Gym

After bidding Shweta farewell, albeit reluctantly, Siddharth returned to his apartment. But before he could even take a sit and relax a little, another system notification appeared in front of him.

[Mission: Join a gym.]

[Time limit: 30 minutes.]

[Rewards: Low-grade Physique refining potion.]

[Punishment: You'll remain obese.]

"Hm? Physique refining potion? Can it make me fit?" He muttered after reading the punishment.

"Ha~ Let's go, join the gym then." He said, taking a deep breath. He then left his apartment.

As he stood in front of his building, thinking whether he should get a taxi or walk, he took out his smartphone and checked his bank balance.

<Balance: 3500 Credits.>

Seeing this, his lips curled up into a grin, and then he started laughing, tears appearing in his eyes.

A few people nearby looked at him with weird expressions.

Siddharth knew he must look like someone who has gone mad to them but didn't care and continued laughing.

'How many years has it been since something good happened to me? This is just too great. The system is great.' He thought, finally wiping his tears and stopped laughing.

Before he got 1000 credits as the reward for completing the mission, he only had 2500 credits and it was all the wealth he had—his savings of years from his meagre salary of 300 credits per month. 

So, he was overwhelmed with emotions when he saw it go up by 40%—which was more than 3 months of his salary—in just one day, that too, doing seemingly nothing.

In the last two decades, the world faced many viruses and disease outbreaks which killed countless people and the world economy also took a hit. 

To make matters worse, small conflicts between countries started escalating and world war 3 broke out, causing destruction and further plunging the world economy into ground.

Fortunately, despite the intensity of war, no country used the nuclear weapons or things would have been countless times worse.

However, as they say, wars always have many repercussions. Many countries went bankrupt, which made the situation chaotic once again.

When the governments throughout the world were helpless, three companies rose to prominence and stabilized the situation. 

Since because of the war and other problems, many currencies were no longer valuable, they put forth a solution for it. 

First, one currency system—the credit system replaced all the currencies, such as Dollar, rupee, Yen, etc.

Second, the citizenship concept was changed. Now, everyone was the world's citizen. 

Instead of different Ids, they only needed a world I.D. They no longer needed passports or visas to travel to a different country, and they no longer needed that country's citizenship to stay, work and own property there. As long as one had a valid world I.D. they could go anywhere and stay anywhere.

These drastic changes caused much confusion initially, but people quickly got used to them.

…

"Let's call a taxi then." Siddharth said with a smile. Since he now had money and would probably get more thanks to the system, he could spend now without worrying too much. 

So, he quickly installed a local taxi app and booked a taxi.

Five minutes later, a cab stopped him. The driver, an old man probably in his late fifties, lowered the window, looked around before glancing at Siddharth and asked, "Are you Mr. Siddharth, sir?"

"Yes, I am." Siddharth nodded, smiling wryly. 'Do I look too poor to afford a taxi?'

"Take me to the nearest gym." He said, entering the cab.

"Of course, sir." The driver nodded and immediately drove the taxi toward the bustling central plaza—the place Siddharth rarely went because everything there was just too expensive for him to afford.

Noticing this, he couldn't help but ask, "Why are we going toward the central plaza? Isn't there any gym around this area?"

The driver looked at him from the mirror and shook his head.

"There used to be one, sir. But as you know, only very poor people live here who struggles to earn a living. They don't have money to spend for gym, nor do they have time to do so. So, that gym closed after a few months."

The driver, who was an old man, probably in his late fifties, said, slowing down the car,

"So, if you want to join a gym, you'll have to go to the central plaza, where I'm taking you. But as you must know, the monthly membership will cost you quite a bit."

He hesitated and continued, "So, if you think you can't afford it, going there will be a waste of your time and the money you'll have to pay for the cab. However, we stop now, I… I won't charge you anything."

Hearing this, Siddharth smiled. "Thank you for your kind intentions, but you don't have to worry about it. I only asked that because I need to reach the gym as soon as possible."

The driver visibly relaxed when he heard this. Although he said he won't charge him if Siddharth stopped the ride, he would have missed out on earning some money.

"Don't worry about that, sir. The nearest gym is just 10 minutes away." He said, increasing the speed a little.

"Good." Siddharth nodded and as he watched the scenery flashing past outside the window, he remembered how fast Grace was when she brought him from the Dragonheart family's gate to their villa.

He glanced at the car's speedometer and saw the speed—60mph.

'Compared to how fast she was, this speed doesn't seem much.'

He thought and couldn't help but feel excited when he thought how he will soon become as strong or stronger than her in the cultivation world and hopefully in this world too. 

Quickly, the taxi entered the central plaza district and stopped in front of a five-story tall building.

"We're here, sir. The gym is on 3rd floor." The driver said, pointing at the gym board.

"Alright. Thank you."

Siddharth nodded and get out of the taxi. He then paid him and walked into the building, leaving the old driver gaping at him in shock because he paid him more than the fare.

Before he could come to his senses and call out to him, Siddharth had already entered the lift leading up to the higher floors.