Chapter 432: Everyone’s Role

"So, Teacher. You have left your job?" Auric asked.

"Yeah. The reason was as I said before. Principal Fernandes was quite reluctant about it, but since you didn’t leave, he’s willing to accept my resignation." Maya nodded. "In other words, I’m no longer a professor or a vice dean. Just call me by my name."

"It will take time to do that." Auric shrugged. "I didn’t leave because being a student is very convenient."

"Indeed."

"So, are you going to work now?"

"Me? Officially, I’m unemployed, but that’s simply because I plan to focus on reaching Rank 6 as quickly as possible. Once I become Rank 6, the Relesha family will rise in status. As you know, my grandfather and my mother are Rank 6, so we will become the second family to have three Rank 6 humans."

"I see." Auric nodded in understanding. "That’s good."

"While I’m at it, I’m going to help you with your work. You cleaned my record and even wanted to make me that magic weapon. The least I can do is help you." Maya shrugged.

"I understand. Thank you."

"I should be the one to say that. Thank you." Maya smiled. "By the way, I haven’t heard about your status. Since you’ve been focusing on reaching Rank 3, doesn’t that mean you haven’t gone to the Evolution Association?"

"Yes. The Evolution Association here doesn’t have gold-grade exams, so I have to go to the headquarters or a city qualified to host the exam. I’ve talked to Chief Lucas about it."

"He must be overjoyed because you’re planning to upgrade all those stars to gold." Maya smiled. "Now that I think about it, why don’t you go to that city?"

"Which city?"

"The city where our destination is. Isn’t that city big enough to host the exams? Just say that you’re there to avoid attention."

"Won’t it be too suspicious?" Auric tilted his head in confusion. "If we have the Aheron family moving, then Arnie will come for inspection. Won’t the addition of my exam make them think something is going on?"

"No, not really. That’s my role. I simply have to go there with you. This way, it will look like it’s my idea, and I’m there to ensure that the exam is conducted secretly. Besides, Arnie’s reason for going there should be related to the girl, not you. The treatment was a secret, so they shouldn’t be able to make a connection between you, Arnie, and this operation."

Auric thought for a moment, while Katarina agreed. "That is a good idea."

"In that case, I will still need to be there. Officially, I am his bodyguard." Stella pointed at herself.

"Yeah, you can go with him." Maya nodded.

"I won’t be working on the operation directly. Doing that will cause a conflict that might put me in a difficult position and give my parents another chance to screw me over. However, there are things I can do without being present." Ellia raised her hand.

"Is that fine? I don’t mind if you sit this one out." Auric waved his hand, reassuring her.

"No. If I want the magic weapon, the least I can do is work for it. Besides, you don’t have a connection to the media, do you?"

"Ah, right?" Maya almost forgot about it. "Your company used to run ads to promote your businesses. You need more people to go there to make even more money."

"Yes. I will just hit them with some scandals. It will only be for a brief moment since they’re going to extinguish it fast, and I will try to avoid having it traced back to me. However, that should be enough to make them focus on what’s under their family rather than the ruins."

Maya agreed. "This should be enough for a distraction."

"That leaves me as the only one who will enter that city. Well, I’ll just smuggle myself in like usual. Don’t worry about it. Besides, with my family’s alliance with the Kefflin brothers, those two families won’t be able to touch me easily." Katarina winked. "Oh, right? I will send you the report about everything else later. It’s nothing much. Just the sales of your Sun Store since you started selling the Rank 3 gathering techniques."

"I think it’s fine just to say it here. I mean, Ellia already knows, and it doesn’t matter if these two know it."

"Very well. You began uploading Rank 3 gathering techniques a month ago and earned three billion credits."

"That’s a lot."

"Considering the demand, it’s not a lot. Unlike the Moon Store, the Sun Store is only open in this country, so you can probably earn more once we hit the expansion phase. It won’t be easy though. After all, you’ve marketed the Sun Store this way. The country won’t like it."

"For the time being, I don’t have any intention of expanding." Auric nodded in agreement. "It is fine that the trade volume is not as big as that of the Moon Store. It won’t come under as much attack as the Moon Store, and I don’t have to be investigated all the time."

"Very well. Still, if you continue producing Rank 3 gathering techniques, you can probably earn an average of five billion per month as long as you keep publishing new techniques."

"Got it. I will continue at the usual pace."

"The response from the public is quite positive. This way, people understand that your value will gradually rise as you publish more and more gathering techniques, especially the higher-rank gathering techniques. Once it reaches Rank 6, people will go crazy about it. It’ll take time, but it’s definitely going to be popular."

"Will that be comparable to the Moon Store? Well, at that point, I might have revealed myself as the owner of both stores, so I would end up combining them together."

"The Moon Store will get the popularity first and gradually slow down, while the Sun Store will have a slower start but rise quickly in the future. So, in a way, the Moon Store still has the advantage."

"In that case, will it help if I publish something like a gathering technique with a 40% to 60% range first?" Auric asked. "It will be the first version of the new gathering technique."

"That will probably help bridge the gap. Once that happens, a lot more people will be interested. They know how dangerous it is to fight beasts."

"Got it." Auric nodded, knowing what he should do next. "I might have to reward you by pushing my earth element to Rank 4 first."

"So you can make me a gathering technique that will help me reach Rank 5?" Katarina smiled.

"Will that be a problem? If you don’t like it, then I will just take my time."

"I didn’t say I don’t like it." Katarina shrugged. "Anyway, that’s all for the report. Anything you want to ask."

"Yes. You didn’t explain the last part about the ruins."

"The last part?" Katarina was confused for a moment before remembering it. "You mean the history?"

"Yes. Was that building used to be something else in the past?"

"There’s no information about it on the internet. I’ve been asking my people in the academic field, but I haven’t found any information either."

"Should I reach out to my people? As you know, one of my siblings is in this field. It’s not exactly the same field, but he should have the connection." Maya asked.

"That will be great. The history of the ruins might be related to what we’re about to discover. No, rather..." Auric looked down. "I have no proof of this. It’s just a hunch, but all other ruins might have history behind them, one before the apocalypse. I don’t know how far we need to look, but there should be something that connects them. If we can figure it out, we might be able to find the true ruins."

"Is that so? I will ask my brother then." Maya nodded with a serious expression.

Katarina concluded their meeting. "So, Miss Maya and Stella will focus on being Auric’s guard. Ellia will handle the distraction. I will sneak in like usual.

"The operation will begin with us going there followed by the Aheron family and Arnie before Ellia makes a distraction for us."

Auric nodded. "That’s the gist of the idea. We will sneak inside the ruins and find what we’re looking for. We can’t be there for long, so I will just check the flow of energy while we try to look for something special underneath the ruins and return as soon as possible."

"That’s the gist of the operation. Just find out as much as you can. No need to take anything if you don’t need to. Once you figure out where you should go next, that should be enough. Handle the rest in another place. Also, I will be the one to begin. I have a perfect plan for the opening act." Ellia nodded in agreement.

"I will find out where our next destination will be. We will know whether we have to adjust our plan or not," added Katarina.

"Yeah. We will know whether the next destination will be more dangerous than this one. If it’s more dangerous, it’s better to add another distraction to investigate this place longer than the next one." Stella nodded in agreement.

"Get all the information possible. Maybe I will ask some of my friends to help us copy their data quickly or do something else. If we can get their data, we will be able to figure out what they’re doing more easily. I’ll take care of the data. You two take care of this guy." Maya pointed at Katarina and Stella.

"Got it."

"There we have it." Auric stood up. "I’ll ask Chief Lucas about the exam."