Genesis Code: The Genetic Awakening-Chapter 96: Second Quest (1)

Caleb came to a stop, floating several hundreds of meters above the small crowd in the palace courtyard. His shape gaze recognized most of the people down there and his system did the rest for him.

’She’s here.’

He flashed a small smile and began his descent. Caleb’s all-black outfit was changed once more after he dived into the dungeon, cleared it and took its core. With a few new combinations of abilities he acquired, he was feeling more powerful than ever.

Under a varying number of gazes, Caleb came to land close to Jess – very close.

"Did you miss me?" Caleb asked with a smirk.

"..."

Jess said nothing, taken aback by how close Caleb got to her. She wondered if he was not aware of the people around. Despite that, it didn’t take away the fact that her face flushed red while her tail wagged gently.

The catwoman was very happy to see her new friend – though she wouldn’t make it obvious.

"You should be aware of your surroundings, Caleb." Jess actually said, hinting at the prince and the commanders.

"Oh, I know." Caleb chuckled and gently robbed her fluffy cat ears.

The gesture made the catwoman close her eyes expectantly, her blush deepening. No one had ever tried to do that and got away with it. However, Jess found herself enjoying the strokes.

"Ahem!"

An obvious clearing of throat cut the scene short. Caleb turned around to face the priestess, completely ignoring the flabbergasted prince and commanders. They couldn’t believe Caleb had the audacity to behave this way when he was in the presence of royalty.

"Is someone feeling left out?" Caleb said, shocking the crowd once more. "I’ll get to you soon. For now..." He turned to Jess, who was now looking at him like he was crazy.

"While I don’t mind your games, you should be more sensitive." Her eyes moved towards the ground, prompting Caleb to look over. "Also, if you’ll recall, I didn’t come here with you just for the fun of it."

"Sure." Caleb sighed and stepped away from Jess.

He turned to the prince and stepped forward. However, before he could close any more distance, Daphne and two more commanders moved to block his path.

"Where do you think you’re going?" Daphne growled with furrowed brows. "You may have come here with Commander Fred, but that doesn’t give you any privileges."

Osbourne remained quiet, observing how this would play out. His eyes shifted towards the priestess, noticing that she too was looking at him. Through the eye contact, he knew the priestess had no power over him.

’I haven’t seen anyone with this much confidence in themselves before.’ Osbourne pondered. ’And he gives off no presence at all...Just who the hell is this person?’

The prince could see the man was very powerful, and the fact that he flew all the way here was another testament to his power.

’Commander Fred said this man handled the demons all by his lonesome. Being here means he’s already taken care of them...’ Osbourne gulped slightly, his eyes carefully taking in Caleb’s sharp features.

"Ah, apologies." Caleb gave a small bow. "I don’t know much about court etiquettes, so overlook my blunders. My name is Caleb Zane... I’m what you’ll call a geneticist."

"..."

For a moment, no one said a word. They weren’t clear on what he meant by the last part of his introduction. This was the first they heard of that term.

"A geneticist?"

Osbourne echoed, stepping forward while the commanders stepped aside. Still, they were close enough to intervene should the stranger try anything funny.

Of course, the only ones really cautious of him were the commanders and knights who had no idea what he was capable of.

"Yes, Your Highness." Caleb nodded, turning to look at Celistra. "I’m told my services were needed here and that all this mess may have been my fault."

"Your fault?" Osbourne and everyone else were confused. "What is he talking about?" The prince turned to the priestess for answers.

"Remember the restriction His Majesty put in place to tie the hands of nobles?" Celistra’s words quickly changed the prince’s expression as he gritted his teeth in anger. "Caleb was the final straw that pushed it into practice.

"Before the restriction was put in place, I received a divination from the Goddess about someone who had the power to change a person’s fate.

"However, for that person to eventually reach His Majesty, the king had to restrain his nobles before their abuse of power ended up robbing him of that chance."

Her explanation left most of the people around confused. How was that connected to the mysterious man? Commander Fred and a few others were the only ones who had an inking of what the priestess meant.

"I’m sorry, Priestess Celistra. But this makes no sense." Osbourne was having a hard time believing what the priestess was saying.

"I’m saying your father went through with that restriction because it was a chance for the princess – your sister – to have her fate changed. That same power is what is going to get your father healed in ways I am not able to."

"!"

Osbourne’s eyes widened in shock as he turned to face Caleb, staring at him like he was a newly discovered species. The priestess had already told him but he was still conserved.

There was no way he was going to allow a stranger get close to his father and sister. But with the priestess basically saying the Goddess planned all this, there was no way he could stay in denial.

While the prince and everyone else were left in shock, Commander Fred furrowed his brows as his mind went back to the case of the baron and some things Caleb said during his interrogation.

’What he did to the Baron could be reversed but only he could do it.’ Fred mused, comparing the Baron’s condition to the princess. ’Healing wasn’t going to cut it...’

The truth finally hit the commander as he too turned to look at Caleb – just differently. The desire to get him back to the duchy intensified at that very moment.

After several seconds of processing what they just heard, the prince asked another question. He was in a tough spot right now as the kingdom may very well be at its weakest.

He knew this was just the beginning as more problems were bound to surface after a couple of days. So he had only one concern at the moment.

"Can he be trusted?"

"Like I said before, Your Highness." The priestess bowed slightly. "Your father took a leap of faith in the Goddess’ grace. It’s time you took yours..."