Chapter 344: Before the Clash

A few hours ago.

Head Instructor Ryan demanded, "There are plenty of people to choose from, so you are not going to broadcast my feed."

"But..." The middle-aged man standing before him was none other than a journalist from Dermania, who had been tasked with covering the event.

"No, but! Remember this. Your company is in Dermania. If you don’t follow what I want, do you think your company can survive? Do you think you can survive?"

"..." The middle-aged man gritted his teeth.

"Don’t worry. After this, I will send a year’s worth of ads to your company. I’ve talked to your president. This will also be credited to your achievement."

The middle-aged man’s body shook. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t tempted. "So, all I need to do is make sure that no one is watching from your feed?"

"Yes. Unless I have caught that bastard, don’t broadcast it."

The middle-aged man inhaled deeply before nodding solemnly. "I understand."

"Good!"

When the game began, Head Instructor Ryan immediately went to where Gloria and the others were located, much faster than anyone else.

"Where is he?" Head Instructor Ryan asked.

All of them, including Gloria, looked down, unable to face him.

Gloria clenched her fists. "He disappeared here. We have checked everything above us, but found no sign of him. The only thing we haven’t checked is underground."

"He disappeared?"

"The last thing we saw was him hiding behind this tree, but when we caught up to him, he was gone."

"How incompetent can you be?! You can’t even do something that simple?" Head Instructor Ryan glared at Gloria. "As expected, I shouldn’t even bother to rely on a mere orphan."

"I’m sorry." Gloria couldn’t raise her head. She could only clench her fists.

The middle-aged man saw this in the control room where they were controlling the livestream.

"Sir, this..." One of his subordinates hesitated.

"Don’t broadcast it. Focus only on other people. Do you understand? If you do anything, you won’t be able to work again for the rest of your life."

"But won’t this mean we’re cheating?"

"Listen! Do you still want your job or not?"

In the end, that one question was more than enough to stop his staff. The middle-aged man snorted and continued to monitor the screens.

Unfortunately, no matter how Head Instructor Ryan tried to find Auric, there was no way for him to find him. After all, he wasn’t even underground.

He was hiding far to the east in a cave. Of course, it was a man-made cave, not the registered one. This way, Lindwurm’s ability would work and prevent anyone from seeing anything other than a normal hill.

There was no cave visible to the naked eye.

In the end, they once again lost to Auric. However, something changed this time. When Auric and the others logged on again, there were surprisingly many people actually coming to play with them.

[Wow. Are you guys really Auric Elfe, Katarina Vasilyevna, Ellia Stroph Astler, and Vera Schneider?]

[No way. It’s true. They’re playing here.]

[Don’t worry. We will carry you!]

[Let’s go, boys. Carry them in the game so that they can carry us in the real world.]

Auric found the situation amusing. He simply talked to them a bit, even using his voice directly to confirm that it was really him.

This made them think that all those instructors were simply too weak to even find them.

In a way, it brought Auric’s reputation to a whole new level. When these people started talking about Auric playing a game in the livestream, people couldn’t believe it. They had to check it for themselves, only to make Auric even more popular.

People couldn’t stop being amused.

They kept laughing at the fact that no one could ever find them.

Auric also found one comment amusing. "Livestream? You mean streaming the game?"

[No! You need to livestream your face playing that game!]

Auric was surprised before saying, "Well, if you don’t mind me being bad at the game, then I can do that. We can try that once the third round starts."

When people heard it, they got excited. After all, this would mean they would get direct proof that Auric was indeed playing the game.

"But are you sure? Won’t it expose your power method?" Katarina asked, trying to warn him.

"It’s fine. The method will be safe." Auric waved his hand. There was no way they would understand how the store worked. He could also refuse to say anything else regarding his method, making them create their own misunderstanding. "I’m just worried that they will see this nice room and think we’re in a town or something."

Katarina smiled and raised one finger. "In that case, shouldn’t you just make it simpler? Like the wall and other things without much detail. Then, we will have Ellia take out the bed from her storage and other things."

"I don’t mind." Ellia confirmed her participation.

"You sure?" Auric raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. My power is known to everyone, so it won’t be weird for me to prepare all that stuff. We already knew about the game from the start, so it’s easy to fool them."

"In that case, let’s do this." Auric nodded with a smile.

Once again, Auric won first place. His group ended up being the only one that couldn’t be found. All the instructors were completely confused about how Auric managed to do this.

If they couldn’t find out his trick, they might end up losing to Auric in other competitions. That was why they were more determined than ever. They had to find Auric in the third round.

Unbeknownst to them, Auric took his approach one step further.

He set up the camera and took a step away. "Is this... good enough? I have never done this before, looking at the camera."

"It is good enough." Katarina nodded, pointing at the live chat. "Look, they’re also telling you it’s good."

The camera also captured Ellia using her space storage. She took out a couch as Vera helped her move it inside this plain wooden room.

"Ah. You guys! Let me help you." Auric stood up.

"No need. Rather than helping us move, you’d better fix that wall over there. Use your wood element to cover it and make it cozier." Vera pointed to the side.

"Okay!" Auric nodded.

Katarina stood in front of the camera while looking at the chat that had exploded.

[Lol! Those instructors were trying their best to find these guys, but they’re actually staying in this kind of room?]

[House tour?!]

[House tour!]

The people were demanding to know what kind of place they were staying in.

"Everyone wants a house tour? What do you think, Auric?" Katarina asked aloud.

"Sure. There’s nothing to be seen, though."

Katarina grabbed the camera and started showing the entire room. It had smooth wooden walls, a ceiling, and a floor. In the room, there were beds and couches for them to get some rest.

"As you probably already know, Ellia has a space element, so we’re using her power to bring in some furniture to make this room cozier. These laptops and other things are also from her storage."

[Lol, the instructors are dying to find them, but these guys are actually staying in such a cozy room.]

[These guys are trolling those instructors.]

[This is completely ridiculous!]

[Being locked in a small room with three beauties. I’m so freaking jealous!]

Katarina chuckled. "You guys look like you’re having fun. However, please don’t slander Auric, okay? He is such a gentleman that I’m wondering if he has any interest in women from time to time."

"Aren’t you the one slandering me right now?" Auric protested.

"Hahaha. You’re such a boy. I almost forgot that you are still 17 years old." Katarina chuckled. "You really follow the rules to a T. Even your mother has told me that she’s troubled because you are such a good boy that she has never had the chance to punish you."

"Why? Is that even bad?" Auric gently pushed her to the side. "Okay, enough of that. Let’s just play the game, or else people are going to think I’m some kind of weirdo."

"You’re not?" Katarina looked at him in shock.

"..."

[Oh boy. She owned you!]

[Good boy, Auric!]

[Mama’s boy!]

[What’s wrong with being a good boy? He’s my Auric. So this means he’s not going to start dating until 18 years old?]

[I see. I am going to have a total makeover so that he finds me attractive in a few months.]

[I will be the princess! You have no chance.]

[Who cares about these three girls? I’m much better than them!]

Auric smiled wryly. The chat was the same. They would argue about a lot of things.

Supervisor Jacob couldn’t help but laugh. "Hahaha. This is truly so ridiculous that I don’t even want to search for others anymore. Men, this is so entertaining. Those guys are fuming just because they want to know his location."

"Yeah, but they might be trying to use this chance to track his GPS location." Mr. Green stood next to him.

"It should be fine. At most, the location we will give them is the location right after the game ends. This way, we can confirm Auric is not cheating, without giving his location away before the game ends."

"Won’t his trick be exposed then?"

"No. I’ve asked Auric about it and he’s okay with it. He will just adjust his plan slightly."

"I see." Mr. Green nodded. "Truly, the young will surpass the old. He’s such a troublemaker, but I can’t really be angry at him."

"He’s quite annoying sometimes, but if you know him, it’s actually quite funny."

Mr. Green sighed. "I’m just afraid that tomorrow is going to be quite annoying."

"Dermania’s test? This is what they’ve been preparing for all this time, so I guess it’s going to be annoying. The test itself is called ’Pressure,’ so we don’t exactly know what they’re trying to do tomorrow."

"So, the plan is..."

Supervisor Jacob nodded. "If they make a move, our priority is Auric’s safety. However, if everything works perfectly, we will have his teacher, Maya Relesha, to protect him. Meanwhile, we will take advantage of the rules they’ve broken to maybe... ruin an instructor or two. Of course, we’ll do it in a way that we can damage their reputation."

"I see. I personally want to focus on protecting him, but..."

"We have no choice but to do that. I wish that guy would be the one to make this mistake. Currently, there are forces after his life, so I want to get rid of the new threat first." Supervisor Jacob nodded.

"A talent that shines too brightly is the source of envy. I sympathize with the boy." Mr. Green nodded. "Well, I have my own job to do, so I guess you will handle the rest."

"Yeah. I have full authority from the president. If necessary, the country might even deploy Joker."

"We might end up clashing with their Rank 7 human as well, though."

"After the apocalypse, the world is struggling to survive. In the end, all major powers are gathering in three places to use both the strategic location and their former power to create three safe havens.

"For North and South America, they gather in the former US. Europe, Middle East, and Africa gathered in this place. Lastly, all Asian countries are gathering around Eastern China, Korea, and Japan.

"In America Great Base, there are three Rank 7 humans. However, there are only two Rank 7 humans in the European Union Base and the United Asia Base. And the worst part is that Esfrata and Dermania are the only two countries where the Rank 7 humans exist.

"Our Esfrata has Joker, while Dermania has that guy..."

"Yeah." Mr. Green nodded solemnly. "I guess people are now more reliant on their connection because of him. If Joker doesn’t act as if he doesn’t care about this country, a lot of organizations might try to get a hold of Joker."

"I know, right? In a way, it’s good that Joker remains as our trump card without influencing the country. That’s why all the presidents are giving him a lot of freedom."