Chapter 83
After all, just last month, Ryuen was threatened with a 20 million yen bounty by Aragaki Shun and forced to sign a monthly debt of 200,000 yen.
Even if the other party is completely out of their mind, they are unlikely to cause trouble for Aragaki Shun before this threat is completely eliminated.
"Speaking of which, ever since that debt was signed, our classmates have seen Ryuen eating free meals for almost a month. Having gone this far as class leader, do you really think he'd dare to cause trouble again?"
In any case, the most important thing for a leader is to combine kindness with strictness and to be clear about rewards and punishments.
However, Ryuen showed no kindness to the students of Class C from the very beginning, and his subsequent actions failed to secure enough benefits for his subordinates, instead causing him to lose all prestige... Under these circumstances, it can only be said that Class C is truly lacking in talent and has no other more suitable choice; otherwise, Ryuen's violent rule would have been overthrown long ago.
"And if he really wants to cause trouble, which class should he target? Should he go after the crippled Class B and beat them while they're down, or should he directly attack Class D, where most of the students have joined the Aragaki Faction?"
"Tsk~ That's hard to say."
Aragaki Shun shook his head, pondered for a few seconds, and then simply gave up. "Forget it, there aren't many normal people in Class C and Class D to begin with. There's no point in us thinking about it any further. Who knows when they might suddenly have a brain fart and unleash their anthropomorphic thoughts?"
"We'll deal with whatever comes our way; we just need to strengthen our own fundamentals. There's really no need to care too much about what the other three classes think."
With that thought in mind, Aragaki Shun packed his things and was about to leave the classroom, patting Kanzaki on the shoulder before he left.
"It's up to you, Kanzaki. Please put in more effort to supervise everyone's progress. As students in Class A, you can't fall behind in either grades or physical fitness. And please keep an eye on the Supplementary Class."
After giving his instructions, Aragaki Shun, without waiting for his increasingly corporate slave-like assistant to grit his teeth, dashed out of the classroom, not giving the assistant a chance to complain.
[Achievement Completed: Capture the enemy leader, causing Sakayanagi Arisu to decide to transfer to Class A at her own expense; Source Power +2.]
[Achievement Completed: School Compensation - Your actions benefited all first-year students. Source Power +3.]
[Achievement Completed: Leadership transition caused ahead of schedule at the Kodo Ikusei Senior High School; Source Power +7.]
[Source Power: 24→36 (Current efficiency: 4 per month)]
In the Advanced Nurturing cafeteria, after the rumors spread by Sakayanagi Arisu came to a complete end and the school's decision was made, Aragaki Shun couldn't wait to convert his gains into real strength as soon as possible.
Even according to the old rules, at least 10 of the 36 Source Power should be reserved for unforeseen circumstances. He still has a full 26 Source Power that he can freely invest in strengthening.
To be fair, this was definitely the time he had the most Source Power available at any one time since he organized his Personal Panel.
After all, he used up his Source Power as soon as possible every time he received it. Even if he wanted to save it to create talents or skills, the cost of fixing these talents and skills on his Personal Panel would not exceed 20 Source Power.
Needless to say, this enhancement was definitely the most fruitful battle he had ever fought.
Driven by a desire to improve his strength, Aragaki Shun focused his attention on the talents [Gluttony] and [Sun Kin]. With a thought, the Source Power needed to solidify the two talents manifested in his mind.
The former only requires 10 strands of Source Power, while the latter requires 28 strands, almost tripling the consumption.
However, it's understandable when you think about it. After all, Gluttony only enhances one's digestive ability, allowing one to obtain more nutrients from food, and at most, it broadens one's diet.
The [Sun Kin] allows him to directly obtain energy from the sun, similar to photosynthesis, a ability that only plants possess. This is a talent that, theoretically, should not be possessed by any animal on Earth, since animals lack the chloroplasts required for photosynthesis.
There is one special exception: the sea slug.
This amazing animal can photosynthesize by ingesting algae and integrating its chloroplasts into its own cells, thus obtaining energy directly from the sun.
But he can't exactly imitate a sea slug, giving himself a special ability to absorb chloroplasts and then eat vegetarian food every day, can he?
To put it bluntly, the talents he had previously enhanced, including [Gluttony] which was not yet fixed on his Personal Panel, were abilities that the human species could possess to some extent. However, [Sun Kin] was a trait that neither humans nor normal animals could possess, let alone humans.
Therefore, even though he spent a lot of time learning about photosynthesis and had a general understanding of its principles, he still couldn't reduce the Source Power required to condense this talent to below 20.
In this situation, it seems the only option is to strengthen [Gluttony] first.
It's alright, though. After all, even if he can get energy directly from the sun in the future, there's no reason for him to give up eating, which is one of his few hobbies.
Not to mention, different talents can be combined to create a synergistic effect. With [Gluttony], it might be even more effective to just eat sunlight to survive in the future.
Of course, it cannot be denied that Aragaki Shun did have some ulterior motives.
For example, after advancing [Gluttony] to level 6 or higher and becoming an extraordinary talent, one can directly enter the Devouring Path, using the genes of countless Earth creatures to drive one's own evolution.
Although I don't know how high the chances are, we should still have dreams, just in case they come true!
The next second, Aragaki Shun smiled and directly channeled his Source Power into this bottomless pit—
[Gluttony lv.0 (0/?) → Gluttony lv.3 (0/4)]
[Source Power: 36 → 26 (Current efficiency: 4 per month)]
Two minutes later, an invisible change flowed through his body, and Aragaki Shun fixed the [Gluttony] talent on his Personal Panel.
He didn't become stronger because of this, because it simply fixed his talent, and from then on, talent enhancement could be done according to the panel rules.
As for having a level of lv.3 right after being fixed, this only means that he already had this level of digestion ability; it is the initial level after being fixed.
If it were a [Sun Kin], this initial level would definitely not exist; it would still have to be upgraded from scratch.
However, even though his basic attributes are already at the limit of human capabilities, the base level of his [Gluttony] talent is still only lv.3, which can only Akito digestive ability is indeed not among the top in the biosphere.
Shaking his head, Aragaki Shun once again channeled nine streams of Source Power.
[Gluttony lv.3 (0/4) → Gluttony lv.5 (0/10)]
[Source Power: 26→17 (Current efficiency: 4 per month)]
Finally, a significant change spread from the inside out, and Aragaki Shun immediately felt the effects of the enhancement.
148. [Mental state: 11→13]; Changes in field of vision
Ouch~ I suddenly feel so hungry!
He was practically glued to his back, as if he hadn't eaten for three days and three nights.
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After Aragaki Shun raised [Gluttony] to level 5, a terrifying feeling of hunger naturally arose within his body.
He doubted he could eat a whole cow right now.
This is not an exaggeration, but simply a description of the facts.
Taking a deep breath of the northwest wind, the feeling of an empty stomach was truly unsettling. Although Aragaki Shun was able to endure it thanks to his strong will, it still couldn't change the fact that his stomach felt like it was churning, making him feel uncomfortable.
The boy was clearly not the type to enjoy hardship, so he didn't deliberately endure it. Instead, he looked directly at the lunch that had been prepared in advance on the table and began to eat heartily.
Fortunately, he had anticipated this scene and had specifically chosen a relatively private room.
Otherwise, if people see a well-known first-year student suddenly looking like a reincarnated starving ghost, who knows what kind of news will circulate on the school forum tomorrow.
Several empty plates gradually piled up on the table. Rice was served several times until Aragaki Shun finished the amount that three normal adult men would eat, and then he quietly put down his chopsticks.
But this wasn't because he couldn't eat anymore; it was because if he ate any more, it would seem strange to others, and Aragaki Shun didn't want to be looked at differently by the delivery person.
He touched his abdomen, calming himself down to quietly feel the movements of his digestive system... Half a minute later, Aragaki Shun withdrew his right hand, a slightly satisfied expression on his face.
Compared to some exceptionally gifted creatures, humans' digestive and absorptive abilities are indeed not very strong.
Scientific research shows that for a normal person, the efficiency of converting the chemical energy in food into usable energy is between 10% and 40%, while the remainder is either dissipated as heat or stored as fat.
Not only is the energy conversion rate a bit low, but the key issue is that digestion and absorption take time, and the human stomach has limited space, so too much food cannot be filled in a short period of time.
Therefore, ordinary people need to eat three meals a day to maintain their bodily functions, while top athletes simply eat five or six meals a day, spending a lot of time eating.
Ever since Aragaki Shun maxed out all four basic attributes to the limits of human potential, this problem has been a constant constraint for him.
In contrast, the digestive abilities of many animals in the biological world are particularly impressive, with birds being the most representative example.
For example, when a gull eats a fish, the fish's head is already being digested in its stomach while the tail is still sticking out of its mouth.
In addition, pythons have a very strong digestive system, capable of digesting many hard substances, including bones, hooves, and horns.
Therefore, they can go without eating for three months or even half a year after eating a meal.
With these top-tier examples for comparison, it's no wonder that when Aragaki Shun fixed [Gluttony] on his stats, the initial level of this talent was only lv.3.
However, he has now enhanced it to level 5, which is the limit that mortals can reach. Level 6 is the next level, which is the Transcendent Realm.
Based on the eating test just now and his past experience, plus Aragaki Shun's control over his body, he could roughly estimate how much of an effect the level 5 [Gluttony] talent would have on him.
To put it simply, with this level of highly efficient digestion as a foundation, he only needs to eat the amount of food a normal adult would eat three meals a day to maintain his body's full functionality throughout the day.
If he were to fully unleash his digestive abilities and eat until he was completely full, he could go for more than ten days without eating afterward without any problem.
Hmm, it seems it can't be compared to creatures like pythons?
But there's nothing we can do about it, since the species structures of the two are quite different, not to mention that even among mortals at level 5, there's a significant gap between their limits.
His talent is currently [Gluttony lv.5 (0/10)], and he can advance to the next level by investing 10 Source Power.
Even without direct advancement, simply investing a wisp of Source Power will still make one slightly stronger; it's just a matter of quantitative versus qualitative change.
Thinking of this, Aragaki Shun turned his gaze to the remaining Source Power displayed on the panel.
He had an urge to immediately invest 10 strands of Source Power and fully unlock his first extraordinary talent.
But the moment the thought crossed his mind, his intuition sent him a death warning, as if taking that step would mean certain doom.
"Phew~"
Exhaling a long breath, Aragaki Shun regained his composure and suppressed the impulse in his heart.
He knew it all along!
Just like how the four attributes cannot be too far apart, with a maximum difference of 2, exceeding this range will backfire, the upper limit of a skill or talent's enhancement is also related to its current basic attributes.
A mortal body cannot bear extraordinary power!
To master extraordinary talents and skills, one's four basic attributes must all exceed twenty, or at least one or two of them must meet this requirement.
Otherwise, it would be like a normal person trying to stop a rolling steel coil; such a suicidal act would only result in being crushed.
Needless to say, the reason he initially set a rule for himself to retain at least 10 Source Power after each enhancement was to have a trump card in reserve to deal with most unexpected situations.
Compared to permanent improvements like allocating basic attribute points or enhancing talent skills, consuming Source Power for one-time special abilities can produce quite considerable results.
He had tried before, and by consuming as little as one or as many as three streams of Source Power, he could silently take the lives of rabid dogs, wild boars, and even elephants in a manner similar to "Final Destination."
In addition, converting Source Power into life force is enough to bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded. Just three strands of Source Power are enough to restore a cat with severe limb damage and on the verge of death to health.
Even if he were to fall into a truly desperate situation one day, unable to find a way out through killing and healing, the 10 strands of Source Power that Aragaki Shun had reserved would still give him a dignified end.
To put it simply, he had previously studied the working principle of nuclear bombs, and if all 10 Source Power were released at once, it would be enough to trigger a miracle, turning him into a small nuclear bomb and causing him to self-destruct on the spot.
Thinking about this, Aragaki Shun still felt a little regretful—that is, he could no longer extract Source Power from the actions of directly changing the world and influencing others with Source Power.
Otherwise, he might not be able to suppress the urge to cause trouble that he had when he was a child.
In short, it is essential for Aragaki Shun to have at least 10 Source Power points in hand. Therefore, with only 17 Source Power points on his stats, he should not be using 10 of them on his skills.
After all, even if [Gluttony] could really advance to level 6 and develop extraordinary traits, given his current situation, it would be impossible for him to immediately become invincible in this world.
However, this means he currently has no other options to enhance.
Should we stick to the original plan, continue accumulating Source Power to condense the [Sun Kin], and then strengthen the four basic attributes to over 20 to officially step into the Transcendent Realm; or should we take advantage of the hard-won efficient digestion ability and immediately start adding points to the four basic attributes?
In this world on Earth, no matter how gifted a human may be, their basic attributes can never exceed 11, and he has reached this limit in every aspect.
Taking it one step further, in a sense, one could say they've stopped being human... at least they're definitely not normal people in this world or this era.
Aragaki Shun looked at the invisible panel in front of him, visible only to him.
[Name: Aragaki Shun
Strength: 11
Physical condition: 11
Agility: 11
Spirit: 11
Skills: Combat lv.4 (2/5), Writing lv.4 (2/5), Erudition lv.4 (1/5), Miscellaneous
Talents: Danger Sense lv.5 (0/10), Immunity to Poison lv.5 (0/10), Immunity to Disease lv.5 (0/10), Turn Misfortune into Good Fortune lv.5 (0/10), Gluttony lv.5 (0/10)
Awaiting Condensation: Sun Kin lv.0 (0/?)
Source Power: 17 (Current efficiency: 4 per month)
After staring at his information in silence for a long time, Aragaki Shun finally turned his gaze to the [Mental State] section.
Sure enough, he couldn't resist the temptation to become stronger immediately.
Based on past experience, once the base attribute exceeds 10, continuing to add points to [Strength] will enhance the body's death instinct, causing a rise in destructive desires during the adaptation period, leading to a desire to unleash one's violent emotions outwards.
The constitution attribute corresponds to the survival instinct, while the agility attribute corresponds to the desire for freedom.
If these three attributes increase too much in a short period of time, it can easily affect Aragaki Shun's rationality, making him willful and reckless.