Kelesnia City.

A woman stood in front of the camera while saying, "Look at this, everyone. Do you want to see someone evolving without any help? We’re about to witness something like that."

The woman extended her hand to the left as the camera moved to a young man next to her. The young man was standing in the middle of the field. Suddenly, his avatar started evolving on its own.

It was a normal sight during an evolution, but evolution masters would find this bizarre.

The evolution masters with high enough sensitivity could see that this man was not supposed to have 100% element, meaning he shouldn’t have been able to evolve.

However, his element increased even though he was simply standing there, which allowed him to evolve his avatar.

"See that? He is evolving without any help. His element was only 99% before this, and he didn’t consume anything. According to this person, it was thanks to a certain technique he found in an online store. This is the technique."

The woman showed the store on her phone as well as its techniques.

"I don’t know what’s going on either. But it has become a new trend in my university. Is this going to be a new trend? We will be able to find out soon."

Not far from the woman, there were actually many students and teachers observing the evolution.

"This is incredible."

"To think that the technique is real."

"So, that means there’s no need to get help from the evolution masters anymore?"

"What’s going on?"

"This is too bizarre, but it’s interesting."

From one student, it spread to the entire campus. It would then spread further to their families. It would only be a matter of time before the entire city knew it. This matter would surely blow up even more across the entire country, or even the entire world.

...

Evolution Association.

"Please take a look at this." Professor Adam’s expression was serious. He knew how big the matter had become.

The president raised his eyebrows. "I’ve heard the rumors. So, these are the books from the rumor..."

"Yeah. I’ve printed them for research purposes. However, after looking at everything and consulting everyone I know, I can’t figure out how this technique works."

The president straightened his back and opened the first book. "So, why are you here?"

"I need you to assess whether these books are safe. I don’t want these books to harm my students or other people in the city. It has started spreading not only through word of mouth, but the media has sniffed it as well."

"I see." The president nodded in understanding. He first took a look at the book before saying, "This is a very interesting technique. A battle technique, but it’s missing many parts. Instead, it’s focusing on the gathering of energy, not from your body, but from the outside."

"There are plenty of battle techniques that use energy from the air, but the energy won’t stick to their bodies."

"I know that." The president paused. "It looks like whoever made this technique has been able to figure out the exact pattern of the energy flow."

"That’s the conclusion we’ve reached as well."

"There is nothing harmful from what I can see, but it might need further testing."

"Suppose you have the opportunity to create something like this, can you create it?"

The president nodded. "I can, but it will merely be a replica. I can probably interpolate the flow of energy by using two or more techniques. However, I won’t be able to advance it anymore."

"Why?"

"Why? It’s pretty simple. The flow will be different. So, this person has published all elements except the unique elements." The president scanned all the other books, looking at their elements.

"Yes?"

"If we copy it and create a new one, I can probably create a slightly better one, maybe a technique that gathers more elements. And obviously, I would have to refer to this book because all the information about the flow and other things is in here."

"Can you create a technique for an avatar that has reached the juvenile form by using these books as a reference?"

"Absolutely no." The president replied instantly. "It’s impossible. Once you evolve, the flow of your energy changes as well. Even if we use the information here, it won’t be enough. So, if this person chooses not to publicize the higher-level books, it’ll be impossible."

"Why? Can’t the evolution masters at your stage or even higher do something like this?"

"No. If the evolution masters could do it, they would have made this technique in the first place. There has been plenty of research to figure out the flow of energy, yet not a single one of them has succeeded. So, it might need something special. I don’t know what it is, but this person has found it. He must have used that special thing to figure out all the flows. That means there is a key that will open the door to this knowledge."

"A key..." Professor Alex sucked in a cold breath. "Still, what do you think about the technique? I’ve seen my students evolving because of this technique."

"Evolving?" The president looked astonished. He took another look before asking, "How long do they need to evolve?"

"Some only need a day, some need a few days to a few weeks. Do you think this will harm the evolution masters?"

"That’s the problem." The president pointed at Professor Alex. "It won’t exactly harm us, but it will still take away potential profit. From what I can see, the evolution masters can offer you instant evolution. Meanwhile, these techniques will provide you energy for evolution over time. Depending on the grade of your affinity, the time you need will increase drastically. So, it won’t kick us out of our job."

"That’s actually what the store owner said..."

"You know the owner?" The president crossed his arms.

"No. It was an online store."

The president nodded in understanding. "In that case, it’s better to find the owner for real if we want to know more. However, I can see that it’s able to help with your evolution, but the more important usage is actually to help the students."

"What do you mean?"

"I’m thinking that if you put this as a manual in your university, it will allow the students to take their time and increase their energy while they’re learning the basics from the class. Don’t you think it’s a much more appropriate way to use it?"

Professor Alex looked down. "Indeed. There’s just one thing that I can’t help but wonder... Do you think a unique-element gathering technique will appear?"

"Why do you ask..." The president suddenly fell silent as though he had come to a realization. "Do you mean to help them evolve?"

Professor Alex nodded. "One of my colleagues actually put that suggestion forward. If such a thing exists..."

"A unique-element evolution master will be born..." The president gasped. "This is just the beginning. Do you think this person is able to produce higher-level techniques?"

"There’s a chance, but I don’t know anything else."

The president’s expression turned grim the moment he heard about this method and the possibility of a unique-element evolution master existing. This would be the discovery of the century.

If people with a unique element didn’t need to worry about their evolution anymore, it meant the unique elements would become the most popular again due to their special applications.

"I see. So, this is why you brought it to me."

"Yes. If you don’t do anything about this, I plan to bring this up to the government personally."

The president contemplated for a minute before asking, "What do you want me to do?"

"That’s what I want to ask you."

"I see." The president let out a long sigh before standing up. "I will head directly to the Evolution Association headquarters in this country. You should go back and see if there’s any change in your students. For the time being, I don’t think they’re in danger, but I’ll ask for more research in this area. If possible, we have to find who created this technique."

"All right then." Professor Alex nodded, but he still intended to inform the local government about it, possibly bringing it directly to the highest decision-maker.

"By the way, where did you find this book again? What was the name of the store?"

"The name is Sun Store. The owner is Sunlight."

"Okay. Thanks for telling me."

However, the association president intended to act on it right away, so he booked the plane and headed to the airport.

On the way, he couldn’t help but check the store personally to see what was going on.

He saw so many techniques already placed in the store. Since he had seen the books directly, he immediately bought all of them without hesitation. With his financial power, he could spend a million credits without batting an eye.

Of course, he couldn’t help but send a message to this store.

[Steven96: Hi, I’m the president of the Evolution Association Kelesnia City Branch, Steven. If you don’t mind answering my question, may I know if you are a unique-element evolution master? Can you produce a gathering technique for a unique-element user? Can you produce higher-level techniques, not only for the avatars in the baby form?]

The president closed his eyes because he didn’t expect an instant reply.

To his surprise, the reply actually came in just a minute.

[Sunlight: Every unique element is different. Their case is different from those of other elements that are differentiated by ratings. As for the higher-level techniques, it’s possible. But I’ll only put them in the store when I feel like it.]

The president rose from his seat, becoming a bit more excited. Without any delay, he asked the next question.

[Steven96: Do you know that it’s more effective to publicize this method in the academy sector? Your achievement will be recognized properly. Besides, people might copy this book from you.]

[Sunlight: They can try. I won’t pursue the matter if they put the reference clearly. In the case where there is a blatant copyright infringement, I will sue them.]

[Steven96: Don’t you think I can copy this and sue you back? I have my status and people will believe me, unlike you, who are still unknown. With a single phone call, I can make the judge rule in my favor.]

[Sunlight: Try it. This country is not the only one that needs this technique, not to mention the unique-element gathering technique. After that phone call, the next call you receive will probably come from someone very high up blaming you for me leaving this country and taking my goods elsewhere.]

"..." The president fell silent. He couldn’t deny that part. With how important this technique was and the fact that only this person could produce it, the moment this person took his goods elsewhere, the country would suffer massive losses.

After all, they would surely lose access to the higher-level techniques.

Once people knew about it, they would be called fools for causing this person to leave the country by not being able to protect such important techniques.

At that time, other scientists might do the same, thinking the government was incompetent.

The buyers were one thing, but other scientists might be more than willing to leave the country if this person also left the country.

Instead of provoking, it would be better to protect this store.

Besides, from the way he worded it, the president knew this person might actually be able to create a unique-element gathering technique, making him a unique-element evolution master.

This was more than enough to shake the entire country.

[Steven96: Thank you for answering my questions. I apologize if I said anything offensive, but I certainly didn’t mean to offend you. Could we perhaps set a meeting? I would like to discuss the books in-depth.]

[Sunlight: No.]

Once the conversation reached this point, the owner’s status suddenly went offline, as if telling the president that he no longer wished to continue talking to him.

"..." The president smiled wryly. "I guess I really have to hurry to the headquarters. Hopefully, this matter reaches the top quickly."