16. Falling Pieces of the Puzzle [2]

'It's still not enough to prove what I am thinking.'

Neel was faster than those dumb and naïve protagonists when it came to adapting to the environment and accepting the situation.

Although he did not want to believe that possibility he knew what is in front of him cannot be changed. If it is the truth he shall accept it and move further to not lose something further. If there is a loss then there is a loss, reminiscing the things will only waste time and he knew one thing as if it was engraved on his soul that

'Time waits for no one.'

And that is why he was not interested in wasting time, so he immediately began with his experiment.

He once again started Surya-Namaskar and only two hours later, his muscles immediately responded with throbbing pain, throat with thirst, and stomach with hunger.

This was within his assumptions. And so he continued and only stopped when the number on the slip went to 510 and his body gave up, just like before.

He was sweating profoundly and his breathing was wild.

This time he was even able to taste the soil present in the air.

He understood that the 'Potion of Determination' was not something to be taken lightly. Its effectiveness was too heaven-defying.

But he did not bother with the side kicks. As his main agenda was to work to the bone and see are there any changes in his body that were resting in bed.

He immediately tried to stand up but alas, he was exhausted to the point that he was not able to lift a finger, so he just laid down and said.

"Log off"

And just like that, the next second, he found himself lying on his bed with the helmet on top. Once again he stood up, the amount of fatigue he felt last time was increased a little this time and to his not-so-surprise, he once again found his body drenched in sweat.

A wry smile appeared on his face and then he thought.

'Even if what I am thinking is true, I really hope there is someone who finds this out before me. I don't want trouble to knock on my door every day.'

His thought had some point. After all, even if you are someone adventurous it gets boring when some third-rate villain knocks on your door claiming you have discovered his secret so he has to delete you from the face of this planet and then his lackeys attack you, you fight them, and win, then they call for higher-ups, then happens this and that, until your or their whole organization's existence is erased from the face of this planet.

He doesn't want this typical cliché.

'But still, some more experiments are remaining.'

He thought and proceeded with the next experiment only after he drank water and ate protein bars till his body was satisfied.

"Haaa….. Now let's move to the next experiment."

He said out loud because he noticed a certain robot with a maid was staring at him with eyes filled with amusement and curiosity.

'I don't know why but I have a feeling that she knows about the game more than me.'

Neel thought as he shot one last glance at Lucy and proceeded with the experiment.

Unbeknownst to him, his feeling was deadly true. Indeed Lucy knew not only about the game but also about many things that even the Emperor of Gods don't know, for the time being, she had to zip her lips. But when the opportunity will arrive she will be the first one to grab it.

"Experiment 2… finding out does the things done in the real world change in Hestia?"

"Begins."

He muttered and took out a yoga mat.

And started doing Surya-Namaskar on the yoga mat.

After one hour of continuous Surya-Namaskar, he slowly started feeling fatigued.

This was already considered by him. He continued until the number of Surya-Namaskar reached 80."

Although 90 Surya-Namaskar is a too slow rate for one hour, one must consider that Neel was mentally exhausted as this was his first time breaking his limit twice in a single day.

Not to mention the effects of the 'Potion of Determination he was facing the challenge in hardcore mode and it was only the first day of the challenge.

As for why he just didn't do one Surya-Namskar and went to check inside the game?

He had two reasons for that.

First being inside the game he was fatigued to the point he would lose consciousness anytime he logged in which would end up wasting time.

Secondly, he wanted to test that is the factor of the time difference in the two worlds that is the Hestia and the Earth which is 2:1, will it have any change on the effects of the potion?

Now without wasting any further time he immediately logged in.

And to his surprise, his body was still in the position just like how left.

'I didn't notice this earlier but the way I was lying on this ground before I logged off and the way I am lying on the ground right now after logging in, is the same'

He was now more focused on this 'in-Game Online' than ever before he was.

There was something inside of him that told him that his thoughts were on right track, and this game and this world Hestia is the key to unlocking something grand.

What it could be?

He didn't know.

Or rather he didn't need to know, at least now.

This thought didn't last long as he got up and sat down folding his legs, where he was previously lying, and took out the slip from the inventory.

{Task progress: (600/100,000)}

The moment Neel read those words just like every piece of the puzzle was clicking and taking its place he understood one thing.

"This game is not simple…. Now the question is… is it an ally or enemy. Although I don't want to be the so-called savior of humanity I also don't want to see my homeland turn into ashes in front of my eyes."

His thoughts were simple and straight.

"There are a few more things I want to try before I draw a fully evident conclusion but I can't do those while being in this desert."

"I will have to complete this quest first…"

Neel was the type of person who thought rationally, so he was now more than ever interested in exploring Hestia and finding more things before the other players can find them.

"But for now let me check about the time factor… I went on Earth for more than an hour so here the time should be either reduced by two hours or according to Earth's timing it should be reduced by one hour, there is also a possibility of the cycle of 7 and the half days instead of 15 on Earth… as there is no timer either for The Hestia or for the Earth…"

"This is getting exciting but troublesome at the same time… if the difficulty is this much at tenfold I wonder will I even be alive when five more folds will be added…"

"Haaaa….."

In the end, he just sighed and looked at the stars above, and without even knowing he fell asleep inside the world of Hestia.

****

[A/N: {Task 'status': System will show status only when the task is either complete or incomplete}

{Task 'progress': System will show this when there is some progress made by the player in their particular tasks}]