A Six-Pack!? I'm Drooling!

“What did you think of his answers?” Krotos asked seriously.

“It’s not like we know the truth or that we can do anything about it. If the gods have decided he would be special, or that things would be like this, than that’s it – we just follow.” Matos answered.

“You’re pretty optimistic and serious about this for someone who always jokes around.”

“Sigh. I’m just like that. I can’t change who I am.”

“Haha. You’re right, same for me… By the way… what are you trying to train by doing this?”

They were on an empty field, with only dust and sand around them and the city in the background breaking the horizon line. But something else was disturbing that calm atmosphere. Matos was training his muscles – but not in the way most people would. With a tree trunk placed over his shoulders, he was doing front flips followed by a squat, all in the same spot, repeating the sequence ten times before taking a short break and then resuming this strange exercise.

“Approximately… everything.” He answered, catching his breath.

“Yeah… strange. Maxwell will have to do it too? He’s only starting, you know, and we only have one week to give him the most efficient training.”

“Ah yeah! The Sheep Hunt, right? I completely forgot we were training him for this kids’ thing.” He laughed, planting the trunk into the ground.

“The innkeeper told us earlier what happened with Maxwell. That’s why we’ll have to prepare him. Though, we should have told Jeremys before leaving.” Krotos buried his face in his palm.

“Don’t worry too much. He’ll be gentle with Maxwell. Besides, it’s not like this event is dangerous – it’s just it’s just about finding some kids.” Matos laughed as he jumped in place.

“People died last year, you know? It’ll be even greater if we’re here to protect everyone!” He looked at him, a tinge of anger in his eyes.

Matos laughed and coughed as he swallowed the salty sweat dripping from his forehead, the wind not helping as it blew sand everywhere. Krotos couldn’t help but laugh at the scene, collapsing to his knees from laughing too hard;

“Huh… I thought I was going to die!” Matos shouted as the coughing subsided, his burning throat damaging his voice.

“Ah, what a good laugh– oh, but look who we have here!” Krotos wiped his tears as Maxwell and Jeremys arrived on the field.

“Here we are! He resisted a bit, but I finally managed it. He’s completely ready for the training now.” Jeremys said, pushing an oily Maxwell in front of him, whose gaze was locked on the ground.

“Oily molly! He covered you entirely!” Matos shouted.

“Damn! Looks like the oil helped bring out those hidden muscles! Look at that six-pack! You’re all ready to work with them!” Krotos said jokingly.

In fact, it was true. The oil revealed Maxwell’s muscles even better – his biceps, triceps, quadriceps, six-pack, pectorals – everything! He wasn’t as big as the other three, but he was well built, the oil making him shine under the burning sun, with only his underwear and a short pair of shorts as clothing.

“Oy, Maxwell, are you ready?” Jeremys asked, looking at him with concern.

They all stared at him intently, trying to read his eyes. Maxwell was completely traumatized, lips trembling, eyes vacant.

“What… did you do, Jeremys?” Krotos asked.

“Me? Nothing.”

“What do you mean, nothing!? Look at him! He can’t speak!”

“Well… I... I might have been a little rough with him. It was his first time, after all.” He replied timidly, scratching the back of his head, his voice soft.

Maxwell stared at him in utter shock, eyes narrowed in terror, mouth wide open.

“Jeremys. You just applied the oil to help his muscles grow faster than normal, right?”

“Yes! That’s what I did!”

“You sure?”

“Don’t be too hard on him, Krotos. Remember the first time we went through it too. Opening all our chakras was such a strange feeling – we were shaken as well. Maxwell must just be… very sensitive. What do you think would happen if we simply touched him? Want to test?” Matos teased, laughing before coughing again as his burning throat protested.

“Matos is right!” Jeremys turned to Maxwell, grabbed his shoulders, and looked him straight in the eyes, his face emotionless. “I’m sorry, Maxwell. I forgot you weren’t prepared enough. You can hit me if you want.”

Maxwell looked down. Jeremys sighed and smiled in relief.

“One good thing done.”

“So, I forgot to tell you about the sheep–” Krotos began.

“Oh yeah, the innkeeper told us just before we left–”

All the air contained in Jeremys’ lungs, along with his saliva and sweat, burst out as Maxwell punched him in the stomach with all his strength, leaving the others stunned – though Jeremys was the most shocked of all.

Jeremys collapsed to his knees as Maxwell looked at the others with a wide smile, wiping the sweat from his short.

“I feel much better now! So… what are we starting with?” Maxwell said, laughing.

“I must say, I didn’t see that coming… good punch, Maxwell.” Jeremys said as he stood back up, panting.

“That was for earlier. Never do something like that again without my consent! Remember – consent is important!” Maxwell said, turning ninety degrees to face Jeremys.

“Hey… Krotos! I’ll never stop being surprised but… oh damn… look at that firm ass under those shorts!” Matos whispered, completely amazed.

“You’re so obsessed. Go take a bite while you’re at it.” Krotos replied dryly, before turning back to the others who were laughing. “Well, glad to see you wearing one of the shorts – and green, no less. Beautiful color. But we need to start now.”

“So after the musketeers, what are we – Power Rangers? They’re going to kill me before I even begin at this rate!” Maxwell thought, despair creeping in at their words.

“We’ll begin by a run around the field – three times, to be precise – alternating some exercises to warm up while running.” Krotos explained.

They did. Pretty easily. Maxwell smiled, happy not to be left behind or exhausted by running this much.

“Now, fifty push-ups and a set of twenty punches on the tree trunk – ten series.” He snapped his fingers, and weights appeared from nowhere, just like last time. He continued. “Then, classic muscle training for an hour.”

“That seems pretty normal. I’ve never felt this good before. Sports can be great.” Maxwell smiled wider, sweat dripping down his face, but he didn’t care. He was simply enjoying the moment, being able to complete all the exercises.

“And now, Jeremys, I'll leave you the honor of doing it.”

“Finally. I’ve been waiting to do that!” He shouted cheerfully.

Jeremys thumped his pecs like a gorilla, the sound echoing throughout the field. At the same moment, a dozen wooden mannequins appeared from nowhere, standing in fighting stances, ready to strike.

“Now that the warm-up is over, onto the real exercises that will be useful for the Sheep Hunt!” Krotos shouted.

“It was just the warm-up?” Maxwell thought, completely exhausted.

“Time to train your fighting and your reflexes. Don’t worry, I didn’t put them on hard mode – unless… you want to?” Jeremys asked casually.

“I’ll take the easy mode” Maxwell stared at those mannequins swaying from right to left like video game characters waiting to be controlled by a player. “What do they fee those sheep if I have to prepare to fight them?” He said, confused.

“Grass.” Jeremys replied.

“And steroids!” Matos added.

“Shut up, Matos! You shouldn’t have told him!” Krotos snapped.

“I’m fucked… again.” Maxwell thought.

He stepped forward in front of one of the mannequins, taking a fighting stance and preparing to fight, encouraged by the other muscle rangers.

The mannequin began to move – guarding its head like a boxer, throwing punches like a boxer, moving like a boxer. As if it weren’t obvious enough, the wooden mannequin fought exactly like a boxer, though it was far quicker and more powerful than any wooden thing should be.

Maxwell dodged some blows, only managing to riposte two or three times, dealing no damage to the mannequin while taking most of the hits himself. Every blow he couldn’t dodge landed hard. Pain twisted his face. He was sweating heavily, spitting blood – it hurt.

One right hook to the jaw and bam – Maxwell was down.

“Maxwell’s ass was whooped! Winner – the wooden mannequin!” Matos shouted from afar as the mannequin stopped his movements.

“Huh… so I need to get stronger… even a branch can beat me.” Maxwell thought, tasting sand as his face pressed against the ground.

“Well, I hope you’re happy. You’ll be doing everything we did today for the entire week, right up until the Sheep Hunt!” Krotos said, looking down at him.

Maxwell stood up with difficulty, disappointed in himself.

“At least you can enjoy your own body more because of today. Looks like the oil and the training have already toned and enlarged your muscles. By the end of the week, you’ll be bigger, stronger, and able to destroy all those wooden mannequins.” Krotos smiled at him, giving him a gentle tap on the pectoral.

Maxwell scrutinized his entire body, and Krotos was right. He couldn’t understand how, but his body had become more muscular than it had been just hours before.

“So that’s what it means to follow the Path of Muscles…” He thought.

The same training continued throughout the whole week. Their days were filled with spending the mornings in the guild doing almost nothing, then training from noon until dusk before going to sleep. Maxwell’s muscles grew bigger and bigger each day, the weights he lifted became heavier and heavier – thanks to Jeremys who made them appear by magic – his endurance improved, and his reflexes grew sharper as the days passed.

What caused Maxwell the most trouble were the fights against the mannequins. Only on the fourth day he was able to destroy one of them with his bare hands before having his ass whooped by the second. But on the seventh day… with his built-up confidence and the rage born from being beaten so many times, he managed to destroy all twelve of them and complete his training just one day before the Sheep Hunt.

“I’m so happy, Maxwell! Look at you! You’re not as big as us yet, but you’re so much muscular than you were at the start of the week. I can’t wait for you to look like us one day.” Jeremys almost shed a tear, his voice full of emotion.

“I’m ready to beat these kids!” Maxwell shouted, standing proudly, sweat dripping on his shiny muscles as the descending sunlight reflected off them.

His shorts were much tighter now that his ass had gained muscles. The button was the real warrior, holding everything together so it didn’t explode.

But would that last forever?