The Genius Evolution Store

”Welcome!” Axel spread his arms.

”Thank you.” Auric nodded, already wearing a mask and sunglasses. He had to cover his tracks and everything, so he couldn’t afford to just hide himself right before opening the store. He had to cover his tracks right after he arrived at the airport.

Fortunately, President Gunther had maintained secrecy throughout the entire process. Even though Auric surprised him with his dark element before coming here.

Auric had thought about whether he wanted to use the light element or the dark element this time.

On the one hand, the light element coupled with the healing attribute that his mother possessed could allow him to heal people. On the other hand, he came here as a bronze-grade evolution master.

There weren’t many jobs that required him to heal people while acting as a bronze-grade evolution master.

As such, Auric thought that the best way to approach this was to use the dark element as a cover.

He had copied Maya’s powerful dark element, so it also increased his combat power significantly.

However, the earth element remained a secret. All this time, Auric had only shown the earth element to his group.

No one outside a select few knew he had a dark element. The assassins might have seen it, but they didn’t survive to tell the tale.

As such, having the opportunity to reveal the dark element now would be quite vital to his plan. This was especially true if he wanted to compete with the students at Kallarnos University.

They were strong and talented, so the healing attribute wouldn’t exactly help him a lot in battle.

Nevertheless, Auric had prepared a lot of things this time.

”Thank you for coming.” Auric smiled. ”How are you?”

”I feel excellent now that you’re here. Come, come. Let’s talk on the way.”

”Of course.” Auric nodded.

There was one condition that Axel had. Since his grandfather asked him to do more than what Auric asked, Axel tried to get Auric to stay in his mansion.

This way, his safety would increase drastically. They didn’t need to send more people to protect Auric.

Auric understood this as well, so he agreed. Considering Arnie was going to bring the people who were poisoned to the store, there was a chance that his movements would be tracked. That was why Auric had to take several precautions.

In the car, Axel showed him a picture of the store. ”This is what I have prepared for you.”

Auric could see a two-story building. The size was actually beyond his expectations.

”The size is quite big, but I have put all the materials you will probably need for the next seven days. Of course, they are not just light and dark element materials. I’ve prepared materials for the other six elements. What do you think? Do you want to hide the fact that you can help people with the other six elements?”

Auric thought for a moment. In his store, Auric had certainly helped people using materials.

It was normal for him, but he wanted to stay hidden as much as possible. Looking at the situation, it might be better to just hide the other materials.

”I think you can take back the materials belonging to the six elements. While it’s true that I can do that, it’s better if I don’t.” Auric shook his head.

”I see. In that case, I shall respect your decision.” He nodded in understanding. ”As I told you, there will be four people who are going to help you with the store. The first one will help you clean the store and manage the cashiers.

”The second one can be your assistant. That person has knowledge in materials and can also write down the details of your patients for you.

”The other two are security guards. Both of them are quite powerful, so I hope this is enough for your protection.

”As much as I want to add more people, I don’t think you want it, right?”

Auric closed his eyes and nodded. ”Indeed. I don’t want to make it too big, but I don’t plan to be so small either.”

”That’s why I have prepared some advertisements. I hope that will be enough to let you take care of the patients. In fact, school starts tomorrow, so I can go around and tell other students about it.”

”Sure.” Auric didn’t reject it. The more customers he could get, the better, after all.

Auric had three light elements and two dark elements. For the light element, he had the Sunlight element from Mr. Popo, Super Light from Maxwell, and Holy Light from his mother.

Looking at their strength, Auric thought it would be better to get another light element with a rating between 2.5 and 4.0. This would be more than enough to fill up the remaining energy to reach 100%.

Of course, it would still take some time before he could evolve the light element.

On the other hand, his dark elements consisted of Maya’s Eternal Night element as well as the Shadow element he got from the competition.

Auric wanted to get another dark element with a low rating and probably search for something with a similar rating to his light element target.

Auric checked the description of the store before asking, ”Are we going to the store now?”

”Yes. We’ll check the store first and meet my grandfather for dinner.”

”Sounds good to me.” Auric agreed.

It didn’t take too long for them to arrive at the store. The store was quite big, but not too grand. It was located on a busy street, so people would definitely notice it.

He could see several billboards and other spaces to place his advertisement.

”This is the place.” Axel opened the store with the key, showing the inside.

Auric entered and checked everything carefully.

’What do you think, Lindwurm?’

Lindwurm flew around the store, checking every corner and room. ”It should work just fine. I will establish my power here if you don’t mind using this place.”

Auric asked, ’There is also one more thing I want you to add. I just hope I’m being paranoid, but can you create a space for me to hide? No one other than me can enter that place. There will be a wall, so when they touch it, they will feel nothing but a wall.’

”I can do that, but it will only remain if they don’t destroy it. If the assailant destroys the room or the store, my power will be undone.”

’If it reaches that point, I will use Void Step to exit the building.’

Lindwurm looked up, contemplating. ”Sure. I can do that.”

”Great. I will have that one.”

”But we’re using the upgraded store for this, right?” Lindwurm smirked.

Auric sighed inwardly. ’I know. We can do that. Can you still swallow the energy from rank 1 beasts to maintain your energy?’

”I can, but it’s not as effective as rank 2 beasts.”

’I don’t mind. We will have to visit the nearest material shop from here and buy you some food. Still, I have fed you quite a lot before coming here...’

Auric had indeed spent five million just to buy various rank 2 materials. He used them to feed Lindwurm, but he asked Lindwurm about this just in case he needed more.

”For now, it’s enough. If it’s not enough or something happens, I will inform you about it.”

Auric nodded. According to Ellia, he would get 61 million after tax. Along with the money he had painstakingly earned over all this time, he should have 75 million in total.

Still, it hurt to take 5 million just to feed Lindwurm for ten days.

Fortunately, his Sun Store was also earning quite a lot. After the rank 2 gathering techniques were revealed, the revenue had increased significantly. He just had to produce even more gathering techniques, and it would be a matter of time to earn a few hundred million.

In fact, according to Ellia, his current earnings were about 70 million per week, but that number would stabilize once people had gotten his books. Besides, imitations had started spreading.

Auric checked the rooms one by one. He could see the Evolution Chamber and other rooms, including the storage room. ”This is a good place.”

”Is that so? I’m glad that you like it.” Axel smiled and handed over the key. ”This is the key to the store. Those four people will follow your schedule unless there’s a change to it.”

”No. There’s no change in my plan.”

”Very well.” Axel extended his hand, pointing to the exit. ”I shall show you around the town.”

”Sure.” Auric smiled.

...

While Auric was enjoying his time in another city, Ellia was having some trouble with the arrangement.

Arina placed down her tea while asking, ”How is it going, Miss? There are going to be plenty of people who will try to get you over there.”

”I know. I’m not exactly worried about myself. My parents can’t do anything to me right now. As long as I can please my grandfather, everything is going to be fine. What I’m worried about is Auric.”

Arina thought for a moment. ”What’s the problem?”

”They may have investigated my relationship with Auric. Knowing that we’re close, they may come to him instead of me. After all, Auric has a unique element, and his family is not very big. Even if he is a genius, people think lowly of unique elements. They won’t be scared of someone who doesn’t have such a big future.”

”That’s not Auric.”

”I know, but that’s what they will think, and it’s not like Auric is going to reveal the fact that he’s a unique-element evolution master.”

”That might be a problem.” Arina nodded in agreement.

”For now, I think that Auric should have no problem dealing with the students. They’re strong, but not as strong as Auric. I will try to stop anyone with adult-form avatars.” Ellia thought for a moment. ”If only I understood the power he possesses, especially that last moment when we fought against the assassins.”

”Right? That power was god-like. It felt as if he could predict the future. However, even if he could predict the future, that would only explain predicting their movement. I couldn’t understand how he even managed to find the assassins who were hiding.”

”That’s why I don’t know how much I should interfere.” Ellia agreed.

”That’s indeed a problem.”

”Besides, Auric is already on my grandfather’s radar. He mentioned Auric when he tried to threaten me, but I managed to solve it for the time being. Who knows what will happen now that he’s in the capital city?” Ellia sighed.

”Knowing Auric, especially with that face, he will probably become the envy of many people. We will probably see those brain-dead idiots who are going to pick on him out of jealousy. And I can’t actually compete with the students over there... I can handle some, but I won’t rank very high.”

Ellia crossed her arms. ”For now, he’s going to stay with the Relesha family. At least, he has the protection of the Relesha family. The only problem is how much the Relesha family is willing to protect him. And it’s not like there’s anyone from the Relesha family who can cover him at Kallarnos University.”

”Milinda?”

”Milinda might be quite strong, but even she will have a hard time competing with so many people. To be honest, I feel like Auric has surpassed Milinda in strength.”

”We don’t know yet... Well, he may have, but that’s only if he’s willing to expose his full strength.”

Ellia rubbed her forehead. ”I feel like this is not going to be an easy trip.”

”So, what are we going to do next? Should we ask Tommi about it?”

”Tommi will naturally protect him, but it’s not like Auric needs his protection. I’m just worried that while protecting himself, some of his secrets will be exposed.” Ellia didn’t say anything about the Sun Store.

Officially, Arina didn’t know about this store. But she was worried that the Sun Store would be exposed while Auric was trying to fend for himself. The exposure would lead to much more serious trouble.

”Anyway, you should continue to investigate the people at Kallarnos University. I’m going to finish my work first before thinking about the countermeasures.”

”Sure.”

Ellia let out a long sigh while watching Arina leave. ”I want a slow life...”