"Haaa... my old bones can’t take another night shift," Ms. Diaza sighed, sinking into the chair Sam had just vacated.

Max, now standing behind her with a cocky smirk plastered on his face, placed both hands on her shoulders. "Don’t worry, Miss. Didn’t I tell you? These are magic hands. I’ll make all that pain disappear in seconds."

"Is that so?" she asked, raising a brow. His touch felt a bit too flimsy and weak to be truly relaxing, but even so, it gave her a hint of relief. After all, her shoulders had been carrying two heavy burdens all day—burdens her bra barely managed to support.

Of course, Max was bluffing.

Reality? Back on Earth, the only time he ever touched another person was during his annual checkup—and that too under bright hospital lights with a doctor who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else.

’Yeah... those were the days.’

Not that there were many of them to begin with.

Well... the setting hadn’t changed much.

Same room. Same situation.

Only difference?

This time, Max wasn’t the one being treated.

He was the one doing the touching.

Now, to be fair—there was nothing inherently erotic about it. Just a slightly older, very curvy nurse standing a little too close for comfort. The kind of "totally professional" situation that would absolutely not raise any questions... if you ignored everything about it.

Still, Max looked completely at ease.

Because, for some reason, he was weirdly confident he could pull this off.

And that confidence?

Yeah... it came from a single rune.

One. Basic. Rune.

Max wasn’t even sure if he could use it properly yet. From everything he’d read, runes were supposed to be written down—special ink, precise structure, all that complicated setup. Not exactly something you just winged in the middle of a hospital.

But then again... there were always exceptions.

According to some dusty old books—and a few very questionable theories he’d dug up online—if someone truly understood a rune... like, really understood it...

They didn’t need ink.

Didn’t need tools.

Didn’t need anything.

They could just trace it.

In the air.

Activate it.

Just like that.

Max, naturally, chose to believe that version.

The rune he had in mind was the Rune of Numbness, usually used to dull pain during medical procedures. But that was only one of its applications. Runes were like words—they carried layers of meaning depending on how they were shaped and understood.

In this case, the Rune of Numbness also held another aspect: the Rune of Ease. Where the first meaning numbed the nerves by freezing the overflowing signals and energy in a body or body part, the second interpretation gently corrected them. It made broken or chaotic nerves realign, smoothed out the flow of energy, and expelled the excess as harmless heat.

Now that Max finally understood what the runes were for, he decided it was time to bust out the magic. So, with the seriousness of a surgeon and the finesse of a five-year-old with crayons, he drew one across Ms. Diaza’s shoulder.

...Nothing.

No sparkle. No glow. Not even a pity vibration.

But Max didn’t let that discourage him. He simply tried again—on the other shoulder this time. Then again, and again, moving between both sides until minutes slipped by.

To Ms. Diaza, the only thing she felt was a faint tingling sensation, hardly more relaxing than his bony hands pressing into her skin. Meanwhile, Max knew the runes were working—he could understand them, he could activate them. The problem wasn’t ability. It was patience.

He could actually use runes. Yep, shocker. They were working. The only reason nothing happened yet was because runes were slow. They needed a minute or two to "charge up," sucking mana from the surroundings. Unless, of course, you had rune ink made from crushed mana stones, which activated them instantly.

Unfortunately for Ms. Diaza, Max didn’t have that luxury. What he did have, however, was persistence. By now he had scribbled dozens of Runes of Ease across her shoulders, unknowingly putting her in a bit of trouble... while she sat there, still waiting for his weak, bony hands to finally deliver some real relief.

"Nghhh—!" Ms. Diaza suddenly jerked, hit by a wave of sharp soreness that melted just as quickly into release. Before she could stop herself, a loud moan escaped her lips.

Max, standing behind her, froze. His eyes went wide—not because of that sound, but because her shoulder had started to heat up under his hands.

And to his surprise she made that sound once again "Nghhh—!"

That sound. That glorious, unholy sound. The kind of sound a lonely man could mistake for divine approval.

Max’s grin spread wider than it had any right to. ’Dear gods of isekai, is this it? Did I just trigger my very first waifu event?’

Behind Ms. Diaza’s chair, he clenched his fists like a shounen protagonist unlocking Super Saiyan for the first time. "It worked... it really worked!"

But let’s be clear here—he wasn’t shocked because he’d heard his overworked teacher moan like she’d just gotten into a hot spring after ten years in retail hell. No, no. He was shocked because the rune—his rune—actually activated. The warmth under his palm wasn’t placebo. It wasn’t his imagination. It was mana, raw and real, flowing through the rune patterns he’d scratched into existence with his bony fingers.

The Rune of Ease has worked.

And just like that—

A screen popped up right in front of him.

Perfect timing, as always.

[Forbidden Act: "Touch a female with perverted intent" — Completed]

[Reward: New forbidden acts unlocked]

Max’s eyes lit up instantly.

Finally.

Meanwhile...

Ms. Diaza was having a very different experience.

A strange warmth spread across her shoulders, sinking deep into her muscles. The tension she’d been carrying all day—hours of standing, moving, dealing with patients—started to melt away, replaced by a slow, creeping sense of relief.

Too much relief.

Her eyes fluttered shut for just a second—

Then snapped open again.

Her cheeks had gone faintly warm, a subtle flush creeping in as she stiffened slightly, clearly not expecting... whatever that was.

Something about this felt—

Off.

"This... this is..." she murmured under her breath, clearly unsure whether to be impressed or mildly alarmed. Her student’s hands suddenly felt like some kind of divine-grade heating pads—warm, steady, and way too effective for something that should’ve been ordinary.

Meanwhile, Max?

Yeah, he was gone.

Completely gone.

’Behold!’ he whispered to himself, chest puffed out. ’The legendary path of the Rune Masseur has awakened within me! Hahaha! Tremble, mortals! For I am destined to heal the world one shoulder at a time—and maybe cop a feel while I’m at it!’

If there had been a narrator, they would’ve clarified: dear reader, this man is suffering from a chronic case of Main Character Delusion Disorder. Do not attempt to replicate his behavior in real life unless you enjoy lawsuits.

Like I said before, runes take time to kick in—at least a few seconds. But Max? Oh no, our genius here didn’t just draw one rune. He drew dozens. Overlapping, sloppy, crisscrossing like some deranged toddler went wild with crayons on a fresh wall. He thought they weren’t working.

And now every single one of them decided to activate together.

Normally, a single rune would last for minutes, gently doing its job. But with a whole swarm lighting up at once, poor Ms. Diaza’s shoulder practically melted under the wave of relaxation, slumping down like she’d just clocked out from life itself. A soft, drawn-out moan escaped her lips—the sound of someone way, way too relaxed.

Max, hearing that, panicked. Not because of the noise (though yeah, his brain definitely noticed it), but because he had no idea what he’d just unleashed. And in his infinite wisdom, what did he do?

He drew more runes on her other shoulder.

Because obviously, when you don’t know what the hell is happening, the solution is always: double down.

His mind had already moved on, completely forgetting about the system notification he’d just triggered. Ironically, this time it had worked without him even trying—something he hadn’t managed despite all those earlier, painfully embarrassing attempts.

At this point, he didn’t even know what he’d done differently. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

And honestly?

He wasn’t about to question it.