The Ancient Genes

"Creak!"

The main door opened and Max walked in. He had just arrived after parting with Lear. The fellow was still out and if he was not wrong, the Academy gates should have been closed by now.

Lear could only blame himself if caught, it was his fault for roaming out late.

Max entered the hall and took the stairs. It was too late, he didn't want to cook anything. It was better to just pass by with the readymade and instant food he had stored in the spirit world. After all, he didn't want to waste his training time.

As Max was about to enter his room, he suddenly took a pause and looked toward the door beside his room with a frown on his face.

He could hear the sound of heavy breathing.

'What is she doing in there?!!' Max had his eyes wide open. This girl was daring. Was she baiting him?

'No!...No!...' Max shook his head. This wasn't possible. She didn't seem to be that type, not to mention that she was a noble, there was no way that she would be baiting Max.

Max stood at the door contemplating whether to have a look or not. It was not a good idea to enter her room.

After a few minutes, Max decided to let it be and ignored it. He wasn't willing to get involved.

Max entered his room and closed the door before proceeding to enter into his spirit world as usual.

"Where did I keep the food?" Max mumbled as he tried to remember it. He had to hide his stuff because of the little fellas. If they found anything, they would squeeze every inch of life away from it.

"Yes, remember it." Max snapped his fingers in realisation. He had hidden it beside the bushes of the Elemental Fruit Tree.

Max began to walk towards the place where he had planted the tree. He still didn't know if the tree would bear fruits or not. It has been a while since he checked on it.

"Hmmn?" 

When Max came close to the place, he was surprised. There were two fruits on the trees and seven buds. He remembered that the time when he had planted the tree, there had only been two unripe fruit.

"This is fast…. I didn't expect it to have started flowering again and these fruits have ripened as well.." Max muttered in surprise. There was only one thing which could have caused this phenomenon.

The Spirit World.

'Interesting...I never thought of it…..may be…' Suddenly, an interesting idea popped in Max's minds and a smile leaked out on his face.

Max plucked two of the fruits. He planned to give one to Lear and the other to Bahamut. It would help Bahamut a lot, he should have affinity with every element just like Max. As for Lear, it would depend on his ability, how much he could comprehend and gain from it. 

As for Max himself, he had already eaten two and eating a lot won't be doing much good to him. Besides, there were several buds as well. He should probably be getting a batch of fruits in a month or two.

After plucking the fruits, Max moved to look towards the bushes where he should have kept his hidden food supplies. But even after putting his hands into the bushes and looking for a while, he couldn't find any trace of his food supplies.

With each passing minute and every bush he searched, Max's face became dark and dark. When Max was done with the last bush near the area, he finally stood up with a vein popping from his neck.

'It seems I have been too good these days. They haven't seen the worse of me…'

…

3 hours later...

Max finally came out of his spirit world, he was done with his training and everything. As for food, luckily he still had some beast meat left. It was a good thing that nothing rot in his spirit world. Otherwise, it would be troublesome.

As for the gang, they were all left with a swollen lump on their forehead and were grounded for a month.

Max looked at his phone and it was 3 Am. He was late. Well, a night's sleep wasn't actually going to affect him, but since he was injured, it was better to have a proper sleep.

When Max entered in his blanket and closed his eyes to sleep, a sound suddenly entered his ears.

'Damn it!'

Max sprang up onto his feet, there was now way that she was still going at it. How much time could she last? This heavy breathing was definitely something else.

Max pulled his shirt and put it on before walking out of his door. He then looked at the door beside his room and gave it a knock.

"Knock!"

"Knock!'

"You alright there!" Max asked and waited for a reply but it didn't come.

"Bang!"

"Open the door!" Max banged the door and when there was no response, a frown emerged on his face.

"I am coming in!" Max said but still didn't enter. What if she was not wearing any clothes? That would be an awful situation. 

But there was no other way, even if he used his senses, it wasn't at a level where he could make out people's clothes. He could just make out people's presence and the structure of buildings at his current level.

When there wasn't any reply, Max used his telekinesis ability to open the locked door.

He switched on the lights and looked at the bed. The girl had totally covered herself with the blanket.

Max walked towards the bed and pulled the blanket. It was a relief that she had at least her sleeping pajamas on. 

Max could clearly see her sweating and it didn't look good. He put his hands on her forehead and it was hot.

'Did she get fever from being left wet for all those hours?' Max frowned, 'No...that's absurd...she is a Mage and even if she got one from that by chance it shouldn't be this bad…'

Max couldn't understand the reason behind it, but one thing was for sure, he needed to get her to hospital. He had already ignored her for 3 hours….who knows if things might turn for worse if he didn't hurry. After all, he had no clue as to what the cause of her sickness was.

Max picked his phone and called Lear. He knew that it was a bad idea to get his name involved with her and attract the ire of a novel house at this moment. After all, he didn't know what kind of people they would turn out to be. If they were the ones to treat kindness with cruelty, he would be in trouble. He couldn't take a risk and destroy their plans. 

The call rang for a while and luckily he picked up. 

Max didn't message him as there were chances that Lear might have been asleep. Hence calling was the best possibility as the ring from the call would wake him up.

"What's wrong?" Lear spoke and his voice didn't sound sleepy at all. The guy was still up. As for what he was doing, no one knew.

"Meet me at the hospital, the one in the Academy district?" Max said with an urgent tone.

"Will you filll me in, what's going on?" Lear's voice sounded from the other end.

"It's that girl-"

"Y-You!! What did you do to her?!! You Beast!!" Lear interrupted.

"Listen the whole thing first!!! Don't interrupt me in between!!" Max screamed and it became silent. He then carried on to explain everything.

"Do you want me to leave her here? If something happens to her, we will be in trouble." Max said with a serious tone.

"Why me?" Lear asked from the other end.

"You have visited the apartment too….you think you would be left like that…" Max retorted.

"Just hurry up…" he further added.

"I am coming…" Lear replied with a sigh before hanging up. The troubles were never ceasing for them.

Max kept the phone back into his pocket and picked Aria up after wrapping her into a blanket before carrying her out of the apartment.

He hugged her tightly, close to his chest before unfurling his wings out and flying at low altitude through the dark alleys, taking the shortest route possible.

….

After a few minutes, Max reached the place. It wasn't that far from the Academy.

Lear was already waiting for Max and when he received Max's message to meet in the alley next to the hospital, he immediately moved.

"Take her…" Max passed her to Lear and he took her into his arms.

"Don't dare to mess around." Max warned him.

"Who do you think I am?!" Lear glared at him before walking out of the alley.

….

Lear entered the hospital with Aria, but his steps suddenly paused and he turned his head around feeling an intense gaze.

'Did I hallucinate?' Lear thought as he failed to find anyone. ' Maybe, I didn't have a good night's sleep. It has been a daily occurrence after meeting Max after all….' He sighed before going in.

After Lear left, a shadow flashed under the street light near the entrance of the hospital before disappearing into the darkness.