Under the bar, Peter took a deep breath before pushing hard upwards.
And centimeter by centimeter, the metal cubes at the ends of the bar rose.
Showing thick springs and in the middle of the spring a metal rod under the metal cubes, they hid again when the metal cubes returned to their positions.
Haha
Breathing heavily, Peter stood up while holding the bar on his shoulders.
If the previous exercise tested your endurance, this exercise tested your strength.
Not only did he have to stretch the thick springs attached to each metal cube, but he also had to fight against the electromagnetic force pulling the metal rod down and the spell that was also pulling the rod. These last two were under Alfred's control.
In a few seconds, ALFRED calibrated the same parameters as Peter's last exercise, which began to require him to exert himself.
After 10 minutes, Peter's breathing was irregular and his skin was red due to blood circulation.
And just when it seemed he could not go on, the air filled with magic circles that were thrown towards him and healed his body.
Alfred was the one who cast these spells.
Now able to interact with the barriers, Alfred could attack and defend using the spells that Peter placed on those barriers beforehand.
And since he had placed healing spells on the barriers as a method of support during a conflict, Alfred could cast these spells now.
At least within the limits of the barriers.
Peter's body healed quickly and the young man felt he could continue with the exercise.
But it didn't last long before Alfred increased the weight of the metal cubes.
Peter again felt his muscles tired, and just like before, he was healed by Alfred and continued exercising for another hour before stopping.
That way, Peter's records were updated and he would start lifting heavier weights the next time he returned.
Then he used the crossed pulleys, which were also under Alfred's control, and Peter had to put in all his effort to make each movement.
Rowing machine, Leg press, Back extension machine, etc.
One by one, Peter used all the machines in the room over the next few hours to use every muscle in his body.
And thanks to Alfred's help, he could heal himself without using his Chi to accelerate his recovery.
After taking a shower, it was the morning of the next day.
He checked on Felicia and the other 2 girls, who were still sleeping.
Afterwards he went to visit May and Madeline, who were already awake and excited to keep him company for the rest of the morning.
Peter had fun with them and spent the afternoon with Felicia and the others.
Unfortunately, something happened that night that required his personal attention.
.
.
.
"Victor, I'm sorry," Susan said the first time she saw the man after the accident.
After returning to Earth, Susan, Johnny, Reed, and Ben were taken in for checkups and spent the next two days undergoing various tests to find any trace of changes in their bodies after being bathed in cosmic radiation.
Susan and the others sighed with relief when they ruled out any kind of cancer, something they were grateful for.
But the group's mood soon soured when Victor arrived on the second day for the same exams.
Unlike them, Victor first had to undergo surgery on his face, which was disfigured during the accident.
They knew this because the doctors who treated them shared this information with them beforehand, and they confirmed it when they saw Victor with his face covered in bandages.
Victor said nothing, remaining silent as he watched them.
But even though his face was covered with bandages, everyone could feel him looking at them with fury.
"They abandoned me" were Victor's only words, which were full of venom as if the four of them had directly wanted to kill him.
"Victor, I thought you were dead," Susan said through tears.
"But you didn't even check it!" Victor shouted, startling Susan in the process and causing her to burst into tears.
"Hey, idiot!"
"Lower your voice when you talk to my sister!" Johnny shouted, taking a step forward and confronting Victor, causing the doctors around them to quickly move closer and separate them.
"They left me there to die!" Victor shouted as he was pulled away by a group of doctors.
"Victor, Susan did the right thing."
"If I had gone to see how you were, we wouldn't have been able to get back," Reed said, trying to reason with the enraged man.
The group had already had enough free time to review the ship's cameras.
The group's request was easy to fulfill, since the mission and the ship belong to the Baxter group, and Susan's father was easily able to send them a copy of the ship's records.
There they saw that Susan was able to get her brother and Ben to the ship just in time and begin the journey before falling unconscious.
If I had tried to go to the laboratory where Victor was, I wouldn't have been able to get back.
Reed tried to explain this to Victor, but it didn't work.
"Do you think I've forgotten about you, Reed?!"
Of course, Reed's words did nothing to reassure Victor.
Instead, they enraged him even more.
"You're a stupid idiot!"
"You miscalculated and almost killed me!"
"You disfigured my face!" Victor shouted, looking at Reed as if he were his lifelong enemy and the source of his misfortunes.
Victor's accusation caused Reed to have a guilty look, glancing at the bandages covering Victor's face and recalling the words of the doctors who had informed them of Victor's condition earlier.
He himself thought that this was his fault for not having done enough calculations, causing him not to defend himself against Victor's accusations and to lower his gaze feeling guilty.
"You're quick to blame others, Victor," Ben said, looking at the bandaged man.
"If you hadn't been carrying that strange machine, you wouldn't have been injured."
Ben's words echoed what Susan and Johnny were thinking, as they had watched the videos automatically saved on the main ship's computer and witnessed Victor's accident and the explosion that caused the fire in the secondary ship where the laboratory was located.
The group was not informed by Victor about his actions, who had somehow secretly brought a machine onto the ship and which he tried to manipulate during the mission, ending up suddenly exploding and disfiguring Victor's face.
"Why do you think I invested and joined this stupid trip?!"
"Of course I want to conduct my own research!"
"The contracts I signed allowed me to bring whatever I wanted!"
Victor's words confused the group, especially Susan, as she remembered the contracts they had all signed, which specified that they could not bring anything else without authorization.
Only things necessary for the trip and the research would be authorized.
Unlike her colleagues, Susan had thoroughly read the contract they signed.
And knowing that he was doing something illegal, he felt bad for taking Peter's things and hiding him from his classmates.
And now Victor is saying that the contract he signed, which is supposed to be the same for everyone, is different?
"I was supposed to have enough time to tamper with the machine!"
"But everything would have turned out fine if Reed had done his damn job properly!" Victor finished saying before the doctors took him to the laboratories where they would run their own tests.
The group of 4 stayed in place watching Victor's sight disappear, with Reed breaking the silence.
"This is my fault"
Reed had always known that he was rushing to succeed and overlooking certain things, but nothing bad had ever happened.
Only now did he realize that his mistakes caused him and his friends to almost lose their lives.
"No, Reed," Ben said, shaking his head.
"The damn radiation suddenly accelerated"
"There was no way you could have predicted that."
"Ben's right, Red, buddy," Johnny said, agreeing.
"Besides, Victor would have been fine if he hadn't brought his machine with him."
"In the end, he is not without blame."
Susan nodded in agreement with what the two men had said.
Reed saw that his friends supported him, so he gave a sincere and grateful smile.
"Well, we just escaped death."
Doesn't this deserve a celebration?
Of course, Johnny was the first to suggest having a party in the building and inviting some girls, but his sister shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"No," Susan said, much to the blond man's disappointment.
"Oh, let's go!"
"We need some excitement after what we just went through!" argued Johnny, unaware that his life would be filled with excitement from now on.