44 Fishing Machos

Randolph breathed in unison with the effort he exerted.

When he pushed forward, he exhaled from his chest. When he let the barbell drop back down, he sucked in a quick lungful of air.

With those movements, the 250 lbs barbell was lifted into the air. The thick metal of the weights gleamed in the gym's light, reflecting the shocked eyes of any keen observers.

The effort Randolph put into the lifting wasn't small and it cost him most of his attention span, but both his body and mind told him that he wasn't yet at his limit.

If heaving this giant piece of metal isn't my limit, then… This is horrifyingly dangerous.

It wasn't a sudden realization or anything, but rather one born through basic logic and observational skill.

If he went back to the lightest dumbbell that he had lifted, the 30 pound1 one, then he could even consider it light. The young man's body instinctively told him that if he wanted to throw the weight, he could do it without much difficulty. Not to mention, he could throw it hard.

That was easily enough force to explode a grown man's head, not to mention any heavier weights.

It was an amount of strength that felt almost inhuman to him, especially with his how thin his body frame was.

Randolph – as someone who was never familiar with exercising his entire life – didn't know what was considered impressive or not, but just the astonished eyes of the spectators and a single look at similar weightlifters told him all he needed to know.

Even with the ones lifting weights lighter than his, they were more bulky than him.

How can I lift this much weight with my thin body?

But although they were more bulky than him in mass, his muscles were far more refined than theirs. This fact combined with the strength conversion from Arnold told him that the STR he had taken was split all over his body, in every individual muscle. This was as opposed to being focused in one specific area, like Arnold with his arms and legs.

Heaving a breath of effort, Randolph set the heavy weight back up to the platform with a thud.

Breathing harshly, he sat up on the bench. Pulling up his sleeve discreetly, the young man inspected his forearm.

This isn't just dangerous to others, but also to me. As expected, all things have a flip side. 

As soon as he had set the weight down, Randolph's head had started pounding away like no tomorrow. It was throbbing with an intense pain in periods, as if it was following along with his heartbeat.

His forearm under his sleeves, and probably the rest of his body, had the red veins resurface under his skin from their previous calmed grey state.

He felt terrible. The pain was all over his body in every minute muscle. It was such a disorientating feeling, he felt as if he would throw up.

"My Lord." A concerned voice sounded out to the young man from the side.

Turning his head, Randolph's gaze met with Archibald's. The old man stepped forward, putting his hand on the young man's back before pulling a handkerchief from his suit's pocket.

"Your nose, my Lord. It is bleeding." He offered the cloth to Randolph, speaking in a low voice.

"Thanks." Mumbling his gratitude, Randolph took the handkerchief.

It was only after Archibald's reminder did he realize that a few drops of blood hung from his nose, threatening to spill.

Wiping them away, he heaved another deep breath as he forced the nausea away.

The strength in my body can't be used. At least not until I confirm that constitution hypothesis I had.

As he wiped his nose, he thought to himself.

At least, it's enough for now.

With this show of strength in his thin body, Randolph came to the quick realization that he muscles were not spread out meaninglessly. With each muscle in his body being strengthened, the amount of strength he could exert went up by folds.

Simply put, it was like levels that went up with more difficulty than the last. His strength was multiplicative as opposed to additional.

"I have prepared a drink." Randolph didn't know where he had got it from, but Archibald produced a bottle of mineral water from behind his back.

Accepting the drink, the young man took a long swig. He emptied half the bottle in a single breath, and only then did he begin to feel somewhat better.

"I've accomplished what I came here to do, I'm done here. What I need now is a long rest, let's go back."

Randolph stood up, but before he could reach towards the weights, he was stopped by Archibald's voice.

"Please allow me. For now, I think it is best that you rest."

Finding the butler's words agreeable, he sat back down. As he watched the butler put everything back to where it belonged, he sipped at the water in his hand.

"Uh… Hello? Mister?"

It was only after he emptied the bottle did a hesitant voice call out to him from behind.

Raising an eyebrow, Randolph turned his body to meet with a group of men.

There were around half a dozen of them, and they were all around a similar age, being just around their early to mid twenties at most.

At the forefront of the group stood two men. One of them was fairly muscular and large. His chest was broad and his biceps massive. He had an expectant look in his gleaming eyes, and Randolph recognized him to be one of the bodybuilders that had been observing him when he was exercising.

The other man appeared slightly younger than the former. He was a sharp looking fellow with mean eyes, but he was fairly handsome and quite well dressed, wearing fully brand name clothing. He was a bit short compared to the rest of the group, but all of them with the exception of the muscleman seemed to follow behind him.

He had a disinterested look in his eyes, the opposite to the others in his group, but Randolph recognized him as well. He was one of the individuals who had been at the center of the chatty group Randolph had seen when he entered the gym. Someone wealthy, popular, and suave, that was Randolph's first impression of him.

"You are?"

"My name is Billy, Billy Oaks, but you can call me Bill," It was the muscular man with gleaming eyes of interest that answered Randolph's question. "I've come to ask you about your… your training routine. Can you… are you willing to share it?"

The manner in which he spoke was full of excitement and expectation. The other four people behind him – excluding the popular one – shared a similar look.

Discreetly glancing around the room, Randolph noticed that many others shared a similar curiosity in their eyes as they watched the interaction between the two parties. It was just this group that had come forward first, as it seemed like they couldn't wait.

A similar gleam shone in Randolph's eyes upon noticing how well dressed they were.