The hunger didn't fade.
It thickened.
By the tenth over, St. Merry's weren't just trying to score—they were trying to escape the pressure they themselves had created.
Rudra felt it in the way they ran.
Half-steps.
Late calls.
Eyes darting to the scoreboard after every ball.
He stayed at long-off, hands resting lightly on his knees, breath steady.
Waiting.
The Misjudgment
Joshua D'Souza finally decided to break free.
Kapil floated one up—tempting, almost generous.
Joshua charged.
The shot wasn't bad.
Just early.
The ball went high, straight toward long-off.
Toward Rudra.
For a fraction of a second, the crowd inhaled.
Rudra didn't.
He took three calm steps forward, two to the side.
Settled.
Caught.
No leap.
No drama.
Just gravity doing its job.
The silence that followed was heavier than applause.
Fielding
Lv 01 (58 / 100 EXP) → (71 / 100 EXP)
Emotional Control
Lv 05 (89 / 100 EXP) → (93 / 100 EXP)
Joshua walked past him, jaw tight.
Rudra nodded once—not in respect, not in dominance.
Acknowledgment.
Collapse Isn't Loud
Two overs later, another wicket fell—run out.
The call was late.
The throw was clean.
The batter was short.
No one shouted this time.
They just stood there, hands on hips, looking at each other.
Hunger had turned into weight.
Decision Speed
Lv 04 (52 / 100 EXP) → (57 / 100 EXP)
Between Deliveries
At the boundary, Rudra noticed something subtle.
The St. Merry's fielders—now batters waiting their turn—weren't watching the bowler anymore.
They were watching him.
Measuring.
Asking an unspoken question:
How is he not tired?
His legs burned.
His back ached.
But his movements stayed efficient.
Stamina
Lv 03 (97 / 100 EXP) → (100 / 100 EXP)
Stamina Lv 03 → Lv 04
The system acknowledged the threshold quietly.
No fanfare.
Just a new baseline.
The Shift
With stamina stabilized, Rudra felt something change.
Not energy.
Control.
He anticipated earlier.
Moved less.
Arrived sooner.
Another shot came hard along the ground.
He cut it off, turned, threw in one motion.
Dot ball.
The dugout groaned.
Fielding Awareness
Lv 01 (58 / 100 EXP) → (66 / 100 EXP)
End of Innings
St. Merry's finished under their projected total.
Not disastrously.
Just… insufficiently.
As teams changed over, Rudra walked in slowly, unscrewing his bottle.
Kapil came up beside him.
"You didn't let them breathe," he said.
Rudra shook his head.
"They stopped breathing on their own."
He looked back at the scoreboard once.
Numbers.
Always numbers.
But behind them, he could still feel it—the echo of wanting too much, too fast.
And he knew something now:
Hunger could win you moments.
But when it grew heavy,
it belonged to the patient.
Everything, Without Asking
The chase began with noise.
Not cheers—instructions.
From the stands.
From the dugout.
From inside every boy wearing the NITK badge.
Rudra walked in at four down.
Early.
Too early for comfort.
Kapil was at the other end, bat grounded, eyes sharp but tired.
The target wasn't impossible.
But it wasn't kind.
Rudra took guard and felt it immediately.
This wasn't about pacing anymore.
This was about offering everything the body had left—without breaking it.
First Balls
The bowler tested him straight away—tight length, no width.
Rudra defended.
Soft hands.
Dead bat.
No ego.
Batting Timing
Lv 01 (52 / 100 EXP) → (55 / 100 EXP)
Single.
Then another.
Kapil tried to release pressure—lofted drive, mistimed.
Caught.
Rudra watched the ball settle into the fielder's hands.
No reaction.
Just calculation.
The Feeling
As wickets fell around him, Rudra felt something unfamiliar in this life.
Not fear.
Responsibility.
Not for the result.
For the process.
Every run now cost breath.
Every decision weighed on the lungs.
Focus
Lv 06 (88 / 100 EXP) → (92 / 100 EXP)
Controlled Giving
A half-volley came.
Rudra leaned in—perfect alignment.
The ball raced along the ground to the fence.
Four.
No fist pump.
Just back to stance.
Shot Selection
Lv 01 (31 / 100 EXP) → (36 / 100 EXP)
The next over, he rotated strike relentlessly.
Ones.
Twos.
Refused the risky second once.
Accepted a tight single the next.
Kapil's absence left silence.
Rudra filled it with breathing.
Body Talks Back
By the fifteenth over, his legs screamed.
Not cramps.
Limits.
The kind that didn't ask for mercy.
Stamina
Lv 04 (12 / 100 EXP) → (19 / 100 EXP)
He ignored the noise.
Not by force.
By efficiency.
He stopped over-running.
Shortened his backlift.
Let timing do the work.
The Almost Moment
A slower ball.
Rudra read it early.
Too early.
The shot went high.
For a second, everything hung.
The fielder misjudged.
Dropped.
Gasps.
Groans.
Rudra stood still, bat grounded.
No smile.
He didn't thank luck.
He reset.
Emotional Control
Lv 05 (93 / 100 EXP) → (97 / 100 EXP)
Final Overs
With three overs left, the equation tightened beyond comfort.
Rudra chose the boundary once—off a bad ball.
The rest, he ran.
Hard.
Honest.
Every run felt earned twice.
Running
Lv 01 (28 / 100 EXP) → (34 / 100 EXP)
After the Last Ball
They fell short.
Not by much.
Enough to hurt.
Enough to remember.
Rudra stood there, chest heaving, sweat dripping from his chin.
No regret.
No anger.
Just emptiness slowly filling with calm.
He had given everything—
without asking the body for what it couldn't safely give.
As he walked off, the system updated quietly.
Overall EXP
+128 (High-pressure contribution)
Loss or win didn't matter here.
Only one thing did:
When the moment asked for all of him,
he hadn't negotiated.
He had answered.