Flora felt like she was covered in mud. Not the fun kind of mud which you can use to build sandcastles, but the dirt of corruption.

Ceart was the only one with a transparent and faultless documentary. His expenses mirrored his commitment to his troops.

A shady clerk kept Zander's records. He had funneled money to his relatives, selling their wares at inflated prices to the church. Flora excommunicated him with enthusiasm. For once, Zander's face showed emotion. She was as disgusted as Flora, and that caused Flora only to reprimand her and reduce her funds.

Irden's records were a mess. His food expenses were enough to build the Mount Everest out of toast. Flora had eaten in the cafeteria of the church, and the meal was excellent, so his investment wasn't squandered, just out of proportion. She decided that the cafeteria was not a department that needed the direct oversight of one of the council members and assigned it to one of the nuns under Irden with a halved allowance.

Nomizo was lucky again. She had the lowest budget, just enough for her travel expenses, but kept only spotty records. Another slap on the wrist for her and a promotion to balance it out. Flora assigned her the administration of the headquarters, Dysian's former job.

Money from royalties generated the primary income for Evailyn because the church held several patents of common household appliances. Sales of home-oriented products came second. A whole department, formerly managed by the Pope, crafted them. The Research and Development Division was subordinated to them and located a tiny room in the wing. Flora promoted the priestess, Celia Werkstatter, who led R&D to department head solely for the reason she had motor oil smudges on her face. Nonetheless, she reminded Werkstatter and Nomizo to get capable assistants for spotless records.

"I want you all to brainstorm how we can get more followers for Evailyn," Flora ordered the Council on her departure.

The original plan was to take a nap and talk to Evailyn, but Flora redecided. She couldn't face the Goddess with pent-up disgust and all the turbulent emotions of the morning. She needed to let it sink in and process what she had learned.

Tomorrow, she wanted to build a training facility for Clan Riverstones. The Mini-Masters had told her that Talpica had a gym for raising attribute levels. They would know, you got the title "Mini-Master" when you had great attributes at level 1. Although they told her the Training Academy was worse than the gyms of the top clans, it was the only public place for her to get an impression of how ordinary people acquired their attribute levels.

Apart from the Training Academy, you could hire personal trainers or attend boot camps. Lana, the CFO of the Riverstones, facilitated a contact with one of their partner clans, PullUpBootStraps, which specialized in workshops and training camps.

Flora ran to the Training Academy in Tricky Beach fashion. The streets of Talpica were parkways with sturdy trees. She climbed up and then ran along the branches and jumped to the next. She wasn't the only one avoiding the busy streets, but the traffic on the trees was still manageable.

"Was that an elf?" Flora nearly fell off her branch staring at the pointy ears of a guy whom she overtook.

"Yes, Milady."

"Wow. I heard about them, but seeing one is different. He should eat more toast. He was way too skinny. That can't be healthy."

When she nearly reached her destination, a flying motorcycle with a blue lamp surpassed her.

"Ma'am, please slow down, you are exceeding the speed limit of tree-walking." A female Waterling admonished her. Flora checked her badge, and her class was Police Officer. After paying 100 credits, she allowed Flora to continue. The auntie was too baffled to complain.

"Milady, you might want to add a tachometer to the mech suit. In the meantime, do you want me to use the tracking function of the local area network? It can only estimate our speed, though."

"Sure, sure. How fast were we, and what is the speed limit?"

"Approximately 30 km/h and 15 km/h."

Flora laughed and shook her head. It was the first time a speeding ticket had brightened her mood. The absurdity of getting hauled in by a flying cop while dancing through tree crowns broke through the bleariness.

Finally, Flora reached the compound. A metal fence with an open gate separated the highrise from the street. Until she stood next to it, Flora had thought the building was a turn of the millennium construction of steel and glass. However, up close, she saw the surface moving with the wind. Flora touched the wall, and her hand sank into it. The substance felt like water, but when she removed her hand, it was still dry.

Now, she wanted to know if she could pass the water barrier. Her hand went into it again without a problem, but the deeper she reached with her arm, the more difficulty she had with advancing. A syrupy feeling, like in the trashcan, replaced the water sensation. Straining, she pressed her shoulder into the barrier. Now, it felt like solid foam.

Suddenly, the wall swallowed her.

Before Flora could even begin to panic, the barrier spat her out.

"Fascinating!" Flora exclaimed, lying in the front yard.

"And stupid." One of the guardsmen who sprinted to Flora said.

Thankfully, the guard had a tinkerer aunt and knew that "I just wanted to know how it works" was a perfectly reasonable excuse for breaching a building.

Another fine of 100 credits later, she was allowed to enter the building.

Flora checked into the network. "Raise your Strength" was the daily quest and "Four Hour Physical Extreme" the weekly. After Aidan told her that they had a special offer, she accepted both quests.

Special Offer: Four Hours Extreme for Level 1 future Heros!

Description: Buy the FHE package and get your money back if you don't raise the level of at least four physical attributes. (Only applicable if you listen to your coach and are level 1)

Cost: 200 Credits

The weekly gave her an option to choose a trainer:

Drill Sergeant Motivational Speaker Gym Sib'

Flora had a vague idea about the first two options, but never heard about a "Gym Sib'".

"Sib' is a gender-neutral term for bro' or sis', Milady. It derives from the word sibling. This option has a mixed user rating on the boards. Most players found the trainer's behavior antiquated. Maybe you would enjoy the coach because you are old."

"Aidan." Flora took a deep breath.

"Yes, Milady."

"Nevermind. As long as you don't say I'm senile, I can live with being called old. We take the Gym Bro."

The Loggy spat out an AI console. Flora inserted its jack in one of her nocks. After some messages about giving the coach monitoring access to her pool values and assurances of privacy, which Flora didn't believe, but permitted anyway, she was ready to meet her new trainer.

"What's up, sis? How's it hanging?" a young male voice greeted her. "Ready to pump?"

"Uhm? Yes?" Flora answered hesitantly.

"Awesome, sis. Time to get those guns smoking."

While Flora lamented her life choice, the dude guided her into the first story, the Gravity Floor. The studio was filled with strength machines, treadmills, and stacks with free weights, kettlebells, and other things Flora had no words for. A mirror dominated the long part of the wall. Next to the entrance was the loser's corner with a stall and some benches.

"You wanna juice up?"

"Are you offering me steroids?" Flora asked, appalled.

"No, sis. Just good old fashion buffs to get buff." Then he added conspiratorially. "I would have said, roid up, for that stuff. You wanna roid up, too? Just say the word, I have a bro who knows a dude who knows a dude, you know."

"Let's take it easy, bro." Flora grinned and checked out the stall. Her eyes went wide.

Jalapangolicious - + 10% training efficiency for attribute growth.

"Buy! Buy! Aidan, check the AH and marketplaces for stuff with similar effects and compare prices."

Aidan's quick research produced other food with training buffs, but none specifically for attributes, so Flora bought fifty bottles of Jalapangolicious. One of them was as expensive as a speeding ticket, but she didn't care. Her credits balance was way too high thanks to Huffgrin Skateboards.

Properly buffed up, Flora walked deeper into the room. She felt herself getting heavier and rubbed her tummy. "How many calories had this juice? I fell like a gained a whole thanksgiving dinner of weight just from one bottle!"

The dude pointed out the numbers on the floor. Flora had reached number 20.

"No pain, no gain, sis. The gravity increases the farther we go. Com'on, sis. The best pain is at the number of your Physical Power OV."

Flora checked her stats. She had 30 OV Strength. Although she was intrigued by the concept of artificial gravity, she didn't enjoy the sensation of walking. It felt like her steps smashed the floor as elegantly as a hippo on a stroll. Fortunately, the ground didn't tremble. She reversed that judgment. Unfortunately, the ground didn't tremble under steps.

When she reached the indicator for OV 30, the bro made her strip the Messenger mech suit and skip rope.

"Jump for Strength, Agility, and Regeneration. Do you feel the burn?"

"Yes," Flora gasped more out of habit than need. "But what about Vitality? Wouldn't it be better if something would drain my health at the same time?"

"Maybe, we do combination training like that, but also isolation training. The Cetviwos rewards you when you concentrate just on one task. Trust me, sis, we have the experience in kicking your ass to the top. Five more minutes of skipping, and I'll show you the real torture."

Flora was too busy to shrug her shoulders. She was here to learn the methods of the pros. First comes understanding, then improvement. She had to make sure to grasp the Training Academy's path before she could enhance it.

Next, the bro guided her to a bench with a barbell.

"Load'm up—we are getting the upper-body strength to make the chick fly."

The weight crushed Flora. Her stamina bar crumbled under it. 'It's all in my head. I'm lying in a cushy coffin and napping. It's a matter of the mind and mind over matter. CentralTank is fooling me. This is nothing. I'm lifting pixels, and they are weightless.'

Flora forced her mental picture of easy lifting onto reality, but reality refused to bend. With every fiber, she pushed the barbell until her arms were extended.

"Wow, sis, your form is terrible. You look like you'd never done this before."

"Is it relevant to do it correctly for stat growth?"

"Sure. Duh." The bro answered as if it was apparent, but then he explained to her how to lift. Unfortunately, it didn't lighten the weight.

Flora pressed with everything she had. After she thought she had nothing more to give, she found a new source of power in her core. Mana streamed through her body, soothing her strained chest and arms. Immediately, the burden lessened.

"No cheating, no bad reps. I'll see your mana bar twitching."

Flora sighed and retracted her mana, but the system message cheered her on.

You gained a new skill: Strength-Boost.

Description: Hook your mana-regen to your muscles to increase your strength primarily and fortify your body to a lesser degree.

Cooldown: none

You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

When Flora's first stamina bar threatened to bottom out, the bro led her to the next room. Her body felt as light as low-fat cream cheese toast after she exited the gravity room.

This studio resembled a storeroom of high school. On the wall hang dartboards, and tables with music instruments, art supplies, and even a pile of colorful wool littered the area.

"How about some knitting, granny?" The coach teased her. Flora wasn't sure whether it was a programmed taunt for all or whether he had finally registered that she wasn't in the "Sis-Age". Nonetheless, he got her number right, and she eagerly went to an armchair and grabbed pink wool and some needles.

Flora knitted a barbell. She wanted to fill it with batting to get revenge on the bench−it made sense in her brain. However, before she even finished the handle, the bro shooed her back into the gravity room. Her stamina had regenerated enough to continue.

They spend the rest of the four hours alternating between strength, agility, and vitality training and when her stamina ran out dexterity, and perception exercises. Flora suggested casting Re-Generate, but the bro declined. It would mess up his tried rhythm but encouraged her to use it when she trained on her own.

Strength training was mostly handling weights, everything in the crafts room for dexterity (Flora finished her barbell, but had to pay 20 credits to keep it) and puzzle pictures for perception.

Name: Barbell of Fluffyness

Type: Fitness equipment

Description: Only listed as fitness equipment because the creator insisted on it. Regular folk would use it as a pillow or headrest.

Effects: + 2 OV Physical Power while using it for training

Tier: 1

Rating: B

You created a new design.

Flora enjoyed the combined vitality and agility training the most, for which the bro called her a masochist. One exercise was dodging spears while running on a balancing beam. This was the fantasy training Flora had expected and not the boring gym stuff of the other rooms. She was laughing and shrieking during the drill.

In the end, Flora had some ideas for Robby's new training facility and even got her money back. Although strength and perception had leveled, probably because they were already on the brink of advancing, four hours wasn't enough time to raise four of her monster attributes as the special offer had promised.

Flora's notification item was still blinking furiously. But she had no time for it now, Eddie was arriving soon, and she had some designing to do.