Forest north of the capital, Justin's P.O.V.

I am so worried about Emmy I can't think straight, all I have been doing all morning is pacing back and forth. I know it is driving my friends nuts but I can't stop myself, I feel like if I stop moving I will go insane.

Rachel says "Justin, if you don't stop that pacing I am going to break your legs!"

"Ugh, I just can't stay still! Where is she? It has been four days already!"

Giles says "Her note said she was getting stronger, that takes time."

Rachel says "Yeah, instead of pacing, why not do something useful?"

"Like what?"

Rachel says "Work on crafting skills or something!"

Giles says "Or exercise or work on sword techniques."

Rachel says "Something, anything but pacing!"

With a sigh I move away from the campfire and start doing some exercises. Maybe if I exhaust myself I will be able to relax a bit, I feel bad about my actions annoying my friends. This sitting still for four days hasn't been any easier on them.

I start with push-ups as they were always my favorite, to make it harder I don't take my armor off. Besides, since we were attacked by another fang bear two nights ago I don't feel safe without my armor on. The smooth motion and controlled breathing of the push-ups helps clear my mind while burning off the extra energy.

Where did Emmy go? What did she find that could make her stronger? She is a tamer so maybe she is off chasing down a beast she can tame? These thoughts and others have been circling through my mind ever since we got Emmy's note.

Your Strength has permanently increased by +1.

"Huh? What?"

Rachel says "What is it, Justin?"

"I got absorbed in my thoughts and did like a hundred push-ups and I got a Strength increase!"

Giles says "Wait, just a stat increase? Without a skill increase?"

"Yeah. No skill increase."

Rachel says "Wait, Koko you exercise every morning, have you gotten stat increases without skill increases?"

Koko says "Yes."

Giles says "Seriously? Why didn't you say anything?"

Koko just gives Giles a look that says he is an idiot and goes back to cleaning her weapons. I switch to sit-ups and shortly Giles is doing push-ups. Out of the corner of my eye I see Rachel doing what looks like yoga. After a hundred sit-ups I stand up and start doing squats.

Giles says "Got one! It really works! Imagine how strong we would be if we had been doing this from the start?"

"A lot stronger I would imagine, since the lower the stats the easier it would be to raise them."

Giles says "Then why didn't our instructors have us exercising? Instead they only ever had us doing combat training."

Koko says "Control."

Giles says "Huh?"

Rachel says "I think she means they didn't want us to become too strong because then it would be harder to control us."

Giles says "You really think so?"

"I do. Early on I asked if I could get training in blacksmithing and mining and was told no."

Giles says "Why would you want to learn those?"

"Because, in every game I ever played those were the best skills for a melee character."

Giles says "Oh, that makes sense. They would both give strength and maybe endurance right?"

"Exactly, and the only reason I can think for them to refuse is to keep me from gaining those stats. If that's true then it would also explain why they didn't teach us about exercise."

Giles says "How about when Emmy gets back we sneak into the capital and kill all those so-called trainers?"

Rachel says "As satisfying as that might be I am sure they were all only following the king's orders."

Giles says "Yeah, and I would love to kill him for it!"

"You are not the only one there!"

Rachel says "Yeah, me too."

"But I don't think even Koko could sneak in and kill the king."

Koko thinks about it for a minute and shakes her head in answer. My muscles are telling me I have done enough so I do some stretches and then start cooking bear steaks for everyone for lunch. We have been taking it in turn cooking, but after tasting everyone else's cooking it was decided that I was the cook permanently.

Rachel says "We have a good party here, if we level up enough and improve our teamwork a bit I think we could kill the king."

"We would also need better gear, these non-magical weapons and armor won't cut it."

Giles says "Only the high ranking nobles and knights have magical gear. I was told that magical gear was rare but we might be able to earn some eventually."

"The empire is the biggest nation on the continent, I would think they would have better access to magical equipment."

Rachel says "Is that why you want to head to the empire?"

"One of the reasons, it is also the closest to where we are now."

Giles says "Even with better gear and higher levels we would have to fight through an army to reach the king."

Koko says "Demon."

"What?"

Rachel says "What demon?"

Giles says "I think she means we would have to fight a demon to kill the king?"

Koko says "Yes."

"What? There is a demon guarding the king?"

Koko says "Yes."

Rachel says "Hmm, I always got a bad feeling anytime I was in the castle, maybe that is why."

Giles says "Koko, do you know how strong the demon is?"

Koko says "Very."

"Koko, how long do you think it would take for us to be strong enough to fight the demon?"

Koko says "Years."

At Koko's answer we all fall silent, if something that strong is behind the king we really do need to become heroes. I finish cooking lunch and we all eat in silence while thinking over what we have talked about. We soon finish eating but everyone still stays quiet thinking about what we should do, then Koko stands up and faces the woods.

Koko says "Bear!"

Giles says "Oh crap, not again!"