Chương 43

"Walk to the door and back, please," the doctor said. Rudra stood up from the exam table. He walked across the small clinic room, turned around, and walked back. His stride was completely normal. There was no limp, no hesitation, and no pain. He hadn't touched his walking cane in two weeks. Dr. Raman adjusted his glasses and stared at the glowing X-rays on his tablet. He looked back at Rudra, then back at the tablet.

"It has been exactly three and a half months since your accident," the doctor said, sounding genuinely baffled.

"The bone fractures have fully healed, which is fast but possible. But your nerve response and muscle mass? That shouldn't be happening." Rudra sat back down on the table, scratching the back of his neck.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, it's fantastic," Dr. Raman sighed, setting the tablet down.

"Usually, when a patient is bedridden for months, their muscles atrophy. It takes half a year of physical therapy just to walk normally again. But your tests show high neural activity. It's like you've been running marathons in your sleep." The doctor crossed his arms.

"Shiva mentioned you bought one of those new VR capsules. How much time are you spending in there?"

"Uh," Rudra looked at the ceiling.

"A lot?"

"Well, keep doing it," Dr. Raman chuckled.

"The deep-dive neural link is essentially tricking your brain. It forces your motor neurons to fire exactly like they would during real-world exercise. It's acting as a highly advanced, full-body physical therapy. You're doing great, Rudra."

"Thanks, Doc." Rudra smiled as he left the clinic. The game wasn't just giving him weird reflexes; it was actually fixing his body. A few hours later, the smell of roasted garlic and grilled meat filled the air. Rudra sat at a large, round table in a very fancy restaurant. The lighting was dim, soft jazz played in the background, and the waiters wore crisp white shirts. It was way out of his usual budget, but tonight was a special occasion.

"I still can't believe you actually said yes," Meera said, wiping a happy tear from her eye. Sitting across from Rudra was his older brother, Shiva. Next to Shiva was Priya. She was a pediatric nurse who worked at the same hospital, and she was currently holding up her left hand to show off a shiny diamond ring.

"He begged," Priya joked, nudging Shiva's shoulder.

"He was shaking so much I thought he was going to drop the box in his soup."

"I wasn't shaking," Shiva protested, his face turning slightly red.

"The table was wobbly." Rudra laughed, leaning back in his chair. It was really nice to see his brother so happy. Shiva had been working crazy shifts ever since their dad passed away, always trying to help Meera keep the family afloat. He deserved a win. The waiter arrived, carrying three plates of grilled salmon and one massive, sizzling ribeye steak. Rudra's eyes immediately locked onto the steak as it was set in front of him. It cost more than he used to make in two days at his old IT job.

It smelled decent, and it had a nice sear on the outside.

"Eat up, everyone," Shiva smiled.

"My treat." Rudra didn't hesitate. He grabbed his knife and fork, cut a huge piece of the steak, and shoved it into his mouth. He chewed excitedly, waiting for the flavor to explode. He chewed a bit more. He swallowed. Wait, Rudra thought, blinking. That's it? It wasn't bad. It was just... boring. The meat was a little dry, and the seasoning was incredibly basic.

Compared to the rich, magical flavor of the Sun-Kissed Truffles or the spicy kick of the Abyssal Crab he cooked in Satisfy, this expensive real-world steak tasted like wet cardboard. He quietly took another bite, feeling totally disappointed. The game completely ruined normal food for me. I need to get back to Broc's kitchen. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"You look really good, Rudra," Priya said warmly, interrupting his tragic food thoughts. Rudra looked up, feeling a little awkward being the center of attention.

"Oh. Thanks. The doctor said I'm healing fast."

"Not just that," Priya smiled gently.

"When Shiva first introduced us a few months ago, you looked so tired. You hated your job, and then the accident happened. We were really worried you were going to fall into a deep depression." Shiva nodded in agreement, taking a sip of his water.

"She's right. You have actual energy now. You look like you're having fun again." Rudra scratched his cheek, not really sure how to handle the emotional compliment. He was terrible at small talk, especially when people were being genuine with him.

"Uh, yeah," Rudra muttered, focusing very hard on his boring steak.

"I just get a lot of sleep now. And the game is pretty fun. Lots of... walking." Meera rolled her eyes, but she was smiling too.

"He just likes sitting in that pod so I can't yell at him to clean his room." The table laughed, and the conversation easily flowed back to wedding planning. Rudra let out a quiet sigh of relief, happy to fade back into the background and quietly finish his meal. He really liked Priya. She was nice, and she made Shiva happy. But the whole time they discussed flower arrangements and catering, Rudra was secretly taking mental notes on how he would season the wedding food better if he was the chef.

By the time they finished dessert, it was late. They said their goodbyes outside the restaurant, and Rudra took a cab back to their family home. As soon as he got to his bedroom, he crashed onto his mattress. His body was healed, but walking around the city for a few hours still made him a little tired. He pulled out his phone. He still had an hour to kill before he felt like hopping back into the capsule.

He opened the official Satisfy community app, planning to check if anyone had posted a decent map of the inland river systems. When the app loaded, he noticed the front page looked entirely different. Normally, the top posts were about rankers leveling up or guilds fighting over hunting zones. Tonight, the entire front page was flooded with the exact same topic. The text was highlighted in bright, flashing red. Rudra stared at the screen.

The top trending thread had over a hundred thousand views in the last hour alone. It wasn't about a boss raid or a guild war. [FACTION ALERT] Did anyone else just get the 'Heretic' Bounty?! Rudra tapped the screen, feeling a knot form in his stomach. User_DarkMage99: Guys, what is happening? Every single player in the Yatan Church faction just got a competitive bounty quest. It's rated A-tier! User_ShadowStabber: I got it too. Usually, the Church only gives bounties like this for high-level Rebecca Paladins.

Who is this guy? User_CultistSteve: Look at the target description. It doesn't even make sense. Someone posted a screenshot of the quest. Rudra quickly zoomed in on the image. [Faction Quest: Hunt the Heretic of the Northern Forest] [An unknown individual has severely disrupted a sacred Yatan ritual and stolen a high-priority target. Find this heretic and eliminate them.] [Target Description: Wears a heavy brown travel cloak and a dark leather half-mask. Wields a heavy wooden staff. Fights using highly unorthodox melee techniques.] [Reward: +2, 000 Yatan Church Affinity, 500 Gold, 1 Random Dark Magic Skill Book.] Rudra stopped breathing. He read the description again. A heavy brown cloak. A dark leather half-mask. A wooden staff.

"They literally put a hit out on my outfit," Rudra whispered to his empty room. He scrolled down the comments. The Yatan players were totally confused, but completely fired up. User_BloodMagicFan: A wooden staff? Is it a mage? User_StabHappy: It says 'unorthodox melee'. Who fights up close with a stick? It has to be a secret NPC, right? Or maybe one of the top ten rankers testing a new hidden class? User_DarkMage99: Whoever it is, 500 gold is a fortune. I'm heading to the northern woods right now.

Every Yatan player on the server is going to be hunting this guy. Rudra dropped his phone on his bed and rubbed his face with both hands. He had bought that brown cloak and mask specifically to hide from the normal players on the beach. He just wanted to be a boring, invisible background character so he could cook in peace. Instead, his brilliant disguise was now the exact description for a massive server-wide bounty. Every dark magic player in the game was going to be looking for a guy matching his exact outfit.

"I just wanted the truffles," Rudra groaned loudly, staring at his ceiling.

"I didn't even want the lion! I just got a tiny, hungry furball!" He thought about Kratos, the dual-attribute cub currently sleeping inside his cloak back in the game. If the Yatan players found out he had the cub, they wouldn't just hunt him. They would bring an entire army. He was completely trapped. If he took the cloak and mask off, the regular players would recognize him as the 'Training Maniac' and swarm him with questions. If he kept them on, the Yatan cultists would try to murder him for the bounty.

"Whatever," Rudra sighed, sitting up and stretching his arms.

"If they want to pick a fight, they can try. Maybe they drop some decent spices or gold." He grabbed his phone, plugged it into the charger on his nightstand, and walked over to his VR capsule. The real world was nice, but he still had eight more Epic meals to cook for Elysia, a bottomless divine cub to feed, and an army of creepy cultists to hunt. He climbed into the soft gel cushioning and let the glass lid slide shut overhead.

"Time to get back to work," he smiled. The real world faded to black.