The scoreboard clicked to 48 with a quiet scrape of chalk.
Rudra stood at the non-striker's end, bat resting lightly on his shoulder, breathing slow and even. The match had thinned out around him—fielders spread wider now, voices less confident, bowlers taking longer to turn and run in.
Pressure had changed sides.
The bowler began his run-up.
Rudra watched.
Not the arm.
Not the body.
The ball.
For a moment—just a moment—something shifted.
The world did not slow.
It clarified.
The red ball left the bowler's fingers, and Rudra saw it.
The seam.
Not as a blur.
But as rotation.
Clean, deliberate, tilted slightly toward leg.
Inswing.
His feet moved before thought finished forming. Bat came down straight, meeting the ball under his eyes. No force. Just timing.
The ball slid past mid-on.
Two runs.
The umpire raised his fingers.
Fifty.
Applause broke out from the sidelines. A few cheers. Someone clapped loudly, trying to draw his attention.
Rudra didn't raise his bat.
Didn't smile.
Didn't look up.
He simply took guard again.
Somewhere, quietly—
Skill Unlocked
[Static Vision] — Lv 01
Allows perception of seam rotation at release.
No fanfare.
No explanation.
Just presence.
The next delivery came.
He watched again.
This time, the seam wobbled—cross-seam, unstable.
A cutter.
He adjusted late, letting the ball pass closer to his body than comfort allowed, guiding it softly behind square.
Single.
Batting Timing
Lv 01 (31 / 100 EXP) → (38 / 100 EXP)
Focus
Lv 06 (36 / 100 EXP) → (40 / 100 EXP)
His partner looked at him. "Fifty," he whispered.
Rudra nodded once.
The game resumed.
Between overs, Rudra stood still, eyes lowered, mind cataloging what he had seen.
This wasn't prediction.
This wasn't instinct.
It was observation refined.
The system had not gifted him power.
It had named a skill he had already begun to earn.
Static Vision
Lv 01 (0 / 100 EXP) → (7 / 100 EXP)
The innings ended shortly after.
Rudra walked back unbeaten.
No raised bat.
No glance at the scoreboard.
No celebration.
Fifty was a number for others.
For him, the real change had already happened—quiet, precise, irreversible.
He had not become stronger.
He had begun to see.
And as always—
The numbers did not lie.