Chapter 148: Blind?

Despite his eyesight being blinded, Eren remained steadfast. This kind of affliction wasn’t going to affect his fighting ability at all.

Of course, he was the only one who thought that. The spectators, and even Carter himself, thought that this had effectively secured Eren’s loss in this duel.

After all, without sight, he wouldn’t be able to see Carter’s movements at all. And not only that, but he wouldn’t be able to see his own body! He wouldn’t be able to use his Reinforcement!

"Should we intervene?" asked one of the Proctors.

Miss Calliope was a proponent of this idea. "Carter has effectively cheated! We must stop this at once!"

However, the other Proctors were more inclined to letting things just happen.

"We can’t intervene," Kaiser said.

"Why not?" Miss Calliope asked indignantly.

"Because this kind of thing is exactly what the License Exam is for. It’s testing an examinee’s ability during times when they can’t use a hundred percent of their abilities."

It was the reason why they chose the Subterranean Burrows as the location for this License Exam. It was why sunspores were such a powerful resource.

Only when people were put into the most challenging positions did people show their true talents and their true selves.

The real world wasn’t going to be perfect all the time. These Proctors experienced it first-hand. They weren’t always going to get perfect vision. They weren’t always going to get a perfect set-up for their fights.

So, fighting at a disadvantaged position was a necessary talent that everyone was looking for in these examinees.

"And besides," Kaiser muttered. "It looked like the boy doesn’t seem to be affected by this at all."

The Proctors all looked back towards the duel and saw that Eren stepped forward, his eyes completely closed. He had a smile on his face as he stood in front of Caster, as if taunting him to come closer.

This had immediately earned the respect of the Proctors. And possibly the Sponsors who were watching this fight from up above.

"Ha... overconfident, are you?" Carter asked Eren. "Don’t you dare say that this is unfair. Preparation is part of the duel itself."

Eren smiled. "Did I say it was?"

After seeing Eren’s nonchalant attitude, it became plentifully clear that Carter was insecure even of his own cheating actions.

But in the end, Carter looked up at the skies. He couldn’t afford to lose here. It didn’t matter if he had to secure his victory through an unfair advantage. As long as he made the Sponsors happy, nothing else mattered.

And so, Carter moved towards the dueling area.

Carter’s feet became imbued with Reinforcement. His steps, therefore, became as silent as a cat stalking its prey.

This ensured that Eren wouldn’t be able to sense where he would come from. And so, Carter immediately moved to the side and positioned himself in Eren’s vulnerable position.

Eren saw nothing but violet. Even with his eyes closed, the pain from the poison obscured most of his senses.

His ears were booming, preventing him from hearing anything other than his own blood pumping in his body.

But that didn’t matter. He trusted his sixth sense.

And just then, a searing hotness appeared from behind him.

It felt like the sun itself had appeared behind him.

Carter was using his strongest attack as his opening move. Wielding two axes, his swing created an X-pattern that headed straight towards Eren’s back. This would surely give him a grievous wound, one that would either kill him or put him out for the rest of the License Exam, effectively eliminating him.

But just as the violet X-pattern reached Eren’s back, a hazy red aura appeared near Eren’s shoulder blades.

Reinforcement!

The two R?zoň techniques clashed against each other. Carter was caught off-guard as he felt a tremendous resistance from both of his axes.

What he thought was an easy kill, turned out to be a lot harder than he thought.

Eren’s defensive Reinforcement allowed him a second to react. He immediately twisted his body and turned towards Carter.

Then, he unleashed a Primal Strike directly at where Carter was supposed to be.

Carter was staggered for a second, but he was able to use his own defensive Reinforcement in his axes to mitigate Eren’s punch.

The Primal Punch caused Carter to skid back a few steps, making Carter’s hands tremble from the force.

Then, silence reigned, giving people a second of reprieve from the opening attacks of both duelists.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!"

"I thought it was over from the start!"

"How did that guy defend from that axe?!"

Nobody could understand how Eren was able to come out unharmed from that surprise attack.

Eren was blinded. He should have been an easy target!

Of course, the Proctors were the ones who saw things a lot more clearly than the other examinees.

Most of them stood up in shock, with gasps coming out of their mouths.

"Did he... did he just... use Reinforcement on his back..."

"He did... and he did it without looking at his body."

"He did it at the last second too!"

From their perspective, using Reinforcement like that required a lot of talent and skill. Using Reinforcement without vision could not be achieved by normal Awakeners. It was something that seemed to have come only to the blessed people who were gifted by Psions.

And it seemed that Eren was one of those gifted Awakeners.

This immediately raised his stock within the Proctors and the Sponsors watching this from above.

Having an examinee who could use Reinforcement on his back without vision was a tremendously useful skill to have.

It effectively saved Eren from total defeat! If it was any other examinee, they would have been defeated on the spot.

"I may have to recruit this guy..."

"I wish I had seen him earlier. Now, we’d be in competition with the other Prominent Families. They’re probably eyeing him like grade-A steak right now."

Meanwhile, Miss Calliope was the one most surprised. Unlike these Proctors, she knew what Eren had been through.