Why did he insist on pinning the skills he wanted to enhance to his Personal Panel?
Because, to a certain extent, the Personal Panel let him organize his enhancements into a complete system.
Any skill pinned to the panel would only require one unit of Source Power to go from Level 0 to Level 1, two units to go from Level 1 to Level 2, and three to go from Level 2 to Level 3, regardless of how much Source Power it had taken to enhance before being pinned...
That was the enhancement system he'd accidentally worked out through careful calculation.
Transfer Tickets, Employment Tickets, and Auditing Tickets
All that hard work, and he was back to square one in a single day.
Seeing that only eleven units of Source Power remained on his Personal Panel, Aragaki Shun couldn't help but sigh again. No matter how much Source Power he accumulated, it was never enough.
All it took was a slight movement of his fingers to lock in or enhance one or two skills, and the Source Power he'd spent days—sometimes weeks—laboring to earn would be gone in seconds.
Fortunately, every enhancement on the panel was worthwhile. The Source Power he'd spent hadn't gone to waste; it had truly become part of the foundation of his growth.
With that in mind, Aragaki Shun put another unit of Source Power into [Erudition]. It had cost him ten units to lock in the skill, so he ought to see what it could do, at least.
And then—
[Erudition lv.3 (0/4)→Erudition lv.3 (1/4)]
Reality wasn't a game. A skill didn't have to level up before its growth could show.
At least for Aragaki Shun, even while a skill remained at the same level, simply gaining experience could still make it considerably stronger. It just wasn't as dramatic as the leap from one level to the next.
As the Source Power took effect, a cool sensation swept through Aragaki Shun's mind. His brain felt lighter, and he felt more alert than ever, without a trace of sleepiness.
He pulled a book from the pile on his desk and began reading at his usual unhurried pace.
He read carefully. The books he'd borrowed from the library had been chosen specifically to broaden his knowledge.
In his previous life, he hadn't been particularly fond of reading. But in this life, after awakening Source Manipulation, he'd realized that every piece of knowledge he truly understood could become a source of strength. Reading had become his favorite way to spend his free time.
He turned the pages one after another. Half an hour later, Aragaki Shun put down the medical book, which he'd only partly finished, marked his place, and returned it to the desk.
Thinking back to how much he'd read the day before, Aragaki Shun estimated that his reading efficiency had improved by about ten percent.
That was the result of [Erudition]. It helped Aragaki Shun memorize new knowledge in a more suitable way, organize what he already knew, draw connections, and integrate new information more effectively.
After experiencing the skill's obvious effects, Aragaki Shun regretted that he had no Source Power to spare. Otherwise, he would have immediately raised it to lv.4, lv.5, or even higher.
Skills pinned to the Personal Panel had no level cap. At least for now, Aragaki Shun was nowhere near reaching the limits of Source Power.
Based on his past experience, if a lv.1 skill was like an apprentice just starting out and lv.3 meant professional-level, then a lv.4 skill was like having a base attribute of 10: the limit an ordinary person could reach through hard work.
As for lv.5, only the exceptionally gifted could reach that level. Any profession taken that far was enough to establish a school of its own and become a master remembered throughout history.
He had never possessed a skill above lv.6, nor had he encountered one in this world. If he had to guess, lv.6 and beyond meant that skill had reached the point where technique approached the Way, beginning its ascent into the extraordinary.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain why the Source Power needed to go from lv.5 to lv.6 suddenly doubled.
So, in the end, he really did have to keep saving Source Power!
Aragaki Shun sighed helplessly, took out his phone, and opened the app that showed his Private Points. A figure appeared that was far beyond what a new student should have—and more than most senior students could boast: 11 million Private Points.
The 100,000 the school had given him at the start of term, the 700,000 he'd earned by challenging the clubs on the first day, the 500,000 he'd won playing chess against Sakayanagi, the 300,000 in information fees Ichinose Honami had rallied the class to contribute, the 6.5 million he'd won by challenging various clubs afterward, and finally the 3 million Yellow-haired Senior had generously given him.
After subtracting his daily expenses over the past few days and rounding off the change, 11 million Private Points remained.
The senior students seemed to have a habit of saving Private Points. At the very least, students in Class A and Class B could easily produce 100,000 or 200,000 points.
That Yellow-haired Senior, who seemed rather too... friendly, had given him three million right off the bat without batting an eye, and even promised they could have another match someday.
In Aragaki Shun's eyes, the senior was a once-in-a-century good person. He'd have to see if he could squeeze a few more coins out of him later.
With 11 million Private Points on his phone, Aragaki Shun could have covered well over half the 20 million needed to transfer classes if he went it alone.
Unfortunately, starting over in Class A by himself wasn't what he wanted.
Besides, just like Source Power, Private Points disappeared fast. The 11 million might look like a lot, but if he actually put it to use, it could vanish in a matter of seconds.
Remembering the two forms of compensation Director Kanda had promised him and Kanzaki, Aragaki Shun didn't hesitate. He tapped through a couple of screens on his phone, and 10 million Private Points evaporated.
His balance dropped from 11 million to a pitiful million. His savings had gone from eight digits to seven in the blink of an eye. It was painful to look at.
But since he'd spent so many Private Points, Aragaki Shun intended to make sure they were put to good use.
Since everything had already been arranged, the school responded quickly. Within minutes, the items Aragaki Shun had ordered for ten million had arrived by email:
[Transfer Ticket (One-Month Limit)]
--A special item that allowed the user to temporarily join another class for one month. The user received all the benefits of that class, including Class Points. It could not be used to graduate from Class A during the final month.
As this was the school's first transaction, each ticket had an introductory price of 1 million Private Points. Aragaki Shun bought nine at once.
[Employment Ticket (One-Week Limit)]
--A special item that allowed the user to temporarily hire a student from another class to serve their class for one week. The rights and benefits of the hired student were to be decided through negotiation with the user.
As this was the school's first transaction, each ticket had an introductory price of 100,000 Private Points. Aragaki Shun bought nine at once as well.
[Auditing Ticket (One-Day Limit)]
--A special item that allowed the user to temporarily attend another class's lessons for one day. The user remained a member of their original class and received none of the benefits of the class they were visiting.
As this was the school's first transaction, each ticket had an introductory price of 10,000 Private Points. Aragaki Shun bought ten at once.
Ten million Private Points had bought him exactly twenty-eight tickets. Whether they were worth it would depend on how useful they proved to be.
He had already decided what to do. Tomorrow, he would spend a day auditing Class D.
He wanted to see just what kind of class even Koenji Rokusuke found so repulsive.
Chairman Sakayanagi Was a Little Awkward
While Aragaki Shun was absorbed in tallying up what he'd gained over the past few days, Chairman Sakayanagi, in another part of the school, was in far from good spirits.
"Arisu, are you really sure you don't want to rest for a while longer? Compared to the students Advanced Nurturing has admitted in the past, some of this year's freshmen seem rather unusual."
Chairman Sakayanagi looked troubled as he gazed at his proud daughter.
Ever since she was young, because of the frail body caused by her congenital heart condition, Sakayanagi Arisu had spent most of her childhood recuperating in the hospital while ordinary children played with their friends.
Her heart condition left her with little stamina, which in turn made it difficult for her to walk. She couldn't enjoy sports like other children her age, and even her elementary and middle school education had to be completed at home with private tutors.
Chairman Sakayanagi had always felt guilty toward his daughter. He believed he hadn't fulfilled his responsibilities as a father and was constantly trying to make it up to her.
He had arranged for Sakayanagi Arisu to enroll at Kodo Ikusei Senior High School because she had never had the chance to experience something as ordinary as going to school.
Elementary and middle school were already behind her, and there was nothing he could do to change that. But she still had high school. Otherwise, even if her heart condition were cured in the future and she returned to a healthy life, she might still be left with a deep regret.
Besides, Kodo Ikusei Senior High School was right under his nose. With him keeping an eye on her, surely nothing would go wrong.
So, seeing that Arisu's health had improved enough for her to move around slowly in her daily life, Chairman Sakayanagi arranged for her to enroll in Class 1-A.
Heaven knew he had been selfish about it. He admitted as much. But he'd only placed Arisu in Class 1-A because its students had the best discipline and highest caliber of any class in previous years. He felt more at ease with her there.
As for the benefits of graduating from Class A, did the chairman of Kodo Ikusei Senior High School really need to arrange those for his own daughter?
He'd assigned Arisu to Class A simply because he wanted her to enjoy an easier high school life. If she made a friend or two and smiled more often, he'd be even happier.
It was just a small wish any father might have.
But he hadn't expected this to happen in this particular year, when several freshmen had taken action with alarming speed and brought the matter before the Board of Directors.
And given who they were, the Board of Directors couldn't simply pretend not to notice. The whole affair had left him in an awkward position over the past few days.
Under the circumstances, Kodo Ikusei Senior High School was no longer a suitable place for Arisu to experience campus life. Those people wouldn't even spare the chairman any face, let alone his daughter.
So even though he knew his strong-willed daughter was unlikely to back down, he'd still tried to persuade her to return home and rest for a while. At worst, he could arrange for her to enroll with the next year's class.
"No, Father."
As expected, Sakayanagi Arisu rejected the suggestion without hesitation.
"If I run away now, I'll never be able to face that man again. I'd even look down on myself."
The white-haired girl, small and frail, leaning on her cane and giving off an almost ephemeral air, was unexpectedly forceful. "I'm a genius. You've told me that since I was little. Would you really have me flee before facing a worthy opponent? That would bring the name of genius into disgrace!"
"So that's how it is? Sigh..."
Chairman Sakayanagi sighed helplessly. But this was what he'd expected. He knew his daughter and understood that the odds of her agreeing were next to none.
He'd asked anyway because, as a father who cherished his daughter, he still held on to a faint hope.
"Then you'll have to rely on yourself from here on. The Board of Directors is watching closely. Starting tomorrow, I won't have the authority to interfere with this year's exams."
Though he hadn't done it for the benefits of graduating from Class A, the facts remained the same regardless of his intentions: he had used his position for personal gain during the freshmen's class assignments.
The chairman knew that well.
He was confident his daughter was better than everyone else in Class A, but Arisu had never attended elementary or middle school. The school's information about her came entirely from him, and given her obvious physical disability, she would have been lucky not to be assigned to Class D under the usual rules.
But how could the chairman let his daughter join that class full of defective products?
He knew better than anyone at the school how bad the students in Class D had been in previous years.
If Arisu joined Class D, all it would take was for him to let his guard down one day for those students to spring some nasty surprise on her.
Arisu had a heart condition, after all. She could hardly afford to be frightened, and Class D was never short on impulsive, short-tempered eccentrics who acted without thinking of the consequences.
If something really did happen, what good would it do to take revenge with all the resources at his disposal afterward?
Class C was much the same.
As for Class B, it was closest to Class A, making the competition between them the fiercest.
If the chairman wanted his daughter to have an easier school life, then placing her straight into Class A was the best option.
It should have been a small matter. But some people in the first year had taken it seriously—and those people couldn't simply be ignored.
In the end, he'd had to make a series of political concessions to the Board of Directors before they agreed to put the matter to rest. Now he had no choice but to avoid any appearance of favoritism in the first-year assessments going forward.
"Isn't that even better?"
In response to her father's worry, the girl simply offered a confident, carefree smile.
"I had the advantage of moving first, then Arakagi-kun struck back decisively and hit me where it hurt. That was beautifully done. He's taken away my biggest trump card."
Sakayanagi Arisu sighed at how difficult her opponent was.
As a politician's daughter and a genius chess player who pursued victory by any means, she had no interest in being bound by so-called rules or fairness.
A truly skilled player couldn't focus only on what was happening on the board. Sometimes, factors outside the game were the key to securing victory.
Clearly, Aragaki Shun understood this perfectly. That was why he had so swiftly forced her father out of the role of examiner.
"Knowing I'll have such a sharp opponent for the next three years makes me happy. Father, you only need to keep him from using methods outside the game. Don't spoil my fun on purpose."
"Being able to make good use of the resources at your disposal is a sign of talent. Councilor Aragaki has an impressive heir. I envy him."
Though Aragaki Shun had made a mess of things for him over the past few days, the chairman still recognized his ability.
He could use his position to show favoritism, and the other side could counter him. It was simply a matter of each side using whatever means they had. He wasn't petty enough to hold a grudge against a young man over it.
But when it came to Arisu's request that he keep Aragaki Shun from using methods outside the game, the chairman felt a little awkward.
Did that compensation count...?
Sakayanagi Arisu Wanted to Take Complete Control of Class A
"...Father, you're not about to tell me you can't even manage this little request, are you?"
Seeing the awkward look on her father's face, Sakayanagi Arisu's gaze sharpened, and a sense of foreboding stirred in her heart. "Does that person have some other surprise planned outside school—something even you can't stop?"
"Not at all. I'm still the chairman of Kodo Ikusei Senior High School, the highest authority in the school, at least in name. The Aragaki Family may have considerable influence, but it can't interfere with the internal affairs of Kodo Ikusei."
Chairman Sakayanagi was confident about that.
The influence behind the Sakayanagi Family was no small matter. It was one thing for the Board of Directors to discuss things among themselves, but no other outside forces could interfere with Kodo Ikusei Senior High School unless they could strike a deal with the political faction behind him and temporarily force him out of his position as chairman.
Whether the Aragaki Family could pull that off was hard to say. But even if it could, would he really go to such lengths just to get involved in a dispute between a few high school students?
Chairman Sakayanagi had been thoroughly embarrassed by the young man from the Aragaki Family this time because the Board of Directors had caught him using his position for personal gain. It was a dispute within Kodo Ikusei.
Even though he'd lost the authority to interfere with the first-year exams as a result, Chairman Sakayanagi remained confident. Here at Kodo Ikusei, he couldn't show favoritism, but neither could any other director or outside force stir up trouble.
"I can't offer you any more help, but I can promise that the other students won't be allowed to receive support outside the rules either."
Though Chairman Sakayanagi spoke with conviction, and the girl believed he'd keep an eye on everyone else's improper methods, the more he emphasized it, the stronger her unease became.
"...So methods outside the rules aren't allowed. Does that mean anything permitted by Kodo Ikusei's school regulations is fair game?"
"That's right. Kodo Ikusei's purpose is to cultivate more outstanding talent. So, within the bounds of the school regulations, the school encourages students to explore their potential in every way they can."
The chairman seemed to be hinting at something, yet at the same time, he seemed to have said nothing at all.
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