Classroom of the Elite, I Can Add Points Infinitely

"Classmate Sakayanagi, I'd like to ask, what is your relationship with Chairman Sakayanagi?"

"...He is my father."

"I see. It's getting late, so let's part ways here."

10. How to limit the Chairman's power?

Sakayanagi Arisu watched Aragaki Shun and the others leave with an expressionless face, a hint of gloom clouding her delicate features.

Even though they hadn't said anything, the look they gave her—as if she were a nuisance—said it all.

Yet, as the Chairman's daughter, even being looked down upon like this, she couldn't find a reason to refute them at this moment.

To be defeated in the place where she was strongest, and to stand before the victor and claim that despite her frail body, she wasn't assigned to Class A through favoritism but through her own ability...

That would be nothing but self-inflicted humiliation!

She would just have to wait for the future and let the facts speak for themselves!

Back at the Dormitory Building, inside the room belonging to Shibata Sou.

Aragaki Shun finished the fourth luxury meal set he had brought back, finally feeling the satiety filling his entire body, and stood up with satisfaction to stretch his limbs.

"Seriously, why did my dorm suddenly become a meeting room for guys to exchange information?"

Sitting at the head of the bed, Shibata Sou watched the core of Class B finally have a moment of free time and couldn't help but voice his complaint.

"Your room is closest to the elevator, so everyone just dropped by. If you don't like it, we can go to my room next time."

Kanzaki Ryuji, who was busy copying something nearby, responded earnestly without looking up, making Shibata feel a bit embarrassed.

"I was just saying, Kanzaki, you really are..." This boy, as optimistic and cheerful as Ichinose Honami, shook his head and looked at Aragaki Shun, who was tidying up the trash on the table. "By the way, Aragaki, is it really okay for you to eat this much at night? One of these luxury sets is enough for my lunch, and you ate four."

"The physical exertion from focusing on a game of chess is quite high. If that's hard to understand, just think of it as me playing soccer for an entire afternoon."

"Oh, then I guess that's fine."

Seeing Shibata Sou get brushed off, a trace of distress rose in Aragaki Shun's heart.

The excuse he gave wasn't a lie, but the main reason he had eaten so much this time was that he had added points to all four of his basic attributes at once.

His physical capabilities had suddenly increased by a large margin, and combined with the energy-draining match against Sakayanagi Arisu, these two factors were the reason for his massive appetite tonight.

After tonight, his normal meal intake would still be higher than before, but it wouldn't be as exaggerated as it was tonight.

But he only had his Spirit attribute at 10 right now. If all four attributes were to reach or even exceed "10," the limit for a normal human, how would he consume enough energy to maintain the functions of this body?

Become a glutton who spends several hours a day eating?

Or find a way to evolve a photosynthesis ability like a plant?

Thinking about the possibility of becoming a giant solar battery in the future, all sorts of strange images flooded Aragaki Shun's mind, and he couldn't help but find it inexplicably amusing.

So, does this world actually have universal energy like the spiritual energy of cultivation or the magical elements of Western fantasy? Does he really have to rely on flesh and vegetables to support his body's movements forever?

Won't he end up evolving into a giant like a dinosaur in the future?

Just as Aragaki Shun was muttering to himself, Kanzaki Ryuji, who had been lowering his head to organize his notes and copy down certain contents, looked up and handed him a few pages of completed notes.

"This is basically all the information in the notebook involving the school's hidden rules. Most of it overlaps with the intelligence we gathered from various clubs. The extra parts are mainly about the use of Private Points, such as the fact that accumulating 20 million points allows you to transfer classes at will or cancel a expulsion penalty."

This notebook was something Kanzaki had found in the Billiards Club.

At the time, his phone had been left in the Billiards Club's changing room. When he went back to retrieve it, he found this tattered notebook on the lid of a trash can nearby, not knowing which senior had intentionally thrown it away.

Driven by the virtue of thrift, Kanzaki, under the suggestive gaze of the Billiards Club president outside the changing room, chose to tuck the notebook into his school uniform and take it home.

After bringing it back to the dorm and flipping through it, he realized it was filled with various scattered drafts from upperclassmen, most of which were useless. Only a small portion involved complaints about school rules and so-called exams, so Kanzaki had to spend time copying down the useful information page by page.

Aragaki Shun took the documents, spent a few minutes scanning them carefully from beginning to end, and then casually passed them to the eager Shibata Sou.

"Only graduating from Class A guarantees the employment and higher education support provided by the school. So, that's how Advanced Nurturing maintains its near 100% rate for further education and employment?"

Aragaki Shun wasn't particularly surprised. After all, since enrolling, he had seen many students' worst sides—some kicking trash cans on the street, some clenching their fists to intimidate other students, and others who looked like hoodlums...

If these rare animals were really sent to prestigious universities or companies by the school, would it be because the school's reputation was too good?

As for the rest, such as the fact that the first month of the freshman year is a Behavioral Standards Exam, where each class is allocated 1,000 class points, and multiplying that by 100 determines the Private Points distributed to everyone in the class on the first of every month.

During this month, school teachers would not issue warnings about student discipline, but every act by a student that violated school rules would result in a deduction of class points based on the severity.

There was also the fact that the school indeed assigned students to four levels—A, B, C, and D—based on the gap between the excellent and the flawed.

If students did not accept this assignment rule, they could earn class points through monthly special exams and reassign class rankings based on the class points from highest to lowest.

Finally, it emphasized that Private Points could buy anything. To defeat other classes in exams, one had to find a way to unite the entire class and collect as many Private Points as possible as a weapon for the exams.

"The information provided by the senior is quite comprehensive. I thought he would pretend not to know anything or give some superficial intelligence, especially since the 300,000 points I used to buy the information were actually won from them."

Comparing it with the intelligence gathered since enrollment, Aragaki Shun could confirm the authenticity of this information, which inevitably added a lot of trust in the senior's character. He could cooperate long-term if there was an opportunity in the future.

"After all, he is a senior in Class A of the Third Year. He should have accumulated quite a lot of points over two years, so there's no need to be greedy for such small gains."

Kanzaki Ryuji speculated.

"Maybe. I don't know if there will be cross-grade exams in the future. If there's a chance, building a good relationship with the upperclassmen might lead to unexpected gains."

"Of course, that isn't the most important thing at this stage!"

Having said that, the expression on the face of Aragaki Shun became significantly more solemn.

"What we need to do now is think about how to limit the power of the Chairman."

11. Everyone's background is extraordinary

Reality is a trash game!

Therefore, it inevitably follows the rules where civilian players can't beat pay-to-win players, where the unlucky and the lucky have vastly different experiences, and where hardworking technical players can't stop the deus ex machina of cheaters... these kinds of laws.

But everyone understands that no matter how these people brawl, there is still a class of beings that truly stands above all players—those are the "admin-privilege" dogs with official game backgrounds!

When the official family members who set the game rules enter the game themselves, it's one thing to be able to preview game information in advance, but they also frequently use administrator privileges to modify their own data.

Even if a cheater with heaven-defying skills manages to overcome the odds and beats the opponent while carrying a mountain of debuffs, you still have to worry about whether the other party will get angry out of shame and call upon official power to ban your account.

Undoubtedly, in the eyes of Aragaki Shun, Sakayanagi Arisu is exactly this kind of troublesome admin-privilege dog.

The most troublesome part is that she happens to be a student in the same grade as Aragaki Shun; even if he wanted to pretend not to see her and ignore her, it wouldn't be possible.

What's more...

Aragaki Shun looked at the few new messages that had appeared on his personal panel—

[Achievement Completed: Defeated four Kodo Ikusei Senior High School clubs alone, Source Power +1.]

[Achievement Completed: Shattered the genius fantasy of Sakayanagi Arisu, Source Power +1.]

[Source Power: 10→12 (Current efficiency: 3 units obtained per month.)]

It can only be said that the amount of ore to be mined from Sakayanagi Arisu is truly immense. Just by breaking her composure once, the harvest was comparable to the combined influence gained after defeating the Billiards Club, Judo Club, Shogi Club, and Chess Club.

This phenomenon is not surprising in the eyes of Aragaki Shun.

On one hand, as the daughter of the Kodo Ikusei Chairman, the resources she can mobilize are indeed greater than those of all four clubs combined.

On the other hand, the world is just that unfair. Some people are born carrying far more Source Power than others, and there is no use in being unconvinced.

Over these years, through Aragaki Shun's constant experimentation, although he hasn't figured out the essence of Source Power, he can roughly determine that this thing is essentially a special origin that exists widely within all living beings.

It is related to a living being's acquired influence; therefore, the higher the status, the greater the wealth, and the more famous a person is, the more Source Power they carry.

But this is only the rule under normal circumstances. There is no shortage of examples in the world of people with humble status carrying large amounts of Source Power.

It's just that these people often possess certain special traits: either they are beautiful or handsome, have distinct personalities, have had a rough life, or have experienced various novel things that ordinary people never encounter.

It is difficult to find common ground among such people, so Aragaki Shun can only assume they possess "destiny," which draws more attention from the world. Therefore, even if their acquired influence is insufficient, they still have massive innate Source Power.

Aragaki Shun doesn't envy this at all. Destiny is not luck, nor is it good fortune. The world's attention is not necessarily a good thing; perhaps it just wants to see how much more miserable their tragic lives can get?

In fact, since enrolling, Aragaki Shun has discovered that the students at Kodo Ikusei Senior High School carry more Source Power than the average level outside, but most students here are just ordinary people.

Therefore, the extra Source Power they carry should come from changes in their destiny, but this still doesn't change the plight of students in Class C and Class D of each grade, who lack points every month and often have to enjoy the "free meal" package.

Aragaki Shun doesn't have to worry about falling into such a situation.

But if he wants to collect the abundant Source Power within Kodo Ikusei, then leading Class B of the first year to rise to Class A is a path worth trying. After all, the grade competition in this school revolves around the treatment afforded to Class A.

At this time, Sakayanagi Arisu, who was assigned to Class A of the first year as the school's strongest "connection hire," appears quite eyesore.

Of course, the trouble isn't Sakayanagi Arisu, but the Chairman behind her.

"...Limit the Chairman's power? Do you think this is a simple matter?"

Compared to Shibata Sou, who fell into a state of dumbfoundedness after Aragaki Shun proposed this suggestion and didn't know what to say, Kanzaki Ryuji only frowned and pondered for a moment before looking at Aragaki Shun with some curiosity.

"It's just limiting his power to interfere with the first-year exams, not replacing the Chairman. What is the difficulty in that?"

Aragaki Shun said this in an understated manner, which would be considered delusional in the eyes of most people at this school. However, Kanzaki Ryuji didn't think he was bragging; instead, he thoughtfully raised a question:

"The Aragaki Family... so, is it the family of the former Speaker Aragaki, the current Councilor Aragaki?"

"Then, Kanzaki, is your surname the Kanzaki of Kanzaki Heavy Industries?"

Aragaki Shun asked back directly, and then the two looked at each other, each confirming the guess in their hearts.

"Before enrollment, my foster father introduced me to a director of the Advanced Nurturing High School Council and gave me a file on the school's top brass, which included the contact information for the Chairman, the Principal, and many directors."

To study in a closed school for three years without being able to communicate with one's family, if there wasn't someone inside the school looking out for him, Aragaki Shun's foster parents would never have agreed to this.

The entire population of over 100 million in Sakurajima sounds like a lot, but the upper-class circle is only so big. Even if people haven't met, they must have heard of each other. If they want to find someone, they can certainly find a connection through their network.

Aragaki Shun hasn't started taking over his family's business yet and doesn't need to inherit the connections of the previous generation right now. Therefore, his knowledge of the Sakayanagi Family who established Kodo Ikusei and the Kanzaki Family of Kanzaki Heavy Industries is limited to knowing of them but not knowing them personally.

But just because he doesn't know the Sakayanagi Family doesn't mean he can't interfere with Chairman Sakayanagi.

In the end, the Chairman is just a representative elected by the board of directors. His power exceeds that of other directors, but if he performs poorly, he can be impeached by the board.

Furthermore, Kodo Ikusei is special; it is a social experimental school created by certain people in the upper echelons of Sakurajima, equivalent to a political achievement specifically for showing off. Therefore, the school is also under strong supervision by the government; it's not as if the Chairman can cover the sky with one hand.

Or one could say that the various positions in this school are themselves extensions of government officialdom. The Sakayanagi Family can rely on seniority to inherit the position of Chairman, but other positions are also extensions of government functions and cannot be arbitrarily controlled by the Sakayanagi Family.

Ultimately, because of its special nature, Kodo Ikusei often has children of powerful families and conglomerates attending. To protect the safety of their own juniors, everyone will certainly get involved, and the Chairman must maintain a neutral and objective attitude of fairness in such circumstances.

To be honest, the other party's obvious favoritism is actually quite surprising.

At this stage, among the students he has learned about who have enrolled in Kodo Ikusei, those with extraordinary backgrounds include himself and Kanzaki Ryuji, and he has also heard that the only son of the Koenji Conglomerate is here as well.

Is Chairman Sakayanagi's approach meant to make everyone study companions for the little princess of the Sakayanagi Family?

12. The Adopted Son-in-law of the Aragaki Family

Of course, saying it's for the sake of being study companions for the little princess of the Sakayanagi Family is definitely a joke.

As the saying goes, a local official is more powerful than a distant superior; if Chairman Sakayanagi shows a little favoritism toward his own daughter at his own school, anyone would only think he is a doting father. Naturally, no one would be blind enough to challenge the authority of the Sakayanagi Family.

As long as he maintains a facade of fairness on the surface, and with no one filing a complaint, the authorities won't investigate. Once Sakayanagi Arisu has had her fun, she can leave whenever she wants. After all, she doesn't need the credentials of a Class A graduate, and who would pick a fight with the Chairman of Advanced Nurturing over such a trivial matter?

Having roughly deduced Chairman Sakayanagi's intentions, Aragaki Shun decided he should fix this bug first.

Otherwise, he could forget about any future class competition. He had no interest in being suppressed by the highest power in the school while having to walk on eggshells, afraid that any sudden move might startle that young lady who supposedly had heart problems.

"Kanzaki, who are your connections in the school? Let's see if we can jointly petition the board of directors."

Aragaki Shun looked at the deep-in-thought Kanzaki Ryuji. He didn't know much about the situation at Kanzaki Heavy Industries; after all, the two sides weren't even in the same region.

"...Actually, it's Chairman Sakayanagi."

After a moment of silence, Kanzaki gave an unexpected answer. No wonder his expression had been so strange the whole time.

Aragaki Shun: "..."

"So, you're actually on the same side as Sakayanagi Arisu?"

"My family just has some project-based connections with the Chairman. The relationship isn't exactly close. It wasn't until we met and I heard her name that I remembered seeing the young lady of the Sakayanagi Family a few times at banquets when I was a child."

Kanzaki Ryuji shook his head. His family established themselves in high society through vast financial resources, but they had always been weak in the political sphere. Therefore, his family was very keen on investing in various political projects to supplement their political connections.

"Forget it. Tomorrow, I'll go talk to the only son of the Koenji Conglomerate. Once we've communicated with the board, you go to Chairman Sakayanagi and help us secure some compensation, alright?"

Aragaki Shun watched the hesitant Kanzaki, signaling him to ask if he had any questions rather than agreeing to something he couldn't pull off.

"Is it necessary to go this far?"

Sure enough, at the thought of facing the Chairman of this school directly, even someone as calm as Kanzaki couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation.

"Do you want to bet that the Chairman won't abuse his power for personal gain? Nonsense, he already went ahead and placed Sakayanagi Arisu in Class A."