Chapter 384: Meeting Merlin

Bam!

Everyone was astonished by the power she could muster.

"What is wrong with the geniuses from Esfrata?"

"They’re unleashing something they shouldn’t be able to."

"What is it?"

The instructors seemed to notice a pattern after seeing Auric, Katarina, Ellia, and Vera’s performances. They seemed to be using the same thing.

This time, the result for Ellia shocked everyone. What Ellia did was similar to Vera, but her power was even more concentrated in one spot than Vera’s.

That was why, when the battle was over, they ended up witnessing something they hadn’t expected to happen.

The referee erected a barrier. He might not use his full power, but this was still a barrier from a Rank 6 instructor.

Yet, there was actually a scratch on this barrier. This was the first time the referee’s barrier was scratched by someone who was only Rank 3.

Of course, there was Auric, who was abnormal enough to actually dispel Head Instructor Ryan’s barrier, but they concluded it was due to the magic item.

In other words, Ellia was still the first one who managed to unleash an ability that was concentrated and powerful enough to inflict some damage on the referee’s barrier.

"..." The referee didn’t know how to react. Should he feel ashamed? Regardless, what he was supposed to do remained the same.

The referee raised his hand and announced, "End of the match. Won by Ellia Stroph Astler from Esfrata."

"Ooohhh!" The students cheered. This was it. They had found the peak of swordsmanship.

Ellia really defeated Clarice.

Clarice bit her lip, but there was nothing she could do. At that time, Ellia’s power was simply too terrifying. There was one thing for sure. She needed to figure out the abilities that Auric, Ellia, Vera, and Katarina possessed if she really wanted to get stronger.

Originally, this ability was the combined effort of Auric and Professor Schad. Due to Professor Schad kidnapping Auric and being revealed as a terrorist, the research ended up being gifted to Auric.

But after this training program, it looked like the fusion technique would cause a storm in all kinds of fields.

Auric, on the other hand, figured out something he wanted to do with this research.

"I might end up studying about magic items. Doesn’t that sound nice?" Auric smiled.

Katarina’s eyebrows twitched. "Are you perhaps thinking that you’re advancing too fast, so it’s better for you to slow down and study something else? You have your own shop and your knowledge comes from your father’s shop, but if you want to start magic engineering, you will have to start from scratch.

"That’s rather inefficient if you ask me. It’d be better if you could just find a magic engineer somewhere and turn him into your subordinate.

"But for now, let me ask, why are you suddenly interested in magic engineering?"

Auric raised one finger. "Of course, the fusion technique. It’s just something in my head without any proper concept or connection, but won’t it be nice to combine magic engineering with passive energy and fusion techniques?

"For example, if we use passive energy, can’t we like... reduce the energy consumption or even charge the magic item naturally?

"How about the fusion technique? What if you use fusion techniques on a sniper rifle? Normally, a sniper rifle used by a Rank 3 human will be like a laser that can pierce concrete, right? If we use the fusion technique, won’t it be stronger like... a cannon?

"I will say it again. I still have no concept in my mind that can combine them whatsoever. I just thought it would be nice to have something like that in the future."

Katarina was rather speechless. Just the idea alone was extremely terrifying.

When Auric had an idea about the fusion back then, he ended up succeeding. What if he also succeeded this time too?

"That’s something I’d like to hear very much." Ellia’s voice echoed from the side.

"Oh. You’re back!" Auric waved his hand. "Congratulations on your victory."

"Mhmm." Ellia nodded. "If you have that kind of idea, I don’t mind investing some money."

"Oi. I know the amount you call ’some money.’ Are you that shameless?" Katarina shook her head helplessly. She knew Ellia would most likely invest a few trillion credits for something like this. "Besides, you don’t have the infrastructure for it. Just stick to your money-milking companies."

"How about you then? You don’t have it either. I don’t think you have any right to tell me that." Ellia shook her head. "Besides, I do have a lot of money to spare."

"..." Katarina sighed. "I’m not here to argue with you. In fact, is there even someone who has the infrastructure among us?"

Katarina and Ellia turned to Maya, but the Relesha family was handling artifacts and busy running a mafia organization. They turned to Vera, but the Schneider family might have some connections in the military, but their businesses focused on electronics.

In the end, none of them were close enough to have the infrastructure for magic items.

Auric said, "Why are you guys even arguing? There’s no telling whether I’m going to proceed with that or not. Besides, I might end up being the only one doing it."

Auric hid one thing from them. It was the fact that he intended to use his knowledge of magic particles in magic engineering. So, the one who could make it would be him. Of course, whether it was possible was a different question.

"Besides, the only person that comes to my mind is actually someone else."

"Don’t tell me, you’re talking about that playboy?" Ellia narrowed her eyes, still remembering the playboy who took advantage of Auric.

There was still no news about his research other than that it was progressing smoothly. So, there was still no stream of revenue flowing into his bank account.

Auric shook his head. "Nope. I’m talking about my bodyguard."

"!!!" Katarina and Ellia knew who it was.

Gloria.

Gloria’s family used to do something similar, but the one who managed the business was her mother. There was no telling whether Gloria had the knowledge needed to manage such a business or not.

Besides, Gloria’s current role was Auric’s bodyguard, so just giving such an opportunity to her wouldn’t be good.

"Well, it’s your choice. All I can do is give you some advice." Katarina raised both hands. "What you want to do with it is up to you."

Auric chuckled. "You guys are taking this too seriously. I’ll bring it up again when I have some thoughts about it. For now, let’s just enjoy the match."

Katarina and Ellia looked at each other. They stopped arguing. In the end, no one challenged Auric and Ellia as they had proven their own skills.

No one was foolish enough to smear their own names just to challenge them.

On the other hand, Katarina might have defeated Timothy, but the gap wasn’t too wide, so they thought they had a chance to win.

Katarina fought two people in the end. She won both fights, and no one challenged her anymore.

The one who was challenged the most was actually Vera. Vera had shown her ability to be on par with Clarice.

They thought that even if they didn’t stand a chance against Clarice, they might still have a chance against Vera.

Unfortunately for them, Vera proved them wrong. Out of the eight challenges she accepted throughout the three days, she lost none of them.

In the end, Auric’s group remained undefeated apart from Vera’s defeat in the Rank 3 competition, but she had definitely proved herself in the universal competition.

On the last day, Supervisor Jacob, Mr. Green, and Maya came to their room.

Supervisor Jacob nodded to Auric. "It’s time. We’ve located that person."

"Understood." Auric waved his hand to the girls. This time, he went alone. Even Katarina was left behind.

After all, he was going to meet with Merlin. Auric wondered what an important person like Merlin had to say, considering she was even willing to let him bring Supervisor Jacob and Mr. Green into the discussion.

She was either desperate or not thinking that the topic she planned to bring up was important.

Either way, he would find out about it soon.

Mr. Green carried him with his energy all the way to the front line. They had agreed to meet in a place without any country’s jurisdiction, so the front line was the best option.

They met in a small field not far from an abandoned city. It was surrounded by trees and other smaller buildings.

Timothy was waving his hand as soon as he saw Auric, indicating that they could finally have a discussion.

Next to him stood a woman. Her bearing was much more elegant and mature compared to Maya’s.

However, Auric didn’t pay much attention to her physical appearance, considering he was always surrounded by beauties of her level.

What caused him to be confused was the fact that the clothes she was wearing looked weird. On the one hand, she wore a rather tight dress with a slit on the left side of her leg, complementing her mature charm. On the other hand, she was actually wearing a shawl made of fur when the temperature wasn’t even low.

Besides, for someone of her level, she could use her magical energy to block the chilling wind. She even possessed the absolute wind element.

So, Auric felt this combination was weird.

His answer came right after he checked the flow of her energy.

Auric was taken aback. After all, the brief check allowed him to find out that Merlin, the possessor of the absolute wind element, was actually... sick.