[Knight’s Path: Stage One — Squire]
[Quest Description: A true knight does not settle in the mud.
As the adventurer serving a knight, you must walk the same road toward becoming one yourself.]
“Wait,” Levi scratched his head.
“When the hell did I agree to be a squire?”
[Knight’s Tempering: Within 14 days, raise Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Spirit to 1.2.
A strong body and solid character are required to become a knight.]
[Stage Reward 1: Complete any one attribute — Gold Coins x3]
[Stage Reward 2: Complete any two attributes — Gold Coins x7]
[Stage Reward 3: Complete all four — Gold Coins x10 and unlock the class change trial]
“Fine, pretend I didn’t say anything,” Levi’s eyes lit up.
“I’m in.”
Even without the class change trial, twenty gold coins alone were worth over ten grand.
That kind of money could get him out of the basement and into a real apartment.
He pulled up his panel again.
[Name: Levi]
[Age: 17]
[Strength: 0.8]
[Spirit: 1.0]
[Agility: 0.9]
[Constitution: 0.9]
[Skill: Clumsy Eloquence]
[Equipment: None]
[Assignable Attribute Points: 0.1]
Fourteen days to push everything to 1.2 didn’t seem impossible.
If he kept moving around and triggering quests, he could probably pull it off.
“Wonder if regular training actually raises these stats…” Levi looked around the empty basement.
“I need to find a gym.”
He grabbed a change of clothes, stuffed them in a bag, and headed out.
Night had fallen and 8th Avenue was thinning out, but when Levi followed Google Maps to the nearest gym he was still surprised by how serious Americans took their lifting.
The place had solid reviews, but there were no yoga-pants girls inside.
Just big tattooed Black and Latino dudes and rows of old, rusty machines.
Even at 10 p.m.
on a weeknight in Brooklyn the gym was loud and packed.
Guys with arms thicker than Levi’s legs were sweating buckets.
Nobody paid him any attention.
He walked up to the front desk and tapped the counter.
A white guy whose neck was bigger than Levi’s thigh sat watching a football game on TV.
He glanced over.
“Day pass fifteen, monthly sixty.
Bring your own towel.”
He looked Levi up and down.
“Private training is a hundred fifty a session.
First buy gets you a free shot of testosterone and a shot of steroids on the house.”
“Uh… thanks, but I’m good,” Levi said, sliding over the money and his passport.
“Just the monthly card, please.”
“You sure?” The guy kept his head down while typing Levi’s info.
“You’re not gonna make real progress training clean.”
“Gotta push past human limits, you know?” He flexed a bicep, veins popping so hard Levi worried one might burst.
“I used to look like you when I started.
Skinny little bitch.
Now look at me.”
“Bench one-sixty kilos, squat two-seventy,” he said, handing back forty in change with the passport and card.
“Took me five years.
You change your mind, come find me.
I’ll hook you up cheaper.”
Levi thanked him, asked where the locker room was, changed, and headed for the treadmill.
Consistent training mattered, but first he needed to test his current limits so he could track real progress.
With 0.8 Strength he figured he could bench around forty-five kilos.
That felt about right for his max.
Reality was worse.
A standard Olympic bar is twenty kilos.
Levi loaded two ten-kilo plates, barely managed one shaky rep at forty kilos, and couldn’t get it up again.
Squats were a little better but not by much.
He managed one shaky rep at fifty kilos on the rack before his legs started trembling.
He looked at his last free attribute point and dropped it into Strength.
[Strength 0.8] → [Strength 0.9]
The second the number changed, every muscle in his body started twitching.
Each fiber felt like it was firing on its own.
He could feel his body shifting in real time.
Muscle fibers that normally took months or years to grow were thickening and spreading fast inside him.
Levi stayed seated on the bench, face blank, while the changes finished.
Less than a minute later his long-sleeve tee felt tighter across the chest and arms.
He ran a hand over his biceps and stomach.
The ribs he used to be able to feel were now covered by a thin layer of new muscle.
His whole frame had filled out just enough to notice.
When he tested again, forty kilos felt easy.
At 0.9 Strength he could press fifty kilos without much struggle.
His squat jumped to sixty-five kilos.
What used to take a month of consistent training had happened in seconds.
His 0.9 Constitution let him run one kilometer at a 5:30 pace before he was breathing hard and had to stop.
Agility test: 5.8-second forty-yard dash.
Hundred-meter sprint in fifteen seconds.
After the tests Levi had a clear picture of where he stood.
These numbers weren’t enough to make a high school football team, let alone win a national championship.
Still, he felt optimistic.
If things went the way he hoped, his sleepwalking uncle would probably trigger another quest tonight.
On his way back to the locker room he caught two big Black guys talking near the door.
“Bro, I ran that protocol you gave me.
Strength’s up a lot.”
“Told you.
I got it straight from a pro bodybuilder.
Five Anastrozole a week, one Clomid, Monday Test, EQ, Tren—five mils each—plus five Anadrol pre-workout.”
“How’s your strength lately?”
“Bench one-fifty.
Squat’s pushing two-thirty, might hit a PR soon.”
“No shit?”
“You can bump the dose if you want.”
“I’m worried about my liver though…”
“It’s fine.
Just switch to TRT after.”
Levi changed quietly, shouldered his bag, and walked out.
He glanced at the two guys on his way past.
One of them looked about his age but was easily twice his size.
His back was covered in dense, angry acne that looked ready to burst.
Levi didn’t know why, but an old meme popped into his head.
Bad news from the bodybuilding circle…
Good thing he had the system.