As expected, the moment Auric returned to the Relesha family, everyone was stunned by his transformation.

Even Mathias widened his eyes and stopped drinking his coffee.

William didn’t come home the previous day, so he never thought that Auric would change so much before returning to the mansion.

But for those who had seen Auric, they were much more amazed because it turned out that Auric could change this much.

"Do you happen to like younger girls?" Jeremy coughed as he took out a picture. "This is my daughter. She is going to graduate from high school next year."

"What?" Liam was startled. He suddenly signaled his daughter to come here. His daughter was wearing shorts and had slightly slanted eyes that made them look fiercer. It might be because she was Liam’s daughter that she tried to look more masculine so that no one would look down on her.

But when she reached Liam, she shyly fixed her hair while she introduced herself.

Yes, a lot more people had come this time. It looked like all the main family members had brought their partners as well as their kids.

"What are you two doing? This is not the plan!" Luriel whispered to Liam and Jeremy, pulling the backs of their collars.

Auric couldn’t help but overhear her. He thought, ’What plan are you talking about? What are the three of you planning? No, are you three the only ones planning something? Are you perhaps the one who snuck that picture into my room yesterday?’

Auric had a lot of questions, but it didn’t seem like he would get any of the answers.

In the end, they overwhelmed him again, just like what happened the previous night, so he retreated to his room.

Somehow, he felt more tired here than at Kallarnos University.

For some reason, Maya had selective hearing regarding his messages. He had been telling her a lot of things ever since he arrived in the capital city, but she never replied to any of his messages about her family.

It looked like she knew what was going to happen to him if he ever stepped foot into this mansion.

Of course, he didn’t mention the picture. He still wanted to stay alive.

Nevertheless, he didn’t think that the Relesha family was bad. They supported each other, and the family looked harmonious.

He just felt a bit tired because he wasn’t used to this kind of enthusiasm from all family members. It was a big family compared to his family with only three members.

The atmosphere was the opposite of the Astler family, even though they were talking about the same thing.

Ellia was sitting at the dinner table with her parents and grandparents.

As she expected, the only thing she heard from her parents was everything about their own plans.

"Look. This is the guy you should meet next. He is the heir to the Blue Whale Group. Besides, if you look at his talent, he might be able to become at least rank 5. He is going to succeed the Blue Whale Group, and his face is not bad."

Ellia didn’t even bother to spare him a glance.

It looked like her grandparents didn’t intend to say anything to her.

"I am not interested. Why don’t you just have another baby and cultivate it as the heir?" Ellia looked away.

"You dare to say that to your parents?!" Her mother raised her voice.

"Let me change my words. Dear Mother, I want to have a younger brother." Ellia imitated an innocent girl who would like to have a new family member.

"You..."

"I heard you are close to a boy at Grand Magica College. It must be him! If he doesn’t—"

Cough! Her grandfather, Xavier, let out a cough. "I am not going to meddle too much anymore, but I have to remind you that the boy is off-limits."

Both of her parents gritted their teeth. Ellia was a bit perplexed. She might have appeased her grandfather before, but she didn’t think all the information about Auric out there was enough to make her grandfather protect him.

On the other hand, her parents knew about Mathias’ visit. They wanted to protest, but seeing his stance was more than enough to let them know they had to do something else.

Ellia was on guard, not knowing what her grandfather was planning. Nevertheless, this was yet another unpleasant dinner.

She wondered if she was blessed or cursed to be born into this family. On the one hand, she had all kinds of resources available to her. On the other hand, she was struggling to make this life her own and hers alone.

In the end, she said nothing more. There wasn’t much she could do against her parents yet. After all, the moment she harmed the interests of the family, her grandfather would step in.

That was why her parents had to be the first ones to harm the interests of the family before she could strike back.

After dinner, she simply returned to her room, exhausted. She hadn’t done much work ever since she returned to the capital city, but it felt like she had been overworked for at least a week.

Ellia looked at the broad ceiling of the spacious bedroom. Despite all the luxury and glory, she felt empty. If she could do it, she would have destroyed this family. But she knew that doing it would make her vulnerable to outside threats as well.

Having the ability to do it but not being able to do it made her so helpless.

She covered her eyes with her left arm while muttering, "Just twelve more days to get out of this hell."

...

Arina might have returned to the Astler family, but she was merely Ellia’s childhood friend. She didn’t even stay in the mansion to back Ellia up.

Then again, it was better for Ellia if Arina didn’t stay in the mansion. Arina wouldn’t be targeted by Ellia’s parents.

On the other hand, Milinda and Eric were peacefully spending their time in their respective rooms. Milinda was studying about materials, while Eric was practicing his control.

There wasn’t much going on for them.

But it all changed when they returned to Kallarnos University the next day. Their class finally started.

Like before, Auric got a driver from the Relesha family, and they wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Auric saw Tommi and Eric already waiting for him at the entrance.

"Yo! I never thought you were rich!" Tommi grinned. "I guess the sponsor from the mayor doesn’t really affect you."

"It’s my teacher’s family." Auric shook his head.

"Rich is rich." Tommi chuckled. "By the way, I heard we are going to take the same class today."

"Elemental manipulation class? Yes." Auric nodded.

"Then, let’s go together!" Tommi circled his arm around Auric’s neck and pointed forward. "Come on, you too, Eric!"

"No. That’s embarrassing!" Eric looked away.

Tommi didn’t take no for an answer and simply grabbed him. "You’re not getting away. Hahaha!"

Auric just smiled wryly. Tommi really did have his own pace.

However, it looked like they were gathering some attention.

Auric had his own confidence in his looks, and Tommi should be quite popular with his talent. Last but not least, they had Eric with minimal information. People would be wondering why Eric was close with the two of them.

So, it was no wonder that people looked at their group.

However, before they entered the classroom, someone suddenly tugged Auric from behind.

"Hmm?" Auric was startled and glanced back.

Eric and Tommi wondered why Auric stopped, only to find the vice president of the student council before them.

Eric immediately remembered what happened yesterday.

"Do you need something from me?" Auric tilted his head in confusion, acting innocent.

Katarina looked around. Some people looked at them. Even Eric and Tommi looked at her curiously.

Hence, Katarina asked, "Do you have some time to spare?"

Auric looked at the time and nodded. "Yes."

"Can we talk somewhere?"

Auric smiled wryly before turning back to Eric and Tommi. "Sorry, reserve a seat for me, will you?"

"Got it." Eric casually nodded as he watched Auric and Katarina walking away.

Tommi was completely dumbfounded. He asked Eric in a low voice, "Why did the vice president bring him away?"

"You know her?"

"There is no one attending this university who doesn’t know her. Katarina Vasilyevna is basically the most likely candidate to be the next student council president. She possesses a unique fighting style by using her earth element.

"When you hear adamantine, what is the first thought that comes to your mind?"

Eric looked down, contemplating. "Isn’t that a fantasy element, which is usually depicted as the strongest metal?"

"Exactly. What kind of fighting style do you think someone with this element will use?"

"Hmm? I’m not entirely sure. I think something with a weapon is good. This is a strong element, after all." Eric could imagine her using multiple weapons covered in her element. No one would probably be able to break her defense.

"I know, right? However, she is using it to form a bullet. She doesn’t even have any weapons."

"None?"

"None." Tommi nodded. "She condensed her bullet by using that hard shell and reinforcing it with a burst of her element. Thanks to the toughness of her element, she can condense and compress a large amount of energy within those bullets.

"In addition, she has very good accuracy and controls her bullets in real time. Basically, if you dodge, the bullets will be coming for you, but it won’t be a simple homing.

"If you create a shield to block them, the bullets will avoid it. So, you have no choice but to use a full barrier to completely isolate yourself."

"That’s rather annoying to fight." Eric agreed, understanding why she was powerful.

"No. That’s not even everything. She is able to manipulate the size of her bullets. For example, if you expand your barrier to block everything, she will use bigger bullets that are packed with more power.

"You need to form a much thicker shield for that, but that also means you won’t be able to expand its size. If you recklessly expand a thick shield, she will use smaller bullets to trick you. This way, you will end up using too much energy.

"If you think that the only way is to defeat her first, then you’re wrong. She possesses the hardest metal, which makes her impenetrable.

"With the combination of the tricky offense and the sturdiest defense, she becomes the strongest. In fact, in this university, she is probably the third strongest person.

"That’s why it’s rather surprising that someone like her ends up coming for him."

Eric chuckled. "You sound like you admire her a lot."

"I respect people with strength and decent character. I like people who are strong, but I will still dislike them if they do things excessively." Tommi shrugged. "She is strong. She doesn’t talk a lot, but she is worthy of respect since she gets her job done."

"How is she compared to Ellia?" Eric asked.

"I don’t know. I have heard about her tale in the capital city, but it’s been so long since she’s been here, so I don’t know how she’s compared to these people."

"In that case, how about Auric?"

"Let’s not talk about Auric... That guy is a freaking monster. I’m afraid she sees something in that monster." Tommi rolled his eyes. "I think I can surpass Ellia or Katarina, but I’m still struggling to find an idea on how to beat that handsome bastard."

"Figured..." Eric scoffed. In fact, Tommi didn’t even know Auric was the creator of the gathering techniques. "By the way, are the gathering techniques that popular in the capital city?"

"Of course. It’s popular among students, not yet popular among high-rank fighters. People are doing their best to copy those gathering techniques, but they will never be able to replace the Sun. Though I’m still waiting for a gathering technique for me to appear."

Eric chuckled. If Tommi asked, Auric would probably give one to him.

"Well, let’s go to class. We probably need to seal both entrances because I’m afraid that the girls might be coming for him."

Tommi smirked. "Eric, you really need to be honest with yourself. Oi, don’t run!"