The Genius Evolution Store

”Mission failed. I repeat, mission failed! Auric Elfe has shown his fire and unique elements. He may already have water, light, and dark elements, but keep them hidden. Bew—”

The Director turned grim upon receiving the report. He looked at the radio while clenching his hands.

”How many times is this already? The first time was when they witnessed the transaction. After that, the beast waves on Thunderer City. Even Schad couldn’t do it. And this time, even after making all those plans, we still couldn’t bring in Auric Elfe?”

The Director’s expression darkened. He had never thought that catching a single person was this hard. He had even gone out of his way to stop the adjudicators from making their moves.

”And this time, he revealed two of his elements. His base is still the unique element, so it’s normal to show that element. I don’t know how he used that element, but the fire element...”

The Director pinched the bridge of his nose. ”The more I think about it, the more I realize that this guy might be the reason we’ve failed all this time. Did he have all the elements from the beginning? Has he been refusing to reveal all that information so that he could use it as his trump card?

”So, this means if we want to deal with him, we need even more rank 4 or even rank 5 humans? But two rank 5 humans have died in the Mall Ruins. If I want to mobilize another rank 5 human, I’d need to ask for help from others...

”Those foxes are ready to use me for their own benefit.”

The Director squinted. He wondered what he could do next to handle this situation.

Never in his wildest dreams would he imagine himself having such a headache to handle a student who had just graduated from high school.

”Then again, this guy is backed by the Relesha family. He’s also quite close to a lot of prominent families...”

He sighed. He had failed, so all that was left to do was to think of another plan. ”It looks like the next time I do this will be the time I go all out, even if it means I have to deal with those annoying foxes.”

...

Meanwhile, the Director was having a hard time, Auric and his team were in a festive mood.

”We won!” Auric cheered.

”Oohh! I never thought we could actually win.” Gloria was completely impressed. Auric’s commanding ability and his insight were exceptional. If she were the one leading this group, she would have ordered a retreat right away.

Auric cheered because he didn’t have to rely on Arnie. This way, Arnie didn’t have to have a conflict with the military.

At least it would lessen the damage to the Schneider family.

Auric let out a long sigh before walking toward the Shadow Guards. They were injured, but only one appeared to be seriously injured. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be permanent damage, and it wasn’t life-threatening.

”Thank you for helping me.”

The Shadow Guards looked at each other. The leader came to Auric while waving his hands. ”We are just doing our job. There was already a suspicion beforehand. Miss Maya notified the family right after you informed her that you intended to join this event, young master.

”That’s why the family assembled this group in order to protect you. They intended to make more groups, but being too conspicuous would just trouble you. So, we were chosen not only to participate but also to assist you.”

”Still, you might have a hard time continuing the event because of this.” Auric sighed.

”Please pay no mind. The family will compensate us.”

”Give me a second.” Auric raised his finger as an idea flashed into his mind. He rushed to Ellia and whispered his requests.

Ellia nodded and returned with him. She summoned her Space Storage and took out some artifacts.

”Please take this. I can see that the two of you have wind elements and one of you has a dark element. Unfortunately, I haven’t gone to the Light Road yet, so I don’t have anything to give you yet.

”However, please take these as well. You should be able to exchange them for the artifacts that you need from the family.”

Since the Relesha family handled artifact distribution, Auric thought this would be the best way to compensate them.

Auric gave them one rank 3 and one rank 4 artifact respectively. Of course, he used his own share of artifacts to compensate them.

Still, some of them didn’t have a matching element. Auric hoped they could exchange them for the artifacts that the Relesha family possessed. Or, if they wanted, they could also sell the artifacts.

”Y-Young Master?!” The Shadow Guards were dumbfounded.

Artifacts might be expensive in the market, but their actual value was higher because of their rarity. Most high rank artifacts would only appear at an auction.

There were simply too many buyers and too few supplies.

They never expected Auric to actually give these artifacts to them. In the first place, how did Auric even have so many artifacts in the first place?

”Please take it, or I won’t be at ease.”

”I... I understand. Thank you very much, young master.”

They were smiling. It was precisely because they were from the family with an artifact distribution business that they knew how precious the artifacts were.

Auric felt relieved. He paused for a moment before asking, ”By the way, what are you going to do after this?”

”Unfortunately, one of us doesn’t seem to be able to join for the remainder of the event. However, for the time being, we intend to report this matter to the family and maybe rejoin the event to aid you if necessary.”

”I see.” Auric pointed to the corpses. ”Can you carry these bodies on your way out? There are adjudicators who will be in charge of identifying them. He was notified by my teacher, so I guess you can tell them about what happened here.”

”Understood.” He nodded.

”Lastly... Please wait for a moment.” Auric asked for a note and a pen from Ellia. He wrote down a few things before folding the paper so that no one would read it. ”Can I trouble you to give this to whoever is in charge when you report this matter to the family?”

”Yes, sir.” He carefully put it in his pocket, not knowing what Auric wanted to tell the family.

”Once again, thank you.” Auric waved his hand.

”Yes, sir. It’s our pleasure to help you.”

Compared to what they had gone through, those artifacts weren’t exactly something worth making a fuss over.

It was true that high-ranking artifacts were rare even in this place, but Auric was confident that he could find even more artifacts here.

Besides, this would also stop him from owing the Relesha family too much.

Auric returned to his team. ”Yo, are you guys okay?”

Eric was just too exhausted to reply. He silently sat on the ground, with his back leaning against the tree as though he was about to sleep.

”We are fine.” Ellia nodded calmly.

”You are insane. What is that unique element? The way you coordinate our team is like... seeing the future.” Vera gasped. ”Though, I have to apologize for what happened here. If not for my stubborn uncle, we wouldn’t even have to encounter this kind of problem.”

”Not at all. This is basically between me and the enemy. In fact, I should be the one apologizing to all of you for causing all this mess.”

”Nope. This is not just about you. These people are a bit too crazy. They’re a terrorist organization that needs to be destroyed. The fact that they target you means you are perfect bait. In a way, you are a victim, not the perpetrator.” Vera waved her hand.

Auric smiled as he managed to change the subject. At least they wouldn’t keep talking about his unique element.

He had even used the time element to increase his speed earlier, or else he wouldn’t be able to keep up. It would be best for him not to say anything about his unique element.

Gloria was asking the same thing, but she was more concerned about another thing.

”Well, it’s all good, but who are you?” Vera turned around, glaring at Gloria.

Ellia was already aware of the fact that she was a spy, but she just didn’t know Gloria’s real identity.

Auric waved his hand. ”She and I have reached an agreement. At least, in this event, she will assist us. In exchange, we won’t question her identity. But if we meet again after this event, well...”

Auric just shrugged, implying that there was a chance that they would become enemies. That would depend on how each party reacts.

”Is that so?” Vera thought for a moment. ”I understand. You are the captain, so I’ll follow your lead.”

”Anyway, I’m tired. Why don’t we take this opportunity to get a day off? Recover your strength as much as possible today.” Auric smiled while pointing back toward the Unique Valley. He planned to use their facility to relax.

After all, even Auric had used 95% of his unique element. If the battle had lasted for five to ten minutes longer, his God Mode would have run out.

But this also made him quite curious. This was an ability that could be used even when he was this weak.

Judging from the situation, his father would most likely hide something even more powerful. What kind of powerful abilities had his father been hiding?

Would he have the chance to discover it?

After a while, he chose not to think about it. After all, his father’s God Mode had saved him this time. He couldn’t help but want to learn this God Mode technique if he ever had the opportunity, due to how useful it was.

”Sounds good to me.” Katarina agreed.

...

After treating their injuries, the Shadow Guards rushed back to the hospital so that they could receive proper treatment for their injuries.

Once everyone had settled down, the captain returned to the Relesha family.

The hunting event allowed them to do whatever they wanted within a month. It included returning to their family for a while. After all, whether they won or not would just be a matter of points.

If they didn’t want to win, they didn’t have to work hard. Some joined because they had another motive.

Nevertheless, Arnie couldn’t help but feel impressed.

Jennifer was amazed. ”They actually did it?”

”It looks like there were four teams, each consisting of six people. Looking at their strength, the Shadow Guards wouldn’t be enough to turn the tide, not to mention that explosion. The explosion caused a small outbreak, so they might use that outbreak to their advantage.”

”Do you mean Auric Elfe is still hiding another trump card?” Jennifer asked in shock.

Arnie smiled. ”Well, I guess you have to be that powerful to pique those people’s interests. For now, we will identify them. I doubt that something big will happen again for the remainder of the event, but just to be safe, let’s wait here until this hunting event is over. What about the military?”

”They’re checking the situation, but they’re trying to avoid being too intrusive to the event, lest people say that they’re interfering with the event.” Jennifer shook her head helplessly.

”Heh? I feel like that guy is going to get smacked in the face sooner or later.”

”The higher-ups will be angry?”

”Maybe? All I know is that Auric Elfe is not the person who will just accept this. At least someone from his family should be able to reach Auric, so I doubt it will become a major problem. But I definitely would love to see that guy getting slapped in the face.” Arnie chuckled.

”I’m sorry, Senior. But has anyone told you that you have a rather shitty personality?”

”What are you talking about? I’m the good guy. I have such an angelic heart that I kill a lot of people, chop their bodies in half, and burn them at the stake. See? I’m so good. I release them from the suffering they experience in this world.” Arnie shrugged.

Jennifer just rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, Mathias couldn’t help but laugh when he heard the report, especially the message written in the paper. ”It looks like the military has pissed him off. Those poor guys, going to be suffering because of it.”

”Are they? They usually stick together.” Genetia shook her head.

”Nope, not with this.” Mathias showed the paper to her.

The message was clear.

[I decided not to turn in something that the military’s supposed to receive. Instead, I will be turning it over to the Relesha family. Please receive it once I’m done with the event, possibly at the military base.]

”He is really going to create trouble.” Genetia chuckled. ”I wonder who he learned it from...”

*Sneeze!*

”Ughhh!” Maya pinched her nose and said in an annoyed tone, ”Someone must be talking about me.”