Chapter 102: Exchange ( PLAT )

"Even though General Valerius had gotten his formal merit," Ethan thought as they walked away from the military headquarters, "what he said was also true." If he had gotten the reward through normal, public channels, the real benefits would not have been as good as real military merit points. Credits could buy a lot of things, but as the General had said, military merit could buy things that credits couldn't. It was smart for him to turn his public success into this private currency.

As for the official commendation itself, it was only fair to share the reward and glory since it was a group effort. He didn't care about the praise he got from the public anyway. He had already gotten a conditional admission ticket to Pinnacle University. It didn't matter much to him personally whether he got these awards or not. He was much more worried about high-level resources that could quickly raise his rank than this.


But then he had an idea. Ethan asked, "General Valerius," with some confusion, "I'm still a little curious." For you soldiers, a formal commendation should be worth at least as much as military merit points, right? It has an effect on your job.

The General, who was walking next to him and the Mayor, smiled slyly. "You found it, you smart kid." He went on to say, "You're right." Even though soldiers can't directly trade a commendation for resources, it is noted in our service records. This will have a big effect on my chances of getting a promotion in the future. He went on to say, "Of course, for you non-military people, a formal commendation can be useful, but not as directly as what I've given you."

Ethan thought that being a student with his potential was a big plus. Just now, I almost lost my official reward for taking down a Cult branch for a simple public honor. He was smart enough to go along with it, though. It seems that I will have to ask for even more benefits later to heal my broken heart.

General Valerius laughed, as if he could read his mind. "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking, you little brat." The school will definitely give you some extra rewards after this whole thing is over. What they are depends on how well you do in the future.

Ethan said, "Oh~~," putting on an innocent look of surprise.

General Valerius took a military-grade datapad out of his storage ring and gave it to Ethan. "This is the list of things you can get with your merit points." Look at this. "Okay, Ethan, don't just stand there in the street," the General said before Ethan could. Let's go. "I'll take you to the exchange point."

"This..." Ethan hesitated, and his mind went to the small apartment he lived in.

The General blinked his eyes like he didn't know what was going on. "What's wrong? What little secrets could you possibly have in your room that you don't want your parents to see? You're a big man.

"No, no, I can't have any secrets." Ethan said quickly, and his smile was a little too big.

This old fox! Ethan was swearing a lot in his heart. How could I not have any secrets? That's where I keep my own storage ring! But he still had to take the two strong men back to his apartment. He couldn't just say no to all of these resources. When Mayor Thorne arrived, he sat down in a chair in the living room without any fuss. General Valerius also sat down on the bed in his room without any fuss. Ethan had already, with a small movement that he hoped no one would notice, pushed his own storage ring under the middle of the bed frame with his foot.

Don't look over there! Don't look over there! Ethan forced himself to relax, took the datapad that the General had given him, and started to look through the secure military exchange catalog. The interface was simple, useful, and full of things that would make any psionicist drool.

What are Aura Cores? I could trade for a few, but not too many. I can go look for this stuff in the wild later. He chose to buy three E-rank upper-grade Aura Cores and two E-rank mid-grade ones. He used a total of 94 military merit points. A mid-grade core was worth 17 points, and an upper-grade core was worth 20 points.

Ethan was a little suspicious of the price, to be honest. Here, an F-rank lower-grade Aura Core that sold for a million credits on the open market only needed 6 military merit points. That was only worth 600,000 credits.

General Valerius saw the doubt in Ethan's eyes and said, "A rare item is worth a lot, as the saying goes." The same item costs different amounts in different places. The price of an Aura Core in New Veridia is high because the psionicists here aren't very strong overall. The price goes up because there aren't many cores available. But in a big safe zone with a lot of overall strength, it's easy for them to get low-level cores. For us Rank Four masters, killing an F-rank creature is as easy as cutting up food. The military is the strongest single force in the country, so the price for low-level cores is naturally very low.

Ethan nodded to show that he understood. After that, he looked at the other things. Gear for psionics. He didn't need weapons because he didn't use them very often with so many different kinds of aliens around. But some gear with special features might be helpful. He saw something called "Advanced Psionic Gear: Aura Gatherer" that could let out a "Aura Gathering Formation." The description said that the formation could make the Aura concentration in a ten-meter area twenty percent stronger. A single F-rank lower-grade Aura Core could keep it running for twelve hours straight.

It cost 50 military merit points. That came to five million credits. That was about the same price as a top-of-the-line advanced psionic gear. But because this thing has a special, long-term purpose, it was still worth it.

Ethan thought about it. The rise wasn't very big, but it was good because it would last. Not too bad. I can use it with Marcus and Seraphina when the time is right, and we can even pay for the Aura Cores together.

He tapped the screen and said, "Bought it!"

Military merit: -50. He still had 709 points left.