Chapter 638: The Beginning of Camp - 638
Looking through a window, he saw a woman in uniform. Clearly, she worked at the building she was inside of. Curious, Skymender walked through the wide open glass doors and looked around.
The restaurant seemed very advanced and even a bit futuristic.
The woman looked up as he entered.
"Welcome, young scholar."
Skymender nodded. "Hello. What is this place?"
The woman explained. "This is a coffee shop. Here, we sell many types of coffee, some of which would be hard to find even in the Imperial Capital. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me, but there is a menu right over there."
She pointed behind her, where a counter stood. Above that counter, hanging on a wall, was a menu. It didn't have prices. After all, all the food here was free, and Skymender was aware of that.
Since it was free, he decided to try one.
There were a lot of names he did not understand. In fact, the only one he understood was the black coffee.
"I'll try a… Frapuchino."
"You mean a Frappuccino? Would you like chocolate or caramel?"
"Chocolate." Skymender said after hesitating a moment.
"Coming right up." She said.
Skymender watched as she took ice, poured something in it, mixed it up with some sort of blending machine, and added some stuff on top.
"Here you go."
Skymender looked at it. "Aren't coffees supposed to be hot?"
"Not all of them. As I said, even the Imperial Capital may not have some of the drinks here. This campus, obviously, doesn't count."
Skymender nodded and took a sip. It was surprisingly good. He had never liked coffee, but this tasted more like ice cream.
Skymender walked out of the shop, drink in hand, and made his way around. He saw a few more buildings, some restaurants, some stores, and some closed down.
The streets actually felt quite desolate. Skymender entered a few shops and asked some questions about their products. The non-food stores required something to buy their products with, and not money.
He didn't feel like eating anything, so he did not stay at any other food places.
Skymender eventually returned to his room without seeing another person participating in the Imperial Scholar Camp.
He stayed there for a while, occasionally looking out his window at the scenery below.
Eventually, he did get hungry. Venturing out of his room, he stopped at a restaurant he had inquired at before.
This place sold steak, among other expensive meats.
Skymender got to sit at the top of the building, a place with a great view of the surrounding areas.
He ate steak and drank water, looking down below. Suddenly, someone entered his vision. He was instantly able to tell that she was a participant of the Imperial Scholar Camp.
She looked around 16 years old.
As if sensing his eyes, she looked up and saw him. Skymender saw a bit of surprise flash in her eyes before she looked away. She was most likely surprised by his age.
Skymender did not look at her any longer either. He wasn't particularly interested in anyone else here. Not unless they proved themselves to be worthy of his attention.
He took his time eating, before returning to his room. The few days before the start passed like this. As more time went on, he saw more and more people, though never two others at the same time.
He never interacted with them, and they never interacted with him.
That was until one morning, when Skymender received a knock on his door.
Opening it up, he saw Scholar Ming.
"The Imperial Scholar Camp has begun. Allow me to escort you to orientation."
Skymender nodded and stepped outside his room. He was led outside of the building by Scholar Ming, and they began to move towards the many buildings. However, Skymender knew that their destination was not the area with shops and restaurants, but the largest building, the teaching building itself.
It had been gated off before, but now, it was wide open. Skymender saw many others as he walked along. He thought he would be the youngest by a lot, but surprisingly, he saw someone seemingly the same age as him.
When that person saw him, they were similarly surprised. Their gazes met for a moment, but quickly turned away as they neared the largest building in the Imperial Scholar Camp Campus.
According to the information he had received, it was known as the education building. This was where all the teaching and learning would be done. This was a place even more advanced than the Imperial School, and for one simple reason. The Imperial Scholar was here, and he would be personally teaching everyone.
Skymender and everyone around him were led inside of the building. It was large, fancy, advanced for the current age, and clean.
They were all led through a series of hallways until they arrived at a large door.
Opening it, stairs went down, with seats on them, and a large podium was at the bottom. There was a large board with writing on it. Skymender saw his name and fifteen other names. Presumably, these were the names of everyone in the Imperial Scholar Camp.
There was also a leaderboard with 16 places, though it was empty.
On the podium was a desk, and sitting behind it was the Imperial Scholar.
"Find a seat. Good luck." Scholar Ming said with a low voice before exiting.
Skymender walked down the stairs until he reached the halfway point. Then, he took a right and found a seat.
He would be able to see and hear everything clearly, but without being around others. Most of the people, ten in total, sat in the front row despite there being at least twenty rows.
The other six were dispersed across the others. Skymender was the farthest back.
When everyone was seated and all of the scholars left, the Imperial Scholar stood up.
"Welcome to my Imperial Scholar Camp. For those of you yet to meet me, I am the Imperial Scholar of the Faceless Empire. From now until the end of the camp, I will be teaching you in hopes of finding a worthy successor, no matter the age."
Chapter 639: Equation - 639
Everyone listened with their full abilities. The Imperial Scholar was the most intelligent man in the Empire, and nobody would dare to forget a word he said.
"Most of you are attending or have attended the Imperial School. I could sit up here and teach you for a bit, then send you somewhere with textbooks to read and memorize information, but instead, I want to actually teach you, not just assign you work."
The Imperial Scholar began to walk, moving towards the board in the back.
He pointed at the leaderboard. "The purpose of the leaderboard is to fuel your arrogance in order to help you learn better. I hope all of you are arrogant enough for this to work."
He moved over a bit, standing in the middle of the board. "Up there, across the top, are all of your names. Some of you are nobles, some of you are commoners. It doesn't matter here. Your status, your wealth, and your rights are determined by your intelligence."
He walked to the right and stepped on a movable ladder. This ladder could slide across the board in order to allow all of it to be used, including the parts that no human could reach.
The Imperial Scholar kicked off of a wall, sending himself moving to the left side. For a seventy year old man, he moved with surprising ease and strength.
He began to write at the top left. Skymender understood some of it, but as he went further on, he had no idea what was happening.
Countless symbols and numbers, mixed in with things that Skymender could understand, allowed him to understand one thing. This was a math equation.
Everyone watched in silence, their curiosity and interest turning into awe, and finally, complete and utter astonishment.
When the Imperial Scholar finished writing, half of the board was taken up. He had only written big enough for them to see from afar.
"This is an equation the likes of you have never even seen. That is because I created it. How did I create it? The Imperial Scholar of another Empire challenged me. Annoyed, I created this in one day. You may be wondering what it is for. It is the literal calculation of how much my foot would have to be shoved into his ass, based on his body weight, muscle ratio, and skeletal structure, information that even he didn't know, in order to send his heart out of his throat."
Nobody knew how to respond.
Whether it was the complexity of the math equation, or what it was made for, they couldn't speak.
"This is the first lesson. There is always a higher heaven. What I make in a day, others cannot comprehend in their lives. Some of you came in with arrogance, as you should, but you made one mistake. You came in with arrogance not only towards your fellow students, but also with arrogance towards me. There is one person in here, maybe two if I stretch it, with the talent necessary to match me in the future. And that will only be if one of them lives to a hundred and twenty. Assuming I drop dead now. As for the other, I can't say I'm sure."
"Any questions?" He asked at the end.
Nobody spoke.
"You are dismissed. Nobody will wake you up tomorrow, be here at 8 AM sharp. If you don't, intelligence points will be deducted."
Eventually, everyone left. Skymender included.
He thought about the instructor's words. Intelligence points were not consumable, but semi-permanent. You could not spend them, but you could gain or lose them.
For example, if you wanted to live in a better room, and the cost was 100 intelligence points, as long as you had 100, you could live in it. Your intelligence points would not be affected at all.
Nobody spoke to each other as they all left. Technically, they were all competing with each other. Of course, some took it more seriously than others. However, nobody had spoken to anyone yet.
Skymender returned to his dorm and soon left to eat. It was noon, as the Imperial Scholar's lecture was longer than it had seemed.
He noticed a few more restaurants opened, but he also noticed signs in front of them. They stated intelligence points requirements. The higher the quality, the higher the intelligence points necessary.
Skymender returned to the same steak restaurant as before, and managed to find the same seat.
Surprisingly, this time, two others entered after him, clearly intending to eat here. Actually, it was not surprising since there were only a few restaurants that did not require intelligence points to enter.
Both of them came to the 2nd floor, but they distanced themselves from each other and Skymender.
Everyone ate in silence.
As it was said, most intelligent people were silent. Like everyone had, they stared at Skymender for a bit. After all, the mask on his face was quite obvious.
Even the glove on his hand was unusual.
Skymender ignored it and soon finished eating.
As he left the restaurant, he walked past someone entering. It was the person similar in age to him that he had seen before. As they walked past each other, the other person stopped.
Skymender looked at him.
"Hello. My name is Charles. What is your name?"
"Skymender." Skymender said.
"I see. Skymender of the Sky Barony. I've heard a bit about you."
"I haven't heard of you." Skymender said.
"Of course not, I'm just a commoner. But I do remember you. I remember everything."
He held out his hand, and they shook hands.
"I am eleven years old, though if I recall correctly, you should be ten."
Skymender nodded.
"I haven't heard anything about your mask. Can I ask what happened?"
"Accidentally poisoned." Skymender said.
"I see. No wonder your voice is scratchy and you speak in short sentences. I suppose it must have affected your throat, possibly even your breathing."
Charles seemed to be going on a rant.
"Anyways. It was nice to meet you." He said.
Skymender nodded and left.
Something was weird about Charles.
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