When his eyes opened the following morning, Sigmarus crawled out of his cot and sat on the floor. He rustled his hair and yawned. Eyes still hazy from tiredness, he fumbled around with the drawer of his nightstand and eventually pulled out his last nutrition bar. Nibbling on the tasteless oat-based bar which crunched under his teeth like clumps of sawdust, he waited for his mind to gradually awaken.

By the time he finished choking down the nutrition bar, he decided it was time to do another exercise. A set of push-ups warmed his muscles and encouraged his barely-awake heart to pump into gear. A set of sit-ups quickened his blood flow and roused his muddled brain. The more exercises he finished, the more lively he felt.

Should’ve started exercising in the mornings sooner.

He couldn’t help thinking such a thing after the short workout. Steadily falling into this habit, he entered the shower and waited for his muscles to finish squirming during their healing process. Everything was proceeding normally.

[You have completed a rudimentary exercise regimen.]

[Strength +1, Endurance +1]

[Endurance has reached the stat limit for your current level.]

An unexpected screen materialized below the normal two. He blinked, pursed his lips, and rubbed his eyes. Then, he read it again. His right eye twitched. The words caused a small amount of irritation to boil up within him. There was a stat cap? This meant he couldn’t raise his stats limitlessly without raising his actual level. It made sense, but it annoyed him. The notification felt like a sudden slap in the face to all of his desperate efforts to improve himself this past week.

Sigmarus pinched the bridge of his nose. Yesterday, breaking one of the shackles which had always held him back in his younger years had filled him with hope and expectation. Now, another hurdle appeared in front of him. Of course, raising his actual level was something he already needed to do, but this thing which was supposed to help him spread his wings was now shackling him? He found it ironic in a way.

How do I even increase my level now?

Feeling a little irritated by the unexpected obstacle, he exited the bathroom. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to worry about it. He hurriedly threw on a simple t-shirt and a pair of ragged cargo pants. Both of which fit quite snugly due to his enlarged muscles. Compared to his previous self which could have been compared to a skin and bones zombie, his current lean muscle straightened his posture with a passive confidence. Briefly, he smiled at the noticeable change to his physique.

He then walked over and grabbed his wrist-com and water thermos before walking out the door. Unlike most days, the hallway was crowded with people walking in the same direction. Most of them kept their distance from others and kept their eyes peeled as they watched their fellow muskrats with wary gazes.

Already accustomed to such a phenomenon, Sigmarus sauntered down the hallway along with the crowd toward the stairway leading to the fifth floor. Upon reaching the fourth floor, he saw the end of a line of people. Each of them stood with their backs to the wall while maintaining at least a meter or two of distance from the people in front and behind them.

Hopefully nothing happens today, Sigmarus thought while casually taking his place at the back of the line. Other tenants of this building continually joined behind him, gradually extending the line downstairs out of sight.

Eventually, he reached the fifth floor. Inside, the line split off into seven lines. Each one led to a separate window similar to the one at the gym counter. Normally, only one of those windows would be manned for residents to purchase nutrition bars or filtered water. Today, however, was the first day of the month, the day for distribution of iodide pills.

The people at the front of the lines kept looking over their shoulders as they received their monthly allowance of pills. Malnourished people with pale or discolored skin desperately clutched their pills in feeble hands while praying nobody would steal from them. For the moment, though, they were safe. No one would do anything up here on the supervised fifth floor which could protect the people through the use of small security cameras connected to emission turrets.

Back when he lived on the upper floors, Sigmarus never saw such tools used to control people. It had been a huge shock to him seven years ago when someone new to this process tried to steal his iodide pill, only to fall to the ground a second later with a hole in his skull leaking scorched brain matter. Those invisible beams that could pierce skin and bone to incinerate flesh and organs immediately left an indelible impression on both him and others who had never seen the turrets in action.

Recalling such a horrific memory formed butterflies in his stomach. His face paled, and he couldn’t help gagging a little before forcing down the mental image which recurred with vivid detail every time he entered this floor.

Amidst the small mental turmoil, a surprised voice spoke to him.

“Eh? If it isn’t Grayson. Didn’t know you lived in this building.”

Turning his head slightly, he saw another foundation melder who recently joined the same company as him. He was wearing his meld-suit, which was a sure-fire way to draw the attention of pill thieves. After all, foundation melder was one of the few professions in the underground which could allow people to afford an extra iodide pill or two on top of their normal free one. The guy would probably receive a huge shock later since the suit could normally deter trouble.

They had only met a handful of times, but Sigmarus recognized the jagged scar stretching over the man’s hazy and useless left eye. Unable to recall the young man’s name, he asked, “You are?”

The young man chuckled awkwardly before reintroducing himself. “My name is Tahm. We met a couple times at work.”

“Ah, right,” Sigmarus mumbled, though he couldn’t help feeling annoyed by the greedy gazes which suddenly shifted over to him from people who had been eyeing Tahm. Luckily, most of the gazes contained hesitancy after they noticed his muscles which could now easily compare to an experienced gang member. If he hadn’t built up his muscle over the last few days, ending up as a target thanks to this guy’s ignorance would have been unavoidable.

“It’s my first time living in a residential area. Sure is nice being off the streets, right?”

“Kinda.”

“Soon, I might even be able to climb.”

Sigmarus narrowed his eyes. Climbing? Yeah, right. That would never happen. Even as a former ‘bird’ of the Middle Sectors with newly improved capabilities, he wouldn’t be allowed back above the foundations with his Sv count, and his was probably one of the lowest among the muskrats. However, he didn’t feel like smashing this guy’s hopes, so he simply said, “Maybe.”

“Don’t you want to climb too, Grayson?”

“No.”

It was the honest truth. The upstairs didn’t have anything he wanted. Only more shackles.

“Ah… uhm… well…” Tahm stammered for a moment while thinking of something to say. Eventually, he gave up and said, “I don’t have a lot of friends, so I hope we can look after each other in the future since we live in the same building.”

Sigmarus looked down on the shorter man with complicated feelings. He still felt annoyed by the shifty gazes of the people around him, but he also empathized with the lonely tone of the man’s voice. As such, he simply nodded softly and replied, “Be careful on your way down.”

Tahm raised a brow, totally oblivious to the danger he would face in a few minutes. Since he couldn’t figure out why someone would tell him to be careful walking down some stairs, he simply said, “Thanks, I guess. See you later.”

“Bye.”

With that, the guy left the room.

Not even bothering to watch the guy leave, Sigmarus sighed inwardly and stepped forward in the line which had moved forward a little. Only a minute or so passed before he vaguely heard a commotion coming from beyond the stairwell door. The young man would probably learn his lesson after today.

Eventually, Sigmarus arrived at the counter, placed his thermos in the window gap, and said, “Three pills, fifteen nutrition bars, and a water refill, please.”