At my dorm, sounds of grunting could be heard.
It came from two individuals, that being Alaric and I.
The sounds intensified as we worked even harder, "Almost there", "You can do it!" we said while outsiders who observed were surprised as to what the reason for such noise could be.
In the end, we were only doing extreme one arm push-ups, definitely one of the best ways to build one's physique.
Sweat rolled down from our salty bodies while our muscles throbbed.
I may have been lean but still my physical appearance could be well characterized as fit as well as my abdominal muscles.
When we finally stopped, we indulged ourselves in our usual healthy diet of highly proteinous drinks.
We took very quick swigs and right after exhaled a sigh of relief.
"Got love that protein shake!" Alaric mentioned and in kind I responded with a comical yet elegant pose "It's divine in many ways.." I stated.
"Still, we should get new ones that don't make use fart so much.." I informed him.
"You're right.." he said, before letting one loose. "So do you think we have what it takes to join the Alpha Male club?" he acted like nothing had happened.
That was the club we aspired to join, one only the manliest of men would be associated with as they were Hunters.
Whereas Alaric wanted to become a Hunter I on the other hand wanted to cover all the classes. Mage, Hunter and Knight which I believed was achievable with my vast range of skills.
"Have what it takes? We are what it takes.." I told him, as our way to get ourselves hyped. "
It's gonna be tough though, but I think it's within our power.." he was already feeling inspired, this prompted Alaric to sharply stand from his bed.
But the moment he did he fell to the ground "Wooooooof! Muscle cramp!" disadvantages of training too hard.
I had to help him immediately, "Are you alright?!" I shouted from my side of the room as I rushed over.
Unfortunately I fell flat on my face before I even got past half of the room, "Oh no! Muscle cramp!" I exclaimed because mine had just kicked in.
We both screamed in agony rolling back and forth on our backs.
"Are they gay?", "You're into that kind of stuff right?", "I wanna have a peek.." said the outsiders.
The next day, Alaric and I barged into the clubhouse of the alpha males, and immediately saluted them to show respect "Excuse me sirs!" we shouted in unison.
The clubhouse was a steam room, on both sides of the room were six muscular men with strong facial features, they were seated buck naked on their benches.
Their position formed an aisle that had the boss on the end located directly across from the entrance.
These men were built with huge muscles and their folded arms just showed how focused and uneasy to please they were.
"You came.."
The president of the club mentioned with his absolutely deep voice. He must've tasted the fruits of manliness.
We decided to introduce ourselves, "My name is Nyx Besimios!" I told them, trying not to look at their "package" which was hard because it was just dangling there, it was only the steam that made it obscure.
'Geez, wear a towel will ya..' I thought.
"My name is Alaric Stronghold!" he introduced himself, both of us acting like we were products of the military.
"So you're interested in joining the alpha male club..." the president mentioned.
"We are the forests!", "We are the mountains!", "We are the hunters and not the hunted!", "We are the fearless beasts that live among our fellow men!" they were synchronizing their words by sharing converging ideas, then all of them stated in unification "We are... the Hunters!" their screams was like the roar of lions.
You could truly tell these men stood at the apex of the food chain.
Then, a hand gesture from the president caused them all to maintain silence, an unexpected lull.
"While we don't discriminate against Crosses, people with weak bodies and minds will have a hard time keeping up with the alphas.."
He referred specifically to me as being a Cross, but conveyed he beared no ill will toward them.
Alaric and I were teenagers, so we weren't muscular and Alaric had more muscle than I.
Still, physical fitness is a requirement we both met.
"Let these men disrobe and then we'll decide!" the president shouted so abruptly I was momentarily pulled aback.
"Yes sir!", "Behold!"
Alaric and I respectively said while we removed our clothing instantly.
We were only wearing tight boxer shorts now, but they could already clearly see our abdominal muscles counting up to six.
Right after, we both flexed our muscles causing our biceps and triceps to bulge out.
From the perspective of the men they saw light radiating from us like we were beautiful works of art.
"Impressive physique boys, they're not just for show... I can tell it was gotten through hardwork and pushing past your limits!" the man was already excited, although his facial expression was still a strong smolder.
"In order to become a pillar of our mighty club... you men, must first pass the test."
We were prepared. Even if we weren't aware of there being a test which served as a prerequisite for membership.
Later that day...
Alaric and I stepped into the social affairs department, "Hello!" we both uttered.
The elegant looking ladies were all indulged in tea, Grendeeny and Luciana were one of the ladies present along with six other girls.
Compared to the steamy, sweaty and bone breaking environment of the alphas, theirs was like paradise.
"Nyx Besimios? What is this?" Grendeeny asked having seen us appear so suddenly.
After we explained the situation to her she remembered that she'd already had this discussion with the president of the alpha male society, concerning our test.
We were assigned to help these ladies with building a new garden.
We discussed the proceedings, but intervening few minutes into the discussion was the pessimistic Luciana, but that's what made her charming.
"Can't you see what he's trying to do Miss Grendeeny, Nyx obviously has his eyes on you.." this was strictly professional but, okay.
"We can't have a man trampling around in the flower gardens.." said one lady, "They'd all wilt and die from their musky scent", "Incase someone forgot, one of those boys is also a Cross." it was a bit uncomfortable for us both but we endured.
Grendeeny clapped her palms gently to maintain order, "Here's what's gonna happen, I'll let Luciana handle this... she'll make the final decision." this meant she'd be the one in charge of giving out our test.
Oh how I wished it was Grendeeny she'd have been lenient.
Nonetheless we both expressed our gratitude to Luciana but she scoffed at our attempt at gratitude.
"I won't fall for your facade.."
"Facade?" I retorted.
"Like you don't know.."
"Luciana... I honestly don't."
We went to the roof, "Your test is to get this mess, into shape.." she was so straightforward.
"So is this where you guys want to put the new garden?" Alaric was the one asking.
"That's correct, the school was nice enough to let social affairs use the space, but the soil is depleted.."
"That's certainly going to make things hard.."
I didn't have anything to say.
"Since you guys are duo, you have one week to get this done so chop-chop... get to work boys." she purposefully gave us such a daunting task.
But we'll push past our limits. We were men after all.
Her idea was to ensure we failed. Since the alpha male society is closely associated with the social affairs club, it meant I'd encounter Miss Grendeeny even more.
She had to avoid that.
"Alright, let's get to work!"
Day one, we focused on pulling out the weeds which was a lot of work given how large the workspace was. We wore gloves to protect our hands while we pulled out the weed. It took half a day to get done.
Day two, we both used hoes to dig rows for the planting region. We used no mana enhancement of the sort, purely physical which was the idea of the test.
To see how resilient we really are and how determined we are to join the alpha males.
Day three, we got the bricks we planned to use for the fences. We made sure to get the best adhesively and cohesively strong material to act as our bonding agent. We were able to make our soil beds and fences mainly for the nursery.
"It doesn't look half bad.." I said.
"I'll get some more bricks.." Alaric announced.
"Hey, you plan on taking a break?"
It was Grendeeny, and she had a brown paper bag, where she packed lunch most likely.
So we proceeded to take said break.
I took a bite of the strawberry cake and I have to say it was absolutely tasty, at home I didn't have the privilege of sweets seeing as my adoptive parents were against it.
"It's tasty.."
"I'm glad you like it. It's my favorite, I pulled some strings to coerce the school to making it a norm."
"Woah, you did?" I was amazed.
"Well I am the student council president after all.."
It made sense now. With cake in my mouth, I chose to nod in response instead.
"Whatever you need, come find me.." She said.
I was quiet eating the cake, unaware that Grendeeny had taken a long, serious stare at my bare chest.
"What are you looking at?" I asked her, unsure what it was at the time.
She made an oddly surprising request, "Would it be weird if I just touched them a little bit?" she seemed so earnest about it.
"Sure."
Immediately, she placed her hands on my chest.
I was still calm nevertheless, harboring no impure thoughts.
"Amazing, how did you get such a perfect body?."
"Hardwork and lots of protein.." I uttered with my mouth full.
"Well that's nice.." she wiped off the particle of cake I had on my lower lip.
By Day four, we successfully finished our assignment and flamboyantly I might add.
When they'd come to appraise, a number of the girls were amazed even Luciana saw this as a hard pill to swallow, you could tell just by looking at her.
"How does it look?" I asked.
"Hm.." she hesitated to answer.
In the end, we were given our passing remarks. Another day, another success.