Auric had many thoughts about it, but in the end, he chose to reveal this power early so that he could get the most benefit.
Besides, he had established some connections with reliable parties to protect himself.
That was why when he saw the lightning coming, he could smile. There was no worry in his eyes.
Bam!
The lightning struck Auric.
"What?"
"What are you doing, Professor Eren?!"
"Why did you let the lightning hit him?"
"NO!"
"Open this barrier right away!"
The people were enraged. They simply thought it would be a shame if Auric ended up dead just because of this.
Simon laughed. "Hahaha. Serve you right! The teacher didn't even help you. You are nothing. You have no connections or talent. You are only good to be my stepping stone."
The students were glaring at Simon, demanding an explanation from Professor Eren.
But everyone's expression changed the moment they heard Auric's voice.
"Shouldn't you think that the reason the professor didn't help me is not because he didn't want to protect me, but because I could take your attack head-on?"
"!!!" Everyone widened their eyes and shifted their gaze to the dust cloud.
"This place is quite dusty." Auric waved his hand as a small breeze swept away everything to the right, revealing his form, completely unscathed after taking that level of attack.
"What?" The students gasped. They didn't understand how Auric stopped that attack. After all, he should have exhausted all the battle techniques he had.
"What happened?"
"What did he do?"
"Why did the attack show no effect on him?"
Simon dropped his jaw, not understanding what had happened.
"You… You…" Simon was taken aback. He should have won after that attack.
Professor Eren was probably the only one who could see what happened in that split second. 'How? Did he just deploy wind to block that attack? Shouldn't he have a plant element?'
Professor Eren could clearly see that a breeze of wind hit the lightning and dispersed it in all directions. It was the reason that this attack would have caused a massive explosion.
Simon gnashed his teeth. He wanted to use that battle technique again, but his magical energy started to run out.
So, he used something easier to test it with.
Lightning Discharge.
When the lightning was about to hit him, the wind surged and formed a small barrier in front of Auric, dispersing the lightning.
The people's jaws dropped once they saw what just happened.
"Wind?"
"How?"
"Did he just use the wind element? What about his plant element?"
"Don't tell me. He possesses both wind and plant elements?"
They wanted to believe their eyes were playing tricks on them, but Simon released his lightning one more time.
Auric waved his hand, generating the wind to deflect it to the right as if he were slapping the lightning itself.
Auric was really using the wind element.
Stefany regained her composure and shouted, "Ran. Explain!"
"What? Do you think I have an explanation right now?" Ran pointed at his own face.
This was the first time they had seen someone who possessed two elements.
"What are you? No, I'm the best!" Simon panicked as he couldn't comprehend what was going on.
Auric squinted his eyes. From that reaction alone, he could deduce one thing. 'It looks like the man he had asked to create trouble in my store didn't even bother telling him about my other element. It looks like he's not liked by the people from the Lightning Dojo.'
Then again, considering his attitude, it was understandable. After all, he had awakened not too long ago, so he hadn't had the chance to build his reputation.
But Auric was a bit confused as to why Simon was clueless about it. During their first clash, Auric did use his wind element to suppress him.
It produced a powerful shock wave that knocked his hand away.
Auric could only think of one possible reason for his cluelessness. He might have been deceiving himself all this time, thinking that Auric had more energy than him to suppress him. As a result, Simon trained the powerful battle techniques and used his connections to buy the materials for more energy.
"I'm number one!" Simon shouted as he gathered his element into a ball again. There was no trick he could use to defeat Auric anymore, not when his energy started running low.
That powerful battle technique drained a lot of his energy.
Auric raised his arm and gathered the wind. He then shot it like an arrow. The wind attack wasn't powerful enough to destroy Simon's abilities, but the elemental advantage made it more effective against his lightning ball.
"Kh!" Simon was doing his best to maintain the lightning, but the wind was dispersing its power.
"Aaaahhhh!" Simon shouted desperately. He couldn't gather any more power, so he just threw everything he had.
Auric summoned three spikes first to halt its advance before summoning six roots.
The lightning blasted through the three spikes, but it could only destroy three roots before disappearing.
Auric then sent the remaining three roots forward.
"No!" Simon tried to get away, but his shock made him react too slowly.
Two roots had ensnared Simon, wrapping around his wrists before lifting him up.
"This is the end." Auric calmly demanded, "Surrender."
"I haven't lost yet. I am not going to lose to the likes of you!" Simon roared as he tried to gather his energy.
Auric waved his hand, sending forth wind energy to dispel it. In addition, he made the roots grip his wrists even tighter.
"Aaahhhh!" Simon screamed in pain.
Auric then sent the last root toward his lower body.
"Well, I'm giving you one more chance to surrender. If you are not going to surrender, then I'm forced to do everything in my power to make you surrender, such as pulling off your pants. I don't know if our audience here wants to see your little brother, but I think they have the camera."
"You…" Simon was fuming. If that truly happened, his reputation would be ruined.
No matter what he did, there would be a picture of him with his pants down on the Internet.
"You… You…" Simon's face turned red due to his anger, but he couldn't release his anger anywhere, not with all these roots holding him so tightly.
Just the thought of the embarrassment alone gave him a headache, and he suddenly coughed up blood. "Gah."
"…" Auric blinked in disbelief, startled by the sudden turn of events. He hadn't done anything yet, but Simon had coughed up blood and even passed out.
"Pfft. Another one. The record is three people now!" Lindwurm laughed while holding his stomach.
Professor Eren facepalmed and shook his head helplessly before saying, "Student Auric. Please let him down. It's your victory."
"Oooohh!" Once Professor Eren declared his victory, everyone could finally release their shock.
"Amazing. How can he possess two elements?"
"What is your secret? What is your avatar?"
"Are you really someone who doesn't have an avatar?"
The second-year students were asking the important questions while his classmates were screaming.
"Kyaa. That's my Auric over there!"
"No. He is mine!"
Auric smiled wryly. The situation had become chaotic. Everyone was eager to drag him somewhere and extract every little secret he had.
Through this battle, everyone learned that he possessed two elements.
The people surrounded him immediately as if they were trying to get a piece of him.
Professor Eren calmly checked Simon's condition first to ensure that he was all right. Fortunately, he only passed out.
He lifted him up while walking toward Auric. "Student Auric. I have the same question as they do. How are you able to use two elements? Did you awaken two avatars, or is it something else?"
When the professor asked, people fell silent as they also wanted to hear the answer. Auric might be more inclined to answer if the question came from the professor himself.
Auric thought for a moment before smiling playfully. "Well, if I have to say it, the category for my element is unique.
"However, Professor. I would like to kindly remind you that I feel you have overstepped your boundary. I am under no obligation to answer your question about my element.
"One's element is their secret, so you are asking about my secret in front of so many people, so they can study me?"
"!!!" Professor Eren forgot about it due to the shock. That was right. If people knew more about his elements, they could prepare a counter the next time they challenged him.
Auric's element was something they had never seen before, so even a piece of information about it was much more precious than any other element.
And asking in front of so many students would look like he was being pressured to answer. That was why he only gave that small piece of information.
So, he had indeed overstepped the line. "Ah! Sorry. That was my mistake."
Professor Eren thought for a moment before handing him two coupons. "Since you have shown two elements, take these two coupons to get two more battle techniques from the library."
It was pretty good compensation. What he didn't know was that Auric had intended to release that piece of information from the beginning.
This explanation should be enough for people to misunderstand. Due to the unpredictability of the unique element, people couldn't generalize the information about this element, so they would most likely hit a dead end if they followed this lead.
Auric was comfortable with this kind of development. He even received some compensation to boot.
Professor Eren acted calmly, but he was actually panicking from the inside.
Auric's element was too powerful in its own way. He remembered how the second-year unique element user, Ellia, was recruited by the Combat Department.
If his mistake caused Auric to leave the Element Department because he couldn't trust the department to respect his privacy, he couldn't imagine what would happen to him.
That was why it was better to just apologize. Besides, he had to take Simon to the infirmary, so he had no time for pointless arguments.
"All right. Since this duel is finished, I'll bring this guy away." Professor Eren hurried away before Auric could make more demands.
Auric still had to face these people, and it didn't look like he could get away anytime soon.
"Well, well. Junior Auric!" Stefany finally jumped down and approached Auric. Ran walked next to her.
Other students were looking at them while furrowing their eyebrows.
"Can't you see that all of you are making our brilliant student here uncomfortable?" Stefany squinted her eyes, releasing a bit of her energy to pressure them to back off.
She was exuding something similar to Professor Maya's killing intent, but purer. It only applied some pressure without making them feel like dying.
The students instinctively backed off.
"Thank you. Junior Aur—!" Stefany nodded her head calmly as she could finally approach him. However, Ellia suddenly landed in front of Auric.
She grabbed Auric and used her Void Step to bring Auric to the second floor, away from the rest of the students.
"W-What?" Stefany was dumbfounded. She never thought Ellia would take him away. It was clear that Ellia favored Simon, not Auric.
She might not be as strong as Ellia, but she wasn't a pushover either.
Without hesitation, Stefany leaped to the second floor and pointed her finger at Ellia. "Oi, Ellia. What the hell are you doing? Snatching someone up… You should have gone to your fiance who is currently going to the infirmary!"
"Mhmm?" Everyone was shocked, including Ellia and Auric. They tilted their heads in confusion as Ellia hadn't done anything like what she claimed.
"Do you think I'm afraid of you? I've got first dibs on him. Do you think that just because you are second place in our year, you can do whatever you want?"
Ellia looked at her as if she were a fool. "What are you talking about?"