Looking around, he felt nervous in his heart. There were only a few people on the floor doing workouts. A big white dude who was on the bench repping who knows how many pounds. A strong black dude who held two long ropes in his hand and whacked them on the ground. And an older woman who walked on the treadmill. The building seemed to be split up into different areas, one side was the weight lifting, another was the free weight area, the cardio area was beside the weight lifting, and two rooms in the back were hidden behind a wall, making Jake unable to see them.

With his research, he knew the basics of what to do. Start with a little bit of cardio, and then lift weights. Although it was very vague, he at least had a start on what to do. Getting on the treadmill, he walked slowly, he used this opportunity to look around the area. Ever since he had gained the Omniscient Eye he had never really stopped activating it. It seemed to him that the pressure it once had when he had it activated was slowly dissipating.

After a few minutes on the treadmill, Jake was already exhausted. After that, he started messing with the different exercise machines. Each one was a little hard to understand, but he slowly got used to it. Soon though he hit a wall. He sat at a machine and was thoroughly confused. He had no idea what to do.

"Yo, bro." Jake didn't wanna turn around as he heard the voice from behind him. He had of course already seen the big dude approaching him, but Jake didn't wanna make eye contact with him, so he only tried to look straight the whole time. Slowly turning his head, he nervously answered, "Y-yea?" Jake was ashamed that he might have to give up the machine for the big guy.

"You new here?" The big guy had a heavy voice, which made Jake quiver. Jake only nodded, and reflectively gave him a lot of respect, "Yes sir." The big guy nodded and smiled, "Welcome to the Black Iron gym! I am Chad, since you look new to this, if you need any help don't hesitate to ask. The gym is all about supporting one another!"

Jake froze in confusion as he unconsciously grabbed Chad's hand which was already out. "Oh, thank you." He nodded his head as he shook his massive hand. It felt like he was a baby compared to Chad. "Then, can I be honest? I have no idea what I should be doing. I wanna be as efficient as possible, but I have no idea what to do."

Jake felt comfortable speaking to Chad as if he was talking to a familiar uncle. Adding on the fact that he would be willing to lay down his pride to get stronger, made Jake want to learn as much as possible. Seeing his openness, Chad smiled. "Sure thing, what do you wanna gain? Strength, bodybuilding, a good physique?" Chad needed to know the final goal before he could ascertain Jake's workout plan.

After a moment of thinking, Jake's face became red as he stuttered quietly. "What did you say, bro?" Chad lifted an eyebrow as he couldn't hear Jake. "Mumble mumble mumble." Jake muttered something again, and Chad sighed, "No matter what your goals are, this is a safe place for you, no need to be shy." Finally, Jake gritted his teeth and said, "I wanna have a physique that can be used for sword fighting."

Holding his mouth, Jake realized he projected his voice way too much. The few other gym goers all looked over, before going back to their exercises. Chad raised an eyebrow before having a slight smile, "Haha, now that's a goal if I've ever heard one!" Slapping Jake's shoulder, Jake felt his whole body tremble.

"Alright, I don't know why you wanna learn sword fighting, but if you wanna get a body fit for it, I recommend a lean but muscular build." Chad thought for a moment before telling him which machines to hit today. "Will you be here tomorrow morning?" Chad looked down at Jake who was already starting Chad's workout.

Breathing heavily, Jake nodded, "Yeah, I got a free trial for a week, so I will be coming around in the mornings to train." hearing this, Chad smiled, "Alright then, make sure you come at the same time tomorrow cause I wanna meet you again tomorrow." Jake was surprised but nodded enthusiastically. He already felt that Chad was a great guy, and this led his impression of him to rise even more. After which, he said bye to Jake and even walked around and said bye to everyone else.

Jake was now in the gym alone once again. However, a new fervor stirred his heart. He not only had a whole new thought-out plan for Chad to follow, but he also had a silent supporter. Listening to his music, Jake happily finished up his exercises.

An hour passed, and Jake sat in the locker room exhausted. He completed everything that Chad had told him to and felt satisfied with his workout. Cleaning himself up, he left the gym. It was still early in the morning, even before school had started. He still hadn't felt the effects of the stat multiplier, but then again, it might take a couple of hours for him to notice.

He first checked the compass to see if Joana moved, and it seemed to be in the same spot. Sighing in relief, he went to the grocery store. He saw a lot of stuff on dieting to help with working out, so Jake decided to check things out. Chad also mentioned dieting as in his words, "80% of working out is the dieting part, if you don't have a good diet, your gains will result in nothing."

This prompted Jake to make sure he ate some good healthy stuff. It wasn't that heartbreaking for Jake, even though he was a big guy. Jake just ends up eating whatever is in the pantry. With this, however, he will have to learn to cook, which does make Jake anxious. To combat this, Jake decided to start with easy stuff like chicken, rice, tuna, etc.

Another 45 minutes passed as Jake found all that he was looking for. With his gas station job, he has saved up a lot of money, and in the future, Jake isn't too worried about not having enough money. If he went to a casino, it would be an instant jackpot.

Checking on the compass, Jake walked back home. His parents were probably gone by now, which allowed him to be home and practice some cooking. He planned to practice cooking until he felt ready enough to start his daily quest, or until the compass moved. With everything set up at home, it was time to start experimenting!