Chapter 295: Phishing
"This is the list." Maya showed Auric a paper. There were a total of twenty names on it, along with some of their personal information.
"I managed to find seven rank 2 unique-element users and the rest are rank 1. You can see their elements over there."
Auric read their information carefully. "There are seven unique elements. They are Illusion, Vector, Weather, Poison, Force, Enhancement, and Barrier."
"Yeah." Maya nodded. "The Illusion element is, as the name implies, an illusion. You can create an illusion by using the power."
"This Vector element sounds like a rather interesting power." Auric pointed at the second person. "It can actually change the direction of someone’s power. If someone shoots a fireball at this guy, won’t he be able to send it back?"
"Something like that, but can’t your spacetime do the same thing?"
"Scientifically? Yes. Magically? Not yet. I’m not at that level yet, but I’m quite intrigued with this power. Won’t it double the power if I have this power as well?"
"Fair enough. That’s possible." Maya could imagine the power. Not only would he turn it around, but he would also return it with more momentum. "As for the Weather element, well, it’s quite a useless power."
"Why?"
"You know, the weather? I’ve seen his performance. He’s just using that power to manipulate the weather, but not in any significant way. For example, when it’s raining, he’s only able to use his power to not let the rain hit him."
Auric thought for a moment before shaking his head. "I think this power is fantastic. I might copy this one."
"Why? It’s weak."
"Right now? Yes. But I can amplify his power with Edict. I also have other elements. Judging from the name of this element, don’t you think I can combine them? For example, if I use my Edict to amplify the power and infuse my wind element into it, can I create a typhoon? Maybe an earthquake with my earth element?"
"!!!" Maya was startled. "I didn’t think of that. Instead of controlling the weather, you’re using your power to create a natural disaster!"
"Yes. That’s the idea, but I don’t know if I will succeed or not. Even if I do, it’s going to be a very dangerous power."
"True. People will pay a lot of attention to you because you’re basically a walking natural disaster at that point."
"Yeah, but I might just keep it for now. Besides, I wonder if I can use it as an amplification of my power, like a buff?"
"A buff? That’s interesting. You mean, if you use ’Sunny,’ your fire element will become more powerful. If you use ’Rainy,’ your water element will be amplified, something like that?"
Auric nodded.
"That’s a rather interesting way to use that power."
"That’s why I plan to keep this element. As for the Poison..." Auric frowned.
"That’s a rather interesting power, you know? You can poison your enemies. It’s a kind of weapon that everyone wants to have."
"Yeah..." Auric tilted his head in hesitation. "I mean, I don’t need a poison power."
"Why? Isn’t it good for a trump card?"
"It’s just a theory for now, but I think that I might be able to figure out the ruins to the point where I can recreate the energy of the barrier. At that time, it will become a poison that no one can resist, right? Rather than creating poison with this element, can’t I just use that energy to kill people?"
"What? You can replicate that barrier?!" Maya’s jaw dropped.
"Do you know that if there’s a dark element barrier, the dark element inside it consists of several types of dark element? They’re just condensed and fused together. For example, if there’s a barrier with a dark element that has a rating of 3.4, inside that barrier might be a dark element with a rating of 2.0, a dark element with a rating of 4.4, and so on. All of those elements will fuse and create the barrier."
"Seriously?" She never thought Auric could figure it out. It didn’t look like Auric was joking or lying. "Are you saying that you might be able to recreate the ruins in your backyard?"
"I don’t know if that’s going to be possible or not, but I’m planning to try it in the future... after I gain more understanding about the ruins. Now that I have evolved, my sensitivity allows me to figure out things that I couldn’t figure out before."
"Oh!" Maya shook her head helplessly. She never thought Auric could do all that. "You shouldn’t really tell anyone about this. Maybe Katarina... Ehm, I’m not sure about her as well."
"Don’t worry. I know what to do." Auric shrugged. "Anyway, let’s continue. Force! Is this the same element as that one when we did it last time?"
"Most likely. It was just using a unique force."
"It doesn’t sound useful to me, at least." Auric sighed. "As for this Enhancement..."
"As the name implies, it amplifies your power. The unique element allows the user to provide energy that boosts someone’s power. From his video, he could actually increase the power of fire."
"Interesting. It’s like a steroid for an elementalist."
"Something like that." Maya nodded. "That guy was recruited by a powerful group, but the contract was terminated because he failed to awaken. His current energy was 98%, so it was extremely hard to find material that could increase his power by that small an amount."
"Similar to Milinda’s case?"
"Yes."
"I see." Auric thought for a moment. "Last but not least, the barrier..."
"It’s the simplest barrier. It’s more robust than most barriers. The person’s manipulation of the element was quite good. He could create a barrier that was shaped like a roof, which could split the enemy’s power. He could use that barrier to create transparent structures."
Auric narrowed his eyes. "For the time being, I don’t think this element will be good for me. I have plenty of barriers, and my barrier is stronger because I’m using multiple elements."
"That’s true in your case." Maya couldn’t help but agree. "So, have you chosen your targets? Or do you want me to search for more people?"
Auric took another look at the list. "From what I can see, there are three powers that definitely tempt me. They are Vector, Weather, and Enhancement. You know the Weather and Enhancement. If I combine the Enhancement as well, I might really be able to unleash a natural disaster in the future.
"As for the Vector, my spacetime might be able to replicate it, but this one can be used right now. It might even be more flexible in my current self. In addition, I can use this power over someone’s body. If I use the spacetime in someone’s body, it will be chaotic, don’t you think?"
"Fair point."
"I’m planning to get only four elements this time. I believe they will provide me with enough energy, but I intend to get a fifth one if it’s not enough. So, I’m thinking about getting the Illusion element. It’s going to be useful for me to escape using it. Well, I can explore other uses for it. I mean, I can just create an illusion of a rank 6 human helping me and force my enemy to flee, right? And I can combine it with my ’Imagine.’"
"That’s rather clever. Illusion with Dream Creation... Won’t it become a Creation element at this point?" Maya snapped her fingers.
"It may be, but I will need to test it."
"So, those are the four elements." Maya nodded in understanding. "In that case, I should also send the invitation to them. I’ll be gone for a week."
"Actually, just do it like this, Teacher. Katarina gave a rather good suggestion." Auric smirked.
...
Inside a dark, gloomy room, a young man who had just passed 20 and was supposed to be approaching his graduation, lay down on the sofa, staring at the television with blank eyes.
"I’m home..." A middle-aged woman entered the house and turned on the lights. "Derrick! What are you doing? You need to get up. Don’t give up, Son."
"..." Derrick remained unresponsive. He had failed his parents. There was no more will left in him because no matter what he did, he wouldn’t be able to graduate like this.
The middle-aged woman sighed. She didn’t know what to do anymore. Her son had fallen into this state after he failed to evolve.
"I’m going to cook something first. You should go and take a bath or something."
Derrick didn’t respond. She let out another sigh before walking to the kitchen. She pitied her son, but there was really nothing she could do. She could only support him, but even then, his fate couldn’t change.
Unexpectedly, a notification appeared on his phone.
Derrick lifted up his phone without any expectation. He hoped that someone from the company would contact him to tell him that there was still a chance for him.
To his surprise, the notification came from an unknown number.
[Congratulations, you’ve been chosen. If you wish to evolve, join this group with this link.]
Derrick scoffed. He had seen something similar before, but those had been scam links where his account would be hacked the moment he pressed the link.
’Well, there’s nothing left to be ruined...’ Derrick thought about accepting it so that even his phone would be ruined. This way, he wouldn’t let anyone disturb him anymore.
But another notification arrived, showing another message.
"This is a movement created by Sunlight of the Sun Store. You can be part of the unique-element evolution program."
"!!!" Derrick was startled. Who was Sunlight? This name had risen in the past few months as someone who revolutionized the world with his gathering techniques.
’Is this... really a scam?’
Derrick didn’t want to believe it, but he had heard some rumors about Sunlight.
He remembered one person saying on the television, "With this method, won’t Sunlight be able to create a gathering technique for a unique-element user? Won’t that make him the only unique-element evolution master in the world?"
Derrick wanted to believe it was true. Was he truly chosen? All this time, Sunlight had been so secretive. Everyone was trying to find him, but no one had succeeded.
That kind of mysterious method was consistent with what he was currently experiencing.
’Is this truly Sunlight? Am I really going to get lucky and evolve my avatar?’ There was a sliver of hope that appeared in his heart.
He was a bit hesitant, but the worst-case scenario would just be that he would lose his phone.
He gritted his teeth before opening the link.
It was an invitation to a group chat called ’Unique Temple.’
Little did he know, the invitation was even more unexpected than he had imagined. In Maya’s mansion, Maya had taken over the phone.
"How could you send that? A phishing link? Even a scammer would write a better message than that!" Maya hurriedly recovered it so that it would sound more convincing and less suspicious.
"I was just trying to be polite without revealing too much information." Auric acted as if he had been wronged.