Wardogs

Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Maltida just happened to be placed in the same group with Gustav and as expected, she didn’t stop pestering him.

"You’re not gonna get anything?" She asked while walking beside Gustav.

"Nothing has caught my attention yet," Gustav replied while looking around.

He had been ignoring her statements and questions since but he decided to reply to her this time since they happened to be in the same group. He couldn’t get rid of her anytime soon.

"Everywhere is full of items I’ve never seen before," Maltida said with a look of astonishment as her eyes traveled from store to store

...

-"I like that black box, I want to get it,"

-"You mean the radio, sir?"

-"Oh is that what it’s called?"

"Yes, it was used in the past to communicate messages to the masses,"

...

-"How much does this gourd cost?"

-"That’s not a gourd mister, it’s a Calabash... It was used by an ancient continent known as Africa to fetch water and keep palm wines,"

-"Wow that’s nice, It will be a great addition to my antique collection... how much does it cost then?"

...

-"What is this statue thingy?"

-"It’s an ancient craft of Greek gods made using clay and other traditional materials,"

....

Customers interested in different kinds of antiques conversed with the store owners and bought what they desired.

The students would occasionally separate to buy things from stores around before converging towards one point to continue their journey.

Maltida noticed a stall ahead where some traditional outfits could be seen. They had traditional patterns that were not used in this age.

"I wanna check that place..." She pointed at the store while turning towards the side to stare at Gustav.

"Hmm?" She noticed that he was no longer beside her.

She paused her movement and turned to look around her.

Gustav was nowhere to be found in the surroundings.

’Uh? How did he leave my side without me noticing?’

----

At this time Gustav was already on the other side of the street.

He had made use of silent advancement and dash to leave the group without any of them noticing.

Another thing that made it easier was, he wasn’t putting on a school uniform like the rest so he could easily blend into the crowd. Due to the accident that took place in the spacecraft, he was now clad in a blue hoodie and black pant trouser.

He didn’t have to use shapeshift to disappear from their midst without their knowledge even though he could use it however he liked at the moment.

Maintaining shapeshifting took up a lot of energy points and Gustav had a lot of that at the moment but he also knew that it would be stupid to shapeshift in an open place.

Swoooshhh!

Gustav dashed across the street with speed checking out different stores in the process.

After a few more seconds he came to stop in front of a particular stall.

’Hmm, I might be needing one of these in the future,’ Gustav said internally as he walked towards the counter.

"Welcome young lad," The owner greeted.

The owner of the stall was an old man with white beards.

"Which of them are you interested in?" The old man asked.

Gustav looked around, checking the merchandise one after the other.

This was a mask stall. There were different kinds of colorful plastic and wooden masks displayed.

Some of them were placed on stands positioned on the right and left sides of the store.

Gustav was already interested in a few that he noticed but he was still finding a hard time picking one.

"Young lad, if you’re having a hard time deciding you can tell me the ones that caught your attention. I’ll be sure to give you a slightly descriptive tale on the symbolism of each mask," The old man said with a smile.

Gustav felt his expression must have made it obvious to the old man that he was having a hard time deciding.

Gustav moved to the right stand and stretched out his arm to pick up two masks. He placed them in the counter-like table in front then walked towards the left stand to pick up another mask before performing the same action.

Three masks were placed on the counter-like table at this point.

Gustav stared at the old man waiting for him to speak.

The old man stared at the three masks for a few seconds with a profound smile on his face.

"Young lad you really have good eyes," The old man complement while reaching out to pick up the first mask.

"Let me start with this," He held up the mask.

The mask was shaped to look like a demon with two long horns at the top. The red color made it look even more menacing.

"This is an ancient mask that symbolizes spirituality and protects against demonic beings and monsters... Also in the past people that wore these kinds of masks were said to fight against these kinds of monsters to protect people," The old man explained.

Gustav stared at the menacing-looking mask with a contemplative look.

’So people that wore these in the past were some kind of saviors,’ This was Gustav’s thought process.

The old man dropped the first mask and picked up the second.

The second mask looked like the face of a whitish gorilla.

"This is also an ancient type of mask that symbolizes strength, brutality, and viciousness... Warlords back in the days wore these kinds of masks since they were the bloodthirsty kind that killed others without a shred of mercy!" The old man said and proceeded to put down the second mask.

Gustav still had a look of contemplation. He hadn’t made his choice yet.

The old man picked up the third mask which also happened to be the most beautiful out of the three.

The third mask was shaped to look like the face of a white and red fox. It was mostly white but there were parts of it that had reddish designs.

Most of the reddish designs were rhombus-shaped.

- Picking A Mask?

- Picking A Mask?

- Picking A Mask?

"This particular one as you can see looks like a fox so it symbolizes more than one thing. They are very simple to understand but also contradictory..." The old man paused for a brief moment before continuing, "Back then, it was said that this mask symbolizes spiritual blessings which are received from paying tributes to gods and other supernatural creatures... Whenever people wore it back then it would be to worship their gods before offering a sacrifice... The second symbolism is a simple one. Just as the name implies it’s a fox... People that also wore this type of mask were the ones who were crafty and deceitful. They could be the type that is both vicious and heroic should they choose to... Their ability to fool others is said to be the highest," The old man finished explaining and dropped the third mask too.

"Which of the three has caught your interest young lad?" He asked again.

Gustav had a look of contemplation on his face.

He stared at the three masks with his eyes moving from one mask to the other while contemplating their ancient symbolism.

"I’ll go for this one," After some time Gustav pointed at the third mask.

The old man smiled in return and packaged the mask for Gustav before calling out the price.

It was only one hundred and fifty rad so Gustav was able to easily purchase it.

The old man waved at Gustav as he left the shop and mixed into the crowd.

After a few minutes had gone by, he was surprised to see Gustav approaching the shop again.

"Did you forget something, young lad?" He asked with a concerned look.

"No I didn’t forget anything," Gustav answer had the old man wondering why he would come back in the first place.

"I want to purchase the other two masks," Gustav said.

---

When it was close to evening time the students finally returned to the hotel.

Today had been pretty adventurous for them.

Gustav also returned with the students.

In the ancient market, Gustav was able to easily meet up back with the rest of the students because he memorized all the routes, twists, and turns he took when leaving them earlier.

He got back to their meeting point without using a map after the time was up.

On his way back he bumped into Angy in the ancient market.

At first, he was surprised to see her and wondered why she would be there alone instead of being with her group.

Upon listening to her explanation Gustav had the urge to facepalm.

Angy was disconnected from the herd of students because she noticed a kid who was lost within the sea of people inside the market.

She decided to help that kid find their parent and after doing that she was unable to locate her group anymore.

The group was also trying to locate her but was unable to.

The ancient market was a really big place so it was very easy for people to miss each other.

After bringing her back with him, the teachers contacted the other group and informed them about Angy being found.

On arriving back at the hotel Gustav was walking towards his room when he heard someone call out to him.

"Gustav please wait!"

Gustav paused his steps and turned around.

He already recognized the voice, "Principal Erwin," he said with a low tone.

Principal Erwin was headed towards him from the entrance and he was able to call out to Gustav before he got to the elevator.

"What can I do for you, principal Erwin?" Gustav asked.

"Gustav, the exchange of knowledge event is tomorrow, please lead the group that will be representing Echelon Academy," Principal Erwin begged.

’Not this again,’ Gustav sighed internally.

"I’m not interested principal, find someone else... There are lots of candidates for you to chose from, please don’t bother me again," Gustav said with a look of disinterest and turned around.

"Bye principal Erwin," He said and proceeded to enter the elevator.

He didn’t wait for principal Erwin to try and convince him because no matter what he had decided not to help Echelon Academy in any way.

Principal Erwin glanced at the elevator that had closed up with a provoked look.

"Looks like I have to call her... I’m sure he will listen to her," Principal Erwin muttered.

---

Just like that, the night had gone by and the next morning had come.

The students were currently headed for Atrihea city high school.

Today was when the exchange event would truly start and tomorrow was when it would end. They had used the entirety of yesterday to visit important places in the city.

The only place they weren’t able to visit that was also known as one of the most important parts of the city was the spacecraft stationed in the middle of the skies above the city.

Yesterday they were told that this was where the MBO branch was located within the city and it was off-limits to non-MBO personnel. Even citizens of the city couldn’t visit the place.

Gustav felt that the only difference between this one and the one in Plankton city was, one was located on the ground while the other was in the skies. Just like Atrihea city, the MBO branch in Plankton city was also off-limits to non MBO personnel.

They arrived at Atrihea city high school after some minutes of traveling on the road.

Atrihea city high school happened to be located in a highland area so when they got down from the bus and started walking it felt like they were climbing stairs.

With the large size of the school, if a normal human was to walk around they would easily get tired because it was constantly like climbing the stairs but It wasn’t really a difficult thing for the students since the physical fitness of mixed-bloods were higher than normal.

Multitudes of students flocked into the school’s hall and took their seats.

Surprisingly when Gustav took his seat he was accompanied by two beauties.

One sat on his left and the other sat on his right.

The students around would occasionally turn their heads to stare at him and point fingers.

Most of them murmured into their friend’s ear but Gustav could hear the words of those within his perception range.

"That’s him, he survived the attack of the engine room spacecraft without suffering a single scratch,"

Whenever Gustav heard this he would wonder if his explanation yesterday was didn’t enter into the ears of the students.

He had given a perfect cover-up explanation yet the scene was still trending in the lips of the students.

"I WELCOME YOU ALL TO ATRIHEA CITY HIGH SCHOOL! THE EXCHANGE OF KNOWLEDGE WILL COMMENCE IN A FEW MINUTES!"

A loud voice reverberated across the hall.

- Exchange Of Knowledge

- Exchange Of Knowledge

- Exchange Of Knowledge

"I WELCOME YOU ALL TO ATRIHEA CITY HIGH SCHOOL! THE EXCHANGE OF KNOWLEDGE WILL COMMENCE IN A FEW MINUTES!"

A loud voice reverberated across the hall.

The students stared at the middle of the hall.

The hall was arranged in such a way that the large stage was placed in the middle.

Beside it was another podium where transparent seats that looked like simulators were placed.

A giant screen was placed above, it hung from the ceiling.

The seats on the second podium were arranged in a kind of circular format.

The person on the stage introduced Atrihea school to the audience and spoke for a few minutes about how the exchange of knowledge will be held.

A participant from a school will ask a question and the rest of the students would think of an answer.

They would answer the question in the most descriptive method possible. If the answer was correct they would receive five points.

If no one could answer the question, the participant who posed the question would have to explain it. If that happened the five points would go to them.

According to the rules, questions from any subject could be brought up.

It was done one turn after the other. Three participants represented a school but only one could ask a question until it got to their turn again.

It would keep rotating from one school to another.

Another rule was the question posed wasn’t allowed to surpass, high school level difficulty.

The screens up there were programmed to display the questions asked by the students, grade their difficulty level, and analyze the explanation of the students.

"I WILL NOW CALL ON THE SCHOOLS AND THE STUDENTS REPRESENTING THEM!"

The person on the stage right now was the vice principal of Atrihea city high school.

"WHEN YOU HEAR YOUR NAME PLEASE

COME OVER TO THE STAGE AND SIT ON THE SEATS RESERVED FOR YOU!

"Faruko Adrias, Petra Jenkins, and Brenda Sariel from Cheryl High!" The vice-principal called out.