Chapter 648: Three Way Race - 648
After class was dismissed, at the same time as usual, Skymender and Miria met up at the restaurant.
They studied intensely while Chef Master Garb made their food in the background, as enthusiastic as ever.
They eventually ate and went their separate ways.
The next day, Skymender went to the Education building.
He entered the room and sat down, waiting for the Imperial Scholar to arrive. The Imperial Scholar arrived at the same time as always.
"Alright. Everyone follow me."
Skymender stood up and the class was led through the doors.
They walked through the hallway for a while before entering a room they had never entered before. Inside were a bunch of people laying on beds, medical equipment, and doctors.
"For today's test, I moved a hospital here. You all will take a piece of paper and examine people's conditions. You will get points based on whether or not you correctly identified what was wrong with the patient. You can also get bonus points for providing methods to cure or help a patient."
He handed them all a piece of paper and a writing utensil, sending them off. Skymender went around as fast as he could, identifying conditions and the remedies for those conditions.
After two hours passed, Skymender heard the Imperial Scholars voice. The test was over, and they all returned.
"You will get your scores tomorrow. Go on."
Skymender left.
He did not meet up with Miria as there was nothing to study at the moment. Instead, he simply walked around the Imperial Scholar Camp, looking around.
As he did so, he ran into a familiar face.
It was Charles.
They walked towards each other on a narrow street. It was more than big enough for two people to walk side by side, but it forced the both of them to notice each other.
Charles spoke. "Skymender. I hope you did well on this test."
"Likewise." Skymender responded.
"I sure hope that you don't begin to lose already. Otherwise, the Imperial Scholar Camp would no longer be as interesting."
"I'll hold on, don't worry." Skymender said.
Though some of their words were said nicely, they looked at each other coldly.
"I heard you've been hanging out with Miria. Do you have a crush?" Charles said.
"She's twice my age. I'll pass. Besides, she came to me. I guess she's worried about you. If she didn't offer me information, I wouldn't have agreed. After all, I don't need help to win against you."
Charles laughed. "Don't speak too much. Your throat might act up."
Skymender smiled below his mask and took out a vial. "Would you like a throat like mine? I can give it to you."
Charles looked at the liquid surprised. He naturally did not dare to agree.
Skymender stepped forward, beginning to walk past him.
Charles' leg moved, nearly tripping Skymender. "Oops."
Skymender let a double sided vial out of his clutch. "Oops."
The vial smashed on the ground, corroding it immediately. Charles backed up in surprise and fear.
"Be careful. Next time, who's to say it won't drop on you."
Charles did not say a word as Skymender left. His impression of Skymender had completely changed.
When they first met, he had tried getting to know him. Later, he viewed Skymender as a threat, someone nearly equal to him.
Finally, he viewed Skymender as a dangerous enemy.
Unknowingly, he had put Skymender and him at equal levels in his mind.
The same could not be said for Skymender, who viewed Charles as an arrogant brat relying on his talent to succeed.
Skymender continued to look around, but didn't find any really interesting places. The only one worth noting that he could actually enter was something called a trampoline park. He had a bit of fun there.
Eventually, he returned to his room and relaxed. With its increased size and the gentle light of the setting sun that came through the window, Skymender felt at peace.
He took a book and read it while there was still light. This did not last long, and the sun soon fell. Skymender went to sleep early, getting more sleep than usual.
He arrived at the Education building on time, and the Imperial Scholar entered at 8 AM sharp.
He did not waste a moment, writing names from the bottom up.
Third was Miria. Only Skymender and Charles remained.
However, the Imperial Scholar did not write a name. Instead, he erased the 2 and wrote a one. He then wrote Skymender and Charles. It did not matter the order.
"Somehow, two managed to tie with each other this time. The system wasn't designed for ties, and the odds of it are very low, but whatever, it happened. First place gets five points, third place gets one."
Skymender's points reached 29, while Charles' points went higher as well. How high exactly, Skymender was unaware.
He did not remain unaware for long as the Imperial Scholar, still on the ladder, moved over to the side of the board, where the leaderboard rankings were.
He started from the bottom up, changing either names or points. The changes being made were for the entirety of the medical section.
Skymender was in first place with 29. Charles was just behind with 27.
Miria, though in third, was further behind with 25 points.
It felt like a three way race, with only two possible winners. Of course, those behind were not very far behind and should not be completely counted out, but the odds of another contender emerging was very small.
The Imperial Scholar began to talk. "English and Science. We are done with both for now. Around a month and a week has passed since the start of the Imperial Scholar Camp, and I have seen great improvement from everyone. Next, we will begin the Math section. Beware, things will get complicated here. Math is the foundation of everything, the language of the Universe so to speak. When we are done, you will have completely transformed. Let's begin."
The Imperial Scholar started from the beginning, with addition and subtraction.
Chapter 649: Math Test - 649
As if they were children, the Imperial Scholar began to explain the very fundamentals of math, down to the existence of numbers. At first, everyone could understand it without even the slightest issue. They barely had to think. However, as the Imperial Scholar went deeper and deeper, people began to focus.
Eventually, nearing the end of the class, he was still talking about addition and subtraction, but the depths he went into made everyone struggle to understand it.
Class was eventually dismissed, and Skymender studied with Miria at the usual restaurant. Occasionally, others would come in. After so much time, twenty points was not rare to have any more.
However, most only came a few times, and nobody really paid attention to each other. That was until a middle aged, nearly old man walked up.
"I'm not surprised to see you again, Miria." He said.
Miria looked over at him coldly. "Luke. What do you want?"
He smiled, though it was clear he was not happy at all. It was more provocative than anything else. "Don't tell me you're still hung up on last time. It's not that serious, don't you know?"
"We're not friends. What do you want?"
Luke moved around and sat on the other side of the circular seating, nearly blocked by fire. "Just eating. Don't think I'm here to see you."
The fire settled down and Master Chef Garb turned his attention to Luke.
"Hello again, Luke. You don't look a day under 40."
Although his words sounded rude, he spoke them merrily.
Luke smiled back at him. "I'm still only 26. Don't count me out yet."
"Haha! What can I get for you?"
Luke and Master Chef Garb began to speak, and so did Skymender and Miria.
"Was he also someone who attended the last Imperial Scholar Camp?" Skymender asked.
Miria nodded. "In addition to that, he was also the winner."
Skymender was surprised. "He doesn't seem like much. He is the one in fourth place, right?"
Miria nodded. "Luke is not someone you should take at face value. He hides in plain sight, unthreatening, but as the end nears, he will attack, and from my experience, he will win."
"Is he more of a threat than Charles?"
"I'm not sure, but we may see after this next test. If he is going to bare his fangs, now would be a good time to start."
After briefly warning him about the hidden threat of Luke, Miria and Skymender once again began to study.
Eventually, their food was ready and they ate.
Skymender returned to his room. He fell asleep and went to class the next day.
The Imperial Scholar moved on from addition and subtraction to multiplication and division. Naturally, this was even more in depth than addition and division were.
It got harder to understand much faster than it had yesterday.
He talked about these two for the entire class before dismissing them. The next day, he went over something more complicated, and the day after that, something even more complicated. Through his teachings and everyone's talent, it was quite easy for the class to move quickly for even the most complicated of subjects.
They went over math for a while, and when they finished, it had been two months since the start of the Imperial Scholar Camp. There was only a single month left to go.
Skymender now had thirty five Intelligence points, and was still at the top of the leaderboard.
The test was nearing, and it was undoubtedly an important one. There would only be a single test for the entire math section, and it would most likely be worth more intelligence points than all of the others so far.
It would be a deciding factor to the overall winner of the Imperial Scholar Camp.
At the end of the last lecture, where everything was wrapped up, the Imperial Scholar announced the test.
"Tomorrow, the math test will be taking place. It is very important and will most likely completely rearrange the standing. Come prepared. This will be the toughest so far."
With this, Skymender left. He did not meet up with Miria like usual, but returned to his room to study alone. They had already talked about everything he was going over, he was just going over it again.
He completely focused himself, not registering anything outside of his mind and what he needed to study.
When he came to, it was time to go to sleep. He woke up the next morning ready.
He walked to the Imperial Scholar Camp, where he sat down until the Imperial Scholar entered the room.
"We will be doing this test differently than a usual test, though that in itself is usual here, I suppose. Everyone follow me."
He walked out of the room, and everyone followed. They were led to a room which was filled with Scholars. The door led to the center of a room, which was lower in level than the seats that surrounded the circular area. It resembled a colosseum from ancient times.
All around the upper area were Scholars, at least twenty, holding paper and writing utensils.
"This test will be held in sections. After each section, your tests will be quickly scored, and the leaderboards shall update. I hope that you all perform well. Take a seat."
In the middle of the circular area were enough seats for all of the students. They were equally spaced apart and gave every student ample room.
Everything was passed out, including loads of paper and writing utensils. Finally, the test paper was given and the first section of the test began.
It felt rather simple, though there were indeed some harder questions later on.
After an hour, the test papers were taken back up and handed out to the Scholars in the room. Some students' papers were handed out to multiple Scholars since there were more Scholars than students.
They naturally had answer keys, and by splitting up into sections, the grading was done relatively fast.
The Imperial Scholar began to write the leaderboards on a large board.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
stone 
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