Frenley sighs as he looks at the front door of the gym. Today, he will start doing something he has promised himself he would do for months and years. Guess the motivation he needs to finally start going to the gym is being suck into a fantasy world and being made one of its many heroes. Frenley shook his head and opened the door of the gym. With his first step in, all his confidence melted away. He looks at himself in a plain white shirt and black shorts. A bottle of water, his phone, and the most important thing: his headphones.
Fren walked towards the receptionist, a muscular girl. Who could probably crush his head with her biceps. The girl was on her phone, looking at something, and only looked up when she felt his presence.
“How can I help you?”
“Ah, yes..I am Frenley. I got the premium membership yesterday. But this is my first time ever using a gym, and I would like some guidance.”
“Give me a sec..”
The girl types something down on the desk computer. After a while, she nodded her head, grabbed her phone, and sent a quick text.
“Already, you will be working with Felix. Stand to the side and he will picked you up”
He thanked the woman before doing what she said. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long, as a tall, muscular man approached him. Frenley instantly recognizes the man.
“Haha, I love your drive, dude! Most show up within a day or two of getting the membership.”
“Thank you, I just felt that today is a good day to start, being a weekend and everything. Work always leaves me exhausted.”
“I take it is the bad kind of exhausted.”
“Yeah”
“Well, don't worry, for after today you will feel the good kind of exhausted! Follow me!”
“Alright.”
Frenley followed the muscular man to the gym proper, which was filled with many more people than it had been yesterday morning. Felix stood next to some yoga mats. He took out two of them and placed them in a relatively clear corner.
“First things first, we need to warm our muscles up.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Just do what I do.”
The two of them started to do stretches and yoga poses. While Felix did them with no difficulty, for Frenley, it came quite hard. Just doing the stretching exercise left him with a hard breath and sweat building up. After 5 minutes of warming up their muscles, Felix took Frenley to the treadmill.
“Get on it, we will start easy at first, then crank it up to where we hit your max. Then we will work on the back and arm muscles. You coming back tomorrow or taking it off?”
“What do you recommend?”
“Take it off, you haven't used your body like this in a very long time, and you will be a mess tomorrow. I am off Monday. If you wish to come by and train, you're gonna be placed with someone else. So, how about you come back on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays? It is a good beginner workout routine.”
“Sounds perfect to me.”
“Great! Love that drive, now let's see how long that will last.”
Like that, Frenley spent a total of 3 hours working out with Felix. Using a variety of machines he has never seen or used before. Taking breaks between different exercises and sets. The three things that kept Frenley from collapsing were his music, Felix's motivation, and the fact that the creatures in his dreams wouldn't give him a break. At the end of the training session, Frenley was sitting on a bench. Head down, his long black hair sticking to his face and covering his eyes. His white shirt was see-through, sticking to his body like duct tape. His breathing through his mouth, rough and loud breaths.
Felix, on the other hand, was doing much better than Frenley. Drinking a protein shake from a personal cup. The muscular man handed Frenley a protein shake, one that was available to everyone from the shack bar. Frenley grabbed the plastic cup with a trembling hand. He brought the plastic straw to his mouth and began drinking the contents. Letting out a loud sigh after drinking more than 1/3 of the cup.
“Good work today, dude! In no time, you will be a worthy Greek hero.”
“Didn't..you say…you gonna make me into a Greek god yesterday?”
“Did I? Did I?”
“Are you quoting that fucking shitty movie?”
“Hahahahaha”
Frenley shook his head as he drank more of his protein. Once he was fully done, he placed it next to him, pushing his wet hair to the side and looking up at Felix. The muscular man looked at Fren with a soft smile as he patted the man’s shoulder. This caused Frenley to cringe from pain.
“Alright, this is a good place to end it. Now go take a shower and get yourself home and a warm meal.”
“I will just shower at home and order some food online. Too tired to cook.”
“Ah, yeah, that makes sense. Next time, prep some food before working out. Fast food will make it harder to make gains. So a proper home-cooked meal will do you wonders.”
“What do you recommend?”
“I can give you the link to a YouTube channel that makes great, easy meals that are low-calorie, high in fiber, and protein.”
“Perfect..”
After getting Felix's phone number and the YouTube link, Frenley stood up and said goodbye to the muscular man. As he walked out of the gym, with his phone in hand. He started to look for a nearby restaurant. It didn't take him long to find an open Korean restaurant that made takeout. With a craving for Korean food, Frenley started walking. Trying to ignore the pressure on his body to lie down and never stand up. But he carried on, for as much as he was tired, he was hungry.
After ten minutes of walking, he finally arrived at the restaurant. The small restaurant had a warm, homely feel. The fact that there was a kid in the cash register made Fren feel at peace. This was one of the good restaurants. He got in line and watched some videos as he waited for his turn. Thankfully, it didn't take long for him to be seen. He ordered a bowl of bibimbap, dumplings, and fried chicken. All to take home. The kid told him he would call his order number when it was done, so with no fuss, Frenley sat on a nearby empty table to wait for his order.
His eyes only left his phone when someone opened the door of the restaurant, for the small ring of the bell grabbed his attention for a second or two. It took a total of ten minutes for his food to be ready, with a groan escaping his lips. Frenley stood up and grabbed his food. Thanking the kid by leaving a tip. With a bag full of food in one hand, Frenley walked out of the restaurant. The man took another 8 minutes to reach his apartment.
Once the door to his small one-room, one-bathroom, and kitchen enters his view. It took all of his power to stop his legs from collapsing before he opened the door. Frenley closed the door behind himself once he entered. He set the food on the table as he made his way to the bathroom.
“Gosh, I am so sticky..”
After a longer-than-normal bath, Frenley came out. Shirtless and only wearing sleeping shorts. The man took his food out of the bag and started devouring it. Enjoying every single homemade flavor. Truthfully, it seems like he ordered more than he could eat. With a satisfied sigh, leaving his lips, Frenley stood up and started to store the food away in his fridge. The man was about to lie in his bed for the rest of the day, but a message from one of his friends asking if he was down reached him before his head could hit the pillow.
With a soft smile, Frenley sent a thumbs-up emoji and got on his computer. He plays games with friends, sometimes together or doing their own things while staying in voice chat. Frenley was the first one to hop off, earning himself groans from his friends, followed by goodnights and love yous. Frenley lay his headset down and turned off his computer, before jumping onto his bed and grabbing his phone.
Normally, he will delay his sleep, but today, he was looking forward to it. For there will be a hot, muscular woman waiting for him and a sassy AI girl in his head.
“I wonder if I can get Mia's phone number… Maybe later, I have just met her.”
As his eyelids became heavy and darkness overtook him. The next second, warm air enters his nose as his eyes shoot open. Frenley found himself in the same large common room when he defeated the boss yesterday. All around him are other people, some waking up like him and others already moving around and talking. Frenley stood up, fixing his long hair and walking towards the center shard of moonlight.
‘You there, Ailice?’
‘Yes, I am.’
‘Good! How are you doing today?’
‘It's been good so far, you?’
‘Quite nice, I finally started working out. Need more stamina and body control to deal with all the monsters that I will meet.’
‘Smarter words have never been spoken before.’
‘Thank you, dear, now care to tell me how I level up?’
Frenley said as he looked at the large moonlight shard in front of him, the soft melody of the orchestra drowned out any noise people were making.
‘Just touch it, and you will get the prompt.’
‘Perfect’
Frenley did as he was told, and like Ailice said. The prompt appears in his mind alongside one for expeditions. He ignored that prompt and focused fully on the level-up prompt. His status appears in his mind with a plus sign next to his three stats.
‘Each level allows you to add one stat point; choose wisely.’
Frenley nodded his head to that explanation. Choosing to increase his soul and body by one. Frenley pulled his hand away from the moonlight shard. Looking at his status with a small smile
Status
Name: Frenley
Race: Fey
Class: Acolyte of Seasons
Body: 3
Mind: 1
Soul 4
Equipment:
Effigy of Nature(1S): Allows the casting of soul spells
Elf Straight Sword(1B): A sword of speed
Season Coating(1S): Coats the weapon in seasonal magic
Season Bolt(1S): A bolt of seasonal magic
Runes:
Potions: 2 Health and 1 Magic
With a small nod on his face, Frenley turns around to start walking to the training ground. Only to be met with a face full of white fur. Frenley takes a step back, and so does the fur.
“Ah, sorry about that! Still getting used to these tails.”
“Bleh..ah it's all good”
Frenley said, looking at the small woman. With long flowing silver hair, two large white fox ears sat on top of her head. With eight flowing, fluffy white tails with black tips sprouting from her tail bone. He kept looking at the full figure of the small woman. The way her brown eyes look at his. Made him stop for a second, as an odd sense of déjà vu hit him.
But he shook his head, waving at the woman as he walked away from the shard of light and let her touch it. Frenley continued to walk, but he could not help but look back at her. Trying to figure out if he knew her from somewhere.
“Oh! Who are we checking out?”
A strong tan arm wrapped around his shoulder as Mia pulled him in, looking at the small kitsune woman.
“Oh yeah, she's quite the good-looking gal. Damn, what a nice ass.”
“Ah! Mia, you can't say things like that!”
Fren said as he pushed the tall woman off him, trying to beat away the growing redness on his face. But the tan woman only laughed as she walked next to him.
“Nothing wrong with checking a girl out. As long as you don't be a creep about it or touch her without consent.”
“Rather kill myself than ever do shit like that.”
“What a gentleman. Ready for another day of pain, love?”
“As ready as I will ever be, dear.”
“That's the spirit! Let's train as much as we can before we hit the expeditions.”
“Sounds like a great idea.. Any day in mind?”
“Let's do it Monday, what better way than to start the week off with a bang.”
“Yep, a bang indeed.”