The copper coins on the table were all swept into Logan Brooks’s money pouch in the blink of an eye. Gavin Brooks shot him a sidelong glance but wasn’t in a hurry to retrieve them. He had already memorized exactly how many coins there were just now. If this fat guy dared to go back on his word and tried to keep them all for himself, he’d better be ready to get beaten into a pig’s head.

“I actually lost? How is that possible?” The brute Rudy Brooks looked utterly astonished, staring at Gavin Brooks and gruffly saying, “No way! I must have been distracted just now! Let’s go again!”

Gavin Brooks ignored Rudy Brooks, instead focusing intently on his right hand, which had just won the arm-wrestling match. He spread his five fingers wide, then suddenly clenched them into a fist. Three crisp cracks echoed in the room as his knuckles popped. This was real, tangible strength, pulsing faintly in his sore muscles.

Strength... Gavin Brooks furrowed his brow slightly. As a basic quality of a warrior, he should be able to sense whether his abilities had grown stronger.

Because of the embarrassing incident earlier—being accused of a crime due to his looks—Gavin Brooks had been somewhat distracted. Even though he suspected his strength had increased, he hadn’t taken it seriously, thinking that if his dream was real, it would be far too unbelievable.

After beating the third-strongest brute Rudy Brooks at arm wrestling, Gavin Brooks had no choice but to seriously test his strength. With that one squeeze, he immediately felt that although his muscles were sore, his power was surging, far greater than before—he didn’t even know by how much.

Gavin Brooks released his clenched fist and thoughtfully touched the tip of his nose, muttering quietly to himself, “Could it be that this so-called virtual game of the Endless World is real? Can it really train my body? Increase my strength?”

Gavin Brooks flexed his wrist and fingers. The strength was undeniably real. Even if some warrior trainees couldn’t test whether their abilities had improved, as a member of the Qian family—even as one who had failed the bloodline awakening ceremony—he could still test for himself whether his strength had grown, or if his warrior’s battle aura had improved.

“Hey!” The brute’s rough voice interrupted Gavin Brooks’s thoughts. “Kid, let’s go again! This time I’ll definitely beat you.”

“Again?” Now that Gavin Brooks had confirmed his strength had increased, his expression relaxed. He glanced around at the others in the room. “Anyone else want to bet?”

Everyone in the room looked at the slightly arrogant expression on Gavin Brooks’s face and felt an urge to rush up and give him a beating. Unfortunately, the school strictly forbade private fights, and besides, there really wasn’t anyone in the room who could take him one-on-one. Even if everyone ganged up on him, before Gavin Brooks was knocked down, plenty of them would be dragged down with him.

Gavin Brooks’s fighting ability was recognized as top ten among all first-year trainees. Although, unlike the other top nine warriors, he hadn’t competed to determine his exact ranking, no one believed his real combat level was outside the top ten.

As for just how strong Gavin Brooks really was—whether he ranked tenth or could even take first place—only an actual fight would tell. But this Gavin Brooks, who had come to school alone, didn’t seem interested in competing for rankings like the other warrior trainees.

Chapter 9: Once Isn’t Enough, Then Twice; Twice Isn’t Enough...

On this point, many people believed that while Gavin Brooks could fight, he was afraid of losing, which was why he hadn’t participated in the ranking battles.

Logan Brooks, as both roommate and friend, had a different feeling. He always sensed that the reason Gavin Brooks didn’t compete in the ranking matches wasn’t because he was afraid of losing, but because he simply didn’t care, or rather, he looked down on these so-called year rankings.

It was a strange feeling, and even Logan Brooks himself couldn’t explain why. In the end, he chalked it up to a merchant’s intuition.

No one in the room dared to try and teach Gavin Brooks a lesson physically. The only option was to place bets, hoping that the brute Rudy Brooks wouldn’t mess up again in the arm-wrestling match and lose to Gavin Brooks.

As long as the brute beat Gavin Brooks, there’d be no need to lay a hand on him—just that would be enough to make him lose face.

“I bet five copper coins!”

“I bet seven copper coins...”

Listening to the voices rising and falling around the room, Gavin Brooks felt secretly delighted. He still didn’t know what that weird virtual game, the Endless World, really was, but practicing blacksmithing had definitely boosted his strength, surpassing even the brute force of Rudy Brooks.

Logan Brooks wore a broad smile. Knowing Gavin Brooks as he did, he realized that Gavin Brooks wouldn’t speak so confidently unless he was sure of victory.

Yet Logan Brooks was full of doubts. Gavin Brooks could fight, sure, but in terms of pure brute strength, he shouldn’t be able to beat Rudy Brooks. How had he won so easily? Could the two of them have made some kind of deal to scam everyone?

Gavin Brooks once again planted his elbow on the table. Rudy Brooks looked at Gavin Brooks’s not-so-large hand, took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and adjusted his strength. His right elbow slammed heavily onto the table with a dull thud. Spreading his five thick fingers wide, he shouted, “Come on! This time I’m definitely going to win.”

Everyone in the room watched as the two hands gripped tightly once more, holding their breath in nervous anticipation, eyes wide as they tried to see clearly how this round of arm wrestling would play out.