The Genius Evolution Store

”The two fighters are Simon Kestus and Eric Dabood.”

”Eric?” Auric widened his eyes.

”Isn’t he the rumored rival from your school, Auric?” Ellia asked while turning to Auric, only to find that he had already disappeared. ”...where is he?”

Arina pointed to the side. Auric was already running toward the campus.

”What?” Ellia was stupefied.

”I will catch up to you guys later. I really can’t miss this fight!”

”Wasn’t he supposed to be on bad terms with both of them?” Ellia was bewildered. She didn’t expect such a reaction.

Arina shook her head. ”Don’t ask me.”

”...should we go as well?”

Arina smiled wryly. ”How about your work?”

”It will just take a bit more time, so it doesn’t really matter.” Ellia was rather curious about Auric’s reaction. He looked so enthusiastic earlier.

...

In the arena.

A lot of people seemed to be interested in this battle too. Simon Kestus was a member of the Phoenix and Dragon Society. He had a Grade S affinity with an extreme element.

His future would be limitless. He might have been defeated by Auric before, but Auric had a unique element, so by the time they started to evolve, Auric would be left behind eventually.

So, Simon looked more promising compared to Auric.

The other fighter this time was also quite a surprise. It was one of the few people with Grade A affinity in the current year, Eric Dabood.

Eric had shown promising growth as well, so they wanted to see how long Eric would last in this battle.

”Is Eric going to be okay? He isn’t really that bad as a person. Unlike Simon, Eric is much gentler.”

”I know, right? I like Eric more as a person, but this time, his opponent is Simon.”

”It must be because of that incident from a month ago. At that time, Eric demonstrated his power first, like challenging Simon.”

”Wasn’t it because of Auric? He stood up for Auric at the last moment.”

”Is Simon challenging Eric because of his defeat against Auric?”

”He’s not that petty, right?”

”...”

No one could really say it. Simon might be talented, but there were a lot of negative stigmas surrounding him.

Simon didn’t care about it, and the Phoenix and Dragon Society backed him up. However, it didn’t change the people’s perception. They didn’t dare to talk about it openly, but they surely cursed him behind his back.

They speculated that Simon challenged Eric simply because of their rivalry, which increased that negative stigma even further.

However, there was nothing they could do to stop the duel that had been finalized.

”Come here! Come here! A duel between Simon Kestus and Eric Dabood. The odds are now 10 to 1. Come and bet your points on who will win!”

A guy with slanted eyes raised his hand, announcing the bet. However, as expected, people were going straight to Simon, knowing he would win.

Simon’s affinity was above Eric’s. His element was an extreme variant. More importantly, Simon had the elemental advantage.

Just from these three factors alone, they thought the odds were still too low. Simon could easily defeat Eric.

In the end, no one bet on Eric.

To everyone’s surprise, Eric suddenly came to the booth and said, ”I bet on myself winning. 10 points.”

”Hoho?” The booth’s owner couldn’t help but get curious. It might just be Eric trying to make himself look a little better in this impossible challenge. But since he was delivering the points himself, there was no reason to reject him.

The students around him couldn’t help but look at him with pity. The battle shouldn’t have happened.

It was a cruel challenge. Simon forced Eric to accept it, so Eric could defend his pride.

But what was even more shocking was when another person came and placed another bet. ”In that case, I will bet 100 points on Eric.”

”!!!” The booth owner dropped his jaw. He never thought there would be such a huge bet.

It was even more shocking to see who had actually placed the bet.

”Auric.” Eric glared at him. ”What are you doing here?”

”Come on. I bet on you. Don’t complain and just win the fight.” Auric grinned.

”I can intentionally lose just to provoke you. You should know I don’t care about Simon. I just want to defeat you.” Eric harrumphed.

”I know you won’t do that.” Auric showed a sincere expression. There wasn’t a single shred of doubt in Auric’s expression that Eric wouldn’t intentionally lose.

Eric felt like slapping him or saying something else, but he could only snort. ”Hmph.”

”That’s interesting. Does that mean I can place a bet as well?” Ellia’s voice suddenly echoed. ”Come on, then. 1,000 points on Eric Dabood.”

”!!!” The students widened their eyes. Auric was already surprising enough, considering he had been absent for the last three weeks.

Yet another person came to bet, and it was Ellia Stroph Astler. They knew Ellia’s reputation at the school.

If not for her element’s limitation, she could be hailed as one of the greatest geniuses in the college’s history.

Yet this person actually bet on Eric? There was supposed to be no relationship between Eric and Ellia at all.

In other words, Ellia placed the bet on Eric because of Auric. They had heard the rumors about Ellia with Auric. They couldn’t believe it at first, but this bet had just confirmed it.

”I will place the bet as well. 50 points.” Milinda put her phone in Eric’s basket. She was a transfer student, so it was normal for her not to have many points yet.

Still, it was shocking that even the transfer student was joining the betting.

”You are here? Good day to you, Milinda.” Ellia smiled.

”Good day to you too, Ellia.” Milinda’s eyebrows twitched. She appeared to be smiling, but there seemed to be sparks between them.

Auric just glanced at them before his gaze was taken away by someone else.

”I initially planned to just observe, but since everyone is joining the fun, I guess I should also place a bet.” The information broker, Ran, actually placed his phone in Eric’s basket. ”100 points.”

”Good afternoon, Senior Ran.” Auric nodded politely. ”You know Eric has an elemental disadvantage, a lower rating, and even a lower affinity grade, right?”

”Why not? I’m here just for fun.” Ran chuckled.

”...” Eric was speechless. He never thought these people would bet on him. Of course, it looked like they did it because Auric placed it.

In other words, these seniors were already acquainted with Auric and somehow believed in him.

Eric couldn’t complain because it would just make these seniors angry. He might be able to handle Ran or Milinda’s anger, but Ellia’s was on a different level.

At the very least, Auric seemed to be the one taking care of it.

Eric felt a bit pressured, but his face remained calm.

Auric waved his hand. ”Go, Eric. Make sure you win.”

”I will win, not because you ask me to, but simply because I want to win points for myself.” Eric harrumphed and walked away.

”Hahaha.” Auric laughed as if he were enjoying the entire situation.

”...” Arina was dumbfounded. She didn’t expect the situation to have gone this crazy.

She didn’t know what kind of power Eric possessed for Auric to bet on him. Was it just to smack Simon in the face?

If that was the reason, Auric would lose face if Eric lost. Auric was definitely smart enough to figure it out.

Yet, Auric didn’t seem to care about his reputation. No, the desire to bet on Eric appeared to be greater than the chance of losing his reputation.

”Well, well, well. You have been missing for three weeks. It looked like you had gone to challenge students from another university. Though I still couldn’t figure out where you went for the last two weeks. Maybe you could enlighten me.” Ran smiled, grabbing Auric’s shoulder and leading him to an empty seat.

”Really? You even know about my competition?” Auric was surprised.

Ran didn’t answer the question because he noticed Ellia abruptly taking a seat on the other side of Auric. Milinda was glaring at her, but she decided to take a seat behind Auric instead. Arina was speechless, but she just remained quiet in the corner.

”So, what have you been doing all this time?” Ran asked again.

”You don’t need to know.” Ellia snorted.

”...” Ran was taken aback. He could feel a bit of hostility in Ellia’s face.

”Well, does it really matter?” Arina smiled wryly. ”I’m rather curious about the fact that you are betting on Eric’s victory. He will probably lose, right? At this rate, people will judge you as someone who doesn’t have good judgment.”

Ran was quietly listening. He was also curious about this.

Auric chuckled. ”Well, I don’t know what will happen in the arena. However, I do know a little about Eric. Is the challenge from Eric?”

”No. It’s from Simon,” Ran answered.

”I see. Eric might be a sore loser, someone who can’t be honest at times, and he can even look like a grumpy little old man.”

”That doesn’t sound like a compliment.” Ran chuckled.

”However, he is not a person who will accept any challenge without any odds of winning.”

”!!!” Ran raised his eyebrows.

”Now that I think about it, you two are rivals, right?” Arina asked.

”Yes. We’ve probably competed a total of 76 times. We could have competed three times that number.”

”How many times have you lost?”

”As for the current record, I have 76 wins and 0 losses. Eric challenges me for scores, exams, times to finish tests, and so on. However, most of the time, my score could be 800 points, but Eric will probably get 790 at least.”

”!!!” Ran noticed what Auric was trying to say. ”That’s not too far from your scores? And it’s surprising that you haven’t even lost. Are you perhaps bragging?”

”Who knows? At other times when we don’t compete, his scores can be as low as 680 points.” Auric raised one finger. ”So, all I know is that Eric has never entered any competition like this without a chance to win. That’s why he believes he can actually win this duel.”

Ran smiled wryly. ”But he can actually throw the match just out of spite, right?”

Although Ran didn’t want to say it, the chance wasn’t exactly promising, especially from someone who couldn’t defeat Auric even once.

”No, he won’t. Besides, aren’t we supposed to be best friends? Best friends are supposed to support each other no matter what the challenge is.”

Ellia rolled her eyes, while Arina corrected him. ”I don’t think the way you two act toward each other can be considered best friends.”

”Right? He has been competing with you all the time. He’s more like an enemy than a friend to you.” Ran shook his head helplessly.

”Isn’t there an idiom about it? The closer you are to someone, the more often you fight with them.” Auric raised one finger.

’That’s not how the idiom works!’ They really wanted to say that statement aloud.

”Doesn’t that mean Simon is also your friend?”

Auric chuckled. ”Of course not. I naturally have the final say on whoever I consider to be a friend.”

”Hahaha. I know geniuses are twisted in their logic. I really understand that now.” Ran laughed while holding his stomach.

...

In the meantime, Eric and Simon had reached the arena. There was a teacher from the elemental department who was going to supervise this fight.

”You are my first stepping stone. You should blame the fact that you are acquainted with Auric Elfe. If not, I wouldn’t have even bothered to challenge you.”

”Don’t worry. Without you saying it, I already blame myself for even knowing him or getting into that school.” Eric waved his hand nonchalantly.

Simon’s eyebrows twitched.

Eric, on the other hand, smiled as he added, ”However, I don’t regret meeting him.”

Simon got even more annoyed with that sentence. He unleashed his energy as lightning started sparking around his body. ”Then I’ll make you regret it. It’s because you keep lingering around him that you haven’t been able to improve.”

”Say that after you win against me.” Eric smiled, releasing his own energy.

Both of their avatars were out, so the teacher announced, ”The match starts.”