. Either you fail to kill the prey. In that case, shame on your ancestors. You have shown extremely poor performance as a Kshatriya or your caste-associated role. 

Or you did manage to kill it. Now congratulations! You just killed a pregnant female animal, a child animal, a god taking the form of an animal, an animal who was not supposed to be hurt. Now prepare to die in an undignified way, then take birth as that animal. Only then are you allowed to be born as a human once again.

The notion that Karma is not supposed to be banked like a bank balance can be seen in other stories, too. The famous love story of Shakuntala and Dushyanta had a simple karmic misstep as the main driving force. Shakuntala was lovestruck with her husband and forgot to give alms to a rishi (sage). She was cursed that her husband, the cause of her momentary distraction from dharma, would forget everything about her. Granted, in typical Indian fashion, this curse was also delivered with counter-baked-in (shaap-ushaap dynamics). The rishi told her that if her husband comes across one of her personal belongings, he will regain memories. 

Countless tales, both from myths and societal re-interpreting of historic events, tell us that one needs to pay attention to karma all the time. The land will always keep the memories. It will reward and punish even for the smallest act. The only difference is that India doesn't believe in eternal damnation. Even those who fall will quickly get back up. With the help of the very curse they incurred. It's for teaching a better way rather than being malicious.

So karma doesn't work like that. And most importantly, I know what kind of person I am. There is no way my karmic balance even crosses a double-digit. I was an authentic government servant. Our motto is 'My job is to transfer the files, the actual work is destined for someone else.' How come I became so rich? I meant in Karma."

[User deepened the understanding of the cheat, taking another step towards realisation.]

[Karma + 100]

"Huh? Buddy, isn't it a bit too loose? If my random nonsense can be taken as realisation, then truly you are a dharmic cheater-baba (a conman scamming people). Our country is full of spiritual gurus (teachers) who will say anything, and the public, too, will listen."

[Spawnable entities

100 Rajputs = 100 Karma points

1 ton of food supplies = 10 karma points..

]

"Wait, if it all works on Karma points, then why deduct my mana? I need answers, or else, I'll sue you in court." Prashant is feeling bad about the loss of a few mana points. Granted, he never knew what they were, or what losing them meant. But that doesn't stop him from threatening authorities with court for loss of personal rights. Democracy has truly flourished in the modern republic.

[M: It was me pranking you. Otherwise, you were ready to swing a lightsaber in medieval India.]

"Then it's fine, Sister. I can't possibly be stingy with you. Don't continue, cheater-baba! Now that I know what the cheat is, we can plan. I will behave in a way that maximises Karma balance, and use that to perform actions that will further earn karma. The green line on the graph goes up and up and up. Now, medieval India too had a graph addict like those who invest in stock markets. What a great nation. 

Sister, do you know what it means?"

[M: Even more monologues?]

"No!! I mean, yes. We'll have those too. But it crucially means we are officially graduated from the noob zone and now the entire game opens for us. It's time to open a new volume in this story."

[M: Finally, I had arranged those 50 killers for precisely this. So that you would actually start the journey instead of wandering aimlessly. But She foiled it.]

"Were you supposed to be this blunt and confess about digging a pit for me?"

[M: Aren't I your elder sister?]

"That's true. Plus, I feel you are ridiculously stronger than common ghosts. So I can't get angry at you. Now, here's the plan for next: Conquer the nearby forts in this rainy season. Rajputs might not do it. 

But I do know the perfect master for the job. Fort warfare was their speciality. Be it defence or offence. Be it defending a small fort on plain land for months with just 1,000 vs 30,000. Or conquering a formidable fortress atop a 1,000 m tall mountain in the middle of a rainy night by literally climbing from the bottom. Taking just 500 to defeat 5,000. 

They climb mountain cliffs as if they were mere stairs, blend in shadows as if trusty friends, and fight against massive odds as if mere game. Above all, they consider the Deccan as their birthright. It's a few centuries earlier, but who are we to judge their timing?" 

[M: Well, background music will indeed make the story epic. Now I know why you babble about Chanakya music. How is that tune anyway? Maybe Chandra can play it for us.]

"Who knows? I've never heard of it. I just liked the title of the song and used it in a dialogue." 

So our protagonist continues his adventure. With the help of a few supernatural beings, some comically inept helpers and a blinding self-confidence. The story moves on.

------------------------------------ End of Volume 1 -----------------------------------------