As a priest of the Order Holy See, Percy had served as Chief Examiner for several years.
This was his pride.
Order Divine Officials possessed a unique trait: their Scales of Order could judge a person's actions.
They could determine whether someone had disrupted order or harmed fairness.
They could detect whether examinees had cheated.
That made them well suited to serving as examiners.
His eyes were sharp as torches, keen as a hawk's. Any student who tried to disrupt the examination hall's order had nowhere to hide. Thus, half an hour into the exam, the hall remained perfectly orderly, filled only with the scratch-scratch-scratch of frantic writing.
All the examinees were completely focused.
When the clock clicked over to the hour, someone raised his hand.
Percy narrowed his eyes and looked at the examinee. This fellow seemed to be from the Border City.
Ansu Morningstar. That was the name written on his paper.
His title was The Newborn?
Percy walked over to him and bent down.
"Mr. Percy, may I hand in my paper?" Ansu asked.
The moment those words left his mouth, the pens of the surrounding examinees trembled.
Where had this animal come from?
The exam had only started half an hour ago, and he was already handing in his paper?!
They immediately began sweating profusely.
Could it be that the questions were actually simple, and only they were struggling so painfully?
Asking whether one could hand in a paper was a normal right of an examinee.
It passed the judgment of the Scales of Order.
"You may only hand in your paper one hour after the exam begins," Priest Percy patiently explained. "If you have finished, check it carefully."
There were plenty of students who did not understand the Exam Rules. He encountered them every year; it was perfectly normal.
The only thing that puzzled him was why this young man from the Border City had answered so quickly. Even Saintess Luojia, the top scorer from the previous class, had not been this outrageous.
He had even finished the final question.
Wait, it looked like this bastard had only done the last page!
Percy's expression instantly showed deep respect. The questions before that had not even been started!
Then why had he asked whether he could hand in his paper?
He clearly had not finished.
Was he not afraid Percy would take away his blank paper?
An utterly absurd guess surfaced in Percy's mind. Could it be this kid Ansu knew the Exam Rules and also knew that papers could only be handed in after one hour? Since the time had not yet come, he was certain Percy could not take his paper away.
Ansu had done it on purpose!
He had deliberately made it look as though he had finished.
He had deliberately worked backward, from the end to the beginning.
All to pressure the other examinees!
And all his actions were legal. He had neither cheated nor broken any rules. His actions could pass the judgment of the Eye of Order.
Doing questions backward was not illegal, nor was asking whether he could hand in his paper.
They were all orderly actions, yet they had caused chaos.
Was this kid Chaos God's Chosen?
Percy looked around and noticed that several examinees already wore anxious expressions, occasionally glancing in Ansu's direction.
They had also noticed that Ansu had finished even the last page, and the final major question was filled to the brim.
They were sweating profusely.
"Ahem." Percy coughed and decided to say something to maintain order. "Continue the exam. This student, you have not finished the earlier questions yet."
Percy's words had some calming effect, and the examinees in Hall Three gradually settled down.
Yet a knot remained in their hearts, a faint unease buried deep within them.
Even their thoughts had become somewhat muddled.
Tick-tock, tick-tock. When the clock struck the hour again, another half hour had passed. The instant the time arrived, not a second early or late, this kid Ansu raised his hand again.
This time, Percy was truly furious. He stormed down from the platform.
Since you wanted to disrupt order, he would really take away your blank paper.
Yet when he picked up the paper and looked at it, he found every box filled with answers—and every answer was correct.
This time, Ansu had truly finished.
Thanks to the Mother Goddess of Life's Baptism, his memory was exceptionally good. After more than a month of cramming and frenzied studying, he had already mastered most of the material.
And for humanities questions, memory was the most crucial talent.
Every question had been filled in, and there was no room left for revisions.
There was no need for him to remain in the examination hall.
Actually, Ansu felt rather disappointed. He had observed for quite some time, yet not a single person in the entire hall had cheated.
There was nothing to play with.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Ansu neatly handed in his paper, neatly left his seat, neatly became the first to leave the examination hall, and strode away.
Noticed this scene—especially Priest Percy's expression—the surrounding examinees' hearts suddenly skipped half a beat.
They could even faintly hear him muttering to himself. His voice was deliberately lowered, but not too low—just loud enough to be heard if one listened carefully.
"They were all past questions. Exactly the same. Too easy."
How could there possibly be past questions?
A lie.
Priest Percy's mouth twitched violently. Every question on this paper had been originally written.
Even the final question about the Druid Sect had been newly adapted. There could not possibly be a single identical past question on the market, much less an entire paper of them!
Percy observed the expressions of the surrounding examinees and felt his headache worsening.
Clearly, many of them had heard Ansu's words. At this very moment, they were thinking,
Damn it, what a loss!
No wonder he finished so quickly. Could it be he had seen the original questions?
They were all past questions? Why had I never encountered a single one?
Could it be that everyone except me had done them before?
As an Order Divine Official, Percy could feel unrest spreading through the examinees' hearts.
Yet he could not disqualify Ansu over a single muttered sentence.
Because the Scales of Order judged his actions to be legal and compliant. Everything was determined by the Scales of Order.
First, he had not conveyed any answers. That sentence contained no answer-related information.
Second, he had not disrupted the examination hall's order—he had spoken quietly after leaving the hall.
Priest Percy slowly let out a breath. Fortunately, that bastard had left for good.
He no longer needed to guard against him.
Besides, he had only caused a small amount of unrest. Most examinees would not believe that the Holy See's test had leaked past questions.
But before the heart he had been holding up could settle even halfway, someone else raised a hand.
"Handing in."
The examination hall instantly fell silent.
Someone else was handing in a paper!
The second person, handing in after only one hour.
Could there really have been a leak of past questions?
The chaos spread further, and many examinees began doubting their lives.
Priest Percy turned around and saw a title: Radiant Lion Cub.
A sunny, handsome man with brilliant gold hair, dressed like an elegant young nobleman. His confident smile was like the warm sunlight of early spring.
Arthur Sunny, also from the Border City.
Were all people from the Border City top students?
Priest Percy could only admit his bad luck. He took Arthur's paper, only to find a vast expanse of blank white.
What kind of trick was this?
Many questions had not been answered at all!
".I'm really taking it away, you know?"
Priest Percy asked tentatively. After serving as an examiner for so many years, he had never seen such a tactic. "I'm really taking it away, you know?"
Was this Radiant Lion Cub also trying to imitate that Born, deliberately pretending he had finished so he could hand in his paper and panic the other examinees?
But this time, Percy would not indulge him.
Because he could really collect the paper now. One hour had passed, and he could directly take this blank paper away.
This was playing with fire and getting burned!
"Are you sure you want to hand it in? Then I'll take it."
Percy threatened him. The implied meaning was simple: stop playing that trick and do your questions properly.
Surely this student would no longer dare act so arrogantly.
To Percy's surprise, Arthur nodded with sunny confidence. "Yes, please take it."
This fellow—
Percy stared at Arthur as though looking at a monster. What kind of vicious scheme was this? What kind of evil, chaotic thinking? What kind of resolve!
Most importantly, he truly looked confident, as though he had everything under control.
This fellow would rather deliberately hand in a blank paper early just to ruin the other examinees' state of mind?!
Did the Border City produce nothing but such evil, chaotic monsters?!
Arthur's reason for handing in his paper was actually very simple.
Because Ansu had handed in his paper.
—So Arthur confidently knew he was finished.
Since the exam began, he had been waiting for Ansu to send him the answers!
Yet after waiting and waiting, nothing came. It seemed the money he had given yesterday had not been enough.
Now that Ansu had handed in his paper, there was even less chance of getting anything, so he handed in his paper too.
The heart he had been holding up finally died.
Percy's mouth twitched. He did not believe for a second that Arthur knew nothing. He was already an Acolyte Saint—how could there be someone so stupid?
He must have done it deliberately.
These detestable agents of chaos.
"This student, you have not finished writing yet, have you?" Percy decided to say something to calm the surrounding students. "Do not regret this."
"I will not regret it. Hand it in."
Arthur revealed a sunlit, confident smile and said, "I have fought the good fight. I have no regrets in this life."
"From this day on, the crown of justice shall be kept for me."
I have fought the good fight—he had filled in all the multiple-choice questions.
I have no regrets in this life—once he got home, Father would probably beat him to death.
The crown of justice shall be kept for me—after the exam, he would make that unscrupulous merchant Ansu refund his money!
One could only say that there was a reason he ranked first on the #Most Desirable Saint to Date# list. That smile was truly sunny, confident, and holy—extremely deceptive.
So carefree, so arrogant, so unrestrained and wild.
After seeing Arthur's confident smile, how could the surrounding examinees believe that he had written nothing at all?
Priest Percy must have been afraid they would feel pressured, so he had deliberately said those things to comfort them.
"You may go," Percy said silently.
At that moment, someone else raised a hand.
"Your Grace Percy, I request to hand in my paper."
The third person was handing in early!
The mentality of every examinee in the hall completely exploded.
Damn it, there really had been a leak of past questions, and only they had not reviewed them. Otherwise, how could three people hand in their papers early at the same time? Where could there be so many geniuses?!
—The same thought surfaced in all their minds.
Percy turned to look.
It was a very elegant and handsome man, with the air of a top student. He lightly adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses with his left hand and slowly raised his right.
He looked extremely impressive.
Second place on the #Most Desirable Saint to Date# ranking, Moonlight of the Goddess—
Liszt Muen.
When Priest Percy saw the examinee information on his paper, he felt as though he was about to suffer a stroke.
Damn it, this one was from the Border City too!
These three Born from the Border City!
Liszt was even more confident. He handed in his paper with calm, elegant confidence.
He could not do any of the questions at all. He had written random answers for everything.
But he was very confident because he believed the Goddess would favor him.
Even if he had written random answers, they would be correct.
You had perfectly avoided every correct answer. Priest Percy looked at the paper, his expression as dead as death itself.
The key was that Liszt truly looked elegant, as though he had everything under control. He was highly persuasive and infectious.
None of the examinees around him doubted him.
With three people handing in their papers early in a row, every examinee's mindset completely shattered.
At that moment, Priest Percy had only one thought in his heart:
Rough mountains and harsh waters breed troublesome people!
This chapter was still three thousand words.
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