The two of them agreed to divide their days in half; the first half was mainly for training and testing the mechanics of the custom goals and the other half was for crafting resources that would be needed to modernize their current living environment. Tanatswa was mainly going to be in charge of the bodybuilding department and Shami was more than happy to let him do so.

Though Tanatswa was a scrawny man in the past, he had at one point taken an interest in physical fitness and invested time in studying about calisthenics, bodybuilding, strength training and aesthetics. He however never ate enough or rather his body’s metabolism didn’t really make him gain weight and inspire him to convert the fat he never had into muscle. Some of the drawbacks to his pursuit of the sexy body were mainly due to food rationing circumstances at his house and of course, having to pay for gym membership fees consistently.

However, regardless of his failed attempts at bulking, he still managed to be at least a decent sprinter; not fast enough to win the olympics, but fast enough to get away from harm’s way, but at his current level in Goshem, the olympics’ standards were now a joke. As he reflected on that aspect of his past life, he felt rather cathartic. The body and vitality he aspired to get was one he never achieved when he was alive, but since he died and ended up here, he ended getting that and more than what he had desired, but it still wasn’t enough because there were higher level creatures that he needed to surpass in Goshem. It was quite the paradox and he couldn't help but laugh inside.

Shami gauged the time spent on each activity by always checking the angle of the sun and would always remind Tanatswa that it was time to do her thing as soon as it seemed as if the sun was directly overhead. When it came to reaching level 2 as their goal, Tanatswa wanted to max out strength and agility. His intelligence and artistry had peaked at 100%, but he was left with just 40% to max out strength and 4% to max out agility. Shami had only maxed out her artistry, but her crafting percentage was at 98%. Her intelligence was at 85%, agility 70%, tamer 80% and finally her strength was 30%. Tanatswa was still curious about what the tamer category really implied and even Shami seemed oblivious to what it really meant, but she decided to focus on mainly maxing out her intelligence, agility and crafting.

Tanatswa mostly did pull ups that numbered in the thousands whilst utilizing tree trunks and rocks tied to his legs with the aid of thick vines that could support their mass. Since he had become really strong, the intensity of the exercises had to change as well. Shami, couldn’t as of yet, do the kind of training that he was doing at such an intensity, but managed to bench some of the contraptions Tanatswa had made.

Tanatswa had knocked down several trees and tried emptying their dry blocky insides and replaced them with rocks or whatever he thought could add to the weight for her to bench press. Shami thought that he had gone insane, but he reassured her that she would only make significant progress if she did training that would go hand to hand with her current power. Sometimes she would rise to the occasion and then other times she would just pussy out.

Her effort for fitness was like a mood swing, sometimes she was in it and sometimes she would slack off. Tanatswa didn’t really feel pressured to make her get strong and mostly hoped that he would make significant progress. Their exercise was at least something that had an impact on both of their strength, agility and sometimes their intelligence. With the routine primarily being:

Running back and forth full sprint until stamina bar reached 0. Stretching. Jump testing Push ups, tricep push ups, planks, planks with rocks as weights. Pull ups, pull ups with weights Bench pressing, running whilst carrying weights, deadlifting. Punching rocks and trees.

By number 6, Shami would sometimes tap out or even think that this whole process was nuts. Shami didn’t particularly like the training, even if it was to make them stronger than any of the possible threats around them. Her athlete’s high only started to kick in as her power increased and all the routines that seemed difficult became less of a hustle. Her body gradually improved and her forearms and muscles had more apparent definition, but due to her petiteness, it never looked unpleasant like how those female bodybuilders looked in Mrs Olympia.

Though squats were never part of the regimen, she did them and slowly began to acquire a sculpted booty. Tanatswa had noticed this physical change and felt compelled to check her out once in a while whenever she was bent over or stretching. The funny thing was that Shami knew that he would sometimes glance at her, but she didn’t find it at all strange or disconcerting. He was a fairly attractive man and she was an attractive woman. Despite them being in peculiar circumstances like having died in the past and also having to prepare for possible hostile animals in the area, they were alone together and Shami was wondering how long it would last before Tanatswa would make a move. Rather, she was surprised that he had not made any moves at all.

The training sessions were not only physical straining moments where repugnant smells and buckets of sweat poured out, but their bodies would get drenched and everyone had their own specific growl or moaning moments, and Shami made sure that she sounded extra excited when she moaned. Tanatswa sounded like an animal whenever he tested his body. Shami found his efforts rather entertaining and awe inspiring. What Tanatswa lacked in charming conversational skills he made up with physical displays of hard work.

Watching him made her bug eyed and at no point did she ever see him letting up even when it seemed like he was going to hurt himself or pull a muscle. She didn’t have his resolve and only managed to advance to 47% of strength, but she really got excited and hormonal when she watched him lift. However, she struggled with why he probably wasn’t ogling as much for her.

After training, they would usually sit together and read to each other the amount of xp or passive gains they made after their training. For some reason, Shami would always have more xp gained than Tanatswa, but Tanatswa had more passive percentage increases. This puzzled Tanatswa who thought he had obviously done more work than her. They were both making progress, but clearly Shami was gaining more xp from this than he was.

As soon as they were done they would cash out their xp and then get into challenging the custom goal mechanic by setting random objectives or general objectives. Shami’s input was primarily on a list of how to make housing utilities and sanitary material. Some of results that would come back would have level cap stipulations like:

You need to be at least level 3 intelligence and crafting to manufacture washing powder and you need to utilize a detergent making machine.

Tanatswa wondered why she would even opt for such complex goals that would require some high level factory machinery. At times he thought she was pushing the boundaries of absurdity with her requests and would look at her in a dumbfounded manner. Tanatswa’s approach was mainly to see the limits of what the mechanics could do. Tanatswa tried to form a party with her as one of the goals and the process was pretty simple.

He had to hold one of Shami’s hands and then a dialogue box would pop up which asked both members if they were interested in mutually sharing the benefits of their xp gains. Tanatswa didn’t accept and primarily wanted to see how it worked. Shami was amazed by this mechanic and even joked, “You know what, I would just let you do all the work and then passively reap the rewards.” Tanatswa seemed slightly annoyed considering that she was gaining more xp from their fitness drills. Tanatswa then entered another request and said, “Defeating the dark smoking figure in the Ethereal Woods.” Shami was shocked that he would ask that and even nudged him on the shoulder saying, “I hope you’re not planning on going back there.

I remember you saying that it’s level was undefinable, so don’t you go out there seeking to get your ass kicked.” Tanatswa immediately shushed her by placing his forefinger right against her lips. She got annoyed by this and shoved it away from her mouth. Tanatswa didn’t mind her and just looked at the details that came from the results. The answer had a level cap that stated, “You are far too weak to face said entity, but you can work on making your mithridatism level reach at least level 4.” This information particularly interested him and he relayed it to Shami. Shami who at first was mostly interested in discouraging him from pursuing anything reckless, listened to his hypothesis.

Tanatswa believed that because mithridatism was such an important factor in even standing a chance, it meant that they would have to have a high level of immunity to deal with the dark figure’s high level of poison. Thus, certain scenarios would require them to have at least a higher level of something hence the level caps. This impressed Shami who figured that maybe due to Tanatswa’s IT background, he was more acute towards such details. Tanatswa began to base his reasoning to the time he got into indie game development and the logic that went to developing games like RPGs and their systems.

Shami got excited by the fact that he had attempted to go down that route in his past life and even told, “So you did websites as well video games? Wow, that’s pretty cool.” Tanatswa would smile slightly at her praise but then quickly wipe away his smirk and say, “Well I just made demos that were never published, so I can’t really call myself an actual game developer if I never released a game.”

“You seem to like to do this self loathing thing of undercutting shit that you got into just because you never made it a big deal. Just own it without being too self critical. Girls don’t like guys who do that, I mean, there are dudes who could play the guitar or DJ but never went pro or did it at the level of becoming like a mega hit, but they still pull the ‘I used to play the guitar’ card to sound interesting.” she said, slightly annoyed by his behaviour.

Tanatswa ignored her then reminded of her plans for building and crafting side of their arrangement. Shami was peeved by his diversion from the issue of his self loathing and decided to proceed with her goals in spite of his unwillingness to see that his antics were not cool at all. Shami didn’t like living in a shoddy hut and especially having to shit like an uncivilised creature. She decided to have an actual real house made of bricks to be made and had drawn a housing plan on the ground which she would use as a basis to make a home. She was pretty sure she would find alternatives to river sand, materials that she could use to mix for an alternative for cement and so forth. After taking a lunch break on some fruits and vegetables they would thus proceed in laying the foundation of their new home in Goshem.

Both Shami and Tanatswa had to use either their bare hands or a rock with a sharp edge to shovel the dirt out for them to create a foundation. The process was mundane but it was quick because of them being fairly strong. Using a vine that she marked with a stick to markers for dimensions, she used it as somewhat of a tape measure. The crafting activities they both underwent always made them look filthy and drenched with sweat, sometimes to the point that they avoided working in the same space together.

After the digging was done, Tanatswa and Shami began to mix lime, straw and even clay to make bricks and she made it a point to use the custom goal to find the materials she needed within the vicinity. Tanatswa noticed his crafting stats rise because of his involvement with her projects and soon enough Shami maxed out her crafting stat. Despite the mundaneness of the process, the two of them would always gain the satisfaction of having made significant progress. After the day was done, they would bathe in the stream, taking turns to not let the other one see them naked, but Shami didn’t follow through with this agreement and behaved like a peeping tom.

Tanatswa would bath and then slowly rise out of the water when he was done, exposing his nakedness to her. Shami was shrewd enough to not let herself get discovered and would gaze at him behind the vegetation with lecherous eyes. Tanatswa who did not realize that he was being violated by perverse eyes would go onto wash some of his clothing and then put on the animal skins that would act as his change of clothes. As he made his way back, Shami would rush off like a delinquent fleeing from the scene of a crime, all giddy and filled with impure thoughts.

Tanatswa had promised to get some firewood after bathing and she would use this time to do the unthinkable. Masturbation! It was true that they were in unfamiliar territory and they should probably be preoccupied with survival tactics and leveling up, but Tanatswa’s irresistible body was distracting and she even compared it to Chris Hemsworth’s build, but Tanatswa was black and he surely looked like a stallion in her eyes. She would go into her room, fixate on the imagery of him naked and imagine a scenario where he would completely dominate her and fuck the shit out of her.

She was especially horny on this particular day and she began to rub her loins and clit, thinking about her encounter with him. She even laughed sadistically, as if this was some unholy activity made even more fun by the unrealistic ideas of what she expected he would say to her during intercourse. This was her second time doing this kind of thing ever since they started living together and she wondered when Tanatswa would finally notice her hints. Apart from his lack of charisma, he seemed a bit oblivious or if not oblivious, didn’t try to act on her sexual advances and hints. It had been nearly 2 weeks since being in Goshem and almost a week of cohabiting with him. She wished that she could resist her urges, but even in Goshem, if a girl is gotta fuck, a girl is gotta fuck, and she was now devising a plan to get herself laid.