In a hut far from the village, Mike was doing one-arm muscle-ups. When he did it with his left arm, he pushed himself up in the air, switched to his right arm and repeated the same process.
"81.. 82.." Mike's hand slipped. Before he could slam himself against the ground, Romeo caught him.
"Keep it up, Mike. You're doing good."
"No, Rom bro, this ain't enough. I'm still weak. As long as I can't beat my dad's record, I won't be able to get permission from my gramps."
"What're you talking about? 82 one-arm muscle ups ain't a joke, kid. If any of your friends manage to pull off even one muscle-up, tell me. I'll make your training tougher." Romeo sighed.
Mike wiped his forehead and said, "Let's continue."
Romeo smirked and took out a piece of paper where a strange script was written. He said, "Fine, I'll give you a faster route to beat your dad."
Mike, who was looking down, suddenly jumped towards Romeo with a glow in his eye and asked, "Is there something as such?"
Romeo cracked his knuckles and said, "This is nothing like any other challenge. This is many times harder than your muscle-up record of 99. I'll paste this tag on your back. If you manage to do 5 pushups after that, you'll beat your dad. Mind you, your dad could do only 4."
Mike gasped. "No, this isn't true." Mike said with a mix of disbelief and shock.
"You can't blame your dad for this. This tag pushes you down to earth with a weight of 3 elephants. Let's try it."
Mike took a long breath in. He said, "I remember dragging a dead elephant from the forest to here. That was almost impossible. I hardly managed to pull such a feat off."
Mike got into the push-up position. Romeo stuck the tag on his back and said, "Tell me when you're ready."
"Hm! I'm ready."
"Seal Release!" Romeo shouted, pressing both his hands against his back. Strong beams of light came out of the seal, blinding Romeo's eyes. Romeo backed a few paces away.
After a second, the light stopped coming out and now, a strong surge of force pressed Mike down. "HHRR..AAH!" Mike cried, barely able to hold his position. His body started to shake.
His face went red, his clothes tore into pieces but didn't move an inch more. He took a long breath in, controlling his cries and focusing solely on holding his position.
He could no longer think of dipping his chest down. An old man came running out of the hut and jumped above Mike, carefully yet swiftly removing the tag. He made sure not to leave even a bit of the paper on Mike's back.
With an instant burst of relief, Mike slammed down on the ground. The old man's face was redder than that of Mike when he was holding his position against the tag. "Romeo! What do you think you were doing?!" He took quick and long breaths.
Mike looked at the old man, stunned by their power difference. The tag was still working. But, the old man was holding the tag with his left hand as if he held a normal piece of paper.
Romeo was struck with fear. He could barely mouth the words, "B-but-" Mike looked into the old man's eyes and lost consciousness.
The old man continued to glare at Romeo with his savage eyes for a while. Scarlet eyes with a lot of thin, black lines inside the pupil touching either side of the circle. Each line was the pupil's complete diameter. At the centre of the pupil was a thick black point.
Romeo couldn't stand up. He lost his balance and fell on his back. He tried to regain his position but he was trembling. The old man closed his eyes and let out a breath.
He said with his eyes closed, "Romeo, you almost killed him. He's not ready yet. Don't push him more. Let him master the traditional ways first. That kid is reckless enough. If you push him even more, he'll throw his life away in training." His words had regained composure but that was not the case for his trembling body.
He opened his eyes, they went back to pale blue colour. His arms stopped trembling. He carried Mike and took him into the hut. "By the way, I think he can go for ETS selection rounds."
Romeo looked up and said, "Thanks, Marcus he'll be so happy after hearing this."
"But, I have 2 conditions. If he loses the selection rounds, he can forget stepping out of this hut, and second condition, you'll never test him with the weighted papers unless I allow you to."
"Agreed. I don't think I need to anymore. He is a tough kid." Romeo went towards the forest. Marcus looked at Mike, who was lying unconscious.
Mike woke up the next day; his body was completely sore. He could barely move a muscle. He was told by Romeo that he could participate in ETS.
The ETS selection round was a month away. He spent most of his days on the bed, healing himself from the fatigue. When he healed completely, he did some jumping squats, pushups, pull-ups and other exercises that felt light to him.
Finally, the day of selection was a week away. Romeo gave him a map to the colosseum. Mike bid farewell to the two of them and set off on his foot, carrying an empty bag and a map on his hand.
He looked around, hoping to see something exciting. But, all he could see were the grass swaying and the pollen blew by the faint gusts of air. He took a long breath in and opened the map.
He was told where he was by Romeo. According to the map, he needed to walk straight for a week. But, the problem was, he had no food supplies with him and the dirty water of the river was the last resort for him to drink.
"Now, what shall I do?" He knew the answer before he even thought of the question. He had to enter the forest and hunt for food.