Using the school's money to donate to the school?

As the bell for the final class rang, Shangguan Che stretched his arms wide, feeling a sense of relief seeping through his very bones.

Aside from the grueling Japanese literature class in the morning and a history lecture that left him scratching his head, the subsequent math and English classes were not difficult at all. The curriculum was significantly shallower than what he had studied back home, and by following the teacher's rhythm, he could understand almost everything.

"Finally, it's lunchtime!"

With an empty stomach, Shangguan Che headed straight for the free meal window in the cafeteria.

It was the familiar sight of large iron buckets filled with food, the vibrant green vegetables sprinkled with tiny bits of minced meat, yet he ate with immense relish, mentally giving the meal a nickname as he chewed:

"The 'Attribute Point Booster' meal—gotta eat plenty to have the energy to stir up some trouble!"

Just as he had taken a few bites, the cafeteria speakers suddenly crackled with a "static" sound.

Then, a crisp and sweet girl's voice came through:

[Sound check... Good afternoon, students. I am Tachibana Akane, the secretary of the Student Council.

At 5:00 PM today, a club orientation will be held in the First Gymnasium. Students who are interested are welcome to attend.]

The announcement repeated once, and the freshmen in the cafeteria stopped their chopsticks one after another, whispering among themselves.

"Clubs?" Shangguan Che still had his mouth full of rice, but his eyes lit up.

He remembered from the light novels he used to read that club activities were a staple of campus youth, and some schools even made them mandatory.

"Youth has no price tag, go crazy while you can! Joining a club doesn't sound half bad."

As he chewed his vegetables, he began to calculate in his head: "If I want something easy, the soccer club or the guitar club seem appropriate.

Playing soccer can build up my physique, and if I'm lucky, I might even win a major campus tournament, which would improve the school's evaluation of me;

Playing the guitar can make me look artistic, and who knows, maybe I could even smoke, drink, and chase women.

...Just kidding about the bass."

Thinking of this, Shangguan Che's face suddenly fell. "Wait, I have to buy the guitar myself, right? Points are so tight right now, where would I find the spare cash for an instrument?"

With that thought, the idea of the guitar club had to be shelved for now. "I'll just check out the club orientation first; if all else fails, I'll find a club that doesn't cost any money to hang out in."

Having made up his mind, Shangguan Che wolfed down the rest of his food, returned his tray to the collection area, and turned to head straight for the teachers' office.

He had spent all of last night pondering a crooked scheme to "add attributes," and today, he had to put it into action.

Standing at the office door, Shangguan Che took a deep breath, raised his hand to knock twice, and pushed the door open before waiting for a response—mostly because he was afraid that if he hesitated too long, he would lose his nerve.

The office was very quiet, with only one tall male teacher sitting at his desk grading papers; all other seats were empty.

"No one else?" Shangguan Che paused, just about to turn around and slip away to wait for Chabashira Sae, but the male teacher looked up, his gaze landing on him as he asked, "Is there something you need, student?"

"Ah, hello, teacher!" Shangguan Che quickly stood up straight, trying his best to look polite.

"I'm Shangguan Che from Class 1-D, and I'm here to see our homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae."

He had originally wanted to say "see Teacher Chabashira," but remembering how back home several people would stand up if you shouted "Teacher Wang" in an office, he decided to give the full name to avoid any confusion.

The male teacher pushed up his glasses and said slowly, "Teacher Chabashira is out and likely won't be back until this afternoon. Is there something urgent? If not, you can come back later."

"This..." Shangguan Che hesitated.

He hadn't held much hope to begin with, so with Teacher Chabashira gone, should he just head back? But then he thought, he had gathered all his courage to come here; he couldn't just slink away like this.

Shangguan Che remembered the "thick-skinned principle" he had used to psych himself up yesterday, gritted his teeth, and looked up at the male teacher: "Teacher, thank you for letting me know! By the way, may I ask your name?"

"I am Mashima Tomoya, the homeroom teacher for Class 1-A." Teacher Mashima put down his pen and watched him with interest—it was rare for a student to take the initiative to ask for the name of a teacher from another class.

"Nice to meet you, Teacher Mashima!" Shangguan Che bowed and said the words he had been holding back for a long time.

"Actually, I have a matter I'd like to consult you about. If it's convenient for you... I would like to donate 60,000 personal points to an orphanage. I'm not sure how to go about it?"

"60,000 personal points?" Teacher Mashima's pupils contracted slightly; he was clearly shocked by the number.

A freshman who had just enrolled—how many points could they possibly have? And they wanted to donate them?

But when he heard the second half, "donate to an orphanage," he was completely stunned, his face wearing an expression that clearly read, "Are you kidding me?" It took him a while to organize his thoughts.

"That is not possible. There are clear regulations regarding personal points in this school. They can only be used to purchase goods and services within the school; they cannot be transferred off-campus, let alone donated to external institutions like orphanages."

Shangguan Che had already anticipated this result, so he immediately threw out his backup plan, his tone sincere: "Then... can I donate the points to the school? I know it might be a bit abrupt, but I am genuinely sincere about wanting to do this."

In truth, this was Shangguan Che's real goal—donating to an orphanage was just a cover; donating to the school was the real path. Perhaps he could earn some favor with the school and exchange it for some "civilized citizen" reward.

Teacher Mashima was silent for even longer this time. He stared at Shangguan Che for a long while, as if trying to judge whether the student was playing a prank.

Shangguan Che felt a bit uncomfortable under his gaze and quickly added, "Teacher Mashima, I have no intention of messing with you, nor is this a whim. I thought about it all night yesterday; I truly want to do this from the bottom of my heart."

Teacher Mashima muttered to himself, "As expected of a student from Class D, their way of thinking is truly unique..."

But looking at Shangguan Che's earnest expression, which didn't seem like a lie, he finally relented: "I cannot make the decision on this. I will call the school administration to ask for their opinion. Wait here for a moment."

With that, he picked up his phone, stood up, and walked to the office door, deliberately avoiding Shangguan Che as he lowered his voice to make the call.

"This teacher is actually quite decent for not making me wait outside." Shangguan Che felt a bit moved; it seemed that no matter the world, there were always reasonable teachers.

A few minutes later, Teacher Mashima hung up and walked back with a look of surprise on his face: "The school has agreed. You can transfer the points to my account first, and I will handle the follow-up procedures for you."

"Really? Thank you so much, Teacher Mashima!"

Shangguan Che was so excited he almost jumped up. He quickly pulled out his phone, opened the point transfer interface, entered Teacher Mashima's information, and transferred the 60,000 points.

After the transfer was complete, he took the opportunity to add Mashima as a contact, smiling as he said, "If I have similar questions in the future, I might have to trouble you again, so adding each other would make it easier to stay in touch."

Mashima did not refuse and accepted the friend request. Shangguan Che looked at his phone screen, suddenly recalled a key question, and tentatively asked, "By the way, Mashima-sensei, I heard from Chabashira-sensei that the school issues 100,000 points to us every month. Is that true?"

Mashima pushed up his glasses, his tone flat: "No comment."

"Understood, thank you, sensei! I won't disturb your work any further, I'll be going now!"

Shangguan Che knew when to quit while he was ahead; he bowed and turned to leave. The moment he stepped out of the office, he couldn't help but smile.

"No comment" was essentially a roundabout admission, wasn't it? It seemed the monthly point distribution would definitely change, and it might even be tied to student performance.

"Looks like I really need to study hard from now on. I can't afford to be at the bottom, or I won't have enough points to spend!"

He walked along while pulling out his phone, staring at the screen waiting for a system notification—logically speaking, since he had donated points, the system should give him some kind of reward, right? But after waiting for a long time, the screen remained quiet, without even a notification sound.

"You've got to be kidding me? System, are you asleep? Isn't it supposed to be credited in real-time?"

Shangguan Che grumbled quietly at his phone, though he wasn't too anxious.

The points were already donated, so the reward would come sooner or later. The most important thing now was the club orientation in the afternoon; he needed to hurry back and prepare, and see which club would be a good fit for him.