The Genius Evolution Store

Chapter 78: Underground Mall

"Welcome." Ellia extended her hand. "Please take a seat."

Auric nodded. After sitting down, he couldn’t help but look around, noticing that no one else was there. Arina was actually the one making his coffee.

It was no wonder Arina asked about it earlier.

"..."

"Don’t worry. I have rented this place. No one will be listening to our conversation, so you don’t need to hold back." Ellia nodded, reassuring Auric.

"I understand." Auric took a deep breath and turned serious. "All right. So, can you tell me about the ruins?"

"How much do you know about the ruins in general?"

"Not much. I know about their structures and the entrances. That’s all."

"That’s enough." Ellia took out her tablet and showed a picture of a building. The building looked small. "This is an underground mall. Everything you can see in this picture isn’t all there is. It was actually a massive underground mall..."

She swiped to the right to continue to the next picture, which was a blueprint. "There are four floors in total. Each floor is about 200 meters long and 30 meters wide. However, there are some bulkier areas like these spots. Usually, these areas are where the beasts are hiding."

Auric thought for a moment. "Since this is underground, doesn’t this mean..."

"Yep. It will be dark. Very dark. There are two options available to us. It will be either to bring powerful flashlights or to use thermal imaging devices. Well, I will take care of both, so you don’t have to worry about it."

Auric crossed his arms. "Shouldn’t it be possible to create our own light source?"

"Do you mean with your element?"

"Yes."

"It is possible. However, wasting your energy like that isn’t ideal. Because we are in constant danger, we will have to conserve as much energy as possible. Well, we can also teleport out in case it’s too dangerous."

"Teleport up? Will it be possible? From what I’ve heard, you can’t teleport inside the ruins." Auric tilted his head in confusion.

"You are mistaken. You can’t teleport into the ruins. However, once your body adjusts to the environment within the ruins, you can teleport anywhere within the ruins. The only thing you can’t do is teleport outside the ruins. Fortunately, this mall is large, meaning you can go to the first or second floor in an emergency."

"Oh!" Auric nodded in understanding.

"Normally, the beasts within the ruins are similar to those around them, just a little bit stronger."

Ellia swiped the screen one more time, showing the map of the area. "Within the area of the ruins, the beasts are mostly rank 1. You will find a couple of rank 2, but it won’t be more than five. So, inside the ruins, you will probably find at most ten rank 2 beasts."

"Won’t it be dangerous?" Auric asked.

"I can kill them." Ellia nodded calmly. Her tone sounded like she didn’t doubt herself even for a second.

Auric contemplated. "In the case of an emergency, won’t it mean we would be trapped there?"

"Not necessarily. As I said earlier, we can teleport ourselves to the first floor and leave immediately. What’s the worst that can happen? Probably the building falling on top of us and burying us alive. In that case, we just have to teleport as it collapses, making us appear above the ruined buildings. We can still leave that way. Besides, you may not know this, but the structures inside the ruins are reinforced."

"So, we can go all out in there?"

"Yes. At least, I don’t think even I can make the entire building collapse. Half, sure."

"..." Auric didn’t feel like she was bluffing. "What about the beasts? Any type?"

"There is no type of beast, but I guess those who are adept at fighting in the dark will likely fill this place. You can imagine the rest."

Auric nodded with a serious expression. "All right, then."

"Let’s move on to the main topic." She continued on to the next picture. "From my observation, this place contains all elements."

’As expected,’ Auric thought.

"You are not surprised?"

"Yes." Auric explained, "You must be planning to get an artifact from this place. Your goal is quite obvious."

"You’re right." Ellia smiled while closing her eyes. "I was indeed planning to enter this place to get the artifact for my evolution. However, thanks to you, this place is nothing more than an opportunity. It’s true that there is a chance for an artifact with a unique element to be there, but we won’t know if it’s suitable for my juvenile-form avatar. Besides, I have you."

"..." Auric didn’t say anything. He understood her troubles.

"You’re not going to suddenly disappear, right? Even if you disappear, I will probably chase you to the ends of the earth if necessary. I don’t plan to be stuck at this stage." Ellia’s expression was serious.

She might really chase him to hell if that were all it took to make her evolve.

Auric smiled wryly. "For the time being, I have no intention of going anywhere else, so you don’t have to worry about that."

"Great. In the meantime, this place becomes an opportunity for me to catch up with the rest of my peers. If you are willing, I will buy any rank 2 unique-element beast essence from you."

"I don’t mind. How about this? You have the priority to get the unique-element beast essence," suggested Auric.

"Sure. That works as well."

’It’s not like I can display it in the store, so it’s fine,’ Auric added inwardly.

"As per the agreement, we will split the total fifty-fifty. Well, I also want priority for plant-element material, especially rank 2 beast essence."

"For Arina? Of course." Auric agreed without hesitation.

"Great." Ellia then took out a contract. "This is a contract for the mission."

Auric skimmed the contract first. "It looks like you’ve predicted that I would agree to give you the priority..."

Auric could find the clause that gave them priority over materials of specific elements.

Ellia chuckled. "I don’t know your whole situation, but I can at least guess this much."

Auric sighed. "I will read it and return the contract later."

"Sure. Take your time. The trip itself is scheduled for next Monday. I expect the trip itself to take two to three days, but to ensure we’re safe, I will add one more day to our itinerary. I’ll make sure we’re back by Thursday evening or Friday morning."

"Understood." Auric paused before raising a question. "How about the entrance?"

"Here’s your coffee. How much have you discussed?" Arina placed the coffee on the table and took a seat.

Ellia showed the tablet while continuing with her explanation. "There are four types of entrances. This one is categorized as the maze entrance."

"Maze? Not locked?" Auric widened his eyes in surprise.

"No." Ellia shook her head. She returned to the blueprint. "See this part?"

"Yes." Auric narrowed his eyes. "From the looks of it, is it the driveway? I can see the parking access."

"Yes. This is the entrance. If we want to enter this place, we have to enter through this gate here." Ellia pointed at the gate where the cars usually enter. "We will have to navigate to the entrance. In this area, the concentration of energy is the thickest. It may look like we can just enter easily, but without a specific route, we wouldn’t be able to."

"You will be drowned by the dense energy..." Auric crossed his arms. "I see. So, you have tricked me into joining?"

"I wouldn’t say I’ve tricked you. It’s true that you are the most suitable person for this job. I know how good you are. More importantly, you’re able to wield all elements, and your sensitivity is higher than even gold-grade evolution masters."

Auric paused for a moment. "What if I trick you here? Or maybe what if I make the wrong turn?"

"Well, people can make mistakes. Even if we end up taking the wrong turn, it probably won’t kill us. True, we will suffer heavy injuries, but I don’t think it will kill us. And if you turn out to be deceiving us, you will definitely face my anger."

"Fair enough." After getting the explanation, he realized that the entrance was quite complex. However, it would be possible with his eyes.

Unlike other people, he could directly see the concentration of elements.

Of course, this would be the first time he saw the ruins up close. He didn’t know whether his eyes would be overwhelmed or not.

However, even if he was overwhelmed, he believed he could somehow see the small gap.

In the worst-case scenario, he had Lindwurm. It was true that Auric didn’t want to cheat, but in a life-and-death situation, it would be foolish to hold back.

Auric snapped his fingers. "Okay. In case we’re able to enter this place, what’s next?"

Ellia continued, "The exploration generally has three phases. The first phase is to map the area and take care of the beasts. Thanks to the first phase, you will have an easier time looting the area. So, looting is the second phase. The third phase is the reporting."

"Reporting?"

"Yes. Normally, we would report the ruins to the authorities right away, but we could always take advantage of it first." Ellia shrugged.

Arina raised her finger. "That’s right. You get nothing if you report it first, but you definitely need to report it. The government will probably take over the area when it can. Besides, there is one hidden danger if we don’t report it."

"Hidden danger?"

"Yes. A beast outbreak."

Since the place could make the beasts stronger, it could indeed cause an outbreak.

Auric frowned. "Still, the beasts are also trapped inside, right?"

"Not necessarily. The beasts are a bit different from us. It’s true that they’re generally unwilling to be near such an area, but it doesn’t mean they’re going to drown like us. They may have some problems, but they will still become powerful."

"I see." Auric understood the fact that humans and beasts are different. Beasts didn’t even have avatars like them. In a way, Auric felt like he was similar to a beast instead of a human.

Auric couldn’t help but ask Lindwurm an absurd question. ’Lindwurm. You’re not going to tell me the secret you’ve been keeping all this time is the fact that I’m a half-beast, right? Like, my mom or my dad is a beast that has taken human shape or something?’

"Your imagination is somehow very wild." Lindwurm rolled his eyes. "No. That’s the answer. Both of your parents are human."

’So, you can still deny something, especially if it’s too ridiculous to be true.’

"..." Lindwurm’s eyebrows were twitching. "You tricked me?"

’No way. You must have misheard it.’ Auric shifted his focus back to Ellia. "I understand how we’re going to proceed. But how about the entire trip to this place? There should be plenty of beasts, right?"

"This is actually an opportunity for you to gain some experience." Ellia opened the bigger map. "We will exit the town through the south gate. We will head southeast and kill some beasts to gain some experience.

"As long as we stick within this zone, there should be nothing to worry about. There are probably only rank 1 beasts... rank 2 if you are unlucky."

Arina nodded in agreement. "The road itself is generally safe. It isn’t that far from the city, so the danger level is quite low. Still, we can’t let our guard down."

"Understood."

Ellia then continued, "We will be sweeping the area around the mall first. As I mentioned earlier, the beasts won’t drown, so we can’t have them mess with us when we’re entering the mall. Only if they’re dead are we safe enough to enter the mall. So, most likely, we have to camp outside this place for the first night."

"So, we need a tent?"

"I have made a list of items you may want to bring. I have also secured a portion of the items as well. Since this is the first time you are on a mission, one of us will be on the lookout alongside you. I hope you don’t mind that."

"Sure. I don’t mind the company," Auric agreed. He knew he was inexperienced, so they must have been worried that he would fall asleep during the lookout. So, he didn’t say anything about it.

"Good. That’s all. You can find all the details here. Just bring the device with you for now."

"Sure." Auric couldn’t help but notice another problem. "There’s one more thing. Since we’re going to report this place, how are you going to explain the fact that we can enter?"

"Good question. We don’t." She shrugged. "What officially happens is that I bring you out to let you gain experience. We just happen to find this place while we’re on the mission. In case they suspect us, they can’t prove it. After all, they can’t enter due to the difficulty of the entrance."

Auric smiled wryly. He couldn’t argue with her because she made some sense. It would be impossible for them to enter unless they had all the elements. If this place truly had all elements, the unique-element evolution master would be preferred.

Unfortunately, Auric was the only unique-element evolution master in the world. In that case, they would need a unique-element user with high sensitivity, which would be hard to find, especially in a town like this.

So, basically, they couldn’t prove it.

"Looks like we have come to an agreement." Ellia smiled.

Auric extended his hand. "I’m looking forward to working with you."