A Bio-Weapon’s Rhapsody

"The housing is divided into the apartments for students and depending on the type some have dedicated housing for the students." Miriam Eversoul answered, "So yes, each branch has their own apartments."

"But wasn't there an option for us to rent an apartment?" Big sister asked, "If we pool our money isn't it possible?"

"No." Miriam Eversoul said shaking her head, "Aquila works under the purified Saintsworths motto. Meritocracy above all."

"So they can get away with it but we can't?!?!?" Big Sister said while glaring at Miriam Eversoul, "Just because we aren't Saintsworths? Just because we don't have power?"

"That's not it." Miriam Eversoul said shaking her head again, "It means that if you have the merits, you can access the right to rent an apartment. But that is under the premise that you have shown your merits."

Ale remembered that, they had talked about living together after all, that was the plan that Ale had gotten to with Big sister and [Golem].

"Can't we get another apartment tho?" Ale said raising her hand, "Like how I got one from Alexanders."

"...You have one?" Big sister was the first to react, "Why can't we use that one?"

"Apartments within Aquila are registered and monitored by Albireo and CRADDLE." Miriam Eversoul commented, "And that one is registered under the names Ale Saintsworths, Alexa Saintsowrths, Alexanders Saintsworths, Miriam Eversoul and Vivian Kellet."

"So only those people can live there?" Ale asked nodding, "Whose merits got used for that one?"

"... Alexanders' merits." Miriam Eversoul answered, "I usually burn my merits as soon as they come. I couldn't force Vivi's merits to be used on something personal, and you..."

It went without saying, Ale had no merits as of now, since she hadn't been on the system that long, but she could get a few merits, she could imagine what kind of system it was.

If it was the system set up by Alexanders, the source of most of her content, and the theorycrafting her Aleniated gave her, then there was only one kind of system that made sense for that crazy bastard.

"How does one get merits for this then?" Big Sister asked, "How much money do we have to throw at him?"

"Nothing like that." Miriam Eversoul pulled out a tablet and put it on the table so they could see the contents, "You get merits from how well you do at classes and extra curricular activities."

The list was simple enough, it had a set amount of merit points acquired per good grading, some extra points for attending to classes and the list went on and on.

You could get fractions of a point for donning the uniform, for dressing well, for helping other people. For attending classes, for cleaning after yourself...

The list went on and on, it had almost everything and anything that one would need to do to live a good life.

Most were things that Ale... really didn't do on the daily.

Like...

"You get points for fixing your bed?" Big Sister said confused, "How would they even know?"

"...The AI monitoring is that pervasive?" Ale said sighing, "Is there any place they don't check on?"

"Wait, wasn't the interior of the houses, the private rooms and the like outside of the monitoring?" Big Sister asked, mildly horrified, "That was what they said, didn't they?"

"The monitoring that humans have access to?" Miriam Eversoul answered the question with another question, "That one goes only to public spaces, but everything else is monitored by the Saintsworths AI. And it goes not to human eyes."

Ale was not so sure about that. She knew for a fact that those AI seemed to be developing some kind of sentience from what she had seen personally.

At the very least those she had spoken with didn't seem that different from normal humans.

"And I assume the biggest amount of points will be given on the first days." Ale asked next, a plan was already forming in her head.

"The biggest influx will be given for the first exam and tests done when you arrive." Miriam Eversoul confirmed Ale's theories, "That will be used, or suggested to be used to get what you will need during your time on the island."

Ale guessed as much from the list. Or well.

[It is estimated that the amount of points that one will acquire should not be enough to afford an individual housing.]

[It will probably encourage the students to live in the academy rooms, and thus. Increasing the social circles of the students.]

But, that was only the intended plan.

"If we pool our points, wouldn't we be able to afford a shared household?" Ale pointed out her plan, "I assume they will give barely below the required points to get a private dwelling. That way they can entice the students that want to return to their former style of living to get the needed points."

Big Sister's eyes shone as she listened to the idea.

"And if we get the food with all our points, then we can survive and pay our rent." Big Sister's smile turned slightly evil.

The fact of it... They didn't need that much food, [Golem] didn't really need actual food after all, and Ale could get away with using her stockpiled biomass to survive if it came to it.

And if not?

Well, Ale could probably get food from the environment around them, they would be living on an Island after all. If Big Sister could use her Core Power to scout around and get her a fish or two.

"That is... acceptable I guess." Miriam Eversoul thought for a few seconds before answering, "I think it could be approved, but you would need to see if your students ID even lets you do that."

"Why wouldn't they let us do that?" Big sister asked confused.

"Because we aren't in the same schools, or even grades." [Golem] was the one to answer that one. "I will be in my senior year, while you would be in college. And that is before we take into consideration that Ale who will be going into Middle school."

Ah right, they were all over the place.

"...You are younger?" Miriam Eversoul said surprised for a second.

"Rude." Ale pointed out quickly, "But I don't see why it wouldn't let us."

"Wouldn't the system want us to mingle with people of our age group?" Big Sister said downcast, "Will we need to schedule a place to meet up then? But depending on how much they want us to partake in the school system... It would be easier if we could just live together."

"We can check then." Ale said placing her bracelet atop the tablet that Miriam Eversoul had pulled out. She put a finger on the emblem of the Saintsworths, the device beeped once and the next second the tablet beeped back. "Albireo, I have a couple questions."

"I don't think that-" Big Sister started saying, only for the emblem of the six wings of the Saintsoworths to materialize atop the tablet.

"[At your service Lady Ale, how can Albireo help you today?]" The emblem spoke back with the voice of a slightly older young woman, roughly around the same tone of voice that Alexandra had used to be precise.

"Main Core, can you track the data stream?" Ale sent inwardly.

[Data Stream is being transmitted from the device that you wore. The data stream seems to go into the void before arriving. Further tracking is unable to be done at the moment with the equipment at hand.]

"First question, how many points will we get during the first days?" Ale said her first question, this one was the one that hinged most of her plans after all.

"[You will get an onboarding text, depending on your score you will get from 1 merit point to a maximum of 100,000 merit points.]" Albireo answered, "[Do you wish to see the table?]"

Table?

"Yes." Ale answered, Miriam Eversoul seemed to be somewhat miffed about something, but Ale ignored her for the moment. She was too busy watching the table materialize itself.

----

"...So if we get perfect scores, we are at 300K." Big sister said nodding, "Meaning we would be barely below the amount... Isn't that very expensive? How are they expecting middle school students to get an apartment?"

"[We aren't expecting them to get one.]" Albireo answered turning its hologram towards Big Sister, "[The Apartment system is set up so only College, University students and researchers get one. It is not thought with students from middle and high school in mind.]"

That was very fair, from what Ale was seeing, only by getting major breakthroughs could one get enough to afford an apartment away from the ones granted by the system.

"So either be very good at what you do, or live under the graces of the Saintsworths." Big Sister said frowning, "Very... Saintsworths like I guess."

"[The apartments are loaned, they are not gifted. A certain amount of merit points are also taken as a form of rent, but the amount is less.]" Albireo answered to that too, "[As lady Ale predicted, we don't expect people from getting one of those soon.]"

"Next question then." Ale said turning the idea inside her mind a little more, "Can we pool our merit points?"

"[Normally that is not allowed.]" Albireo answered, to the relief of Miriam Eversoul for some reason? "[We only permit that to those that had shown they do willingly and with a proven history of working together, as thus, the first ones that will be allowed will show up on the second year.]"

That meant that her plan was shot from the start...

"[That will not be the case for you Lady Ale.]" Albireo, however, continued speaking, "[You have a proven relationship and work track with your companions, as thus the system will allow you to pool your resources.]"

"Then set up an apartment that will allow us to live together in a good location." Ale said sighing in relief, "We will buy it with the merit points from the first day."

"[Please note Lady Ale, that you will require a high passing grade from the three of you to achieve the minimum merit point treshold.]" Albireo then separated the apartment costs, the rent costs, and the food costs from everything they would need. The amount was... quite big.

They may need to be somewhat frugal with their food for the first days if they didn't get good results, even if they got first place on their tests and pooled everything together, they would get roughly 360k points.

So that left them with barely 40k points for the rest of the...

"How long are these points supposed to last us?" Ale asked next, she hadn't thought on that.

"[The first 100,000 points are expected to last between one week to three months depending on how the student goes about it.]" Albireo's answer confused Ale, "[For example. Student Skye Venti is expected to burn that within one week, while student Eduardo Herrera is expected to be able to extend his points for almost half a year.]"

Ooof.

"...I mean, that comparison isn't fair. He can get away with eating rocks! Of course his points last longer!" Big Sister complained with a small blush on her face, "What about Ale then?"

"[Lady Ale is expected to get at least twice that amount within the first week and is expected to run a small organization within the first year.]" Albireo answered with what sounded like pride in her voice, "[She is expected to run the school system within the year.]"

"...Wait, you can trade and give the points?" Ale asked after hearing that answer, the only way for Ale to increase and run an organization was if one could use the merit points for more than buying things from the Saintsworths.

"[Correct, it is possible to give or pay other students with Merit points, we suspect you will be among the first ones to monetize the merit point system using your previous live streamer identity.]" Albireo pulled out her streamer logo and added some extra flair to it, "[Using the merit point system instead of the normal super chat system you will earn a great amount of merit points. As other students will not feel the same pain and control over their expenses the influx of merit points will be quite substantial."]

Ale could see that yes, and she wasn't sure if she should feel bad or not from using that as a way to get more money. It was nice knowing that was an option.

"...Please don't lead your fellow students into debt." Miriam Eversoul pleaded to Ale, "... I may need to send a notice to the school system so they can warn the other students about it."

"Doing so will only make other people do it," Ale said with a shrug, "Besides, I would only do that if I had no other option. Not like I will actually do that."

"[It is noted that the probability of Lady Ale doing that only goes up if she is living alone away from her friends.]" Albireo was... helping her case? "[We can block her from pooling points with her friends if that is your desire Miriam Eversoul.]"

"Wait what?" Miriam Eversoul was surprised from that.

"That's not fair!" Big Sister chimed on from the side.

[Golem] for his part said nothing, he was still in his stoic mode, and [Eleanore] now that Ale was thinking about it... She was at the back trying to not bring attention to herself huh.

The coward.

"...Why can I do that?" Miriam Eversoul asked mildly confused.

"[You are a head of the Lab 2. You are given some allowances within the School System.]" Albireo answered, "[The same allowances are given to all laboratories, because of your relationship with other labs your opinion is taken into consideration as several votes too, so it holds more weight.]"

As several votes?

"...You are counting Viv as if she is voting with me." Miriam Eversoul said frowning.

"[Hers an Miss Lancaster.]" Albireo said with a nod, as much as an emblem could nod anyway. "[Miss Lancaster will follow suit your arguments.]"

"I am not so sure about that, but if you say so." Miriam Eversoul said groaning, then turning to Ale and Big Sister, "...I'll not block you from doing that. But you still need to get the points."

Ale nodded as did Big Sister.

"Thank you Albireo." Ale said then nodding to the hologram.

"[We live to serve Lady Ale.]" And with that, the device turned itself off. Leaving the room once again in silence.

Well, that was one less problem to deal with. Now they only needed an almost perfect score and to get there.

How were they going to go there was the thing, the public plane? The private plane? Or whatever Alexanders had prepared. That was the next issue at hand, good thing that they had Miriam Eversoul here to ask, right?