Exchange Point Tower

"One hundred names." the teacher of the alchemy department exclaimed when he saw the number of names written down.

"What?!" Ashley's voice was heard from ahead.

Alchemist Erin unconsciously looked at the door half forgetting that whoever he was looking for wasn't there anymore. He knew that there was no way one would be able to cheat right under his nose when he had his Mindpower spread throughout the whole hall. It could only mean one thing; The young man got everything all by himself!

....

In an office two people could be seen, one sitting while the other pacing around the office angrily.

"How! Who the hell is that possible, brother?" the young woman pacing about yelled unhappily.

"Ashley, what's the matter? You can't take it because someone else scored higher than you? You have to chill, you know?" the one sitting said holding a piece of parchment paper in his hands.

"That's not it Erin. Did you see that he finished before me? Don't you know what that means?" Ashley screeched. Erin was having pleasure seeing his sister in such a state.

"That there's someone better than you in alchemy." Erin said smirking.

"Brother, I don't believe this Ben could score one hundred in less than five minutes."

"How about this? On our next class I'll set a few traps to see what this Ben is really made of." alchemist Erin suggested while holding Ben's paper in hand.

"You better, brother. I can't stand seeing another person besting me in my turf." Ashley finally calmed when hearing something will be done about her rival.

***

Meanwhile in another location, Ben sat like always trying to increase not only his knowledge but that of Lucy too. While Ben went on his business he sneezed three consecutive times.

"Huh? Someone must really have me in their mind to be talking about me a lot."

***

Days passed turning into weeks, which turned into months, and like so three months has gone by since Ben entered into the Magic Institute, The Phantom.

The sun has gone into hiding in fear of being caught by the three moon generals and army of stars. It was a clear and cloudless sky at the moment but unfortunately for Ben he couldn't see the spectacle of this world at night, nevertheless, he wasn't bothered.

Ben at this instant was in his room with nothing but a pair of trousers, however, he was in a very awkward position that should be impossible for a human to be positioned. Ben wasn't meditating to increase his Mindpower because he felt he didn't need to, instead he was practicing the second sculpture of the Relief Posture Sculpture he got from the second group of bandits that attacked him, Matilda and their envoy when he was leaving Carolin City for the first to enter Versal.

Sweat, black pulse and stained blood could be seen leaking out of Ben's body, even his face wasn't left behind. With every breath he took it felt like fire raged within him. His muscles contracted with every second gone by, yet, it never bulged.

When Ben felt the effect of the position he was in diminishing, slowly and carefully Ben released his body from such posture. Ben's impurities, sweat and coagulated blood were all over the floor. As Ben stood he felt incredibly light and refreshed, and at the same time enhanced in raw power.

For months Ben has been practicing the posture shown on the Relief Posture Sculpture twice every month. This wasn't because he had always Ben preoccupied but because his body gets unimaginably damaged wherever practiced, and the damage goes from outside to Ben's very inside which leaves him with a whole two weeks to fully recover.

Yet, with every practice not only does his body get damaged, it also becomes highly refined in the sense that even without the need of his Universal Plane and Consumable Lotion, Ben's body can heal a one inch deep cut in minutes. And the more he practices the less time needed to heal.

Ben loves the feeling he always gets whenever he finishes one of his Relief session but hates what comes afterwards, an indescribable, most notorious stench one can ever smell. This was the first thing that made Ben puke after arriving into this world.

With the speed of light, Ben ran into his bathroom soaking himself and pants in the boiling hot bathtub and began scrubbing vigorously. The stench can never get used to him.

Four hours of thoroughly scrubbing both body and ground where his impurities were excreted, Ben sprayed a few perfumes before exiting the room and made his way to his lab. Presently it was empty save for the petty numbers of vile and tubes and what have you. These were what he bought from the salesman back in Carolin City. However, they couldn't hold a candlelight before what he saw in the Alchemy lab.

The next day was a free day for him, because of it he wanted to pay one of the towers a visit. Ben have heard a lot about this tower but because of his tight schedule and how he naturally is (being a bookworm) he hasn't reached there. The place is popularly known as the Exchange Point.

Like every morning Ben would rise early head to the back of the tower and go through his sword drill, but instead of his typical sword drill inherited from his father and Training instructor Han, he added a few touches that came from Lucy.

He could feel the significant changes that went through in his body after every Relief session. His physical power was explosive.

Once his time was up he went ahead to begin his day by heading to the Exchange Point. On arriving Ben was stomped at what he saw. This was no different than a super market, different goods were sold and everything looked exquisite and pleasing to the eye. However, one thing was different, or maybe not. The mode of exchange was through Contribution Points found in their spatial rings, and Ben only had twenty Contribution Points in total.

Well, he never had in mind that he'll be buying anything for now, so instead, why not window shop?

Ben went in the and took a glance around, in every shop there was a variety of goods sold. On each side was a shop much larger than normal, inbetween was a large space for easy movement and at the centre of this space was a single stall, it was like an island in the midst of the sea of people.

However, people didn't get five metres close to the stall, this allows people to see it better and see the sign hung above it; Convert Points.

Ben chose to enter one of the shop by the side to take a look. He might as well see what they offer, right?

Ben entered the doors by simply passing through only to see a shop full with beast materials such as beast fur, tooth, rare bones and crystal cores. Weirdly enough, the place despite housing a few disgusting stuff, the place wasn't smelling that bad.

Ben walked up to the counter and rang the bell politely,

"Hello, what would you like to... aren't you a Chosen?" the young Spellcaster asked when he took a better look at Ben's robe. Chosens did have a different style of robe but same colour.

"Yeah, I am." Ben answered with a smile.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Isn't everyone allowed here?" Ben asked.

"Apparently yes, but you'd need to have a considerable number of Contribution Points to be able to purchase anything reasonable around here." the man explained.

"Really, then is there a place where I can increase my Points, besides what's the cheapest thing there is?" Ben took a glance at the wears, he had never been to the Hunter's Guild market before to buy things like these, the only thing he's ever bought were his Hunter suit.

"Hmm, okay. For an average Servant-class demon creature, the things you can get from them can range from twenty to thirty Contribution Points. Then for higher level Servant-class demon creature it can go for twenty five to fifty Points. Let's not go into Warrior-level demon creatures." the storekeeper explained while pointing at a few wears that were hanging around. "See? That's why Chosens can't be..."

The storekeeper's voice got interrupted when he heard the bell in the door ring with a group of five rushing in. "Hey Luther, guess what we've got?" a young man probably in his twenties came up to the storekeeper, Luther, and asked with a bright smile on his face.