Two Perfect Scores

Young Master Bai was very unhappy.

He had many reasons to be unhappy. For example, the Begonia Squad of the Secondary Mecha League club he had whimsically established on Academy Star had been utterly crushed by an unknown little team in its first friendly match. Then there was Crow's poor work— the Assault Soldier Crow had found for him was nothing but a slacker drifting from one short-term contract to another. Not only had he wasted Young Master Bai's money, but he had also turned the club's atmosphere into a complete mess. And then there was the fact that he had clearly passed the first Leap Grade Exam at Bo Ning Academy, only to receive an email from the school's board of directors!

"What the hell is the Three Industries Association?"

"And reporters too!"

Lying on the sofa, Young Master Bai pointed disdainfully at the contents of the email. "Did they have to make such a huge deal out of this? I just went to Academy Star, watched one ugly match, and came back only to put up with these assholes?"

"Why are there even reporters who care about this crap? No wonder they can only write these little articles their whole lives. Such huge news broke on Academy Star, and they didn't chase it down. Their standards just aren't high enough!"

After waiting for his young master to vent, the elderly Old Butler smiled. "The Ninth District is a remote backwater, after all. Blue Sea Province has always been one of the regions with the fiercest conflict between commoners and nobles. The frequent changes of Governor in recent years have also been because of this. Even those above are troubled by such matters, so Young Master should not find this situation too surprising."

Young Master Bai flew into a rage. "Do these commoners with nothing better to do think my Guaranteed Admission means I got in through the back door?"

The Old Butler said leisurely, "Guaranteed Admission may not necessarily be going through the back door, but people are often unwilling to believe that someone who looks no different from them could be so much more outstanding."

"Who told you to be so high-profile, getting a perfect score directly on the Leap Grade Exam?"

"One perfect score would have been fine, but the problem is... two perfect scores. That makes it hard for people to believe it was a coincidence."

Young Master Bai showed a trace of curiosity. "Speaking of which, what's the name of the person who got a perfect score like me?"

The Old Butler said thoughtfully, "Ronan."

"Like you, he was admitted through Guaranteed Admission."

Young Master Bai's eyes immediately widened.

"Bai Haitang? Is that a girl?"

Seeing the two solitary names on the list, Ronan could not help feeling a little curious about the other name besides his own.

The information showed that this person, like him, had also entered through Guaranteed Admission.

And on the Leap Grade Exam, they had achieved the exact same score as him—a perfect score.

Ronan could not help recalling the boy who had sat beside him that day.

"It probably isn't him. That name sounds like it belongs to a girl." Ronan thought rather matter-of-factly.

Of course, whether Bai Haitang was male or female was not what Ronan cared about most.

What irritated him most was still the notice in the email.

"...In the interest of fairness, the following two students are requested to participate in a public secondary assessment organized by the school board's special task force, the Three Industries Association, and relevant faculty. This assessment will be conducted under the observation of both school personnel and outsiders, ensuring that the examination content will not be leaked and that the assessment remains fair..."

This result left Ronan both amused and somewhat annoyed.

It turned out that during the two days he had been gone, the huge story spreading like wildfire through Bo Ning Academy was not the great fire on Academy Star or the crash of the UFO aircraft, but the fact that two perfect-score papers had appeared in the first Leap Grade Exam!

What shocked most commoner students even more was that the owners of both papers had been exposed as students who had entered Bo Ning Academy through Guaranteed Admission.

For a time, the entire Bo Ning Academy was focused on this matter.

Especially on social media, this topic had surpassed every other event in popularity and become the subject most discussed by everyone!

People voiced their opinions one after another, and most pointed out the suspicious aspects of the matter.

Two perfect-score papers?

Two students admitted through Guaranteed Admission?

Could this really be a coincidence?

Most people expressed doubt. A small number of more radical individuals even anonymously wrote articles accusing Bo Ning Academy, which had always enjoyed an excellent academic reputation, of having decayed from the top down. There was clearly something wrong with these two papers.

Only a small number remained silent and watched.

For a time, Ronan and Bai Haitang became the two most talked-about names at Bo Ning Academy. Some busybodies connected Ronan's name with the student who had publicly apologized during Ma Haohai's open lecture, suggesting that Ronan might possess an exceptionally frightening level of knowledge. They were immediately blasted by others. Even poor Ma Haohai, who had apologized in earnest, was dragged into the abuse, with people claiming he was simply building hype for Ronan and putting on a show.

In the eyes of conspiracy theorists, the world was full of dark secrets no matter what.

A flood of radical remarks filled the academy's social network, while the people at the center of the matter remained relatively calm.

Ronan noticed that the news of him and Bai Haitang both receiving perfect scores had been exposed by an organization called the Three Industries Association. After looking into it a little, he discovered that the Three Industries Association was the most influential student organization at Bo Ning Academy. It had originally been founded to help commoner students share educational resources, but over the course of its development, through the efforts of several generations, it had gradually become a relatively comprehensive organization with considerable influence throughout the academy.

The student representatives of the Three Industries Association had played the most important role in escalating this incident. They had exposed Ronan and Bai Haitang's exam results and related information, and through private channels, had also made a great show of inviting reporters from Emerald Star United Press to write articles specifically for the education section, openly questioning whether Bo Ning Academy's "fairness and justice" had become nothing more than empty words.

Now, not only was all of Azure Ring Island closely watching the matter, but many corners of the Emerald Star Region had also been affected by the news. Countless eyes were fixed on Bo Ning Academy.

By Sunday morning, even personnel from relevant departments of the Blue Sea Province government had no choice but to make statements, saying that Bo Ning Academy needed to clarify the matter to the public—especially ordinary citizens.

That was why the board of directors had personally sent Ronan this email.

Ronan already understood the general sequence of events.

But he was still extremely displeased.

Because the time for the reassessment stated in the email was tomorrow morning.

There would not only be many onlookers then, but even reporters, student representatives from the Three Industries Association—and very likely others as well.

He hated the feeling of being watched like some rare animal.

He had no good solution to it.

The only consolation was that he was not alone.

Of course, the situation on social media was not entirely one-sided.

The small aristocratic circle led by Lin Chenluo openly spoke up for Ronan; many students from Ronan's class had also been won over by that piece of Elven Script. They believed that Bai Haitang's level of knowledge was impossible to gauge, but Ronan's ability was beyond doubt. Reassessing him would be unfair to Ronan.

Even Ma Haohai, who had previously found Ronan objectionable in every way, made a rare statement. Though his post was brief—"I believe Ronan has the ability to achieve a perfect score in the Leap Grade Exam."

Yet that single sentence brought who knew how many trolls flooding beneath Ma Haohai's account.

Under the shield of anonymity, cyberbullying was common in any world.

They believed that Ma Haohai, who had always presented himself as a representative of commoners, had become a lackey of the aristocrats and betrayed his own side. Faced with the malice of public opinion for the first time, Ma Haohai could only remain silent.

Wei Wei and Wang Xiaoman both sent Ronan messages. The former encouraged him not to pay attention to those online trolls, while the latter shyly and simply said that she believed in him.

Ronan politely replied to each of them.

Then, after briefly memorizing the time and location of tomorrow's exam, he began doing his own thing.

Deciphering the witchcraft manual in his hands—nothing fascinated a wizard more than learning new witchcraft.

Early the next morning, after completing the Eleven Arts, Ronan got up early and headed out.

But when he stepped out of the dormitory, he was somewhat stunned to see that the newly opened breakfast shop across the hall was still operating as usual!

The person selling breakfast was a little girl with a broad space between her eyebrows. She rarely smiled or spoke.

A lazy dog lay sprawled inside the shop. Its name seemed to be Shaobing.

Morning~ As usual, please vote for recommendations.