The Genius Evolution Store

”Are you sure you don’t want to let me in?” Arnie asked with a serious expression. His eyes were staring at General Marcel as if he was about to lunge at him the moment he refused him.

However, General Marcel stated, ”Yes. Even if you are trying to handle another problem, your action might sabotage the fairness of the hunting event.”

”You know that their targets are not those students, but a certain student, right? The most talented student in this country.”

”If you value such a student so much, why don’t you put him in a hole so that you can monitor him all the time?” General Marcel pressed the table with his fingertip as though he was making a point. ”No entry allowed. People will be able to improve because of adversity. If this place is dangerous, then it’s time for them to improve so that they can overcome that challenge.”

”The enemy coming right now is not something a student can handle. They are pests not only to society but also to the country.” Arnie’s expression turned grim.

”I have stationed my men all over the place. At the very least, there won’t be any rank 5 humans coming in, which is the point of this hunting event. If there are indeed terrorists, they will have no choice but to enter through my own system.”

”Are you really going to do this, General Marcel?”

”Yes. All my life, I have been preserving my integrity. I have never bowed down to threats. Even if I have to stand in the martial court, I will die knowing that I’m a man with integrity.”

”I can make it so you will be known as someone who has caused a tragedy that will destroy this country.” Arnie narrowed his eyes.

”As I said, no rank 5 humans will come in. If it’s rank 4 humans, they will have to fight it themselves. The moment there is a sign of a rank 5, whether it’s beast or human, I will go there personally.”

”...” Arnie clenched his fists. He knew how uptight the person before him was. At the same time, he also gave a clue. If there were a rank 5, whether it was a beast or a human, he would have to go there.

In other words, if he could distract him or create a gap because General Marcel was following his own rule, the latter couldn’t say anything about it.

Arnie suddenly received a message from Auric. The message showed Auric’s current situation as well as his teammates’.

”Oh? It looks like your niece is in the group that is being targeted by the organization. I guess your niece will be one of the first few people to die. Now that I think about it, aren’t you her wind element teacher? Nah, never mind. Someone like you will probably not care if your niece is dead.”

General Marcel’s face darkened. ”I have taught her to use everything at her disposal and to continue thinking of a way to overcome the challenge. If she couldn’t do it, that’s the extent of her level.

”If she is afraid of death, she should have remained in the house. Just sit down and be pretty and wait for her marriage.

”That’s why I won’t send any reinforcements.”

”What a fucking idiot.” Arnie snorted.

”Excuse me?”

”You’re excused for hearing it wrong. What I mean is...” Arnie took a deep breath as his voice became heavier. ”What a fucking, irredeemable, oxygen-wasting, crayon-eating, dumbass! You will definitely be cursed for eternity, your death will be celebrated, and your dumb brain will be thrown into a museum. Even in the competition for the greatest loser, you will be second because you are a fucking loser!”

Arnie paused for a moment before adding, ”Oh, my bad. I made a mistake for the second time. I promise it won’t be for the third time. You are a man of integrity. See? I fulfill my promise.”

”Are you trying to start a war, Chief Adjudicator Arnie?” General Marcel gritted his teeth, glaring at Arnie as his killing intent soared.

”I said, ’You... are... a... man... of... integrity!’ So, why are you getting worked up? You are an adult, so you know how to forgive people for their mistakes.” Arnie shrugged.

Both of them suddenly released their respective energies.

Boom!

The entire container blew up.

”!!!”

”What’s going on?”

Some soldiers were unable to understand the situation. They didn’t expect that there would be sudden chaos in this place.

They picked up their weapons, heading to the source of the explosion, only to find two people standing in front of each other.

”Hands up!”

”Hands in the air!”

”Help the commander!”

The soldiers surrounded Arnie.

Arnie remained still, ignoring everything around him.

”Stand down.” Arnie shouted. ”Now.”

All the soldiers were trying to release their energy, not intending to listen to their enemy.

However, General Marcel also shouted the same thing not long after. ”Stand down.”

The soldiers looked doubtful, but this was their commander’s order. They looked at each other for a moment before lowering their weapons and retracting their power.

Arnie sighed. ”Well, now that we’ve got that out of our system. It’s time to think about the real solution.”

Arnie didn’t even bother to look at General Marcel anymore. He simply turned to the right while calling someone. ”Jennifer, can you check the background of Evangeline from Hadford University? Yeah, her description is...”

He started listing everything about Eva, but General Marcel said, ”If she’s from the military, her name will be in the database. I can check that.”

”Check whatever you can. I’m just saying that if something happens, your neck won’t be the only one on the line.” Arnie shrugged. ”I just hope that your so-called integrity is not helping the terrorists. Or else, your entire family will be erased because of treason, General Marcel Schneider.”

After threatening their general, the soldiers felt like they wanted to kill Arnie, but Arnie simply walked away undisturbed as he sent another message to Auric.

...

Meanwhile, Auric was focusing on evolution rather than on the message.

He carefully observed the energy flowing into Vera’s body before he said, ”It’s about to reach 100%. Slow down, Vera. It’s fine even if your artifact overwhelms you and causes the energy to dissipate. There is plenty of energy for you to waste.”

When she first absorbed it, she covered the entire artifact with her own energy so that the energy could be absorbed as much as possible.

Now that she had received new instructions, the sphere gradually collapsed. The only source of energy flowing into her body was from direct contact with the artifact.

As a result, the absorption speed slowed down significantly.

Vera’s element was currently 98%, so it was only natural for Auric to ask her to slow down.

Once it reached 99%, Auric extended his hand, ready to take the artifact away.

”Get ready to evolve. Summon your avatar now. Loosen your grips.”

Vera followed Auric’s instructions. The moment it reached 100%, she could feel Auric pulling the artifact away.

”Now evolve.”

Vera immediately channeled all her power into her familiar. The familiar took her power and started its evolution.

The evolution process itself wasn’t inherently dangerous. Auric didn’t see anything that would upset her evolution.

However, if they were to evolve inside the ruins, the dense energy from the ruins would rush into her body, which could cause an eruption of energy from the avatar. If Auric wanted to suppress it, he would have to do it four times harder because he also needed to fight against the dense energy, not just the excess energy.

That was why they needed to exit the ruins. Lindwurm even provided an evolution chamber, making sure that there were no other elements besides theirs in this room.

Once her avatar evolved, Auric felt relieved.

”Huu...” He exhaled deeply and took a step back. The evolution process itself was over, but the energy was still circulating in her body to enhance her senses.

Hence, Auric continued to observe her until she was done with the entire process.

The evolution took about 15 minutes. Auric didn’t have to do a lot of things since he had done everything right.

Vera gradually opened her eyes, noticing the change in her senses. She couldn’t help but say, ”Thank you, Auric...”

”You’re welcome, and congratulations.” Auric smiled, extending his hand to help her up.

Vera smiled and rose from the bed. Before checking her own body, she instinctively fixed the sheet.

”So, this is rank 3. No wonder Katarina can unleash her power accurately. My perception is now insane.”

Auric chuckled. ”I’m glad that there’s no problem.”

”Mhmm...” Vera nodded. She didn’t realize that Lindwurm had been removing her residual energy.

Once Lindwurm was done, Auric opened the door.

”Look who just evolved!” Vera cheered as she came out.

”Congratulations.”

”Congratulations.”

Auric pointed to the room. ”Anyway, I have removed the residual energy, so you guys can use the room right away. Thanks for waiting.”

”What?” Eva looked surprised. She knew that the evolution chamber required a good ventilating system.

It was something this place lacked. Yet, when she checked the room, she noticed that there was no energy fluctuation. The only item that had energy was the artifact on the table.

”It looks like you have gotten stronger.” Katarina smiled. ”Should we have a match?”

”What are you talking about? I may have evolved, but my power is still nowhere near enough to compete with you.” Vera shook her head. ”You are already close to rank 4, right? Can you evolve here?”

Auric waved his hand. ”Don’t rely on me. I’m still a silver-grade evolution master. My power is far from enough to handle your evolution.”

”But you don’t deny that your skill is more than enough to do it.” Katarina grinned.

”Who knows? I have learned a lot, but there’s no telling whether I will succeed or not.” Auric shrugged. ”Anyway, I’m going out for a bit.”

Auric checked his phone and saw the message as well as the file. Arnie only said, ”Read it first, if possible right now. Tell me if you can’t. But if you’re done, call me immediately.”

Auric knew that the terrorists were coming, but he didn’t know when. He also wondered whether he should go straight to the ruins with the space element immediately.

If he could evolve Ellia before the attack, they would become stronger.

At the same time, if he made a sudden change, Eva might be a spy who could reveal this information to her group. In that case, the result might be different from what they originally expected.

Hence, Auric first left the room to review the materials while waiting for information about Eva. Once he was able to confirm Eva’s identity, he would be able to make a decision.

Auric was quite curious about the kind of information that they had retrieved from the safe house.

Lindwurm perched on his shoulder, trying to read it as well. He gasped. ”Well, this is interesting.”