Gym Day

The meal is actually better than I expected, Cooking I does some good work, or Matt could also naturally be a good cook I guess.

The meal is more tense than I’d like it to be. I just learned a big secret by mistake, and it feels weird to act like I didn’t. Matt is a great guy, I’m sure even if I let it slip he would still forgive me.

“What’s on your mind? You like the food?” He asks as he studies my expressions.

“Yeah the meal is great! I didn’t know you were a good cook!”

He looks at his plate.

“I guess I am. Maybe I should cook more often from now on?” He tries to introduce the idea, and it takes me some time to remember that cooking for someone is one of his permanent quests from now on.

“If you want to cook more, I won’t complain. It’s better than my food anyway.” I say, and he nods.

“Right. I also wanted to tell you about my collab with CutieAlexandra, we’re planning to do it next wednesday.”

“So you’ll play a party game with a big streamer, do you have to prepare anything?”

“She just said to be there in time. We talked a few minutes off-stream today, and it’s been stressing me out. She told me she really liked my voice.”

“That’s good right? You do have a great voice.”

But he doesn’t look too happy.

“Well my voice isn’t the problem, but she really thinks I’m a girl and I don’t like deceiving people like that.” He explains while fidgeting.

“I can understand feeling a little anxious, but what’s the problem here? You’re not actually tricking anyone right. This is your voice, some people do try to trick their audiences while you just have a feminine voice.” I’d like him to feel good about streaming and becoming popular, but I guess the way to do it is also important to him.

“John, you know that’s wrong, sure I never told anyone I was a girl, but I should have denied it when people assumed it, if I ignore it like that I’m just lying by omission.”

He has a point, I guess not rectifying people even once is not sincere either.

“Okay Matt, I guess you’re lying, but is that even a problem? What if people think you’re a girl online? Lots of guys online pretend to be girl, you just have to avoid showing your face and you’re good.” I don’t know if I make sense, but I don’t want Matt to miss his chance to do what he likes.

“I-I guess it’s okay… People just need to never know.” He starts to convince himself.

I put my plate in the sink and ask him if he wants to play a fighting game for a while, I’m rusty but I know he’s always glad to kick my ass.

He agrees and sends me to set it up in the living room while he washes our plates.

I launch Innocent Gear and choose my character, an enormous guy who takes half the screen with most attacks, he’s slow, but he only needs to punch a few times to win.

Matt finally arrives and picks the cute blonde girl with yoyos, she looks pretty weak, but I know fighting game logic is weird.

As soon as the rounds start I get put in a corner while Matt does a combo he knows by heart. Once it’s done and I can play again, a fourth of my life is already gone.

I try to hit, but he guards every time, and seems to always have the time to send an attack back at me.

When I finally get a hit in, I mash the buttons, and somehow, I put Matt’s character in the red. But as I thought I could maybe win, it’s like he’s trying for the first time. He simply waits for me to miss an attack and dash at me, he just hits me with a quick punch that does no damage and launches a super attack that destroys what remains of my hp.

I’d like to say I got better as the night passed but I won one round out of maybe twenty. When I feel too tired to even attempt to win again he notices and start closing the game.

“Thanks for playing with me, I know you wanted to improve my mood and that worked.” He says as he tries for a fist bump.

Obviously, I fistbump him back and he smiles.

“No problem bro, I’m always here if you have issues.”

Issues that I provoked with the app, but I try to avoid looking guilty as I return to my room.

I need to strengthen my resolve, sure Matt has some issues because of me, but his life is also improving a lot. He talks to others more, he cleans up, he leaves the house and he even has a collab with a big streamer lined up. I should feel proud of how much I helped.

---

I wake up groggily but I still have time before meeting Maria, she told me to go to the gym in the afternoon, and it’s still the morning, barely.

I check my phone.

Matt completed a basic quest. [+3 xp] [+3 bonus xp]

Maria bought the Coach I perk for 1 points.

Maria bought the Beauty I perk for 2 points.

Maria actually bought a few perks, so I check her profile to read about them. I’m also surprised a level 1 perk costs 2 points.

Name: Maria
Surname : Finocci
Gender: Female
Age : 27
Level 6 (13 / 20 xp)
Class: Yoga Mom
Perks : Training Efficiency I, Cooking I, Motherly II, Flexible I, Coach I, Beauty I
Perk Points : 1

Coach I: +50% effect from physical training to anyone you’re currently coaching. (Hidden: Dopamine reward when the target of coaching achieves goal)

Beauty I: Makes your body more conventionally attractive. (Hidden: Receiving compliments on your appearance increases arousal slightly)

I see she wanted to prepare for today’s session. I also wonder if she can read perks descriptions in the perk tree, or if she has to buy them first like rewards.

I start preparing a bag of clean clothes since I know Maria will make me sweat, but then I wonder if I should suffer alone, she had Rita’s number, and a quest wouldn’t be too hard to write…

Yep, I refuse to go alone, I start writing Rita’s quest.

Rita will receive the following quest :

• Accept Maria’s gym invitation
• Exercise for at least an hour
• Do Yoga exercises with Maria

Warning, multi-step quest might be too complex for target's current level, success isn’t guaranteed but will grant more xp. Continue ? Yes / No

I think that will be okay, she’ll have help from others so I’m sure it’s doable. I press yes.

Select a reward from the three choices:

• Training Efficiency I perk
• Weight Loss Training [S] perk
• Increased relationship for every conversation for 24h

Those rewards are way better than usual. I guess the quest is way harder than I thought because it’s the very first time I see an [S] perk, I played enough video games to know it must be pretty strong, and I think that should be enough to actually motivate Rita to come.

Reward : Weight Loss Training [S] perk

I should also give quests to my other targets. Maria’s quest is pretty obvious as well.

Maria will receive the following quest :

• Go to the gym with at least one partner
• Coach them
• Do yoga with them

Select a reward from the three choices:

• Training Efficiency II perk
• Relaxing Touch perk
• Bring anyone to the gym once

I obviously don’t want to give her the last one, or she might **** me to come with her. I feel like a level 2 perk might be better for her especially if she goes to the gym more often.

Reward: Training Efficiency II perk

What about Matt though? He should also have something to do, I want him to get to level 10 asap and he’s still only level 7 so I guess I have to give him a hard quest if I want him to progress faster.

Matt will receive the following quest :

• Clean the house
• Talk with a neighbour
• Bake cookies for John

Warning, multi-step quest might be too complex for target current level, success isn’t guaranteed but will grant more xp. Continue ? Yes / No

I press yes, since he already did most of this in single quests I hope he’ll still do it in a hard quest, but that will surely depend on the reward.

Select a reward from the three choices:

• Small talk II perk
• Baking I perk
• Receive an invitation to neighbor party

I guess I could get him to a party, but I’m sure that’s not very motivating for Matt since he’s very introverted. I guess one of the perk is a better choice.

Reward: Small talk II perk

With that, I close the phone and take something to eat before leaving for the gym.

---

(Rita’s POV)

I hate this quest, I hate this quest, I hate this quest.

I repeat the same sentence in my head, but this is quite ironic since I’m already in the bus.

[See you in a few then! I’m glad you decided to join! You won’t regret it I promise !] Reads the text I received from Maria an hour ago.

I really didn’t want to go, but the reward was too good to pass up. Yesterday’s cosplay already helped me lose a lot of weight, but I’m sure that with this perk I could get close to the body I dream of!

Yes, the perk is the only reason I’m here, and maybe seeing John exercise is a nice little bonus for my effort.

I arrive 10 minutes earlier, but I see Maria’s already here, she’s on her phone, reading some text window, but before I get close enough to see it through my blurry eyesight, she notices me and turns the phone off.

“Rita! You’re here in advance! I’m glad you came!” She says as she comes in for a hug.

The woman towers over me and has to bend forward for the hug to not simply be putting my face in her belly. Instead she puts it in between her breasts.

She stays like that for a few seconds before letting go, and I try to not look embarrassed.

“H-Hi, I hope I won’t be dead weight to you Miss Maria.” I say as she looks at me.

“No worries, we’re here to have fun, you’ll see there's a lot of easy exercises available.”

She then actually looks me up and down, certainly noticing my big weight loss.

“So this is what you look like with less baggy clothes! You should dress like that more often! Clothes are a big part of the way we’re seen by others.” She tries to explain, I guess it makes sense she wouldn’t think I just lost 10 kg in a day.

John doesn’t arrive in time, making us wait awkwardly, I like Miss Maria, but I don’t have much to talk about when I’m with her. Kind of like my mother.

John finally arrives and he looks sorry as he runs towards us.

“Sorry! My bus was late. I should have taken the one before.” He starts.

“Don’t worry John, you were only a few minutes late.” Maria tells him, reassuring him.

But he doesn’t answer, instead looking us up and down, I guess he must have noticed my weight loss but for some reason he also looks at Maria in shock. She didn’t change, right? She’s still the curvy woman she was yesterday right? Why is he not looking at me? I’m the one who actually went through a change! And a big one at that…

---

(John’s POV)

I knew what to expect of Rita’s change, her arms are thinner and her face is slightly more angular, I can’t tell her changes in detail as she never really showed her body.

But Maria's change is way more noticeable, she now has some apparent curves with a slightly bigger ass, and her breasts look like they're at least B-cups. Enough to make her look thin instead of underweight.

Is that why the Beauty I perk cost 2 points? It would make sense, it’s a bigger change than I expected to see and she seems pretty happy as she sees my reaction.

We go inside, and the receptionist takes our ID card to make sure it’s really the first time we come here and we aren’t abusing the free trial.

As I enter, I can see that this gym looks way better than the one I visited years ago. It actually looks modern, has big windows letting natural sunlight light the rooms, and the people around us are exercising quietly as some energetic music plays out of the many speakers attached to the ceiling.

The smell is strong though, and I’m a little taken aback as I enter the room filled with sweat.

Rita is behind me and looks unconvinced as we follow Maria to machines I have no idea how to use.

She explains how they work and makes me try it first. All the while giving me instructions on my form and moving my body around to correct me as I mess up.

Once it seems I got it, she turns to Rita, and almost forces her on another less intimidating machine. She explains what to do to her, softly readjusting her and re-explaining when necessary.

I’m starting to think she has visited the gym more than I thought this week, or at least she must have watched many videos on how those works.

I’ll admit, exercise isn’t as bad as I thought when nobody is laughing at you, and you’re actually helped through your exercises.

At some point however, I notice Rita is almost out of it, fatigue must have caught up with her, but she looks horrified as she looks at the time on her phone.

That’s true, the quest I gave her was to do an hour of exercise. I check the time and wince when I see she still has 15 minutes to go if she wants to finish it.

She’s a sweating mess, but she tries 5 more minutes. Maria notices and tells her she has to stop, but she refuses.

“Rita, I promise over-exercising can only hurt you. Stop now before you regret it.”

That’s almost enough for Rita to stop, but I know she’ll be sad if she doesn’t finish so I come to encourage her.

At first, she seemed surprised to hear me tell her about how great she did, but it seemed encouragement was all she needed as she **** herself to push further.

Those last few minutes weren’t easy but as soon as she hears the beep coming from her phone, she finally relaxes and lay on the ground in relief.

“Fine, you did it! But we’re not done Rita! Now, we’ll need to do some stretching if we want you to be able to move tomorrow.” She tells her as she sets down on a yoga mat. She gestures at me to join too, and while I want to refuse, a single glare and I’m sitting in front of her.

We wait for Rita to recover and she joins us as we stretch our bodies in all sorts of unnatural and uncomfortable ways.

I’m less flexible than I thought and can’t actually hit most pauses that Maria shows us. Rita is even less flexible but she still seems to get something out of it.

When we’re finally done, I lay down, my body feeding my brain with endorphins as I process the effort I made.

I’ll admit, I did nothing when compared to Rita, especially when comparing our bodies. But I still feel like I did more exercise than the last year combined and fatigue finally catches up with me.

“I’m so proud of you! You see John, that wasn’t so bad was it? And you Rita, I think you’ll have sore muscles tomorrow but wasn’t it a great time?”

Rita doesn’t answer, still trying to catch her breath as she relaxes some more.

“We can do that again next week!” Maria suggests happily, easy for her to say, she looked pretty much the same she was before we came in.

“M-Maybe, If I don’t die of exhaustion tonight.” Rita finally answers, and the two laugh.

---

I open the door happy to be home, and I smell a great smell from the kitchen.

“John you’re back? You want some cookies? I was about to get them out.”

“Sure! I would love some!” I say as I take a seat at the table.

He puts the hot cookies on a plate and slides them on the table, before taking a seat too.

“So, how was your exercise?”

“Very tiring! But I guess it wasn’t too bad…”

He grabs a cookie and looks at me curiously.

“So… Was it a quest?” He asks. I guess it’s pretty out of character for me to go to the gym.

“Yep. I got a Training Efficiency perk out of it.” I lie.

He nods, taking the lie at face value.

“That’s cool, I started having quests with multiple objectives, did you get that yet?”

“Nope, not yet, but that seems pretty cool, are the rewards better?”

“I guess they are. But I’ll admit they make the give up button more appealing.”

“Give up button?” I ask without thinking.

“Yeah, you know the black button under quests. I actually never pressed it yet. I hope it doesn’t give a penalty.”

“Right, I don’t know either… My quests have all been pretty easy all things considered.” I say as if I even knew this button existed.

Matt is a great source of info about the LifeQuest App, and I wonder if there’s anything else I still don’t know. It’s frustrating, but I can’t really ask what is possible with it without hurting my cover.

I grab a cookie, and it’s good. Clearly not the best, but it’s still warm and it improves it a lot in my opinion.

Once we’re done, leaving a few as desserts for tonight, I go rest in my room.

Did he even clean my window, or am I just imagining things? Whatever, I open the app and check today's quests.

Maria completed an advanced quest. [+7 xp] [+7 bonus xp]

Leveled up!

Maria is level 7, advanced info now contains mental traits.

Matt completed an advanced multi-step quest. [+10 xp] [+10 bonus xp]

Rita completed a hard quest. [+15 xp] [+15 bonus xp]

Leveled up!

I decide to check everyone’s profile too.

Name: Matt
Surname : Weaver
Gender: Male
Age : 23
Level 8 (8 / 20 xp)
Class: Housewife
Perks : Cleaning II, Unrestricted Access, Sweet Voice I, Cooking I, Small Talk II
Perk Points : 5

Small Talk II : During small talk, subject is changed at will, and information is obtained easily. Can also give an info that will be spread. (Hidden : Strong interest in gossip, small voyeurism kink.)

Okay app, that’s too much, now you’re also giving people new kinks? I don’t like this at all.

Name: Maria
Surname : Finocci
Gender: Female
Age : 27
Level 7 (18 / 20 xp)
Class: Yoga Mom
Perks : Training Efficiency II, Cooking I, Motherly II, Flexible I, Coach I, Beauty I
Perk Points : 2

Training Efficiency II: +100% effect from physical training. (Hidden: Strong compulsion to train, training increases libido)

Name: Rita
Surname : Torres
Gender: Female
Age : 22
Level 8 (1 / 20 xp)
Class: Cosplayer
Perks : Makeup I, Photogenic II, Modelling I, Flirty I, Cosplay I, Pokerface I
Perk Points : 3

Rita leveled up twice in a row, I guess I really pushed her too much with this quest.

Weight Loss Training [S] : Lose a kg for every hour of physical training. Becomes Fit [S] perk when weight cross limit.

Quest Master : John
Surname : Moore
Gender: Male
Age : 25
Level 14 (27 / 30 xp)
Class : Multi-classer
Perks : Quest Designer II, Recommended Reward II, Class Designer, Public Unawareness, Target Perk Tree, Character Editor I, Target Unawareness, Additional Slot I
Perk Points : 4

I’m already level 14 and I have 4 perk points again. I feel like multiple steps quests are pretty good. But Matt’s quest counted less than Maria’s, otherwise I would already be level 15.

I can guess the pattern, the xp per level will increase again.

Anyway, what I want right now is to rest. I put on a youtube video and lay in my bed lazily, spending the rest of the day relaxing.

---

Author's Note : Thanks for reading this long chapter, next time I should cover the evening at Alex's house.