"T-This is the battle technique." Axel handed over his phone.
"Let me briefly take a look." Auric's expression turned solemn right away. As he expected, the battle technique was quite a powerful one.
By stepping on the ground, it allowed the energy to first go to the floor and bounce back to the upper body.
It generated momentum to release that energy.
Auric, who had gotten used to altering battle techniques from normal to flawed and vice versa, recognized the problem immediately.
The bounce looked good, but it was stopped by the heart. The affinity pulled a portion of its energy into the heart, which caused an accumulation in his body.
It was a simple method, but this was probably the first time he had seen a technique that couldn't be fixed.
"This one is a pretty unique battle technique. It is used to amplify your power by concentrating all your energy into your upper body, but no matter how you change the path of the channel, your affinity will definitely pull it into your heart," assessed Lindwurm.
'However, this kind of flaw doesn't work on me because it will be the same as moving straight through an empty space.'
"Exactly. This might be a perfect battle technique for you. It will definitely help you with the release of your energy." Lindwurm nodded in agreement.
'Well, it's mine now.' Auric was pleased with this reward. Of course, he didn't neglect the assessment.
He had figured out how much energy he should expect from this battle technique.
After fifteen minutes, Auric returned the phone and said, "Yeah. It's possible. I explained the process earlier, so if you don't have any trouble, we can start the treatment now."
"Can I really be cured?" Axel asked nervously, but his tone was filled with anticipation.
"Yes." Auric nodded. "It's a hard process, but it should finish in at most thirty minutes."
Dexter and Kevin didn't expect that the problem that had troubled many evolution masters could actually be solved by this young evolution master.
Auric then pointed at the door. "If you are ready, then please leave the room. You can still see everything inside through the screen."
"Y-Yes." Dexter and Kevin wanted to doubt Auric, but even Maya vouched for his skill with her name on the line.
This was more than enough for them. They knew how big Maya's name was, so they decided to bet on it.
Although a bit hesitant, they walked out of the room and watched the screen carefully.
Meanwhile, Auric handed over the Dog-Treant Heart. "Take a few deep breaths. Then, absorb this material and start your evolution immediately. You can leave the rest to me."
"Yes. Please save me, Master."
"I'll do my best."
Axel took a few deep breaths as Auric requested. Once he calmed down, he grabbed the heart and swallowed it in one go.
The energy within the heart flowed into his heart right away.
This sudden surge of energy weakened his earth element. However, as expected, the poison was activated immediately.
Auric immediately channeled his plant and wind energies into his body.
Axel's earth element, which became unsteady due to the sudden rush of energy from the Dog-Treant Heart as well as the clash with the fire element of the poison, started to stabilize.
But Auric's wind element ended up activating the lightning element within the poison. The wind element became less effective, but Auric had expected this level of resistance.
He poured more energy into his body, adjusting his power carefully.
Fortunately, the plant elemental energy also weakened the lightning element within the poison.
Auric created two channels in Axel's heart. The first channel was meant to trap the lightning poison together with his plant element, while the second channel sealed the fire poison with his wind element.
Still, the energy from the battle technique rushed in.
'Tsk. This is going to be hard,' thought Auric while channeling even more plant elemental energy into his heart.
The balance between the earth element, the poison, and Auric's energy began to take shape, but this battle technique disrupted the balance.
As a result, Auric was forced to use even more energy in his body.
Auric's expression turned grim when the accumulation of energy within his heart due to the flawed technique ended up erupting.
'What?' Auric was startled as he poured even more energy.
Lindwurm squinted his eyes slightly. "It looks like the energy is rushing out once you dissolve the outer layer. Normally, the energy from the accumulation is pretty stable, even for an explosive technique. But this technique is boosting the explosiveness of a battle technique instead of being an explosive battle technique."
Auric finally understood what was wrong. It looked like he hadn't understood how the elemental energy accumulates.
Auric immediately shouted, "Mr. Kropopo! Please get me the Zombie Fungi now!"
"On it!" Mr. Popo immediately rushed to find the material that he had mentioned.
"What's going on? Is something wrong?" Kevin raised his voice. He looked as if he wanted to rush into the chamber right away.
Maya hurriedly stopped him. "Calm down!"
"Adjudicator. Even if you are asking me to calm down, do you think I can? That's my grandson over there, and something has gone wrong. I swear to God that if something happens…"
Maya waved down her hand. "I believe in him. Rather than making a fuss right now, why not help him search for that material?"
"You…" Kevin wanted to shout, but it wouldn't help. If they wasted too much time here, the evolution might fail. "Okay… okay…"
Kevin glared at the evolution master he had brought.
"Y-Yes, sir!" The evolution master definitely knew a lot of materials. The moment he looked around, he immediately found the material and brought back a purple mushroom. "Here is the material."
Mr. Popo immediately snatched it from his hand and entered the room, stretching his hand toward Auric without saying anything.
Auric was still too focused on the treatment for two minutes before he finally grabbed the mushroom and handed it over to Axel.
"Absorb it now!" Auric ordered.
Axel didn't have time to think about what was happening to his body. He simply grabbed it and swallowed the mushroom, letting the energy flow into his heart.
He already felt uncomfortable because of the earlier energy eruption, but this sudden rush of energy somehow calmed his earth element.
"Huu…" His breathing gradually became stable.
Seeing the change in his complexion, Maya said, "See? It's solved now. Relax."
Kevin bit his lip. It was only because of Axel's current complexion that he managed to calm down. "Okay, okay…"
He finally stepped back.
Auric remained focused. While it was true that the second hurdle had been solved, there was still one more hurdle left.
The moment his energy went down to nearly 100%, Auric had to be ready to decrease the energy flow.
However, he needed to be precise. If he decreased it too much, there wouldn't be enough energy for him to continue his evolution. If he didn't pour in enough energy, the poison would flare up, which would make his earth element unstable and possibly prevent him from washing away the poison after the evolution.
'Lindwurm. I know how precise I need to be, but I can't play with human life even though I want to be independent. You will tell me when I need to adjust my pace. I will also use my perception to find the correct time.'
Lindwurm was surprised by Auric's request, but this was indeed the hardest challenge he had ever encountered.
So Lindwurm didn't give unnecessary remarks. "Got it."
Auric could see that the energy was going down steadily.
102%… 101%… 100%.
"Now!"
Auric actually changed his pace 0.5 seconds faster than Lindwurm's signal. He immediately changed the flow with pinpoint accuracy.
Lindwurm sighed, thinking, 'You want me to help, but you are even faster than I am? And with that accuracy? Are you seriously going to ask me for help?'
Lindwurm definitely couldn't deny Auric's skill. Auric had refined his skill in the past two weeks. With his extraordinary perception, he was definitely not the same person as he was when he took the test in the association.
At the same time, Lindwurm noticed something. 'I might have underestimated his senses. Is his sensitivity to magical energy actually higher than mine?'
Lindwurm was supposed to be his mentor, but it looked like he didn't have many opportunities to become his mentor.
Still, he understood why Auric made the request. As he mentioned earlier, he didn't want his pride or thoughts to play with human life.
Normally, Auric believed he had 100% confidence. However, due to the sudden eruption of energy, his confidence went down to 95% to 99%.
As a result, he made the request.
Lindwurm couldn't exactly lecture him about this either. So, he could only let this matter go. After all, with the last hurdle cleared, the evolution could be completed.
Auric's role was to maintain the balance until the avatar completed the evolution.
Just like any other person, the completion of the evolution would send back a portion of energy and increase its intensity.
Auric hurriedly created a channel for that energy, directing the energy toward the poison.
The poison was flushed up to his throat.
"Do it!" Lindwurm gave a thumbs-up.
"I'm going to expel the poison now. Get ready!" Auric warned him.
"Yes!" Axel felt extremely comfortable, knowing that he had finished his evolution.
But his back was facing Auric. The next thing he realized, a big slap hit him on the back.
"Gah!" He spat out the poison that was stuck in his throat.
"What did you do?!" Kevin's anger erupted again, but Maya grabbed his shoulder with so much strength that it felt like she was going to crush his bones.
Kevin glared at Maya, but Maya simply pointed at the wall, gesturing for him to look at what was going on.
Kevin noticed what was going on. It looked like he had been too hasty.
Axel was surprised, but he wasn't angry. Auric had allowed him to evolve, so even a slap in the face was no problem. He was grateful for Auric.
With the poison expelled, Axel's energy stabilized. Auric then stepped back and said, "Congratulations. Your poison has been expelled and your avatar has evolved."
Axel's jaw dropped in disbelief. "I…"
Axel's gloomy expression disappeared as if it had never existed before. His current face was much brighter and brimming with energy, revealing the confidence and handsome face that he used to have.
"I…" Axel turned around and looked at Auric. He immediately lowered his head. "T-Thank you so much!"
"No problem." Auric patted him on the shoulder and panted. "Well, we're done here. So, let's step out."
Axel nodded and walked out, while Auric turned off the camera before following him out.
There was a reason he turned off the camera. With so many powerful people outside, they might see the poison on the wall gradually disappear as though it were nothing but an illusion.
As usual, Lindwurm erased every trace of the evolution from the room, including the poison.
Auric explained, "The treatment is successful, as you can see. The accumulation of energy from the battle technique was actually violent, which caused a sudden situation, but I managed to seal it by using the mushroom. The poison has been expelled. So, congratulations."
"Master Auric. I don't know how to thank you." Kevin held Auric's hand. Auric could feel that the powerful old man was actually trembling.
Auric just smiled.
"Rather than thank you, you should apologize first." Maya didn't forget to take a jab at him.
"It's fine, Teacher." Auric chuckled. "I understand."
"No, no. It's true that I should apologize. If you have anything you want, please tell me."
Auric didn't expect that Maya's remark would actually get him something. He thought about rejecting it, but Axel even said, "That's right. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask."
"Well, first of all, don't get assassinated again. Your problem was extremely difficult to solve. Furthermore, don't forget to pay the medical fee."
"Of course. What is the fee? No, no. Let me transfer you 100 million right away." Kevin nodded furiously.
"W-Whoa?" Auric raised his hand, stopping him. He liked money, but he still had his ethics as an evolution master. Even if he were going to accept a thank-you gift, it shouldn't be money.
"The fee is not much. Including the two materials that I used, as well as the treatment, it should be about nine hundred thousand credits."
"What? Only nine hundred thousand?" He had spent more money asking famous evolution masters to check on his grandson's condition only to fail to treat him. Nine hundred thousand credits were nothing but a drop in the bucket for him.
Auric understood this as well, so he asked, "Do you have a copy of a gravity-element battle technique?"