"You…" The guy stood up, causing the surrounding people to look at him in confusion.
Auric could see how red his face was. The guy truly reminded him of Eric. A slight provocation was all it took to rile him up, which ultimately made him seem cute.
It might be due to the glares of the people, as he knew he shouldn't do anything here to avoid ruining his own image.
"Just you wait!" He stomped his foot and walked away, finding a new seat.
Auric could only let out a sigh. Because of his provocation, people's attention had turned to him as well.
So, he just raised his book and covered his face to avoid dealing with the problem any longer.
One hour later, a middle-aged man came out of the room on the left side of the corridor. The man had long black hair with a couple of strands of white hair.
With a tired voice, he announced, "All participants. Please enter the room."
The group entered the room in an organized manner and sat down nervously.
Once everyone had settled down, the man started his explanation.
"I am a silver class evolution master, Gillian. I don't care who you are. What I care about is one thing. As an evolution master, you need to learn a lot."
A projector turned on, showing an image of multiple ingredients.
"The very basics are the knowledge of materials. To help people evolve, you will often need to use energy from beasts in addition to your own energy. Hence, the first trial is materials."
He raised a stack of papers. "Your first test will be a written test. Your task is to identify the materials in your test paper. If you are able to identify 140 out of 200 materials, you can continue to the second test. Any questions?"
The instruction was simple, so no one raised their hands.
Gillian started to distribute the papers. Once everyone had received their papers, Gillian looked at the clock. "The time is 2 hours. You may begin!"
Auric started working on the questions like other people, but he was a bit surprised by the questions.
Lindwurm could only scoff at the test. "Are they truly asking all these questions? It's just identifying the materials. Nothing else. It should be easy for you, kid."
'Well, I won't underestimate the test,' replied Auric. He had been learning about his father's business to a certain extent, so he was very familiar with the materials.
Lindwurm complained, "They should have given questions about the mutation of beasts or how to get rid of the material's impurity or something. Tsk. I'm disappointed."
The comments were a bit too much, so Auric just ignored him and focused on the test.
It took him forty minutes to answer all the questions. When he raised his head, the examiner took notice of him.
"If you are done, you may present the answer sheet right away. Don't make me waste one more second than I need to."
Auric knew it was directed at him, so he paused for a moment. Although the person earlier was quite amusing, he didn't really want to make a big deal of it.
To avoid escalating the problem, Auric stood up and chose to turn his sheet in.
"What?"
"Someone is already done?"
"Impossible."
"He must have given up, right?"
The people were startled. Even the provoked man from earlier widened his eyes before looking at him with contempt, thinking, 'As expected, he's all looks but no bite. You can't do anything with your looks, kid.'
Gillian checked the sheet. "You answered everything?"
"Yes, sir. My father used to open a material shop, so I'm familiar with materials." Auric smiled.
"Oh." Gillian considered Auric to be pleasing to the eye. He put the answer sheet into the scanner machine to see whether he was confident or just boasting.
However, the machine soon cleared his doubts.
[200/200]
"Oh?! All your answers were correct? Impressive." Gillian took out a gold coin. "Take this and head to the second test site."
"Thank you." Auric politely nodded before leaving.
He went to the staff first and showed the coin before asking them for the direction to the second test site.
The staff was surprised by Auric's speed, even more so given his age.
Auric didn't care about any of it. He just wanted to deal with the test and avoid any problems, but he misunderstood one thing.
When he reached the second test site, it was practically deserted.
"Ehm… Is this place abandoned? Or have I entered the wrong room?" Auric muttered while looking around.
As he was about to leave to confirm it, another evolution master entered the room while sipping his coffee.
"Hmm? What are you doing?" The evolution master furrowed his brows.
Auric could see the silver badge on his chest, so he hurriedly replied, "Good morning, Sir. I am one of the examinees. I have passed the first test."
Seeing the gold coin in his hand, the evolution master just nodded as if he didn't care about it. "Okay. Just wait there for another hour."
"Eh?" Auric blinked a few times.
"What? You expect me to start the test with just you alone and repeat what I have to say for the rest of them, not accounting for the people who will come later?"
"N-No. I'm sorry if it looks that way." Auric apologized immediately.
He might have had the wrong perception about an evolution master.
"Pfft!" Lindwurm teared up laughing. "Hahahahaha!"
Auric's eyebrows twitched. 'Why are you laughing?'
"Don't you know that despite their calm and respectable reputation, they are just a bunch of elitists who consider themselves above others?"
Auric had just realized it.
The first examiner? He said those words not because the test could be done right away. Instead, he just said it so that he could use the time waiting for the examiner to finish to grade at least one more person.
This way, he would grade fewer people when the exam ended, which would waste less time.
'I'm screwed.' It was something he should have expected, considering the number of participants.
He submitted the exam paper right away because he just wanted to get away from the person who kept provoking him so that he wouldn't have to deal with the trouble.
But it turned out his actions ended up provoking that person further.
If that person were truly similar to Eric, he definitely would feel even more challenged, even though he did it for a different reason.
Auric scratched the back of his head while lowering his head.
Lindwurm wanted to laugh more, but he noticed Auric's expression had become calmer.
It looked like there was no need to laugh at him anymore. Instead, he said, "Make sure to learn properly. In the end, people rely heavily on evolution masters, so it boosts their ego."
'I know.' Since everything had already happened, there was no choice but to move on. 'I guess this test will become a bit more annoying and interesting.'
Lindwurm smirked. "There is one way for you to not get bothered by that guy, you know?"
'Really?'
"Yeah. You just have to overwhelm him."
'I met that kind of person at school, and it backfired. He kept lingering around me. Well, it was fun at the time.'
"No. This is different from your school. The scaling of evolution masters is high. You can simply overwhelm him and you will find out what happens."
'Let me guess. He will get even angrier. Maybe he has a connection or something and will use that connection to bully me?'
"What are you talking about? The association loves its talented masters dearly. Haven't you read stories about an evolution master destroying a family by promising something to other families, possibly stronger?"
'Well, I don't really want to be affiliated with them too much since I want to stay independent, for me and for my store.'
"So, you're going to hide your ability?"
'Hell no. It's true that I have to be careful when exposing my elements or those books, but I have never held back when I have to do things.'
Lindwurm was quite surprised. He didn't know that even though it brought him some annoying situations, Auric never held back against anyone.
The fact that he was the top scorer was proof of his character.
'In the end, it will be similar to the school. If you can do well, people will praise you. If you want a scholarship, you need to do well. If I hold back and cause the people who come to me for evolution to worry whether I have the ability or not, doesn't that mean I have failed them?'
Lindwurm couldn't deny it. Even a doctor would be treated the same. If a person couldn't do their job as a doctor, the patients would have to worry about themselves.
That was why they had to do their best.
"In that case, I will teach you one trick." Lindwurm raised his claw. "Normally, when you have to help someone whose element is more extreme than yours, you need more energy, right?"
'Isn't it obvious?'
"What if I say there is a method that can be used to weaken their element first so that you don't have to suffer?"
"!!!" Lindwurm's statement felt like thunder reverberating in Auric's ears. 'Do you mean…'
"Using one extreme element to weaken the others, but the extreme element is known for its ferocity. If there are two extreme elements, they will ultimately clash with each other. However, there is a need for a bridge for them to 'negotiate,' and that bridge is none other than the softer element."
The statement blew his mind. Auric had already planned to get three stars from this assessment, but he was still thinking about how he should overpower the extreme element.
After all, his current element was at 24%, which reflected the amount of magical energy he possessed.
It might be impossible for his current self to help three people consecutively, with one being more difficult than the others.
But if he could use this method, it might be possible for him to get what he wanted.
'And that extreme element will come from materials.' Auric muttered, completing the concept that Lindwurm had brought up.
"That's right. Don't misunderstand. This technique might not be common, but it's well known at a higher level. After all, the higher one's power, the more potent their element becomes."
'And you're teaching me that?'
"Normal people can't do it, but you might be able to do it. Your senses need to be sensitive enough to know the dosage, which is what a newbie evolution master doesn't have."
Auric believed he could do it. His eyes could see the particles, which reflected the concentration of the elements.
Additionally, it required a lot of knowledge of materials because they needed the perfect material to balance them. As the son of a material shop owner, he definitely had that knowledge.
"Whether you want to attempt it or not, it's up to you. If you attempt it, there will be an examiner who will stop you if something goes wrong. If you want to succeed, I can also help you, but that's not what you want, right?"
'To be honest, I want to try getting the certificate with my own hands. After all, can I rely on you all the time?'
"Definitely not. For your own growth."
Auric had expected that answer. 'If that's the case, tell me more about this technique. I do have some questions about the technique.'
"Aren't you trying to get it by yourself?"
'If you tell me during the test, it's cheating. If you tell me before the test, it's mentoring.' Auric cheekily replied. He wanted to stick out his tongue, but the examiner would think he was a weird guy.
Little did he know, the examiner had been taking a sneak peek at Auric. He was curious about the person who managed to pass the first test so quickly.
'What's wrong with this guy? He doesn't speak, but his expression changes a lot. Is he crazy? Insane? Has he been reading too many books that he's started hallucinating? Is he a genius or a freak?'
His thought was worse than 'weird.'