The next day,
"Finally!" Auric spread his arms as he entered the store. The door was slightly open so that people wouldn't think the store was open for business yet. "I guess I should begin by arranging the materials. Which room is the storage room again?"
"Materials?!" Lindwurm suddenly froze.
"Yeah." Auric walked to the doors at the side of the store. "I have never seen these doors before. There was only one door in my memory. Did Dad renovate the place? Then again, this has become an evolution store, so I guess he has prepared the store for it."
"That's right, that's right. Do you know what's necessary for an evolution store?"
"Of course. The first one is a clean room. This room is used for people to evolve. The second one is the examination room. It's a room used to examine their energy. Lastly, the treatment room. If something is wrong with the person, this room is used as an emergency room."
"That's correct. Then what about the materials?"
"Normally, an evolution store works together with a material store. They provide all the necessities needed to run the store."
"That's right." Lindwurm nodded furiously. "That's why you should think about how to have a relationship with a material store."
"But this place was a material store before. Dad must have left some materials behind." Auric walked to the doors and opened them one by one.
The first room was a plain room with nothing but a reinforced wall. It was clear that this was a clean room.
There was a good ventilation system to ensure that the energy that remained from an evolution could be swept away.
The second room didn't look so different from the first room, but there were a few tables and some items that could be used to measure a person's element.
Even though his dad didn't put an excessive amount of money into the equipment, he seemed to have filled the room with all the necessary equipment.
The third room was none other than the treatment room. There were two beds. The room was not big, but it wasn't too small either.
Since this was just a small store, it could be upgraded later.
Last but not least, there was an empty room with a lot of shelves. However, all these shelves were empty.
The room was the same storage room he remembered.
"Why is it empty?" Auric tilted his head in confusion. He turned to Lindwurm, who had been acting a bit strange. "Lind? You don't mind if I call you that, right?"
"Y-Yes." Lindwurm nodded furiously.
"Where are the materials?"
"That's…" Lindwurm looked away while rubbing his cheek.
Auric's tone gradually turned cold. "You're not saying you ate all the materials in this store, are you?"
"!!!" Lindwurm's body shook.
"Is that why you have this?" Auric's eyebrows twitched while pointing at Lindwurm's big stomach.
Lindwurm started to fly away from him.
"It looks like you can't lie. Now that I think about it, you tried to change the topic earlier. Do you want me to think about a partnership because of this issue?"
Lindwurm wanted to get away, but before he realized it, his back was already against the corner.
Since there was nowhere to run, Lindwurm had no choice but to fight back. "What's wrong with me eating the materials? I do my part, so I need to get compensated for my work. Besides, I'm useful."
"I know that you've taught me a lot of things, but that's not enough to justify the amount of food, right?"
"No! Of course not." Lindwurm shook his head. "That's why I'm planning to tell you about one more thing. I keep this store running, you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"When you use an evolution room, there will be a trace of energy left. But with me, I can erase that trace of energy. Basically, you don't have to increase the scale of the store for it to function at all times! In other words, all the maintenance is handled by me. You just have to feed me as the payment!"
Auric paused for a moment. There was no way his father didn't know about this. It looked like he trusted his avatar a lot.
"So, how much do you eat?" Auric asked.
"Not much. It should be around 50,000 credits."
"!!!" Auric was a bit overwhelmed by the number. It wasn't low, but it wasn't too high either.
He could probably hire some workers for maintenance, but he couldn't trust them more than his father's avatar.
"50,000 credits per month? I guess I can manage that." Auric nodded in understanding. It looked like his father's arrangement perfectly suited him.
However, Lindwurm looked away while correcting him in a hesitant tone. "No… It's 50,000 credits per day."
"…" Auric felt like his heart cracked in that instant. "What did you say?"
Lindwurm was sweating profusely. "This is necessary. I can do a lot of things. Besides, I can even upgrade this store by myself. If you want a bigger store, I can do it without affecting the physical store itself. In fact, you can bring this store anywhere if you like, as long as you have me!"
Auric was surprised, not because of what Lindwurm claimed he could do, but because of the unconscious release of his energy.
Lindwurm was exuding a pale gray energy.
Fire is represented by red-colored energy. Based on their intensity, the color of the energy will be darker or brighter. Blue is water, green is plants, yellow is lightning, pale green is wind, brown is earth, white is light, and black is dark.
Lindwurm's element wasn't among the eight elements. Instead, it was in a unique category.
This category is meant for elements that don't adhere to the principle of the other eight elements.
Space and time elements were in this category.
In other words, his father actually possessed a unique element. He had never seen his father's element, so he never knew.
Lindwurm mistook Auric's silence as him being impressed by such unique functions. "Are you not angry anymore?"
Auric took a deep breath before asking for confirmation. "Don't tell me… Dad's store never took off because you kept swallowing his revenue…"
"!!!"
He hit the mark. He could see it. Since Lindwurm couldn't lie, his silence was practically a 'yes' for him.
"I'm not entirely the problem!" Lindwurm shook his head furiously. "I have tried to make your father an evolution master so that he can get more money. However, he doesn't have a talent for it. That's why we settled on being a material shop! However, I believe you have a talent!"
Auric couldn't say anything if he said it that way. Lindwurm was indeed good at teaching. Although Lindwurm hadn't particularly taught him like a teacher, he acted like a mentor who guided him in the right direction.
It seemed like he shouldn't be angry. If it worked as Lindwurm said, it should be fine to feed him those materials.
"Let me check the store funds I got from Mom." Auric hurriedly took his phone to check his balance.
1,000,000 credits.
"This is worse than I expected." Auric's face darkened.
"Why? You can feed me for 20 days."
"I haven't even bought materials for the store." Auric rolled his eyes. "If we take everything into account, I can only feed you for 10 days at most. But you're still full, right? Especially after eating all the materials in the store?"
"It can last… for 3 da—4 days!" He hurriedly corrected himself when Auric started glaring at him.
"Fortunately, the ceremony is over, so I don't have any obligation to go to the school anymore. What happens if you starve? I mean, the answer is obvious, but I want to confirm it…"
"I will disappear." Lindwurm smiled, but Auric could feel a trace of sadness in him. It didn't seem appropriate to ask him about it.
Auric scratched the back of his head. Facing that emotion made him feel a bit awful. He wondered if he had overreacted.
When he was about to open his mouth, they heard a knock on the door.
"Excuse me!" Arina's voice echoed from outside. She peeked in from behind the door to see if anyone was there. "Oh! The boss is here."
Auric was startled, not expecting any visitors at the moment.
"Sorry, but the store is not open yet," explained Auric.
"I'm not here for that!" Arina smiled. "Actually, I came here to thank you. Your suggestion really worked. I was a bit skeptical before, so I'd like to apologize for it."
If she wasn't going to buy anything, it should be fine to entertain her for a bit, Auric thought.
"You don't have to worry about it. It's normal for people to be skeptical of something that no one has ever seen before."
Arina nodded and walked into the store. She first politely bowed to him. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine." Auric waved his hand, treating it as no big deal. "As you can see, the store is not open yet. Do you have any other questions?"
"No. I'm still working on it. I should be able to evolve tomorrow or the day after at the latest. Boss, you won't reject me if I use this store to evolve, will you?"
"It's a pleasure to serve the customer. But I will be sure to charge you next time." Auric smiled.
"Of course, I'll pay." Arina gave an 'OK' sign as if she understood the assignment. "Actually, there is another reason I came here."
"Another reason?" Auric tilted his head in confusion. "A problem?"
"No, not a problem. There is someone who would like to meet you."
As Arina explained, a woman entered the store. Auric could feel an imposing presence from the person who had just entered the store, something Arina didn't possess.
She had long, black hair, but her eyes were covered by sunglasses. She wore a plain brown shirt, with her suit hanging over her shoulder, coupled with a black pencil skirt.
"This is my boss at work." Arina introduced her. "You may have heard her name before. She is Miss Ellia Astier."
Ellia took off her glasses, revealing sharp green eyes that seemed to be able to see through one's true nature.
"Thank you for helping Arina. I'm sorry, but there is something I'd like to confirm first." Ellia paused for a moment. "Do you have a certificate that shows your identity as an evolution master?"
"Miss?!" Arina panicked. This wasn't what they had planned earlier.
Auric smiled at Ellia, showing an undisturbed expression. "I'm sorry, but I'm not an evolution master yet. There should be a test tomorrow, so I'm planning to register tomorrow."
"Miss…" Arina was looking at her as if she was begging her to leave.
Ellia just smiled. On that cold, stone-like face of hers, that smile was practically like an oasis in the middle of a desert.
Yet, Auric didn't have any reaction. She could be considered one of the most beautiful women he had seen, but he had developed some immunity thanks to his mother's natural beauty. "Is there something wrong?"
"Nothing. I just want to say that you are very clever. Not charging her beforehand and treating it as a suggestion rather than a treatment. This way, you haven't broken any laws."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Auric remained calm. It was originally Lindwurm's suggestion, but he understood the reasoning behind it not long after.
"You are so young. Are you a university student? Which university do you attend? If there are any opportunities, we can collaborate. After all, no one has seen battle techniques involved in evolution."
This time, Ellia's tone became more polite, as if she had acknowledged him to a certain extent.
Since Ellia had immediately questioned his qualifications earlier, he thought she had done some basic investigation on him.
So, Auric chose the response that would make their conversation a bit more interesting.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I am not someone who can enter college. Someone who doesn't even have an avatar has no way to enter college." Auric answered playfully, as if he were whining about it.