Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 1-3) ✓

41 | Needing Advice

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MAX WAS WALKING DOWN the hallway with Ari, his head on the cloud since he was about to hit a wall if not for Ari pulling him towards him just before his face could make contact with it.

     "You keep on nagging about how you don't need babysitters but you can barely even walk properly," Ari complains, letting go of Max's arm, which finally snaps Max back to his senses.

     As Max gains his composure and his senses back, he completely ignores what Ari just told him and says instead, "Three thousand Ari, we're talking about three thousand points. I never thought I'd be able to acquire that much amount just on our first term. I might just end up being a gaffer like you after this," Max says with confidence, making Ari look at him with his right eyebrow raised.

     "Are you sure about that Max?"

     "Why? It's not like someone could get that many points too," Max confidently answers, making Ari smack his head.

     "You're underestimating this school too much Max. There's a reason why these white uniforms are in the House of Kings and not in rooks or bishops. You'll be training for a month with BND, and within that timeframe, you'll acquire zero points while the other students are getting them left and right. You're not even sure if you'll be able to get that 3000 points after that," Ari explains. He then takes out his student card and adds, "Even I'm ranking up. Currently, I already have 3900 points."

     Max's eyes widen from shock after Ari's reveal. "You just had 3660 last week! What the hell did you do?"

     "You think you're the only one who's been busy? While you were doing your own thing with Jokers and the Omega Society, I was able to write a dissertation paper about Michel Foucault and applied his philosophies on how the power from merit points control the social structure of each house. I submitted it to my club and it was published in Singapore the other day," Ari casually explains, making Max look at him like he's some kind of alien.

     Max sighs and massages his head in frustration. "Your appearance and personality make me forget how smart you are sometimes."

     Ari doesn't take it as a compliment, but he brushes it off and says instead, "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that you're not the only one getting points. Every day students are changing ranks. You shouldn't be so complacent, especially when you're striving to be an Elites' president. Juniors and seniors have a crazy amount of points, so you have to break through their barriers before you could even reach the top one hundred, let alone top five."

     Max doesn't say anything, but he knew that Ari was right. He got a little too overwhelmed for a second that he wasn't even sure if he'd win the pageant or not. Thankfully Ari's there to humble him. Even though Max doesn't want to admit it, he's glad that his uncle asked someone to watch over him, and Max is glad that it ended up being Ari.

     Ari has a bad temper, but he's also very straightforward. Max doesn't need someone who'll sugarcoat things for him, especially when his goal is to eventually conquer the kings.

     "You're right, thanks for the reminder," Max says, and Ari smiles and drapes his arm around Max. "But don't worry, you'll do great. You did conquer Jokers after all, and no other white uniform has done that before."

...

The bell rings, and everyone was ready to go home. Thanks to Max and Ari's talk earlier, Max wasn't too engrossed in the merit points anymore. Now he's concentrating on improving himself and winning the pageant, which is currently more important than the points.