Upon hearing that question, he couldn't help but recall how the mayor had called him before.
Still, Auric didn't have any change of expression. Instead, he calmly asked, "Is that the reason you specifically called me a plant evolution master, Mayor?"
A small grin appeared on the mayor's face. "So, does this mean you have other elements?"
"Who knows?" Auric shrugged.
"Good. That's the attitude." The mayor was actually pleased by his answer. "If you reveal everything, you will lose your advantage. If you don't reveal anything, you might encounter trouble because they think you're not a big deal.
"Hence, you tell people half the truth. If that half-truth reveals the whole truth, it's better not to say anything at all."
He acted like a cunning fox, as one might expect from a politician.
He specifically referred to Auric as a plant evolution master so that the people who were interested in him would focus on that piece of information instead of figuring out anything hidden.
This way, his other elements wouldn't be exposed yet.
"I will send some agents to protect your mother from a distance so you can focus on your studies."
Auric fell silent. It seemed the mayor had considered everything.
"Well, I will look forward to your achievement. Just so you know, things like scholarships don't last forever." The mayor reminded him that he should produce a result.
In the end, it was the same as a normal scholarship. If his grades weren't good, he would lose it.
But it didn't matter much to him. He might reveal his power gradually, but he never intended to hide it in the first place. He just didn't deliberately show it off like an idiot, so the mayor could rest assured about it.
After saying his piece, the mayor got into his car and left.
Lindwurm muttered, "That sly old fox. It looks like he wants to exploit you. Protect your mother? Yes, you can interpret it that way, but it's also to monitor you."
"I see." Auric fell into thought. "Well, it will happen sooner or later. At least we know who is monitoring us. But he definitely won't know what we are doing, will he?"
Lindwurm smirked. "Within the academy? No. As for the store, I can set up an office for you. You can use this place to write down the details about your gathering technique. What do you think?"
"Sure."
"But it will cost you an additional 10,000 credits per day."
Auric's eyebrows twitched. Since it was managed by Lindwurm's power, it didn't seem like he could complain about it.
After a long sigh, he said, "Fine. At least, we got a cash injection. My mom will also be protected, so I can focus on the store."
"Well…" Lindwurm gave a wry smile.
"What?"
"Nothing. You don't have to worry about your mother."
"I know." Auric nodded. Since everything had been set properly, he could finally focus on building up his store reputation. "Anyway, I don't think we need another advertisement."
"Yeah. With that move alone, we will get plenty of ladies, I mean, customers coming our way."
Auric raised one finger while adding, "And his action will definitely make it hard for the association to stay quiet. People will soon get interested in me, but thanks to the mayor, they will have some restraints."
Lindwurm agreed. The situation had been quite favorable for them. "Still, won't we need a new employee?"
"That's true." Auric sighed. "Not only a helper, but we might also need a guard. Because we are just starting, we don't have any connections yet. I guess we will see what will happen tomorrow first."
Lindwurm smirked. "Should I put a cage on the evolution materials? Adding a little detail won't change much in terms of energy consumption."
"Good, good. Let's talk about the details in our room."
…
"Huu…" Ellia opened her eyes as her dragon avatar had finally evolved. Due to this evolution, she couldn't attend school to see Auric, but she had asked Arina to take care of him.
When she left the room, she found Arina waiting for her.
"Congratulations, Miss."
Ellia nodded. "It's really effective. If he can really help a unique element user to evolve smoothly like this, his value will be much higher. He will be the first unique element evolution master."
"I'm just happy that you evolved safely. If not for your unique element, you would have evolved months ago." Arina let out a sigh of relief.
"Anyway, how was he? Did someone attack him again? Last time, someone provoked him because of his face, no?" Ellia asked with a casual tone. She thought Auric would be popular with the girls, so those girls would probably stop him from getting into trouble.
"Actually…" Arina looked troubled. She rubbed her cheek before telling her what happened with Simon.
She told her about the provocation that Simon started at the entrance and the fact that he openly challenged Auric after the orientation.
Ellia's face darkened as a smile formed on her face. Despite such a beautiful smile, Arina could only feel chills from it.
"So? You at least hit him on his face, right?" Ellia asked.
"Eh?" Arina's body shook. She blinked a few times as her mind went blank. "But, Miss… that person…"
"…Lightning Emperor's disciple? Who cares? Do you think I'm scared to go against the Lightning Emperor? That was the last chance we could get him. If we don't accumulate our favors when he is not worth much, we won't be able to get it when he has grown."
Ellia facepalmed. If it weren't for her evolution, she would have made a move herself.
Arina's perspective wasn't wrong, either. The other party's identity was special and the person himself was talented.
If they clashed with the Lightning Emperor, they would definitely suffer damage.
Still, Ellia's method was different.
"It's natural to take some losses." Ellia sighed. "So, was that all?"
Arina looked away as she began recounting every bit of it, including the mayor's appearance.
"Of course, the mayor." Ellia rolled her eyes. "Now, what am I going to do with it?"
Arina lowered her gaze. "Sorry…"
Ellia wanted to get angry, but she really couldn't help it with this childhood friend of hers.
In addition, if she didn't stumble upon Auric's shop, she wouldn't be able to evolve this quickly.
Besides, she might not have picked the best choice in her eyes, but she didn't do anything wrong. She considered the safety of their business.
Ellia patted her head. "Well, what's done is done."
"Can I do anything to fix my mistake?"
"It's not really a mistake. I'm thankful that you are considerate of me." Ellia shook her head helplessly before an idea popped into her mind. "Actually, there might be something you can do. And you are definitely experienced in this."
"What is that?"
Ellia smiled slyly as if she had an evil plan.
…
The next day.
Auric was stupefied. He came earlier to avoid any crowds, but he never expected there were already people in front of his place.
More importantly, the two people were none other than Ellia and Arina. No, he was even more shocked when Arina actually came in the maid's uniform.
"What in the world is going on…" Auric muttered.
Ellia politely bowed. "Thank you, Master Auric. Thanks to your technique, I could evolve yesterday. Unfortunately, because of it, I missed the orientation and couldn't meet you before."
"Ah. Not at all. I'm merely fulfilling my side of the agreement." Auric waved his hand, treating it as if it weren't a big deal.
"Please don't say that. You have done something that no evolution master could have done. You helped a unique element user evolve. If you ever want to publish my story, I can help you with it."
"It's fine." Auric stopped her. "I don't think you come here just to thank me, right?"
"Indeed." Ellia pointed at Arina with her hand. "What do you think about making her work for your store? There are still four days left before the semester starts. So why not have her help you during that time?"
Auric narrowed his eyes. It looked like Ellia was aware of what happened on the campus.
She knew the store would most likely get a lot of customers.
What Auric currently needed was a helper for the store.
Arina could be a big help. She looked like she had been accompanying Ellia, so she must have some experience taking care of customers. In addition, Ellia had unique status and quite considerable strength, so she could help him protect the store.
The only downside was that it might be perceived as though Ellia were trying to claim him.
Nevertheless, Auric still needed Ellia's influence if he wanted to smooth his path forward. It looked like he had no choice but to accept this deal.
"I don't think it's a good idea to take her in." Lindwurm suddenly voiced his opinion.
'Why?' Auric was surprised that Lindwurm had a different opinion.
However, his surprise soon turned into disappointment after what Lindwurm said next.
"Yes. She came from a large corporation. Won't she be expensive? Even though we have a lot of cash, we can't squander everything or I won't be able to eat anymore."
Auric definitely wanted to slap him on the back of his head. 'When have you become so greedy?'
"I'm not greedy. I'm just taking care of myself," replied Lindwurm, as if that was the only right thing to do.
Auric sighed inwardly. He finally raised his head and extended his hand. "It'll be my pleasure to work with you."
Arina, who was embarrassed with her outfit, hurriedly shook his hand. "Y-Yes. Likewise. Please call me, Arina."
"Yes, Arina. You can call me by my name as well." Auric nodded.
"Good." Ellia stepped forward. "Anyway, I will deliver more items to you, especially the plant, the water, and the wind element materials."
Auric narrowed his eyes, feeling suspicious. His plant element could stimulate fire and earth elements, but his energy was limited.
In his current state, he could at most help five people before emptying his energy. It would take some time to recover that energy, so he could only rely on items.
The plant element material could become a replacement for his element, while the other two types could become the counter elements if he needed them.
However, Auric could also use wind and earth elements.
He still remembered what Lindwurm taught him about his energy reserves.
Lindwurm showed him a human body with one circle on its chest. "This is the energy reserve of a normal person. They only have one type of energy, so once it's gone, it's gone."
He then added multiple circles with different colors. "This is your body. If you empty out one reserve, you can use the energy from the other reserves. However, you can't use the fire energy reserve to use the water element, and vice versa. You can only use each energy reserve according to the element it's bound to."
Auric, of course, remembered it. In the end, he absorbed the colored particles, so it was obvious the red particles couldn't produce a green color and vice versa.
Since the mayor introduced him as a plant evolution master, people would definitely bring fire- and earth-element users. So, he had to rely on the materials.
Still, he was rather skeptical about receiving things from others.
Seeing the suspicion in his eyes, Ellia clarified calmly. "Please pay no mind to it. You have indeed fulfilled the agreement by delivering such a precious technique to me. However, that is for the technique. I should at least repay you for the evolution, right? That technique has helped me evolve after all."
When she worded it this way, Auric couldn't really decline it.
Arina couldn't help but glance back and forth between them, thinking, 'Why are these two talking in such a roundabout way the whole time? Their behavior is similar in this regard.'
"In that case, I will accept your gift." Auric finally nodded and extended his hand. "Thank you."
"Not at all. I should be the one to thank you." Ellia shook his hand firmly. "We'll meet again soon, junior."
"Yes."