Immortality Starts With Selling Pills

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: The Gym

The next day, Derrick did not waste a single second, and after a light breakfast of a nutritional shake, he went out to check out all the Gyms he had found online.

Even though he could practically see every corner of the place without checking it out, for someone like Derrick it did not sit right with him if he did not go there and check it out by himself and ask the questions he had face-to-face with the manager of the place.

The first few places he encountered were decent in terms of infrastructure, but the atmosphere there was lacking.

People were walking around like they were zombies.

They did not care if someone else needed the equipment or not; they would just keep sitting there with weight on their laps for a few minutes, just doing nothing.

Each place had a problem of its own.

Just when it seemed like he would not find a Gym he liked, Derrick came across the next name on the list.

This Gym had the most ratings online. Not all of them were good, but the bad ones either complained about how strict the trainers of the place were or how demonic the owner was.

Instructors pushing you to get better... isn’t that a good thing? Derrick could not understand what they were thinking and went to check out the place himself.

It was not even that far from his house.

The gym was three blocks from home, wedged between a noodle shop and another shop that sold something that smelled vaguely like industrial solvent.

The sign out front had lost half its neon letters, which left it reading Train Hore Fitness.

Pause...

Derrick was halfway through the door when he walked back out and reread the name of the place.

Oh, it’s Training Horse Fitness. That makes sense. After reading it twice, he finally stepped in through the front glass doors that parted on their own, sensing his presence.

The receptionist looked up the moment the door opened, and whatever boredom had been sitting on her face was pushed back, replaced by intense enthusiasm.

”Well, hello there.” She leant forward on the counter, chin propped on one hand, and checked him out intently from head to toe. ”New member? Because I would absolutely remember swiping your card through my machine.”

”First time”, Derrick said, trying his best to not show a reaction to her not-so-subtle flirting. ”What is the price of the membership?”

”We have yearly, semi, quarterly and monthly memberships. Each one ranging from 50,000 to 30,000 to 18,000. And lastly, 8,000 for monthly.” She didn’t move to actually process the ID. She looked at his name on the card before playfully biting it while keeping her gaze fixed on him. ”If you want to try it out for a day. It will be 200 Social Credits.”

”Can you tell me what you aim to get out of your time here? You already have a well-defined body, and I can already assume how great it is in performance.” Since he was wearing a slim-fit T-shirt, Derrick’s muscles were outlined perfectly for her to gawk at.

The receptionists instantly realised how unprofessional her words sounded and immediately started making some excuses. ”Of course, I am asking this so I can get an idea of how long it will take you to settle here. This whole gym is a family, and we look out for each other.”

”I am actually just planning to work out and test my limits. And I will try the place out for a day. I need to see if the gym works for me or not first.” Derrick said, pleasant and entirely unbothered, sliding his payment through without a flicker of interest in the flirting.

He’d spent a previous lifetime fielding exactly this kind of attention at book signings from people who wanted a piece of the persona rather than the person, and he’d gotten very, very good at being warm and completely closed at the same time.

”Two hundred, was it?” Derrick paid through his phone, ignoring how she tried to brush her hand against his while passing the ID card back.

She sighed theatrically, tapped the payment through, and slid a small keycard across the counter. ”Fine, be boring.”

She glanced at the duffle bag hanging from his shoulder and pointed towards the glass doors on the right side. ”The locker room’s through the back. If you need help with ’anything’ back there, just call me; I will be there to assist you.”

She added the last part with a suggestive wink while leaning over the counter to reveal her cleavage, however small it may have been.

This place is... interesting, Derrick thought, already walking through the door, ignoring the jealous look he was getting from the trainers and the members alike. Eight Thousand Social Credits are a lot compared to the other gyms, but let’s see if they are worth it or not.

The locker room was empty this early in the afternoon.

He ducked into a changing stall and pulled one of the remaining pills from the inventory.

Here goes nothing.

He swallowed it dry.

The taste was bitter and metallic, gone in seconds, and for a moment nothing happened at all. Unlike before, there was no instantaneous effect.

Is it because my body is getting used to the effects of the pill?

Boom!

Just as the thought passed through his mind, warmth bloomed inside his stomach and spread out as if a small explosion had gone off in his body.

Derrick could feel his body heating up. His heartbeat picked up. His vision sharpened at the edges.

Time to get in a workout.

Instead of rushing to the weight floor like an idiot. He went for a warm-up on the treadmill and the stepping machine. His aim was clear: test out the limits of his body.

His slow jog turned into a light sprint.

Even when he felt like he could run like a horse, Derrick did not increase the speed immediately. Sweat was already pouring around his temples, not because of the intensity of the training but because the pill had increased his body temperature by a lot.

”Is it him?” In the distance, unknown to Derrick, several pairs of eyes were watching him.