Vicky's heart was a drum solo against his ribs. The three diamonds and eight gold nuggets sat in his Minecraft inventory, pixels of pure potential. The bread was there too, but his eyes were locked on the glittering gems.
"Okay… okay… stay calm," he whispered to himself, though calm was the last thing he felt. "Just like the apple. Focus."
He took a deep, steadying breath, the dusty air of his quiet spot filling his lungs. He tapped the screen to select the first diamond. His thumb hovered, a nervous tremor running through his hand.
"This is it. Don't screw it up."
He pressed his thumb against the cool glass of his phone.
And for the third time, reality softened.
His thumb sank into the screen without resistance, a sensation that was still deeply, profoundly wrong. A chill, like dipping his hand into a mountain stream, raced up his arm. He pushed further, his fingers navigating the digital space until they closed around something hard and faceted.
He pulled.
His hand slid back into the real world. And nestled in his palm, catching the afternoon sun with a brilliant, cold fire, was a diamond.
Not a piece of glass. Not a crystal. A real, weighty, perfectly cut diamond the size of his thumbnail.
"Holy…" The word escaped him in a stunned puff of air.
He dropped his phone onto his lap, not caring where it fell. He held the diamond up, turning it over and over. It was cool to the touch, impossibly clear, and threw tiny rainbows across the stone step and his dusty jeans.
"It worked," he breathed, a slow, disbelieving grin spreading across his face. "It actually worked! It's not just PUBG!"
A laugh, half-hysterical with relief and triumph, bubbled out of him. He scrambled for his phone, his fingers fumbling in his excitement.
"Gold. Let's try the gold."
He repeated the process, his movements quicker now, more confident. He reached into the screen, his fingers brushing past the digital bread, and wrapped around a gold nugget.
He pulled it out.
It was heavy for its size, warm from his grip, and had a dull, buttery gleam. He held both treasures in his hands—the cold, hard light of the diamond and the warm, heavy weight of the gold.
"I'm rich," he whispered, his eyes wide. "I'm… actually rich."
The implications crashed over him like a wave. He could buy anything. A new cycle. A gaming console. A lifetime supply of aloo parathas. He could help his parents, pay for Reena's college fees, buy Ankit that stupidly expensive game he kept whining about…
His grin faltered.
…buy it with what?
He looked at the diamond and the gold nugget. Where would he even sell them? A random 19-year-old boy walking into a jewelry shop with a flawless diamond and raw gold? They'd call the police before he finished his sentence. He pictured the scene: "Yes, officer, I pulled it out of my phone after a particularly good Minecraft session." He'd be locked up in a mental institution, or worse, a jail cell.
The excitement drained away, replaced by a cold, hard lump of reality in his gut. The power was real, but it was useless. Dangerous, even.
"Useless," he muttered, slumping against the step. "It's all useless. I can't do anything with this."
Frustration boiled over. He grabbed the last item from the chest—the bread. Maybe it would taste as fake as the apple. Maybe it would just be a disappointment, the final proof that his power was a cosmic joke.
He shoved his hand into the phone one more time, grabbed the loaf of bread, and yanked it out.
It was warm.
Not warm from the sun, but fresh-from-the-oven warm. It was a small, rustic loaf, with a crisp, flour-dusted crust. The smell hit him a second later—the wholesome, comforting, irreplaceable aroma of real, baked bread.
His stomach growled, a traitorous sound in the quiet.
Hesitantly, he broke off a piece. The crust crackled. He popped it into his mouth.
It wasn't cotton candy sweet like the apple. It was… perfect. It was the taste of bread. Chewy, slightly yeasty, utterly real and completely delicious. It was the best virtual-turned-real bread he had ever eaten.
A strange calm settled over him. He looked at the diamond, the gold, and the half-eaten loaf of bread.
"So," he said to the empty air, his voice quiet. "No super strength. No flying. No system. But… I can pull things out of games. And they're real. Some are weird, like the apple. Some are… perfect, like this."
He stared at his phone, the black screen reflecting the sky. The AWM was real. The apple was real. The diamond and gold were real. The bread was real.
His power wasn't about being a hero. It wasn't about fighting crime or having flashy abilities.
It was about the impossible, sitting quietly in his pocket.
A slow, genuine smile returned to his face, different from the frantic grin from before. This one was thoughtful, curious.
"This is not what I expected," he admitted, packing the diamond and gold nugget carefully into his pocket. He finished the bread, savoring every last crumb. "But… it's mine."
He stood up, brushing the dust from his clothes. The world hadn't changed. The trees were still, the dust still settled, the afternoon still quiet. But he had a diamond in his pocket and the taste of real bread in his mouth.
He grabbed his cycle, a new determination in his eyes. The brainstorming wasn't over. It had just begun.
"Rakesh's stand," he said to himself, kicking off. "I need a gola. My brain needs sugar to process all this."
As he cycled away, the wind whipping past his ears, one final, thrilling thought crossed his mind.
"If Minecraft works… what else can I pull out?"