Chapter 56: The Academy Marketplace

Ethan stopped and looked at the person in front of him.

"Excuse me?"

The young man stared at him.

"You’re the guy from back then."

Ethan frowned slightly.

"Have we met?"

The young man’s expression immediately darkened.

"Of course you don’t remember. You’re a reputation stealer. Why would you remember someone you tried to steal from?"

Ethan stared at him for a moment.

"Reputation stealer?"

"Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about."

The young man pointed at him.

"You did the same thing back then. You saw me fighting those bandits and tried to take my reputation."

Ethan finally remembered the Boxer. He had completely forgotten about that incident.

"I wasn’t trying to take anything from you."

"That’s what you said last time." The Boxer crossed his arms. "And you expect me to believe that?"

Ethan shrugged.

"Believe whatever you want."

Ethan stepped around the Boxer and continued toward the counter.

The Boxer followed him.

"You really think you can just walk away after what you did?"

Ethan stopped near the counter and turned around.

"What exactly did I do?"

"You interfered with my fight and tried to take credit for it."

A few students nearby started paying attention.

The Boxer noticed and raised his voice.

"I even warned you that I’d report you to the Academy, but you still walked away."

Ethan said nothing.

The Boxer smiled.

"Looks like you haven’t changed at all. You think being selected for the Order Academy makes you special?"

Ethan finally understood what he was trying to do.

He wasn’t looking for an explanation.

He wanted an audience.

The Boxer turned toward the nearby students.

"This guy is a reputation stealer. I was dealing with a group of bandits back then, and he tried to take credit for my kills."

Several students nearby looked at Ethan with disdain.

"What a shameless thing to do."

"He even tried to steal someone else’s kills?"

"That’s pretty low."

Seeing the reactions around him, the Boxer folded his arms with a satisfied smile.

"Go ahead. Tell them I’m lying."

Ethan glanced at him. "I don’t care."

"What?"

"I said I don’t care." Ethan turned back toward the counter.

The Boxer quickly stepped in front of him. "You don’t care? I’m telling everyone what you did, and you’re just going to ignore me?"

"I came here to exchange something. Move."

The Boxer laughed. "You really think you can just ignore me?"

Ethan didn’t answer. He turned toward the counter.

"Excuse me."

The middle-aged woman behind the counter looked up from the ledger in front of her.

"Yes?"

"I’d like to exchange Gold Coins for Academy Points."

The woman nodded as if nothing had happened.

"Sure. How much Gold do you want to exchange?"

"Fifty thousand."

The Boxer stared at Ethan.

"You’re seriously going to ignore me?"

The woman glanced at him briefly before looking back at Ethan.

"Fifty thousand Gold Coins?"

"Yes."

She pulled out a small device from beneath the counter.

"The exchange rate is five Gold Coins for one Academy Point. That means you’ll receive ten thousand Points."

"I know."

The woman was about to continue when she paused.

"There’s one more thing."

She looked at Ethan.

"Exchanges that give ten thousand Academy Points or more require at least 200 Reputation Points."

The Boxer immediately laughed.

"Two hundred Reputation Points?"

He looked Ethan up and down.

"Does this reputation stealer even have that much?"

He seemed so sure of himself.

"I’d be surprised if he even had ten."

Ethan didn’t bother responding.

The woman picked up the device and checked something on the screen.

"Please give me your identification token. I need to verify your Reputation Points."

Ethan took out his token and handed it to her.

The woman placed it against the device. A few seconds passed before she nodded.

"It’s been confirmed."

The Boxer’s expression changed.

"Impossible."

He stepped closer.

"How can he have 200 Reputation Points?"

The woman finally looked at him.

"You’ve been talking for quite a while now. Can you be quiet and let me finish the exchange?"

The Boxer immediately fell silent.

The woman turned back to Ethan.

"You can proceed with the exchange. I’ll need the fifty thousand Gold Coins first."

Ethan nodded and opened his inventory.

A few students nearby started talking among themselves.

"So he actually lied?"

"What an idiot. If that guy already has 200 Reputation Points, why would he need to steal someone else’s kills?"

"I bet the Boxer doesn’t even have ten."

The Boxer heard them, but couldn’t find anything to say.

One by one, the students lost interest and started leaving.

The crowd that had gathered around him was gone before the exchange was even finished.

Ethan took out 50,000 Gold Coins and placed them on the counter.

The woman checked the information before pressing a button.

A faint glow appeared on Ethan’s identification token.

[Exchange Amount: 50,000 Gold Coins]

[Academy Points Received: 10,000]

"Done. Your Academy Points have been added."

Ethan took his token back.

"Thanks."

The woman nodded and moved on to the next exchange.

Ethan put his identification token away and turned toward the exit.

The Boxer was still standing nearby.

His face was red from embarrassment, but he didn’t say anything at first.

Ethan walked past him.

"Wait." The Boxer stopped him. "I don’t know what you did to get 200 Reputation Points, but something doesn’t add up. I’ll find out."

Ethan turned his head slightly.

"Do whatever you want."

The Boxer gritted his teeth. "I know someone who can look into things like this. We’ll see."

Ethan didn’t respond. He simply walked out of the Exchange Facility.

After leaving the Exchange Facility, Ethan headed toward his next destination, the Academy Marketplace.

It took him several minutes to get there.

The Academy Marketplace was much busier than the Exchange Facility. Students moved between rows of stalls, checking weapons, armor, potions, formation devices, and various other resources. Most of the stalls were run by students who were selling things they had made themselves. Alchemists sold potions and medicines, Blacksmiths sold weapons and armor, while engineers and other Lifestyle professionals sold various devices and equipment.

Ethan entered the marketplace and looked around.

Each stall had a virtual list displayed in front of it, showing the items available for sale along with their prices. Students could browse the list before deciding whether to approach the seller.

Ethan walked past several stalls, occasionally checking the virtual lists displayed in front of them.

There were plenty of useful items.

At one stall, he saw a Dungeon Reset Watch.

[Dungeon Reset Watch]

[Description: Reduces the remaining cooldown of a dungeon to zero, allowing it to be entered immediately. Can be used three times before requiring recharging.]

[Price: 50,000 Academy Points]

Ethan moved on.

Another stall was selling a Vitality Restoration Pill.

[Vitality Restoration Pill]

[Description: Instantly restores up to 300 HP when consumed.]

[Price: 30,000 Academy Points]

Further ahead, he found a Damage Nullification Shield.

[Damage Nullification Shield]

[Description: Cancels 10% of all damage received for 30 minutes after activation.]

[Price: 10,000 Academy Points]

At the next stall, he found a sword.

[Sword of Consecutive Strikes]

[Description: Increases damage by 10% after five consecutive successful strikes.]

[Price: 12,000 Academy Points]

Then a pair of boot.

[Swiftstep Boots]

[Description: Increases movement speed by 15% for ten seconds after successfully dodging an attack.]

[Price: 10,000 Academy Points]

There were also Third Order Healing Potions, Spatial Storage Bracelets, various weapons, armor, formation devices, and many other items.

Most of them were far too expensive to consider buying right now.

Ethan continued browsing until he finally found what he was looking for.

[Mana Reservoir]

[Price: 8,000 Academy Points]

Ethan approached the stall.

A young man was lying behind the counter with his head resting on his arm.

He was fast asleep, quietly snoring. "Zzz..."

Ethan stared at him. He really was sleeping while running a stall.

Ethan stepped closer and tapped the counter.

"Excuse me."

The young man didn’t move.

"Zzz..."

Ethan tapped the counter again, this time a little harder.

The young man suddenly raised his head.

"Huh? Someone’s buying something?"

He rubbed his eyes and looked around.

When he saw Ethan standing in front of the stall, he straightened up.

"What do you want?"

"The Mana Reservoir."

The young man’s eyes immediately lit up.

"You’re interested in the Mana Reservoir?"

"Yes."

The young man glanced at the virtual list.

"It’s been sitting there for a while. Not many students can afford to spend 8,000 Academy Points on something like this."

Ethan selected the Mana Reservoir from the list.

"I’ll take it."

The young man raised an eyebrow.

"Already? You don’t want to check the description first?"

"I know what it does."

The young man looked at him for a moment before shrugging.

"Fair enough."

Ethan completed the purchase, and 8,000 Academy Points were deducted from his identification token. The Mana Reservoir was transferred directly into his inventory.

"Thanks."

The young man waved lazily.

"Come back if you need anything else."

He immediately rested his head on his arm again.