Wednesday March 8th, 2023
It was 5am Wednesday morning when Alex woke up to his alarm. His mornings were becoming fairly routine at this point as he washed up and had cereal for breakfast. As Alex walked downstairs to the gym he found that Jensen was currently using a yoga mat and going through various yoga poses.
“Good morning Jensen,” said Alex. “It looks like your study of yoga has progressed quite quickly.”
“Morning Alex,” Jensen replied. “It turns out that Yoga is pretty straight-forward. After researching online for a while, I also interfaced with Richard and his database has a wealth of knowledge on yoga as well. After that, it was just a matter of practicing enough to be able to help others. It should be no problem at this point.”
“That’s great! When you get a chance, you can log into the FitTech software at reception and create a few class offerings for yourself and your other identities when either Sydney or myself is working.” Alex decided. “Are you ready for your first day of work?”
“Of course,” Jensen responded confidently. “I have memorized all of the product information, membership pricing, and local LA trivia to better interact with customers.”
‘Zara, please make a set of keys for Jensen so he can open and close the gym,’ Alex asks the system AI guide.
Immediately after a set of store keys appears in Jensen’s hands.
“Those are the store keys,” Alex explains. “You’ll be in charge of locking and unlocking the doors from now on. As today is your first day, I’ll stick around at least for the morning shift to make sure everything goes well. If there aren’t any problems, I’ll leave you on your own for the night shift when you transform into Rose.”
“You got it boss!” Jensen replied, excited to show Alex his value. “Leave it to me, you can just relax.”
Alex nodded in acquiescence. He went upstairs to grab his laptop and took his observation chair up against the wall behind the reception desk where he had a good view of the whole gym.
Jensen was excited to start his first day as the General Manager of FitTech. As he opened the gym at 6am, he made sure everything was in order and ready for the first customers. The gym was quiet at this hour, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Within the hour, the first customers started trickling in.
“Good morning, welcome to FitTech,” Jensen said to the first customer, a young woman who looked new to the gym. “Is this your first time here?”
“Yes, it is,” the woman replied, looking around the gym with interest. “I heard good things about this place and wanted to check it out.”
“Well, you’ve come to the right place,” Jensen said with a smile. “We have state-of-the-art equipment and a knowledgeable AI Fitness Instructor named Richard to help you reach your fitness goals. Can I answer any questions for you?”
The woman nodded and proceeded to ask Jensen about the the personal training options, if any classes were available, and the various machines available. Jensen was able to answer all of her questions and even recommended the new yoga classes and training sessions that would be best suited for her.
As more customers started to arrive, Jensen made sure to greet each one and answer any questions they had. He also took the time to ask them about their fitness goals and offered helpful tips and advice.
During the quieter moments, Jensen sat at the reception desk and checked the gym’s social media accounts. He responded to comments and questions, posted updates about the gym’s offerings, and even shared some inspiring quotes and fitness tips. He knew that social media was an important part of building the gym’s brand and he was determined to do it well.
As the morning went on, Alex kept an eye on Jensen’s work and was happy with his work so far. At this point, Alex was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face walk through the doors. It was Sarah, the woman who had been rehabilitating a leg injury and had visited the gym a few times before. She walked over to Alex with a smile.
“Good morning, Alex,” Sarah said. She looked over and saw a tall man with a ‘Jensen’ name tag. “It’s good to see you. Who’s the new guy?”
“It’s good to see you too,” Alex replied. “This is Jensen, I just hired him as a general manager for the gym. Today is his first day in training. You seem to be walking a lot easier today, how’s the leg recovery going?”
“It’s much better, thank you,” Sarah said. “I’ve been doing the exercises Richard showed me and they’ve been helping a lot. I was browsing through the FitTech app this morning when I saw you were going to open up yoga classes and was hoping to be able to sign up but didn’t know how. Could you show me?”
“I can help you with that!” Jensen said. “All you need to do is to go into the membership management section of the app, or you can use the kiosk here at the desk. In fact, I’m a certified yoga instructor myself. I can recommend a few classes for you, or if you’d like, we can schedule a private session to go over some specific rehabilitative poses that will be specifically helpful for your leg.”
Sarah was thrilled with the offer and they scheduled a private session for later in the week.
As the morning turned into afternoon, Jensen was feeling confident and in control. He had answered countless questions, helped customers with their workouts, signed up plenty of new customers for gym memberships, and sold a good amount of fitness products. He was excited to see what the evening shift would bring when he shifted into his Rose persona.
Alex had felt comfortable with Jensen’s work and took an hour from noon to 1 to have a lunch break and relax. When he came back downstairs and returned to the reception area he asked Jensen. “So, how do you feel about your first shift?”
It was great,” Jensen said with a smile. “I feel like I was able to help a lot of people and make a real impact. I’m looking forward to the evening shift.”
“That’s great to hear,” Alex said. “I’ll stay down here for the shift change before Rose arrives,” He says as he winks.
“I feel confident enough to let you run the shop on your own tonight as a trial run. I’ll come spend some time to work out myself for a while but otherwise I’ll hang out upstairs. If there are emergencies in the future that you can’t handle, you can either find me upstairs or call my cell phone. Also, remember to lock up at the end of the night.”
2pm rolled around and Alex waved off Jensen as he left the store and within two minutes Rose arrived wearing a completely different FitTech outfit with her ‘Rose’ name tag on.
“Good afternoon, Rose,” Alex greeted her. “Are you ready for your shift?”
“Hi, Alex,” Rose greeted him with a pleasant smile. “I can’t wait. You can leave this to me and go relax.” She practically pushes Alex up the stairs and assures him there will be no issues.
As Alex headed upstairs to the residence, he couldn’t help but feel relieved about how smoothly Jensen’s first shift had gone. He was confident that Rose would continue the trend, and he could finally take a much-needed break. After working so many hours in a short span of time he had unknowingly worked up a lot of tension.
He spent the next few hours lounging on the couch reading, catching up on some TV shows, and browsing the internet. He saw a few social media posts on FitTech talking about the new General Managers, Jensen and Rose and the reception was generally pretty positive. The quiet of the residence was a welcome change from the bustling gym downstairs.
At 4 pm, Alex made his way back downstairs to the gym to start his workout. As he entered, he was greeted by the sight of Rose helping a customer with a question about the gym’s weightlifting equipment. She had a friendly smile on her face and was providing the customer with all the information he needed. Alex finally felt the weight of tension relax a bit as Rose truly had everything well in hand without needing him there.
After catching up with Rose and making sure everything was running smoothly, Alex headed over to the AI fitness instructor Richard to start his workout. Alex was excited to try out the [VR Martial Arts Fitness Simulator – Rare] that he had drawn yesterday. He had noticed that none of the customers had used it this morning, probably because they were unsure about it.
After going through some stretches and cardio, Alex made his way over to the functional zone and put on the simulator goggles. Once he pressed the power button on the side of the goggles, Alex was transported to a new world filled with clean air and beautiful greenery everywhere. Looking at his immediate surroundings, he appeared to be standing on an arena of polished stone. The whole scene was like something out of a wuxia novel.
It was at this point that a holographic screen appeared in front of Alex. He first had to create his personal profile that would track his progress during future sessions. The next step was to choose a martial arts style to focus on. Alex wasn’t super knowledgeable about these things so he decided to start with boxing as he’d at least seen boxing matches on TV before.
An hour flew by before Alex knew it and he was wholly impressed with the Martial Arts Simulator. It progressed in a very logical way. Since he was a beginner, it had him start by practicing with very simple movements and punches, explaining to him what he was doing and why. It would then simulate an opponent and have him use those same movements and punches.
The simulator would help Alex correct mistakes in his form, and when his mistakes led to his opponent connecting a punch, he would actually feel pain where the hit landed, albeit at an incredibly toned down level. After becoming proficient with the movements, the simulator would move on to the next topic and repeat the process before combining the new knowledge with the old knowledge. It was incredibly systematic and Alex could feel himself learning and developing muscle memory.
When Alex finally took off the goggles, he realized that a crowd of customers seemed to be watching him. Some people even had their phones out and were making videos.
“Hey Alex,” said one of the customers who recognized him as the boss of the gym. “What is going on with those goggles just now?”
Realizing why he’d been surrounded, Alex proceeded to explain the [VR Martial Arts Fitness Simulator – Rare] and how it worked. He explained what it was and how it worked and also told him it was rare technology and he was only able to get one for the gym at this point but hoped he’d be able to get more in the future. The charging stand cleaned the goggles so they’d be ready for the next person to use in about a minute.
The group dispersed after they figured out what was going on and Alex finished up his workout with some stretching using the foam roller, Alex looked over his gains for the afternoon:
Strength +35%
Dexterity +36%
Constitution +42%
Intelligence +10%
It turned out that while sparring with an opponent and trying to think and react on the spot, it had actually helped Alex develop his intelligence a bit which he felt was a great bonus. Thinking ‘Status Screen,’ Alex took a look at his updated ability scores after his workout.
[Status Screen]Name: Alex
Race: Human
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Occupation: Interdimensional Store Owner
Store Level: 2(10/200 experience)
Personal Funds: $6,525.10
Company Funds: $58.90
Unlocked Product Lines: Fitness and Sports
[Ability Score]Strength: 4 (59% + 35% = 94%) [Measuring physical power]
Dexterity: 3(4) (89% +36% = Level up! 25%) [Measuring agility]
Constitution: 4(5) (78% + 42% = Level up! 20% ) [Measuring endurance and health]
Intelligence: 5 (21% + 10% = 31%) [Measuring reasoning and memory]
Wisdom: 4 (26%) [Measuring perception and insight]
Charisma: 5 (82%) [Measuring force of personality]
Alex quickly went through some of the boxing movements he’d practiced earlier and he really did feel like his movements seemed a bit easier to perform and were more crisp. Not by a large margin, but it was still noticeable to him. He also felt like he had a bit more energy even though he’d just had a rigorous 2 hour workout session.
Seeing that Rose had everything well in hand he headed upstairs and took a quick shower. The evening was quiet, and Alex enjoyed the peace and quiet as he ate his meal and watched a movie. He knew that Rose was down there, handling everything with ease. He was glad to have her on his team.
As the night wore on, Alex checked his watch and realized it was almost 10 pm. He quickly finished his meal, cleaned up, and headed back downstairs to the gym. As he arrived, he saw Rose locking up the front door.
“Hey, Alex,” she greeted him. “How was your workout?”
“It was great,” Alex replied, smiling. “How was your shift?”
“It was good,” Rose said, her smile widening. “No issues to report, and everyone seemed happy with the gym’s offerings. Everyone was so excited to see all of the new machines in the gym. It was a great first shift.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Alex said, patting her on the back. “You did a fantastic job. I’m glad that I can count on you in the future to share the workload.”
Rose beamed with pride, and Alex couldn’t help but feel happy for her. He knew that she was going to be an asset to the gym and couldn’t wait to see what they would accomplish in the future.
Rose locked up the gym at 10pm and headed back to one of the classrooms and began to practice what looked like martial arts of some sort and Alex decided to see how the store performed for the day. ‘Zara, show me the revenue today broken up into categories and then a grand total.’
[Membership Revenue(plus classes) = $7,360.00] [Supplements Revenue = $475.00] [Sports Clothing Revenue = $750.00] [Fitness Accessories Revenue = $320.00] [Total Revenue = $8,905.00] [Personal Funds: $6,525.10 + $1,335.75(15% at Store Level:2) = $7,415.60] [Company Funds: $58.90 + $8, 014.50 = $7,569.25]Alex was excited to see that his personal funds percentage had raised to 15% at level 2 from 10% at level 1. He decided to spend $7,500.00 in company funds to purchase [VR Martial Arts Fitness Simulator – Rare] x3 and had Zara place them in the functional zone next to the other simulator so he now owned 4 of them. He was sure it would be popular with in the future. This brought his company funds back down to $69.25 but he felt it was well worth it.
With business taken care of, Alex headed upstairs and relaxed a bit before washing up and heading to bed, putting another successful day behind him.
