Chapter 94 - Mask Stall After the teacher agreed to Gustav’s suggestion a female student from Cheryl high and a male from Echelon Academy were picked to lead the other two teams. They were given a digital map of the market in form of a bracelet. The four groups separated into four different directions after that. Gustav was placed in the group with the female lead. Gustav followed them as they walked towards the Southwest of the ancient market. They had decided that in one hour, they would be meeting back here. The streets within the market were pretty much crowded since people came here a lot. Maltida just happened to be placed in the same group with Gustav and as expected, she didn’t stop pestering him. "You’re not gonna get anything?" She asked while walking beside Gustav. "Nothing has caught my attention yet," Gustav replied while looking around. He had been ignoring her statements and questions since but he decided to reply to her this time since they happened to be in the same group. He couldn’t get rid of her anytime soon. "Everywhere is full of items I’ve never seen before," Maltida said with a look of astonishment as her eyes traveled from store to store ... -"I like that black box, I want to get it," -"You mean the radio, sir?" -"Oh is that what it’s called?" "Yes, it was used in the past to communicate messages to the masses," ... -"How much does this gourd cost?" -"That’s not a gourd mister, it’s a Calabash... It was used by an ancient continent known as Africa to fetch water and keep palm wines," -"Wow that’s nice, It will be a great addition to my antique collection... how much does it cost then?" ... -"What is this statue thingy?" -"It’s an ancient craft of Greek gods made using clay and other traditional materials," .... Customers interested in different kinds of antiques conversed with the store owners and bought what they desired. The students would occasionally separate to buy things from stores around before converging towards one point to continue their journey. Maltida noticed a stall ahead where some traditional outfits could be seen. They had traditional patterns that were not used in this age. "I wanna check that place..." She pointed at the store while turning towards the side to stare at Gustav. "Hmm?" She noticed that he was no longer beside her. She paused her movement and turned to look around her. Gustav was nowhere to be found in the surroundings. ’Uh? How did he leave my side without me noticing?’ ---- At this time Gustav was already on the other side of the street. He had made use of silent advancement and dash to leave the group without any of them noticing. Another thing that made it easier was, he wasn’t putting on a school uniform like the rest so he could easily blend into the crowd. Due to the accident that took place in the spacecraft, he was now clad in a blue hoodie and black pant trouser. He didn’t have to use shapeshift to disappear from their midst without their knowledge even though he could use it however he liked at the moment. Maintaining shapeshifting took up a lot of energy points and Gustav had a lot of that at the moment but he also knew that it would be stupid to shapeshift in an open place. Swoooshhh! Gustav dashed across the street with speed checking out different stores in the process. After a few more seconds he came to stop in front of a particular stall. ’Hmm, I might be needing one of these in the future,’ Gustav said internally as he walked towards the counter. "Welcome young lad," The owner greeted. The owner of the stall was an old man with white beards. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶 "Which of them are you interested in?" The old man asked. Gustav looked around, checking the merchandise one after the other. This was a mask stall. There were different kinds of colorful plastic and wooden masks displayed. Some of them were placed on stands positioned on the right and left sides of the store. Gustav was already interested in a few that he noticed but he was still finding a hard time picking one. "Young lad, if you’re having a hard time deciding you can tell me the ones that caught your attention. I’ll be sure to give you a slightly descriptive tale on the symbolism of each mask," The old man said with a smile. Gustav felt his expression must have made it obvious to the old man that he was having a hard time deciding. Gustav moved to the right stand and stretched out his arm to pick up two masks. He placed them in the counter-like table in front then walked towards the left stand to pick up another mask before performing the same action. Three masks were placed on the counter-like table at this point. Gustav stared at the old man waiting for him to speak. The old man stared at the three masks for a few seconds with a profound smile on his face. "Young lad you really have good eyes," The old man complement while reaching out to pick up the first mask. "Let me start with this," He held up the mask. The mask was shaped to look like a demon with two long horns at the top. The red color made it look even more menacing. "This is an ancient mask that symbolizes spirituality and protects against demonic beings and monsters... Also in the past people that wore these kinds of masks were said to fight against these kinds of monsters to protect people," The old man explained. Gustav stared at the menacing-looking mask with a contemplative look. ’So people that wore these in the past were some kind of saviors,’ This was Gustav’s thought process. The old man dropped the first mask and picked up the second. The second mask looked like the face of a whitish gorilla. "This is also an ancient type of mask that symbolizes strength, brutality, and viciousness... Warlords back in the days wore these kinds of masks since they were the bloodthirsty kind that killed others without a shred of mercy!" The old man said and proceeded to put down the second mask. Gustav still had a look of contemplation. He hadn’t made his choice yet. The old man picked up the third mask which also happened to be the most beautiful out of the three. The third mask was shaped to look like the face of a white and red fox. It was mostly white but there were parts of it that had reddish designs. Most of the reddish designs were rhombus-shaped.