"Do you understand now?!" Professor Maya glared at Auric, who could only lower his head.
"Yes," Auric replied. She had been reprimanding him for thirty minutes.
"All right. That's enough." Professor Maya nodded, satisfied.
Auric finally felt relieved that the problem was over. He didn't dare to say anything because if his mother were to learn about his actions, he couldn't imagine what she would do.
Unexpectedly, the moment he raised his head, he saw Professor Maya grabbing another phone that had been set on the side.
Her phone was replaying the words she had just said.
"Huh? Teacher, did you record it?"
"Yeah. I don't really care if you flirt with girls, but I know you are bound to cause trouble sooner or later. If they demand an explanation, I will just show them this video."
Auric was rather speechless. Now that he thought about it, her lecture had been thorough.
"Teacher, you did scold me for all kinds of things…" Auric suddenly realized what Maya was doing. "You…"
"Heh." Maya smiled as if everything was calculated. "That's right. If you become a troublemaker, flirt with girls, or whatever your crime is, I will just show them a part of the video and everything will be fixed."
Auric had seen a lot of weird people like the evolution masters from the Evolution Association. It appeared that his master was one of them.
All of them were doing things for their convenience.
Auric actually wanted to laugh, but it was better to hold it in. "Thank you for your guidance."
"Anyway, a promise is a promise. So, I will cooperate with you. How do you want to copy my element?"
"What is your element, teacher?" Auric asked. He hadn't researched her, so he didn't know yet.
"How much do you know about avatars?" Maya replied to his question with another question.
Auric contemplated for a minute. "All I know is that everyone will awaken an avatar. Their forms are basically similar to the fantasy creatures that people used to know."
"Indeed. However, we're the ones creating those creatures, right?"
"From a certain perspective, yes. It is our creativity that gives birth to those creatures. Until now, we don't know whether the avatars exist or not," explained Auric.
"But do you know that they're not limited to the fantasy creatures?"
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Auric tilted his head in confusion.
"Do you know that there are avatars resembling mythological entities?"
Auric raised his eyebrows. "There are?"
"Yes, but most of the time, people are just showing off their elements, right? They're rarely showing off their avatars."
"If you put it that way, then yes," Auric agreed. Even on television, people were much more focused on their elements. "So, you're saying that your avatar resembles one from our mythology? What kind of creature are we talking about?"
"Nyx."
"Who?" Auric tilted his head in confusion. "I apologize. I'm not really well-versed in mythologies."
"The personification of night. My element is called Eternal Night—an extreme variant of the dark element."
"Oh? It looks like I have to start studying about mythologies."
"Not necessarily. Take a look at this." Maya summoned her avatar, which turned out to be a silhouette made of a star-filled night sky. "The name of my avatar is Night Persona. It is not 100% the same, but it has some resemblance."
Auric rubbed his chin. He still couldn't see where the conversation was going.
"Well, it might be too much for you to know right now. However, there is a theory that is quite popular. These avatars are actually born from our own creativity in the past. They are like the wish or hope of humanity. You can say that our hope to survive the apocalypse is fulfilled in the form of avatars."
Auric smiled wryly. "You're not going to tell me that the deities are granting our wish in this form, right?"
"That's exactly my point."
"I see." Auric closed his eyes. He could grasp the gist of the situation.
"Well, I just want you to know that. It might not really be that useful for you because you don't have an avatar. I'm not insulting you, of course."
"Don't worry. I always take the fact that I have no avatar as a compliment. It's true after all." Auric smiled.
"That's good." Maya extended her hand. "So, what do you want me to do?"
Auric paused for a moment before asking, "May I see your battle technique? If possible, I would like to read your battle technique. Well, I should also add the fact that it is something that someone with an avatar in baby form can use."
"Hmm…" Maya looked troubled. "It's not that I don't want to show you, but I don't really keep the books around anymore."
"In that case, an explanation is also possible. Please give me a demonstration as well."
"All right. That should be fine." Maya was quite curious how Auric planned to do it. "Follow me to the field outside."
"Yes."
Once they exited the house, Maya raised her hand. "This is a technique called the Night Silhouette."
The ball of darkness in her hand transformed into a woman's silhouette that resembled her. "You can think of it as a clone, but what I like about this technique is its flexibility. With your control, you can change the form of this silhouette freely."
The woman's hand suddenly turned into a blade. Then, the woman herself turned into a blade.
"What do you think?"
Auric understood why Maya liked this technique. It was a versatile technique. On the one hand, he could use it to create a clone, especially during the night. People would notice the silhouette and chase after him.
Or if he dressed it up, he could lure people out. It could also change into any form, meaning he could turn it into everyday items, which provided convenience.
It was a good battle technique, but it might be because of what he heard earlier that he was a bit dissatisfied.
"Teacher, do you have an explosive technique?"
"I do." She moved the clone and turned it into a practice dummy. Then, she snapped her fingers, shooting out an arrow made of darkness.
The arrow didn't just pierce the dummy. It actually obliterated the entire dummy.
"Night Arrow. You can see this arrow's advantage. The creation speed is quick and the power is not to be underestimated. You can charge more energy into it to create an even stronger arrow. It is simple, which makes it easy. What do you think?"
"Thank you very much. Can I ask for your explanation for both of them? It will be good if you can explain all the steps until manifestation."
"Can you copy my element with just that?" Maya was quite surprised. She thought it would also involve materials or other things beyond her imagination.
"Well…" Auric raised his hand.
To her surprise, a black energy started to gather around his palm. She recognized this energy because it was the same as her energy. "That's…"
"As you can see, I can do it to a certain extent with what I've seen, but…"
"I see." Maya remembered the battle techniques Auric picked from the library. They had different purposes. It looked like having references would be good for him to complete what he was working on.
Maya didn't realize that Auric had stopped at that point just because he was thinking of how to convince her without lying.
But since she misunderstood it in her own way, it was already beyond Auric's control.
"All right. Let me explain it briefly." She began explaining everything from the beginning.
Auric ended up bringing another surprise when he started forming that energy in his hand.
"Wait, you…" Maya gasped. Being able to manifest that power right away showed his talent, but that wasn't the reason she was surprised.
She just didn't expect that Auric could manifest that power without even having the dark element in his body. "You… How come you can use the dark element? Don't you need to eat some materials first?"
Auric smiled. "Can I choose not to tell you about this one?"
"Sure. I don't mind. However, if I don't know about it, I won't be able to offer you any advice regarding that matter. I've clarified our relationship before."
"Thank you, Teacher." Auric really struck gold with this teacher. She was accommodating, even though Auric kept most of his secret.
She was surely curious, but the fact that he could grow while keeping that secret from her was enough for Maya.
If Auric chose to reveal that information, she would surely start helping him in that area as well.
"Now that I have seen your power…" Maya pinched the bridge of her nose. "I think I can find another advantage for you. If you fight another person, what will be your biggest advantage?"
"I can use an elemental advantage against them," answered Auric without hesitation. This was the biggest advantage he had, after all.
Yet Maya actually shook her head. "No. Your biggest advantage is the fact that you have all nine elements."
"Huh? Isn't it the same?"
"Nope. The way you're thinking is to use your element to suppress them. What I'm thinking is combining multiple elements."
"!!!" It felt like thunder reverberated in his ears. That was right. He hadn't considered this before.
"For example, you have shown me plant and steel elements. What if you summon a plant and coat it with the steel element? Won't it become a steel plant?"
Auric could imagine what she was talking about. It was definitely terrifying.
"If you create normal roots from the plant element, a blade combat technique might be able to cut through them. But if the roots become steel, do you think they can be cut easily?"
The answer was obvious.
"Let's take another example. Imagine if you had wind and fire. The wind will carry the fire and spread it around, which will strengthen the fire. This is normally possible when you are fighting alongside other people, but you will be able to do it alone."
He could indeed do it alone. The idea itself wasn't something revolutionary. However, the fact that he could do it alone, especially if he only needed to fight one person, changed everything.
If he could also take advantage of the elemental advantage, he would be able to crush his opponent.
In addition, he finally learned both the White Lightning and Eternal Night elements. This meant he had all elements except for the light element.
He had been wondering how he could gain light or dark elements, since he could use one element to obtain another from a customer.
He never thought Maya would graciously give this element to him. In fact, this element was much more extraordinary than anything he had seen.
That was right. Compared to all the elements he had copied, he could probably give the Eternal Night element a 4.9/5 rating.
He really gained a lot from his teacher. "Thank you for your guidance."
"Don't thank me yet. We are not done with your training." Maya waved her hand.
"We're not done?" Auric tilted his head in confusion.
"Of course." Maya waved her hand, asking him to follow her back inside. She then took her seat in the living room with one leg over the other. "Do you forget that killing intent is the basics?"
Auric took a step back. He almost forgot about this.
"Your teacher will be helping you with this killing intent again. Make sure you reach me this time, but no cheating is allowed, okay? There will be no more reward this time."
"…" Auric scratched the back of his head. He definitely couldn't escape from this. Still, he understood the importance his teacher placed on this.
Since his teacher was sincere and respected his secret, there was no reason for him not to meet her expectations.
"Please, Teacher!"