The Genius Evolution Store

Chapter 80: Leaving

Auric gulped, feeling pressured by the judging gaze of his mom.

"Are you really leaving?" Natalia asked in a solemn tone.

Auric took a deep breath before nodding. "Yes. I’m planning to leave the city and head to the wilderness. I want to gain experience outdoors. Besides, I will be leaving with upperclassmen this time, so it should be safer. However, I don’t plan to underestimate the trip."

Natalia remained silent for a while before nodding. "All right, then."

"Eh?" Auric was startled, not expecting Natalia to suddenly accept his request.

"What? Don’t you want to leave? I said okay." Natalia frowned.

Auric was dumbfounded. His mother always worried about him, so he thought she wouldn’t give him permission. If he failed this time, he thought about asking for Ellia’s help next time.

Surprisingly, Natalia accepted his request so easily.

She explained, "You know, I like you. You are an obedient child, too obedient, in fact. I have always imagined what I should do with you if you make a mistake. Should I reprimand you? Should I spank you? It’s just, I have never had the chance to do so."

"Well..." Auric scratched the back of his head.

"However, from your expression, I know you’re not going to give up, and there is no reason to give up. Even if I reject your request this time, you may sneak out next time. That’s why I want to support you in any way I can."

"Mom..." Auric felt like he had misread his mother.

"I know you will leave the town sooner or later once you enter the Grand Magica College. If I stop you right now, it won’t benefit you in the long run. You are a clever child, so I want to ask you this one question. Do you think you can succeed?"

The question was simple. If he could succeed, he would be back in no time. Auric might take a risk, but Natalia knew it was a calculated risk.

That was why Auric could reply with a firm tone. "Yes."

"In that case, there is nothing else I should say." Natalia smiled. It was useless to stop him. If he couldn’t grow stronger, he would end up dying somewhere. It would have been more miserable to know he died without her knowledge.

So, it was better to just accept it and let him go.

"Wait here." Natalia walked to her bedroom and brought back a necklace. "Wear this necklace at all times. Back in the day, your dad wore this necklace when he courted me. When he succeeded, he told me this was his lucky charm.

"So, your dad asked me to give this necklace to you if you ever left town."

Auric felt a bit emotional. "Thanks, Mom."

He looked at this special necklace. Appearance-wise, it wasn’t eye-catching. It had an orange jewel, but it didn’t give off any special luster that would make one think it was expensive.

So, Auric just wore it and hid it underneath his t-shirt.

"Do you need anything else? Where are you going? And for how long?"

Auric happily explained almost everything to her. Since it wasn’t that far from the city, the danger level wouldn’t be too high.

Natalia didn’t argue much and tried to be as supportive as possible, which made Auric feel relieved.

Auric spent the rest of the week focusing on his elements. He was also curious about the gravity element.

So, among the eight battle techniques he had just received, Auric picked two of them. The first one was Gravity Force. This was the battle technique that controlled the gravity room in the Grand Magica College.

It would be useful for training, but Auric also considered its fighting ability. He could use gravity to restrain his opponent’s movement. It would slow them down or pin them to the ground entirely.

The second battle technique was Levitation. Yes, he thought about flying. In the worst-case scenario, the ability to fly would be life-saving.

There were many beasts that couldn’t reach high into the sky.

The concept of Levitation was simply flipping the gravity, allowing this power to negate the Earth’s gravity.

It let him fly, so he could use either Levitation or any other wind-element technique to move in the air.

He could even use it on his opponent. By making them levitate, they would lose their balance, giving him a perfect opportunity to attack.

Of course, he just learned the battle technique. Even though he had prepared the gathering technique, he hadn’t increased his unique elemental energy yet.

After all, there was no rating for the unique element. In other words, the only energy that he could definitely absorb from the ruins was the unique elemental energy.

He could use the ruins to fill up all three of his unique elements.

Meanwhile, he focused on rearranging his battle techniques and gathering techniques.

His absence could be felt on campus. Many students wanted to see him, but no matter where they went, they couldn’t find Auric, causing many to lose interest in attending classes.

It was even more apparent in the Evolution Department. Auric was originally the main driving force for them to join this department.

Since Auric never went there anymore, half of them had already dropped out and headed to their original department.

Of course, Simon took advantage of this opportunity to rebuild his reputation.

And it was even more surprising when he heard that Simon had joined the Phoenix and Dragon Society. It seemed that the Phoenix and Dragon Society had completely cut Auric off, since they really brought in his rival.

Then again, Auric never intended to join the club, so he just shrugged after hearing about it.

What Auric didn’t expect was what would happen in his store. As usual, he would take care of his store on weekends.

Auric didn’t know what happened between Ellia and Milinda, but he noticed Milinda somehow getting even more serious. She took care of the customers while learning about materials as if there were no tomorrow.

Auric didn’t mind teaching her, especially since she was so spirited about it.

On Sunday, he accidentally found two new elements.

Yes, it was surprising to him because there were two elements that actually fit his criteria that came into his store.

The first element was called the Wood Element. Rather than roots like Arina’s element, it summoned polished wood. It had higher intensity, but what Auric liked the most from this element was its speed.

He couldn’t use the Plant General with this element because the intensity rating was different, and he had no time to adjust it. But the Plant Outburst was meant to be used for a higher-rated element, so he could still use it with this element.

The second element was called Speedy Lightning. This lightning might have a lower intensity than the two lightning elements he already possessed, but it was much more stable.

He could use a movement-type battle technique with this lightning. It might not have the explosiveness of the White Lightning or the Purple Lightning, but he could maintain the technique much longer.

In addition, he would get more energy, bringing him closer and closer to evolution.

With the addition of the three battle techniques he got from the tournament and the ones he got from the library, he had learned over twenty battle techniques.

He finally understood the challenge of learning too many battle techniques. He simply didn’t have enough time to master them all, even if he had managed to learn them.

It would definitely help him if he wanted to become unpredictable, but without mastering them, he had to overwhelm the enemy with his firepower if he wanted to win.

Nevertheless, he would have to refine his skills on the battlefield, so he just accepted everything for now and prepared himself for the battle.

Finally, the promised day had come.

Auric wore the armor that he got from the tournament underneath his t-shirt. This was probably the best armor he had, and it was paired with a long coat made of tough hide that further increased his defense.

He looked like he had brought nothing other than himself, but it was because all his items had entered the Space Storage.

Of course, Auric also brought an empty bag, in case he needed to put something that wasn’t meant to be hidden.

His energy had also increased to a terrifying degree.

Name: Auric Elfe

Element: Fire (20%), Water (20%), Lightning (20%), Wind (24%), Earth (40%), Plant (26%), Light (10%), Dark (20%), Unique (30%)

He had increased his element by 64% in the past two weeks. He managed to maintain this pace while balancing his time with the store and mastering the battle techniques.

However, the ruins might allow him to gather even more energy for his body. At the very least, he believed he would be able to max out his three unique elements. It would give him a total of 74% element. If he were lucky, he would find another unique element that allowed him to reach 100% and officially evolve.

Because he didn’t possess an avatar, he didn’t know whether he could evolve or not, so he definitely wanted to confirm it.

Nevertheless, he finally felt ready for the ruins.

When he reached the south gate, he found Ellia and Arina already waiting for him.

"I thought I came early." Auric scratched the back of his head apologetically. He had definitely come 15 minutes earlier than the agreed time.

"On time is late, 5 minutes to 15 minutes is acceptable, 30 minutes is early." Ellia smiled.

Auric just nodded. He raised his head, taking a look at both Ellia and Arina.

Arina tied her hair into a ponytail so that it wouldn’t interfere with her movement. She wore a sleeveless white shirt paired with a brown vest, black shorts, and long gloves.

What Auric didn’t expect was Ellia’s attire. Like Arina, she tied her hair into a ponytail with a bun on top, but surprisingly, her armor consisted of only a pair of gauntlets and pauldrons.

He thought that since she was the vanguard, Ellia would be covering her body with more armor, not to mention she was wearing a short skirt rather than shorts or pants.

"What?" Ellia noticed Auric’s confused gaze.

"Nothing. I’m just a bit curious." Auric looked down. "Shouldn’t you use shorts or pants at least, like Arina?"

"You have a thing for shorts?"

"No. I’m just wondering. Shouldn’t you get something for more protection?"

"When you have full control of your body armor, you don’t need pants to protect yourself from scratches. In addition, I’m wearing a skirt because of the place we’re heading to. It’s summer, alright? Not to mention that the ruins are an underground mall with no air conditioning. Do you expect me to wear long pants? At least I get more air this way." Ellia shrugged.

"..." Auric definitely didn’t expect the answer, but it somehow made sense. "Okay. Treat it as a dumb question from me."

Ellia then raised two fingers. "In any case, we will likely reach the ruins by 1 p.m. Then, we will clear out the area and set up the camp. You can use that time to gather any information you want about the entrance. We will enter the ruins on the second day."

"Sure. I don’t have any problem with the schedule."

Ellia continued, "Once we’re inside the ruins, we will focus on killing everything first and dealing with the rest later. If there are any beasts whose essence can be extracted, I will leave it to you."

"I do have some knowledge about materials, but my skills in dismantling them are not very good, not to mention that I’m not good with blades. I don’t even use one."

"In that case, we will just cut them up and put them in storage." Ellia agreed. "So, anything else?"

"Yeah. Just one more thing. Do people use vehicles outside?"

"Yes, but not right now. Most of the time, vehicles are used to transport a large number of people or materials. So, they’re mostly trucks, and you need to secure the route first.

"However, there is a small wooded area right before the mall, so if we use a vehicle, we would have to loop around it. Besides, the distance isn’t far, so there’s no need for a car."

"Well, just asking."

Ellia pointed to the back. "If you still have any questions, just ask me on the road. Let’s go."