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.
Chapter 650: New Leaderboard - 650
At fifth was Miria. At third was Skymender. Second was Luke. At first was Charles. They all shared looks between each other. Although someone besides the four had gotten fourth place, it was unknown whether or not they would remain there.
With the leaderboard updated, the Imperial Scholar passed out another section of the test.
It lasted an hour, and the grading process was relatively quick.
The Imperial Scholar soon updated the leaderboard again.
Miria fourth, Skymender third, Luke second, and Charles first.
Luke glared at Charles for a moment before becoming completely serious.
The next test was handed out. It was unknown how many there were, but logically, it wouldn't exceed eight.
This was the third. The questions were definitely harder, with some that Skymender had never even seen and simply had to guess on.
While the Imperial Scholar taught a lot, he also placed importance on self study and self learning.
Therefore, there were questions on the test that Skymender did not know. This was not simply to cause him to lose points for not knowing it, but to give those who self studied it the opportunity to use what they learned.
The third test soon came to a conclusion. Papers were collected up and answers graded. After a bit longer than last time, the Imperial Scholar changed the leaderboard.
Miria, fourth place, Skymender, third place, Charles, second place, Luke, first place.
Luke and Charles shared a look.
It seemed to be a two way battle at the moment.
Skymender took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
After a while, he opened them.
The next sections would be even harder, and what he had self studied were the harder problems. He still had the chance to surpass them in the coming rounds.
After the fourth test, the rankings were the same.
However, as the fifth test started, there was a clear difference in difficulty. Even on the first question, Skymender had to pause and think.
He began to move through the test swiftly, faster than everyone else. It was not necessarily because he knew it all, but because he had practiced what he had already known so much that his speed was increased, and also because he didn't waste time on questions he didn't know.
After about half of the time passed, Skymender finished. He then went back and did everything he hadn't known off the top of his head, the number of which had continuously grown until the end.
The time soon ended and tests were taken up. When the leaderboards were rewritten, Skymender was in second place, while Luke had actually been knocked back to third place and Charles made it to first once again. Miria stayed firm at fourth.
The sixth test was handed out. It was even harder than the last. The rankings did not change at its conclusion. The seventh test was handed out, and after it was graded, the rankings did not change.
Finally, the eighth test came. It was the hardest by far. It felt like a test filled to the brim with nearly impossible bonus questions.
From the first question, Skymender had a headache. It would be a longshot to get a single question right. He couldn't even tell if the questions were getting harder as he went on. Everything was simply too advanced.
As expected, after the tests were collected and graded, the rankings did not change. Skymender sighed. He had lost to Charles once again. A photographic memory was just too powerful.
"The points gained are as follows. 10 points to first, 5 to second, and 3 to third. Let's return."
They all returned to the classroom and the overall leaderboard was quickly updated.
Charles in first with 43 intelligence points. Skymender in second with 40. Luke in third with 31. Miria in fourth with 30.
It was a close game between Skymender and Charles. However, it seemed that neither Luke nor Miria had a high chance of catching up.
It was getting late, and class was quickly dismissed. Skymender walked towards a different restaurant than usual. It was something he had seen many times, a restaurant requiring 40 points to enter.
He walked through an archway and entered an enclosed yard. Two streams of water flowed at the sides. Even though darkness was approaching, lamps at the side kept everything bright.
He saw fish in ponds and numerous decorations.
He soon entered the main dining area, an outside seating with gentle lights and numerous decorations. A woman came up to him holding a menu.
"Welcome, sir. What can I get for you to drink?"
"I'll have water."
She bowed and backed away. Skymender took a look at the menu. He saw rice, sushi, fish, and many other traditional meals.
Just as he decided what he wanted, the woman returned with a refreshing glass of water. After taking a sip, Skymender ordered a variety of sushi and some shrimp fried rice, though he did not believe for a second that a shrimp was actually frying the rice.
The woman took his order and was about to leave when Skymender asked a question.
"Since Master Chef Garb is one of a kind even in a thousand years, why does it take more intelligence points to eat here?"
As if she had already prepared an answer, she responded. "Although Master Chef Garb is without a doubt the greatest cook in the world and it costs a fortune to have him cook here, the intelligence points cost is not decided on that. Instead, it is based on the price of the food itself, the rarity, and the decorations and atmosphere. Master Chef Garb's food is simpler and far more common, while his decorations are relatively few. That is why only one restaurant is above ours in terms of intelligence points."
Skymender looked in the distance, where a tower second in height only to the Education building stood. He had walked past it many times, but he still found it hard to believe the necessary intelligence points to enter.
"The Tower. It costs one hundred intelligence points to enter, the most expensive location in the Imperial Scholar Camp. Nobody has ever entered."
When she said most expensive, she was referring to intelligence points price, not expensive in of itself.
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I pay my respects to Lord Lu as the greatest webnovel of all time, Star Odyssey, concludes.
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