"Good morning. I am Lydia. You can call me Professor Lydia. I will be teaching you for the next five days about the basics of evolution."
Even though she was supposed to be the center of attention, the students' attention, as expected, shifted to someone else.
After all, this year was a very special one, with a monster who became an evolution master before the university even started.
The number of students who stayed here was higher than that of any other year. She usually expected to have 70 at most, but due to Auric's presence, she could see over 100 students this year.
Still, coming here simply because of Auric would prevent them from advancing fast, so she had to make it clear over the next five days.
She remembered a warning from Professor Vienna.
…
A few minutes ago.
"Professor Lydia. I heard you are the one in charge of this week's introductory class."
"Professor Vienna. How are you doing? Yes, I'm the one in charge. Well, this year will be quite special."
"Indeed." Professor Vienna nodded gracefully, but her face turned serious all of a sudden. "About that, I want to tell you something."
"Mhmm?" Professor Lydia mumbled in confusion.
"I had the liberty to meet this child. Please don't ask me how. I just want to tell you something so that he doesn't leave our department. Surely, you don't want to be the cause of him leaving the department, right?"
Professor Lydia could imagine what would happen if Auric left. Her position would probably be gone, so she shook her head.
"Great. That child just wants to be treated like other students. So, just teach him like the other students. Don't ask him to demonstrate things unless it is necessary. If he feels stifled during his time in our department, he might end up leaving our department."
"That's a very important piece of information." Professor Lydia had thought about making Auric stand out. Other students who came to the department because of him would definitely like it as well.
But if that action ended up forcing him to leave, she might lose her job.
With this information, she knew how to teach the class.
"Still, I need to know about his skills or my lectures will be boring for him."
"He's quite interested in all the basics. I'm assuming he has an evolution master as a teacher. I don't know how high that person's rank is, but I'm afraid he might be diamond grade or even above it."
"Seriously?"
"Yes. I saw him performing the Extreme Bridge Management. From what I heard, he successfully performed the Dual Fusion Method."
"What? The Extreme Bridge Management is an advanced technique for a gold-grade master, and the Dual Fusion Method is the requirement for a diamond grade… Even I couldn't perform one…" Professor Lydia gasped.
"Yeah. That's why I suspect he has a teacher outside. In addition, his sensitivity and natural talent are insanely high to allow him to perform those techniques."
"Yet, this person wants to learn the basics? Is he a university student trying to learn elementary school material?"
"I have the same thought, but what can I say?"
Professor Lydia facepalmed. "Fine. I will teach according to your information. If I see him getting bored, I will revert to my original plan."
…
Professor Lydia sighed inwardly. Since she had promised Professor Vienna, there was no other choice but to start with the basics.
"I will not bore you with flowery words. This department demands more than you think, but it also gives you more than other professions. So, I will show you what I mean in the next few days."
Professor Lydia began her explanation of the basics.
Auric might have read a few articles and studied a bit about evolution, but this was probably the first time he had learned it from the start.
The explanation was thorough, so Auric was absorbing all that knowledge like a sponge.
Unlike the Element Department that was full of practical knowledge and physical training, the Evolution Department was filled with theory. They needed to learn everything thoroughly first before they could practice.
That was why Auric's experience was extremely useful in his career, since he basically started much earlier than the rest of them.
Although there were people who followed him into this class, he doubted they would actually major in this department.
Of course, there were some high-level students among them, but they already had a plan to enter here, so they had a lot of knowledge about evolution.
Other high-level students like Simon, Eric, Mila, or Charles were focusing on either the Element Department or the Combat Department.
They didn't plan to waste time just to compete with Auric.
Auric didn't realize that a few hours had passed, and the class was already over.
Professor Lydia ended the class with a message. "To know the importance of an evolution master, you can go to the Exchange Center. You will understand how desperate people can be."
Auric planned to head to the Exchange Center, but since his reward had already been exchanged, he was more interested in heading to the Training Hall.
Besides, Lindwurm had been asking him to head to this place for the last thirty minutes. He didn't know the reason, but it looked like the Training Hall would be his first destination.
However, unlike the Element Department, his reputation was much better known in this department.
After all, only a small number of second-year students managed to become evolution masters at this time of year. Most of the evolution masters were third-year and fourth-year students.
In other words, Auric was already standing toe-to-toe against these people.
People ended up staring at him every time he passed, even though the hall was not as packed as usual.
Auric felt like he was in danger in this department. The gazes from other people were similar to beasts who had found their prey.
Auric found himself trying to escape as quickly as possible before anyone stopped him. After all, if someone challenged him, it wouldn't be his peers like Simon anymore. It would be his seniors instead.
"Haa… Ha… I'm safe," Auric muttered.
"Don't you enjoy your own fame?" Lindwurm rolled his eyes.
"Not really. I advertise myself so that the store will be more popular. If I want to do something, I'm going to do it so that I won't lose to anyone." Auric shrugged.
"You need to get used to it or just ask someone to be your girlfriend. The rest of these people won't come for you."
"Don't you see what happens when an idol gets a boyfriend?" Auric shrugged. "Anyway, shouldn't you tell me why you keep nagging me to go to this place?"
"You will understand it once you enter." Lindwurm pointed forward. "So, onward!"
Auric didn't understand why he valued this place so much, but he chose to enter.
Even though it was called 'Training Hall,' the place comprised three buildings close to each other.
Since this was his first time here, Auric didn't know their purposes, so he looked around, wondering which one he should enter first.
"What is this? What a coincidence to meet you here." A male voice startled him from behind.
"!!!" Auric hurriedly turned around and found the man who had accompanied the woman who argued with Ellia a few days ago. "Ah, you are…"
"It looks like you recognize me. I may not have given you a good first impression, but allow me to introduce myself." He waved his hand. "I'm Ran Karion, just call me Ran. I am an information broker on this campus. If you want to know anything, you can exchange contribution points with me."
"Hello, Senior. My name is Auric Elfe." Auric nodded.
"Is this your first time here?"
"Yeah. My teacher suggested it."
"Your teacher, Professor Maya?"
It looked like he wasn't called an information broker for nothing.
Auric shrugged and looked away.
"Hahaha." Ran laughed. "Well, since you are here, why don't I bring you around? Take it as a small apology for the previous impression."
"Technically, you didn't say anything."
"Well, you can say I'm curious about you." Ran clapped his hands. "Anyway, do you know anything about the Training Hall?"
"No. I haven't heard anything other than the gravity room."
"Ah, yes. Hardcore stuff." Ran nodded in agreement. He pointed forward. "The Training Hall is divided into three buildings. On your left, it's the Hall of Trial. The building on your right is known as the Hall of Endurance. It's where the gravity room is located. The last building is the Hall of Might—basically, an arena."
Auric was interested in this Hall of Endurance, but Ran pointed to the building on the left. "I suggest you visit the Hall of Trial first."
Since he had accepted his introduction, it looked like he should follow Ran's arrangement. Besides, with Ran around, no one would carelessly approach him.
"Sure."
Ran guided him to the first building.
It was a massive building that was separated into four sections.
"There are four tests here: Strength, Reaction Speed, Energy Discharge, and Technique. Since this is your first time here, you should go through everything so that you understand your body better and know how much training you need to put in."
"So, we go here first?" Auric asked while pointing at the Strength section.
"We can. Let's go."
In this section, Auric could see punching machines. There were a few types of machines that seemed to measure based on one's current strength.
"Since you haven't evolved yet, your physical strength shouldn't be too high. So, let's test your strength here. Just punch it to the best of your ability."
Auric observed the person that was punching the machine not far from him. The person had a much bigger build than his, so when he punched, the number went all the way to 200 kg.
"Oh? That's pretty good. With his build, it's a number you should expect, I guess." Ran nodded.
"What is the average?" Auric asked.
"About 40-70 kg."
Lindwurm suddenly warned him. "By the way, he might guide you here to get your information for him to sell as well."
'It doesn't matter. My main secret is my element, which he won't be able to get anyway. If people buy information about me, let them think they know everything about me and lower their guard.'
Lindwurm couldn't say anything else after hearing his reasoning.
Auric took a deep breath. He put his left leg forward and tilted his body slightly.
"Huu…"
Auric took another deep breath before punching with everything he had.
Bam!
He felt pretty good with that punch, but the number on the machine surprised even him.
48 kg.
"Ah?" Ran blinked a few times. Since Auric was so strong, he thought he would at least produce a decent result.
"Ahaha. I guess I should expect that kind of result from myself." Auric chuckled while scratching the back of his head.
Ran coughed. His reaction was rude, so he regained his composure quickly and continued with his explanation. "Don't be sad about the result. Since you've tested your raw strength, we should test your strongest punch. This time, punch it again, but cover your fist with your energy. Just like your body armor, concentrate as much energy as you can into your fist. Can you do that?"
"Do it." Lindwurm nodded furiously. "Use your body armor, but direct all that energy into a single point rather than expanding it to your whole body. The more you can concentrate, the better."
Lindwurm was filled with enthusiasm, and Auric realized this was Lindwurm's true purpose.
Auric looked down as he examined his hand. Then, he gradually released his magical energy to form a body armor.
Since he could see the particles, he could control them better than anyone else.
Although gathering the energy into a single point required a lot of time, the result was actually beyond Ran's expectations.
"Oi, oi… What's that amount of concentration? Did he just concentrate nearly 95% of his energy into a single point?" Ran took a step back.
Auric was fully focused on the energy, so he didn't hear him. He simply took a step forward and punched the machine again.
Bam!