The Genius Evolution Store

”What’s the extent of the damage?” General Marcel asked while furrowing his eyebrows.

”The explosion caused one small mountain to collapse. It produced a very small-scale elemental turbulence, which resulted in a small beast outbreak. The scale of this beast outbreak should be about one-tenth that of the entire ruins. It’s not too big, but not too small either.”

General Marcel frowned. ”Casualties?”

”We haven’t finished our investigation, but I believe there are a lot of casualties. Should we stop the event?”

General Marcel thought for a moment. ”Does it cause damage to the surrounding ruins?”

”No, sir. The beast outbreak is now under control.”

”In that case, there’s no need to stop the event. Anything can happen in a place like this. If they don’t want to lose their lives, they shouldn’t come to a place like this.” General Marcel waved his hand. ”Instead, alert the personnel at the surrounding ruins to make sure such a thing will never occur again.”

”I understand. I’ll increase the personnel to guard the ruins.” His officer politely nodded before exiting the room. He really wanted to leave because of the other person who was sitting in this room.

”You should have cooperated with me from the beginning. This kind of incident shouldn’t have happened.” Arnie snorted.

”This kind of accident can happen anywhere. If you are worried about them, you should lock them somewhere safe. If you want to create strong men, you need to let them endure hardship. They have to overcome those hardships.”

”I do want to create strong men, but I’m not creating just strong men. I want to create both strong and smart people. They need to know when to work together or bend the rules, not just robots who can only execute a single command.” Arnie harrumphed.

”That’s what schools do. We’re just giving them the opportunity to grow and let their talent develop. They need to risk their lives and become stronger and wiser if they want to survive in this world.”

”And it’s precisely because of that you will probably suffer this time.” Arnie grinned. ”Oh boy, I’m looking forward to the end of the event.”

Arnie didn’t know the entire situation, but he had heard that the Relesha family was making its moves.

In fact, Marcel’s family seemed to have been warning him as well.

This time, Arnie wondered what kind of trouble Auric would cause.

He couldn’t help but remember the happy-go-lucky girl who kept causing trouble wherever she went.

He used to have a headache when training that girl. After all, he couldn’t count how many times he had to clean up for her.

However, the girl had grown wiser. When she created a mess, she knew what problems would follow and prepared for them in advance.

Auric reminded him of that certain girl.

’Maybe I really should ask him to become an adjudicator.’ Arnie paused for a moment. ’Nah, Sir Mathias might visit me even in my dreams.’

With the accident being handled by the participants, the beast outbreak was suppressed within hours.

Fortunately, no more accidents occurred after this one. Hence, the event continued without any further incidents.

All the participants were doing their best to increase their points, trying to rank as high as possible. They could see the rewards provided by the military after all.

Auric proceeded according to the original plan. He explored the ruins in a clockwise direction, making sure he swept the entire area.

It would be impossible even for Auric, but he still managed to get at least a third of the total artifacts that were still hidden in the mountain.

Of course, the main attraction would be the ruins around the Alps ruins. He visited all the ruins not only for their beasts but also for their artifacts.

In addition, Auric also managed to absorb a few energies from the ruins, increasing a few of his elements. Most of his rank 2 elements came from Kallarnos University’s students when he opened his store.

The rest came from his work at the Night and Day Store.

Three weeks passed in the blink of an eye. A lot of students had left, knowing that they couldn’t reach their goals. However, many still remained. They wanted to get as many points as they could since they were trying to exchange their points for items provided by the military.

With the event approaching its end, it was time for all the teams to tally up their points. Most teams didn’t find a single artifact, so their points wouldn’t change.

However, the top teams were doing their best to get as many points as possible. Some teams wanted to buy artifacts from other teams, but since it was hosted by the military, such a thing couldn’t be done.

The military used artificial intelligence to help them monitor the video footage. The AI would be monitoring every artifact discovery. This way, they would know about the fact that the artifacts they received were genuinely obtained or bought.

No one could cheat this time. Most of the disputes would involve other teams killing the beasts that another group had been hunting.

The military staff was the one making the judgment.

Auric, of course, had met a lot of teams when he was hunting or resting on the military outposts.

While he didn’t care much about the points, he still helped others save up on points. If he met someone in the outposts trying to get the evolution master from the military to help them, Auric would come to them and offer an opportunity.

Points couldn’t be traded, but Auric found a loophole. He simply asked them to spend their points to get a room. This way, Auric could get a room without spending any points, and these people could receive treatment at a lower cost.

Everyone was happy, and they didn’t break any rules.

No one dared to cheat him because there were two rank 4 humans on his team.

Finally, the last day of the event had arrived.

Everyone returned to the military base one by one. They were tallying their points, wondering who would be the champion.

The military base was filled to the brim. A lot of soldiers were helping with the event, but a lot more people were watching in amusement. Of course, as the supervisor, General Marcel was standing on top of a building.

He had to stand here because there was an annoying guy who had been pestering him for a month.

”Hahahaha. This is going to be interesting.” Arnie clapped his hands.

”I’ve brought this, sir.” Jennifer landed next to him and brought him popcorn.

”Now, you have truly become an adjudicator.” Arnie grinned.

Jennifer didn’t want to reply, but Arnie had always been telling her, ’Work is hard, so we have to do our work in a way we can enjoy.”

And this was her interpretation that seemed to please Arnie.

General Marcel’s eyebrows twitched. As he imagined, the adjudicators were a bunch of lunatics.

”Come on, who is going to win this time?”

”There are still ten minutes left.”

”I saw the fourth place, Exacom, just turned in their artifacts earlier. Surprisingly, they actually got more artifacts than the third place and ultimately surpassed them.

”Really?”

”Yes. Only the first and second places remain. They’re the only two teams who managed to maintain their positions without even turning in their artifacts.

”Hey, look! They’re coming back!”

”What?”

All of them were turning their heads to the gate, finding two groups that had just returned.

”Well, looks like you did your best, but this year, I’ll be the winner.” Jackson snorted. ”Unfortunately, your Kallarnos University didn’t send any student council members for this event. Even Katarina joined this event solo.”

”I don’t care. I will still win. With this achievement, I will become one of the next-generation student council members.” A blond guy harrumphed.

”Heh? You can’t win, Callahan.” Jackson snorted.

”Nah, I’d win.” Callahan walked toward the counter. He first looked at the board that showed their rankings.

Silver Wings - 26,506 points Guardian Angel - 25,987 points

”I’d like to turn these in, please.” Callahan put his bag on the counter.

”Please wait a moment.” The soldier nodded and took out everything.

”So many artifacts? How many are there? Nine artifacts?”

”No, they got ten.”

”Wait, look! That’s... A rank 3 artifact?”

”No, it’s not just one. He got two rank 3 artifacts!”

The soldier scanned the artifact first to get confirmation from the AI. Once everything had been confirmed, the soldier said, ”There are six rank 1 artifacts, three rank 2 artifacts, two rank 3 artifacts.

”In total, you will receive an additional 1,900 points.”

”Whoa?!”

”They got 1,900 points?”

”It’s one of the highest points ever recorded in history.”

They looked excited. ”No wonder they’re so confident.”

”Heh?! Only 1,900? You can’t even beat one of my artifacts.” Jackson laughed.

”What?”

”One of his artifacts?”

”Don’t tell me...”

”!!!” Callahan widened his eyes in shock. ”You...”

Jackson took out an artifact that surprised everyone.

”R-Rank 4 artifact?”

”No way!”

”Did he really get a rank 4 artifact?”

With a smug grin on his face, he took out all the artifacts.

The soldier was startled and hurriedly confirmed everything.

”There are four rank 1 artifacts, four rank 2 artifacts, one rank 3 artifact, and one rank 4 artifact. The total bonus points are 3,500 points.” The soldier announced.

”3,500 points?”

”It’s almost doubled their number!”

”The points have been updated!”

”Look at that!”

Silver Wings - 30,006 points Guardian Angel - 27,887 points

”Thirty thousand?!”

”They did it. They surpassed that major threshold!”

”They became one of the few teams in history to ever surpass thirty thousand points!”

”Is this the beginning of the decline of Kallarnos University?”

Everyone couldn’t help but get excited.

General Marcel narrowed his eyes. ”Is this it?”

He looked at his niece’s group.

Night and Day - 17,970 points.

The number of points they managed to get was quite high, especially with the team she was currently in. However, it was too far from the top. No matter how many artifacts they had, there was no way the Night and Day team could reach the top.

”What are you talking about? You don’t even believe in your niece? Well, it doesn’t matter.” Arnie smirked. He had witnessed Auric’s sensitivity personally, so he knew that Auric would definitely get a lot of artifacts. ”Look. The main characters have arrived!”

”We are finally back!” Vera cheered.

”We were almost late because of Auric. If we ended up losing, it would be because of him.” Eric snorted.

Ellia and Katarina were walking next to Auric as if they had no choice but to personally escort him so that he didn’t dig any more artifacts.

”What?”

”There’s another group?”

”Who are they?”

”They must be the Night and Day team. Well, it doesn’t matter who they are, they won’t be able to overtake the top.”

”I guess this is a victory for Silver Wings!”

Jackson crossed his arms. ”Do you think that just because you came later all of you will be the victors?”

He wore a smug smile, showing off his points.

”I don’t know that, but my childhood friend always tells me that main characters always arrive last.” Ellia shrugged.

”You...” Jackson gritted his teeth.

”Vice President...” Callahan looked down. ”Sorry.”

”No worries. I’m still here. Beating them is easy. I’m just wondering how much we should humiliate them.” Katarina chuckled.

”Huh? Humiliate them?” Callahan was dumbfounded. There was still a gap of over twelve thousand points. There was no way Katarina could surpass them.

Seeing Ellia and the others standing in front of the counter, the people had no expectations for them.

”Just get this over with.”

”Yeah. Just announce the winner.”

They were disappointed.

Jackson laughed and shouted at Ellia, ”This is why you should have joined my group, Ellia. You could have enjoyed the glory of being in first place.”

Ellia rolled her eyes and opened her space storage. Instead of taking them out, she simply poured them out like rain, easily flooding the entire table.

”Glory? Ah, yes. Glory, indeed.”