The pain came later.
Not during the match.
Not during the applause.
It arrived that night, quietly, when Rudra lay still and the body finally stopped moving.
His shoulders throbbed. Calves tightened. A dull ache pulsed behind his knees, deep and insistent. Even his fingers felt heavy, joints stiff as if reminding him they had been used beyond habit.
He smiled faintly.
This pain was… satisfying.
It wasn't injury.
It wasn't strain.
It was earned.
Body Status: Fatigue Detected
Strength
Lv 02 (40 / 100 EXP) → (38 / 100 EXP)
Stamina
Lv 03 (69 / 100 EXP) → (66 / 100 EXP)
Small drops.
Honest ones.
The system didn't lie to flatter him. It didn't protect numbers from reality. Overuse without recovery demanded its cost.
Rudra accepted it without resistance.
He rolled onto his side, letting the soreness settle into his muscles.
In his previous life, fatigue had felt like an enemy—something to fight through with caffeine, deadlines, and denial.
Now, it felt different.
It felt like proof.
"I get to feel this again," he whispered.
A second chance meant a second body.
One that complained.
One that healed.
One that could still grow.
Emotional Control
Lv 05 (83 / 100 EXP) → (86 / 100 EXP)
He stretched slowly, carefully, listening to where the body resisted and where it allowed movement.
No pushing.
Recovery was also effort.
Flexibility
Lv 01 (88 / 100 EXP) → (90 / 100 EXP)
As sleep pulled at him, gratitude surfaced—not loud, not dramatic.
Just steady.
He had another morning to wake up to.
Another chance to correct mistakes.
Another body willing to answer effort honestly.
Fatigue was not failure.
It was the body saying:
You are alive.
You are building.
And this time—
you have time.