"Infinite Recorder?" Upon hearing the name, Asakusa Tōru immediately showed a strange expression.
An A-tier evaluation meant it shouldn't be a bad item—but… a recording pen? Was this really not on purpose?
According to his understanding, in Welcome to the Classroom of the Elite—hereafter referred to as COTE—a recording pen was an absurdly overpowered item. As long as there was no countermeasure in place, encountering one for the first time was practically a guaranteed wipe.
In a certain sense, COTE could even be called The Classroom of Recording-Pen Supremacy.
As a side note, there were also nicknames like The Classroom of Martial Supremacy and The Classroom of Background Supremacy, among others.
Well, at the end of the day, Advanced Nurturing High School was basically a zhongzhuan anyway, so those nicknames weren't exactly wrong.
That said, handing him a recording pen right at the start was still… delicate.
"…Whatever." Whether it was intentional or not could be set aside for now. Since it had already been issued as a reward, there was no way he wouldn't take it—even if it ended up gathering dust. Despite his strong urge to complain about the "recording-pen classroom," there was no reason for him not to use a recording pen.
"Let's see first what exactly makes it worthy of an A-tier reward."
Gripping the recording pen that had fallen from nowhere, Asakusa Tōru carefully examined its appearance.
From the outside, it looked like nothing more than an ordinary recording pen you could find anywhere: a pitch-black metal casing, a large display, and a few physical buttons. Judging purely from its design, he couldn't see anything special about it.
So, the effect then…
[Name: Infinite Recorder]
[Category: Item]
[Effect: The recorder remains permanently active. At any time and from any location, you may retrieve a recorder. You may freely select and segment recordings from any point in the past, generating a new recorder that preserves the chosen recording segment.]
[Note: "Everything you say will be used as evidence in court!"]
The moment the thought arose, the information of the recorder in his hand appeared clearly before his eyes.
"Interesting." His brows lifted as realization dawned on his face. "So that's what the 'infinite' refers to."
Thankfully, the "infinite" here didn't refer to the recorder's brand.
Although daily diary rewards were drawn at random, it was still an A-tier evaluation. If he'd pulled a recorder he couldn't bring into the school before enrollment, that would've been downright comedic.
But a recorder like this—one that could be summoned at will—would still be usable even if it was obtained before entering the school.
As for the issue of an unknown origin… come on. Recording pens were meant to be used to threaten people. Was there really anyone who would choose to hand one over to the school instead of negotiating with it?
As for why he said that otherwise it couldn't be brought into the school…
A brief introduction to Advanced Nurturing High School was in order.
This so-called zhongzhuan, as Asakusa Tōru referred to it, was rumored to have a government background—nominally a training facility for selecting elite talent.
Tuition-free, with an almost 100% rate of advancement and employment. No matter what field you specialized in, with the school's support, you could achieve your ambitions.
Well—at least, that's how it was advertised.
In addition, the school promised to cover all student expenses over the three years.
However, the price was that once enrolled, students were not allowed to leave campus without permission, nor were they allowed to contact the outside world via mobile phones or the internet.
Naturally, bringing things in from outside the school was also forbidden.
"Of course—that's just the advertising." Smiling faintly, Asakusa Tōru murmured to himself.
Those who enjoyed the 100% advancement and employment treatment, who received the school's support, did not include expelled students.
As long as all students who failed to meet the standards were expelled before graduation, wouldn't that still be 100% talent cultivation?
"Fortunately, whether it's a scam or not has nothing to do with me."
After all, to Asakusa Tōru, even so-called government support couldn't compare to a single hair on the diary in his hands.
Since he had a cheat, then of course he'd go all-in on developing the cheat.
Who had the time to play along with their zhongzhuan free-for-all?
"All I need to do is closely observe and identify who received a diary copy, then aim targeted spoilers at them." Straightening up, Asakusa Tōru gave a small stretch. Then, very casually, he raised his hand and tossed the recording pen he was holding toward the bed behind him.
A perfect arc traced through the air. The recorder bounced lightly once on the bed before coming to rest.
Without going over to retrieve it, Asakusa Tōru casually reached into his pocket.
When the thought of "recording pen" surfaced in his mind, a new sensation quietly appeared in his palm.
He raised his hand—and there it was. A recording pen identical to the one he'd just thrown now appeared in his grasp.
Meanwhile, the recorder he had tossed onto the bed remained safely where it was.
Seeing this, the corners of Asakusa Tōru's mouth curled upward slightly.
"What a recording-pen armory."
Honestly speaking, recording pens had some weight to them. As thrown weapons, with proper technique, even without sharp edges, they could still deal considerable damage purely through mass.
Good. It was decided—until he drew rewards that enhanced physical combat, he'd spend some time practicing throwing recording pens.
If plucking flowers and flicking leaves could injure people, then what if I had an infinite supply of recording pens?
"Pfft." Just imagining the scene made Asakusa Tōru want to laugh.
Other people fought with fists and blades. He, on the other hand, would casually pull ten recording pens out from his pant leg in one motion.
A truly bizarre aesthetic.
"And then, aside from the infinite aspect… there's also the recording-segmentation effect, huh?" His fingers rubbed lightly over the recorder as he thought. He pressed the stop button, then tapped play.
The single recording replayed all the sounds from the past several minutes—everything from his own muttering to the faint noise of the recorder hitting the bed was captured with perfect clarity.
"Huh, so even if it's not the same one, the recordings are shared?" A strange glint appeared in his eyes as his fingers moved, swiping across the recorder's small screen. "As for segmentation…"
As that thought formed, options that hadn't seemed to exist in the interface quietly appeared on the screen. Without needing to touch anything, he could select any segment of time from the present backward using only his thoughts, and split the recording accordingly.
Moreover, the segmented recording would appear as a complete, continuous recording from the very beginning.
"So you're basically forcing me to become the Recording-Pen King, huh…" Looking at the recorder in his hand, Asakusa Tōru smiled. "Well, I don't really hate that."
Who would ever complain about having too many cheats?