172 Fool you once, game on you (1/2)
One of them picked up a 45 plate and asked him, ”How much do you want on the bar?”
Ben glanced at him. ”Just load it up!”
…
A number of other people were manipulating video and photography equipment in the perimeter, working on getting the right lighting and angle for this next exercise. The shoot was on, with Ben as the focus.
His performance on the bench press was more than enough to sell Owen to use him for this feature, and they'd already signed the paperwork. Although the strength he showed didn't break any records, it was at an elite level, not much worse than the bodybuilder they planned to bring in. In reality, it was much more impressive given Ben's small size. When also considering his young age and status as an employee at Hearth, all that together made for an interesting angle, one worth taking a chance on.
Standing next to Jacob, Owen watched as Ben prepared to perform barbell squats as the film crew captured it. The Male's Health manager looked at the white-haired old man. ”Who is this kid? Miracules?
...
He really put up a shocking bench press with those chesticles.”
…
Jacob blinked. He didn't understand a word coming from the mouth of this jabroni…
Even though Owen was middle-aged and out of shape, he was still engrossed by the fitness world all day and as a result--polluted by toxic masculinity…aka bro-slang.
In fact, Owen was a fanboy of weightlifting, which helped him get his job in the first place. So even though a moment ago, Ben slap-boxed his face like it was a speed-bag…Owen still gained some respect for the boy. He wasn't the only one either.
The two slave spotters were smiling in a subservient manner near Ben. Although they laughed before, now that they saw Ben lifting weights heavier than the both of them with ease, they understood that he was also capable of throwing them across the room… As such, they tried to be helpful, but sometimes went a bit too far. ”Do you need a spot?”
”You need a spot bro?”
”Need a spot?”
”Spot bro?”
”NO! Go away!” Ben wished he could get rid of the buzzing in his ears from these spotsquitos.
…
Soon, Ben positioned himself, and began squatting.
A while later, after the camera crew shot everything they needed, he moved on to the next exercise. Like that, Ben cycled through his usual workout routine.
Besides for adding a few minor modifications, the staff thought his genuine training program would be most appropriate given his unusual strength was the focus. Of course, the routine itself wasn't special, but Ben couldn't tell them his workout secret was to f*ck girls for booty chests that dropped magical potions.'
...
Two hours later…
Meanwhile, as he chatted with Owen, Ben rested on the side, while watching an interesting thing in his system panel--a change in Owen's relations.
[Target's current relations level: cordial(+2)]
Ben smiled. 'That's just like a mutated fire dragon…' He knew that dragons hated invaders, but they loved getting loot. Well, what Ben did today was drop loot on Owen's firetruck red head by giving him a usable feature that would've otherwise been a problem.