The Genius Evolution Store

Eric walked away, leaving the shocked Simon behind in the arena. He came to the betting booth. The owner had a pale face, thinking about how many points he had to pay.

It was supposed to be an easy point grab. Yet, Eric turned the situation around and won. This time, he might end up going bankrupt, and there was no way he could escape it.

”I won. Give me my points.” Eric demanded in a cold voice.

”Yooo! You won!” Auric sneaked up on him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

”Don’t touch me.” Eric shrugged, brushing Auric’s hand away.

”Don’t be so cold. You’ve won me so many points.”

”Indeed.” Ellia nodded in agreement, joining them. ”Don’t worry. He will pay the points. After all, he owes me points as well, and I will be the last to receive my portion. There is no way for him to escape from his responsibility.”

The booth owner wanted to cry, but if he ran away, he felt like Ellia would chase him to the ends of the earth and squeeze everything from him, including his life.

”Right?” Auric chuckled before glancing at Eric. ”Since you’ve won me all these points, I guess I should give you something back.”

”You got it fair and square. I don’t need your kindness.” Eric snorted.

”Oops. I’m already done.” Auric looked away playfully.

Eric felt his body become light. Due to Simon’s attack and the way he withstood the lightning element, the lightning energy was stuck in his body. It would take some time to remove it. He might even need to use herbs.

But with Auric, solving this kind of issue would take only seconds.

”You...” Eric clicked his tongue.

”Hehehe.” Auric waved while taking a few steps back. ”Still, congratulations. I knew you were going to win.”

”Hmph.” Eric snorted. ”All this time, he has been mingling with those people in the Phoenix and Dragon Society, drunk on his own talent and wasting his time building useless connections. I’m merely using my time to further improve myself so that those people will come to me instead of me coming to them. That’s why he lost. It’s that simple.”

”Hehehe. Is that all? Didn’t you say it earlier?” Auric grinned and started imitating Eric. ”I can’t let a mere genius stop me.”

Eric ground his teeth, his face reddened with embarrassment. He really wanted to slap Auric in the face.

”Hmph.” Eric snorted and walked away, but he somehow couldn’t stop himself from saying, ”Well, he is indeed a mere genius.”

”Hehehe. What did you call me earlier?” Auric continued to tease him.

”You are a freak, a pervert. So, get away from me!” Eric pushed Auric away and ran away.

”That’s not what you said earlier.” Auric shouted, but Eric had already run far enough to escape from him.

Auric let out a satisfied breath as though he really enjoyed teasing Eric.

”I can kind of understand why this guy dislikes you.” Ran shook his head helplessly.

”What?” Auric was taken aback by the betrayal.

The rest just chuckled. They didn’t leave because they had something else important to do. They needed to collect their winnings as well.

Only Ellia left as she had reports to write.

Auric just looked at the disappearing Eric. He knew how hard Eric had been working all this time. He probably trained his body and battle techniques until 3 or 4 a.m. and only got a few hours of sleep to improve quickly.

Auric always respected that side of Eric.

”Anyway, we’re done here. We should get going.” Ellia started walking.

”Ah, yes. By the way...” Auric came to her and whispered, ”Do you think I could borrow the artifact for a bit? The unique-element artifact.”

”How long do you need it?”

”Maybe a week... no, three days will be fine.”

”Sure.” Ellia agreed. It was only three days. She wouldn’t even finish absorbing the essence, let alone the two artifacts. ”You sure you don’t want them both?”

”One is enough.”

”All right then.”

”Thanks.”

”No problem.”

Since the match had already finished, Ellia and Arina immediately headed to submit their reports, including the discovery of the ruins.

Other people would have a hard time finding the entrance to the ruins. Even if they could find it, they wouldn’t be able to figure out what happened inside.

Meanwhile, Milinda was left behind again. Milinda was watching Eric’s fight because she had heard that Eric was somehow connected to Auric.

It was surprising to find Auric returning to the school at this time, but Auric had to report to his teacher and go back home, so she really couldn’t stay with him anymore.

Her only chance was the next day when Auric opened his shop again.

Ran simply observed everything.

”Auric is really amusing.” Ran smirked. ”He has shown results that were previously impossible. In addition, Eric, who was supposed to lose, has actually beaten Simon.

”It will be quite a big blow for the Phoenix and Dragon Society. After all, Simon is known to be the second best. Since they failed to recruit Auric, they chose his rival, which turned out to be not so good.

”On the other hand, Eric seems to be better. He has both a calm demeanor and a gentle nature. Although his reputation is not exactly solid, he is well liked among his peers.

”Besides, who doesn’t like to see the black dog... hot dog... ah, the underdog wins?

”Thanks to this victory, I bet the academy will be quite chaotic.” Ran thought for a moment. ”I guess I should give Eric a warning as thanks for winning me points.”

With a sly smirk on his face, he chased after Eric, who went to the infirmary.

...

Phoenix and Dragon Society.

Simon’s body was shaking in frustration. He clenched his fists, but he couldn’t lift his head.

He had just lost. The people around him whispered to each other with judgmental gazes at him.

”He still has the face to come here?”

”It is natural to lose, especially if it’s a fight between the second best and the third best.”

”Yeah, but it’s too much if we consider the advantages that he has against Eric Dabood. He should have won easily.”

”I can’t deny that. It’s embarrassing us right now. At this rate, people are going to mock us.”

”I know, right? He has been flaunting how talented he is and the fact that he is connected to the Lightning Emperor. But I don’t see anything special about him. He might have Grade S affinity and an extreme lightning variant, but he doesn’t have anything else.”

”Indeed. He’s just an embarrassment. We should just revoke his membership.”

”But won’t we incur a big loss as well? People are going to judge us, thinking we don’t have good judgment.”

”Should we just recruit Eric Dabood?”

”I don’t know. It’s just that the situation is going to blow up. Failing to recruit Auric Elfe and failing to recognize Eric Dabood’s value... we’re going to become a laughingstock soon. Besides, Simon’s reputation is not necessarily good either.”

”He should have behaved himself.”

In the past, he acted elegantly in front of other people. However, he also talked down on other people, thinking he was above them simply because of his talent.

That was why, even though he had his looks and talent, people didn’t view him very favorably unless they wanted something.

Simon felt like punching them, but he was the youngest in this place. They had more than enough strength to stop him or even beat him down.

He could only bear it.

The hall was filled with a total of 34 people, including Simon.

After a while, two people entered. The first one was none other than the man who once provoked Auric before, William. He was the vice president of the club, yet he was walking behind the other man.

This person had short blue hair and sharp blue eyes. His expression was calm, but they could feel chills down their spines when they made eye contact with him.

He was none other than the current president of the Phoenix and Dragon Society, Abel Bousque.

Abel sat down on his little throne and supported his head with his hand as his elbow rested on the armrest. He looked at Simon coldly. ”So... the loser has the nerve to come back?”

Simon gritted his teeth and raised his head, glaring at Abel. However, Abel’s sharp gaze made him unable to speak. It was as if he were looking at a massive snake about to pounce on him.

”William. What do you suggest we do to this guy?”

William fell silent for a moment before saying, ”Expelling him from the club will be too much. We’ve lost too much reputation right now, so it’s best to stay quiet for the time being.”

”So, no punishment?”

”A penalty is necessary. However, we also have to consider the position of the Lightning Emperor. So, I suggest reporting this matter to the Lightning Emperor first.”

Abel narrowed his eyes, pondering.

Meanwhile, William took a step back and observed Simon and Abel.

Abel actually ordered, ”Fine. Let’s report this matter to the Lightning Emperor first. This is already embarrassing. He will need to face some punishment later.”

William nodded.

”Let’s see... Thanks to this defeat, we’ve let Auric Elfe and Eric Dabood trample on the dignity of the Phoenix and Dragon Society. We can’t exactly let them go unpunished either.

”I heard Auric Elfe has been spotted in this academy again.” Abel glanced at William.

William nodded. ”Yes. I’m assuming he will be returning to class soon. I see no other reason not to.”

”All right. Who is the teacher again? We’ll just have him cause trouble for Auric Elfe and Eric Dabood. Don’t make it too apparent, but don’t make it too subtle either.”

William acknowledged the order without saying anything. However, he somehow had a bit more prejudice against Abel.

When he tried to recruit Auric Elfe last time, Abel was actually the one asking him to proceed. He said he couldn’t do it because he had another matter outside.

After being lectured by his grandfather, he couldn’t help but look at this matter from a different perspective.

’This order has confirmed something. Auric Elfe doesn’t have any part in this, but for some reason, Abel is trying to pin the blame on him as well.

’I think I finally realize how Abel has been manipulating me all this time. Abel Bousque, an heir of a big family. From what I’ve heard, he’s infatuated with Ellia Stroph Astler.

’There are rumors that he’s trying hard to get on her good side or even volunteering to help her evolve. Well, there’s also a rumor that he’s after her money, since his family is just a local tyrant while Ellia’s family is on the national level.

’Auric and Ellia have been spotted together multiple times, and the picture of Ellia and Stefany fighting for a man has been circulating.

’Since Abel is a fourth-year student, he will lose face if he messes directly with Auric. That’s why he wants me to recruit Auric to this club. This way, he is justified in punishing Auric for every little thing.

’However, Auric has no desire to join the club, which made his plan backfire. He has manipulated Simon to take revenge against Auric by defeating Eric, but it has backfired again.

’And now, he’s pinning the blame on Auric as well. He is planning to use the teacher to give Auric an opportunity to mess up, which will lower his reputation.’

With a clear head, William could finally figure out the entire scheme. They were elites, so it was normal for them to scheme against one another.

He just never thought that Abel had been scheming against him. William sighed inwardly. ’No, he’s probably manipulating my desire to become the next president.’

He was eager to complete tasks for Abel so that Abel would think favorably of him and make him the next president of this club. That ambition blinded him.

’To think it would be that easy to figure out his true and rather petty reason.’ William couldn’t say anything. At the very least, he didn’t plan to oppose Abel or Auric openly, since he still wanted that position, but he wouldn’t do Abel’s bidding anymore.

On the other hand, Simon was completely ashamed. Because Abel kept mentioning those two names, they stuck in his head.

Simon slammed his fist against the wall while grinding his teeth. ”Auric Elfe, Eric Dabood. Those two need to die!”