Chapter 115: It Was an Investment!

Ethan frowned deeply.

Why the hell did this damn academy have to monetize something that was supposed to be accessible? It was a computer room, for crying out loud. Wasn’t something like that supposed to be available for students to use without being charged an outrageous amount of money every single time they wanted to sit in front of a computer?

Ethan let out a long, reluctant sigh before turning toward Rin.

"Umm... how much was the fee they charged again?"

Even as he asked, Ethan was already doing the calculations in his head. He really hoped he could cover the cost with the little money he had left in his account without touching the money his parents had recently sent to him. After everything he had spent recently, he should still have around two hundred Crest Credits remaining from his own money.

Surely a computer session couldn’t cost more than that.

Right?

"Well..." Rin thought for a moment before answering, "a session is about 8,200 Crest Credits, if I remember correctly!"

Ethan immediately choked on absolutely nothing.

His hand flew toward his chest as though someone had just poured an entire glass of imaginary water down his throat.

"What?!"

Eight thousand two hundred Crest Credits?!

What the hell kind of concept did this academy have where it could casually steal such a huge amount of money from its students for a single session in a computer room?

Ethan stared at Rin in disbelief.

"Please tell me you are joking."

Rin shook his head.

"Nope. I really am not joking!"

Ethan’s expression slowly fell.

Eight thousand two hundred.

He definitely didn’t have that amount of his own money.

Well...

Technically, he did have that amount.

But he absolutely did not want to use it.

Not yet, at least.

That money had been sent to him by his parents, and even though the entire situation surrounding the transfer was complicated enough to make his head hurt, Ethan had already decided that he would repay them and send the money back once he could. He didn’t want to start spending it recklessly just because it was suddenly sitting in his account.

But right now, what other choice did he have?

If he couldn’t set up the seller account, he couldn’t sell his spiritual fruits. If he couldn’t sell the spiritual fruits, he couldn’t make money. And if he couldn’t make money, how was he supposed to earn enough to repay the money his parents had sent him?

This was an investment.

That was all.

He was investing a small portion of the money into something that could potentially allow him to earn much more. Once he started making enough money from the spiritual fruits, he could simply send the amount back to his parents.

With that thought, Ethan finally sighed.

"Okay. Let’s just do it."

Rin stared at him in surprise.

"You can actually afford that?"

Ethan glanced at him.

"Why are you so surprised?"

"Because eight thousand two hundred Crest Credits isn’t exactly pocket change, Ethan. Where did you suddenly get that kind of money?"

Ethan hesitated.

He wasn’t exactly sure how to explain everything without having to tell Rin the entire complicated mess that had been his life recently.

After a moment, he decided to give him the shortest explanation possible.

"Well, I may or may not have been involved in an arranged marriage by my family that I never agreed to, and the person involved is currently trying to bribe me with money, so..."

Ethan shrugged.

"I was credited that."

Rin’s mouth fell open.

He stared at Ethan as though he had just heard the most ridiculous thing imaginable.

"Ethan..."

His expression slowly became one of genuine disbelief.

"What the hell is seriously happening in your life right now?"

Ethan gave him an awkward look.

"It’s complicated."

"Obviously!"

"I’ll explain everything properly later, okay?" Ethan quickly said. "But for now, let’s just go and get this done."

Rin continued staring at him for another few seconds before finally sighing.

"Okay."

The two of them then made their way toward the academy’s computer room.

True to Rin’s words, they hadn’t even gotten through the entrance before one of the staff members stopped them and informed them that they needed to pay the session fee before they could use the computers.

Ethan’s face immediately twisted.

This was the one time he had genuinely hoped Rin had been wrong.

But, once again, Rin had been right.

Ethan silently groaned before pulling out his student card and making the payment.

The moment the transaction went through, the staff member allowed them inside.

Ethan stepped into the computer room and looked around.

The room was much larger than he had expected, with rows upon rows of desktop computers arranged neatly across long tables. Students occupied most of the available seats, each person focused on their own screen. Some were typing rapidly, others were browsing through online resources, while a few were clearly working on academy assignments and research.

The steady tapping of keyboards and occasional clicking of mice filled the room, creating a constant background noise as everyone went about their own business.

Nobody paid much attention to Ethan and Rin.

They were simply two more students who had come to use the academy’s computers.

Rin quickly found an available seat and sat down in front of one of the desktops. Ethan immediately pulled another chair over and sat beside him, positioning himself close enough to watch exactly what Rin was doing.

He didn’t want to miss anything.

If he was going to create his own seller profile, he needed to understand how the whole process worked.

Rin turned toward him.

"Give me your student credentials."

Ethan provided the required information, and Rin entered it into the computer before logging into Ethan’s student account.

For a few seconds, the screen loaded.

Ethan leaned slightly closer, watching the process with interest.

Then the account successfully opened.

Rin looked at the screen, cracked his fingers lightly, and finally smiled.

"Alright, let’s get this started."