The Genius Evolution Store

The students had gathered outside the city.

Supervisor Jacob stood at the front. ”Good morning, students. I hope you slept well last night because today, it’s going to be quite a hard day for you.

”It’s time for the challenge from my country, Esfrata. The challenge is quite simple. It’s basically hide-and-seek.

”On the battlefield, there will be a day when you need to hide to survive, like when your group is surrounded and you’re trying to get away from the beasts and so on. I’m sure that every fighter has encountered this problem at least once.

”And that’s what we will do.

”For the next ten minutes, we will let you scatter across this place. The boundary is five kilometers away from this city. If you leave that area, you will be disqualified.

”You will need to find a place to hide, and after the ten minutes are up, all the instructors here will start catching you.

”Of course, this test will be quite dangerous. Although this area has been swept clean previously, there’s no telling if the beasts will encroach on this area again. So, you need to hide from both us and the real beasts.

”Once you get caught, you won’t be able to rejoin the game until the time limit is up.

”Basically, we will do this three times. Every session will last four hours. The schedule will be the first game, then a break for you to plan for the next game and discuss what you learned from this game, along with lunch, and then another two games. It will end at night because you have to hide in the darkness as well.

”All the instructors will have a body cam, and the drones will fly around as well. So, do your best to make your country proud.

”Don’t think this is a cowardly game. If you can’t survive, there won’t be anyone who can continue protecting the people behind you. So, survive first and get stronger.

”All of you have gotten the watch, right? This watch will show you the number of survivors. It will notify you if the game is over or something else happens.” Supervisor Jacob smiled.

He raised his hand. ”Any questions? No? Even better. In that case, let’s begin our game. Ten minutes... starts now!”

As soon as they heard the signal, the students from Esfrata turned around and ran as fast as possible. They were already accustomed to this game, so they didn’t waste a second.

”What?”

”They’re already moving?”

”We have to run now!”

”Find any place we can hide!”

”We should go to the other side of this city. That’s the farthest spot.”

Everyone started to scramble around. This was the first game, so they weren’t exactly used to this atmosphere.

As a result, most of them reacted a bit too late.

Auric took this chance to get far ahead of the others since they needed to make a hiding spot.

It was a shame that they didn’t do it inside the city, but it didn’t really matter to him.

Auric’s plan remained the same in this game.

”Is this place good enough?” Katarina asked.

”Yep. I will watch out for people, so please dig it.” Auric nodded, looking around. There were nothing but some trees around. His eyes didn’t pick up any energy signatures, so they made sure everything was all right.

Vera was holding her sword, ready to fight if necessary. Meanwhile, Katarina used her earth element to dig up the dirt, while Ellia used her space element to store the excess dirt.

It didn’t take long for Katarina to dig up quite a big room for them. Auric had planned the dimension, so everything was perfect.

”I’m done.” Katarina smiled.

Auric then turned around and placed her hand on the ground.

Wood started to cover the wall and floor before sealing off the room entirely.

Then, a gray energy bloomed from Auric’s body, showing that he had activated his unique element to build the safe zone.

After that, Auric nodded to Katarina and Ellia.

Ellia first grabbed Vera and used her Void Step to bring her into the room. Meanwhile, Katarina would use her earth element to cover the roof and flatten the ground, making it look like there was nothing here.

After that, Ellia returned to the surface ten seconds later and brought Katarina inside. Ellia did the same to Auric.

The room underneath had been completely transformed into a rather cozy space. It wouldn’t be weird to call it a hotel room at this point if they ignored the fact that there were no windows there.

Still, there were beds, a bathroom, and even some spaces for them to train or play around.

”Well, there you go.” Auric smiled. ”We will have to be stuck here for an entire day. I guess you can meditate or something. Just don’t use too much energy or someone close will be able to sense it.”

”Don’t worry. We’re prepared for this.” Vera smiled. ”Ellia, bring it on!”

Ellia nodded and took out plenty of items, mostly games such as cards or even laptops.

”By the way, do any of you play online games?” Katarina asked.

All of them looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions.

Katarina was a model student at the most prestigious university in Esfrata. Vera was the daughter of a military family who had a strict upbringing. Ellia was a peerless genius who was also considered one of the best businesswomen under thirty in the world. Auric was a nerd who did nothing but study.

All four of them had definitely never played an online game.

”I think we should play an online game or something. Just search for one on the internet and create a group with just the four of us. Let’s call it the Nerd Team!” Katarina grinned. ”We’ll definitely play so badly that we can laugh it out. It’s good enough to pass the time, right?”

”Can’t we just practice?” Vera asked.

”I don’t want anyone to find us, so isn’t it better to just play games? Just treat today as a vacation or something.” Katarina shrugged.

”You underestimate me.” Ellia scoffed.

”What? You have played online games before?” Katarina was startled.

”No.” Ellia simply took out her credit cards. ”I’m saying that I’m going to play to win and no one is going to stop me.”

Katarina smiled. ”Do you think I’m afraid? I’m going to whale my way to the top.”

”I heard there is this thing above the whale. What is it again? Kraken?” Ellia grinned.

”...” Vera looked at these two rich young ladies and raised her hand. ”Ehm... Shouldn’t we play with skills... Never mind, can I borrow some money?”

Auric was speechless. ”So, this is your plan...”

He originally wanted to spend his time studying, but it would be boring for these girls. Even Lindwurm couldn’t help but laugh, saying, ”These girls are truly a different breed. It looks like this game won’t be boring with them here.”

Auric shook his head helplessly and said, ”Fine, fine. Let’s play a game. It’s fine to be bad. We’re just going to pass the time anyway, and there’s not much to do here. Also, don’t worry about the air here. You can continue to breathe here for a year and nothing will happen to you.”

While they were stressing out about which games to play, the others were worrying about other problems.

The instructors from Dermania gathered in one spot.

Head Instructor Ryan, with a serious face, said, ”I don’t care about the students from other countries. We only have one mission today. It’s to catch all the students from Esfrata, especially Auric Elfe. We can’t allow them to win again this time.

”Once it’s done, we can simply grab all those students. I’m pretty sure that all the instructors won’t target the students from their own countries, but we all probably know that nothing will escape from so many instructors.

”In other words, the competition this time is not which country has a survivor among them. Rather, which country was caught the latest.

”I believe that two hours is more than enough to find all those students. Three hours... maybe.

”Either way, this is a good opportunity to pay back the humiliation from before. Understood?”

All the instructors nodded with solemn expressions. If they can capture all of Esfrata’s students, making sure that they ended up being the first country to have all their students found, this would negate the record Esfrata had set prior.

Little did they know, the reason Katarina suggested that they play an online game was so that they had a digital record that they were not taking this assignment seriously. This way, Auric would have an easier time provoking Head Instructor Ryan.

On the other hand, the situation was quite different for the students from other countries. The students from Esfrata had hidden themselves in the tops of trees, underground, or even inside a cave.

However, the students from other countries needed more time to figure out where they were supposed to hide.

”Is this good enough?” Gloria muttered, looking around. ”I need to last as long as possible. It will be even better if I can stay hidden for the entire time... This way, I will be able to retain my honor.”

Clarice Estella was hiding inside a bush, burying her lower body in the ground so that she wouldn’t be too exposed.

At the same time, she erased her presence as much as possible.

Then, the first name appeared thirty seconds after the game had started.

What they didn’t expect was that the name on the notification was actually that of the leader of Lech-Aistia’s team.

[Alexander Seven has been found.]

”!!!” They couldn’t help but be surprised, but everyone from Lech-Aistia couldn’t help but realize what had happened.

Even Selena Bellegarde from LA facepalmed while letting out a long sigh. ”That idiot...”

The instructor who found him was also astounded, as he found Alexander standing in the open.

”What the hell are you doing, boy?” The instructor asked. ”Aren’t you supposed to hide? You need to do your best and make your country proud.”

Because he was the first person to be captured, he was broadcast live.

However, Alexander simply took out his sunglasses and put them on before crossing his arms. He declared aloud. ”A real man doesn’t hide!”

As soon as the citizens from LA heard his reason, most of them immediately had the same reaction. They slapped and couldn’t help but curse him.

[This idiot!]

[Who the hell made him the leader of the team?!]

[Someone really needs to beat him up!]

[What real man? This guy is radiating small PP energy.]

Everyone was stupefied as they hoped that other students from their country would carry the team.

As for those who didn’t know Alex, they couldn’t help but gulp as they wondered how hard this game was going to be if even the ace of Lech-Aistia could be captured in just thirty seconds.