“I got it,” Levi said.
“Let me give it a shot.”
“Oh, honey, please,” Emma teased, giving the young guy a once-over.
“I know you’re built, but three grown men couldn’t budge that thing.”
Levi walked up to the crate and crouched down for a closer look.
It was a solid wooden box just narrow enough to fit through the boutique doors, roughly waist-high, reinforced with iron bands on both sides.
It looked heavy as hell.
“How much does this weigh?” he asked the delivery guy, straightening up.
“Three hundred kilos?
Four?”
The burly white guy glanced at Levi and Emma, then let a flicker of disdain cross his face.
“At least three hundred,” he said.
“It’s solid.”
Levi caught the look but let it slide for now.
He did some quick math.
At Strength 1.2 he could already push a hundred and twenty-five kilos on the bench.
Every extra tenth of a point seemed to add roughly twenty to forty kilos of real-world strength.
If he popped [Rage] and doubled everything for a short burst… maybe it was worth trying.
“What’s inside?” he asked Emma.
“Do I need to be gentle with it?”
“Of course you do,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“It’s a sculpture.
You think cheap crap gets called art?”
“What if I can actually lift it and get it inside?
What then?”
Emma looked him up and down again, smirking.
“You’re a little young, but I like your style.
If you want to ask me out, just say it.”
“Not interested,” Levi said, pointing at the upscale steakhouse across the street.
“If I move it, you buy me lunch there.”
She sucked in a breath.
“Jesus… that place is a hundred and fifty a head at lunch.
But if you can’t move it, you’re buying me.
Deal?”
Levi nodded, dropped his bag, and stepped up to the crate.
He took a deep breath.
The delivery guy watched the pretty saleswoman openly flirting with the Asian kid and his jaw tightened.
“Careful, kid,” he said, half-mocking, half-warning.
“That ain’t a little dumbbell from your garage—”
[Rage] activated.
A searing flood of power exploded from his heart and tore through every muscle fiber.
[Strength 1.2] → [Strength 2.4]
[Agility 1.1] → [Agility 2.2]
[Constitution 1.1] → [Constitution 2.2]
The world slowed.
Sounds dulled.
The only thing that felt real was the roaring strength inside him.
Levi dropped into a squat, grabbed the reinforced iron bands at the base, and braced.
His back locked, lats flared like iron gates, and his legs drove upward like hydraulic jacks.
The three-hundred-plus-kilo crate that had beaten three strong men lifted cleanly off the ground like it weighed nothing.
Veins stood out on his arms, but his face stayed calm—just a little winded.
“My God…” Emma breathed, hand flying to her mouth.
Levi took three steady steps and set the crate down gently in the corner, even angling it so it didn’t bump the glass door.
Three hundred kilos clearly wasn’t his limit.
“Strange…” he muttered.
“Feels like it wasn’t packed full.
Almost too light for how heavy it is.”
Everyone was staring at him like he’d grown a second head.
The delivery guy walked over, wiped his eyes, and tried to nudge the crate himself.
It didn’t budge an inch.
“Pretty light, huh?” Levi said, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Big muscles, no strength.
Wild.”
The guy’s face went red.
He opened his mouth, closed it, and just stood there looking like a fish gasping for air.
The workers’ truck had barely pulled away when a Bentley Bentayga glided up to the curb.
Dolores was running a little late, but she still carried herself with her usual poise.
“Why did they leave already?” she asked.
“Emma, you told me the sculpture was stuck in the doorway.”
“It was,” Emma said, glancing at Levi.
“Then Levi moved it.
By himself.”
For the first time Levi could remember, Mrs.
Dolores actually looked surprised.
“You opened the crate?” she asked.
“How else could one person move it?”
“Maybe I’m just naturally strong,” Levi shrugged.
“Or maybe those guys were all on too many steroids.”
Mrs.
Dolores walked over to the crate and checked the seals herself.
Levi recognized the look on her face.
The quest was done.
Sure enough, the system window popped up a second later.
[Quest: Helping Others Is a Knight’s Virtue — Complete]
[Reward: Free Attribute Point +0.1]
Yes.
Levi quietly assigned the point to Constitution.
[Constitution 1.1] → [Constitution 1.2]
He drew in a long, deep breath and felt his lungs work with brand-new efficiency, pulling every last bit of oxygen from the air and feeding it straight into his bloodstream.
His heart pumped strong and steady.
At this rate he could probably hold a four-minute kilometer pace all the way from the Upper East Side back to Sunset Park.
Constitution gains were no joke when it came to endurance.
Before he could enjoy the feeling, Mrs.
Dolores called all four sales associates over.
“I’ll be out of town on business for the next few days,” she said evenly.
“Everything runs as usual while I’m gone.”
Her gaze settled on Levi.
“Everyone else can get back to work.
Levi, you stay.”