Day Two, Tuesday.
Just as Hoshida No had expected, the battle for resource points officially began after lunch.
The locations of all ten resource points were announced. They included the library, gymnasiums, cafeteria, gardening area, rooftop garden, and more. Each resource point generated between 10 and 30 CP per hour, divided according to the proportion of occupants.
Hoshida No quickly marked three resource points best suited for Class D to capture early on.
"Hirata, contact Shibata from Class B and propose that we jointly occupy the gardening greenhouse. We'll send three people, and they'll send two. We'll split the earnings at a five-to-three ratio based on the number of occupants. See how they respond."
A little while later, Hirata said, "Class B agreed, but they'd like to expand the cooperation to include sharing information, especially regarding verification of the exclusive bonus."
"That's fine, but information sharing has to be mutual." Hoshida No agreed.
He had Horikita send Ken Sudō, Onodera, and a member of the support team to the greenhouse to meet up with the two Class B students.
Meanwhile, he had the rapid response team led by Ayanokoji seize the Old School Building's archives area when the opportunity arose.
Its yield wasn't high, but Hoshida No suspected it might trigger an event related to a hidden mission or special information.
As expected, Class A concentrated its forces on the library's main building and the gymnasium, "the resource points with the highest yields."
As Shiina had said, Class C had Ishizaki Daichi lead a group in forcibly occupying several smaller points, driving away students from other classes to test the exclusive bonus.
The door to the Old School Building's archives area was locked. The system indicated that they needed to solve a simple numerical code to enter and begin occupying it. The clue was related to the school's history.
Ayanokoji took one look and was about to try when Hoshida No's voice came through the internal comms. "Try 0423."
Ayanokoji entered the code, and the door unlocked with a click.
Miyake Akito, behind him, looked surprised. "How did Hoshida know that?"
Hoshida No replied coolly, "The school's founding date. Basic information."
Once inside, they triggered a hidden mission.
Sealed Records: Find three old school newspapers from specific years in the archives room and decipher the hidden information about conflicts during past Special Exams.
Reward: 80 CP and a piece of B-rank intel regarding the teacher judges' tendencies.
Ayanokoji quickly leafed through the papers while Hoshida No directed him to search for keywords over comms. The mission was completed in less than half an hour.
The information they obtained: Majima Tomoya was relatively tolerant of exploiting loopholes that did not explicitly violate the rules, while Hoshinomiya Chie cared more about the spirit of cooperation. Sakagami Kazuma, on the other hand, reacted harshly to behavior that disrupted order.
This information would be crucial to future negotiations and avoiding trouble during their operations.
That afternoon, Hoshida No went to observe the area near the small gymnasium in person.
He happened to encounter Ibuki Mio from Class C, who was trying to drive away several ordinary Class D students attempting to occupy the area with two others.
"Get lost. Class C's claiming this place." Ibuki was aggressive.
The Class D students looked a little intimidated. Hoshida No stepped forward and stood between the two sides.
"The system rules allow up to two classes to occupy a point at the same time. You don't have priority." His voice was calm.
Ibuki sneered. "Rules? What are those? Around here, the strongest get to decide." The two boys behind her also stepped forward.
Hoshida No didn't move. He merely swept his gaze over the three of them.
"Go ahead and try. But according to rule seven, if you initiate a physical altercation that leads to serious consequences, the students involved will be forced to withdraw from the game, and their class will lose 200 CP. Do you want Ryuen to lose a deputy commander and 200 points on the third day?"
Ibuki's expression stiffened. She clearly knew about the rule; she was just used to intimidating people.
"Besides," Hoshida No continued, lowering his voice so only the few of them could hear, "tell Ryuen that Sakayanagi already knows he's been looking into Hashimoto. He'd better watch out for trouble at home."
Ibuki's pupils contracted. She stared at Hoshida No for several seconds, then gave a huff and left with the others, looking disgruntled.
End of Day Two:
Class A: 1250 CP
Class B: 980 CP
Class C: 700 CP
Class D: 410 CP
Day Three, Wednesday.
Class A began trying to take a share of Class B's CP at several medium-sized points.
Class C suddenly changed its strategy and started harassing the points occupied by Class A, especially the library's branch. They sent large numbers of students to apply for joint occupation, draining their opponents' AP.
Hoshida No figured Ryuen was acting on his hint and diverting Class A's attention. He decided it was time to make his move.
"Today, we'll capture or consolidate a point with the potential for an exclusive bonus."
"Based on the data from the first two days, the rooftop garden's yield fluctuates abnormally when there's no competition. I suspect it has a hidden rule." Hoshida No laid out the plan at the morning meeting. "Rapid response team, focus all our efforts on taking the rooftop garden today. I'll go myself."
He put together a four-person elite team consisting of Ayanokoji, Ken Sudō, Miyake Akito, and himself.
At the same time, he had Hirata strengthen Class D's cooperation with Class B at the greenhouse, while casually letting Class B know that Class C was throwing everything it had into harassing Class A. Class B could take the opportunity to consolidate its share at the large gymnasium.
This information would naturally deepen the conflict between Classes B and A.
The rooftop garden was already occupied by Ishizaki's group from Class C. When they saw Hoshida No and the others coming up, they immediately went on guard.
"Well, well, Class D's elite are here. Trying to take our spot?" Ishizaki Daichi grinned.
"We're proposing a joint occupation," Hoshida No said.
"Not a chance! This place is ours!" Ishizaki refused.
"Then, according to the rules, we request an expulsion match." Hoshida No calmly brought up the system interface.
The challenged party got to choose the type of expulsion match.
Ishizaki chose a physical challenge: a three-on-three obstacle course. It was Class C's strength.
Hoshida No nodded in agreement. Each side sent out three competitors.
Class D: Hoshida No, Ken Sudō, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
Class C: Ishizaki Daichi and two other physically strong boys.
The match took place on the obstacle course beside the gymnasium.
The contest was intense. Class C was indeed full of stamina, but Hoshida No displayed astonishing athleticism, even outperforming Ken Sudō.
Ayanokoji, as usual, maintained just the right level. In the end, Class D won by a clear margin.
"What... what kind of monster is this guy?" Ishizaki panted, staring in disbelief at Hoshida No, who was barely out of breath.
"Good game." Hoshida No took over the rooftop garden's occupancy with a cool remark.
Then, after occupying the rooftop garden alone for three hours, they received a system notification that a hidden rule had been triggered.
Quiet Place: If a single class occupies a resource point exclusively for three consecutive hours, with no other class applying for joint occupation during that time, the point's yield increases by 50% for the following three hours.
Class D thus earned a considerable amount of extra CP.
By the end of Day Three, Class D's CP had reached 620, rapidly narrowing the gap with Class C's 750. Class A had 1,480, and Class B had 1,150.
As expected, Ryuen increased the pressure on Class A. He even had a minor confrontation with Class A students at one of the points and was warned by Majima Tomoya.
Hoshida No received a message from Shiina Hiyori: "Ryuen's putting pressure on Hashimoto, demanding more crucial information about Sakayanagi's side. Hashimoto seems to be wavering. Also, Sakayanagi Arisu wants to speak with you in private through a third party."
Hoshida No replied, "All right. I'll contact her. Tomorrow afternoon, at the library, just the two of us." It was time to meet the princess.
Library — 30 CP/h — max. 5 people
Large Gymnasium — 28 CP/h — 5 people
Small Gymnasium — 25 CP/h — 5 people
Cafeteria — 22 CP/h — 5 people
Rooftop Garden — 20 CP/h — 3 people
Gardening Greenhouse — 20 CP/h — 3 people
Old School Building Archives — 15 CP/h — 3 people
Multimedia Center — 15 CP/h — 3 people
Small Warehouse — 12 CP/h — 2 people
Connecting Corridor — 10 CP/h — 2 people
Status display: The real-time occupying class, number of occupants, and current yield for each resource point can be viewed through the S System map interface (with a delay of about 10 minutes).
Occupation rules:
Registering to occupy a point consumes AP (usually 2–3 AP per person, depending on the distance and size of the point).
Once successfully registered, a student is considered an occupant and begins continuously consuming maintenance AP (about 1 AP per hour).
Each resource point has a maximum occupant limit.
Expulsion matches:
When Classes A and B jointly occupy the same resource point, and Class B wants Class A to withdraw completely, Class B can challenge Class A to an expulsion match through the system.
Cooldown: Only one expulsion match may be initiated or accepted at the same resource point every two hours.
Cost: The challenging side must pay 50 CP in advance as a match deposit. If they lose, the deposit goes to the winner; if they win, it is refunded.
The challenged side (Class A) chooses one of three types offered by the system:
1. Intelligence duel
2. Strategy game
3. Physical challenge
Participants: Each side sends three representatives (who must be students from that class).
Day Two Missions
Basic mission: Successfully maintain occupation of any resource point for at least two hours. Reward: 40 CP.
Advanced mission: At a point jointly occupied with another class, have the majority of occupants from your class and maintain it for one hour. Reward: 60 CP.
Special event mission:
Eye of Prediction: Correctly predict which resource point will experience a high-yield fluctuation that day. Reward: 80 CP.
Day Three Missions
Basic mission: Participate in or observe an expulsion match. Reward: 30 CP.
Advanced mission: Successfully initiate and win an expulsion match. Reward: 100 CP.
Hidden mission:
Tenacious Defender: Successfully fend off two expulsion matches at the same resource point. Reward: 150 CP.
Action type — Typical AP cost
Travel to/move to a resource point — 1–2 AP — High
Initiate/register occupation — 2–3 AP — Medium
Maintain occupation (per hour) — 1 AP — Continuous cost
Prepare for and participate in an expulsion match — 3–4 AP (per person) — Medium
Scout another class's resource point deployment — 1–2 AP — High
Internal class tactical adjustment meeting — 1–2 AP — Medium
(I'm exhausted. If there are any mistakes in the middle, I'll fix them later.)