NOVEL NEXT Chapter 15: The final exam
After washing the ink from my nails, I went to the cafeteria. I was not about to forget my first school lunch date so I only bought some light snacks and told the cafeteria’s cook to expect at least two of us at lunch time.
My next stop was the library. Instead of asking the library clerk about the freezing winter directly, I just browsed around section by section. Eventually, I found a series of books about the history of AnNan city that contained major events including weather calamities. There were 5 volumes so I picked the first one. From the introduction, the city was created more than 10 thousand years ago. It talked about how and who created the city, heroes of the past and a very bad winter 500 years after the city was built. There were only a few sentences that explained the effect of that winter and nothing more. By the time I finished the book, only the first 2 thousand years were mentioned and the bad winter happened twice more.
I took notes on the dates and copied every sentence mentioning it. To be safe, I even wrote down the dates of other natural disasters that occurred such as droughts, flooding, inexplicable earthquakes and plagues.
The weird thing was that lunar and solar eclipses were given more details in the book than natural disasters despite not affecting citizens so I noted them down too. I could play around to estimate the next eclipses in my free time. My dad - of my 2nd life - was an astronomer before opening the coffee shop. He loved explaining to me how old times researchers used constellations for their theories and the ancient myths surrounding them… I could start right now but I had to focus on my objectives first. Work first, play later
When I checked the time, I was about to be late for lunch so I quickly left the library and ran to the cafeteria. Lei Sui was waiting for me.
“I am sorry for making you wait” I apologized while breathing heavily. I need to start exercising
“Hello Shin-ge, I just arrived and was about to order. What do you suggest?” answered Sui-er
“No need, I already ordered some food” then I waved to the cafeteria’s chef. I already paid generously - with spiritual stones - so I got some food with spiritual energy. I wanted the best for the first fellow student who talked to me. Sui-er’s eyes sparkled when the food was delivered. There was so much food that more than half was left after we overfilled our stomach. The food was served in boxes so it was convenient to store the leftovers in the ring for the trio back at the courtyard
We did not talk while eating so we finished pretty quickly. While walking to digest the food I asked
“So Sui-er, how did you find the food?”
“Sooo good. My dad insists on cooking himself for the family but he is not a great cook... Even with the cooking lessons he takes occasionally, he is still not skilled…We all say the food is good to not hurt his feelings though”
“He prepares lunch for me early in the morning to take with me. He always takes me personally to school so I cannot stop on the way to buy food. Before today, I never dared to try cafeteria food as all rumors said it was inedible”
“Your father seems to be pretty nice and loves you” I said with a little, just a little, bit of envy
“He is. My daddy is the best!” said Sui-er with shiny eyes
“Anyway, I could tell him that I tried cafeteria food with a friend and it is good enough that he does not have to wake up so early to cook for me” Said Sui-er with a big smile. I was just happy to be called a friend“Good. Could we walk slowly toward the exam pavilion? I have to be there in 30 min” I asked.
“Sure! My music lesson starts at 2PM so I have a lot of time. I thought Intermediate exams are tomorrow”
“I am taking the advanced one. After today I hope to start cultivation theory and be away from that bully group that bothered me yesterday” I wonder where they were. I expected them to retaliate by now or at least make me late for the exam
By the time we arrived at the exam pavilion, teacher Huo and 2 older students were already there. I thanked Sui-er for following me and he wished me good luck before leaving. He turned after a few steps and showed a ‘you can do it’ hand sign before running away.
After I greeted master Huo and the 2 other students, the dean and another teacher soon arrived.
“You three are going to take the exam at the same time. First, we will check if you have any cheating tools. You will have a maximum of 3 hours and are not allowed to go out before submitting the papers” said the dean. He was much more relaxed than yesterday.
“Any questions?” This was not our first exam so there were none
The dean and the other two teachers used different tools and checked each of our bodies to make sure we were cheat-free. They took much more time with me than the other 2 students. Mostly because the other 2 were from the free section, they had no money to buy advanced cheating tools while I could afford them. Also, they were much older than me so the dean must think they were more mature and less likely to try cheating. A rich 10 year old like me usually do not take final exam to go to boring cultivation theory classes
We chose our seats and waited for the exam to start. The dean used a token on the front wall and 3 boxes emerged. Each was labeled as ‘Advanced-1’ to ‘Advance-2’ and ‘advanced-3’. The dean picked a paper from the first box while both teachers picked from the other 2 boxes. There were 2 papers glued magically together, a blue and a white one. The white one had the questions while the blue one had the answers.
After removing the blue paper, the dean personally duplicated the white one. We would get the ones numbered from 1 to 3. Each had 10 questions so for 3 hours we had to answer 30 in total. Some were easy while others were hard. Usually, no one expected us to answer all questions on time. The passing grade was 15 good answers - there were no half good answers in cultivation worlds -
You get an award achievement if you get a perfect score and that happens once every few decades. I got 25 good answers in my beginner and intermediate exams and I expect to get at least that for this one.
At exactly 1PM the exam started. I chose to start with paper number 3; arithmetic …
2 hours later I was bored. I could technically give my answers now and leave early but the coachman would be here at 4PM and not before. I could go to the library but by the time I arrived I would have less than 30 to read volume 2 of the history of AnNan city. Not enough time to finish it.
Teacher Huo got close to me and said softly as to not disturb the other 2 students
“If you are done we can take the paper back and grade it right away. You would get the result before leaving for the day” Great! I could do that.
I gave him my answers and started to doodle on the unused paper while teacher Huo started grading. When he was done, he gave the paper to the other teacher - he did not tell us his name but he was a stern looking old man -
The 2nd teacher confirmed the grading before giving it to the dean who took twice longer than both teachers combined to approve it. Final advanced exams were so important that attempted cheating would expel you not only from school but from the city too. Teachers who helped cheating could be beheaded. As for cultivation theory, the exam was a practical one. No one really cheats there because the knowledge is more important than the grade itself
By the time I drew a dragon sleeping in a bamboo forest, the 3 hours were up. After collecting the papers of the other students, the dean congratulated me for getting a perfect score and exchanged my advanced student token for a new one. Tomorrow, I could go directly to cultivation theory classes with the new token and will get my diploma in the afternoon with the school award achievement. I am now considered a graduate student and can leave school at any time without adult supervision. I considered that another birthday gifts
