Jordan woke up and his body felt like it had been rebuilt from scratch.

No aches. No creaky joints. No lower back screaming at him for sleeping wrong. Just this clean energy running through his muscles like he’d somehow gotten eight hours of perfect sleep instead of the usual restless tossing.

He sat up. Stretched. His shoulders rolled back smooth and easy.

The hell?

Jordan looked down at his stomach. The abs were still there. Six distinct lines cutting down his torso like someone had carved them with a chisel. His chest had actual shape to it now, pecs that filled out space instead of just existing as soft nothing.

The Tune Up trait hadn’t worn off overnight.

Jordan stood and walked to the bathroom. His reflection stared back at him from the freshly cleaned mirror. Same hazel eyes. Same newly fixed hair. But his jaw looked sharper. His cheekbones more defined. The dark circles under his eyes had faded to almost nothing.

He looked like someone who went to bed at a reasonable hour instead of staying up until four AM watching League streams.

Jordan grabbed his phone from the nightstand. 7:23 AM. The daily quest had reset at midnight according to the notification he’d gotten last night.

He opened the System interface.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

DAILY QUEST: Path to Becoming Adonis

OBJECTIVES:

[ ] Physical: Log 90 minutes of physical activity

[ ] Hygiene Level 1: Shower using actual soap

[ ] Hygiene Level 2: Brush teeth for a full two minutes. Floss.

[ ] Grooming: Apply basic skincare (Wash. Moisturize. Sunscreen.)

[ ] Social: Speak to three different beauties for two minutes each. (Requirement: Maintain eye contact. Do not apologize for existing. Do not offer to buy them anything.)

REWARDS:

Full Stamina Recovery

3 Quest Tickets 🎟️

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Same objectives as yesterday. Ninety minutes of physical activity topped the list.

Jordan stared at the requirement. An itch started under his skin, a restless energy that had nowhere to go in his clean apartment.

The thought of staying inside, of doing nothing with this new body, felt fundamentally wrong.

Yesterday he’d completed the physical activity requirement by accident. Five hours of cleaning his disaster apartment had counted toward the total. But today his apartment was clean. No trash bags to haul. No mattress to vacuum. No biological anomalies to excavate from under his bed.

He had to actually choose to do the work.

Jordan walked back to his bedroom and opened his closet. His gym clothes sat folded on the shelf where he’d put them after washing everything yesterday. Black shorts. Grey tank top. Running shoes that he’d bought freshman year and worn exactly twice.

He looked at the clothes, and the familiar excuses surfaced on instinct. Too tired. Too sore. Maybe tomorrow. But the System’s warning cut through the whining:

This is not permanent. Maintenance required through proper diet, exercise, and self-care.

He had abs right now. A body that looked like it belonged to someone who actually gave a shit. But if he sat on his ass and went back to his old habits, this would all disappear. The muscle would melt. The fat would return. He’d wake up one morning looking like the guy who got cucked in a parking lot on Christmas.

Not happening.

Jordan grabbed the gym clothes and changed. The tank top fit better now. His shoulders filled it out. His arms looked bigger than they had any right to be after one magical gacha pull.

He checked his reflection one more time. The guy staring back at him looked ready to actually work out instead of just pretending.

Good start.

Jordan walked downstairs and stood in his living room. The problem was obvious. He didn’t know how to work out. Not really. He’d done some pushups in high school. Ran a few laps in PE. But actual structured exercise? Building a routine? That was foreign territory.

He could figure it out on his own. Watch YouTube videos. Do bodyweight stuff in his apartment.

Or.

Jordan pulled out his phone and opened his messages. The group chat with Kyle and Leo sat near the top of his recent conversations. "The Boys" with a flexed bicep emoji next to the name.

Kyle had been texting that chat for months. Inviting Jordan to the gym. Sending workout plans. Posting progress pictures that made Jordan feel bad about himself.

Jordan had ignored every single message.

The most recent text from Kyle was from three days ago. January 7th. A picture of Kyle at the university gym with some caption about leg day destroying his soul.

Leo had responded with a skull emoji and "bro I’m eating pizza rn don’t send me this."

Jordan had left it on read.

He opened the chat and started typing.

Jordan: thinking about hitting the university gym today. who’s in?

He hit send before his brain could stop him.

The message sat there in the chat. Delivered. Read receipts showed both Kyle and Leo had seen it immediately.

Three dots appeared under Kyle’s name.

Kyle: BRO

Kyle: ARE YOU SERIOUS

Kyle: DID YOU JUST ASK TO GO TO THE GYM

Kyle: WHO IS THIS

Kyle: JORDAN WHAT HAPPENED

Leo’s response came right after.

Leo: fake news

Leo: jordan doesn’t go outside

Leo: this is his mom isn’t it

Jordan laughed despite himself. Fair. He deserved that.

Jordan: not fake. I’m serious. you’ve been asking me to go for like six months. I’m asking now.

Kyle: what time

Kyle: I’m free all morning

Kyle: I will literally cancel plans to see this

Leo: I’m not going

Leo: gyms are scams

Leo: you’re paying money to pick up heavy things and put them down

Leo: that’s called MANUAL LABOR and people used to get PAID for that

Jordan: so that’s one yes and one coward

Leo: I’m not a coward I’m financially responsible 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Leo: also I had jack in the box for breakfast

Leo: if I go to the gym right now I’m gonna throw up on someone

Kyle sent a GIF of someone doing a victory dance.

Kyle: ME AND JORDAN GYM DATE

Kyle: REDEMPTION ARC STARTS TODAY

Kyle: I’ll meet you at the rec center in 30

Kyle: bring water and a towel

Kyle: and your student ID for the scan

Jordan looked at the time. 7:34 AM. The rec center opened at six according to the Pacific Crest website. Kyle wanted to meet in thirty minutes which meant Jordan needed to leave in twenty.

Jordan: see you there

He locked his phone and grabbed his keys. His student ID sat in his wallet where it had been gathering dust since September. Jordan pulled it out and looked at the photo.

The picture had been taken during freshman orientation. August 2024. Jordan looked soft in that photo. Undefined jaw. Dull eyes. The same apologetic expression he’d worn for most of his life.

The guy in the mirror right now looked nothing like that photo.

Jordan pocketed his ID and headed for the door. His hand touched the knob and he paused.

Chloe lived next door. Unit 403. One wall separated their apartments.

Was she awake? Did she work out? Maybe she went to the university gym too.

Jordan shook his head and opened the door. The hallway was empty. No sounds came from Unit 403. The whole floor was quiet except for someone’s TV playing faintly from down the hall.

He locked his apartment and headed for the elevator.

===

[A/N:]

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