Chapter 113: Repurposing

Eren didn’t end up answering Celeste’s answer. Soon after the introductions with the alliance from the two groups, they all decided to return to camp after such a successful day.

Delia and the other Academic examinees were now going to be a part of Eren’s camp and share resources with them, as per their agreement.

But before they left though, Delia and her group gave Sierra and the others weird looks as they saw them picking up broken sunspores from the ground.

"It’s a treasure trove here!"

"Hehehehehe! We’re rich!"

"Hey Eren! Look at how much they spent sunspores here!"

Delia’s eyebrows turned uneven. She couldn’t understand why they were doing that, when the most important thing in this Territory was the spoils they got from it.

This Disc Platform Territory contained some very important ingredients called Everrow Rockbuds. According to Delia, these things were essential in medicine and in Array Formation creations.

It would sell for a lot of sunspores back in the Market, that’s for sure.

So, it became all the more perplexing to see Eren’s group ignore the rockbuds entirely just so that they could gather all of the broken sunspores they had accrued throughout the few days they’d been here. There was a literal mound of them, basically.

It wasn’t long before they finished up all of their resource gathering from this Territory, and they moved out back to the Pitted Cavern.

They stopped by on the markets to unload some of their resources they got from the Territory, including the Rockbud.

And it netted them 558 sunspores in total.

"Let’s splurge today!" said Abe. "I really want some wagyu beef for our barbecue."

"Sure, sure, sure! We can’t forget all the spices. Some salt would be nice."

"Maybe we also get some tea while we’re there?"

Delia and her group members looked at Eren’s group with even more confusion. The ingredients that they listed out were not cheap. Wagyu beef was being sold for hundreds of sunspores for a good few kilograms!

They were basically spending all of the sunspores they earned from the Territory with food!

As they walked, Eren saw that someone was about to approach him from behind.

He turned around and was surprised to see Kaiser, their very own proctor!

"You, come with me," Kaiser said. And without another word, he began to walk forwards without waiting for Eren to respond.

Seeing this, Celeste and the others gave Eren worried looks. But he gave them an assured look.

"What is this about?" Eren asked as he caught up to Kaiser. "Did I do something wrong?"

Kaiser didn’t respond and simply walked forward until he reached the bright spot in the Pitted Cavern. Then, he looked up, towards the blue skies of the outside world above them.

Eren covered his eyes slightly as his vision got adjusted to the bright light.

And eventually, he saw something in the distance. A shadow flitting through the clouds in the skies.

It was getting bigger and bigger, and Eren realized that something was being lowered down from up above.

A big red box.

"According to our sponsors, you have done something right," Kaiser said. "For your achievements in the Second Test, you are being awarded a lootbox."

More and more people gathered around them as they realized what was happening.

"A lootbox?!"

"Someone’s getting sponsored! But who?!"

"Don’t tell me it’s Magnus or Dantes again!"

Eventually, the big red box landed in front of Eren’s feet. Briefcase-sized, this lootbox was not that much different from the ones that the others received before.

The symbol of a snake eating its own tail was embossed on the velvet linings of the box.

Once again, the Lindberg Family has deemed him worthy to receive their praise, it seemed.

"Who is he?"

"Look! That’s the Lindberg family..."

"They actually sponsored him? I wondered what he did to deserve it..."

Many were unfamiliar with Eren. The Lindbergs were one of the big names amongst the sponsors. And they all thought that they would sponsor one of the big names here in the License Exam too.

But instead, they sponsored an unknown man.

Eren ignored all of the looks and took the box with him so that he could return to his group. He didn’t need to be in the limelight just yet.

But just as he was about to move, Kaiser grabbed at his elbows.

"Be careful," Kaiser said, whispering as he did so. "By accepting the Lindberg’s lootbox, you are proclaiming yourself to be their associate.

Which means... the other sponsors will see that as well, for better and for worse."

Eren looked at Kaiser. His cloudy left eye had a heavy look, as if he was implying something.

But Eren held his gaze steady. It was at this point that Kaiser realized that Eren knew what he was getting into, and that the warning was unneeded.

It took a moment before Kaiser let go of his grip on Eren’s elbow and let him walk back to his group.

It wasn’t long before Celeste, Sierra, and the others swarmed him with excitement as they looked at the red suitcase in his hands.

"Let’s save our excitement for when we return to our camp," he said to them.

And after that, they all walked back to their camp, gathering looks of curiosity from the other examinees behind them.

Kaiser’s look lingered at Eren for a second, before he turned around and left.

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They returned to their Main Camp, finding it undisturbed the same as before. The trees stood stalwartly in the forest, and would have acted if there were any intruders that came when they were away.

Delia and the other Academic examinees immediately noticed their defense system.

"Another construct?!"

"The Array Formations in the trees are very complex... it would have been hard to crack this..."

"There’s barely any distortion! It’s preserved perfectly, retaining all of its abilities!"

Usually, repurposing constructs like these would make the Array Formations lose their potency by at least 20% or so.

But these trees were absolutely pristine!