Adyr...
Vesha repeated the name in her mind several times, as if trying to remember something.
At first, she had assumed he was just another adventurer—someone who had come to the cave seeking quick fortune, one of those who would do anything for the right amount of cash.
She knew that, by nature, adventurers were cunning and skilled, and she had hoped that maybe, just maybe, he would find a way to open the cell gate. Maybe he even knew a safe route out of the cave.
Those were her only hopes in this desperate situation.
No more, no less.
Until—
She saw the purple crystal.
She watched him swallow it casually, as if it were nothing more than candy.
And what shocked her most: he remained completely fine afterward. Someone is consuming an energy crystal and surviving without so much as a twitch.
Vesha could think of only one possibility. He is a practitioner.
The realization struck her like a bolt of lightning. Her heartbeat quickened, her head swam, and for a moment her vision darkened—everything blurring except for one vivid figure moving in front of her.
Adyr.
Standing in front of the cell door with an expressionless face.
He stood there, still and silent. Waiting. Calculating.
Then, with a speed Vesha's eyes couldn't even follow, he kicked the door.
BANG!
The sound exploded through the cell—loud, brutal, enough to send dust billowing into the air. The entire room trembled, and chunks of ancient stone crumbled from the walls.
Startled, Vesha squeezed her eyes shut.
When she opened them again, the door was still standing, but she could see the difference. The frame around the lock was dented inward, almost crushed.
BANG!
A second kick, even more powerful than the first. Rust and dust rained down, forcing Vesha to cover her face, her heart hammering in her chest.
BANG!
Came the third impact—and then a heavier sound, a groaning metallic screech as the door finally gave way and crashed inward.
Vesha's small body, still curled against the corner of the wall, trembled—but this time not from fear.
It was excitement.
It wasn't just the thrill of believing she might finally escape this dungeon with him by her side. It was the shock of realizing she was in front of one of those legendary figures — someone she had only glimpsed a handful of times in her life, even with her status, and otherwise knew only through the stories written in books.
She slowly pulled her hands away from her eyes, forcing them open to finally see the heroic figure standing before her. But instead of the sight she had imagined, reality struck her with the exact opposite.
"Wha...?"
Adyr was lying face down in front of the prison gate, completely motionless.
"A-Are you okay?" Vesha called out, her voice unsteady as she dragged herself toward him. But he remained still, offering no response.
As panic tightened its grip on her, she heard a new sound rising from the far end of the corridor — the rattling of bones drawing closer.
The skeletons had heard the commotion and were now rushing to the scene.
***
In his dark, candle-lit room, Adyr slowly sat up on the bed and pulled off the game helmet. The helmet's charge indicator blinked a faint red at 0%.
He had managed to break open the cell door at the very last second.
I wonder if she'll survive, Adyr thought.
He wasn't exactly optimistic. After all, with all the noise he had made, the skeletons would no doubt rush to the scene — and with what little strength Vesha had left in her frail body, her chances of surviving were painfully slim.
Still, he had acted out of selfish curiosity. He wanted to see what kind of choice an NPC — an artificial intelligence — would make in a situation like that. He was trying to understand the decision-making mechanism behind it — something that could be useful for his future interactions.
But there was one critical thing he had overlooked: his own body, lying there, exposed and defenseless.
Unaware of the danger, Adyr got to his feet and glanced at his watch. 7:01 PM. He found the charging cable and plugged it into the helmet, letting it sit in silence, waiting for the power to come back.
As Adyr found nothing better to do, he decided to begin his daily muscle training — but just as he was about to start, a knock came at the door. Assuming it was his sister, he walked over and grabbed the doorknob to open it.
But strangely, with a loud crack, the knob snapped off and stayed in his hand.
What the hell? Adyr muttered, staring in disbelief at the iron handle that had snapped clean off the old door.
"Brother, what was that?" Niva asked, stepping inside with a curious and confused look after hearing the noise.
"Just the doorknob," Adyr replied quickly, masking his surprise. "It was old and loose — just came off when I pulled it," he added.
"Oh, okay," Niva said, then continued, "I came to borrow your laptop. It's fully charged, right?"
Adyr nodded and pointed. "On the table."
"If you're free, come downstairs and help me study. Also, Mom's back," she added as she walked out.
Adyr only nodded again and closed the door behind her, still staring at the broken handle in his hand.
It wasn't loose, like he claimed. Sure, it was old, but not so fragile that it should have broken under normal pressure.
Don't tell me... The absurd thought hit him, and he quickly tossed the knob onto the table and dropped to the floor to begin his workout.
He skipped his usual stretches and warm-ups and dove straight into the heavy sets.
He lowered himself into a push-up position. Adyr had been consistently training with bodyweight exercises since the age of six, and on a typical day, he could easily knock out around 100 push-ups in a single set.
But today was different.
As he began, he immediately noticed how much easier it felt compared to before. By the time he hit 100, there was no sign of fatigue in his muscles.
He shifted position and continued with one-arm push-ups. Another 100 — still no real effort. Only a faint warmth in his muscles.
Surprised and curious, Adyr tripled his usual workout. He followed push-ups with intense core training like crunches, lower body work like squats, and back and balance drills like reverse planks.
By the time he completed his entire workout schedule, he wasn't even sweating. Not a drop. If he had to guess, his body was now at least six times stronger than before. That only confirmed the absurd thought that had crept into his mind earlier.
"My body really got stronger… Victor was right," Adyr whispered to himself.
The only explanation for such a sudden, miraculous increase in strength was a genetic mutation — and the only thing that could have triggered that… was the game.
But what he couldn't wrap his head around was how. He had previously assumed that the most he could gain from the game was information — knowledge on how to formulate a serum for genetic mutation.
He hadn't even considered the possibility that a game helmet — designed solely to access brain frequencies — could affect something as physical and deeply rooted as his genes.
Normally, genetic mutation requires direct intervention, like an injection. And as far as he knew, brainwave manipulation alone couldn't alter DNA.
A new absurd thought began to take root in his mind. The game wasn't just a technological marvel — it was starting to feel like something out of a fantasy, the work of a mad genius.