After taking a particularly hot shower and bit of asking around, Chad managed to secure himself a hotel keycard. He didn't know what room it was for, but that didn't matter. What did matter were the amenities it unlocked.

Chad headed down the hallway toward the gym with no small amount of anticipation. He had a goal. He needed to know just how strong he was. Between throwing that rock and breaking the door handle on the way in, he had no idea of how powerful his right arm had become. There hadn't been a chance to test his limits either, outside of live combat. If he wanted to really understand what this system had done for him, then getting a better handle on his capabilities and limits was a must.

The gym itself was a relatively small affair. Treadmills, stationary bikes, and cable-operated weight machines lined one side of the room opposite a wall of floor-length mirrors. Racks bearing various sizes of dumbbells, medicine balls, and even a few foam mats sat in front of the mirror. Adjustable benches for situps and the like filled in some of the empty space in the center.

It wasn't bad as far as hotel gyms went. Chad had definitely seen worse. The fact that they had any dumbbells at all was a big plus, since it meant he had a lot more options to work with. But the lack of a weight rack or barbell was still disappointing.

Guess I'll have to work with what I've got.

Squawkers glided over to one of the treadmills and settled on top. The parrot had also taken a bath of his own, albeit using a plugged sink and cooler water. His grey and red plumage shone forth once more with only a few flecks of goop still occasionally visible. "Phew. Finally, some peace and quiet."

He was right. For the first time since all this started, Chad felt like he could finally take a breather. They weren't safe, not by any means. But inside this building, there was no need to constantly look over his shoulder or worry about a sudden attack. Not yet at least.

"So what did you want to do here? Just lift some weights to blow off steam?"

"Nah. I'd need a bit more weight for that." Chad strode toward the weight rack. "I want to see how strong the ol' tournament winner is now."

"Oh! That makes sense."

He glanced over the dumbells with a discerning eye. If there's one thing he knew by heart, it was the max weights for his right arm on pretty much any exercise.

"Let's start with curls." Picking up the weight he was used to warming up on - a forty pound dumbbell - he crossed to the bench and sat down. Laying his elbow on his thigh, he began to curl the weight toward his bicep.

It didn't feel like anything. Compared to the usual slight effort that accompanied this exercise, it felt like he was curling a balloon. A helium one, at that.

"That… looks pretty easy." The bird looked at him skeptically. "You sure those are real weights?"

"I think so?" Chad frowned and set it down. "Wanna try?"

After a moment's hesitation, the parrot swooped down toward the weight sitting on the ground. He wrapped his talons around its handle and flapped his wings - slowly at first, then with more gusto.

"Gah!" After a minute of struggling, Squawkers collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. "Ok, fine. That's heavy. But I'm a bird! I'm not meant to carry stuff like this!"

Chad just grinned and pressed down the giddiness welling up inside. "It's ok, Squawk. I'm the brawn of the team, remember?"

"More than I realized, apparently…"

After a brief warmup, Chad tackled the biggest thing the gym had to offer – a sixty pound dumbbell. It still felt like lifting air.

"Woah." Just to confirm, he went back to a lighter weight with his left arm and gave it a gentle curl. It felt just as hard as usual. He wouldn't be able to lift anything too heavy with the limb, though. Not without undoing some of the Nurse woman's hard work from earlier.

That's normal. Lefty always topped out at forty pounds or so. Which means these stat points really are just affecting my right arm, nothing else.

Usually, exercise with one arm had some carryover to the other, even if he didn't train it at all. It was the entire reason why Chad's left had any muscle at all instead of looking like the stick it should rightfully have been. But this system stuff seemed to bypass that normal human condition. Just as he'd hoped.

"What?" The parrot cocked his head to the side as a grin spread across Chad's face.

"Nothing." He tried to grab two of the sixty pound dumbbells at the same time. As much as his right hand had grown, it was still a bit awkward to pull off. He could still curl them with no problem. "I'm just way stronger than I thought."

This really is the best day of my life

Chad proceeded through a slew of standard exercises – tricep extensions, dumbbell grip extensions, and more. There were some exercises he simply didn't bother with at all, like overhead presses. There wasn't enough weight here to make them hard even before his arm had grown. Through them all, he found the same results.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

You have displayed rudimentary knowledge of how to lift heavy things, but with style. Weightlifting (E) proficiency earned!

Nice. That'll help with working out, I guess. Though who knows if I even need to do that ever again, right? Not when these stats are doing the work for me.

Squawkers, for his part, played around with trying to lift the lighter weights in his own exercise. He could barely get the 2-pound weight off the ground for a moment, as hard as he tried. It was kind of cute to watch.

Eventually, Chad set the weights back in their places and stretched, wincing again at the pulling sensation in his shoulder. The results were in: he was strong. His tests weren't exactly conclusive as to how strong, but they underscored that Chad was reaching pretty absurd levels. Someone else could probably take all this info and tell exactly how much a point of strength did for his arm, but he'd never been great at math. He was more of a practical guy, anyway. And the practical truth was that he could do some real damage.

I need more weight to figure out how much I can really lift. He eyed the weight rack again. I wonder…

Stepping forward, he squatted and grabbed the rack itself. With a bit of effort, the entire fixture – weights and all – lifted into the air. As soon as it had left the ground though, Chad felt the weight overbalance him. He nearly tumbled forward before setting the thing down and catching himself.

A squawk of alarm sounded behind him. "Ok, now thats definitely absurd. How the hell?! How much strength do you have?!"

Chad straightened the rack once again. "It says… 77 now? After I added the last three, at least."

Squawkers fell silent. "That's more than all my stats combined. A few times over. "

"I know, right?" The arm wrestler beamed. "Isn't it cool?"

"Sure, that's one way to put it… I might've said 'scary' or 'potentially catastrophic', but let's go with cool."

On a whim, Chad dropped to the floor for one-handed pushups. As expected, they were easy. Then he tried to push off the ground a little harder and clap before landing.

As he pushed, the ground flew away from his face as his torso pivoted far higher than he'd anticipated. Chad's eyes widened in surprise as he nearly came to a standing position. Then, he began to fall.

He slammed his hand back into the ground in surprise as his head approached the concrete. Dust rippled out from his palm from the impact. A loud crack echoed through the room. Apparently, he'd used a bit more force than intended. Whoops.

Chad winced as he got to his knees and checked the damage. His palm looked a little red, but that was all. The real issue was the floor. The grey stone now bore a suspiciously hand-shaped imprint with cracks spiderwebbing out from it.

"Uh oh." Squawkers alighted on the ground in front of the indentation. "Remind me never to catch you by surprise. Otherwise you're gonna turn me into parrot pate."

"Let's… let's not tell Donna about this." He winced. "She's probably not gonna like that."

"Yeah. We'll just…" The parrot fluttered over to a nearby foam mat and pulled it over the damage. "See, no one will know! It's fine."

"Thanks, brains." He scratched the bird under his chin. "Though I gotta admit, I'm a little confused, here."

"Oh? About what?"

"I mean, this feels…" Chad walked over to one of the bikes and lifted it easily. "Wrong, somehow. Don't get me wrong, I love it! But doesn't it seem kind of weird?"

"Weird? Noooooo." Squawkers's voice dripped with sarcasm. "What gave you that idea? Being able to crack concrete on accident with your bare hand is totally normal!"

"I mean, everything's gone kind of weird today," Chad continued, "but it seems like I got an extra helping of absurd somehow."

"…You do have a point," the bird admitted begrudgingly. "As many monsters as we've seen, nothing's held a candle to that thing you've got there. Even those birds wouldn't be able to take you in a one-on-one fight, not even close. Most of the things at your level just can't compete."

"Right!"

"…But. That's all assuming you can use your arm. If they got a lucky shot in at your head, or sneak up behind you, or shoot you from far away, you've got no way to deal."

"Well, that's why I have you, right? To warn me about that stuff!" Chad shrugged the suggestion off. "And I've got guns for ranged stuff, or I can just chuck rocks at them."

"Fair…" The parrot conceded the point. "Still. You'd consider an approach other than punching things? Is this character development?"

"Hey, don't get me wrong, punching things is awesome." He grinned. "But I gotta be adaptable. Get with the times, right?"

In a way, it was bittersweet. Chad had gained this amazing power, the culmination of everything he'd always dreamed. But he might never be able to use it in competition on account of the world falling apart. It was a petty thing to worry about, but still.

Guess I've just gotta get used to this new kind of competition, then. I'll make sure that whatever this world throws at me, I can throw it right back. Way harder, too.

"Welp," he slapped his knees and stood. "I think I'm just about done here. You wanna do anything else?"

"Like what? Lift more weights?" Squawkers asked. "No, thanks. I'm fine."

"C'mon. How are you supposed to get stronger without training?"

"And what exactly do you call fighting monsters all day, hmm?" He crossed his wings. "Besides, I don't need to be strong. Just fast and smart. So even if lifting weights did work for me, it would still be pointless."

"Well, you never know," Chad shrugged as he headed toward the door. "By the way, I'm curious. Did you get a weightlifting proficiency?"

"…Yes," the bird admitted, fluttering onto Chad's shoulder. "Which is kinda weird, to be honest. Most of my other ones are way more bird-like – you know, scouting, pecking, cleaning—"

"You got a cleaning proficiency?!" He asked incredulously. "How?"

"Of course!" Squawkers raised his wings. Did you see how much work I put into getting that gunk offa me? If I didn't get a proficiency I'd be pissed. But anyway, the weightlifting proficiency isn't something I thought I could really get. Seems like more of a human thing, y'know?"

"I guess." Chad grinned again. "Guess it's telling you to branch out a bit. I can still teach you to shoot if you want."

"No."

"Maybe later, then."

With that, the pair exited the gym and headed back toward the main lobby. It was time to figure out their next steps.