Auric and Arina were watching the video quietly. It was a video of Ellia's entire visit.
They could see the anger on the Lightning Emperor's face. It was surprising that the calm Lightning Emperor could change so abruptly.
In addition, what she did to Simon was similar to what Auric did.
Lindwurm had been laughing all this time. "Hahaha. This is definitely worth watching. I never thought that when Arina said, 'She is similar to you,' she meant it literally."
Auric was completely speechless. It was true that the video was enough, but he still had a lot of questions.
Still, Auric couldn't help but sweat. If they were really that similar, it meant Ellia might have realized his elements and the fact that he had also acquired her element.
That wasn't supposed to happen, but he wouldn't be fooled by what she said even if Arina was the one delivering it.
But there was no way he could ask Ellia directly.
"What?" Ellia asked, noticing Auric's gaze.
Auric smiled wryly. He changed the question in his mind. "Why a video? Are you sure it's alright to record this? Are you planning to publish it?"
"Of course not. I took the liberty of recording it as proof. Besides, it's quite amusing to watch."
"Hahaha. I like this girl, Auric." Lindwurm was definitely enjoying the video.
"Miss. I don't think you should say something like that…." Arina sighed helplessly.
"In any case, it won't be published. I don't want my face to get dragged through the mud either. Nevertheless, there should be some compensation arriving later. I will monitor the situation as well if they are trying to harm you."
"About that. Since when have I been under your protection?"
"A figure of speech. Well, I don't mind if that becomes a reality as well. What do you think?"
Auric looked at her for a moment before retreating gracefully by changing the topic. "In any case, I'm satisfied with the solution. As long as the compensation is given and the other party is punished, let bygones be bygones."
"I have to warn you, though. He might end up becoming even more petty, so you have to be careful."
"Will do."
"All right. I'll take my leave here. There are still matters that need to be handled in the company."
Auric couldn't help but feel so much pressure as Ellia left. He finally figured out what kind of person Ellia was, and it was definitely a problem for him.
The fact that she didn't say anything or give away a single clue about him copying her element showed she would rather sheathe that weapon until the very last moment.
It would be better if she drew that blade on someone else rather than on him.
Still, thanks to Ellia's warning, there were no other problems in the store. After people learned about Auric's skills, more and more people came to him.
It appeared that the man who caused the ruckus earlier hadn't revealed his elements. No one asked to be treated directly by Auric using his elements, so he chose to evolve their avatars with items for the time being.
Of course, he received a fair amount of compensation from the Lightning Emperor. And according to Ellia, the man who caused the problem had been placed under house arrest.
Although exile would be a heavy punishment, Auric and Ellia agreed that the house arrest was better.
If they pushed the man into a corner because he had just helped Simon without knowing anything, the man might reveal his secret in a much more unpredictable way.
Auric wanted to show that talent gradually so that he could build it up according to his original plan.
Days passed quickly.
Auric finally returned to campus.
Over the past few days, Auric had found several interesting elements, including the water element customer on the first day.
Name: Auric Elfe
Element: (Fire 5%), (Water 8%), (Lightning 0%), (Wind 10%), (Earth 22%), (Plant 24%), (Light 0%), (Dark 0%), (Unique 20%)
Auric ultimately took three new elements. The first was an element called Violet Fire. It was a fire variant that was known more for its flexibility, according to the owner. Its intensity was one thing, but he definitely had an easier time controlling it.
The second element he got came from the customer with the water element. The element was called 'Heavy Water'.
What he didn't expect was that he would get two extreme variants for his earth element. The second earth element he got was actually the Diamond Element.
After people recognized his skills, an avatar with an extreme element finally arrived at his store.
Although he hadn't fully maxed out all his elements, he had been spending all his free time increasing them as much as possible.
He expected to max out his current elements in two to three weeks.
Still, if he combined all his elements, he would already have 89% elemental progress. With just 11% more, he could evolve—and the school hadn't even begun.
Unfortunately, he couldn't combine them. What he could do was stack them. By having all nine elements maxed out, he had nine people's worth of magical energy. This meant that a single person wouldn't be able to defeat him. In addition, he could utilize his elements in a way that would suppress his opponent.
It was completely unfair to other people.
At the same time, he also needed more time than a single person. He might absorb magical energy faster than someone with an S-grade affinity, but because he needed to progress all nine elements, he might end up being slower.
That was why he had to be careful about his progress. If he were too slow to evolve, he might lose to others. After all, the intensity of one's element increased drastically after an evolution. Even if he had a lot of elements, his chance of losing was significantly higher.
"The last few days were pretty bountiful. Didn't we get a lot of money?" Lindwurm asked.
'Yeah. On the last day, we got twenty customers. After deducting the expenses—excluding you—we earned 1,680,000 credits.'
"That's a lot. Can I eat a lot?"
'Don't you still have some reserves in your belly?'
"I do, but after doing all that, it was already down to eight days."
'Wasn't it supposed to last twenty days?' Auric's eyes twitched.
"I created an office for you as well as a training room. I also helped you, so more energy was used."
Auric's eyebrows twitched. 'Since the shop is not open, can't it be cheaper?'
"The lowest is 50,000 credits per day. Any additional features will cost more energy, which also means more credits."
'The worst part was that it had yet to generate revenue. The tax alone was about 30%. Fortunately, my father owned the place, so we didn't have to pay rent.'
"What? 30% tax? Can't we just not pay taxes? Just fill my belly with that tax money."
Auric just rolled his eyes. 'Hey, even the greatest villains who cover up all their murders can be charged with tax evasion, so no. Anyway, we'll definitely not open our shop all the time, so we have to manage our money wisely.'
Lindwurm looked like he wanted to argue, but Auric had already looked away. "But we did get a lot of materials from Ellia and even the Lightning Emperor, no?"
'That's true. From my rough calculation, the gift from Ellia was worth about 2,500,000 credits. The Lightning Emperor's compensation was 1,200,000 credits. But it's not like we will accept gifts easily.'
"Fair point. But I can at least eat them just in case." Lindwurm smiled, just thinking about stuffing his belly with all those materials.
If he thought about it, Auric was already pretty rich. Including the money from the mayor, he had at least three million in cash and another three million's worth of materials.
His father gave him one million for the business expenses and another million's worth of materials, which had been devoured by Lindwurm.
With the cash alone, he could probably stay in a luxury suite for six months without having to worry about anything.
Of course, Auric believed he earned more than other evolution masters. After all, he was capable of treating all elements, which might not be the case for other evolution masters.
Then again, he wouldn't be opening the shop all the time. He had to go to the campus so that he could gain more knowledge and advance his skills.
Hence, his income was not stable yet.
'Either way, I can also work as an evolution master on campus. If I want something, I can probably exchange my services for contribution points.'
"As long as we get more money, I don't really care. Besides, once you evolve and become a silver grade master, you can earn much more than that, considering that the price of the materials, as well as the service, would increase drastically," added Lindwurm.
'Let's not get ahead of ourselves.' Auric sighed inwardly. 'Still, managing the store is quite hard. Thanks to all those materials, I can take my time to get a supplier for materials. If push comes to shove, I can probably ask Ellia for a favor.'
"Yeah. Let's think about that later. How about the other store?"
'Nothing yet. I don't expect it to gain traction quickly. It's good to start slow because that store will create a much bigger impact.'
"How about the Moon Store? Anything yet?"
'No. I haven't come up with an idea yet. Let me do one thing at a time.'
"Fine, fine."
Auric thought for a moment. He really wanted to get into the library right away, but it wasn't like he could grab a battle technique easily. He definitely wanted a fighting technique, but he also considered a gathering technique, especially for the light or dark element.
He planned to copy the White Lightning from Simon, so he had to wait for Simon to use a battle technique.
So, that left him with only the light and dark elements. Unfortunately, a battle technique alone was not enough because he still hadn't figured out what kind of energy he should gather.
He had no choice but to either ask for Lindwurm's help or find someone with that element.
Auric didn't want to rely on others easily, even if it was Lindwurm, so he would definitely choose the latter.
Hence, Auric had to consider getting a combat battle technique to amplify his overall power. Other than Void Step and Void Storage, he had no combat techniques.
There were also footwork and breathing techniques that Arina had mentioned before.
So, there were definitely a lot of things that he needed to do on campus, which might take time away from the store.
'Now that I think about it…' Auric paused for a moment. 'Lind. Can you modify other places, or is it just the store?'
"I can modify other places, but that will require another 50,000 credits' worth of materials. The cost may increase depending on your specific needs."
'I'm thinking about staying at my teacher's place from time to time, and if I ask you to modify that place in a way that we can practice without needing the campus's facilities…'
"Oh! That's clever. You can use the contribution points for something else. And there will be no record of you going there."
'Exactly. I think I have finally figured out what I'm going to do on campus.' Auric smiled. 'I can probably ask my teacher for the footwork and breathing techniques with the excuse that I focused on my studies during high school, so I guess the first thing to get is a combat technique.'
Lindwurm nodded in approval. Since Auric had a good grasp of his life on campus, Lindwurm didn't have to say anything else.
He had finally arrived. Since he planned to enter both the Element Department and the Evolution Department, he had to choose which one to enter first during the introduction period.
Now that he knew what he was trying to get from the library, it was only obvious for him to enter the Element Department first.