The Ancient Genes

Opening his eyes, he scanned his surroundings to find himself in an infirmary. The room wasn\'t big. There were only four beds and in the corner was a desk with lots of files and papers on it.

He looked around but failed to find anyone.

"Why am I here?", He abruptly muttered under his light breath in confusion.

But suddenly his eyes widened as he remembered the earlier events.

"Damnit!"

"What happened after I passed out?"

He tried to get up from the bed.

But as he moved, an intense pain assaulted his body and he couldn\'t help but scream.

"Ahh.."

"God damnit!"

"Why does it hurt so much?"

"Clang!"

The door opened and a nurse hurriedly walked in.

"Don\'t move.", Max\'s scream had brought the nurse back into the room.

"You have got several fractures. You still need to rest and let the medicine do its work."

Seeing the Old nurse, Max spoke, "What happened to the Girls? Are they safe?"

The nurse only stared at him in confusion, before replying, "Are you talking about the incident from a week ago? It\'s already over. Everyone is safe. Besides what has it got to do with a kid like you."

"And you should worry about others later. Look at yourself. You should be careful while crossing roads. You are lucky to have survived such serious injuries.", the nurse said with narrowed eyes.

Hearing her Max didn\'t speak. But he could feel his head hurt.

\' One week has passed.\'

\' And when did I have an accident? \'

\' What was going on? \'

Several thoughts appeared in his mind.

At this moment, footsteps rang around the entrance and two figures soon entered the infirmary.

"Headmaster...", the nurse greeted the Headmaster and the person behind him in a shock.

She couldn\'t understand why those two huge figures were present there. She looked towards Max and sized him up from the corner of his eyes. She couldn\'t help but think that this boy had some special identity for him to move those two persons.

"Miss, will you please give us a moment with Mr. Edwinson here.", The Headmaster said calmly.

"Yes.. please…", the nurse awkwardly replied realizing that her behavior might have been inappropriate.

On the other hand, Max was shocked. Those two persons there were the Headmaster and Murcas.

He could feel the sweat on his forehead.

As soon as the nurse left the room, Headmaster\'s calm face turned dark.

"Would you like to explain this to me Mr. Edwinson? What were you and your friend Mr. Rim trying to achieve?"

Hearing the Headmaster, Max knew he was done for. They were caught. Now he just hoped that they wouldn\'t be kicked out of the Academy.

"What are you scolding him for? If it wasn\'t for them. Do you know how critical things could have become?"

It was Murcas who came to Max\'s rescue. What he said wasn\'t wrong. If it wasn\'t for Max and Axle, things could have gotten a lot worse.

Hearing him, the Headmaster calms down a bit before he speaks again, "Even though I know it. This still doesn\'t mean that I could avoid their mistakes. They have broken the rules."

"Why are you being so mean? Just let them off.", Murcas said.

"You are just a ruffian. What do you know? The All-Academy Competitions are approaching. With only 9 academies being able to gain a qualification, we are always in the last place for getting the qualification. If this case is leaked out and people realize that the Academy lacks discipline, what do you think will happen? Our entry will definitely be revoked. There are already several Academies eyeing our position.", Headmaster said with a heavy expression on his face.

"How about you give these two to me?", Murcas said pointing towards Max.

"What do you mean?"

"I am talking about Apprenticeship. If I take them as my apprentice, even if things were to blow out, it won\'t create any problem."

"You mean that I let them continue as Mercenaries?", HeadMaster said with a frown.

"Yes, that\'s it. Besides if you ask me, we need people like them to be Mercenaries. They have the courage and determination too. Just look at him. It\'s visible pretty clearly.", Murcas said with a smile.

"No, I won\'t. I don\'t want my students to get in trouble."Headmaster shook his head in denial.

"Then what do you want to do? Go by your Academy rules and expel them.", Murcas said clearly being irritated after all he had a short temper.

The Headmaster obviously did not want to expel them. After all, they had helped in avoiding a troublesome situation.

Even though he was a powerful person, his power was not of any use in solving such a situation.

Seeing him hesitate, Murcas couldn\'t take it any longer. He spoke, "Hey kid, do you want to continue being a mercenary?"

Max who was quietly watching this obviously nodded vigorously. He obviously couldn\'t give up being a mercenary. That was his source of earning FP. Even though it was dangerous, Max knew that more danger would soon be approaching and he needed to be strong enough to face them.

\' Giving up being mercenary.\'

\' He might as well give up on the Academy instead of it .\'

He had already decided that he couldn\'t give up on being a mercenary.

With his identity as a mercenary, he could carry on becoming stronger and at the same time obtain materials for blacksmithing.

Obviously, there were disadvantages of quitting Academy too.

Knowledge.

He needed an understanding of different elements, smithing skill and various other things to create skill and advance them.

But when both the options were compared, Max knew which was more important.

So, he was ready to bear any consequences.

Seeing Max nod, Murcas harrumphed as he said, "See, I am telling you, leave them to me."

The Headmaster finally let out a sigh. He didn\'t have a choice right now. So he could only nod.

Seeing him nod, Max couldn\'t help but break out in a smile.

But the next moment his smile ceased as the Headmaster turned his head toward him and said, "Don\'t think you will be off so easily. Even though you are not getting officially punished. I still have something for you troublesome kids. Look forward to it Mr. Edwinson."

With that, he left the infirmary and Murcas too followed him with a laugh after giving Max a last glance.