No one was allowed to use any of their abilities, so there were no flashy moves when the signal was given. However, everyone sprinted off at full speed as if they could keep that pace up for an hour.
Back and forth, the forest had a sheer expanse of 30 kilometers, depending on which route they'd take. No one had any idea as to what route would be the shortest, and even then, dangerous beasts roamed around the forest so encountering one would be risky.
After all, they couldn't fend them off using any abilities. They'd have to deal with the monsters bare-handed, and if they released a sliver of their aura or energy, the other Managers would immediately notice it, and that Disciple would be disqualified right away.
Obviously, the Disciples weren't the only ones who were in an intense competition. The Managers were competing as well. If they could disqualify one Disciple that is not theirs, then they'd accept it as their victory. That's why they were very zealous at being on the lookout for Disciples who used an ability.
A disqualification would have the same punishment as the Disciples who couldn't finish the challenge. Aside from not getting a single bite for dinner, they'd have to repeat the entire course before they could rest.
Now, one would think that traveling 30 kilometers in one and a half hours would be insane. However, it should be mentioned that the Disciples were one of the best humans to ever exist in their world, both in their superpower and peak human strength.
This distance is as basic as it could get, and they could even do it with their eyes closed. Hence the reason why there were monsters roaming in the forest, was just to give them a little bit of difficulty to impede their progress.
Ultimately, this challenge is just another way to prove how outstanding the Managers' Disciples were. If any, this was just a flex to the other Managers to see who's got the best Disciples.
Jonathan Ainsworth, Midoriyama Satoshi, and Yun Zhe were the Disciples that Bucky Barnes had. While the others easily had twice as much, he knew that he had picked the strongest of the bunch. The world had many talents, but these three were the youngest and most powerful of them all.
Jonathan Ainsworth is the best beast tamer there was until Satoshi came into the picture. Bucky Barnes couldn't believe that another beast-tamer prodigy would appear in Universe 1, but here he was, with both of them as his disciples.
As for Yun Zhe, his superpower paired really well with his innate fighting skill. Not to mention that he could summon interdimensional portals and is also a genius when it came to beast taming.
Jonathan and Yun Zhe were the top two Disciples of Bucky Barnes. And then Midoriyama Satoshi came to the mix and he easily bested the two of them. He was a good mix of the two, but his superpower wasn't translated that much. After all, not one Manager could decipher the real superpower that Satoshi had.
It was one of the many mysteries that was happening on Universe 1.
Officially, Bucky Barnes's Disciples haven't started the challenge yet, so they decided to eat some barbecue. It wasn't specified that they couldn't eat while they were waiting, so they took the opportunity and started stuffing themselves up.
No one stopped them though, since what they were doing would only put them at a disadvantage. If they were to run with a full stomach, they'd be out of breath in a snap of a finger.
Because of that, the Managers even started encouraging them to eat. They even fed them.
Hermione Ranger and Hera Aphrodite took a liking to the three Disciples. They were especially attached to Satoshi for some reason.
"Here, eat more, waghh~ he's so cute!" Hera squealed as she fed Satoshi herself.
Slightly filled with envy, Hermione also fed Satoshi as well. "Here you go, aahhhh~," She cooed.
While Jonathan and Yun Zhe enjoyed eating their meal, Satoshi was being hogged by the two Managers, much to their surprise. Well, they didn't fill jealous though since Satoshi clearly wasn't eating in peace.
Moreover, Satoshi was eating more than he could handle. The two of them couldn't help but chuckle as they saw Satoshi helplessly eating as he was spoonfed by the two Managers.
"Bucky Barnes." Hermione Ranger suddenly called out, causing Bucky Barnes to flinch as he turned around. He was so focused on monitoring the other Disciples that he didn't even find the time to look back at his own Disciples.
"Yes?" He simply responded. This was the first time Hermione called out to him, that's why it surprised him in an unexpected manner.
"You didn't tell us that you have a cute Disciple with you. Can I take him under my wing?" Hermione directly asked, causing Hera to take a step back as she clung to Satoshi.
"What are you talking about? I should be the one who'd take him under my wing. Don't be ridiculous, Hermione." Hera spoke up, clinging tightly to Satoshi, so much so that he could hardly breathe.
"He hasn't even shown you his true colors yet, and you already like him." Bucky Barnes smiled. A moment later, he turned around to continue monitoring the other Disciples who were making their way through the forest.
·?θm Hera and Hermione continued to pester Bucky Barnes for the entirety of thirty minutes.
"Ey, Jonathan," Yun Zhe uttered as their thirty minutes continued to run out. "I just realized something."
Ever since they arrived at this dimension, this was the first time that Yun Zhe talked to him. He immediately swallowed the food in his mouth, almost choking.
"What is it? Ah~ you just realized that Hera and Hermione are total lookers, right?" He joked out of nowhere, causing Yun Zhe to elbow him right on the diaphragm.
"No, stupid, I mean... we only have an hour right, to clear the entire forest?" Yun Zhe continued.
"What of it?"
"I mean... thirty kilometers? In one hour? Isn't that ridiculous? I could do that on a clear path, but there are trees around so we have to weave around them. Also, we have to steer clear of dangerous beasts." Yun Zhe stated.
"Yeah, so what? We don't have to go around the trees, you know, we could just travel in a straight line and bulldoze our way through... oh wait, we can't use our superpowers, right?" Jonathan continued. "I guess you're right, this would be hard."
After a momentary pause, Jonathan and Yun Zhe stared at each other as if they got to an agreement. Their lips twitched as they nodded their heads.
"I guess we have no choice but to do this, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so..."
Meanwhile, Satoshi was left in the dark. He had no idea that Jonathan and Yun Zhe were plotting something sinister behind his back.
...
Meanwhile, in the forest.
Distant screams could be heard in the background as Himuro and Nanako made their way through the forest. Thirty minutes have passed, and they already got their own flags.
On their way through, they encountered someone who had already taken a flag. They had no idea who he was, but he ran through the forest with ease, and his steps were too light that they couldn't even hear a faint tap coming from them.
"Let's head back. Make sure you hide your flag, someone might take them." Himuro advised, handing Nanako a flag.
Issei was assigned to monitor the flags, just in case someone wanted to take more than one. It would be unfair if one person were to take all the flags and bring them with him, leaving everyone no chance of getting a flag...
"That would be interesting though," The Manager, Issei, said to himself. As usual, he monitored the flags, but if someone were to take more than one, he'd decided not to call that someone out.
'A fight might even break out in the middle of the forest. That would be nice.' Issei thought to himself.
Himuro had no idea about the rules, so he took five flags with him and handed Nanako one.
The gesture made Nanako panic a little bit. She slowly turned toward the Manager who was monitoring the flags.
Aghast, Nanako stopped short. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Himuro running away from the flags. "What are you waiting for, come on!" He called out to Nanako.
"What are you doing? We're going to get disqualified, you know!" Nanako hissed.
As if on cue, Issei turned away with a blank expression on his face. He started whistling a tune from a certain animated series of the past about demons, schools, and chess pieces. He couldn't care less whether someone took all the flags or not. It would be more interesting that way.
"Come on, let's go," Himuro repeated, grabbing Nanako by the hand as he pulled her away from there.
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