The Genius Evolution Store

"W-What are you talking about? Why are you making that face?! I have nothing to hide." Vera panicked, her speech becoming extremely rapid.

Auric smiled. "Don’t worry. I have my brother’s back on this! You said your family wants you to pursue me. If necessary, I can be your shield for the time being so that Eric can come and take you later."

"Really? Eh, I mean, what the hell are you talking about?! This is a matter of importance!" Vera glared at Auric.

Auric just chuckled, noticing how much Vera had fallen for Eric. He couldn’t help but think, ’Damn, Eric moved so fast. No wonder you showed me that kind of illusion back then, Lindwurm. Tell me, what the hell did they do?’

Lindwurm laughed. "Sorry, but I need to respect their privacy. However, I have reasons for everything I do."

Auric’s eyebrows twitched as Lindwurm just made him even more curious.

"Maybe if you get a girlfriend right now, I will tell you about it." Lindwurm grinned, teasing Auric back.

’You know me. No girlfriend yet. The things I plan to do... you know how risky it is, so being tied down will mean having a big weakness to exploit.’

"In that case, I won’t tell you anything" Lindwurm stuck out his tongue.

"Now, now. Why don’t you talk about this?" Ellia smirked.

Because of Auric and Eric, the relationship between Ellia and Vera had improved. They didn’t bicker with each other much anymore.

Katarina looked up. "Ah, Auric told me that Eric and Tommi were planning to create a mercenary group. Tommi did indeed ask me about the training material, but Eric... did he ask you about it?"

"T-That’s..." Vera took a step back.

"Oh, can’t you see it already?" Auric snapped his fingers. "The reason Eric wanted to create his own group."

"Ohhhh!" Katarina acted as if she had just figured it out.

Vera panicked, her face turning bright red.

"I really hate you three!" Vera snapped and ran away.

...

Auric obviously returned to Thunderer City, but Katarina and Vera stayed in the capital city since it was their hometown. Even Ellia needed to report her progress to her family first before she could handle her work in Thunderer City.

Fortunately, she had Arina.

Arina might not be the best person to expand the business, but she had learned a lot from Ellia. Besides, she had direct access to Ellia, so maintaining normal operations was Arina’s job. At least it gave Ellia a good opportunity to get stronger.

While eating at his home, Auric couldn’t help but ask, "Mom, did anyone come to you with contracts or something?"

"Yeah. I was about to give them to you after you finished your bath."

"Oh!" Auric nodded. "Where are they?"

"It’s better for you to finish eating first."

"Why?" Auric asked.

Natalia sighed and walked to the living room before taking out two cardboard boxes.

"Wait, wait. Why are you lifting those? Let me help."

"No need." Natalia just set them down to the ground and pointed at the two boxes. "These are all the contracts. I almost have to open the door every fifteen minutes. They want to sponsor you for the Europe Training Program."

"That many?" Auric widened his eyes in shock.

"Yeah. I lost count once it reached a hundred."

"..." Auric blinked in disbelief. "Ehm... sorry?"

"You don’t have to. I’m glad that my son won’t have any problem earning money, but your father used to say that accepting contracts like this isn’t exactly beneficial unless you desperately need the money."

"Dad said that?"

"Yep. He told me the reason was that when everything is good, there will be no problem with it, but when something happens, they might come after you harder than a loan shark would."

"Oh!" Auric nodded in understanding. "Well, I don’t exactly plan to accept any of them, but for now, I would like to take a look, so I can see the kind of contract they have. Just for the experience."

"Sure. Do it after you finish bathing."

"Got it!" Auric hurriedly finished his food and took a bath before bringing all the contracts to his room.

While he was focused on the contracts, Lindwurm returned to the living room.

"Here you go. I just got another good amount of energy." Lindwurm flew toward Natalia and extended his hand.

"Will you be all right? Shouldn’t you save some for yourself?" Natalia asked.

"No. Master has given me everything needed in that necklace. However, it has already been used twice. If I use it for the third time, the necklace will break."

"Two times already?" Natalia frowned. "And this training program..."

"I’m afraid it’s going to be extremely dangerous. That tragic adjudicator is trying to make him into bait to lure out those annoying pests. In addition, he will probably become the biggest star. He might end up getting targeted. Well, I can use the necklace one more time.

"Depending on the circumstances, I might be allowed to use something even more powerful, but I can’t guarantee anything.

"If it still doesn’t work, then I’m going to do ’that’ in order to protect him."

Natalia fell silent. "The last resort... What is the situation on the front line?"

"I don’t know anything about that. However, judging from everything I’ve observed so far, it doesn’t look good. There’s a chance that even a Rank 7 human will need to be mobilized this time."

"That bad?"

"Yes."

Natalia looked down. "I will know if you use up the necklace. In that case, I might use ’that’ in order to handle the problem. If someone has to disappear first, it will be me rather than you."

"What? But you are..."

"I love this role, but I know that this role is about to end. You are the one he currently needs, but I don’t know if you can hold out that long either." Natalia shook her head helplessly.

"Well, that’s what my role is, but he’s a smart kid. I’m sure he will do just fine even without me." Lindwurm nodded.

"I just don’t like where this is going. Everything has been going fine for so long, but after all this, I just don’t know how hard it will be for him." Natalia sighed.

"I have to agree with you there, but I know he’s strong. I believe he will do just fine."

"Hopefully. For now, I will receive this energy. Just keep protecting him for the time being. If anything happens, I will make the move first."

"I know your reason."

"Yeah. If he seeks the truth, I will be the first one to disappear, after all. So, I might as well pave the way for him. It’s just..." Natalia closed her eyes. "I can’t imagine how painful it will be for him."

Lindwurm just placed his claws against her hands and transferred the energy. "We have our own worries, but all we can do is trust him."

"That coward of a father..."

"Well, Master has experienced his own heartbreak, so no need to insult him. Besides, he knows everything we do."

"Exactly. That’s why I’m saying he’s a coward."

"..." Lindwurm sighed. "Well, there you go. I’ve finished transferring the energy. I will go back now."

"Yeah." Natalia nodded.

...

Auric focused on his training, but there were a lot of things that needed to be done. Even the mayor came to talk to him.

Then, Auric also had to go to the college since he and Ellia were the only representatives of Grand Magica College. If Eric were here, he would probably become one of the representatives, but sadly he was focused on his mercenary group.

Of course, Auric had asked him where the mercenary group was located because he wanted to pay him a visit, but Eric simply told him to get lost.

Since Eric hadn’t asked for money yet, Auric hadn’t become a shareholder either.

Still, Eric gave him some reports that showed him that the mercenary group was doing fine. He even planned to expand, so Auric’s money would probably be needed soon.

In the end, Auric and Ellia returned to the capital city together as the school put up a big banner to cheer for them.

...

At the airport, a lot of people had gathered for their national team.

The students and other people who wanted to cheer came. Some of the students even had their parents in the crowd.

A lot of banners had been hung around the airport.

Cameras kept flashing as they prepared for the arrival of the national team.

A female reporter stood in front of the camera. "As you can see, there are a few thousand people gathering at the airport. The national team is scheduled to arrive at the airport within three minutes.

"There is a lot of excitement going on. Even the streets are packed with people and celebrations.

"We are sure that our national team will do its best and win for us."

Even though it was a training program, everyone knew it was about competition.

They were actually looking forward to seeing their own people defeat people from other countries.

However, for some reason, two-thirds of the people who gathered here were actually women.

A lot of them were holding banners, either with names or pictures.

And the person they were cheering for was none other than Auric Elfe.

The female reporter suddenly heard a thunderous cheer coming from the entrance. "I think this is it. They’ve arrived!"

The camera panned over to see the incoming team.

Obviously, the instructors entered first. All of them looked calm and collected, but their presence made the people feel relieved.

"Here it comes! It’s the national team." The female reporter continued, "With Jacob Heyes at the helm, the student of our national hero, the national team’s leader, has just arrived at the airport. He’s accompanied by 24 other instructors who will help lead our country to victory.

"Behind them are—" Before the female reporter could say it, the cheers erupted one more time, this time even bigger, mostly from female screams.

"Kyaaaa!"

"Auric!"

"We love you, our prince!"

Ellia was speechless as she asked in a low voice. "Since when has he had so many fans?"

Katarina shook her head. "I don’t know either, but with that face and talent, they’re treating him as a top celebrity already. Besides, he already has a fan club, not that he knows about it."

"A fan club? Seriously?"

"Yeah. The last time I checked, a million people had already registered."

"..." Ellia’s eyebrows twitched. "Seriously?"

"I’m dead serious." Katarina shrugged. "He doesn’t care about things like this, so I bet I’m the one who’s going to handle it."

"Should I handle it?"

"Nope." Katarina smiled. "I don’t trust anyone to handle it, including you."

Katarina was also having her own fun, because with this, Auric would have one fanatical fan club and two cults under his command. If all of them were combined in the future, he might even create a religion.

So, there was no way she would let it fall into someone else’s hands.

Auric didn’t hear their conversation as he was walking while waving to all the people around.

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