The Genius Evolution Store

They jumped off, landing carefully on the parking lot.

Their vision soon cleared, and they found the beasts.

”They are... cats?” Auric could only recognize their shapes with the goggles. He couldn’t figure out their elements yet.

However, as Arina reported, there were indeed three groups of cats in the parking lot.

”Meow!”

The cats woke each other up.

The moment they released their energy, Auric could figure out why they were separated.

Auric could see something growing from the cats he was supposed to face. Meanwhile, Arina faced a group of cats with blue energy.

Ellia was the one facing the worst type of enemy. This place was already dark, and the cats were using the dark element. There was no way for her to see their attacks.

At the very least, Arina could still see the form of the water due to the difference in temperature. Auric could also see the particles within the energy.

Ellia was simply too unlucky. Nevertheless, Auric couldn’t warn Ellia, nor did she intend to listen to him.

Ellia simply unsheathed her long blade while circulating her energy.

Since Ellia was raring to go, Auric should focus on his battle as well.

Auric activated his Plant General. The four cats in front of him possessed the plant element.

Once they released their energy, their forms became even more apparent.

They were cats that reached about half a meter in height. Their backs grew small trees. From these small trees, they could grow them into a small forest.

And with four of them using the same abilities at the same time, Auric’s roots would be overwhelmed.

Auric tried to control the roots as carefully as possible, trying to avoid the branches that extended from their bodies.

However, due to the size of the roots, Auric failed to avoid them. His roots were captured one by one and locked in place so that Auric couldn’t continue controlling them.

The branches even applied enough pressure to crush the roots.

However, this was what Auric intended to do from the beginning. The moment they captured his ability was the moment their bodies became connected to his power.

So, Auric raised his finger as a small violet fire formed. He then tossed the flame to the roots, letting it burn and spread toward the cats. Since the branches were connected to their bodies, the cats would have to abandon this portion of their bodies to avoid the flames.

”Nyaaahhh!” The cats panicked. They tried to get away, but it was too late.

Auric’s flame spread quickly, reaching their branches in no time.

One cat sent out branches from its body to crush the burning branches, saving the cats from the fire.

Auric wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip away. He sent forth a gust of wind, trying to carry the fire so that it would reach the other side of their branches.

The cats immediately jumped back, trying to get away.

After fighting two dozen beasts on their trip, Auric had become used to their fighting style. He knew what he was supposed to do after this.

Auric had wanted to use this technique before, but he didn’t have the opportunity because there were other techniques more suitable than this one.

But in such darkness, this technique would definitely reign supreme.

Auric used Night Arrow. It was just a simple Night Arrow. He wanted to test the damage that the Night Arrow could deliver to a rank 1 beast.

And with this darkness, the cats would definitely have a hard time seeing it.

The cats could see in the dark, but that would change when Auric utilized the Golden Finger as well.

Yes, he waved his hand with a light on his fingertip. This line of light then shone brightly, illuminating the parking lot for a moment.

As a result, the cats had to adjust their vision to this light, causing them to lose track of the Night Arrow.

One cat, aware that the Night Arrow was approaching, immediately extended its branches to form a barrier resembling a wall to defend itself.

However, the Night Arrow broke through the wall and pierced the cat, destroying about 80% of its body.

”!!!” Auric knew that Maya’s Night Arrow was powerful, but he never thought it was this powerful.

The other three cats immediately moved around, trying to surround him. They released their branches again, but Auric had expected them to move this way.

Auric pointed his finger at one of those cats.

Piercing Thunder.

White lightning shot out from his fingertip.

The targeted cat formed a wall as well, but the lightning bolt shattered the wall and killed the cat. The damage itself wasn’t as big as the Night Arrow, but it was more than enough to kill it.

Piercing Thunder was one of the techniques he had gotten from the dean of the Evolution Department. When he stopped supporting Auric, Maya demanded battle techniques, and he gave Auric the Piercing Thunder and the Rain of Fire.

He couldn’t really use the Rain of Fire here, so he chose the next best thing.

After confirming its power, Auric turned to the other two cats. They had sent forth their branches and surrounded him.

Unfortunately for them, it was impossible to surround him.

Auric abruptly disappeared.

”!!!” The cats were confused. One cat felt a presence behind itself. When it turned around, it saw Auric with his hands raised.

He was holding a sword, and with one sharp thrust, he pierced through the cat’s heart, killing it. The small trees that covered its back couldn’t stop the thrust either.

This time, Auric used the Imagine, the battle technique that Milinda showed him when she sought treatment.

Even though it looked like a normal sword, this sword contained much more energy than the tree on the cat’s back, allowing it to pierce through the tree and the body.

The last cat panicked. Three of its friends had already died without being able to hit Auric.

Still, its instinct was to move for revenge. It pounced on Auric while spreading its branches to grab him.

Auric remained calm because before the cat could reach him, it found the gravity to be increasing, slamming its body to the ground.

”Nyaaahhhh!” The cat screamed, but Auric swiftly stabbed it, killing the fourth cat. The Gravity Force was definitely a useful ability that could restrain the opponent.

Auric had used several battle techniques from several elements. In a way, his way of fighting was disgusting.

He didn’t leave the opponent any room to get used to his element. They were bombarded with one new technique after another, which surprised them.

And Auric still had plenty of battle techniques and elements he had yet to use.

If he played it correctly, Auric could actually crush any of his peers. In fact, he might be able to fight against the second-year students if he was willing to expose all his strength.

Arina already knew about his abilities, but Arina’s control was extremely good. She could control the battlefield, manipulating the situation.

Therefore, Auric might still be unable to win against her unless he took a risk.

He could see that Arina was doing fine against the beasts.

The cats united to fire pressurized water at her.

Arina created a wall in a ’V’ formation to split the water and lessen its pressure.

Then, Arina used the Plant Outburst on the side, disrupting their formation.

This created a small gap for Arina to use her new battle technique. She unleashed the power of a juvenile avatar.

Each root split into two, then into four, then into eight. It might look like a normal Plant General, but they had been divided many times and surrounded the cats.

The cats tried to destroy them, but they had a hard time destroying even one, showing the difference in their power.

Some of the cats were captured in this attack, while some managed to get away.

This was when Auric used another ability. He used his Shadow Clones, sending forth four clones to catch the cats from behind.

The cats would try to break free, but the clones simply tossed the cats toward the roots so that they would get captured.

”Nice assist.” Arina winked playfully. She managed to capture all the cats, thanks to Auric.

Auric and Arina then killed them one by one.

”It looks like we’re done. We need to help Ellia right away. Her opponents are cats with dark elements. In this place, they must be stronger,” Auric explained in an urgent tone.

”Oh?!” Contrary to his belief, Arina nodded calmly.

”Why are you so calm? Don’t we need to help her? She is also fighting a rank 2 beast.”

”Do you remember that Axel Aheron mentioned something about the miss not having a limit? Well, he is somewhat correct. It’s just... all this time, she has a limit.” Arina pointed to herself.

”You?” Auric was confused.

”Yes. I am her limiter. Since we’re not around her...” Arina waved her hand, asking Auric to follow her so that they could see the fight in the other corner of the parking lot.

Auric could see the dark element’s particles moving toward her. Some were in the form of spikes, and some were in a crescent shape similar to the Void Blade. Yet, all of them missed.

Ellia managed to dodge them by a hair’s breadth as if she was able to see through their attacks.

”They can’t hit her?” Auric was surprised.

”Shh. Watch. She is just feeling out her opponents. From the looks of it, she has gotten used to their attack patterns.” Arina stopped him.

Auric was confused at first, but he soon understood what Arina meant.

Ellia finally swung her sword. She struck down one of the crescent-shaped dark waves.

This swing wasn’t just meant to destroy the dark wave. She also extended her blade using her energy in this way.

Her energy flew forward like a line, then it took a few sharp turns as if it were avoiding all the dark-element attacks.

It ultimately hit a cat, splitting its body in two.

”!!!” Auric’s jaw dropped.

This attack wasn’t a fluke. After all, she did it again. The sword strike evaded all the attacks and hit the left side of another cat, severely injuring it.

More importantly, Ellia sent forth an attack every time she swung her sword. It looked like she was trying to avoid the cats’ attacks and struck down any attacks she couldn’t avoid, but it turned out she went one step further and launched a counterattack.

The slashes hit all the cats, even when they tried to get away. More and more cats got injured or even killed, while they still couldn’t hit Ellia even once. They were panicking, not knowing what they could do.

In the end, two of the cats pounced on her, trying to stop her movements so that other cats’ attacks would reach her.

The rank 2 cat gathered its energy and sent out dozens of crescent-shaped waves at the same time, making sure Ellia couldn’t destroy all of them.

Unfortunately for them, they ended up becoming Ellia’s prey.

Ellia simply waved her sword, cutting them down in a single swing.

Sword Seal, Crescent Moon.

The swing was so powerful that a portion of its energy broke off and flew forward, neutralizing the attacks that were about to reach her.

But the rest of the energy was extended and expanded. It looped around her body and continued toward three cats seven meters in front of her. The pinkish-gray blade extension was beautiful, like flower petals creating a flowing motion.

Still, the rank 2 beast indeed succeeded in making enough attacks that Ellia couldn’t destroy them all, but Ellia’s Sword Seal also extended toward it.

As a result, the rank 2 cat was forced to leap aside.

Ellia then used her Void Step, teleporting herself directly to the rank 2 cat.

The cat waved its claws to attack her before attempting to retreat, but Ellia’s swing was precise and swift.

She first bent her knees and slashed its left paw. At the same time, she used her scabbard to block the right paw before spinning her body and cutting the right paw.

Without missing a beat, she kicked the cat up, knocking its body back.

Now that the belly had been exposed, Ellia spun one more time and used the momentum to cut the rank 2 beast in two.

This was probably the first time Auric had seen Ellia take the fight a bit more seriously, and it took his breath away.