The Genius Evolution Store

Chapter 92: Concluding the Expedition

"Hahahahaha." Auric laughed in the air, fully satisfied with the result.

Ellia, on the other hand, immediately turned around. There was still one more opponent to defeat, so she had to hurry and rejoin Arina.

"Huuu..." Arina breathed heavily. She had spent most of her energy in just a couple of minutes.

After all, her role was to keep this bat away from the others. She wasn’t just stopping the bat here, but she was also ensuring that no attack from the bat would ever reach Ellia and Auric.

Hence, she spent as much energy as she needed in order to stop the bat.

The plan worked.

Ellia arrived with her Sword Seal, striking the left side of the bat.

"Miss!" Arina smiled. It looked like they had won.

Ellia nodded while looking at the bat that had swayed to the right to avoid the Sword Seal.

She came from the right side to box in the beast, forcing it to fly up.

However, Arina used Plant General to grab its feet with her roots.

The bat screeched, using the sound waves to disperse the energy. The roots ended up getting destroyed, but the bat couldn’t get away.

Auric’s Rain of Fire covered the air, falling upon the bat.

The bat raised both wings to cover its body before spreading them swiftly to blow away the fire.

Thanks to their efforts, Ellia could close the distance and swing her sword.

Gamma Blade.

Instead of other powerful strikes, Ellia chose speed, even though there was only one meter left between them.

It was as if she wanted to prevent the bat from going anywhere.

Ellia’s Gamma Blade struck the bat’s wing.

The bat wailed in pain and turned toward her instead, but it was foolish to fight Ellia in close combat.

When the other wing swept in, Ellia stopped it with her scabbard before cutting the wing completely, stopping it from ever flying again.

Then, Ellia leaped to the bat and kicked it in the stomach, knocking it down to the ground.

"Auric!" Ellia shouted while swinging her sword.

Severed Strike.

Her sword strikes hit the bat in multiple spots, completely rendering its ability to move useless.

Then, she casually jumped off its body.

Auric activated his ’Explosion,’ blasting the bat from above.

Boom!

"Screee!" The bat let out a cry. Its body was wracked with pain, and there was nothing it could do to stop the enemies.

It was trying to release another cry as a final struggle.

"Ree—" Before it could let out its voice, roots emerged from the ground. Some roots wrapped around the bat’s body, while two others covered its mouth.

Ellia then turned around and swung downwards.

Crescent Void.

The space energy formed a crescent-shaped wave and severed the bat’s head, killing it.

The bat had focused too much on Arina that when Ellia and Auric joined, they were able to gain significant momentum and the bat had no way to stop it.

The second bat died just one minute after they regrouped with Arina.

It wasn’t much of a challenge.

"We won." Auric smiled while raising his hand, asking for a high-five.

"Yep. Good work. Thanks for saving me." Arina gave him a high-five.

But when he asked for one from Ellia, the latter surprisingly dropped her weapon and raised both hands as if asking for a double high-five.

To his surprise, the moment he raised the second hand, Ellia closed the distance between them in a single big step, slipped her hands in, and pinched his cheek.

"What the hell did you do?!" Ellia was glaring at Auric.

"W-What?" Auric was startled, not expecting this reaction. They had just won, so why would she look as though she was punishing him?

Even Arina was dumbfounded. There was no reason to punish Auric after all. That was only because she didn’t see their fight.

Ellia raised her voice. "Did you know how risky your plan was? What if I didn’t understand your instruction?"

"Arina told us that we were similar, so you would definitely understand my message."

"I’m telling you, those two words were confusing!"

"But it worked, right? Besides, even if it hadn’t worked, I would have used the Void Step to get away. If the bat aimed at you, you were there with the intention of stopping it anyway, so you could do it just fine."

"Even so, I might end up hitting you if you were just a moment too late. What if I killed you?!"

"I know, I know. You win. So, can you just release me? It hurts."

Ellia took a few deep breaths. There were still a lot of things to say to him, but it looked like she had to stop here for the time being. "Think of it from my perspective."

Auric couldn’t refute that statement. For Ellia, Auric’s safety was the highest priority. After all, if Auric was gone or incapacitated, she wouldn’t be able to evolve anymore.

So, this kind of plan was something she wouldn’t approve of if they truly discussed it beforehand. If not for the urgent situation, she would have gotten mad at him for even raising such a risky strategy.

Auric let out a sigh of relief. He also had to thank Lindwurm. If not for his assistance, the situation would have gotten even worse.

As expected, he was right. Whenever it concerned his or someone’s life, he was right to ask Lindwurm for assistance.

"Miss. Why don’t you forgive him already? Whatever the strategy was, it certainly worked." Arina smiled wryly. "Just make sure you don’t do it again, okay, Auric?"

"I can’t promise. No one can predict what will happen in the future. I—" Auric suddenly paused after receiving an intense glare from Ellia. "—will do my best."

"Good. That’s enough, right?" Arina hurriedly calmed Ellia down.

Ellia couldn’t stay mad since they had indeed won. And surprisingly, even though there were two floors on the surface, both floors were completely empty. It was as if the only inhabitants of these two floors were those two giant bats.

They didn’t see any other traces of blood, so the bats definitely didn’t eat the beasts here.

Since there was no beast, it was time for treasure hunting. Auric went around to find every artifact on both floors. Of course, they had to return to the lowest floor again to sweep the entire building thoroughly. They didn’t have the time to seek the treasure because the bat kidnapped Arina after all.

In the end, they stayed for two more nights inside the mall. Auric found a total of 43 artifacts.

With Lindwurm’s assistance, there was no artifact that could escape from them. In the end, Auric managed to sense 25 of them, while Lindwurm warned Auric about the remaining 18 artifacts.

Once the fifth morning arrived, they exited the ruins the same way they entered. The ruins might have been damaged a little bit, but the energy surrounding the ruins didn’t seem to change.

Unfortunately, Auric still couldn’t figure out how the ruins formed. Still, Auric definitely gained priceless experience in this place. He could also study the artifacts.

More importantly, he managed to fill up all the energy he could.

Auric looked at his progress and thought, ’It’s fortunate, isn’t it?’

"Not really. You should have made more gathering techniques. You are too lazy." Lindwurm shook his head helplessly.

’What do you mean? I’m working as hard as I can right now,’ Auric replied in his mind.

"If you were a bit more diligent, you could have gotten more energy. Your gathering technique might have the limitation of rating, but once you absorb the energy, you can make it follow the rating of any element you possess. In that case, if you have more gathering techniques, you can fill up your elements to the brim on this trip."

’But there are also a few demerits. First of all, I can do it, but that also means I have to accept that particular element if I want to convert it at all.’

"I know that. It’s just that if you rely on other people and gather even more elements or make it more varied instead of being too picky, you could have evolved right now."

’It’s possible, but I don’t intend to rush my evolution. Even if I could evolve right now, I wouldn’t do it. Evolving too fast means I don’t have the skill or experience to back up my power. The only advantage is becoming a silver-grade evolution master, but it’s not like the test will be held right away. We have about five more months to take the assessment.’

Lindwurm couldn’t really refute the reasoning. He just felt it was a shame to waste such an opportunity.

Auric, on the other hand, stretched his body while yawning. "Certainly, it’s time for us to go back. We can rush back and return by noon."

Arina nodded in agreement. "Indeed. We should do that. We have had plenty of rest, so we can speed up."

Ellia looked back. "I guess the rank 2 beast on the lowest floor was the alpha that took care of all the beasts that entered this place. The bats were the true overlords of the ruins."

Auric agreed. "Their sound waves definitely affected the beasts. I’m assuming those beasts moved to the lower floors because of their harassment."

"Still, the fact that there were no traces of blood meant the bats didn’t kill them," Arina added.

"Yes." Auric nodded. "Still, how are the essences? Aren’t they damaged?"

Ellia shrugged. "Haven’t you agreed to become my personal evolution master? I don’t have to worry about the reduced amount of energy I can absorb from a damaged essence anymore. Besides, we have found two unique-element artifacts. At this rate, my element should be able to reach about 60% once I’m done absorbing the energy from the artifacts."

Auric smiled wryly. She really had to mention that matter. "Well, you have to wait until I evolve if you want to evolve. I still can’t help you right now. And I also want to warn you about something. Not needing to worry about damaged essence is good, but you shouldn’t pass 100%. If you pass 100%, I won’t be able to get rid of the excess amount. Unlike any other elements, the unique element doesn’t have anything to suppress it after all."

"That’s..." Ellia’s expression turned solemn. It was true that the unique element didn’t have any element to counter its power, so it couldn’t be suppressed. "In that case, I will be careful."

"Good. It would be good if you could make it around 90%, but don’t go beyond 95% if possible. That’s what I can say for now."

Ellia nodded. "Understood."

"All right. Let’s go back."

"Sure."

The return trip was much smoother. Most beasts had been eliminated before, so if they still encountered any beasts, those beasts had just happened to pass by. Their number wasn’t high.

...

Five hours later.

Auric smiled. "We’re finally back. Should we really report the ruins to the authorities?"

"I will handle the report." Ellia nodded. "For now, it’s better to inform the school that we’ve returned. After that, you’re free to do anything else. I guess the class is really starting for you."

"Yeah. I don’t mind. It’s been three weeks since I’ve been to class. I really should go back now." Auric chuckled.

"When you are at this stage, it’s normal not to take classes for a month or two."

"Really?"

Ellia nodded. "There are multiple reasons. You can be going to ruins, focusing on hunting beasts, doing missions for the academy, or advancing your skills. You will end up missing half of your classes every semester, but as long as your skill is advancing, the academy doesn’t care."

"So, as long as your avatar can reach its adult form, the academy doesn’t care about anything else?"

"Essentially." Ellia turned to Arina. "I should also go back to my company soon. I have been away from it for a bit too long. How is the situation at the company, Arina?"

"Nothing much. Rather than about the company, I’ve just received news that may interest you, Auric."

"Interest me? Not her?" Auric pointed at Ellia.

"Yep." Arina nodded. Ellia became a bit curious after hearing that.

"What news?" Auric asked.

"Apparently, there is a fight today at the second arena. The two fighters are Simon Kestus and Eric Dabood."

"Eric?!"