The Genius Evolution Store

Maya ground her teeth, glaring at Mathias. ”Why are you here?”

”Come on. Your grandfather has come all the way here to visit you. Shouldn’t you offer tea or something?” Mathias chuckled.

Maya’s eyebrows twitched, but she still moved to the kitchen and brought him a cup of tea. ”There’s nothing expensive here, so make do with it.”

”Hahaha.” Mathias laughed.

”So, why are you here?” Maya asked again, sitting in front of Mathias.

”I’ve met... Auric.”

”!!!” Maya rose from her seat. ”You... you haven’t done anything to him, right?”

”It seems you like him quite a bit.” Mathias sipped his tea calmly. ”Of course. Why would I do anything to him? Well, I’ve talked to him for a bit. Why don’t you just stop playing this little game being a teacher and marry him?”

”You... What?” Maya slammed the table. ”Are you insane?”

”Why not? He’s charming, his talent is terrifying... even more terrifying than you may know. The only weakness is his background, but that’s not really a problem with his talent. So, that leaves only one problem... age. But you two are only ten years apart, so I just have to worry whether a more mature woman is his preference.”

”I’m going to beat you right now!”

”Of course, jokes aside.” Mathias raised his hand, stopping her. ”I really mean it about his talent. To think that he is able to notice my hidden injury which not many can see...”

”!!!” Maya raised her eyebrows. ”What? You’re not kidding this time?”

”It looks like you don’t even know the extent of your student’s talent.” Mathias chuckled.

”I merely choose not to ask about it. I respect his decision.”

”Don’t call your lack of perception as respecting his decision.” Mathias shrugged. ”Anyway, that’s how it is... He will grow to become a terrifying evolution master in the future. But from what I’ve heard, he possesses a unique element...”

Maya’s expression turned serious. ”I will take care of it.”

”Is that so? Make sure you don’t ruin this kid’s talent.” Mathias smiled. ”Still, he has gotten a bit cautious at that age. Has something happened?”

Maya sighed. ”He has consulted me about it, but he wants to handle it himself, so I won’t make my move unless it’s necessary. It’s good for his growth.”

”Indeed. That is good for his growth, but don’t forget that you are responsible for him. You need to make him feel you are reliable, or else every time there’s a problem, he will think of the solution himself, and ’personal growth’ will sound like an excuse.”

”I understand that.” Maya nodded. ”So, is this the reason you came here?”

”One of them, yes. Well, I came here under the pretext that I have to give you an earful for breaking your probation.”

”Oh, that’s good then. I was about to discuss this matter with you. I’m thinking about breaking the rule again, maybe every two to three months.”

”...” Mathias’s eyebrows were twitching this time. ”You know, sometimes I wonder if I should spank you to make you learn your lesson or not.”

”It’s for Auric.”

Mathias immediately corrected himself. ”It looks like I have to pay a visit to the president. I’ll tell you about that matter next month.”

”...” Maya rolled her eyes. It looked like Mathias liked Auric quite a lot. Auric must have impressed him greatly.

”Anyway, I’ve given him my number. I’m quite curious what kind of request he’s going to ask.” Mathias chuckled.

”What? You...” Maya was speechless.

Mathias winked playfully. ”In any case, I’ll be paying attention to him from time to time.”

Maya sighed.

”Anyway, the official matters end here. Come, hug your grandfather. You must have missed me.”

”That desire is gone after seeing you. You should start behaving appropriately for your age.”

Mathias chuckled. ”What’s wrong? The older you get, the more childish you will become. It helps you stay young. Aren’t you the lady who once said, ’You’re forever 18?’”

Mathias raised both hands and clenched his fists as if he had long hair and imitated twintails while making his voice slightly higher-pitched to imitate the way Maya talked. ”I’m your cute Maya. Don’t ask my age because I am forever 18.”

Maya’s face darkened. ”You’re dead!”

As Mathias and Maya ’enjoyed’ the family bond they shared, Auric kept thinking about everything that had happened in the past two days. He was sure that a lot of things had happened recently.

It was quite surprising, but in the past two days, he was almost assassinated, his relationship with Milinda and Mr. Popo became awkward, his consultation with Maya was a lot to process, and lastly, he met Mathias.

He originally thought these two days would pass by with him only attending to his store, but it was packed with so many things.

Still, his biggest concern was the person who bought the book from his Sun Store. He was wondering about the person’s assessment of his book.

Unfortunately, he still got nothing even after two days. He went to the campus, thinking that he might have to change his approach to selling those books.

Unbeknownst to him, those two days impacted the buyer quite a lot.

...

Two days ago.

In another corner of the country, a 17-year-old man lay down on his bed. ”I wonder what I should do...”

He looked at the ceiling, contemplating. ”Currently, I have 99% element, so another 1% will allow me to evolve. Because of this, it’s better to have a material with the lowest amount of elements, or else I will exceed 100% by a few percent, which would make my evolution harder.

”Money isn’t really a problem since my family is quite well-off. It’s just... I don’t like to go to those arrogant evolution masters.”

The man sighed and opened his phone. ”I wonder if there is a way to actually increase only 1% of my element...”

He searched for it on the browser without any expectation. He planned to just scroll all the way to the bottom as if he were simply trying to waste his time on his phone.

But his eyes suddenly lit up when he saw a link.

[Increasing your element gradually to evolve? Here is the book you need.]

The man was startled. ”This is ridiculous. This sounds like a scam...”

The man opened the store page and saw a couple of books. He definitely shouldn’t buy these books since he would get scammed.

However, there was a little feeling in his heart that asked him to buy one. The little impulse seemed to get the better of him.

”...” The man blinked a few times in disbelief before he buried his own face in the pillow. ”I’m done. What have I done... I’ve wasted some money...”

He fell silent for a minute, and his impulse got the better of him again.

”Since I’ve wasted the money already, I should at least check it so that I don’t get scammed, right? I’ve got to post the bad review later.” The man smirked. He immediately checked the contents, only to be shocked by what he found.

”People are saying that something that is too good to be true is a scam. This one is the same.” The man gasped. ”But damn, this book is so convincing that it gives me the urge to try.”

The man tapped his knees a few times before saying, ”Screw it. Let’s try it!”

That was what he did, but he was surprised by what he found a day later.

”What the hell?” The man gasped, looking at his own status. ”This is... actually working?”

He could see his element reaching 100%.

The man hurried to the evolution master so that he could evolve. He had reached that 100% because of a suspicious book, so he had to go to an evolution master to check if there was something wrong with him.

It turned out that there was nothing wrong with him. He managed to evolve without any struggle because he got that perfect number.

”What?!” The man returned to his bed with a dumbfounded face. ”This book is real? Holy moly, holy mommy. It’s real? Is there such a method to evolve? And it looks like there are various books... Are they all real? It’s not just one element. It’s all elements.”

The man paused for a moment before posting a review.

[Holy shit, man. I couldn’t believe the book actually worked. I had 99% element, so I was supposed to get a material with a low amount of element so that I wouldn’t have such a hard time. But this book actually gave me that remaining 1% that I needed. I went to an evolution master to confirm my condition, but there was nothing wrong with my body, and I successfully evolved without any problems. Unbelievable.]

The man then liked the store and followed it so that he could maybe find it again in the future.

”I should check it with the professor tomorrow.” The man smiled and closed his eyes.

Little did he know, his review was removed because of profanity. He used a word that was flagged, and the review was automatically removed from the system because of the second word.

As a result, Auric didn’t even get the review or the notification that a review had been posted.

...

The next day, the man visited his teacher.

”Professor Alex, do you have time? I’d like to consult you about something.”

Professor Alex nodded. ”Sure, I have time. What’s wrong? If I remember correctly, you are Lucian.”

”Yes, sir. Actually, I came across something unbelievable. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but I had 99% element two days ago.”

”A rather unfortunate circumstance.” Professor Alex frowned.

Lucian smiled. ”That was my condition, but I encountered a book that claimed it could raise my energy gradually.”

”There is such a book? It must be a scam. Did you waste your money buying that book? You need to be careful. Not everything can be trusted.”

”Yes. I bought the book and actually tried it. It really increased my element to 100%.”

”What?” Professor Alex widened his eyes in shock.

”It was unbelievable for me too, Professor. Nevertheless, I went to an evolution master yesterday and according to him, there was nothing wrong with my body. So, I evolved without even needing his help.”

”What?” Professor Alex’s jaw dropped. ”You’re not lying to me, are you?”

”I can lie to you about not doing my homework or the fact that there is a test today, but I won’t lie about this, Professor.”

”Do you perhaps bring this book?”

”It’s an e-book. There are a few other books in that store for all elements.” Lucian opened the store on his phone and showed him the store and the book he had purchased. ”This is the one...”

Professor Alex frowned and skimmed the content of the book. ”Why do I feel like this book is written well enough that it compels me to try?”

”That was what I felt two days ago. Was it really a scam?”

Professor Alex fell silent. ”This book seems to understand the flow of energy. This is what a normal evolution master should understand as well, but it’s actually giving the vibe that the creator of this book knows the flow more than any evolution master out there.

”To confirm this, I may have to consult other professors. Let me borrow this for a moment.”

Lucian smiled wryly. ”Come on, Professor. That’s not fair. The books don’t cost much, especially for you.”

”How much does it cost?” Professor Alex raised his eyebrows.

Lucian pressed back to show the price.

”Only 24,000 credits?” Professor Alex gasped. ”If this book is real, you’re saying that this groundbreaking technique is only priced at 24,000 credits?”

”Well, that’s how it is. I am just a consumer. So, this is not a scam?”

”I can’t confirm that.” Professor Alex shook his head. ”Let me check another book.”

Professor Alex bought another book with his own phone this time and skimmed the content. ”The flow of energy is different here. If this book also works, this means the evolution master behind this book understands the flow of energy much better than anyone else.

”This also means no one can really copy it because, in the end, people will have to use the books here as references. For higher-level avatars, the flow of energy will become different, so copying this method won’t work.

”Who actually created this book?” Professor Alex gasped. ”The author’s name is Sunlight. Who is Sunlight?”