Chapter 42

Ryker

Staring down at the rack of dumbbells, I thought back to all the times I used the weights my mother had gotten me for my 13th birthday to let off some steam after having a bad day. By the time I went off to college, I had worn the grooved handles smooth. Needless to say, I was no stranger to a good lift and was looking forward to seeing what I could do with my newly awakened body.

Since I had woken up after my loss of control, I had gone from feeling like death warmed over to just about perfect again. I thought to myself, “I wonder what my health is at now?” A moment later, in the top left corner of my vision, three bars appeared stacked atop one another. They were semi-transparent until I focused on them, then they became clear to read.

A tiny version of Ruby appeared next to the bars and pointed at the top bar and explained, “Going forward these bars should help you be able to see what your health, stamina, and mana levels are at without needing to stop what you’re doing and access your full menu. The top bar will be colored red to indicate your current health. The second will be colored green and indicate your stamina. The last bar will be a blue color to show how much mana you have access to. Roughly 4 minutes ago, your body finished healing your injuries, so your health bar is now full. Your stamina and mana bars will continue to recover as long as you are not using those resources. You have half of your stamina and 1 mana point available for use.”

The feeling of being whole again was a big relief, but the mana situation was still confusing, so I asked, “Ruby why is my mana bottomed out like that?”

Ruby’s whole body bobbed in the air where it floated, and she answered, “Well, the amount of damage you sustained was more than your healing ability could manage to recover with the available mana you had. Your ability is a passive one, meaning you have no control over when it activates. If you sustain any damage, your ability will automatically begin burning through your mana till it brings you back to full health. So you will remain at zero mana till you are back to full because the ability is using each generated point of mana as your body makes it.

I continued to look over the assorted weights and let out a frustrated sigh before I said, “There is so much I still don’t understand, and I feel like every answer I get just leads to 20 new questions. I’m sick of talking, I need to work.

I reached down and gripped a 25-pound dumbbell and stepped to an empty space next to the rack. I looked ahead and asked Red, “Will you please get me a mirror so I can watch my form?”

An instant later, I was looking into my own reflection. I widened my feet and decided I would start off nice and slow with 15 simple curls. The moment I started to lift my arm, I knew something wasn’t right. The weight must have been mislabeled or something because it felt like I was curling one of the little pink 2 lb mommy and me weights.

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I shook my head and walked over to the rack and put down the weight. I grabbed another 25-pounder, and it felt the same. So I exchanged it for a 30-pound weight, and I could barely tell the difference. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the mirror with a 55-pound weight in each hand. I slowly raised the weight from my waist to my chest one at a time and made sure to squeeze my biceps at the top of each curl. Then I slowly lowered the weight back down. Even with these big bulky weights, I didn’t feel like I was anywhere near my limit, and before I knew it, my counter was up to 50 repetitions.

I put down the weights and examined the way my arms felt. They were a little tighter than before but nothing like they should have been from weights like that. My stamina had stopped rising and had dipped a couple of points, but that was to be expected. So I consulted the oracle in my head, “Ruby what is going on with these weights? I think y’all fudged this up when you tried to replicate a human gym.”

Ruby's voice rang out in my head, “I assure you, Ryker, no mistake has been made. You have to remember your strength has more than doubled since you were brought here. You are not the same person you were before the integration. In the gym, your strength will allow you to push yourself harder, your endurance will let you go longer, and your agility will increase your control over your body's movements.”

As I tried to wrap my mind around the idea that I was twice again as strong as I once was, I had a thought, “Ruby, is there any way you can increase the difficulty of the exercises so that they feel normal to me? Adjusting to feeling like a superhero is disorienting.”

Ruby let out a contemplative hum as she considered, then answered, “There are a few options that I can pick from to increase the difficulty of your workouts, but most will take some preparation. For now, go pick up the 25-pound dumbbell and try to curl it again.”

I shrugged my shoulders before walking to the weight rack and reached down to grab the weight but when I tried to lift it, the dumbbell wouldn’t budge. I looked down at the simple weight in confusion and tried again but this time with two hands. I strained to lift it with both arms shaking and finally was able to get it off the rack but nearly face planted. I had to flex both of my legs hard to stay upright, and my back was straining to prevent me from doubling over. I thought to Ruby, “What the hell is going on!”

I finally released my grip on the weight and braced for the thunderous impact I knew was coming. Then the weight hit the ground and barely made a dent in the padded floor, just like a 25-pound weight should. I looked down at the weight as if it was some sort of futuristic techno wizardry but it was simply a hunk of metal.

Ruby's smiling face appeared before me and said, “Is that too much weight for you honey? I would hate for you to hurt yourself on that giant dumbbell.”

I gave Ruby an unamused look and said, “Ha… ha… very funny. Now if you’re done mocking me what in the world did you do?”

She thrust out her bottom lip and blew out her cheeks in a pout before saying, “You're no fun! Fine. One perk of having an A.I. interfaced with your nervous system is that you have me directly plugged into your nano suit. For simplicity's sake, think of your suit as a muscle that I can contract in any direction I wish. By doing so, I can perfectly predict your movements via the electrical impulses that your brain is sending to your muscles and apply opposing forces on that specific muscle group to increase your workload down to the most minute amount.”

My brows rose, and a feeling of dread settled over me. The images of all the times I rolled my eyes or was dismissive of Ruby's advances crossed my mind, and a cold sweat rolled down my back, and I heard Ruby's breathy voice whisper in my ear, “I hope you enjoyed your vacation love…I’m going to make you strong.”