"Oh! Sorry," Satoshi said, turning off both the gravity control and power dampener at the same time. When everything returned to normal, Satoshi couldn't believe that he felt as light as a feather.
He had no idea what just happened, but it was certainly weird. After all, his body just adjusted to ten times his body weight and he was able to easily perform a pull-up.
"Sorry for disturbing your workout like that. I just had to take a closer look since I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Pardon the late introductions, the name's Bruce." With a friendly gesture, the man amicably extended his hand.
"Bruce who? Banner? Willis? Wayne?" Satoshi just had to ask since it was such a common name.
"Bruce Willow," The man responded. "Although, I do know where you're getting at." He said with a smile.
"Ah, it's nice to meet you, Bruce Willow," Satoshi said. "Which master do you serve?"
"What do you mean? Ah! My Manager?" Bruce Willow finally understood. "I serve under the leadership of Dumble Dore. You may think that his Disciples would be magic this and that... but no, we also pride ourselves as physically strong."
Bruce puffed his chest up before he heaved a sigh. "Although... we didn't pass the last test yesterday. It was hellish." He continued.
"Right..." Satoshi trailed off. He had no idea how he'd continue the conversation.
Fortunately, the man saw this as his chance to leave. He had been working out for more than two hours now, after all. "Well, the test will start in about an hour. I'm heading to the cafeteria. You wouldn't want to miss out on breakfast since the next meal would be a late lunch." He advised before he headed out of the gym.
"Sure, thanks for the reminder." Satoshi responded, awkwardly waving his hand as the man exited the vicinity. At the moment, his mind was still preoccupied with how his body adapted to so much gravitational pressure.
...
Breakfast ended in an uneventful manner and all of the Disciples assembled right by an open field adjacent to the dorms. Despite it being midmorning, sunlight hasn't pierced through the blanket of cold air that enveloped the place.
It was clear that the open field was hastily constructed. What was once the edge of the forest had been cleared into a track field, complete with the oval race track and equipment which were safely kept in a nearby storage.
"Oi, Satoshi!" Someone called out, causing Satoshi to swivel his head as he caught a glimpse of someone familiar.
Before he knew it, a hand wrapped around his neck and he felt something soft touch his cheeks as the arm brought him down. A giggle came out of the person's mouth as she greeted him good morning.
It was none other than Mitsuka.
"Ah! Mitsuka... and Nanako, good morning." Satoshi greeted back. He tried to act as normally as he could, thinking that Mitsuka still remembered what happened last night.
"Morning," Nanako greeted back as well before she bowed toward Himuro, Jonathan, and Yun Zhe.
Although the group just met yesterday, they were now inseparable due to their forged bonds last night. It seemed like getting into trouble was what brought them closer together, not the ordeal they had to deal with during the last test the day before.
"What do you think we'll do this time around?" Mitsuka asked, still keeping her arms around Satoshi. She was especially aggressive today, and everyone noticed it.
Obviously, Satoshi could've easily overpowered her but he didn't do it. Instead, he slowly pulled himself back up, causing Mitsuka to hang limply in the air since he was taller than her.
This made her feel uncomfortable and she let go of the hold. Besides, she was already feeling awkward as it is.
Quite frankly, Mitsuka didn't really need to resort to all that since Satoshi would've responded normally to her if she greeted him normally. Then again, she didn't want anything to be awkward, especially after what happened last night. It was an accident, sure, but it was her first. And judging from Satoshi's reaction, she could tell that it was his first as well.
In the end, Mitsuka thought that an accident shouldn't count, and that's why she acted like that. Satoshi, Jonathan, and Yun Zhe were the first friends she got aside from Himuro and Nanako.
"Still... why do you think they gathered us this time?" Himuro asked, rubbing his chin as he took a look around him.
There was definitely an air of heaviness in the air as everyone lined up. The Managers were casually talking to each other as if waiting for something. They were murmuring amongst each other while looking at their watches. Some of them even looked slightly irritated but they tried not to show it too much.
That's when a portal appeared right above the open field. It was a mixture of color, and then it ultimately shifted into a black haze as a figure stepped out from it.
What stepped out was a man in a white suit, and he emanated an opposite energy compared to his dimensional portal. When he touched down, he breathed in a lungful of air before waving at everyone.
"You're late, Magnus Carter." Bucky Barnes casually said, putting his hand up in the air in greeting.
In response, Magnus Carter also raised his hand, giving Bucky Barnes a high-five before their hands transitioned into a clean grip.
Before anyone could say anything. The two of them lay down on the ground, still holding their hands up in an arm-wrestling position. Neither arm budged, but the ground started shaking in the process.
A couple of seconds later, Bucky Barnes lightened his grip and Magnus Carter did the same. "Still the same, huh, I thought I'd have gotten stronger by now." Magnus Carter said, heaving a sigh as if to imply that he was out of breath.
"You were holding back." Bucky Barnes called out, smiling.
"Oh yeah, I wanted to meet your Disciples. Are they here now? The last time I came over, you weren't here so I figured you were running late." Magnus said. "In any case, today's my scheduled visit. I'll be training everyone here, just so you know."
Magnus Carter had blond hair, and he had a stocky muscular build. He exuded an aura of sheer power, even the Disciples could tell that he was the strongest of the bunch.
To be fair, some of the Disciples could probably go head to head with him in a contest of pure strength. The only reason why he seemed stronger was because he never bothered hiding his true power. As for the other Managers, they did their best in suppressing their energy.
A mischievous smile appeared on Magnus Carter's face as he nudged at Bucky Barnes. "Just so we're clear, there should be no hard feelings, all right? If your Disciples want to transfer under my management... hehe."
Bucky Barnes wanted to punch Magnus Carter's visage since his expression was really annoying. Then again, he was confident that his Disciples won't go to his side so he didn't take Magnus's provocations to heart.
After greeting and catching up with each other for a couple of minutes, Magnus finally clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. The atmosphere in the entire place shifted into a lighter one while Magnus assumed his position in front of all the Disciples.
"All right, pardon the late introductions, my name is Magnus Carter and I'll be the one monitoring this test." He announced.
All the Disciples started talking amongst each other while pointing at Magnus Carter. Unbeknownst to Satoshi and the others, Magnus Carter was actually the number one Manager. He had saved countless universes and his Disciples are pretty formidable. In fact, they were only a level below a Manager's level, and they could've easily passed as Managers if they chose to do so.
"It's Magnus!"
"Whoa, it's Magnus in the flesh. Who would've thought I'd meet him on this lifetime!"
"I should get his autograph later!"
"He's probably scouting right now, we should do our utmost to get on his good side!"
While everyone was talking to each other, Bruce crossed his arms as he clicked his tongue. He couldn't believe that most of the Disciples were willing to change their Managers just like that.
Then again, this was Magnus Carter they were talking about. The number one Manager in all the dimensions!
"On this test. I'll assign you in groups of three. And then... I'll transport all of you to a certain planet. I'm guessing you all know the drill by now, right?" Magnus smiled as he waved his hand.
Just as everyone was trying to figure out what the test was all about, dimensional portals started appearing underneath the Disciples' feet and they were sucked into them without warning.
"See you on the other side, dear Disciples. Don't worry, you're in good hands." Magnus Carter said, waving them goodbye.
But before he could jump into his own dimensional portal, he noticed that one Disciple was left behind.
"I'm sorry? What do I need to do?" Satoshi cluelessly asked since he was the only one left behind.
"What the—" Magnus had to turn his head twice to confirm that there really was a Disciple who survived his forced teleportation.
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