Chapter 358: The Youngest Gold-Grade Evolution Master

"Excuse me? When did I say I wanted to challenge him as a silver-grade evolution master?"

"!!!"

When Auric said those words, all of them fell silent for a few seconds, processing what he had just said. Katarina, Ellia, and Vera already knew, so they looked relaxed.

Maya and Supervisor Jacob were the most excited about it, considering this was an opportunity to strike at their opponent.

"What did he say?"

"He didn’t want to challenge him as a silver-grade evolution master?"

"If that’s the case, does he want to challenge him as a bronze-grade evolution master?"

"No way, right? But if that’s not the case, doesn’t that mean..."

"Is he... a gold-grade evolution master?"

Someone finally said something they didn’t want to admit.

They gulped nervously.

"No way, right? He’s already abnormal enough to become a silver-grade evolution master at 17. No way he’s a gold-grade evolution master at 17, right?"

"Right?"

They looked at each other, wondering what they were supposed to say. They couldn’t believe it, but it didn’t look like Auric was joking.

The old man regained his composure and coughed to regain control of the conversation.

"Student Auric... Could you explain what you’re talking about?"

Auric nodded calmly. He reached into his pocket, trying to get something.

"He..."

"No way..."

They looked dumbfounded. This kind of gesture was pretty obvious. They knew what Auric was doing, but they just couldn’t believe it.

Auric took out a few badges since he couldn’t tell which one he needed for the competition.

A lot of people looked amused when Auric was searching for the correct badge.

"Look at this dude. He is lowkey flexing his badges."

"What the hell? He is gathering evolution master badges as if they’re military badges."

"I know, right? Is he going to be a highly decorated officer?"

"Highly decorated evolution master."

"Pfftt!"

They were laughing, but they were shocked the moment Auric got the correct badge.

A three-star gold badge symbolizing his status as a gold-grade evolution master finally revealed its presence. Auric put it on his right chest and said, "Yes. I’d like to challenge him as a dark evolution master."

A lot of people dropped their jaws to the ground.

Normally, being able to become a one-star gold-grade evolution master at his age would set a world record that might not be beaten for decades or centuries.

However, Auric went one step beyond everyone’s expectations and showed them a three-star gold badge. In other words, Auric was so excellent that he could even treat someone with an extreme element.

Nicholas, who had just advanced to two stars, was pale in comparison. He couldn’t treat someone with an extreme element.

The old man who was representing Nicholas simply couldn’t believe it. Auric Elfe turned out to be a gold-grade evolution master.

There was one more thing that people didn’t expect. Auric actually claimed to be a dark evolution master.

Nicholas was also a dark evolution master. In other words, he intended to challenge Nicholas at his own game.

When people realized the meaning of this challenge, they couldn’t help but laugh.

"Pfft!"

"This is amazing. Auric Elfe really shot Nicholas in the head."

"For real! Nicholas is a two-star gold-grade evolution master with a dark element. However, Auric Elfe is actually a three-star gold-grade evolution master who also has a dark element."

"Did he possess a dark element in the first place?"

"There is actually some suspicion. According to the information, Auric Elfe managed to enter the Mysterious Cave ruins. That place required dark and earth elements, but among his teammates, there was no one who possessed a dark element. In other words, Auric Elfe should have possessed a dark element from the beginning."

"Holy kitty. And his dark element is actually the strongest among all his elements? I mean, isn’t the requirement for a gold-grade evolution master to have a Rank 3 element?"

"He might have been planning all this. Yeah, this must be intentional. I just can’t prove it..."

"Hahahaha. Age, check! Badge, check! Element, check! This dude practically beat him in everything!"

Even the instructors from Esfrata were confused. They asked, "Supervisor Jacob... Did you know all this?"

Supervisor Jacob smiled. "Auric Elfe took the test during the national training camp. To avoid suspicion or rumors, he took the test like any other, just hiding his face a bit. This way, no one knew about it other than a select few.

"Now, you understand why I’ve been fighting for him, right? Granda might have their trump card in this competition, but our trump card is simply better."

The instructors were dumbfounded. Mr. Green couldn’t help but chuckle. "I feel like that blow to Instructor Ryan was not enough. I should have blown his entire chest."

Maya laughed. She didn’t want the trouble to stop, so she shouted, "Come on! Since you said you’re willing to accept any challenge, accept his challenge! My student versus your student.

"Of course, just like your arrangement, my student is also going to forfeit in the ranking competition, even though he still has his identity as a silver-grade evolution master... for his other elements. Unlike the fighting competition, the evolution master competition is simply reliant on that skill.

"We will have to play fair after all." Maya grinned. She was practically saying the same thing as the old man.

However, the situation had turned around.

More importantly, Maya added, "My student didn’t really want to reveal it because he would like to compete with his peers. Even if it looked like guidance, it would surely be beneficial for other students.

"However, since my friends from Granda want to use their class to defeat us, then I guess we have no other choice."

Auric facepalmed. This teacher of his truly couldn’t stop herself from provoking the others too much. Then again, he did the same thing to Dermania, so he couldn’t exactly say anything.

The old man gritted his teeth and shouted, "In that case, you need to forfeit the ranking competition as well. Even though he has Rank 2 elements, it doesn’t change the fact that he has evolved. There is a big benefit from his evolution to Rank 3."

This was what Auric was afraid of. It looked like he couldn’t compete in the fighting competition. If he wanted to compete, it would be in the universal competition where they could challenge stronger students.

It was truly a shame, but it didn’t seem he had any other choice.

If he tried to justify his participation, public opinion would be against him.

Katarina quietly observed everything. She finally figured out why Auric wasn’t so confident in the fighting competition.

It turned out he was worried that the opponents would use it as a justification to ban him from participating.

’If this announcement happens tomorrow, we won’t have to worry about this. After all, the fight is already over, and there’s nothing they can do about it. Even if they want to retry the competition, they don’t have much time.’ Katarina sighed.

Maya wanted to answer, but Auric raised his hand. "I will forfeit the fighting competition. With this, there should be no more reasons for you to not accept my challenge, right?"

The old man gritted his teeth. Of course, he could just reject this challenge. This way, Auric had exposed his strength, preventing him from joining the fighting and the evolution master competitions. At the same time, Nicholas didn’t need to lose against him.

However, if he truly rejected this challenge, he would have to take the full brunt of public opinion.

They would be shaming him and Granda for being a coward. Of course, Auric would also pull out from Granda. This meant there would be two countries that would be on his blacklist for both the Sun Store and the Moon Store.

The old man clenched his fists. His arms were shaking as he thought about the pros and cons.

To everyone’s surprise, Nicholas, who had been silent this whole time, stood up and announced out loud, "I accept the challenge from fellow student Auric. I hope we will have a healthy competition."

"Nicholas!" The old man gritted his teeth, glaring at him.

Nicholas just looked away while saying, "Here it goes. That whooshing sound that has been echoing in my ears... it’s the sound of my sleep time going away."

Selena sucked in a cold breath. Suddenly, she licked her lips. "To think that he is not a silver-grade evolution master, but a gold one. This changes everything."

Clarice watched everything in silence. But if one took a closer look at her, they would notice that she was clenching her sword tighter.

"Hahahaha! You know how to surprise me. Was this the reason you didn’t accept my challenge earlier?" Alexander grinned.

Theressa crossed her legs. "Interesting. I think that this person is qualified to become my moon."

Antonio just stopped drinking for a moment before chuckling and taking another sip.

Gloria, who was watching the livestream in the small corner of her new room, couldn’t help but smile. "To think that this fact has been hidden all this time. I couldn’t exactly find out the power of his dark element, since he only used it once... only when he opened that door to the Mysterious Cave ruins.

"Besides, who would have thought that someone as young as him would be a gold-grade evolution master? This means that it took him only six months to become a gold-grade evolution master.

"I guess this is what to be expected as the creator of the gathering techniques as well as the Artificial Heart Method.

"Both the sun and the moon... What’s next? Is he going to become the cosmic?" Gloria couldn’t help but chuckle.

However, after knowing Auric’s secrets, she knew she didn’t make the wrong choice. Auric would definitely become a figure that people would fear.

"An era where Rank 7 humans will be everywhere. Rank 8 humans... no, is he going to become a Rank 9 human?"

Gloria could only imagine it. She just never thought that the Rank 7, which was everyone’s goal, would become so useless to the future Auric had shown her.

Gloria closed her eyes for a moment before muttering, "In that case, I will need to finish this artificial heart method first. Once my affinity reaches SS grade, I can finally begin the next step. Protecting Auric is my job, but to do that, I need to become a Rank 5 first."

Gloria’s expression turned solemn. Gloria was already in her last year. Like Katarina, she managed to reach Rank 4 in her third year. This meant she had been in this rank for a year.

All this time, she had been honing her power while gathering some energy from time to time.

As a result, she wasn’t too far from reaching Rank 5.

"Maya might be Rank 5 right now, but with Auric’s help, it will be just a matter of time before she becomes one of the youngest Rank 6 humans in history. Then again, no one has ever seen an SS grade affinity. No, since it only shows ’error,’ we don’t know whether it’s SS grade or SSS grade.

"Nevertheless, Maya is probably aiming for the same thing. I want to evolve to Rank 5, while she plans to evolve to Rank 6.

"Without this, we won’t be strong enough to protect Auric. In that case, I will have to protect him while hunting beasts to reach Rank 5 within three months."

This would be a hard period for her because not only would she have to work extremely hard, but she would also need to risk her life.

Still, if she managed to overcome this challenge, she would become so strong that rebuilding her family would be something as easy as flipping her hand.

Gloria smiled, determined than ever. "My life has been tough all this time. This pressure is nothing."

Just like Gloria watching the livestream, millions of people were also watching the livestream. Of course, they witnessed the new youngest gold-grade evolution master.

In that instant, the news spread.

[The new youngest gold-grade evolution master: Auric Elfe.]

[A 17-year-old gold-grade evolution master is born. Is he going to surpass the best evolution masters in the previous era and become the first person to go beyond adamantium grade evolution master?]

[The evolution masters in the world are panicking to find a new title after adamantium grade?]