Chapter 338 Deal Or No Deal

"Oh, you're awake." The Nurse, Nishimura Haruka, asked as she sat by the edge of the bed. "You passed out after consuming almost all your energy. Fortunately, someone jumped in to save you."

The vivid images of the dream Jana just had still lingered as she heaved a sigh of relief. It was a traumatizing moment for her, but it was also the time when she received her awakening as a Disciple. "That person... who was he?" Jana asked out of curiosity, referring to Satoshi, who jumped in to stop Link from killing her.

"Midoriyama Satoshi, you should thank him later, all right?" Haruka muttered before standing up. She then reached for a bottle sitting on her desk."Here, drink this. It will replenish your energy."

After muttering a soft thank you, Jana drank from the bottle without thinking twice. It didn't take long before she fell asleep for the second time.

...

Back at Luke Skyrunner's office,

While Link completely understood what Luke was talking about, he just couldn't agree with it so easily. After all, Grundauge/ The Beholder is currently his second strongest tamed beast. Without it, his overall combat power would be drastically reduced. Besides, every single tamed beast he has in his possession is all Grass Types. Without Grundauge with him, he'd only rely on the Crimson Dagger.

"All right." After a minute of contemplation, Link conceded, going with Luke's request. At the end of the day, Luke is the event organizer, and it's his call whether he should kick out a participant or not.

A smile formed on Luke's face as he sank onto his seat. He didn't want another murder scene to happen during the Official Beast Tournament. That's why he just had to call off Link's usage of Grundauge. He could tell that Link received outside help when it came to taming the Beholder.  If only he caught the Beholder with all his efforts, then he shouldn't have any problems in making it submit.

But after seeing Grundauge completely take over Link's body, Luke could tell that Link did the bare minimum when it came to taming the beast. That, or someone simply gave the tamed beast to him. Other than that, Luke couldn't think of any other explanation.

In other words, he was inclined to believe that Link wasn't the original owner of the Beholder.

"You both are Disciples, right? Are you going to participate in the Initial Selection?" Luke asked. It was obvious that he possessed knowledge regarding the Disciples and the Managers. Link wasn't surprised, of course, since he somewhat concluded that Luke, too, is a Disciple.

Otherwise, Luke wouldn't have been able to predict Satoshi's attack. Not only did he manage to predict it, but he also stopped it without breaking a sweat.

Link immediately nodded his head in response to the question. As for Satoshi, he shook his head, which perplexed Luke even more.

"What? You're clearly stronger than Link over here... and my gut instincts are telling me that you may even be stronger than me. And yet you're not a Disciple? Are you telling me that you're just a regular run-of-the-mill beast tamer? Because if you say that, there's no way I'd believe it."

Right now, Satoshi was already aware that he could very well be a Disciple. But there's no way that he's going to reveal that information willy-nilly. He's still a novice when it comes to knowing about Disciples and Managers. That's why he proceeded with caution. As far as he knows, Luke might be an enemy... heck, Link could be an enemy. Satoshi had his doubts since he still didn't know the two too well. Even Yun Zhe and the Hero Disciple, Satoshi still don't rust them that much.

Even though he clearly saw that Satoshi denied his accusation, Luke still believed in himself— that Satoshi was a Disciple. A chuckle came out of his lips before he stood up. His gaze then landed on the large screen in his office where the live stream of the Official Beast Tournament was being broadcasted. The first round of matches was almost over, and he was glad that there were no incidents adding to what Link had caused a moment ago.

"Well, I guess we'll know soon enough whether you're a Disciple or not. I'm rooting for you, Satoshi. I'm rooting for you all the way to the finals." Luke continued, waving his hand in a gesture of dismissing the two.

Link and Satoshi stood up on his signal, excused themselves, and headed out of Luke's office. Quite frankly, Luke's presence was quite intimidating, almost overwhelming. Fortunately, the two of them maintained their composure throughout the conversation. Both Link and Satoshi relied heavily on their instincts when it came to fighting; that's why they could immediately sense that Luke was bad news. They weren't even engaging him in combat, and yet they already felt threatened.

"Right this way, sir." A personnel appeared out of nowhere, telling Link and Satoshi to follow him. The two of them complied since they knew they'd probably get lost if they were to wander around.

"In any case, I should thank you, Satoshi. I'd have already killed someone if it weren't for you." Link rubbed his nose.

"You shouldn't thank me, you know," Satoshi responded. "If it weren't for Luke, I'd have killed you."

"What, no way..." Link trailed off.

Indeed, Satoshi was telling the truth. Had Luke not interfered, Satoshi would've cut his neck clean. Just remembering it made Satoshi shake his head in disappointment. While he couldn't believe that Link couldn't control his tamed beast... he was one as well. At that brief moment, he got too relaxed within himself, unleashing more power than he could control.

"Um,"

Surprised to hear another voice, Link and Satoshi stopped short in their tracks, only to find that there was a girl following them for quite some time now.

"Jana?" Link recognized him in an instant. He also immediately figured out that she probably wanted to talk to Satoshi. Without further ado, he bowed down toward Jana, saying his apologies before going his own way. "Please, take your time. You wanted to talk to him, right?" Link asked.

Jana nodded, facing Satoshi as the redness on her face became more evident.