Brin’s first night training with the sword again didn’t go as well as he’d hoped.

His hands were used to holding a spear now.

Hogg had only gone over the sword forms with him a couple times, and he was still in bed recovering from his ordeal with Neptune’s cavern.

Brin was certain the old guy would get up and practice with him if he asked–if only to show that he could–but Brin didn’t want to ask.

Even Hogg had to have limits.Rather than practice incorrectly, he followed Hogg’s example and decided to get to bed on time for once.The next day started with the usual workout with Davi.

To his relief, Davi was the same as he always was.

If he resented Brin for hanging out with Myra yesterday, he didn’t show it.

Actually, the big guy was in a great mood when Brin found him outside his family barn.“Look at this!” Davi held up a disk of metal.

It was the size of a dinner plate, except a half-inch thick.“Whoa.

Is that–?”“Weights!” said Davi.

“I know you said you wanted to commission them, but there’s no reason I can’t talk to Toros, too.

He liked the idea so much he gave me a discount.

The money came from an advance from Hela.”“You didn’t have to… Here, tell me how much it was and I’ll pay for half.”“No way!” said Davi.

“These are mine.

You can borrow them whenever you like, though.”Brin walked over to lift one up.

There was a stack of about twenty, and they were all the same size.

When he picked one up, he was surprised at the weight.

It was much heavier than it looked.“That one’s a hundred pounds.

The lighter colored ones are fifty, and the black ones are twenty-five,” said Davi.The weights were different shades of black and gray, but none of them were any bigger or smaller than the others.

If he’d had to guess, he’d call these ten-pound weights on earth.

Toros must’ve enchanted them for weight.

It would make sense to use less material and enchant it to be heavier, given how expensive metal was around here.

Still, he didn’t think Davi should be able to afford something like that, no matter how much Hela had paid him.

Toros must have drastically discounted himself, which wasn’t a surprise.

Everyone liked Davi.“Have you tried it out yet?” asked Brin.“I was waiting for you,” said Davi.The wooden bench Davi had set up didn’t look sturdy enough to deal with the amount of weight they’d be dealing with, but it [Inspected] as a Bog Standard Bench, which meant that there wouldn’t be a problem.

Davi had even commissioned a rack for the bar, complete with wooden J-hooks just like Brin had described.

It still surprised Brin to see wood fill so many places he’d expect to see steel in his old world, but if there was one thing Hammon’s Bog was good at, it was crafting with wood.The thing that surprised Brin the most when he started to be let in on all the town gossip was how little of it had been about him.

Even Zilly, Myra, and Davi weren’t the main subjects of gossip.

Most of it had centered around two other people from their same System Day: Rodrige the [Carpenter] and Gill the [Woodworker].

Sure, people would be interested in his competition with Zilly, and Jeffrey might be trying to motivate Davi by trying to force some kind of rivalry with Brin, but those were just side-shows.

The main event was the rivalries between the various wood crafting Classes.“Well, go on,” said Brin, and Davi needed no further encouragement.He lay on his back on the non-padded wooden bench, but then remembered he hadn’t set any weight on the bar and started to get up again.“I’ll do it,” said Brin.

He started with two-hundred pounds.

A fairly standard max for someone who’d been lifting for a couple months in his old world.Davi pumped the bar a few times as if it weighed nothing.

Brin had been expecting that, but better safe than sorry.

He added another hundred pounds, with the same result.At four-hundred, Davi started to feel it.

At five hundred he strained, but still asked Brin to keep going.With five-hundred and fifty pounds of weight, Davi pumped the bar twice, then heaved slowly on the third, barely managing to get it all the way up.

He tried once more, but didn’t make it.

Brin had to help, and between the two of them they barely managed to get the bar back in place.“That’s insane, Davi.

You’re literally a monster.”“Ooh! Notification.

I got a Strength for that.”“Let me try!”Brin started at two hundred, and was surprised at how light it felt.

Sure, he knew it would be that way, but it still felt unreal.

Davi added more weight, and three-hundred pounds barely felt different.

At four-hundred pounds, it was considerably harder.

He maxed out at four-hundred and fifty.

He’d gotten much closer to Davi’s weight than he’d expected.

Congratulations! Through training you have increased the following attribute:

Strength +1