The Genius Evolution Store

The next day.

Auric yawned while stretching his body. He glanced to the right, only to find an already empty spot. It looked like Ellia had been awake for some time.

So, he rose from the bed, fixed the mattress, and retracted his power.

Arina and Ellia, who had been waiting outside, noticed him as he came out.

”Here you go.” Ellia gave him a wet towel to clean up his face before grabbing the mattress.

”Thanks.” Auric smiled. While wiping his face, Auric glanced at Arina and asked in a low voice, ”You’re not going to help her or something?”

”No. Despite being born into such a wealthy family where people would handle the daily chores, she has always done them all by herself. In fact, she is somehow more comfortable in a smaller house or an apartment. She has always said, ”It’s not lonely that way.””

It was a small piece of information, but he could see why she was able to handle almost everything herself.

”I guess I should get ready as well.” Auric nodded before tossing the wet towel into his Space Storage. Now that he felt refreshed, Auric asked, ”So, are we going right away?”

”Nope.” Arina grabbed the plate. ”Eat this first.”

”I feel like I’m being spoiled here.” Auric chuckled, looking at the pancakes.

”Don’t be. Having such a hut is very comfortable, not to mention the much softer wood compared to the hard stone ground.” Arina winked playfully. ”But is your energy okay?”

”Yeah. It’s already full.” Auric waved his hand.

”All right then.” Arina nodded before taking a glance at Ellia. She then whispered into his ear. ”So, did you touch her?”

Auric widened his eyes in surprise before chuckling. ”Why should I?”

”You look like someone who likes to take opportunity.” Arina shrugged.

”Well, yeah. But I feel like she’ll be the one taking that opportunity.”

”Both of you are really the same.” Arina shook her head helplessly. Then again, she couldn’t really deny what Auric had said.

If Auric really put his hands on Ellia, she would have more than enough ways to get back at him.

”Either way, it looks like you don’t have any trouble with the lookout this time. We will try one more night, and if you are comfortable enough, we may split the lookout time into three shifts so that we get more time to sleep.”

”Understood.” Auric nodded, feeling a little less guilty.

While Auric was eating, Ellia had finished cleaning up and asked, ”So, have you figured anything out?”

”Somewhat? I haven’t entered yet, so I don’t know for sure.” Auric pointed at the gate. ”There are a total of four entrances. There are walls that create a kind of labyrinth inside, so I am assuming we have to solve the labyrinth and reach the inside. As for which of the four entrances leads to the end... I’m not so sure yet. I need to go inside to find the answer.”

Ellia understood the difficulty. It was why she brought Auric.

Just the fact that he could sense all that alone was more than enough. All they had to do was reach the end.

”How big is the opening? We can’t afford to touch the dense part, so...”

Auric lifted his hands, gesturing the approximate size. ”About this? Two times your body’s width, but you are slim, so maybe one and a half times mine. I will show you directly once we’re there. Though I’m just worried about one thing.”

”What is that?”

”What if we find a dead end? Won’t we have to turn around? There won’t be enough space for me to go back.”

Ellia shook her head. ”No. Arina will be staying outside for now.”

”Miss?” Arina was startled. They were supposed to go inside together.

”Think about the situation.” Ellia stopped her with a finger. ”Also, I need to be here because I’ve guaranteed your survival. If I can’t do that, it’s better to endure the same risk.”

”Well, that’s not what I expected.” Auric chuckled. ”But that’s fine, I guess.”

”When doing business, trust is number one. We may not reveal everything, but I have promised you because I don’t lie and plan to keep my promise.” Ellia harrumphed.

Auric didn’t argue further. ”Anyway, I’m done here. We will have to check it one by one.”

”Sure.” Ellia snatched the empty plate from him and replaced it with a water bottle before tossing the plate into the Space Storage.

”Thanks.” Auric stood up and started moving to the entrance.

Ellia warned Arina, ”Get ready. There is a chance that beasts will come here, so I need you to make sure there won’t be any beasts approaching us. If it’s beasts from the inside, we’ll handle it ourselves.”

”I understand. Are you sure you don’t want me to enter? It’s better if I am the one who gets hurt. Otherwise, I won’t be able to explain it to your family.”

”Don’t make me give you an order, Arina.”

”...fine.” Arina sighed.

Ellia then walked to Auric, who was measuring the entrance with his hands. ”At this size, I guess I won’t be able to get past you even if we both turn sideways.”

”The height?”

”One and a half times my height?” Auric looked up.

”I see. In that case, I will just turn around. Just guide me like that. It should be fine, right?”

”Sure. It shouldn’t be a problem. So, shall we?” Auric pointed to the entrance.

”Lead the way.” Ellia nodded.

”Of course. Well, how about you choose the entrance?”

”You are the evolution master.”

”Lady’s instinct is usually sharper. This is a labyrinth, so...” Auric smiled.

”Fine. Then, let’s go with the third one.”

”Let’s go.” Auric waved and entered the gate.

On his left and right, he could see the dense particles forming walls. As Lindwurm said, touching them would be dangerous, so he made sure he remained in the middle.

Just a few seconds later, he found the first turn.

”By the way, can we use our abilities here?”

”As long as you don’t touch the dense energy, it should be fine. But this place has all the elements, so I am not sure whether it will be different or not. Just in case, I don’t think you should use that.”

”Well...” Auric nodded and turned right. He extended his hand like a wall, marking a line Ellia shouldn’t cross. He placed his hand as if he were protecting her from the sharp edge of a piece of furniture.

Ellia just smiled and carefully turned.

Then, Auric continued, repeating the process several times. There were a few branches, but they managed to check them all.

From the outside, Arina could only see two people walking in a weird way as if they were playing some kind of game.

Unfortunately, Auric stopped ten meters from the entrance of the mall.

”What’s wrong?” Ellia stood on her tiptoes, trying to get a look over his shoulder.

”A dead end. There is a dead end five meters ahead, and I can’t see any other turns.”

”Well, so much for my instinct.” Ellia chuckled. ”Let’s go back then.”

”Let me confirm it for a second.” Auric walked to the very end and looked around, making sure there was nothing he missed before turning back. ”Yeah. Nothing. Let’s go back.”

The way back was a little harder, considering the one in front was Ellia. Auric had to be careful of every turn, making sure he had placed enough markers for her to follow.

Nevertheless, Ellia’s movement was smooth and stable, so there wasn’t much error that needed to be corrected. As a result, they managed to return safely.

”Since my instinct was incorrect, why don’t we go with your instinct this time?” Ellia asked.

”Well, my instinct...” Auric pointed at the three entrances in succession as if he were playing pick-at-random. ”My mom says I need to pick the best one, so I will pick the best one, the best one, and the best one.”

His finger landed on the right entrance.

”Really?” Ellia smiled helplessly, not expecting the way Auric picked the gate.

Auric acted as if he hadn’t heard about it and just walked to the entrance. ”Let’s go!”

Ellia couldn’t say anything else and just followed him inside. They went through a similar labyrinth to the first one, but even after checking all routes, they ended up stuck three meters from the end. It was closer, but not enough.

Even Ellia began to wonder if the other two would be dead ends as well.

Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do but test them.

And it turned out all four entrances were dead ends.

”What? So, all those three hours of walking weirdly and choosing paths are useless?” Arina couldn’t believe it. She was just standing here like an idiot for three hours.

It was even worse for Auric and Ellia. They thought they were simply unlucky that they couldn’t choose the right path.

”This... There’s no entrance?” Ellia had no doubt about Auric’s ability. The fact that he could navigate inside the labyrinth safely meant his senses were correct.

”Maybe we made a mistake once and missed a single turn?” Ellia asked. ”All ruins have entrances, so this place should have one too.”

Auric also thought the same, but Lindwurm suddenly added, ”This place has an entrance. At the same time, you haven’t made a mistake either.”

’I haven’t made a mistake?’ Auric was stupefied. It looked like Lindwurm knew where the entrance was. ’Well, where is the entrance? Since you said I haven’t made a mistake, it means the entrance is not among these four, right?’

”You can say that. However, I’m not going to tell you more than this.”

Auric was speechless. ’Aren’t you supposed to be my guide?’

”You say you don’t want to rely on me. I have given you a clue. It’s up to you to find the real answer.”

Auric looked down, deep in thought. ”I didn’t make a mistake. There should be an entrance somewhere...”

”!!!” Ellia and Arina were arguing about whether they should head inside or not, so Auric’s words confused them.

”If there is an entrance somewhere, then where is it?” Arina asked.

Auric and Ellia couldn’t help but think of the same thing. They imagined the mall’s blueprints and thought about a certain entrance.

They looked at each other and said the same thing. ”Underground parking lot?!”

Auric and Ellia high-fived each other. ”Let’s go!”

”Underground parking lot? There is nothing there. Wait!” Arina was simply overwhelmed by these two, who were acting at their own pace.

They ignored her and went straight to the underground parking lot through the hole in the ground.

Once they got inside, they couldn’t help but look around, wondering if they could find any emergency stairs.

However, no matter how they looked or even felt around, they found nothing but a wall.

”This is weird...” Auric crossed his arms. ”There should be an entrance.”

”But we have checked. There are none here—no emergency stairs, no gaps.” She shook her head.

”What am I missing?” Auric realized Lindwurm was salty that he never really relied on him. It might be easy if he just buttered Lindwurm up, but this was what he had been doing until now, so he didn’t intend to ask Lindwurm’s help unless it became necessary.

”Even if we want to go down further, the path leading to either the driveway or the lower floor is located within the ruins. There is no way we can pass the barrier.” Ellia sighed.

Auric suddenly snapped his fingers. ”That’s it!”

”What?” Ellia tilted her head in confusion for a second before realizing what he wanted.

”We can just...” Auric wanted to say they should teleport, but Ellia abruptly stopped him. ”In this place, it’s better to open an entrance ourselves so that we don’t get trapped. Cover your mouth and nose.”

Without waiting for them, Ellia drew her blade and swung it down.

Suddenly, eight slashes appeared on the floor as the energy from it erupted, crushing the concrete floor and opening a hole to the level below.

”Let’s go!” Ellia jumped off. Since the floor had been sealed before, it was obvious there would be no beasts around.

And it was at this time that Auric could find a thin layer of energy. It was different from the thick strands of energy. This one formed a barrier-like screen.

Auric walked closer as he heard Lindwurm saying, ”Just use your energy to neutralize them.”

Auric followed his instructions. He noticed that the energy of the barrier was moving in a similar way to the support test.

So, he rearranged them to create an opening in the barrier.

”Heh...” Auric turned to Arina and Ellia. ”We’ve been tricked... by the ruins.”