As the class was winding down to an end, Erin walked over to the two pillars.
She clapped her hands together, as if making a "prayer", and closed her eyes, concentrating.
Instantly, cracks began to appear all over both pillars.
They then crumbled to pieces, falling to the floor in two big piles.
The pile on the left also had roughly eighty replicas of Tsukuru's Black Obsidian Daggers scattered in it.
Leo walked over, seeing the mess of daggers on the floor.
He put his hand under his chin, thinking for a moment, before turning to Tsukuru.
"You know, you could sell these on the Marketplace." Leo suggested. "Even the lowest-grade of Basic-Tier equipment sells for at least 2,000 credits."
Hearing this Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
'So Shizuka was right.' He thought. 'I did get it cheaper than normal…'
A while back, Tsukuru had tried selling one of his Black Obsidian Daggers in the System's Shop.
However, it seemed that his Shop operated on "video game" logic, as any item he bought from the Shop would only sell for half the price.
This meant that his daggers would only sell for 5 Silver Coins, or around 500 credits.
However, behind him, the duo of Layla and Quinn were doing calculations in their heads.
Layla and Quinn's eyes nearly popped out of their heads.
'With EIGHTY of them there, that's an easy 160,000 credits!' Quinn thought, astonished.
Tsukuru turned around, and looked from Quinn to Layla, seeing the stars in their eyes.
It looked as if they were looking at pure gold.
However, Tsukuru looked unimpressed.
Money meant virtually nothing to Tsukuru.
Growing up as a member of the Green Family, money was never an issue.
Plus, if he needed extra cash, he could always just make an extra deposit of Glathrium to sell to Head General Paul.
And seeing how he essentially made everything he needed, he really only spent money in his System's shop.
Looking down at his watch, it basically proved his point, as his credit balance still showed an impressive 10,890 credits.
And he was scheduled to get another payment of 10,000 credits just tomorrow, when he made his weekly Glathrium deposit for the military.
Tsukuru didn't want it, but maybe he could split it among his close friends.
He glanced from Layla to Quinn as he was standing between them.
'That's two…' he thought to himself.
He momentarily considered giving a portion to Peter to sell.
But he then realized that was a terrible idea.
It would only make him more or a target of bullying if he was walking around with a small fortune.
From his experience with Riley, he knew that stealing credits from low-Levels was like, the most COMMON tactic among the high-Levels.
He then glanced over at Erin, who was walking back towards them.
He narrowed his eyes.
'Eh, she'll do.' He thought.
But he needed one more.
If he had four people, he could split the eighty daggers into even fourths.
He then snapped his fingers, realization dawning on him.
'Of course!' He thought. 'Vorden!'
Tsukuru then walked forward towards the piles of ice, Quinn and Layla watching him.
Tsukuru then held his hand out in front of him, and activated his Ability.
The trademark electronic hum typical with his Ability's usage began to emit from him.
Soon, four groups of pixels began to appear on the floor.
Each group clustered together into the form of a long rectangle.
There was a flash of light.
When it faded, there were four, long wooden "suitcases" on the ground in front of Tsukuru.
Each "suitcase" was a little less than 3 feet long, being roughly 34 centimeters in length.
The top half of the box also had a handle attached to the very top, allowing it to be carried.
Tsukuru pushed the lid of each box open.
As he did, the "suitcase"'s interior came into view.
Each box had a single piece of wood going vertically across the interior, positioned around one-third of the box's side, spanning the whole length of the interior.
The piece of wood had twenty wide slits across its length, allowing each box to hold twenty daggers.
Seeing how Tsukuru was running low on MC again, he painstakingly grabbed each dagger one-by-one, and placed them into the "suitcases".
Quinn and Layla watched in amazement.
Each of the "slits" in the piece of wood appeared to be perfectly sized for the width of the daggers, allowing Tsukuru to lay twenty daggers flat on their back along the length of each box.
When he was done, he closed each box.
Each half of each of the boxes also had a small square in the center, with the one of the lid having an oval-shaped ring attached.
This was clearly designed to be a low-tech "latch".
When the box was closed, the ring would be wrapped around the combined shape of both pieces, holding the box shut.
He then turned back around.
"Hey, come here, you three." He replied.
Layla and Quinn looked shocked.
However, Erin looked completely STUNNED.
She lifted her index finger up and pointed at her cheek, as if to ask if he was talking to her, as well.
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed, and he let out a long sigh.
"Yes, you two, Erin." He replied.
They three turned to each other, exchanging looks.
They then began to walk forward.
When they reached him, Tsukuru walked a few inches towards them.
"Each of you, pick one." He replied, pointing to the "suitcases".
They all looked at him, wide-eyed.
Soon, Layla spoke up.
"But…But these are yours!" She sputtered.
Tsukuru rolled his eyes, and brought up his wristwatch to his face and pointed at the lower-left corner, instructing them to look.
Seeing the credit balance, Layla's jaw dropped.
Of course, Quinn had already seen Tsukuru's credit balance when he had shown it to him and Vorden in the library.
"Ho-How the hell'd you get THAT many credits?!" Layla squeaked. "The school year just started!"
Tsukuru rolled his eyes.
He held out his left hand in front of him, palm open.
Instantly, the sound of his Ability's activation emitted from him, and pixels began to appear in his hand.
The pixels clustered together, forming an egg-like shape.
There was a flash of light.
When it faded, all three of the other students' jaws dropped.
Tsukuru was holding a large, oval-shaped chunk of a black material that had become the most RECOGNIZABLE material in the known universe.
Glathrium.
"This is how." Tsukuru replied. "I make Glathrium for the military, once a week. In return, they pay me a small fortune of 10,000 credits."
Layla's eyes widened.
Tsukuru went on.
"Money has no meaning to me." He replied. "Tell me, WHAT would I spend it on that I can't already MAKE MYSELF?" Tsukuru asked, rolling his eyes. "I make my own food, my own weapons, hell, I make my own shower supplies!" He replied.
"So I have no need to sell these myself." He said, waving his hand dismissively. He then looked at them. "Anyway, each box contains twenty Basic-Tier daggers. That means you can sell them for 40,000 credits each."
Quinn was at a loss of words.
40,000 credits.
He had never seen that much money in his life.
He gulped, and stepped forward, grabbing the "suitcase" closest to him, the third one in the row.
While Quinn had been approaching the "suitcases", Tsukuru had been approaching Leo with the Glathrium chunk in hand.
"Here, deliver this to Head General Paul, if you wouldn't mind." Tsukuru replied, putting the chunk into Leo's hand. "Tell him it's an 'early delivery', and that he can just wire the funds to me when I receive my usual 10 credits at midnight."
Leo nodded.
Meanwhile, back with the others, Layla picked her box next.
She slowly picked up the suitcase next to Quinn's, the fourth and final one in the row.
Finally, it was Erin's turn.
She picked the first "suitcase" in the row.
Tsukuru walked over to the last remaining "suitcase".
"Since Vorden's not here, I'll hold onto his portion until we meet back up with him in the dorm room later." He replied, kneeling down, and placing his hand flat on the lid of the "suitcase".
Instantly, he received a System prompt, asking him if he wanted to place the "suitcase" in his System's Inventory.
As Tsukuru mentally replied 'yes', the "suitcase" began to disappear, breaking down into pixels.
The group of students watched the process in amazement.
"Well, that's a…convenient Ability…" Layla grumbled, somewhat envious.
At her words, Leo narrowed his eyes at Layla's words.
When he had watched what Tsukuru had just done, he had not seen him activate a single Mutant Cell within his body, meaning that it wasn't part of his Ability.
'Or…' Leo thought. 'It's SOMETHING ELSE, entirely…'