Chương 24

"NOOOOOOO~~!" Rudra's eyes snapped open. The VR capsule hummed softly as the glass lid slid back. The bright morning sun filtered through his bedroom window. He wasn't in the freezing Abyssal dungeon anymore. He was inside his capsule, propped up by pillows to support his healing ribs. The door flew open. His mother, Meera, rushed in, clutching a wooden spatula like a weapon.

"Rudra! What happened? Are you hurt?"

"The crab..." Rudra stared blankly at the ceiling.

"I didn't get to eat the crab." Meera lowered the spatula. Her worried expression instantly morphed into deep annoyance.

"Are you kidding me?" she sighed, shaking her head.

"You screamed like someone was murdering you. Over a video game crab?"

"It wasn't just a crab, Mom," Rudra groaned, slowly pulling himself out of the capsule.

"It was a Spiced Abyssal Butter Crab. It was Rare-rated. It had garlic."

"Well, you can forget about garlic," Meera said, turning around.

"You are still on a strict recovery diet. I brought your breakfast." She walked back to the doorway, picked up a tray, and placed it carefully on his lap. Rudra looked down. It was a bowl of plain oatmeal. Next to it was a single boiled egg and a glass of lukewarm milk. No salt. No spices. Just pure, bland health. After two months of eating perfectly roasted, magically-spiced monster meat, looking at the oatmeal physically hurt his soul.

"Mom, please," Rudra pleaded, giving her his best puppy-dog eyes.

"Can I just get a little bit of pickle? Or maybe a tiny drop of ghee?"

"Absolutely not," Meera said firmly.

"Doctor's orders. Shiva said your bones need calcium, not cholesterol. Eat everything." She turned and left the room, leaving no room for argument. Rudra picked up the plastic spoon. He scooped up a bit of the plain oatmeal and put it in his mouth. It tasted like wet cardboard.

"I miss the dungeon," he whispered miserably.

"Don't be such a baby." Rudra looked up. His brother, Shiva, was leaning against the doorframe. He was wearing his work clothes and holding a medical file.

"You're home early," Rudra mumbled, forcing down the oatmeal.

"Night shift," Shiva yawned, stretching his arms. He walked over to the bed and pulled a small penlight from his pocket.

"Let's check those eyes. Follow the light." Shiva moved the light back and forth. Rudra's eyes tracked it perfectly.

"Your reaction time is getting really good," Shiva noted, looking a bit surprised. He tossed the penlight casually into the air, intending to catch it on the way down. Before the light even reached its peak, Rudra's left hand shot out. He snatched the small metal penlight right out of the air.. Shiva blinked.

"Whoa. Nice catch." Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! Rudra looked at his own hand. He hadn't even thought about moving. His body had just reacted naturally. It felt exactly like the fluid control he had been practicing inside the game for the last two months. Is this because of the training he underwent in the game? Rudra thought, his eyes widening. Or did I get bit by a radioactive spider when I wasn't paying attention?

Rudra tried the classic spider-man webshooting pose to confirm his hopeful delusion, but unfortunately it didn't work.

"Your physical therapy is definitely working," Shiva said, taking the penlight back.

"Your arm is mostly healed, and your ribs are fusing nicely. You still have four months of rest left, though."

"Good," Rudra smiled, thinking about his massive 10% skill experience gain title which will help him a lot in the game.

"The official launch of Satisfy is tomorrow. I have a lot of work to do."

"You and the rest of the world," Shiva laughed.

"The news is going crazy. Millions of people bought the capsules. They are saying it's going to be a second reality."

"It already is," Rudra said, taking another painful bite of oatmeal.

"But if this second reality doesn't let me eat my crab, I'm going to riot." After Shiva left the room, the room went completely quiet. Rudra sat in bed, staring down at his left hand. He slowly flexed his fingers. Catching that penlight shouldn't have been that easy. He hadn't even looked at it properly. His body just moved on its own, exactly like it did when he was dodging rusted swords underwater.

"No way," he muttered. He looked around his room. Sitting on his cluttered desk a few feet away was a small, solid rubber ball. He stretched his good arm, grabbed it, and looked at the blank wall opposite his bed. He threw the ball. Hard. It bounced off the plaster, rocketing back toward his face. Smack. Rudra blinked. His left hand was raised. The ball was sitting perfectly in his palm. He hadn't even thought about catching it. His brain didn't calculate the angle or the speed.

His hand just snapped up and grabbed it out of the air.

"Holy shit," Rudra whispered. He tried it again. He threw it harder, aiming for the corner where the wall met the ceiling so the bounce would be completely unpredictable. The ball ricocheted off two surfaces and shot toward his blind spot. His hand whipped out. Smack. Caught it again. A massive grin spread across his face. The VR capsule didn't just simulate his brain; it was actively rewriting his real-world muscle memory.

All those hours spent dodging sandbags in the militia camp and fighting monsters with zero stamina had actually sharpened his physical reflexes.

"If I wasn't stuck in this bed for four months, I'd go pick a fight in a batting cage," he laughed softly. He tossed the ball aside and slumped back against his pillows. His stomach gave another loud, pathetic rumble. The plain hospital oatmeal was already digesting, and it left him feeling totally empty.

"Right. Priorities." Rudra grabbed his phone from the nightstand. Since he was strictly forbidden from doing any physical exercise or leaving the room, he had way too much free time. He opened the video app. He didn't check the gaming forums or look up boss guides. He searched for one specific thing. How to cook the perfect garlic butter crab. For the next five hours, Rudra went down an absolute rabbit hole. He watched high-end chefs crack open massive king crabs.

He watched street food vendors fry up spicy seafood. He studied videos on medieval spice blending, salt curing, and proper meat smoking techniques. His mouth watered the entire time. He was literally torturing himself. He grabbed a blank notebook and a pen from his nightstand. He flipped to the first page and wrote: Satisfy Hit-List. Underneath, he started scribbling down every single recipe, ingredient list, and cooking trick he could find. 1. Garlic Butter Abyssal Crab (Avenge the fallen). 2.

Spicy Murloc Skewers with Lemon. 3. Deep-fried Iron Shell Crab Legs.

"If the game is a second reality," Rudra muttered, furiously taking notes on how to properly extract claw meat, "then I am going to eat better there than I ever could here." He tapped the pen against the paper. He already had the [Intermediate Cooking] skill. With these real-world recipes backing up the system's mechanics, his stat buffs were going to be completely ridiculous. He checked the time on his phone. It was late afternoon. The official launch of Satisfy was less than a day away.

"Just wait," Rudra grinned at his notebook.

"I'm going to cook everything."