Chapter 93: Tiles

The group went on another expedition out into the tunnels in search for new Territory to conquer.

Leaving behind their own camp was quite safe as long as Eren held on to the flag. But of course, this meant that he had to bring it with him at all times, which could either be very safe, or very risky.

Thankfully, the flags could be folded and fit onto the black battle suits snuggly on the hidden pockets.

With lots of tunnels still left unexplored, Eren and the group ventured through the Burrows randomly, hoping to strike it rich with the Territory they eventually discovered.

It was a tactic that was frequently used by the other groups.

In fact, it seemed as if someone had already gone ahead of them.

All around the ground, they saw broken sunspores scattered everywhere.

"Looks like somebody got ahead of us," Henry said, disheartened. "Let’s turn back and find another tunnel. We don’t want to waste any more of our light."

But Celeste stopped him. She then wordlessly picked up some of the sunspores and gave it to Eren.

Prompted by her actions, Eren took the broken sunspore and applied his Ræzoň onto its stem, repairing it completely.

"See?" Celeste said.

Henry stood there, caught off guard for a brief second, before Celeste clapped her hands. "What are you waiting for? Let’s start gathering these sunspores!"

The entire group were like hardworking farmers as they bent down and picked these broken sunspores out of the ground.

Excitement emanated out of them.

"That’s right! With Eren, these sunspores won’t be useless!"

"I can’t believe we’re getting rich just by picking up other people’s trash! What’s that famous saying again?"

"Another person’s trash, is our groups fortune!"

Most of the groups here in the Subterranean Burrows would immediately turn back upon seeing a trail of broken sunspores in front of them.

It signalled the fact that they were late. It was very probable that someone had already conquered that Territory.

But for Eren and his group, that didn’t matter. A conquered Territory became even more profitable for them than finding an entirely new Territory!

After all, those explored tunnels had stacks upon stacks of broken sunspores others had spent to conquer that Territory.

It wasn’t long before the entire group found themselves 400 sunspores richer. This was more profitable than if they sold potatoes for days at a time!

Eventually though, they found themselves a new Territory. The tunnels widened into a large chamber, its ceiling still dark as even the light from their sunspores couldn’t penetrate through to the top.

"Look! There’s a lot of Dragonhide here!"

Dragonhide was a type of mineral on the ground that had the unique characteristic of being very durable while having the same flexibility as leather.

Meaning, Dragonhide was frequently used to create makeshift armors that protected people from normal cuts and bruises that their battle suit couldn’t protect them from.

Abe and Henry immediately inspected the goods. It looked like red-scales embedded onto the ground. Once scalped, these Dragonhide minerals could be used to create their own armor, or to sell them for a very high price in the market.

From what Eren and Celeste saw, Dragonhide armor sold for about a hundred sunspore for a single flap.

And from the amount they saw on the ground, there seemed to be a couple of them here! That was about 400 or so sunspores they could earn from these minerals.

"Before we do anything, we should search for the flag," Celeste urged.

The others immediately agreed. They saw how effective those Array Formations were in subduing their invaders. And those were protecting a very minimal amount of resources.

This Chamber had Dragonhide, which was about ten times more valuable than anything they had in their own camp. So, it would only make sense for the traps and puzzles here to be ten times harder as well.

"Look! It’s over there!"

Eren turned to where Sierra pointed, and saw a white flag waving at the very end of the chamber, staked high up on the wall.

Under it was an open field. A seemingly innocuous space devoid of any trees, nor obstacles around it. From the looks of it, it would seem as if the only requirement to get the flag was to scale up the walls and obtain it through the Primal Step.

"Is that it? If it’s like this, even I could do it!" Tori joked.

Eren was suspicious. There was definitely something more here. He slowly approached the open field, before stopping right at the boundary that separated the tunnels and the open chamber.

The demarcation was easy to see. The tunnels were made out of rough stone. Meanwhile, the chamber was made out of some kind of tiled flooring. He knew as long as he didn’t haphazardly step onto the tiles, he wouldn’t accidentally activate the trap.

He put his hand carefully on the tile.

And secretly, he used his Ræzoň to forcefully activate the traps within the tiles.

Suddenly, the tile right in front of him trembled. Then, it fell right into an endless, deep abyss. Anyone who had stepped onto this tile would find themselves falling along the chasm.

I see... there’s no trap here. Ræzoň is what’s allowing these tiles to float and act like a real floor.

Meaning, examinees had to constantly apply Ræzoň on their feet if they wanted to keep the tiles activated. If they let themselves go for even a little bit, they would find the tile under them to fall straight into the hole.

"It’s Psion-activated, isn’t it?" Celeste said as she stood by him side to side.

"It needs the Primal Step to keep it afloat," he replied.

The tiles in front of them looked normal. But as it went further and further on, the tiles became larger. Meaning, the requirement for Ræzoň would be bigger as well.

"I would have to keep both my feet on the ground at all times. Meaning, I’d have to slide my feet forwards, which..."

"Is awkward," she finished. "But you don’t have to do that. We can both walk on it."