Chapter 373 - Meeting Mara Again "I have checked for them as well... They’re not here," Matilda added. They all stared at Gustav with a look of anticipation, waiting for his decision. However, to their surprise, Gustav turned around to continue leaving. "They’ll show up eventually," He voiced out as he kept walking forward. "Wait, what?" E.E voiced out with a look of surprise. Gustav ignored their stares behind and kept walking forward. "Hold up you jerk," Glade shouted out from behind and walked towards Gustav. "How could you just walk away..? We have to go and find them," Glade said with a disgruntled voice. Gustav paused his steps and turned around. "It’s called training for a reason... There are things you can’t help them with or you’ll just be stunting their growth. They have to do this on their own just like we did," Gustav said before turning back around and leaving. Glade stared daggers at his figure that was turning distant and distant. "Selfish Jerk," She turned around and started walking forward, "I’m going to look for them," "Yo Gus..." E.E voiced out as he stretched out his hand with a conflicted expression. He moved a step forward and then turned back to stare at Glade, who was walking in the opposite direction. He was at a loss on who to follow, but after a brief contemplation and seeing Matilda follow Glade, he decided to join in too. The four of them started heading back in the direction of the path that led to the river area. "Now where do you three think you’re going?" Officer Sasha voiced out as she noticed them. _____________ Gustav arrived on the path that led to the residential areas and observed the structures in the vicinity. Currently, he was on his way to a particular spot he marked on the map earlier. In the vicinity, different structures for different purposes like bloodline testing, grading, enhancement, training centers, mechanical weaponry could be seen as Gustav moved forward. Cadets moved across the place also. It was quite crowded, and Gustav could tell when he passed by a senior cadet due to the difference in bearing and how they carried themselves. Whenever a senior cadet passed by his side, they would always glance at him with respect due to the scar on his left chest area. They obviously knew about how rankings worked, so they mistook Gustav for an officer even though he was dressed in a white cadet uniform like them. What they didn’t take into consideration was the fact that Gustav was weaker than they were currently. -"Elevora took first place from what I heard after getting back to the starting point," -"Gustav Crimson and a special class named E.E were in second place and all the other special classes were right behind them...." -"The special class cadets arrived earlier than everyone else... They’re all monsters," -"It might be true that Gustav isn’t actually the strongest from what I’ve seen." -"What are you talking about, we haven’t even seen her perform any feat with her bloodline abilities yet," Some group of first-year cadets that Gustav just passed by were talking and arguing about today’s morning routine. Even though their bloodlines had been unsealed, everyone was still tired and was heading towards their residence to rest in the meantime. It was currently around nine in the morning, so they had three hours of break before the general assembly at noon. ’This Elevora girl...’ Their conversation drifted into Gustav’s hearing. He wasn’t bothered that some people felt he wasn’t the strongest or whatever. He didn’t even care about their arguments, but he was intrigued about Elevora because she seemed quite special, even among the special class. The few times he saw her, he could tell. Aildris and Chad also gave him the same vibe, Especially Aildris, who has never opened his eyes since they met. Gustav wondered if Aildris was blind. However, if Aildris was blind, how does he move around the surroundings so easily? If he could see why were his eyes closed every time, and how does he move around with closed eyes? These were the thoughts on not only Gustav’s mind but many other cadets. Only a few had witnessed Aildris open his eyes, and even they couldn’t describe what they witnessed properly. Gustav threw all this to the back of his mind for now and kept journeying towards the spot on the map that read, ’Science Block,’ This part of the training camp was where those who were enlisted into the MBO for scientific potential were being trained. These ones were youngsters with scientific feats that were being trained to join the MBO experimental department in the future so they could make serums, drugs, and other products; mostly scientific researches and breakthroughs that can better the performance of the MBO in the future. This department also gets sent on battle missions to assist the operatives sometimes. In a few more minutes, Gustav arrived at the Science Block. He walked to the front of one of their labs that was three stories tall and shaped to look like a test tube. He stood on the side and sat in front to wait. Gustav recalled that he needed to get his three gadgets from the weapons vault later on also, so he decided to go after he was done here. He sat down and waited for about fifteen minutes before the cadets started streaming out of the building. A few seconds later, he sighted a beautiful and slim-looking girl with an oval-shaped face and deep red hair. The moment he stood up, this girl sighted him as well, "Gustav!" She screeched and ran towards him. Gustav noticed her approach and smiled as he moved towards her also. Grab! She locked Gustav in a tight embrace the moment she arrived in front of him. Gustav normally wouldn’t like to be grabbed like this, but this time he let it happen. "Mara... I’m surprised you still remember me even though I only showed up once," Gustav said as they separated from each other. "How is that even possible? You’re everywhere, on the news on big screens in the city... Asides that, you’re my grandfather’s favorite and our very own hero," Mara voiced out with a jovial smile. "So you’re not mad?" Gustav asked. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮 "No, why would I be... On the contrary I’m thankful. Thank you for clearing my grandfather’s name. He called me to explain everything, you’re awesome," She added with a smile. Gustav only smiled back. He didn’t know how to reply to such heartwarming gratitude and pure compliments. "Come let’s go somewhere," Mara said and pulled Gustav along with her as they walked into the distance. ------ About an hour and a half later, Gustav returned back to his apartment and sat in his personal meditation room to channel his bloodline. Luckily for him, today’s system’s daily tasks were attuned with the morning routine, so he managed to finish two of the tasks by completing the morning routine. The third one was what he was currently doing. He had spent an hour and a half with Boss Danzo’s granddaughter, and it was quite an interesting experience. The MBO cadets that were enlisted for scientific purposes had already been brought here two weeks back, so she had been here since that time. Gustav realised that she was actually quite the genius. In just the short time spent here, she had started her dream scientific projects due to having enough materials and funding from the MBO. She took Gustav to the workshop she acquired from a competition with one of the geniuses here and showed him the things she had been working on. Gustav was pleasantly surprised and saw even more reason to watch over her. At first, he was only doing it for Boss Danzo, but now he had realised her potential as a science genius, so he was convinced it wasn’t a wasted effort. Gustav continued focusing on channeling his bloodline for the next one hour. Although the speed of increasing the density of the bloodline had decreased, bloodline channeling was now smoother for him. He only needed to channel his original bloodline for the rest to be affected. Just when it was thirty minutes to noon, Gustav stopped. He remembered that recreation had upgraded, and he wished to put the new upgraded addition to use. However, Gustav suddenly thought of something. ’Hey System, is there a limit to how many bloodlines I can be paired with?’ He asked inwardly. ("Why you asking such a dumb question? Of course there’s a limit... There’s a limit to everything much less your weak mortal body,") The system responded while dishing out insults. "What? Why didn’t you ever tell me about it?" Gustav asked with his forehead creased in disappointment. ("You would have figured out eventually if you tried stealing five more bloodlines,") It responded with a condescending tone and kept quiet afterward. ’Five more bloodlines... That means I can only plunder thirty eight bloodlines in total currently,’ Gustav sighed. His aim at first had been to become the number one bloodline robber in the world, and now he was finding out that he had a limit to how many bloodlines he could plunder. ("Dumbo... You can plunder as many bloodlines as you please but you can’t pair more than that particular amount with yourself,") The system stated. "What?"