The Ancient Genes

The sun rose as usual bringing the beginning of the new day. The streets were filled with students moving towards the Academy. There were a few older people as well, going to their work. But the Academy District mostly had students living in.

"You sure about living early?" Axel asked as he turned his head towards Lear who was walking by his side with Max right next to him.

"I don't trust their security. It is better to stay in the Academy until I fully recover." Lear replied casually.

"Why don't you just give a call to the members of your House in the Capital?" Max asked with a smile.

"Hell no! I am already lucky that my family hasn't done anything. I don't want to do anything funny to irritate them." Lear replied as he shook his head. He was quite adamant about it.

"I am surprised that they didn't do anything." Max said with a smile. He didn't think that it would be hard if his family was hell-bent on finding Lear and taking him back.

Max had planned to send Lear to Bahamut if that situation arrived and remain him hidden under a separate identity until Max felt that the time was right.

"I bet that the Old man is dying to rip out my skin, but he must be curious about what had suddenly happened to his trashy son. That's why he had managed to hold himself back." Lear replied after giving it a bit of thought.

"Well, that is indeed true. The fact that even people from your own House aren't recognising you here really shows that you have reached the epitome of trash." Max said with a laugh and Lear's face turned ugly.

The trio finally reached the Academy gate and as they swiped their ID cards, the guard suddenly stopped them.

"You two have a summoning order from the Headmaster of your Academy," the guard said as he looked at the information.

Lear and Max looked at each other. They both had a vague idea of what it possibly could be.

"Well then, see you during the break." Axel smiled as he waved his hand and walked ahead while Lear and Max sighed before walking towards the Headmaster's Office towards the Arcane building.

….

Headmaster's Cabin 

Max and Lear stood in front, gazing at the man who seemed to be in a bad mood for some reason.

Lear signaled Max to speak first, but Max wasn't a fool. He knew that it was equivalent to stepping on a landmine.

But Max didn't expect that Lear wouldn't show him any mercy and elbowed him on the sides. 

"Ah!'

A slight groan escaped Max's mouth and the headmaster raised his head to look towards him. The expression on his face was fierce, it didn't seem to be the one that an educator should have.

"What's wrong? What did you do yesterday to be feeling that pain now?" The headmaster asked with a dark expression on his face and a smile with that. It really made Max feel a chill.

Max released an awkward smile as he slightly turned his head and glared at Lear only to be ignored.

"I didn't do anything," Max replied seeing that the headmaster was still glaring at him."It was all related to him."

Lear looked at Max with wide eyes. They weren't even sure whether the headmaster had called them for the incident or not and this guy had already said it. 

Max on the other hand knew that it was very less likely that the headmaster didn't know about it. Still, Max made sure to not say what the incident was in case he was wrong.

"Oh! Then would you mind explaining why you were missing from the second period? Don't tell me you spent your entire day in the washroom?" The headmaster asked with a smile and Max's face twitched. He wasn't wrong, this man knew everything!!!

'Don't tell me has got a spy on me?' Max couldn't help but think inwardly. But he still maintained the smile on his face.

"Umn… I didn't feel well after going to the washroom. My stomach was upset and so I went back home, taking rest for the day." Max replied with an innocent smile. He was sure that he didn't do anything flashy to catch anyone's attention on the street.

The headmaster looked at him, there was no way he was buying that. Max had clearly disappeared after the explosion. There was no way that this guy had an upset stomach. He had survived in Orena and only God knew what he had eaten for such a long time there. How could a guy like him have a stomach upset?

But Max was lucky, there was indeed no evidence about him.

The headmaster turned his head towards Lear and spoke, "And you Mr. Barnes, it seems you have some pretty good enemies out there. And I assume that you were indeed perfectly aware of that fact because of the way Mr. X reacted to your rescue."

Max's face twitched as he was labeled as Mr. X.

"Bang!"

The headmaster suddenly slammed his desk in anger as he asked with a vein popping out In his forehead, "Why didn't you inform me about it if you clearly knew about the danger?" 

"I thought you wouldn't give me admission." Lear said with a forced smile.

"Yes, I wouldn't!" The headmaster spoke in an instant and Lear's face slumped.

The headmaster massaged his head as he sighed. It was the Academy's responsibility to protect the student. 

With Arcane destroyed, they really didn't have as much facility as earlier. Even though his father was the Headmaster of Orca, it didn't mean that he owned the place. Not to mention that the Ancient Families were hidden forces that only a few in the real world knew. So, the other board members were not that afraid of his father. Not to mention, his father wasn't the type to help. He was left alone to get out of troublesome situation on his own.

"This time, I don't know what exactly happened but someone seemed to have pulled some strings and dealt with the incident. Your name has been cleared out of the case." The headmaster said with relief.

Max and Lear looked at each other not knowing who that person could be.

"But you are still grounded. Don't leave the campus for the next month and after that, you need my permission to leave."

Lear's eyes widened as he heard the headmaster's next few words.

"But it wasn't my fault, why am I getting punished." Lear protested with a dissatisfied look on his face.

"Even though this was not your fault, the incident was mainly related to you, a student of Arcane. Even though I know that you are not from Arcane, people don't. They will assume that students of Arcane Academy are from Arcane. The rumors about Arcane people being a sign of misfortune has already gotten worse. Do you want to add oil to the fire?" The headmaster spoke with a frown, "Not to mention, I am doing it for you and you still have the guts to open your mouth!!"

Lear flinched as the headmaster shouted in anger.

After a few more minutes of scolding, the duo left the cabin exhausted. They parted their ways after reaching the Blacksmith Department which was on the way.

…

"Hmmn?" Max suddenly noticed a familiar figure walking. It was Shon from Axel's Dorm.

Max thought of calling him out. But Max suddenly remembered that he was afraid of accompanying him and hence stopped.

The next instant, Max felt a hand on his back and he turned around to see a huge figure right in front of him.

"Kevin!" Max said in surprise. He had met him once for a brief moment but it wasn't even enough to take a good look. Now that he gave him a careful look, Max realised that he had turned even more gigantic. This had started to transcend the human realm now. 

"Grip!"

Kevin held Max by his hand.

"Shit!" 

The moment Kevin grabbed Max, he knew that he was in deep trouble. Kevin's eyes were filled with tears.

Max tried to pull his hands out. He was careful about being gentle since he was afraid that if he used too much force, he might end up pulling his bones out of the socket.

But, Max was surprised when he found that he couldn't budge. Before Max could use any further strength, Kevin had already hugged him and Max could hear the bones releasing noises under pressure.

"Sob! ...I thought..Sob! you were...Sob! dead…" Kevin's hysterical cries immediately attracted everyone's attention

"I am...fine Kevin….I am alive….but won't for long…if you don't leave…" Max spoke while gritting his teeth.

"Ah!" Kevin finally let go realising that Max was out of breath.

"Huff! Huff! …" Max took in deep breaths and moved his body. There were no injuries thankfully.

He then turned to look at Kevin. That was surprising. Max didn't expect that from him.

"Don't cry, I am fine." Max patted him seeing that he was still crying. 

"Let's talk in the class." Max said as he pulled Kevin. He noticed that people were all looking towards them.

….

Finally, they reached the classroom. Max saw that they were early and there were only a few students in the classroom.

Max planned to take the seat right beside the one which seemed to be Tyler's designated place. But before he could do so, Kevin grabbed him.

"Let's sit at the back." 

Max nodded, without giving it much thought.

After taking a seat, Max suddenly stood up and went to the opposite as he kept his elbow on the desk.

"Let's do arm wrestling, " Max said with a smile, he was really interested after witnessing his strength.

"No! What if you get hurt." Kevin declined, worried about hurting Max.

"It's fine, just do it. You only need to slowly increase your strength. That way, I won't get hurt " Max replied with a smile.

After a bit of hesitation, Kevin finally moved his hands forward and grabbed Max's palm.

"You ready?" He asked.

Max nodded.

A few seconds passed and Max spoke as he raised his head, "When are you going to star-"

Max didn't even completed his sentence and stopped mid way as his eyes fell on Kevin whose face had turned red and with sweat starting to form on his face. He was giving it his all.

Max looked at his hand and gave it a push 

"Bang!"

"Ah! You are strong!" Kevin said with a surprised look as he held his hands.

Max on the other hand had a confused look on his face.

Was this a joke?