Now that Satoshi's entire body had fully adjusted to the weight of the pouches, he finally picked up the pace, just to make sure that he get within the one-and-a-half-hour mark. At his current pace, he'd barely make it in time, but if he sped up just a little bit, he'd be able to shave off a couple of seconds.
In fifteen minutes, he had already cleared seven kilometers, more or less. It was a good pace, considering that he was carrying eight tonnes of weight plus his body weight. For a normal human, this should've been an impossible task, but somehow, Satoshi's body managed to adapt to this weight and still run.
He barely felt anything at all, as if the weights warped to accommodate his body. Furthermore, he was also not using a sliver of his superpower.
Of course, now that fifteen minutes had passed, most of the Disciples were already making their way back to the start line. They've already finished more than half of the entire track.
At the twenty-minute mark, some of the Disciples were already reaching their final stretch. After all, there was an additional reward if one were to finish first in their category. There were only two categories for this marathon— with superpower or without superpower.
"Look at him! He's just starting out!"
"Isn't his pace kind of slow for a Disciple? Can he make it?"
"He's not using any superpower but he's way behind the others in the same category. Is he really a Disciple?"
"Nah, he's just physically strong. In terms of stamina, he's got no stamina."
Satoshi overheard the Disciples talking about him on their way back. They've already finished the test but Satoshi still hasn't even reached halfway. His little arm wrestling performance back then with Horatius displayed how formidable he was, but now that they saw him in the marathon, his results weren't all that promising.
To them, he was like a normal peak human running a marathon, and of course, that's what he was considering that he went through the marathon without using any of his superpowers.
One by one, the Disciples finished and celebrated with their hard-earned mints. Since they were only doing the bare minimum, their earnings only went up to seventy or so mints. Finana and Horatius were also done with the marathon, and they earned eighty mints each.
For one, eighty mints were actually a lot of money and it would be enough to grab two meals. Then again, they still need to save up a portion of their earnings so they'd have enough money to pay for their daily necessities. After all, food wasn't the only thing they needed to survive for the day.
Despite most of the Disciples making fun of him, Satoshi pressed on. He even quickened his pace once he got even more comfortable with the weight. At this point, he still couldn't believe that he still didn't use a single ounce of his superpower.
From afar, Satoshi saw someone who was also struggling behind. She was dead last, not counting Satoshi who was way behind her. Accelerating even further, Satoshi decided to catch up to the girl who was almost out of breath.
Her hair was bright red in color, and her eyes phoenix-like. She was almost as tall as Satoshi, and her proportions were on the curvaceous side. Her outfit choice was actually pretty normal since she was wearing an oversized sleeveless shirt on top of her sports clothes.
She belonged to the handful of Disciples who challenged themselves to not use any of their superpowers for this marathon. Apparently, this wasn't the first time the girl ran this marathon, and this time, she challenged herself by carrying twenty pounds with her.
While the additional reward for this weight was minuscule compared to what Satoshi was carrying, it still was an amazing feat to pull off. After all, she was running at an even speed of at least thirty-kilometers per hour.
Briefly turning around, the girl actually noticed Satoshi running right behind her, and the first thing she noticed was the weights on both his arms and legs. While she had no idea how much he was carrying, it was obvious that he had more weight than her since there were four pouches on his body while she only had two.
At most, Satoshi was carrying forty pounds... or more. He was a guy, after all, and she concluded that his weights were even heavier than what she carried.
When Satoshi finally caught up to her, she had the impulse of matching her pace with him since it would be rather rude if she suddenly ran faster.
"Hey." Satoshi waved his hand at the girl who seemed to have the same age as him. He cordially greeted her, trying to strike a conversation while they were together in this portion of the run.
"Hi, you're Satoshi, right?" The girl's lips curved a little bit upward as she smiled in front of Satoshi. Her lungs were already screaming, urging her to stop running. But right now, with Satoshi's company, she should be able to maintain her pace a little bit more.
"How did you know?" Satoshi inquisitively asked since he had no idea who the girl was It didn't even occur to him that everyone in here knew each other, and since he jus arrived an hour or so ago, of course everyone would know who he was.
"That arm wrestling match with Horatius. You're pretty strong." The girl commented as she pointed at the weights Satoshi was carrying around. When Satoshi waved his hand, the pouch wrapped around his arm dangle heavily, and based on her observation, she assumed that it weighed at least thirty or forty pounds.
Her curiosity piqued, she then pointed at Satoshi's weights. "How much are you carrying?"
Now, Satoshi knew that everyone here were the cream of the crop, so he assumed that everyone could do at least half of what he does. "About a tonne?" He responded, even though each weight actually weighed twice what he said.
The girl wore a shocked expression on her face, completely misunderstanding what Satoshi just said. When Satoshi responded to her question, she thought that Satoshi referred to his weights as a whole. It didn't even occur to her that he might be referring to only one of the four pouches he wore.
"Wow, that's a lot of weight." A light chuckle forced out of the girl's mouth when she smiled. Thanks to Satoshi, she finally got back on her groove, and together, the two of them ran as two of the last Disciples lagging behind.
"Yours?"
"Just twenty pounds," The girl responded. Compared to him, she was carrying just a small amount.
"Twenty pounds? And you're not using any of your supeprower? What made you decide to not use your superpower?" Satoshi asked just to keep the conversation going.
While it was hard for the two of them to keep a conversation, they still did it while they ran side by side each other. "I haven't introduced myself yet. My name's Alicia Quill. Thank you for running with me." She said.
Quite frankly, Satoshi was just keeping his pace. He wasn't actually running with the girl, nor did he intended to run with him the rest of the way. Then again, she was running on his pace so that was convenient.
The moment she slows down, though, he was going to leave her behind. He'd try his best to encourage her though, but that's the only thing he'd do. He wouldn't go as far as to drag her to the finish line since he didn't want to fail because of her.
As it turned out, Alicia Quill was actuall sixteen years old as well, and compared to the other Disciples, she was incredibly weak in the physical aspect. That's why she decided to train without using her superpower.
Well, she was pretty successful with the first few marathons, and so far she hasn't failed it despite her physical weakness. That's why she decided to challenge herself. Now, her new goal was to finish the marathon with twenty pounds in tow.
But one hour in, she was already questioning her decisions in life. They've already cleared thirty-one kilometers. Just a couple more, but she felt like giving up. There weren't any Disciples in their vicinity anymore. They were the last ones left.
"Whoa, they're really used to this marathon, huh, no one's failed the test." Satoshi muttered to himself, briefly glancing at Alicia who was on the verge of collapsing.
"Get it together, we're almost there." Satoshi advised her, slightly raising his voice so he could keep her awake. This was the least she could do to push her to finish.
"I can't... I want to rest."
"We only have a kilometer left, come on! If you want to fail, then go ahead." Satoshi said as he sprinted the last kilometer.
Somehow, his indifferent words gave Alicia the boost she needed and she too sprinted with him.
They were able to finish the marathon with three minutes to spare.
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