The Genius Evolution Store

”Get ready! It’s a rank 4 beast!” Eva shouted while putting her shield in front, ready to intercept the attack from a rank 4 beast.

However, the rank 4 beast did nothing.

Even Lindwurm didn’t say anything. Lindwurm only reacted to something with killing intent, but this one didn’t have any.

Lindwurm narrowed his eyes. ”Ah, this... is it really that kind of beast?”

’What kind of beast?’

”Because they are blind and can’t find us. It’s easy to kill this kind of beast due to their nature. Even herbivores can still bite you or attack you with other things. But this kind of beast... they’re just ready to be slaughtered.”

’That bad? I mean, that’s the best beast we can hope for.’

”No. The best beast is the dead beast.”

Auric couldn’t exactly argue with it. Instead, he said, ”You can kill it easily, but don’t let your guard down.”

All of them looked dumbfounded. They didn’t understand what Auric meant.

However, Eva suddenly asked, ”Is this the legendary farm beast?”

”Farm beast?”

”Yes. It’s a very rare beast that has no attack power. They aren’t aggressive, so it’s easy to kill them. That’s why most of the time, they’re killed carefully so that their essence can be extracted perfectly.”

”Oh?!”

”So, we can kill this guy then?”

Eva nodded. ”The question is... whether you need the essence.”

”Even if we don’t need the essence, this kind of beast is easy to dismantle, right?”

”Considering the transparent body, yes.” Eva confirmed it.

”In that case, let’s just get it. It’s fine even if we can’t use it for the event.”

”Then make sure to avoid the essence. Let’s go.” Eva rushed forward.

After knowing it was a farm beast, Eva could launch an all-out attack, killing the beast quickly.

As she described, there was basically no resistance from the beast. The only thing it could do was try to escape.

In just a few minutes, they finally took it down. Of course, there was no wound that reached the essence, so they could dismantle it without any damage.

Meanwhile, Auric and the others set up camp.

”I guess this is the end of this cave.” Eva looked around, illuminating the entire area with her power.

”Yes.” Auric had scanned the area earlier. There was no trace of more tunnels deeper. ”I can see four artifacts here, but I will get them later.”

”Really?” Eva looked around. She couldn’t sense anything even in such a big space.

Auric nodded. ”Let’s just take a break and return tomorrow. By the way, are you going to evolve right away, Katarina?”

”That depends on you. Are you confident you can help me?”

Auric looked up. Lindwurm raised his hand. ”I will help. This time, the event is extremely dangerous. We don’t know what the organization is up to, so it’s best to make her stronger. That’s why I will help this time.”

Since Lindwurm wanted to help, Auric answered, ”If it’s using just the artifacts and stopping you at the right time, I can do it.”

Katarina nodded. ”In that case, let’s do it.”

”You sure?”

”You did it with Vera, so I’m sure you can do it again.” Katarina smiled.

”Well, I’m flattered that you think highly of me. In that case, let’s do that.” Auric agreed. Since she trusted him, it would be better to do it.

...

While Auric and the others were leisurely having a camping trip in a cave, the organization was completely perplexed.

”So, you haven’t found any trace of Auric Elfe?”

”We only know that he’s the captain of the group called Night and Day, the same name as his store. However, we couldn’t find any trace of him. The only thing we’ve found is that he has just killed a large number of beasts, so his group should be quite battered. Some might be dead.”

The Director frowned. ”Find him first. We need to capture him amid the chaos.”

”Yes, sir. We believe that we can do it soon. Our men are hiding in the Unique Valley. His teammate is Ellia Stroph Astler. Her only purpose in coming here should be to search for artifacts. That means his team will eventually head to the Unique Valley. Once they reach the Unique Valley, we will begin our plan so that the moment they return to the Alps ruins, we can ambush them.”

The Director fell silent. It was indeed a good plan. They would be able to ambush Auric, and judging by how many days had passed, the military might have relaxed their security, thinking that nothing would happen.

”Very well. Proceed with that plan. I don’t care if you kill the others. Make sure to capture Auric Elfe alive. He will be the key to our plan.”

”Yes, sir.”

The Director hung up the call and closed his eyes. He had a report about the clash between General Marcel and Chief Adjudicator Arnie already.

After being chased by Arnie for so long, he understood what kind of monster Arnie was as an adjudicator.

That was why they needed a very careful plan.

In fact, they had asked their people to push the agenda so that General Marcel would become the supervisor of this event. As a result, they managed to prevent Arnie from entering the hunting event.

But he didn’t know how long the strategy would be effective.

Unfortunately, they had to wait until they located Auric Elfe. At the same time, they couldn’t wait too long, or Arnie might have prepared something else for them.

”This is getting difficult. They’re now also looking for my personal information... I guess they’ve finally found out our structure. How much do they know?” The Director let out a long sigh.

...

Arnie, on the other hand, was busy reviewing the reports.

Jennifer sighed. ”I’m sorry. To think they found us.”

”No. It’s understandable.” Arnie waved his hand. ”Right now, our opponent is formidable. They have a lot of eyes and ears. After learning about our operation, the Director immediately fled. So, the only thing we can trust is the adjudicator. There might be more corrupt cops than we can find, so thanks to you, we know who our allies are.

”The problem is this...” Arnie showed the document.

”What is it, Sir?” Jennifer asked while reading the document. ”The appointment of General Marcel?”

”Yes. The appointment of General Marcel happened four days before this hunting event began. There’s a chance that they know about his stiff personality and made him replace the former supervisor to stop me.”

Jennifer frowned. ”In that case, do you want me to bring the person who made that change?”

”Not yet. Right now, they must be waiting for something, most likely Auric. The moment they find an opportunity, they will launch an assault to kidnap him. If we take care of the corrupt official first, it will send a warning to the organization. They might panic and cause even more problems than they intend to.”

”Aren’t they planning to cause as big a problem as possible?”

”No. All the mess they’ve created is actually quite controlled. However, they’re good at taking advantage of chaos.”

Jennifer asked, ”So, we are waiting for the signal from Student Auric before making our move?”

”Yes. Once something happens, I will infiltrate the ruins. Meanwhile, I want you to take care of the government.”

”Can’t we do it together?”

”Unfortunately, no. However, if we find the Director, we can probably raid their hideout together.”

”I understand.” Jennifer accepted the arrangement. It was slightly disappointing not to have the opportunity to handle things together with Arnie, but she definitely learned a lot on this mission.

”For now, make some preparations but remain discreet.”

”Yes, sir.”

...

Arnie had no choice but to prepare for the worst, considering the enemy had made such a meticulous plan.

Auric had received his message, but nothing had happened so far, so he couldn’t exactly reply to him.

Instead, he focused on their own tasks.

”Are you ready?” Auric smiled. After taking almost a whole day to return, they had finally returned to the surface.

Of course, they came out at night, so the team set up a camp while Auric and Katarina moved to a much more secluded spot for Katarina’s evolution.

”I’m ready.” Katarina closed her eyes as she received the artifact from Auric.

She absorbed the first artifact, but as Auric said, the energy it contained wasn’t sufficient.

So, she continued with the second artifact.

Auric asked her to slow down the moment she reached 95%. After all, his eyes were quite overwhelmed by her energy due to the rank difference between the two of them.

Even though he could observe to a certain extent, the accuracy was much lower. He had to rely on Lindwurm for this evolution.

Auric might have once used his rank 1 element to evolve an avatar that was already in its juvenile form. Sadly, the gap between rank 1 and rank 2 was much smaller than the gap between rank 2 and rank 3.

That was why even with his Edict, he wasn’t that confident.

So, he had to be precise during this evolution.

Thankfully, Lindwurm was extremely accurate in his assessment. The moment he asked her to stop, they made sure she didn’t evolve immediately. Instead, he asked Katarina to check the element recorded on her wristband first.

This was the normal process for a unique element user if they wanted to evolve. They would absorb the energy from artifacts bit by bit while checking the energy every two to three minutes so that they didn’t exceed the required amount of energy.

This was probably the first time Auric had seen an adult form avatar evolving to its mature form.

Unlike the previous evolution where the energy enhanced the user’s senses, this evolution produced a burst of energy that formed the user’s transformation.

Katarina’s adamantine golem channeled its power to her and created a layer of a protective suit with purple hexagons flickering as though they had become her scales.

With this transformation, her defense increased drastically. Even if Auric used his full power, he didn’t know whether he could actually injure her.

”Congratulations on reaching rank 4.” Auric smiled.

”Thank you.” Katarina gracefully nodded. ”It’s thanks to you.”

”Since we’re done, we should celebrate with the others.”

”Ah, before that...” Katarina reached for his sleeve, stopping him from going back.

”Yes?” Auric tilted his head in confusion, wondering why Katarina had stopped him.

”I actually... have something I want to discuss with you.” Katarina looked away, feeling a bit hesitant.

’Ah, this... Is this...’ Auric felt like he knew what was about to come.

”Hehehehehe. This is going to be interesting.” Lindwurm smirked.

Auric thought about stepping back so that he didn’t hear it. This way, their relationship could be maintained.

Sadly for him, Katarina immediately spoke, but not in a way that he expected. ”I wonder if you have any thoughts about a faction? If you want, I’d like to be your vassal and, of course, I’ll bring my family with me to work for you.”

”!!!”