Chapter 123: Training

With more members, meant more scavengers. Eren’s new group members were given one job, and one job only. And that was to gather as many broken sunspores as they could.

They travelled through the different explored tunnels in the Subterranean Burrows. Of course, they came with the excuse of wanting to explore more Territories. But in truth, they just came there to get all the sunspores thrown on the ground.

It didn’t take long before they had gathered another sizable amount. About 5000 more just waiting to be replenished.

Of course, Eren spent the rest of the day basically being a charger for these sunspores. Then during times when he would meditate and recover his R?zoň, he would go to his Mind Palace and practice his skills in the Battle Record.

It was a very productive few days. Eren had asked the Academic Sector examinees to prepare a lot of Array Formations that would protect their Territories from harm.

They might not have the strongest members, they might not have the most members. But they did have an unlimited amount of sunspores they could spend.

Coupled with Eren’s knowledge of Array Formations, they could basically arm themselves up to the brim with protective measures.

About three days later, Pang Cai came to him with some news.

"Eren, would you like some good news?" the Scion of the Cai family asked him with a smile.

"What is it? It better not be some kind of link to some shady internet website," Eren said.

Pang Cai waved his hands. "Not like that. This time, I have news about some unconquered Territory."

Eren was interested, of course. He had been waiting to get some new Territory for their group. After all, he’d heard that there were a lot of other groups who had been conquering Territory after Territory after Territory.

By Eren’s estimation, they were probably in the top 25 out of the 42 groups in the Second Test.

That was just barely enough for them to pass. But it wasn’t a guarantee that they would continue to hold that position as the days passed. After all, Territories were being discovered every single day.

And each one was much bigger than the previous ones, allowing for those behind in the rankings to slowly catch up to the rest.

"I’ve heard that there is a Territory here that is so big that it will probably catapult you straight into the top 10 of all groups," Pang Cai whispered.

Eren didn’t let his excitement get the best of him.

"But?"

If this Territory was really as good as Pang Cai described it to be, then he wouldn’t be telling Eren. He would have been taking the Territory for himself.

"But... it’s currently being hotly contested by a few groups. It’s basically a bloodbath. A free for all," said Pang Cai.

"Why are you telling me this? Why not go after it yourself?"

Pang Cai shrugged. "I’m not the type to get my hands dirty. I’m the negotiator. I’d rather buy my way to victory rather than to get myself sweaty from fighting other dudes. Yuck."

In all the times that Eren had seen Pang Cai, he had never seen the scion move out of his little pavilion here in the Market.

Meaning, all the Territories that he had accrued were all conquered by his goons and his lackeys. He simply had to pay them some sunspores, and he could get anything he wanted.

A true man eating with a silver spoon, this guy was.

"Truthfully, this is my gift to you, Eren. You have been such a tremendous customer. My instincts were right about you. You are a gold mine!"

They had been spending all of their hard-earned sunspores here in Pang Cai’s market, buying up all the Array Formation materials that he could muster. It seemed to have made the scion of the Cai family that much more fattier than before.

"And... I would be remiss to say that it isn’t something personal. To be honest, there’s someone there that I dislike quite much.

His name is Paupre. And he is a leader of a mid-sized group totalling about fifty members.

They are sponsored by the Crownless Yellows."

Seeing Eren showing no reaction, Pang Cai frowned. "You don’t know? Gosh. you truly do look like you’re from some other world, aren’t you? How do you not know about something as basic as this?

The Crownless Yellows are the rivals of my family. We have been in a long-standing feud since the very start of the Cataclysm. Well, their leader and my father did, anyway. But their vendetta has grown to encompass both organizations."

Eren crossed his arms against his chest as he heard this. "And now, you want me to take care of them for you..."

Pang Cai gave him a smile. "Well, in order to get this Territory, you’d have to defeat them anyway. So it’s a win-win situation for both of us!"

Eren did not like being manipulated like this. But since their goals aligned, he decided to let it go.

"Alright. But in exchange, you’ll have to give me a big discount on all the materials I’ll buy in the future."

Pang Cai cringed as he heard the potential sunspores he’d lose from this agreement, but he eventually nodded in agreement.

"Sure. Just make sure to set them back good. Just like you did with Redd’s group. I’ve heard they haven’t even found a new camp as of yet. I want you to do that to Paupre’s group too."

Eren waved goodbye to Pang Cai as he was given a piece of paper containing all of the information about this so-called unconquered Territory.

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The group gathered at the campfire as Eren gave them the spiel about their plans for tomorrow.

"Hmm... whatever you want to do, Eren. I’m all for it!" said Abe.

"Yeah. If you think we can win against those other groups, then I have no other reason to think otherwise," said Sierra.

Eren had gained full trust of the group. And now, they were ready to ride or die for him.