Transcendent Gene
Chapter 52: Early Reunion [6]

Chapter 52: Early Reunion [6]

Raymond and Gio spoke for a bit longer so the latter could properly understand their agenda. In the meantime, the zephyr moved towards Gastle to drop Gio off.

The most Gio could get out of the older man was that the main priority would be hunting Djinn. His role, in most cases, would be at the back of the group. As for what exactly he would be doing, it was still a mystery.

Raymond said they would figure that out as they went.

Basically, it was an internship he knew nothing about, but it was too important to give up. Gio accepted that he’d have to wait to learn any more and got to know some of the other crew members during the flight.

The two men who assisted Natalia were named Jason and Ulver. Jason was the lightning user. He was relatively quiet, but he wasn’t unfriendly. When Gio walked up to him, he took the initiative to introduce himself.

The other man, Ulver, was also the quiet type, but in a different way. He gave off an unapproachable aura and muttered to himself every once in a while. When Gio approached, he looked at him like he was crazy.

"He’s like that. Everyone else is sane, so don’t worry about him."

Natalia was the one who pulled him away and told him the man’s name.

"There are six of us on the main team excluding the Captain. Everyone else you see is either here to work the zephyr or escort us. The rest aren’t here right now, but you’ll be able to meet them next time."

The fact that Gio came to see them seemed to tell them that he’d accepted Raymond’s offer. As for that offer, they were all clearly aware of it as well.

"Not everyone will agree to you being here," Natalia continued.

"But they trust the Captain, so they won’t wrong you unless you turn out useless. Don’t be useless."

"I never planned to," Gio responded with a wry smile.

’Well, even I was questioning his decision to invite me, so it’s natural for others to do the same.’

Of the three, he’d already seen Jason and Natalia when Raymond visited his house a bit ago. He’d met Ulver now, meaning the other woman from back then and two others were missing.

’Seven people is a good size for a team. They also seem like they all work well together.’

The real question was: where was his role in all of it?

Nobody seemed willing to tell him. Gio spent the rest of the flight back randomly conversing with Natalia or Jason when he wasn’t sitting to himself. He could only be satisfied with the fact that he was able to thank Natalia for saving him. There really wasn’t anything else of worth in the conversation.

He only heard something else related to his matter when they had already reached Gastle.

"I’ll come back for you in three days. Use that time to get your affairs sorted out," Raymond said as he sent him out the same way he did last time.

The date that his internship would start was the only piece of information he left the zephyr with.

But before he could get on a new bike and return to the city, he did hear something good as well.

"By the way, that serpent you were hunting..."

Gio’s ears perked up.

"...Natalia told me about it. I’ll have some people bring it back to Gastle for you. Consider it a welcome gift for joining the team."

He’d sent people to secure the area before Gio could even start worrying about what became of it.

"Haha..."

Gio chuckled to himself and shook his head.

"I’m assuming you’re going to make me pay you back over the coming year?"

"Naturally. Since when was anything free in this world?"

Their farewell only lasted a short while before Gio was on his way.

Objectively, receiving these things was a good thing. He had no money, so the Blackwing Blood Serpent’s corpse would truly help him. Everything else Raymond did would benefit him as well.

’But why?’

It was hard for Gio to accept. He had almost never seen pure kindness before in his life. He didn’t believe that someone who showed that he could be calculating like Raymond would help him so much just because he wanted him to succeed.

’There are people like that.’

In some of the higher organizations of humanity, traitors and corruption ran amok. In others, there existed experts who would gladly give away their lives so the younger generation could live on and prosper.

However, Raymond wasn’t like those people. Gio had seen what their eyes looked like.

’His eyes aren’t treacherous.’

He was a man who meant the words he spoke.

’But he’s also someone who will always hide his true intentions until the last moment.’

Despite only receiving goodwill from the man, Gio couldn’t trust him fully.

’Especially when he had a squad on me.’

No matter what his intentions, it still proved that he could be scheming if he wanted to.

’Putting that aside...’

Gio sighed as he reached the front gate of Gastle.

He wouldn’t be able to enter the city easily.

As he already expected, the moment the guards saw him, he was apprehended and thrown into a cell. Ten minutes of silence later, he was put into a car and secretly sent out of the city.

It was only obvious that he was being sent to the Dome.

The Old Lady already heard everything from Seb when he returned early, and saying she was angry was putting it too gently.

She was positively furious. When she learned that Gio had been saved by a mercenary squad after almost dying, she wanted to kill him with her own hands.

She sent him with a guardian specifically to avoid that exact situation, so why did Gio make the decision to ditch that guardian and go alone?

He wouldn’t be able to get off easy, even if the Old Lady didn’t want to impose on him and act like his mother.

He was lectured for an entire hour without pause. Afterward, he was thrown into a room alone and told he was being grounded. He would be taken back to the city after she was sure he was okay and wouldn’t be allowed to leave until she said so.

Of course, there was a problem with that. Gio had no choice but to leave in three days to accompany Raymond’s team.

But that was a matter to tell the Old Lady about once she was a little calmer.

Gio silently allowed her to state her grievances without interrupting at all. He knew that he deserved this kind of lecture, so he couldn’t say anything about it.

Since it came with free treatment for his wounds as well, what could he say?

Those words came from a place of sincerity. Arguing against them was senseless.

Nevertheless, peace only came once he was back in Gastle. When he was able to see his own bed again, lay down in it, and look at what he gained for all of his efforts.

A vial no taller than his hand, filled to the brim with a viscous blackish-red liquid.

’I have to keep this safe until I get to "that place."’

He placed it to the side and sighed. Time seemed to be passing slower now that he wasn’t moving.

’Did I ever feel this at that time?’

In the past, he never felt so trapped when he couldn’t train.

That version of him had no thoughts of becoming a Sequencer, so training meant nothing to him. He would have been more than happy to be in bed like this, grounded within Gastle.

But he wanted to make progress.

He wanted to grow so that he could really start changing the world.

He didn’t want to take these slow steps at the start of the journey. He wanted to skip to the part that mattered most.

’However, if I don’t prepare now, I won’t be able to do anything when that time really comes.’

He sighed again and sat up.

’I guess I should–’

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The sound of a fist hitting his front door stopped his thoughts. He approached the door curiously to see who was on the other side.

’A visitor at this hour?’

It was a face he hadn’t seen in quite some time.