Chapter 5: Strength Is Expensive
The college gym was nearly empty.
Only fools trained their bodies now.
The rich used AI-assisted physical optimization. The cost: one hundred thousand hours.
Four months. Then renewal.
Middle-class families barely earned one thousand hours per month.
Kai lay beneath the bench press.
One. Two. Three.
Muscle burned. Time passed.
College-issued tasks were the only reason students survived. Complete tasks. Earn hours.
Kai earned just enough.