Chapter 445: Panicked

"Welcome to my alma mater." Song Xue smiled sweetly in front of the gate.

"It looks like you’ve got some good memories here." Auric closed his eyes. He could see a sincere smile on her face, and there was no such thing as a disturbed flow of energy that indicated she was lying.

"Of course. There are a lot of interesting things happening every year." Song Xue nodded. "I’ve talked to the principal and got permission to bring you around."

Ellia still had one more day, so she was following the tour with the others.

Mathias, on the other hand, observed everyone here. He wanted to see how the students compared to Esfrata’s students.

As Song Xue guided them through the left side of the university, Auric kept glancing around as though he had noticed something.

Song Xue noticed Auric looking at another female student who happened to pass by. She had heard the rumor about Auric not having any relationships, but it didn’t seem to be the case.

Therefore, Song Xue playfully approached him and asked, "Did that student catch your attention?"

"Uniform?" Katarina tilted her head in confusion. This was also the first time Katarina had seen Auric looking at someone else so intensely.

Song Xue misunderstood, thinking that Auric was actually more interested in the uniform than in anything else. She said, "This is one of the few universities that adopt some style from the military. The uniform is just one of the examples. If you stay here for a month, I might consider giving my old uniform to you."

Mathias’s eyebrows twitched. He approached Maya and whispered, "Uniform, huh? Don’t you think it would be good to send him a picture of your uniform when you were an adjudicator?"

"What are you even talking about?" Maya looked at Mathias in disgust.

"Well, your mother has... No, wait." Mathias looked away. "I’m not supposed to talk about that."

"Talk about what? My mother has what? Has she done something? Does she have something?" Maya glared at him, demanding an explanation.

There was no telling what would happen if Maya found out that her picture in the maid uniform had been given to Auric.

On the other hand, Auric calmly explained, "No. I don’t have a thing against uniforms. From what I can see, the students here are quite different. They look like they are masters of breathing techniques."

"..." Katarina paused for a moment and took another look, but she really couldn’t find the difference.

Song Xue, on the other hand, was surprised that Auric could actually figure it out. It didn’t look like Auric had done any deep research about this university.

In other words, Auric had been trying to confirm what was going on with the students.

"Their energy is much more robust than any students I’ve ever seen." Auric nodded in understanding. "That’s rather amazing."

Song Xue smiled wryly, finally getting taken aback. "You’re so observant."

"I guess this school or maybe this country emphasizes one of the three basic elements of the trinity, the breathing techniques." Auric nodded in understanding.

"Of course. This is something you will find out if you are willing to dig deep enough. Even in the ancient martial arts, breathing techniques are important. If you need power, you need to inhale oxygen to give you the necessary energy. I wonder what you can see from them."

"It’s not much. The breathing technique is indeed impressive. I’m just wondering if it can be connected with something..."

"Oh? That something is..."

Auric opened his mouth but soon shut it again before turning to Katarina. "I’m not supposed to answer that, right?"

"You can ask me to stop you if you want." Katarina shrugged.

"That’s unfair. You’ve made me very curious, and you’re going to leave me hanging?" Song Xue looked at him like a puppy as if she had been wronged.

Auric was thinking about combining the gathering technique with the breathing technique. Since the body had to absorb the energy, breathing techniques could help it absorb and even circulate it.

The breathing techniques might actually be one of the keys to allowing him to increase the capacity of the gathering techniques.

Auric just smiled at Song Xue.

Song Xue felt like clicking her tongue, realizing that she had missed something. It didn’t matter whether it was important or not.

Everything Auric said was worth considering. After all, he was an evolution master in his own right, not to mention the fact that he was also good at research.

"Well, do you think we can see the students’ training?" Auric asked. "Or maybe fighting?"

"We can go to the training ground, but..." Before she finished speaking, Auric suddenly noticed the commotion outside.

Auric approached the window and saw two guys getting ready to have a standoff."

"Ohh?"

Song Xue felt like smacking these two people. Auric was already dangerous enough that he could figure out the breathing techniques just by observing people. That was why she changed her plan to avoid giving further information.

If she let Auric watch a fight, there was no telling what would happen.

She was about to make an excuse, but the two guys were actually rushing to the arena.

"That’s interesting. I want to see it." Auric pointed at the two men.

Now that Auric had requested it personally, she couldn’t reject his request.

"I understand. I’ll lead you to the training ground."

Auric smiled. By the time they reached the training ground, the two men were already standing in the arena. Then, multiple stone pillars emerged from the ground.

"Oh? You actually tried to make the arena more complicated?" Auric rested his hands on the railing.

Song Xue sighed inwardly. "Yes. We are trying to simulate the wilderness. After all, we won’t be fighting on flat terrain with nothing else in the way all the time. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have graduated as an ace student here."

"Fair point." Auric nodded.

"Senior Sister!" A cheerful voice suddenly echoed from the right, growing louder as it approached.

"!!!" Song Xue turned her head to the side, finding a cheerful, short-haired girl running toward her.

The girl hugged Song Xue while saying, "I miss you so much. I never thought you would be back here. You should have called me."

Song Xue smiled apologetically, not at her, but at Auric. "I’m sorry. However, as you can see, I have guests with me."

"Ah!" She hurriedly took a step back.

Song Xue turned back to Auric. "I’m sorry for causing such a scene. This is my junior sister, Lan Mei’er. We’re learning from the same person."

The short-haired girl turned to Auric, only to find herself shocked by his face.

"Mei’er. Please go back." Song Xue was trying to push her aside, but suddenly another person came. "I apologize for causing a ruckus."

A man with sharp eyes approached them.

"You are..." Song Xue had graduated from this school nearly two years ago, and it wasn’t like she remembered everyone, so she only recognized her junior sister.

"Vice President!"

"Oh! Vice President? Are you perhaps the vice president of the club Mei’er joined?"

"It’s a pleasure to meet the famous Goddess Song. I’m Ming Tian, the vice president of the Heaven and Earth Club."

Song Xue couldn’t be distracted from her task, so she nodded to Ming Tian first before turning to Auric. "I’m sorry. I’ll ask them to leave."

"It’s fine, it’s fine." Auric hadn’t been distracted at all. He had been watching the fight all this time. "I’m quite interested in the fight, so you can take some time to catch up with your juniors, Goddess Song."

Song Xue was taken aback and felt embarrassed. She had never expected Auric would actually use that title.

"That’s..."

"Do you know if I can actually ask someone to spar with me?" Auric asked. "Maybe if they win, I can tell you about the thing I thought about earlier. If I win, how about letting me read one of those breathing techniques? Or maybe you want to guide your juniors, Goddess Song?"

Song Xue froze. It would become a problem if Auric ended up losing here. After all, it might twist his opinion later. At the same time, letting him win would mean revealing one of the core breathing techniques. They couldn’t afford to do that.

So the best option was to reject his suggestion. "That will be—"

Unfortunately, the others didn’t seem to think the same way.

"Handsome guy! You shouldn’t challenge Senior Sister. She is—" Lan Mei’er was more concerned about Auric, but the other guy was more concerned about Song Xue. "What makes you think you can challenge her? Do you think you’re even worthy? I’ve heard about the new rising star, but that’s only because of your ability as an evolution master. Do you think you will make it to the seven rising stars with your fighting ability?"

Auric was speechless. His eyes shifted to Katarina and the others, as if asking what was going on with this guy.

Song Xue was also speechless, for a different reason.

"If you really want to spar with someone, I can teach you that you’re just lucky to be one of the seven rising stars."

Auric opened his mouth, as though he wanted to say something, but he didn’t even know what to say to this guy.

Song Xue turned pale and tried to stop them. "Mr. Auric, this is..."

"Hohoho? Is that the official stance of this country, this university or this so-called Heaven and Earth Club?" Mathias grinned, trying to make it worse.

However, in a way, his style was similar to Maya’s. No, it might be more accurate to say that Maya learned it from him. Crushing another school!

Auric didn’t let Song Xue explain. "Well, that’s indeed interesting. Do you know that my principle is equivalent exchange? You haven’t shown any intention or said anything about crippling me or killing me, so I won’t do the same to you. However, you’ve expressed your intention to humiliate me. In that case, I shall do the same to you. Let’s do it. I’ll show everyone that you’ve gotten that position because you’re lucky."

Song Xue’s heart sank.