The power didn’t arrive like before.
No gentle warmth.
This time it hit like a flood slamming through every vein and nerve, rough and unstoppable.
It felt like a hammer to the chest.
His heart slammed harder, pumping more oxygen with every beat.
A wave of dizziness rolled over him, then faded into something sharper.
Clearer.
Like his whole body had leveled up at once.
Levi flexed his fingers.
No dramatic swelling under his clothes, but his skin felt tougher.
The muscles in his forearm were tight as steel cables.
At 1.1 he’d still felt like a dedicated gym rat.
At 1.2 he was already stepping past ordinary.
He glanced at the excavator.
One solid jump and he could clear the tracks without breaking stride.
His eyes dropped to the new skill.
[Berserk: Upon activation, Strength, Constitution, and Agility all double for 30 seconds.
No side effects.]
[Uses: 1 per day]
He hadn’t tested it yet, but something in his gut said that once it kicked in, he could probably bend the rebar lying nearby like it was soft wire.
“Squire!
What the hell are you staring at?!”
Don Quixote’s voice snapped him back.
The knight stood there soaked, waving the construction manual like he’d just conquered a kingdom.
“Look!
It shows the exact location of the witch’s castle…” He squinted at it upside down, flipped it around, then grinned.
“The runes are tricky, but trust me.
Give me a little time and I’ll crack it.”
“Of course, Sir Knight,” Levi said, rolling his neck.
“We should head back.
Tonight’s already paid off big.”
They only made it a few steps before a flashlight beam cut through the dark and locked onto them.
“Who’s there?!” The voice cracked, half a second from panic.
Levi recognized it immediately.
“It’s me, Mr.
Wang Qiang.
“Levi…?
The kid who got screwed by that merchant?!”
The light clicked off.
Wang Qiang stepped out from behind a stack of bricks, looking equal parts relieved and embarrassed.
Levi didn’t bother correcting the story.
“What are you doing out here?”
Wang Qiang’s face went red.
He waved a hand.
“Couldn’t sleep.
Figured I’d come out and kill some time.”
The reflective vest gave him away.
Night shift security or cleanup at the site.
Don Quixote worked days.
They’d never crossed paths.
Wang Qiang pointed at the armored figure.
“That your uncle?
What the hell are you two doing on a construction site at night?”
Before Don Quixote could start ranting about peasants and fingers, Levi pulled him behind him.
“My uncle works here during the day.
He’s rehearsing for a play tonight and needed somewhere quiet.”
Wang Qiang smacked his own forehead and forced a laugh.
“I knew it.
Scared the shit out of me.
I heard something about dragons and knights—my English sucks, I thought I was losing it.”
Levi took the manual from Don Quixote and held it up.
“Just rehearsing.
We’re leaving right now.”
Wang Qiang hesitated, then took a step back.
“Don’t come back here.
If the foreman finds out, he’ll dock my pay.”
“I understand.” Levi pulled a twenty from his pocket and pressed it into Wang Qiang’s hand.
“Our bad.
Won’t happen again.
We’ll find somewhere else next time.”
Wang Qiang opened his mouth, closed it again.
He just stood there watching them walk away.
The cash and the way Levi handled it made him think of his own son, Hao Ran.
Still timid, still fighting school every morning.
If they could’ve gotten him into a decent university back home, they never would’ve dragged him across the ocean.
The longer he stood there, the angrier he got.
This weekend he was going to rip that kid a new one.
Levi felt the sting of the twenty the whole walk to the street.
He’d meant to hand over ten.
Grabbed the wrong bill and had to commit.
Too late now.
The Uber back was even worse—$117 this late.
If he hadn’t walked away with three-tenths of an attribute point and a new skill, he would’ve called the whole night a straight loss.
The next morning Don Quixote stared at his muddy armor in confusion.
Levi told him it had already been dirty three days ago.
Don Quixote half-believed it and left for work humming under his breath.
Seeing his daughter yesterday had put some life back in him.
Levi hit the gym early.
Michael wasn’t there, which saved him from another lecture about steroids and “whatever the fuck you’re on.”
On the subway ride to the Upper East Side, he ran the numbers in his head.
Every tenth of a point in Strength seemed to add roughly twenty to forty kilos to what he could press or lift.
If he kept stacking… at five, at ten… could he actually flip a car with his bare hands?
He stepped out of the station and saw seven or eight people clustered around a wooden crate sitting right in front of the boutique doors.
“What’s going on?” he asked Emma as he walked up.
“Mrs.
Dolores bought some art piece,” Emma said, nodding at the box.
“Four guys can’t get it through the doorway without it getting stuck.
One person can’t lift it.
We’re waiting on the movers.”
“We’re about to open,” Levi said.
“This looks like shit blocking the entrance.”
Emma shrugged.
“Nothing we can do.
Just wait.”
A new window flashed into his vision.
[Quest: Helping Others Is a Knight’s Virtue]
[A noble lady in the Noble Courtyard has run into a small problem.
As a knight, you should step forward without hesitation.]
[Reward: Free Attribute Points +0.1]