Chapter 4 - Training?

I awaken the next day expecting to be lying at home waking from this dream and preparing for another day of work. But no, I'm still here in this world of magic and fantasy. Still in this world where everything and everyone is so much cooler than on earth. Now I'm not one to complain, it is cool and all but I wonder about my sister.

It's been 2 days since I got sucked into here and she's probably just heard the news of my disappearance. I wonder if she's worried. I wish I could tell her I'm okay, but I have no idea how to get out of here. Or where here even is.

I swing my legs out of bed and am caught off guard by the glistening of my metal arm. 'This thing really is something' I can feel the softness of the bed sheet. As I stand and slide my hand along the wooden wall I feel the indents in the wood and the texture of the planks. I can feel as though it was my normal arm. But things such as pain and temperature are gone.

As I grab the handle to the door and swing it open the door flies off and it hinges and launches down the staircase. I chase after it as I spot Aastral handing a sword to a man with some bronze coins in his hands.

The man stares at me and then glances at my arm. He drops the coins on the ground, takes the sword and runs out the door screaming about monsters.

Aastral runs to me and tosses a red cloak at me. I catch it. "Put this on '' he says looking around for others "You can't go around showing that off. People will start asking questions. Questions we don't have the answers to yet. Also…" he points his finger towards me and pans it over to the door laying splintered and broken on the floor. "You'll be paying for that one day"

"Ha ha sorry. I guess I just don't know my strength." I say with a grin and begin to scratch my head.

"Yeah that's an understatement," says Meril entering through the front door. "You need to get a handle on that power of yours before we sign you up for the Aphenia Adventurers Guild"

"Speaking of that, you ready to start training?" inquiries Aastral gesturing towards the small wooden door behind his shop bench.

"Sure" I follow him through the door, Meril close behind. It leads into a small grassy courtyard with a gravel walkway and stepping stones leading to a red-hot steaming forge in the center of the yard. "Are all these your work?" I ask Aastral admiring the pristine tools and swords strung from cable and small cubes of metal stacked high around the forge.

"Yup, I made all these myself, this is my workshop. A beauty isn't she?" he asks, not letting me respond. "Now let's see I'm sure I've got something around here to test out my baby with."

He scrambles around the cubes of metal and heaves in his 2 huge arms a small black cube from behind. "This should be a good start. Here take this." He lugs the cube up and into my hands.

I brace as I expect to be weighed down by the hefty cube but as it leaves his hand and into mine I feel no change in weight. Aastral huffs and raises himself from his knees. "Phew, that was exhausti…" he abruptly stopped staring at me with disbelief.

"What?" I say spinning the cube around to inspect all sides. "What is this thing?"

"That 'Thing' is the second dense metal we have here in Aphenia. That cube alone weighs 100kg."

"There's no way, this is light as a feather… and it's super soft too." I close my fist around the cube squishing it into dust.

"By the GODS!" exclaimed both Aastral and Meril. Meril continues "What are you? We need to get you into the guild so we can see your stats." Aastral looks stunned but excited for a moment and he gestures for me to follow. He scurries around to the back of the forge where a small cube sat lonely on the floor. "Go on. Give it a go then"

I kneel to pick up the cube. I strain for a second to lift the cube from the indent it made on the floor but it begins to move. Once out of the hole in the ground, I pick it up with ease.

"Now this one is heavier, kinda like a shot put." I turned to look at both of them. They stand with their mouths ajar and eyes wide.

"How in the GODs…" Meril exclaims. "Aastral that is a cube of a Dreinorium correct?"

"Y…y…y…yuh"

"Meaning…"

"Yup, Yuuto that cube you hold in your hand is the strongest metal in Aphenia. To forge that into a weapon takes several weeks alone. Guess how much it weighs."

I jumble it up and down in my hand for a bit trying to estimate the weight. "Probably like 20 kg. It's heavy."

"Try 600kg!" he exclaims

"Fuck off, there's no way in hell" I respond in disbelief. "You're pranking me or something."

"Nope. but now I'm curious. Let's test that arm out now. Give that cube a toss with your arm."

I plant both my feet and ready myself to toss it. I bring the cube back behind my shoulder. I grasp the cube as tightly as I can, feeling my fingers sink into the metallic surface. As I tense my muscles the arm begins to whir. Getting louder and louder, steam starts pouring from the glowing cracks.

The cloak falls to the ground as the arm burns the fabric away. I let the cube fly and with a thunderclap, it soars high into the sky, rising higher and higher. It pierces the clouds turning the once clouded sky into a bright blue one. The cube soars off into the distance.

"Sooooo…" I say spinning to look at them both, still stunned and sweating now. "You got another one of them…" I scratch my head and grin.

"We definitely need to work on that before the entrance exam," says Meril

"Exam!!!" I scream.