Toby

Biodata

Power Progression

Toby’s documented advancement concerns physical conditioning and attributes rather than named realms or ranks.

Background / History

Family circumstances and tutoring

Toby is the youngest child in the Jones household, with three older sisters: Andrea, Samantha, and Cynthia. His father’s injury and the family’s financial difficulties leave his mother working long hours while the housework goes neglected. Worried that Toby will fail to enter high school and drift into street gangs, Mrs. Jones hires Lin Rui, who introduces himself as Leon, to tutor him 6 7.

Lin Rui’s first visit focuses on Toby’s living habits rather than schoolwork. He makes Toby clean his filthy bedroom, wash dishes, clear kitchen waste, and mop the floor. Toby repeatedly seeks support from his family, but his father approves of the discipline and his sisters welcome the change 6 7.

Toby’s academic difficulties also appear in Nightmare Space. Lin Rui finds him crying over an examination paper and fearing his parents’ disappointment. Despite being a ninth grader, Toby cannot reliably handle elementary arithmetic, fractions, or multiplication. Repeated attempts to teach him fail, leaving Lin Rui’s tutoring mission unfinished for roughly half a month 8 9.

Food-truck work

Working with Lin Rui’s food truck gives Toby a practical reason to admire intelligence and initiative. When supplies run short, he steals boxed meals from church relief stations. After learning that the business could help pay his father’s medical bills, he takes fifty dollars, hires five friends, and escalates to robbing relief stations for more stock 12.

Toby helps with errands and deliveries as the operation expands. Seeing real earnings makes Lin Rui’s argument for studying more persuasive: even running a food truck requires arithmetic. Toby had previously planned to enlist at eighteen, obtain a community-college diploma afterward, and find work, but he finally agrees to make an effort at school. This acceptance completes Lin Rui’s tutoring mission 13 14.

After the thefts, Lin Rui encounters an injured priest in Nightmare Space who describes a powerful evil spirit stealing lamp oil and leading fallen ones in a raid on the shelter. Lin Rui suspects Toby, linking the incident to his real-world robberies; the identification remains his suspicion 17.

Suggestion and reform

Toby initially struggles to follow through on losing weight. Shortly after Lin Rui stops him from eating a Big Mac meal, he secretly visits a twenty-four-hour McDonald’s and asks his sister not to tell his tutor 14 15.

That night, Lin Rui uses Sophia’s Suggestion Technique on Toby in Nightmare Space. Toby fiercely resists commands to love studying and give up excessive eating, but eventually submits. The suggestions direct him to study, eat only three normal meals a day, abandon snacks and late-night meals, and change his habits 15.

The next morning, Toby voluntarily catches the school bus instead of lingering around street punks. His abrupt, stiffly expressed enthusiasm initially worries Mrs. Jones. Over the following week, he begins doing substantial homework, exercising after school, and earning Bs. Lin Rui observes that the grades reflect his changed attitude more than mastery of the material: his academic foundations remain weak 16 28.

Toby later trains alongside Lin Rui at the reopened church gym. His successful weight loss completes another mission and grants Lin Rui an enhancement card based on Toby’s attributes. As the family’s finances improve, Toby says that studying and losing weight no longer seem as difficult, and that the household’s more desperate ideas have faded 30 31.

Conflict with George’s gang

George’s men ambush and beat Toby while he is returning to the gym, then force him inside to confront Lin Rui. George claims Toby as one of his men and accuses Lin Rui of taking him away. Toby initially fears resisting the group, but fights back after Lin Rui urges him to act 37.

During the fight, Toby charges a thug into a dumbbell rack and later repeatedly punches George while pinning him down. When police arrive, he follows Lin Rui’s instruction to present himself as a victim. At the precinct, Toby states that he wanted to leave the gang and was attacked first 37 38.

George subsequently plans revenge against Lin Rui, Toby, and Molly. Information supplied by Toby helps Lin Rui locate George’s party. After George and three associates die, Toby becomes frightened by rumors that Leon is a mob boss and wonders whether his tutor possesses supernatural powers 46 50.

Appearance

• Large build: Tall, broad, and heavily overweight, with a chubby face and an intimidating appearance 6 32.
• Height: Usually described as over six feet three inches; Toby himself claims to be six feet five inches 8 12.
• Weight: Initially weighs over 150 kilograms, later falling to just over 130 kilograms 32.
• Improved physique: Dieting and exercise make him visibly leaner, stronger-looking, and more energetic, though he remains overweight 30 32.
• Body odor: Lin Rui complains about his strong odor even after Toby showers and applies antiperspirant 30.

Personality

Initially lazy and dependent on others, Toby neglects both schoolwork and basic cleanliness. He claims a learning disability, discrimination by teachers, and fear of classmates’ reactions when challenged about his grades; these are his explanations, not established diagnoses. At school, he has a reputation for bullying weaker students and showing little ambition 6 32 34.

His concern for his family can overcome his usual passivity. The prospect of paying his father’s medical bills makes him energetic and resourceful, although his chosen methods include theft and robbery. He openly admires Lin Rui’s cleverness and wishes to become more like him 12 14.

After his reform, Toby becomes more diligent and confident without losing his crude humor. He repeatedly teases Lin Rui about supposed steroid use, but also warns him about the health risks and urges him to stop. His confidence in his own size has limits: he retreats when George draws a knife and remains uneasy about Lin Rui’s unexplained abilities 30 31 37 43 50.

Abilities & Skills

Physical Strength and Endurance

Toby possesses naturally high Strength and Constitution, both explicitly described as exceeding ordinary people’s attributes 30.

• Handles a 100-kilogram squat comfortably 30.
• Has a documented squat limit of 140 kilograms for one repetition, after which he is exhausted 31.
• Uses his body weight and strength to send a thug crashing into a dumbbell rack 37.
• Withstands numerous punches and kicks during the gang ambush without major injury to his limbs or torso, despite substantial facial swelling 37.

Fighting Experience

• Has considerable experience in brawls and uses charges, grappling pressure, and repeated punches rather than a named combat technique 37 38.
• Quickly feigns severe distress when police arrive, drawing on his familiarity with fights and their aftermath 38.
• Becomes defensive when confronted with a knife and does not attempt to stop the armed attacker himself 37.

Mental Resistance

• Initially rejects Lin Rui’s lessons even within his dreams, preventing the tutoring mission from succeeding 14.
• Resists the Suggestion Technique intensely, but his Spirit and Charisma are too low to withstand Lin Rui’s application of it 15.
• Continues to fear Lin Rui afterward and later cites that fear as a reason to suspect supernatural influence 50.

Associated Item

Lesser Attribute Enhancement Card — “Toby”

The “Toby” card belongs to Lin Rui, who receives it for supervising Toby’s twenty-kilogram weight loss 30.

• Toby mistakes Lin Rui’s sudden card-enhanced transformation for steroid use 30 31.
• The card later gives Lin Rui a decisive Strength and Constitution advantage against George’s group, though it does not eliminate his disadvantage against multiple attackers 48.

Relationships

• Lin Rui / Leon — Tutor, employer, and workout partner. Uses coercive dream suggestions to change Toby’s habits, helps improve his family’s finances, and fights alongside him against George’s gang 6 15 30 37.
• Mrs. Jones — Mother. Hires Lin Rui, encourages Toby’s schooling, forbids him from using steroids, and worries that his sudden reform may come at the cost of his happiness 6 16 31.
• Mr. Jones — Father. Approves of Lin Rui’s discipline; his medical expenses motivate Toby’s work for the food truck 6 12.
• Andrea — Eldest sister. Affectionately praises Toby when he begins helping around the house 7.
• Samantha — Second-oldest sister. Warns him to take his opportunity seriously rather than end up arrested or dead 7.
• Cynthia — Older sister and an academically successful example Toby compares himself against. Strongly supports Lin Rui’s efforts to discipline him 7 14.
• Molly — Schoolmate and fellow participant in the gym confrontation. Shares his enthusiasm for recounting the fight and his suspicions about Leon’s powers 32 38 40 50.
• George — Former gang leader and enemy. Has Toby beaten for leaving his influence and later plans revenge against him 37 38 46.
• Vincent — Younger gym attendee who wants to become strong like Toby 42.