Chapter 644: Arcade - 644
The test had barely lasted an hour, and everybody once again entered the lecture room.
The Imperial Scholar made an announcement. "It will take longer to grade all of these tests due to open-ended answers and only one reviewer, but I will have it done by tomorrow. In the meantime, consider the rest of today a free day."
Without another word, the Imperial Scholar left the room.
Skymender got up and left.
A free day wasn't necessarily a good thing since there wasn't much to do, but after thinking he felt that he might as well do something.
Over the past few days of studying space, Skymender had amassed two more points, for a total of five points.
This really wasn't a significant amount and barely opened up any locations, but there was one that Skymender decided to go to.
It was known as an arcade.
There were games to play there and food to eat. Essentially, it was a lounging area with a lot to do.
Skymender had nothing to study and no meaningful activity to take part in, so he wandered around and once again located the arcade.
As he stepped inside, he noticed multiple stands with people standing at them. When they saw him, they visibly perked up.
"Finally, a new person."
"It's been ages since I've had something to do."
Skymender heard murmurs from multiple vendors.
He looked around as he walked down the middle aisle.
These vendor stands had mini-games, and he assumed that the things around them were prizes.
He looked at a few, and since he had nothing to do, he played some games. Some of the games were throwing rings on bottles, or catching fish with thin paper on a stick.
Some used weapons to test skill. He won a few prizes, and found himself carrying a variety of soft, fake animals.
He walked past the vendors and found a larger area with multiple lanes. According to the sign above, this was a bowling alley.
Someone stood to the side, and upon seeing Skymender, spoke. "Hello, sir. Would you like to learn how to bowl?"
Skymender nodded. He had never heard of this game.
The lady went on to demonstrate the goal, as well as how to keep score.
"If you want, I can keep score for you while you play. Although this is usually a multiple person game, playing solo is possible."
After hearing everything, Skymender grabbed a bowling ball and slid it down the lane. The first throw missed completely, landing in something called the gutter.
The second throw landed better, knocking off a few pins. After that, he got the hang of it. Strikes and spares were a common occurrence, shocking the lady keeping score.
"You are quite talented, sir."
Skymender just nodded. After all, it was hard to talk with his throat injury.
Eventually, he completed a game.
"Very well done sir, I've never seen such high scores on a first game. You should consider being a professional. From what I understand, this game is slowly gaining popularity in the Imperial Capital."
Skymender just shook his head. "Thank you for your assistance."
With that, he began to move on.
Suddenly, he heard clapping.
Looking to the side, he saw a familiar face. It was one of his fellow students, a woman with black hair, red lipstick, and a red dress.
Skymender looked at her once before ignoring her.
However, she spoke, clearly having no intentions of letting him leave peacefully.
"You're good, for a first timer. What do you say we play a game? See who's better."
Skymender looked at her again and spoke. "I'll pass."
He began to walk away when she spoke again, her voice different.
"Please just play a round with me. Nobody else comes here and I'm forced to compete with only myself. Come on. Just one game."
Her tone was completely different, nearly pleading.
Skymender, seeing the distressed look on her face, sighed. He had no interest in playing at all, but he felt that he would be in for more and more talk if he disagreed.
"One game. Don't talk to me anymore regardless of the outcome."
She nodded quickly.
Skymender turned around and stood at the entrance to one of the lanes.
The lady to the side was clearly excited. "Finally, a competition. I thought the day would never come."
Skymender started first, bowling a strike on his very first turn. The girl went after him, similarly bowling a strike.
On Skymender's second turn, he hit eight the first time and two the second time for a spare.
On her second turn, the girl bowled another strike.
They went back and forth, their scores staying quite similar. Finally, the tenth turn came. Skymender was down by 4 points, a tiny amount for his second game, especially since this girl had clearly played a lot.
The tenth turn was different than the others. If he bowled perfectly, he could score three strikes in one round.
He threw one. Strike. Another, Strike. The last, seven pins.
The girl was clearly nervous. She threw one. Strike. Another, five pins. Another, spare.
She stomped her feet. She had lost.
Skymender began to walk away. The girl wanted to say something, but she had reached an agreement with Skymender. She swallowed her loss and started a new game by herself, determined to practice.
Skymender walked deeper into the building. He found multiple games and multiple different sports. He played around for a while before eventually returning to the entrance. He played a few more games at the vendor stands and ate before returning to his room with his hands full of soft, fake animals.
Skymender quickly fell asleep from all the games he had played. He kind of had fun, but most importantly, he had passed time quickly. The next morning, he woke up and silently made his way to the Education building.
Though everyone arrived, the room stayed in complete silence.
Only when the Imperial Scholar came in did everyone begin to focus.
He wrote the names from the bottom up.
Chapter 645: First and Second - 645
Skymender nearly held his breath as he watched the names appear. He saw many names, some of which he had become familiar with and some of which he still didn't know.
Around the classroom, he heard many sighs and other noises of disappointment. Finally, he reached the top five without his name being written.
He watched with expectance as the fifth place name was written.
Charles.
Next was fourth place. Not him. Third place. Not him.
This meant that he was in the top two.
Second place… Not him.
He could barely stop himself from laughing. He, a ten year old, outsmarted all of these people.
As expected, his name was written in the first place spot.
"This test was harder, so more intelligence points will be given. First place, 5 points. Second place, three points. Third place, one point."
That put his points at ten total.
"Alright. Next, we will begin to study biology, the study of life. This field is far more in depth than the field of space. It should take a little longer to get through it all. Let's start now."
The Imperial Scholar began to lecture. Skymender left the Education building rather late, while the sun was barely hanging on.
He considered going to the place he usually ate at, but with ten points, he had new options.
He started at a green restaurant. Its walls were made of jade-like material and plants were growing around it. A vine hung down blocking the entrance. In front of it was a sign that said ten points.
Skymender brushed aside the vines and walked through the entrance. An elegant looking woman stood at the front counter, wearing a jade green dress.
"Welcome to the Jade Tea Manor. Please have a seat anywhere you would like."
Skymender nodded and walked upstairs.
Up here was a beautiful balcony he had seen before. He sat at the only table on the balcony and looked at a menu. After a brief moment, the woman came up.
"What can I get for you?"
Skymender pointed at a random tea.
She nodded. "Coming right up."
She returned downstairs and came back up less than five minutes later carrying a tea cup on a plate.
Skymender enjoyed the calming drink as the sun finally fell. He soon left and returned to his room, studying and falling asleep.
The next morning, a similar cycle to that of when they were studying space repeated.
Skymender learned over a long period of time, came back and ate, then studied, and finally fell asleep.
This lasted nearly two weeks. They finally finished after being in the Imperial Scholar Camp for an entire month.
Skymender now had a total of eighteen points.
Today, the Imperial Scholar announced the end of the biology section.
"It has been a while, and we are finally done. I can't claim that you know everything about biology, but you now have a firm grasp over it that most will never achieve in their entire lives. The medical section would have lasted just as long if we had not already finished the biology section. We can probably cut that down to a week. The biology exam is tomorrow. Prepare."
Skymender returned to his room and studied heavily through the night. The next morning, he returned. After introductions, the Imperial Scholar took them to another room. As soon as they entered, it felt as if they had left the building and entered a forest. The roof was open, allowing the sun to shine in, and an entire wild garden took over the room.
"Plants, animals, water, all life that can survive in this habitat are here. Note down as many as you can, all the information you remember about them, and where you found them. You will be scored based on this. No cheating, or you will be kicked out of the Imperial Scholar Camp. You may not realize it, but there are eyes everywhere in here. Start… Now."
Skymender quickly walked over to the side and began to mark everything he saw and recognized down.
He had a bit of advantage in this field as well due to his study of poison, though not much. He had mostly focused on poisonous plants back then.
Perhaps in the medicine section he would have an even greater advantage.
He spent nearly an entire hour straight writing. He did not know absolutely everything, but he had confidence in his knowledge.
After an hour, they were summoned back by a sound. Not a single person dared to write down after they heard the sound. Nobody knew what the Imperial Scholar was capable of.
They returned, and the Imperial Scholar collected all of their notes.
"On to section two, a more standardized format."
He led them back to the room and handed out normal test papers. Some questions had pictures. Some only had words.
Some asked for you to identify a plant based on a picture, while others asked you to identify a plant based on its properties.
With only two weeks of studying, even if everyone was extremely talented and the Imperial Scholar himself was teaching them, it was impossible to know all of the answers.
After another hour, the test was taken up.
The next day, they came in again.
Names were written from the bottom up.
Skymender watched as he made the top five again, then the top three. Just as he thought he was going to get first place, he was written down second. Instead, the name Charles resided at the top of the board.
He looked over at Charles, who looked back at him with a serious gaze. It was much less friendly than when they met. Clearly, he felt much less confident than before, even with his possibly perfect memory.
Skymender already knew why someone with a perfect memory could fail to get first place every time.
It was because there was a difference in memory and comprehension. He only wondered if Charles had realized that yet. If he had, then the rest of the Imperial Scholar Camp would be much more challenging.
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