The Bloodline System

Author's Note: Unedited Chapter

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At the same instant he picked, a loud announcement rang out.

"The Blovan Tree Race Has Commenced!"

Immediately after this announcement, the groups sped forward intensely at their desired tree.

The stampede had caused a cloud of dust to scatter across the place but such couldn't hinder anyone of them.

Gustav and the others arrived in front of the one he picked and immediately placed their hands on it in a bid to pull it out of the ground.

"Hold on... send your energy into it first," Gustav stopped them before they could forcefully yank it with their strength.

"The tree must accept your energy before you can pull it out. If we try to do so forcefully, the roots will extend further into the soil and keep extending till it becomes impossible to pull out. Using our abilities are restricted so imagine how long we would spend here trying to uproot a supernatural tree," Gustav explained lengthily causing the others to stare with astonished expressions.

'The Handler decided to withhold this information... how did he figure it out in just a glance,'

Everyone placed their palm on the tree at this point to do as Gustav had instructed. Meanwhile in the vicinity, the other participants were struggling to pull theirs out.

After two minutes, the tree roots began to pull out of the ground and Gustav gestured at the others.

At this point they grabbed it and pulled it out.

The tree fell to the ground and they raised it up at different angles.

-"How the hell did they get theirs out so fast!?"

-"Damn it, we're not having any progress here,"

-"Is that planet earth?"

-"Those other guys managed to pull theirs out as well.

Voices could be heard in the vicinity as many of the groups kept struggling with theirs.

"Aildris take the front, Angy take the rear, E.E stay in front of Angy, Fildhor stay behind Aildris, everyone else get in between and make sure you don't take your hands off the tree no matter what," Gustav instructed.

"Yonda you're the shortest here... your height would cause issues so just hold on instead of trying to get your feet on the ground," He added.

"Why am..."

"Now is not the time," Aildris tapped Yonda's shoulder before he could disagree.

"Hmph!"

Everyone quickly did as Gustav instructed and went on to raise the tree above their heads as they gave each other a particular amount of distance.

The tree being over five hundred feet long still had untouched spaces ahead and behind but Gustav didn't seem to mind after everyone followed his instructions.

The tree was heavier than a thousand tons but this was something Gustav could easily lift himself. Having the help of everyone else was a bonus.

The major issue would be making sure no one let go of it as they raced along with it.

"Let's go... whenever I give the 'Grow' call sign, make sure you tighten your grip around the tree harder," Gustav stated.

The group anwered as they began to race down the sandy path.

They weren't the only ones who had managed to pull out their trees as it seemed a couple of group also figured out the trick.

At first it was a little difficult for everyone to keep the same pace and this caused them to move slower in some areas.

Eventually they began to get used to it as everyone followed Aildris pace who stood at the forefront.

Gustav was right in the middle with Endric who stood behind him. Gustav had placed Angy behind because she was the quickest. It would be difficult for everyone to keep to her pace if she stood at the front.

Minites into the race, more groups managed to pull their trees out and tried to catch up to the others who were ahead.

Gustav group who was far ahead with six other groups kept speeding forward with their trees above their heads.

Gustav didn't need to look to the left or right before he could sense the groups by the sides closing in on them.

He wasn't interested in unnecessary confrontation at the moment as he could see they were closing in on a tricky terrain up ahead.

"Aildris... everyone decrease pace," He yelled out.

Aildris began to reduce his speed which also caused a chain of reaction as everyone tried to slow down as well.

The space they had left between themselves help to adjust to a change in pace but it was still a bit troublesome.

The groups who were closing in on earth's candidates from the sides noticed the speed reduction but weren't interested in reducing their speed as well.

It was a race after all.

The terrain up ahead had a path that extended upwards but only had a two meter breadth which was pretty small.

A little mishap could cause a group to fall from the sides which would cause them to let go of the tree and get disqualified. However they were two paths by the sides of the bridge like path in the middle.

These two paths were wider and looked better but it was difficult to tell which would be a better choice.

The two groups who were initially closing the gap with Gustav and the others from the side, had gotten ahead.

They were no longer interested in confrontation as both of them picked the left and right paths simulationeously.

The earth's candidates were currently in sixth position due to the decrease in pace but Gustav was unbothered as he gave another instruction.

"We're taking the middle path,"

"What? It looks like the smallest... why?" Fildhor questioned from up ahead.

"Just trust me... besides didn't you guys do a balance training on a tinier platform?" Gustav stated.

Everyone recalled the training they went through. A smile appeared on their face. This one was really nothing compared to it.

The other three groups ahead of them also picked the left and right paths. It didn't seem like anyone was interested in taking the risk of picking the middle path.

A group behind had begun catching up to earth candidates and were looking to collide but at this same moment, Gustav gave the instruction to speed up.

Fwwwhiii~

The group behind with the intention of colliding had looks of surprise as they saw earth's candidate head towards the middle path.

They quickly swerved to the side to avoid following them and headed towards the right path.

At the moment, seven groups had chosen their paths and the others behind were catching up and choosing theirs as well.

-

Far behind the track a group who looked like rock giants, had just managed to get theirs out of the roots.

There were still other groups struggling to pull their trees out but their captain looked pissed as he stared at the many that had gone ahead of them.

"~Grruhh thisahhiii~"

"Everyone get on," The interpretation of the captain words read as thus.

He raised the six hundred feet tall tree in a vertical format causing it to extend high up.

The others jumped to various parts of the tree branches and hung on.

"~Siahitu Grruh tibia~"

"They do not forbid the use of physical strength so we won't be disqualified," The rocky jaw of the captain moved as he spoke.

After everyone latched on he squatted as he built intense strength in his legs...

The ground began quaking from the force and in the next instant...

Thoooomm~

He leapt forward with intensity while carrying the entire weight of the tree and his teammates along with him.

The groups who were ahead looked upwards and spotted a body traveling across the air with one of the Blovan trees in his grasp.

-"Is that even allowed?"

A lot of them wondered out loud but since there was no disqualification, it meant this was allowed.

The rocky figure would land thousands of feet ahead of his initial jump point and leap forward once again.

The other groups couldn't imagine just how high his physical strength was to be able to lift all of that and still leap into the air while carrying it.

-

Gustav and the others currently transversed the small bridge like path which was up to fifty feet above the floor level.

They could spot the other groups by the sides below as they sped forward on this small path unrestricted.

They could also spot the small body of water up ahead on the left and right paths below.

Now they understood why Gustav had picked the terrain that extended upwards.

The small body of water was at least seven hundred feet wide and left no land for the groups to run on till they scaled through it.

The first group to arrive before the body of water, tried leaping over it together.

However, they didn't seem to have leapt at the same time, neither did they use the same amount of strength...

This caused an imbalance and in the next moment, a couple of them were forced to let go of the tree as it slipped out of their grasp.

Splashh~ Splassshh~

Splashing sounds rang out as some of them fell into the water body.

"Planet Ghundabult Disqualified,"

"Distance Scaled; 12029 Meters,"

The announcement went off for the first group disqualification at this point.

Meanwhile the first group on the right side had also arrived before the water body and foolishly tried the same as the disqualified team.

"Planet Gshack Disqualified,"

"Distance Scaled; 12029 Meters,"

Cheers were heard from the spectators area as one of the floating screens above showed the current leading possible group.

1. Earth

2. Ustanbid

3. VA

4. Roidinstack

5. V#b

The footage displaying the race zoomed in on Gustav and his group as they made their way to the end of the exalted path.

They had easily scaled through the water areas due to taking the high ground. However not only them had done this.

Some groups behind seem to have caught onto reason to use the high ground as they also picked the middle path.

A couple of other groups still got eliminated due to the water body encounter on the right and left paths but that changed when the first group managed to scale through.

The second group jumped right into the water body and made use of one hand to swim their way to the other side while still holding onto the tree.

This caused a domino effect that led to other groups copying as well and teams stopped getting disqualified at this point.

Gustav and the others were in the lead at the moment but others behind were giving chase and steadily catching up.

Not everyone in their group could move very quickly so Aildris was moving at the most moderate pace possible. Some groups had more members with higher speed which helped.

They soon began to close in on another tricky terrain. Two mountains were on the left and right side respectively while a normal path was stretched out in the middle.

The two mountains also had paths that led upwards while the one in the middle just looked straightforward and leveled to the ground.

"Which are we picking Gus?" Aildris questioned from up ahead.

"All paths have issues we have to be careful... let's head to the left,"

They had thought Gustav would pick the middle again but this time was different.

They made a swerve and headed to the left while the group catching up to them from behind, kept on the middle path.

They had learnt their lesson from last time and didn't want to repeat it.

Other groups were beginning to arrive at this point as well and began to make their decision.

Gustav and the others ran up the path that led up the mountain on the left and some groups seemed to be catching up behind them.

"Left..."

"Right..."

"Seven feet to the left..."

"Left..."

Gustav kept giving instructions as they closed in on the top of the mountain.

Boom!

A small explosion suddenly rang out behind.