Omen: 2, 2

“What are you doing?” Dunes asked, watching as Adam pushed himself up from the ground, only to go back down to nearly laying down.

“Push ups,” Adam replied, inhaling, pushing himself up, exhaling, dropping back down again to inhale. Once he was done with his third set of twenty push ups, he stood up, grabbed a sack full of wooden blocks which had been saved for heating homes, before squatting, also twenty times.

The others hadn’t seen Adam seriously train before, but this was certainly new to them. They hadn’t seen the kind of training Adam was doing, which began with a ten minute run, followed by some light stretching, before he moved to whatever he was doing now.

‘I should make dumbbells,’ Adam thought, finishing the five sets of twenty push ups and squats. He walked around the courtyard for a short while, before he wrapped some rope around the sack, and pulled the sack up.

“What are you doing now?”

“Deadlifts,” Adam replied, trying to keep himself from arching his upper back too much. ‘When I first came to this world, I was pretty strong, and I looked like a freaking God of War, and now I look like the God of Pubs.’

Adam finished the routine, which he’d need to change sooner or later once he had figured out how to make dumbbells in this world.

“What’s with the funny looking movements?” Lucy asked, having joined them for breakfast. She had decided to spend more time with the others, even though Dunes and Jonn didn’t like her much still.

“These funny looking movements are going to make me stronger,” Adam said. “Well, less weaker, when I try and lose weight.” ‘I wonder if my stats will change much?’

“They look stupid,” Lucy said.

“So they have something in common with your face then?” Adam replied.

Health: 65 -> 60

Adam rubbed his arm where she had struck him, but remained smiling at her. “You shouldn’t hit your friends.”

“Hit me back if you don’t like it,” Lucy grumbled.

“I can’t,” Adam said. “I’ll get cancelled.”

“Cancelled?”

“Yeah, I’ll have to take responsibility for my own actions,” Adam said, shaking his head. “I can’t be doing that.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Lucy said. “If I punch you, you should be thankful.”

“I’m thankful that you’re training so much so I don’t have to deal with you,” Adam said, this time picking up Lanarot, cutting off Lucy’s punches.

“Just what I get for coming and showing my beautiful face,” Lucy said. “I’m wasted on you.”

“We’re not even going out, so don’t say stuff like that,” Adam said, ruffling Lanarot’s hair, before catching a whiff of her gift for him. “My God, Lanarot. What are they feeding you?”

Adam washed her up, and let her play in the corner with the other children as he dipped in the stream, before returning back with her to the smell of bread and soup.

‘Look at all these carbs,’ Adam said, staring at the food. “I’m currently on a diet so I can only eat stuff like meat and eggs.”

“You should be careful eating too much meat and eggs,” Shikan said. “You must eat your vegetables too.”

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“I’ll eat vegetables too, that’s fine, but I can’t eat any more bread or porridge.” Adam picked up some soup, sipping against it.

“Why not?” Shikan asked. The Kans had been in charge of cooking for the week, and though Shikan usually cooked lots of meat, he had been making soup instead since it was still fairly chilly.

“I’m trying to lose weight,” Adam said.

“You are healthy,” Shikan said.

“Very healthy,” Sonarot said, taking her role as his Aunt.

“Yes, but,” Adam said, reaching down to squish some of his stomach. “Look at this. My six pack. It’s gone.”

“Six pack?”

“You know,” Adam said, pointing to Shikan. “Uncle Shikan, show us your abs.”

Shikan pulled up his shirt, revealing his bare abs for the group all to see. Though he had stopped going out to adventure, he kept fit within the Iyr, as most adults did.

“You see?” Adam said, motioning to his abs. “Six pack.”

“Oh,” Lucy said, nodding her head, swallowing the excessive saliva forming in her mouth. “A six pack.”

“There is no need for you to lose weight,” Sonarot said. “You are healthy and strong.”

“No need?” Lucy replied. “I’m the one whose going to be adventuring with him next year! He’s an idiot, so at least let him look good so I can tolerate him!”

Adam thought about how much he would enjoy punching her, and how much it would be worth it, but decided against it. “Anyway, I’ve decided to lose weight. I’ll also be introducing something amazing to the Iyr.”

“What is it?” Sonarot asked. Adam had brought two great things to the Iyr so far. Pizza, which was a delicious food, though it didn’t play much of a part in causing him to gain weight, and rickshaws, which had been rather fun for the children of the Iyr, as well as useful for the Iyr in general.

“Dumbbells,” Adam said.

Lucy almost snorted out the soup she was eating, laughing as she choked. “Dumb bells! Dumb bells! Adam is bringing dumb bells!”

“What’s so funny?” Adam asked.

“You, an idiot, are bringing dumb bells into the Iyr!” Lucy kept howling with laughter, almost crying as she did.

‘I need to make a magical weapon which allows me to backhand people freely,’ Adam thought, his fingers twitching. “Anyway…” ‘Wait. Idiot. Dumb. Bells.’ Adam chuckled slightly, before quickly stopping himself. “Anyway. Dumbbells are weights that one can hold to train themselves. I’ll sketch out what I’m talking about and I’ll show you what I mean.”

‘If it is Adam, it must be something good,’ Sonarot thought, and Shikan held a similar thought.

Once they had finished eating, Adam feeding his bread to his little sister, he sketched out what they were, before picking up a sack. “See this, right? It’s difficult to hold, so you can’t really move it the way you want to because it’s a little unwieldy, right?” Adam then placed it down, before grabbing an axe. “See how the axe has a head? This is actually pretty good for lifting, but it’s a little too light, and it’s only heavy on one side.”

Shikan nodded. “I usually train my body by swinging my sword.”

“Yeah, but that’s pretty dangerous, and it isn’t that efficient for increasing your actual strength,” Adam replied. “If you had dumbbells, you could introduce new movements you couldn’t before, and you can track your progress through the amount of times you can lift, and the amount of weight you can lift.” Adam wasn’t sure if he should go too in depth about them, especially since he only knew the basics of weight lifting.

“You should speak with Elder Zijin,” Shikan said. “He will be able to assist with this matter.”

“I guess that’s what I’m doing today,” Adam said. ‘If I can introduce dumbbells, then it would be easier to gain muscle. They probably have their own ways, including with the rocks, but they could be used to help achieve a fairly basic standard.’ That’s when it hit Adam. ‘I could use them for training people too.’

Adam quickly made his way to find Elder Zijin, taking with him a stylus and some paper so he could sketch everything for the Elder.

“Dumbbells?” Zijin asked, rubbing his chin. He stared down at the sketches Adam had brought him.

“Yes. I don’t know why they’re called dumbbells, but I don’t mind changing the name since the etymology might not make sense here.” Adam shrugged his shoulders.

After explaining the general concept, he worked with the Elder to design the dumbbells, sketching out a design he had seen using concrete poured into blocks.

“I will bring this to the attention of the Great Elders,” Zijin said, eyeing up the designs. The Iyrmen usually used sacks and rocks, and their own bodyweight to train usually, but this seemed interesting. “You say they are useful for training oneself to become stronger?”

“Extremely useful, yes,” Adam replied. “This was how people in my land trained. They were simple and easy to use. There are also kettlebells, which I hear is better for training.” Adam sketched out the design for the Elder.

“Once they are made, will you show us how they are used, and how your people trained with them?” Zijin asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Adam nodded his head. “I’m sure there are probably other things I could mention and introduce to the Iyr, but I can’t really think of anything which is as feasible, or as useful, as the few things I’ve already brought.”

“The rickshaws are useful,” Zijin stated. “The pizza is delicious as well.”

“Right?” Adam smiled. “Alright, well, I’ll leave it to you.” Adam waved and retreated. ‘Should I use this month to invent things?’