"I've brought the gift here." Arina patted the truck. "Are you going to open your shop today?"
Auric nodded. "Yes. Thank you for bringing the gift, Miss Arina."
"No need to be so polite." Arina chuckled. "Just call me Arina. Maybe 'Senior' is good too, since you will enter college tomorrow."
"Yes, Senior."
"Unload everything." Arina nodded before waving her hand downward, asking the staff who came with her to start unloading the materials.
"This is the gift. There are about a hundred items from eight different elements," Arina said as she handed him a note. "This is the list."
"It's more than I thought," said Auric while looking at the list.
"It looks like she is pleased with your technique. She must have seen the effect since she didn't come to work today."
"That's good." Auric nodded. "Soon, she will be able to evolve safely."
"I hope so." Arina looked at Auric for a moment. "She is a genius, but people are a bit skeptical because of her element. The unique element is powerful, but at the same time, people with this element will have a hard time evolving. Many die along the way, while others don't dare to evolve. So, I'm grateful to you for giving her that opportunity."
"You can thank me after she evolves."
"Right?" Arina chuckled. "Anyway, do you need anything else?"
The materials that they brought were definitely more than enough. Each element had 12 items, which varied in intensity.
To his surprise, Ellia actually gave him four space element materials. It appeared that the materials were originally obtained by Ellia to increase her element, but since she didn't need them anymore, she gave them to him.
This was necessary for a material store, but for an evolution shop, he probably only needed water and earth element materials.
Or at least, that was what it looked like.
Auric could eventually help any element to evolve, so the materials would be necessary. All he had to do was convince the customers without telling them a single lie.
The unloading process was quick, even though they proceeded with care. In just thirty minutes, his store was filled to the brim.
"Thank you."
"No problem. You sure you don't need anything else?" Arina asked for confirmation.
"Yes. This is enough."
"All right. In that case, good luck. Let's meet again soon, junior." Arina waved her hand as she boarded the truck.
Auric waved with a smile until the truck was gone.
"Lindwurm." Auric glanced at the chubby dragon, who had been monitoring the unloading process.
"Hehehe. This is the benefit you can get from having me around." Lindwurm clapped.
Suddenly, a blue screen appeared in front of Auric.
It was a similar catalog to the one he had seen in the association. It contained all one hundred items.
"So, you can register all the items here," Auric said. This was probably the first time Auric sounded impressed by Lindwurm's ability.
"Praise me more." Lindwurm proudly puffed his chest.
Auric ignored that remark and simply raised his hand, trying to follow the pattern of Lindwurm's energy. "Why can't I copy you?"
"Hehehe. Do you think you can copy me like that? I have taken precautions before using my power."
"Aren't you supposed to aid me? Shouldn't you show me so that I can learn that power as well and increase my element?" Auric rolled his eyes.
"As much as I want to do that, I can't."
"Not allowed?"
Lindwurm nodded.
"Tsk." Auric clicked his tongue. "Even if I starve you?"
"Even if you starve me. I can only disappear rather than help you in this area." Lindwurm shook his head helplessly.
"Well…" Auric sighed. "It doesn't matter, I guess. Rather than getting fixated on that, I'd rather earn more money."
Auric was trying to figure out Lindwurm's power. He claimed to have the ability to expand the shop, but with the catalog he had just shown, his power didn't seem to be the space element.
There were many variants in the unique category, so he could only wait for more clues to appear and single it out.
"Anyway, now that we've gotten everything out of the way, we can finally open the shop." Auric smiled.
There were many things to do in the past couple of days, so it was refreshing and exciting to finally open the shop.
"Oh!" Lindwurm nodded in approval. "By experiencing more and more evolutions, you will become more and more skilled. So, help as many people as you can."
"I know." Auric looked around to check the accuracy of the list since he didn't want to suddenly run out of items.
"Sister, I can go alone. Why are you going with me?" A young man's voice faintly echoed inside the store.
"I'm worried about you. That's why. I can't let you be cheated by the evolution master. Besides, I have never heard of this shop before." A rather strict tone came from the woman.
"Welcome to the Night and Day store. How may I help you?" Auric turned around.
The man had a rather robust build with big muscles on his arms. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt because he wanted to show off his arms.
He had spiky orange hair and deep blue eyes, which provided a contrast that somehow complemented each other.
On the other hand, the woman he called sister was a bit older than him, looking like she was already past twenty.
Her physique was smaller than his, but there was a sense of threat emanating from her. It was clear that there was more blood on her hands compared to the guy's.
When he saw the materials in the store, the man shouted while pointing at Auric. "Is this a material store? Not an evolution store?"
"This is a little bit of both," Auric explained.
"Bring the store owner out!" The man demanded. Auric seemed to be younger than he was, so there was no way he would be the owner.
"I'm—" Before Auric could confirm that he was the owner, the sister suddenly slapped the man on the back of his head. "Don't be rude!"
"Rude? What?" The man was flabbergasted. His sister was the one who was skeptical at first, so he put on a tough front so that he wouldn't be cheated.
Yet, his sister was warning him because of an outsider.
The sister hurriedly put on a smile. "Hello. I'm Angelina. This is my little brother, Cain. He's going to evolve, so we need a consultation with an evolution master."
Cain was taken aback. 'Sister, that's not how you behaved earlier…'
As if having the same thought, Lindwurm was laughing again. "Hahaha. Definitely your face, isn't it? 50% of your problem seems to come from your face, and that face of yours also solves half of your problem."
'Isn't that equalizing it?'
"Hahahaha." Lindwurm just kept laughing.
'You have been laughing a lot ever since you appeared before me. It's like you are watching a comedy show called 'My Life.'' Auric had the urge to slap Lindwurm as well, but there was a customer in front of him.
So, Auric calmly replied to Angelina. "That's perfect. I'm the evolution master, Auric. Please come in."
"You are an evolution master? You look even younger than me, and I'm still 19 years old. There's no way you are an evolu—!" Cain wanted to berate him, but his head got smacked again. "Sister?!"
"Be polite!" Angelina glared at him. "Look at his badge!"
Cain was baffled, but when his eyes shifted to the badge on Auric's collar, he finally figured out that Auric was indeed a master. His appearance was just too suspicious.
'Is he faking his identity?' Cain wanted to shout again, but he looked at his sister, realizing what was going on. 'It's his face, isn't it? Is he so handsome that you keep smacking my head?'
He felt wronged as a younger brother, but there was only one way he could turn the situation around without getting smacked again.
To prove if his theory was correct, he continued, "There's no way someone younger than me is actually an evolution master!"
"You brat. I didn't teach you to be so rude!" Angelina pinched his ears. "It's obvious that he has a baby face."
"…" Auric and Cain were speechless. Auric was glad that he didn't have to explain his age since the others misunderstood him. Meanwhile, Cain confirmed his theory.
Auric smiled wryly before pointing at the frame on the wall behind the counter. "Yes. I'm the evolution master. That's my certificate over there. May I know your problem?"
Angelina explained, "My brother wants to evolve, but his element has exceeded the limit by 10%."
"What is his element, avatar, and affinity grade?"
"His avatar is Sylph. His element is C-grade Typhoon Wind."
"Even better. Would you like a consultation or an evolution?" Auric asked.
"You can help him evolve?" Angelina covered her mouth in surprise.
"Of course." Auric nodded and raised his hand, covering his arm with the steel element. "I have the steel element."
"Extreme variant…" Angelina thought the master was fierce, but it turned out he was even stronger with that extreme element variant. It meant his energy could suppress the rest just fine. This was the best element for an evolution master to have for his case.
In other words, the badge came from his own ability instead of an item.
"Then let's go with the evolution," Angelina immediately answered.
Cain was speechless at Angelina's assertiveness. "Why are you deciding everything for me?"
"What's wrong? I'm paying for it. Or what? Do you want to pay for it?"
"That's…" Cain couldn't answer it.
"If you hadn't spent all your savings on treating your friends, you could have answered me." Angelina snorted. "So, just do it."
"…" He bit his lip, but it didn't look like he had any other choice. Therefore, his only plan was to prove that Auric was a quack.
"In that case, please follow me to the evolution chamber." Auric walked to the first door and opened it for them. "Please."
"Thank you." Angelina smiled from ear to ear. Cain followed right after while glaring at him.
"Please take a seat."
"Can I also watch?" Angelina asked for confirmation. When she evolved in the past, she was alone with the evolution master. So, she thought she had to leave, and her brother would make a mess of it.
"As long as you can keep quiet and not disturb the evolution process, you can watch," confirmed Auric.
"Thank you." Angelina was pleased. She couldn't help but think of some evolution masters who took advantage of women like her.
They could try to touch her in inappropriate areas while telling her they needed to do it because of the accumulation of energy.
"In that case, let's begin with the treatment." Auric smiled at Cain to loosen him up.
Still, Cain had that unfriendly expression as if he were skeptical of him.
So, Auric simply asked, "Please show me one of your battle techniques."
"What?" Both Angelina and Cain were surprised this time. Angelina asked, "Is a battle technique really necessary? I mean, from my experience, evolution masters are supposed to ask us to release our energy, not battle techniques."
"He is a quack, sister!" Cain snarled.
"Of course, if you prefer not to show your battle technique, it will be fine as well. However, it will improve the accuracy if you can just show me your battle technique. I can treat you before you start the evolution."
Angelina couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Since the technique was quite advanced, it was almost impossible to find a bronze evolution master who could solve the problem before they began their evolution.
Angelina thought for a moment before nodding.
Cain was a bit skeptical, but there was no need to hesitate. He claimed that he could solve it before the evolution, so there should be no risk to his life before the evolution.
And this would be a better way to show Auric was a quack.
"Watch this!" Cain called his avatar. The Sylph was a small female humanoid with a pair of sharp, fan-shaped wings.
As he lifted his hand, the wind started to gather, creating a ball of torrential wind.
He thought, 'Look at this. I will show you that you are just a fake master.'