The silver-haired old woman stared at Ariana Summers with wide, astonished eyes. This timid little freshman... actually knew about S-Points—something unique to Metropolitan Prestige Academy.
How could she possibly know about points?!
Of course, Ariana herself didn't know.
It's because my future husband figured it out for me, Ariana thought silently, glancing toward Wyatt King, who stood protectively by her side.
Under the old woman's sharp gaze, Ariana instinctively shrank closer to Wyatt. Her bright red hair swayed slightly, bangs falling across her face as she tried to hide.
The old woman's eyes carried an air of authority—like someone used to giving orders. It made Ariana's heart race with fear.
Realizing she was frightening the poor girl, the old woman softened her expression and spoke in a quieter voice.
"So, young lady... where did you hear about 'points'?"
Ariana shook her head frantically, her fiery hair flying.
Don't look at me—I don't know anything! Blame Wyatt!
Wyatt placed a hand gently on Ariana's shoulder, steadying her, while the other hand rose to his temple. His mind-reading ability was pulling in information—more than he'd expected.
Just as Wyatt had guessed, the "points" the old woman kept thinking about were tied directly to the school's internal system.
Metropolitan Prestige Academy ran on a special structure:
The S-Point System.
There were two kinds of S-Points: Class Points and Personal Points.
Class Points:
Every class starts with 1,000 class points when they first enroll.
Personal Points:
At the start of each month, every student receives personal points equal to Class Points multiplied by 100.
In other words:
1,000 Class Points × 100 = 100,000 Personal Points per student per month.
And these Personal Points weren't just for show.
They were digital currency usable anywhere on campus—convenience stores, supermarkets, shopping malls, everything.
100,000 yen a month, just for attending school?
It sounded too good to be true.
But there was a catch:
Class Points weren't fixed. They could be deducted if students made mistakes, lost competitions against other classes, or broke school rules.
If Class Points ever dropped to zero...
Personal Points would also drop to zero.
Wyatt frowned slightly.
My Personal Points are tied to the entire class. If there are too many useless teammates... things could get risky.
From the information floating in the old woman's mind, Wyatt realized just how important S-Points were inside this isolated school.
In fact, if a student collected 20 million points, they could even transfer to Class A.
That raised another question:
Why would it cost 20 million points to switch classes?
Wyatt dug deeper into her mind, activating mind-reading backtrack to trace further. And then—he found something bigger.
The academy's famous 100% graduation rate and employment guarantee?
It only applied to students in Class A.
Students in Classes B, C, and D... didn't get the same treatment.
Wyatt's eyes sharpened.
So only Class A graduates walk away with that perfect future. If that's the case... I need to earn 20 million points before graduation, no matter what.
There was another path, of course—leading your class to rise to Class A status by outperforming the other classes.
But Wyatt wasn't the kind of person who trusted luck or relied on others.
Better to take control myself.
While Wyatt processed all this, the old woman gently patted Ariana's hand and spoke again.
"If you don't want to say where you heard about points, that's fine," she said kindly. "But can you at least tell me your name and what class you're in?"
"Um... Ariana Summers. First-year, Class D..." Ariana said in her usual soft voice.
"Class D?"
The old woman's eyes widened.
She'd assumed Ariana was a top-tier student—at least Class B. But Class D?
At Metropolitan Prestige Academy, everything was structured by rank:
Class A: The elite.
Class B: High-performing students.
Class C: Middle performers.
Class D: The so-called "problem children."
The fact that Ariana—a quiet, polite girl—was in Class D didn't fit the picture at all.
How did a Class D student learn about points so fast...?
During the first month of school, no one was supposed to reveal anything about S-Points—not teachers, not staff, not upperclassmen.
Wyatt had already figured out the basics of the system. But he wasn't done.
There had to be more. More rules. More loopholes. More hidden details.
Just as he prepared to dig deeper, the old woman suddenly stood up.
"Driver, pull over. I'm getting off here."
"Huh? Ma'am, this is a through-route bus—no stops until... Ah, wait. It's you."
The driver's gruff voice instantly softened. Without another word, he pulled over.
Wyatt narrowed his eyes slightly.
Between her earlier sharp gaze and the driver's reaction, there was no doubt:
That woman isn't just some random elder. She's someone important.
Once the bus came to a stop, Ariana hurriedly stood up to give her space.
The old woman glanced back one last time, eyes lingering on Ariana as if memorizing her face. Then she stepped off the bus and disappeared down the road.
Ariana let out a quiet sigh of relief and sat down in the inner seat.
Then, surprising Wyatt, she gave him a rare playful wink and pointed to the open seat beside her.
Wyatt chuckled under his breath and slid in next to her, casually resting one arm behind her seat.
Closing his eyes, Wyatt focused.
The question now... is how to earn as many Personal Points as possible—and fast.
The real game had officially begun.