"Do you want me to help you? I want to slap him hard." Lindwurm volunteered, but Auric's answer remained firm.
'No. I'm going to do it myself. If I rely on you to rise to the top, I will be nothing once you're gone.'
"Such a sad thing to say. So, you want me to disappear?" Lindwurm looked at him with big, teary eyes.
'You know that's not what I'm saying. Besides, since you're not telling me your circumstances, I just expect the worst.'
"You are such a negative person." Lindwurm pouted.
'Call me a realist. Anyway, be quiet for a second. I'm going to focus.' Auric took a deep breath before speaking to Silvia. "Big sister. Please forgive me for touching you."
"But I haven't even started yet?" Silvia was a bit confused.
"It will be quick." Auric smiled gently, assuring her everything was going to be all right. "Please continue releasing your energy for a minute or two."
"Understood." Silvia nodded carefully. Since evolution hadn't started, Silvia didn't need to fully concentrate.
Auric placed his hand on her back, in the area near the liver. Then, a portion of his energy flowed into her body.
Once Auric's plant element met Silvia's fire element, the fire element treated it as fuel, allowing it to burn even stronger.
"Hmm?" The president's eyes lit up when he saw what Auric was attempting. "Fredrick. Did you see it?"
Fredrick rubbed his eyes a few times to make sure he hadn't seen it incorrectly. "Is he… trying to fix the problem before the evolution starts?"
The president couldn't help but smirk. "His approach is interesting. This kind of method is harder because of the lack of sensitivity. Does he have a master? He knows how high his sensitivity is, teaches him such an advanced technique, and the young man masters it in less than two days?"
"Hmm?" Silvia felt her body warming up. "What is going on?"
"Hah! He's a scammer. What the hell is he doing before she even starts the evolution?" Hans shouted, discrediting Auric.
The rest of the participants frowned. In the end, they didn't know what Auric was doing either.
"My body…" Silvia looked at her abdomen with an astonished expression.
"Stop it. You shouldn't kill someone!" Hans added.
But before anyone could say anything, Silvia actually continued, "My body feels even more comfortable."
"What?" That statement dumbfounded Hans.
What did she mean by comfortable? What was Auric doing?
"What's going on, little brother?" Silvia asked with a confused expression.
"Your element is already perfect for evolution. However, it looks like you have an injury in this area, which causes your element to weaken."
"Ah?! Now that I think about it, I was injured three weeks ago, but it had already been one week since I fully recovered. However, my control over fire was still a bit off even after recovering, but I thought it would gradually improve."
"No. It clogged up inside your body, unable to ignite again. I infused my energy into it to reignite it. Does Big Sister want to make a bet with me? In your condition, I don't even need to do anything—you can evolve just fine."
"Really?" Silvia was dumbfounded. "Even without anyone helping?"
"Yes. Of course, I could help you like this during your evolution, but I believe you want to feel more assured before attempting the evolution." Auric smiled. "Of course, I will stay here until you are done."
Silvia had previously been concerned, believing that Auric lacked the necessary ability. But with the way he conducted himself and his reassuring words, she felt more assured than Krov, who started first.
Silvia nodded with a smile, this time filled with confidence. "In that case, wish me luck."
Without hesitation, she closed her eyes and started channeling her power into her avatar.
Her spirit was a fire elemental. The intensity rating he put earlier was 2.2/5.0. It was higher than Krov's fire spirit.
As soon as he put in enough plant energy, the clogged part reignited, causing the element to flow normally in her body again.
And what Auric promised earlier actually happened.
Once she began the evolution, the fire elemental flared up in a controlled way. It let out a powerful flame, but it wasn't harming anyone.
In just a few minutes, the fire elemental had grown by half its original size. More importantly, Auric didn't do anything during the evolution.
"I really did…" Silvia was stunned.
No, she wasn't the only one. All the participants, including Hans, couldn't believe what had just happened.
Some of the evolution masters subconsciously opened their mouths in awe.
"Congratulations." Auric smiled one more time while offering his hand to help her up.
'What is really going on? Has evolution always been this sweet?' Silvia's mind was racing. 'A 17-year-old did this? He's young and so handsome. Would anyone believe me if I ever told them about this evolution? Is this a dream? If it's a dream, I don't want to wake up.'
Auric then nodded and walked toward the exit. "The treatment is over."
The plant evolution master shook his head helplessly while saying, "Congrats. You are an evolution master. 17-year-old evolution master. I guess you will now be the youngest evolution master…"
"Ahahaha. Thank you, Senior." Auric humbly replied.
"That's not possible." Hans shouted in denial.
The atmosphere changed abruptly. Some started to feel displeased.
As long as they managed to help one person to evolve, they were qualified to become an evolution master.
So, this accomplishment was enough to prove Auric's ability.
Seeing how satisfied Silvia was compared to Krov, it was clear whose ability was higher.
"You just treated it before evolution. You didn't help her evolve." Hans gritted his teeth.
Auric smiled wryly. To his surprise, the plant evolution master next to him was the one berating him.
"What's not possible? You dumbass. If you do it, it's called skill. And if he does it, it doesn't count?"
Auric wanted to say something, but he shut his mouth right away after hearing the plant evolution master.
Lindwurm laughed. "This is the unexpected part of the evolution master. They will protect each other. If they don't, there will be large corporations bullying them and forcing them to work like slaves."
'You seem to enjoy it.' Auric rolled his eyes.
The water evolution master opened his mouth, but the plant evolution master pointed his finger at him.
"You, before you speak, think carefully. Why don't you give me boiling water instead? It's for the tea that I've personally cultivated with my element."
"What did you say?"
When the argument was about to get heated, Auric noticed the president was about to step up. It looked like they were forgetting about him because of the shock.
However, Auric suddenly grabbed the evolution master's hand as if trying to calm him down. "There is no need to do that, Senior. Instead of using our energy to argue, why not use it to continue? May I pick the one with the variant, Senior?"
"!!!" The evolution master's body shook. Even the president halted his steps. It was already impressive for Auric to get 1 star, but surprisingly, he wanted to attempt the higher difficulty.
"Are you sure?" The evolution master asked in disbelief.
"The reason I did it before the evolution process was because during the evolution process, the fire would be fiercer and I would end up using more energy. I wanted to conserve my energy so that I would have enough to challenge the next one."
"Oh."
Auric explained it so reasonably that he couldn't think of a reason to reject him.
"I'd like to ask for Mr. Johan."
"I see. Mr. Johan. Please!" The plant evolution master raised his voice.
"Understood." Johan was unlike Silvia. He was a bald man in his early twenties, but more importantly, his attitude was stiff and polite.
With the evolution master's lead, they entered the evolution chamber. Of course, the evolution master didn't forget to shout angrily before entering. "Hmph. Look at your junior and look at my junior. My junior is better, whether it's in skill, brain, or even attitude!"
The water evolution master was speechless. Hans hurriedly grabbed him and begged, "Senior. I'm going to attempt the second star as well."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!" Hans nodded furiously. He hurriedly looked at the catalog. "I'm going to choose… Titus."
"Mr. Titus." The water evolution master called out the name. Without wasting any more seconds, they rushed into the evolution chamber.
The participants were staring at each other. They were supposed to be tested as well, but the two ended up stealing the entire show.
The lightning evolution master looked at one of the participants as if he was asking whether he wanted to attempt it as well.
The participant shook his head lightly while pointing at the evolution chamber as though he was replying, 'This drama is more interesting. Shouldn't we watch it first?'
The lightning evolution master wanted to laugh but held it off as he nodded in approval.
Titus had a firebird as his avatar. This firebird was known as the descendant of a phoenix, but it wasn't a phoenix, so it couldn't reach the extreme variant.
On the other hand, Johan had a golem avatar, but this was not an ordinary golem. It was a silver golem.
When Hans looked at Titus, he couldn't help but clench his fists. No matter how hard he tried, Hans could not look at the golem in the same way that Auric did.
"Let's begin!" Hans rushed first, planning to show that he could earn the second star before Auric.
In another room, Johan couldn't help but ask, "Are you planning to do the same thing, Sir Evolution Master?"
Auric smiled. "That will be up to you, sir. There won't be any change on your part."
"In that case, may I ask to proceed in the normal way? If not, I will follow your decision."
"Actually, both of them are normal methods, sir." The plant evolution master stepped forward. "Most of the time, the people who use his method are at least gold-grade evolution masters. Both methods will yield the same result, but his method simply puts less burden on the evolution master."
Johan was surprised by the explanation. It basically meant that Auric could use such an advanced technique when he had just become an evolution master.
"I see." Johan exhaled in relief. "That was inconsiderate of me. If you think you can do it, sir, please use the more advanced method."
Auric smiled. "In that case, please release your magical energy."
Johan nodded, feeling a bit more confident.
Johan's problem was not a wound. Instead, he was brimming with energy.
'108%, I think?' Auric thought while looking at his chest. 'There is concentrated energy in his stomach.'
"In that case, please excuse me." Auric touched Johan's stomach while making light conversation. "Are you perhaps a foodie?"
"Oh? How did you know?"
"Your body told me so. Still, isn't it impressive to be a foodie while maintaining this physique?"
"How can you say that? As long as you balance everything, it will be fine."
"Is that so? I will keep that advice in mind." Auric nodded calmly while pouring his element into his body.
The plant element would break down the earth element in his body and suppress it in a way slightly different from how water suppresses fire.
Auric maintained the steady flow, gradually diminishing the power of the element in his stomach.
"It might take a bit longer, so please be patient."
"Don't worry. I can already feel the difference. I feel my stomach grumbling, but it becomes more refreshing the more you continue."
"Then I'm glad." Auric smiled.
The plant evolution master observed Auric carefully.
'To think a kid this young already has this level of sensitivity. Although Fredrick gave him a bonus point in the second test, what he's capable of is more than a couple of bonus points. Although he is still quite slow and his skill is a bit rough, it's already beyond my imagination for such a young evolution master to be able to achieve it.'
As the evolution master grew more and more satisfied with Auric, a scream suddenly shattered the peaceful atmosphere.
"Aaahhhhh!"
It was Titus' voice.