Chapter 173 - Travelling Underwater This rectangular-shaped device was the same Gustav stored food to carry with him wherever he was headed. "Good thing I brought my homemade delicacies with me," He said with a look of delight while proceeding to open up the food storing equipment. Sshhhsss! A small cloud of smoke wafted out of the oven-like equipment causing a delicious aroma to spread across the entire area. Gustav breathed in the aroma of the dishes and smiled. He proceeded to bring out one dish after the other and arranged them in front of him. The number of dishes in front of him would be enough to satisfy a family of four. However, Gustav was a big eater, so this was nothing for him. "Fried fox chick, roasted mutated devil’s duck, boiled black rice... Ah, I forgot the volcanic blue prawn," Gustav said after noticing that one of his dishes was missing after counting them one after the other. He still left food within the food storage equipment since he didn’t want to finish everything at once in case some issues came up. "I can make do with these ones," Gustav said while proceeding to tear out a large piece of fried fox chick. The piece he tore out was as large as an adult’s palm. Still, Gustav was able to shove the entire thing into his mouth. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! His cheeks bloated up as he munched on the delicious meal with a delightful expression. ----- Within the watch room, Gradier Xanatus watched as the participants scrounged for food. Some of the participants were already out of energy after running for an entire day without eating. So, they just sat there looking lifeless. Gradier Xanatus shook his head as he saw that many participants were in similar situations. He suddenly noticed a part of the screen where someone was munching away a pile of delicacies. In contrast, others had already resigned themselves to the fate of starving for the night. "What in the...?" Gradier Xanatus was speechless seeing Gustav casually munching away without a care in the world. "That kid brought a food regulator with him?" Gradier Xanatus saw the kitchen equipment in front of Gustav. The participants were allowed to take their storage devices with them during the test. Even if they decided to use enhancement pills hidden within their storage devices, the MBO wouldn’t disqualify them for that reason. This is an endurance test. Bloodline enhancement drugs generate side effects after usage. Whenever a mixedblood uses bloodline enhancement drugs, they would be weak and unable to use their bloodline abilities properly for a day or two. The changes differ depending on the mixedblood’s body structure. So. the MBO wasn’t really against it for this and many other reasons. Only someone who wanted to handicap themselves would decide to make use of such drugs. What the MBO didn’t think of was that one of the participants would be crazy enough to bring storage cooking equipment. Even if there was no food in it, he could prepare food with the resources in the environment. This was something unprecedented that Gradier Xanatus had never seen before. This made him wonder how Gustav could come up with such a thing. All other participants wouldn’t think of doing this. ’This kid is really something...’ Gradier Xanatus couldn’t figure out Gustav’s thought, so he decided to keep watching him in the meantime. ------ The following day the participants had begun to follow the light after waking up. It was a long night for many of them since their rumbling stomachs didn’t let them sleep. Some participants were able to find food before sleeping. Still, many of them weren’t, and now they continued journeying towards the green ball of light with empty stomachs. Normal people would be unable to do this. But, the anatomy of mixedbloods had always been enhanced compared to that of humans. Mixedbloods could go running for days without food or water and they would survive. They would get weaker doing that, but they could still pull it off. Gustav had already started moving since 2am in the middle of the night. He didn’t need to sleep to regain his energy points because he had already regained them from eating. Still, he decided to chill for a bit and contemplate on some things before he started moving by 2am when he could have gone earlier. As long as Gustav still had energy points, he could keep running for days without needing rest. Gustav was still in the river region. He had crossed about seven rivers while moving for the past four hours. These rivers were all narrow, so he only needed to jump to cross over some of them. The one he was currently trying to cross through was bigger than the others. Unfortunately, it extended straight northwards, unlike the others. He couldn’t jump over this one, so he decided to swim through it. Gustav could generate enough speed and kinetic force to run across the surface of this river. Nevertheless, after thinking about it for a while, he disregarded that thought. He decided that swimming underwater would be the best course of action. Gustav could tell that he would have to face one challenge or the other while passing through this river. He figured that whatever challenge the MBO would set up would come from underwater. So, he decided to swim underwater, where he could spot whatever obstacle he’d have to face firsthand. If he ran above the water, he wouldn’t be able to do that. Another thing Gustav noticed since he got the power of the system, his perception couldn’t penetrate water bodies very well unless he was within. Frruuhhoooowwmm! Shrroouhhummm! Even though he was underwater, Gustav’s body still moved quickly like a sea creature. He held his breath while diving faster than a ski boat underneath the river. He could see lots of small rocks and plants underneath the river as he was swimming. He had to swerve left and right to dodge some rocks that extended high up from the bottom of the river.