Surprisingly, the next three nights and two days, passed by quickly. Between researching and training, there simply wasn't enough time left for me to worry.

Now it is Saturday morning, and while I would have liked to train some more, I don't think it would make much of a difference by now. Also, I had no good way to talk myself out of helping my sister moving without causing me endless trouble.

I know, I probably should prioritize my survival no matter what. Well, it would be more accurate to say: 'My potential death and/ or complete disappearance from reality and time.'

But humans are strange and can and have killed themselves for the strangest of reasons.

"Wow, Al. How long has it been? One year? Two years?", a girl, almost an entire head smaller than me, greeted me.

"Yeah Vicky, it's been a while.", I answer wryly, already expecting what would come next.

"Come on, give me a hug!", she said, opening her arms invitingly.

Reluctantly, I give her what she wants. If I don't, I know she will pester me until I do. I can still remember more than one occasion where she and my sister managed to talk me into dressing up as a girl. Sure, we had been a lot younger back then, so it hadn't been a problem, but it left me with just a modicum of a trauma.

While I step in and give her an awkward hug, she returns it with surprisingly strong and bony arms.

"Now then, let's get going! We don't have all day!", my sister said, giddy with excitement at the thought of moving into her own apartment, and probably oblivious to the fact I would inevitably end up doing most of the work.

I sigh. What you wouldn't do for your family.

First, we start carrying all the larger pieces of furniture up to the third floor. And already, with just a table, the couch, and a shelf, the discussion started, the girls having me push around the three pieces for several minutes until I told them that we could continue once the rest of the furniture was here as well.

I'm glad I did so because as soon as we carried up the rest, their opinions were suddenly completely different. But honestly, I could barely see a difference. Between the dozens of ways to arrange her furniture, I could only comment on two because they were either highly inconvenient, or a closet door would become impossible to open.

Once we were done the day was already half over. After only a short break, we continued carrying cardboard boxes containing all the stuff my sister wanted to keep, and somehow squeeze into what little room she had.

After the first few, we quickly realized, that we were running out of floor space, so the two girls decided to start unpacking the ones already there while I would continue carrying up the rest.

There wasn't much left and it wasn't as hard with my increased Stats, still, that was just typical. Let the guy do all the physical work.

When I come back into the apartment a few minutes later, the first box is already half emptied, it's contents starting to fill the shelf. With books, that is.

Just from a cursory glance, I could tell that the box must have been full nearly to the edge. That box should have been far too heavy for the girls to bring up here, and even I would have taken out half the books and run twice to ease the burden.

Had my Stats increased my strength so much that I didn't notice the difference?

No, that couldn't be. I would still have noticed one being much heavier than the others, and the other boxes should have been extremely light in comparison. And that, they weren't. I couldn't remember carrying it up here.

Looking at the box a little bewildered, I noticed a pattern. A pattern of four small dents in the cardboard that I had previously seen on a Box Victoria had been carrying.

Now, I wasn't sure what was more freaky. The fact that I could recall such a minor detail so clearly, or that Victoria, a rather dainty woman, had carried such a heavy box three stories up. And now that I looked at her properly, I also noticed that her arms and legs were almost unhealthily thin, although her clothes were hiding it, and showing almost no signs of exhaustion.

No, I must be mistaken. Even with twenty Memory, I didn't suddenly get photographic memory. And the girls had probably taken all the light boxes.

I went back down, prepared to make the last few rounds on my own.

At least I could take a short break now. Before, taking one had felt awkward while the girls were still working, even if I carried more than them.

I pick up the next box and notice that it is heavier than the others. Curiously, I take a look inside. Another box with books. Seriously, how did my sister plan to fit all this into that tiny apartment?

But more importantly, the box was only half full, and still extremely heavy. Twice as much? I would have definitely noticed that.

Not even a week earlier, I wouldn't have thought about this as much. I would have dismissed it and somehow explained it away. Hell, I probably wouldn't even have noticed.

Now though? Now it was a different matter. Now I knew that there existed extraordinary things in this world.

Since I knew Vicky for a long time, and my sister knew her even better, I had a great degree of trust in the girl. That meant there was a simple solution to this conundrum.

The next time I entered the apartment, I said: "Say, Vicky, have you ever heard of a game called God's War? I'm still a Recruit there, but I thought it might be something you would enjoy playing."