The corridors of the administrative department unfolded around them, not as mere hallways, but as living rivers of condensed starlight and whispered mantras. With every step, Angat felt his initial awe transforming into a burning, insatiable curiosity. The divine nano-tech, the personal holo-assistants ...it was a system of such profound power that it seemed to leap from the pages of his most beloved webnovels into breathtaking reality.
"Narad Ji," he began, his voice hushed with reverence, "that system... the Kalchakra OS. It's like the ultimate 'System' trope come to life. How does it work?"
Narad Muni's face blossomed into a radiant, knowing smile, as if he had been waiting for this very question since the dawn of time. "Ah, Vatsa! You have now glimpsed the very spine of creation. What you witnessed is the Kalchakra OS ...the great Wheel of Time made manifest as a Cosmic Management System."
He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "After a particularly... forceful proposal from Lord Brahma, we initiated a cosmic-scale upgrade. The masses use Karmic OS 2.1, but we in the higher echelons are privileged to use Kalchakra OS 3.0 and between us," he added with a theatrical wink, "the whispers speak of a 3.1 early access version. Dreadfully exclusive."
"So it's true?" Angat's words tumbled out in an excited rush. "A System, bound to the soul itself? It quantifies everything - Strength, Stamina, Spirit, even Luck?"
"Precisely!" Narad beamed, his joy infectious. "It is a divine interface for the self. It renders the soul's journey not as an impenetrable mystery, but as a structured path to enlightenment. It tracks your growth, illuminates karmic blockages, and with its integrated holo-assistant, it makes the abstract tangible. It turns the quest for Moksha into a quantifiable, navigable journey."
A torrent of questions burst forth from Angat. "And the power systems from the cultivation novels where they meditate to ascend through realms, defying the heavens themselves... is that real?"
Narad's chuckle was a deep, resonant sound that seemed to vibrate through the very starlight around them. "You now ask about the fundamental laws of the multiverse, Vatsa. What those tales call 'cultivation' are but different echoes, simply reflections of the Threefold Path of Mastery that has governed existence since the first dawn."
With a graceful wave of his hand, he conjured a luminous, three-spiraled mandala that hovered between them, each spiral pulsing with a distinct, vibrant energy.
"First, the Path of the Vessel Sharira Tantra," Narad intoned, as the first spiral, a deep earthy green, brightened. "This is the art of awakening the body's sacred Chakra System. It begins by unlocking the Mūlādhāra , the Root Chakra, to ignite the primal life force. The aspirant then purifies the Nāḍis , the subtle energy channels, allowing Prāṇa to flow like a river of light up the spine, energizing each subsequent chakra ....the creative Svādhiṣṭhāna, the powerful Maṇipūra ...until the physical form is remade into the Vajra Sharira, a diamond body capable of channeling the universe's breath."
"Woah...!!!" Angat exclaimed, his eyes wide. "It's just like Guy Sensei's taijutsu training...????"
Narad's laughter echoed warmly. "Oh, yes! The Might Guy character from that ninja anime! He is the very embodiment of Sharira Tantra ...the ultimate vessel. It was very well defined," he added with an appreciative nod. "I respect the Japanese people; they are always cultured and meticulous in every universe. If not for their... complicated diplomatic relations with neighboring pantheons, I'm sure the Shinto gods would have a much larger following."
"And the Soul Path?" Angat pressed next, his eyes fixed on the second, azure spiral. "Is it like... deep meditation and forming a soul core?"
"You see to the heart of it!" Narad praised, his expression brightening. "The Soul Path .... Ātma Sādhanā ....is a voyage inward, into the infinite expanse of your own Spiritual Sea. You start by calming the turbulent waves of Manas , the conscious mind, to dive into the silent depths of Chitta , the subconscious. There, in that inner sanctum, you gather the scattered light of your consciousness to forge a Soul Avatar. This avatar can wield Internal Mantras ...spells of pure will and intent ...to sever karmic chains, purify past traumas, and achieve Jīva Union, merging the droplet of self with the ocean of cosmic consciousness."
"Oh..oh.. is it like the Nascent Soul stage? After the Golden Core, it's always the Nascent Soul!" Angat connected, his mind racing.
"You see, Vatsa," Narad explained, "Chinese cultivation is a fascinating mixture of our own paths. Where we separate them into distinct disciplines like the Vessel Path or the Soul Path, they often combine them into one. Stages like Aperture Opening and Organ Strengthening up to the Golden Core follow the Body Path. Then, the transformation into a Nascent Soul marks the beginning of the Soul Path."
As if learning about these different cultivation systems wasn't thrilling enough, a new curiosity sparked in Angat's mind about a spiritual figure who emerged in a later period and very respected in North eastern indian subcontinent. "What about Buddha...?"
"Ahh, the startups!" Narad said with a fond smile. "Buddha was once a Hindu prince, Siddhartha. You could say he was a divine avatar, an outlier." Narad's tone grew more narrative, painting a picture in the air.
"He was raised in luxury within the Kapilavastu palace, married young, and had a son. But at age 29, he witnessed the Four Sights ....
An Old Man – Siddhartha saw a frail, elderly man, which revealed the reality of aging, something previously hidden from him.
A Sick Person – He witnessed a person suffering from illness, realizing that disease and pain are unavoidable in life.
A Dead Body – For the first time, Siddhartha saw death, which shocked him to understand that life is impermanent and mortal.
A Wandering Ascetic – Finally, he saw a holy man who had renounced worldly life in search of spiritual truth. This sight inspired hope that suffering could be overcome through spiritual practice.
This profound experience made him renounce his palace life in the Great Renunciation to seek the truth of suffering."
"For six years, he practiced intense austerities, nearly dying from fasting, before realizing extreme hardship was not the path. He chose the Middle Way. At age 35, meditating under the Bodhi Tree, he overcame Mara's temptations such as the temptation of desire , temptation of fear and finally, the temptation of doubt , after overcoming these temptations he achieved Nirvana, becoming 'The Buddha,' the Enlightened One. After achieving Nirvana, he ascended to the status of a demigod. He then traveled across India and China, and his immense efforts significantly suppressed the corruption of the Maha Kaliyug."
Narad's expression turned somber. "But now, in the shrines and monasteries, the subsidiaries Buddha left behind are again facing Kaliyug's effects ...the greed, the corruption. His teachings are being neglected by new generations. Sighh....."
Angat once again felt the weight of the Maha Kaliyug's corruption and the incredible, tangible reality of Buddha's journey. He had read about it on Earth, but here, from Narad, it felt immediate and profound leaving a lasting impact upon soul .
"Haha! You know, Vatsa," Narad's mood lifted again, "I'm good friends with Buddha. He's a wonderfully chill guy. Maybe I'll take you to meet him someday."
Finally, Angat's gaze shifted to the final, violet spiral. "And the third? The Magical Path... it must be like formations and runes!"
"Exactly, Vatsa!" Narad's eyes sparkled with delight. "Śakti Vidyā is the sublime art of weaving reality itself. An initiate begins with Yantra ...the crafting of Formation Plates from sacred geometry to anchor power into the world. Mastery of Mantra becomes the act of inscribing Divine Runes and Symbols upon the fabric of existence, using sound to rewrite its code. The true masters, however, transcend external tools. They become a living Formation Core, a singular Bindu point from which they can summon the Kāla Flame to fuel temporal arrays, until they stand as a Mahātantrika ...a sovereign of cosmic law who can edit reality with a thought."
Angat's mind soared, connecting a thousand dots from all the stories he'd ever consumed. "So... when a cultivation novel's hero breaks through to a new realm and practices different techniques..."
"They are brushing against one of these eternal paths," Narad concluded. He did not let the mandala dissolve just yet. Instead, his voice deepened, taking on the resonant tone of reciting an eternal truth. The three spirals of the mandala pulsed in time with his word
"These paths are not our invention, Vatsa. They are the eternal law of growth, spoken of in the oldest of wisdoms
He chanted, and the words seemed to be written in light upon the air itself
"आत्मानं सततं यस्तु साधयेद्देहमानसम्
स पुमान्सर्वविद्यानां मूलभूतं प्रपद्यते
As the final syllable echoed, the mandala finally dissolved into shimmering motes of light that swirled around the sacred verse before fading. Narad translated, his gaze holding Angat'
"'He who constantly cultivates the self ...both the body and the mind ...he it is who attains the fundamental root of all knowledge and power."'
"This, Vatsa, is the essence of what you call 'cultivation'. It is the perpetual refinement of the vessel, the soul, and the will. Their 'cheat items' and 'golden fingers' are often the subtle nudge of a divine agent like me, or the latent power of a mighty, unresolved karma from a life long past."
He placed a hand on Angat's shoulder, his expression profound. "Karma is the source code of the omniverse...Vatsa. These 'protagonists' you read in webnovels are souls with a karmic debt so great it propels them across lifetimes. Their epic tales of rise and fall, vengeance and triumph, are simply karma executing its grand, intricate program."
Narad's gaze seemed to look through Angat, into the swirling cosmos of fate and destiny itself. "We, here, with the Kalchakra OS, are not mere readers of these stories, Vatsa. We are the system administrators of destiny itself."