The Genius Evolution Store

”Good morning.” Auric nodded with a smile, greeting a girl who was just outside the classroom.

The girl was startled, not expecting that Auric, who had been missing classes for three weeks, had actually returned to class.

When he entered the classroom, the others were also surprised by his return.

Auric just greeted them casually and took an empty seat.

The others immediately flocked around him, trying to find out what he had been doing over the past couple of weeks.

Auric just handled everything as usual, but his expression changed when a person came in.

That person was none other than Simon.

”!!!” Simon was taken aback when he saw Auric attending class.

Auric’s gaze met Simon’s. In that instant, he let out a smile. It was a simple smile to others, but the meaning would be different to Simon.

Auric definitely knew about the assassins. Simon, who ordered the hit, realized that immediately.

Auric should have died. Simon just didn’t know whether Auric had any way to prove Simon’s involvement.

Simon couldn’t say anything. He intentionally sat down in the opposite corner, trying not to attract any attention.

Not long after, Eric also came to class. Seeing Auric still being surrounded while Simon was shaking in frustration in the corner, Eric smirked.

”Yo, Eric!”

Eric nodded without saying anything.

In the end, class proceeded as usual. After that victory, people finally recognized Eric’s true ability.

Obviously, they wanted to learn how Eric was able to defeat Simon despite all those advantages.

Auric simply left the classroom after class was over, not planning to steal Eric’s glory.

However, this was when the trick Eric had been talking about started to come into play.

”Eric, how did you withstand that power?”

”Withstand that power? Ah. It was simple. You just had to grit your teeth. I used to endure a lot of things. When we fight outside the city in the future, we will have to endure many things. It would be best if you could get used to it early.”

”Whoa...” The others were impressed.

However, Eric suddenly added, ”Well, since we’re talking about endurance, I think Auric has just endured something.”

”Endured something?” The others were startled. Auric acted as usual, so they didn’t notice the difference.

”Yeah. It was a bit unusual for him to leave class. It was as if he was trying to get away from something.”

”Really?” They asked, wondering if Eric was making it up.

Eric nodded. ”I’m not sure about the matter, but it’s clear that something is going on. I don’t really care much about him, but I want to beat him at his best...”

”Something is happening?”

People started to whisper, speculating what had happened to Auric.

Obviously, Simon heard about this matter as well. Simon was trying hard to control his emotions, but his body trembled slightly.

Simon headed to the restroom.

He looked at himself in the mirror while gritting his teeth. ’How? How? He was supposed to die. There should have been several people trying to kill him. Were they playing around?’

Simon gritted his teeth, not knowing what had happened. ’Will it be traced back to me? What is going on? I don’t know. Something must have gone wrong... Or have they even attacked him?’

Simon was panicking. On the one hand, he didn’t know what would happen if his teacher heard about this matter. On the other hand, he still had his Grade S affinity.

But would his teacher actually protect him? Back when Ellia came to the Lightning Dojo, the Lightning Emperor chose to scold him.

Ellia once said that the Lightning Dojo was more important to the Lightning Emperor.

Simon didn’t know what he was supposed to do next.

Rumors spread fast that something had been going on. They wondered what had actually happened to Auric.

Whenever people asked about it, Auric just smiled wryly, neither denying nor confirming. It was more than enough for them to suspect that something had indeed been going on.

They were wondering what had happened. Auric had been absent for the last couple of weeks, so something must have happened to him at that time.

The reason he came back might be that he had gained a bit of confidence.

Auric and Eric met up at Eric’s training spot.

”So, this is your plan.” Auric glanced at Eric.

”Simple, right?” Eric smirked. ”After seeing Simon’s face when you were in the classroom, I knew the plan would work.”

”Well, if we push him to the edge, he’s bound to make a mistake.”

”Yeah. That’s my plan. You say you want to discredit him so that the Lightning Emperor will abandon him, right?”

Auric nodded.

”My plan is to force him to make a mistake. His reputation is already awful, so this mistake will begin creating a rift between him and the Lightning Emperor. You can probably make the last push to sever their relationship. I don’t know what you plan to do next, but this is where I stop. What do you think?”

Auric couldn’t help but agree with Eric’s plan now that he had seen what it was. In fact, their plans were quite similar.

”All right. Just make sure you stay safe. If we push him to the edge, it’s clear that they will come for us.”

”Don’t worry. I’m living in the dorm right now, so no harm should come to me for the time being. I have also found two teachers. They are Professor Ollie from the Element Department and Professor Chris from the Combat Department.”

”Two teachers?” Auric raised his head.

”Yeah. Professor Ollie will be teaching me element manipulation, while Professor Chris will handle my weapon technique.”

”Your parents?”

”Both of them will figure something out.”

”That’s good then.” Auric stood up. ”In that case, it’s time for me to play my part. The only thing that I’m confused about right now is why he is trying to kill us. Have we gone too far?”

Eric thought for a moment before shaking his head. ”No. Even though I’ve been losing against you, I have never once thought about killing you. Of course, I also believe I will defeat you in the future.”

”If we haven’t gone too far, then why?” Auric frowned.

”I don’t know. You are better connected than I am, so isn’t it better for you to figure that out?” Eric shrugged. ”My assumption is that he’s just an incompetent psychopath.”

”Well, take care. I will try to handle the rest as quickly as possible.”

”You can take your time. The more time you spend on him, the more time I can catch up.” Eric snorted.

Simon spent too much time in the Phoenix and Dragon Society, while Eric focused every bit of his time on training. It was clear who would be the winner.

If Auric did the same, Eric had confidence that he might beat Auric soon.

Auric chuckled. ”Yeah, I’m looking forward to the day you’re going to challenge me. But you better make it fast.”

”Hmph.” Eric rolled his eyes, but as his gaze shifted, he saw someone approaching them.

He had never seen this person, so why would this man approach them?

”Oi. Do you know him?” Eric asked.

”Who?” Auric followed Eric’s gaze and saw a person he recognized but didn’t expect to see. ”That’s...”

”You know him?”

”The vice president of the Phoenix and Dragon Society. He once recruited me and almost got physical. I tried asking the president of the Evolution Association to give him a warning.”

”You mobilized the president of the Evolution Association?” Eric’s eyebrows twitched.

”Sort of. I thought we wouldn’t have to clash anymore, but I don’t know...” Auric frowned. ”You may want to stand behind me in case this turns into a fight.”

”Do you think I’m afraid?” Eric stood up, not afraid of anything.

”Well, well, well. Isn’t this the vice president of the Phoenix and Dragon Society? What do you want from us?” Auric narrowed his eyes.

William’s expression remained calm as though he had expected the mockery. Instead, William lowered his head. ”First of all, I’m going to apologize for the mess I caused back then. In the end, my pride was still too high to apologize back then, but the situation had gone worse this time.”

Auric and Eric exchanged glances, confused.

William continued, ”Information really spreads fast here. I’ve heard that something has happened to you...”

”Is that something you should be concerned about?” Auric’s expression darkened. He wondered if William was trying to harm him again.

William sighed. ”I’m not here because I want to continue clashing with you, so you can drop your hostility for the time being.”

”Well, should I believe you just because you say it?”

”No, but this time I’ve come to bring a warning.” William’s expression turned solemn. ”You should watch out for the president of this club, Abel. He is the one orchestrating the entire thing, including my invitation to you.”

Auric was startled. ”What do you mean?”

”He is trying to use Ellia Stroph Astler to raise the status of himself and his family by leeching off the powerful Astler family. Right now, Ellia is close to you, so he considers you a threat.”

”I knew you were going to die because of women in the future.” Eric chuckled. ”You keep those women around and you won’t know how you’ll die.”

Eric had seen him around women all the time, so he knew something like this was bound to happen.

Eric didn’t know the exact relationship between Auric and Ellia. The others didn’t know either.

Nonetheless, it was still a threat, and Auric would be harmed because of it.

Auric crossed his arms. ”So...”

”He was the one who told me to invite you. I wouldn’t put the entire blame on him because of my own personality, but he knew exactly about it and put me in charge of inviting you.

”If I succeeded, he would most likely try to give you tasks that would be impossible to complete and drag your reputation down.

”If I didn’t succeed, he knew I would try to force you to accept, which would create a conflict. If Professor Vienna hadn’t stopped me back then, he would have tried to use that opportunity to create malicious rumors about you. If you didn’t know yet, you could probably ask Ellia to confirm whether he was interested in her or not.”

Auric’s expression turned cold. ”Continue.”

William hesitated for a moment before pointing at Eric. ”After Simon lost to him, the president intended to punish Simon for losing and dragging our reputation down. It was supposed to be simple, but after taking another look, I realized it wasn’t.

”He intentionally mentioned both of you in front of everyone. After that loss, Simon would be on edge, so he had to release his frustration elsewhere. It would have been better if he hadn’t mentioned any of you because that meant Simon had to think about where to release that frustration.

”However, the president mentioned both of you, which created an image that both of you should pay for what you had done.

”So, something must have truly happened to you, not just rumors spreading around. I might not know everything yet, but the situation might be worse than you could imagine.”

Auric never expected William to bring him this kind of information. On the one hand, he couldn’t believe him entirely. On the other hand, he could try to confirm it with Ellia.

If it were indeed as he said, Abel might truly be the mastermind.

”Why would you tell me about this?”

”As I mentioned, I didn’t intend to clash with you anymore. To be precise, I didn’t like the idea of being played like a marionette. The Phoenix and Dragon Society was a place where elites gathered. I couldn’t stand by if these elites were being manipulated like I was.”

Auric fell silent. Knowing about this matter helped a lot. This also meant that dragging the Lightning Emperor into this conflict was the wrong move.

Still, Auric didn’t plan to forgive what Simon had done.

That was why he intended to bring down Simon, but this time, his ultimate target might be Abel.

But first, he had to confirm whether William was telling the truth.