Vasilij was in the middle of a set, straining under a barbell, when Luke entered the gym. There was enough weight on the bar to bend it over his shoulders, and it looked like his head was about to explode from all the popping veins. Still, he completed another five repetitions before racking the weight and turning toward the door.

  "Ah, Luka," he said, his face cracking into a smile.

  A few other men were in there with him, and in the corner, a woman who looked like she could break Luke in two was doing deadlifts.

  "Hi, Vasilij. About the payment."

  "Ach," he said again, waving the topic away. "Come! We must train!"

  Luke spent an hour doing squats under Vasilij's watchful eye. He lost count of the number of sets and repetitions, and the world blurred until all he could think about was form. Don't let your knees go beyond the front of your shoes. Keep your chest up and your eyes on the floor in front of you. Go deep without bouncing at the bottom and drive power by using your hips. Just like Vasilij taught him.

  "Very good, Luka!" Vasilij said, clapping Luke on the back.

  "Thank you for the session," Luke said. "I still feel like I should pay you."

  "We not done yet."

  Luke groaned. "More squats?"

  "No, no, no," Vasilij said. "Must do other things, too. Squats are best, most fun, but you need more!"

  "What do you have in mind?" Luke asked.

  Vasilij gestured to the corner and began humping the air. "First, we make legs strong, like steel. Now hips for power!"

  "Uh, what?"

  Vasilij gestured to the corner again. "Too often overlooked by Americans. Explosive power, important. Now we do kettlebell swings. Come, come, I teach you. Then you bring kettlebell home. Yes? Practice all time."

  After another 45 minutes of Luke swinging a kettlebell between his legs and thrusting with his hips, he waddled out of the gym with a backpack on. It weighed far too much, but Vasilij wouldn't let him leave without a kettlebell to bring home. The stairs of torture took even longer than last time, and as he climbed that impossible mountain, Luke wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into. At least soon he'd be able to thrust his hips at monsters to kill them.

  System Message: Boon of Potential grants you an attribute point (+1 Strength).

  At least he'd gained another attribute point. He'd need to find time to run if he wanted to increase his Endurance. Also, he needed a way of gaining agility. That Bōjutsu class might be just what he was looking for, but it would have to wait a little.

  "Get this hunk of iron home, shower, food, hospital, in that order," he said to himself.

  Back home, he texted Tim and the girl he still only knew as the influencer, telling them that he was heading over in a little while, giving himself enough time to shower. While he waited for the elevator, he checked the news again, trying to follow what was happening. The world was changing fast, and it would only go faster, not slow down.

  Chicago PD, Integrated Division, Lost to Dungeon! Only One Member Still Alive!

  Mayor of Chicago's Killer Found, Detained.

  Sweden Calls on EU to Regulate Integrated in Europe.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  Integrated-on-human Violence Flares All Over The World.

  Terrorists in the Middle East Move to Seize Orb: Should the US strike?

  Luke opened the article about the mayor, but it was paywalled. He wondered if the DIA had found a scapegoat. At least his friends hadn't been taken by the cops. Someone would’ve told him. That was something.

  His phone buzzed with a new text from Ken. "I lived, bitch."

  There was an image attached, showing him in a hospital bed, looking ragged but happy, giving a thumbs-up.

  Luke replied with a thumbs-up emoji and wrote, "Knew you would. Take it easy now, and I'll see you in a dungeon soon. Also, FYI, I reported what happened with Mia to the DIA."

  Ken texted back. "Don't know the woman. Met her in the dungeon. See you soon."

  Well, that was it then. Time to head to the hospital. It was still early enough that Luke could spend quite a while healing people, starting with the influencer's brother. He really needed to get her name. A neck injury causing paralysis was no simple thing, and Luke wondered if he'd promised too much too soon. Nerve damage wouldn't be easy to heal, and a broken spine was advanced stuff.

  Tim, the influencer, a young man in a wheelchair, and what looked like two hangers-on waited near the Blue Entrance of the hospital, which was where Tim had instructed Luke to meet him. It was far from the emergency room, which meant Luke had to walk around the building rather than go straight in.

  He walked up to the group. "Hey."

  "Luke," Tim said. "Who are these people?"

  "Right, sorry, I should have mentioned it to you. This here is," he pointed at the influencer.

  "I'm Lilly," she said, looking at him like he was stupid for not knowing, "and her brother," Luke gestured to the guy in the wheelchair. Short, dark hair, sharp eyes, and a wide, muscular frame that now looked slumped, sitting in a wheelchair.

  "Aaron," he said, his voice tired and defeated, but with a hint of what Luke interpreted as excitement. Strange mix, but an expected one. Lilly smiled and glanced at her friends, who Luke now saw were holding up a camera and a mic boom.

  "You're not recording this, are you?" Luke asked.

  "No, not yet, Luke," Lilly said. "What's your last name, by the way?"

  "Just Luke is fine," Luke said, focusing on Tim. "I'm sorry, but do you have a room we can use somewhere?"

  "Of course."

  "I've promised to see what I can do for Aaron, Lilly's brother," Luke said.

  Tim glanced to Lilly and gave Luke a knowing smile. "Of course, you promised her that."

  "It isn't like that," Luke said. "A room?"

  Tim turned and walked off, not waiting for them to follow. "Come with me, gang."

  "I don't want to be recorded," Luke told Lilly. "Can't your friends wait outside?"

  "But I promised I'd make you famous. I have over a million followers."

  "I don't want to be famous," Luke said.

  "Why did you offer to help me, then?"

  Luke shrugged. "I thought it would be harder to make money back then, and I thought maybe I should market myself."

  "So, what's the problem?" Lilly asked. "You're doing a nice thing for my brother. With my help, you can reach so many people. You should start your own Insta, by the way. Do you have TikTok, at least?"

  Luke shuddered. "I won’t do dances."

  Lilly shook her head and waved one of her friends over to help push Aaron's wheelchair. "It's not just dances. You can really make a difference."

  Aaron snorted.

  "Shush, you," Lilly said, slapping Aaron's shoulder.

  "You know I can't feel that," Aaron said.

  "It's the thought that counts."

  "Can you tell me what happened?" Luke asked Aaron.

  "Can't really talk about it," Aaron said without elaborating further.

  "Military or something?" Luke asked.

  "Maybe," Aaron replied as they entered an examination room. It was empty. "I touched the orb. Sort of hoped becoming Integrated would make me whole again. It didn't."

  "That was stupid," Lilly said.

  "You're stupid," Aaron said, as if on reflex. "Well, it didn't work. The Tutorial Dungeon wasn't fun without my wheelchair. Read up on that place beforehand, so I knew dying would let me through. Had a guy haul me in front of a skeleton. It took the monster quite a while to kill me."

  Luke winced. "That doesn't sound like a good time."

  "It wasn't," Aaron said with a sigh. "At least there wasn't any pain, since the stupid skeleton wouldn't hit me on the neck or head. It just kept slicing into me with its rusted sword."

  "It's not just immobility, then. You can't feel anything at all."

  "Not below the neck, no," Aaron said.

  Tim closed the door to the examination room and stood by it, his arms folded and his foot tapping a little. "I was hoping to ask you some more questions about the Lifeweaver class."

  "Sure, let me just take a look at Aaron here."

  Luke pulled up a stool and sat on it, so he was level with Aaron. "You being Integrated might help since I can use your mana as well as my own to heal you. What class did you pick? Healer?"

  "No," Aaron said. "It's called Specialist."

  "I haven't seen that one," Luke said.

  "It's a rogue-type class, except it uses magic quite a bit."

  Luke nodded. "So you'll have a lot of mana, I guess. Well, let's get this over with then and see if we can make you walk again."

  "You really think you can?" Aaron asked.

  "I'm not going to make any promises," Luke said. "But I'll try."

  He put his hand on Aaron's shoulder. "Here I go."