Chi Lin clenched his teeth. He didn't know how good his memory was; he only knew this was his one chance to turn things around this year. Otherwise, he'd have to try again next year.
Soon, everyone had received their copied sheets and sat down at their desks.
But when they saw what was on the first page, most of them wore long faces.
Military strategy!
They couldn't even understand it. How were they supposed to memorize it?
Some instinctively flipped to the second page, while others stayed on the first, seemingly searching for a way to commit it to memory.
Lu Xian's brows knitted together. He stared at the first page for a long while before finally turning to the second.
Watching from the platform, Lu Hong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been afraid Lu Xian would stubbornly stick to the military strategy and waste too much time. Fortunately, he hadn't lingered long.
He looked toward Chu Ming at the back. Chu Ming was still on the first page, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
Clearly, the boy didn't know how to adapt.
With Lu Xian displaying such talent in the memory exam, Lord Feng was sure to take a liking to him. Then his future career...
My son's set.
But the thought had barely crossed his mind when he saw Chu Ming swiftly turn to the second page.
Lu Hong's expression shifted for a moment, then quickly returned to normal.
A slow start meant falling behind at every step!
Besides, his son already had an extraordinary memory. That boy named Chu Ming was behind in both talent and time!
Chu Ming looked at the new prompts on his panel, surprise flickering in his eyes.
[Art of War (Beginner): Troop Deployment] [Progress: 1/100]
With the help of his ability to read ten lines at a glance and his photographic memory, he'd memorized the first page in a short while. Then the [Art of War] entry appeared on his panel.
"Military strategy...?"
He pondered it, pausing briefly before continuing to read the sheets on his desk.
The next two pages contained quite a bit more than the first, so they took him a little longer to memorize. Even so, he finished all three pages in less than half a quarter of an hour.
"I still have to wait more than an hour..."
Chu Ming glanced at the military strategy on the first page, feeling a little bored. It described a famous battle.
Thirty years ago, Xiang Yue, commander of the Tiger Armor Army in Xirong Prefecture, had won a battle with a thousand men against ten thousand.
At the time, Xiang Yue had only been a Thousand-Man Commander in the Tiger Armor Army. He'd led a thousand soldiers deep into Southern Barbarian territory on a reconnaissance mission, only to be discovered by the barbarian army.
More than ten thousand barbarians had pursued Xiang Yue. They were in enemy territory, too. Without a miracle, all thousand soldiers—including Xiang Yue, a Thousand-Man Commander at the peak of the Bone Strengthening Realm—would have died in the Southern Barbarians' lands.
Yet despite such a disparity in strength, Xiang Yue had eventually returned to the Great Qin Dynasty with more than seven hundred Tiger Armor soldiers—and the head of the ten-thousand-strong barbarian army's commander in his hand.
He'd prevailed through the art of war!
Know your military strategy, apply it flexibly, and adapt to changing circumstances...
Chu Ming looked at [Art of War] on his panel, deep in thought.
"It's a shame there's so little content. It was enough to unlock [Art of War], but not to increase its progress."
"It looks like I really need to get my hands on Poetry, Politics, and Military Strategy."
Unlike poetry and books, military strategy was hard for ordinary people to study. As far as Chu Ming knew, the only way to improve [Art of War] was to obtain Poetry, Politics, and Military Strategy.
As time passed, the atmosphere in the hall gradually grew livelier.
Some began quietly reciting what they'd memorized, while others swayed their heads...
Feng Yuan didn't stop them. How they memorized the material, whether others disturbed them, and whether they could settle their minds were all part of the test.
Lu Hong had originally wanted everyone to stay quiet so they wouldn't disturb one another, but after Feng Yuan signaled him, he could only let it go.
Time passed, and an hour soon went by.
Of course, "soon" applied to everyone except Chu Ming. He'd managed to sit still for the first half-hour, but after that, he began to grow restless.
Mostly because he was thirsty. He'd been at the school for more than half a day. Apart from some meat porridge in the morning, he hadn't had a drop of water.
And ever since he'd begun cultivating the improved Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique, his body had been getting hungry more easily.
He hadn't expected this to take so long. Now he was both hungry and thirsty...
Feng Yuan had noticed all of it.
"What's with this kid? He stayed calm through the earlier Academy Exam, and even a quarter of an hour before the memory exam he was perfectly composed. Why is he getting more and more restless?"
"Can't remember it?"
He sighed inwardly.
If Chu Ming couldn't remember the material, that proved his talent was lacking. But he'd come first in the Academy Exam, so he must have worked hard. If he kept at it, perhaps he could still accomplish something in the future.
But if the second half of the memory exam was any indication, his impatience meant he'd probably never amount to much.
Lu Xian and the other two, on the other hand, were a little restless too, but they were managing to keep it under control.
"Time's up."
At Lu Hong's announcement, the young men hurriedly put down their sheets.
"You have a quarter of an hour to rest."
Everyone felt a weight lift from their shoulders. Whether they rested or not didn't matter; they just needed a chance to take care of their immediate needs.
Hearing they had a quarter of an hour to rest, Chu Ming slowly stood up, left the school, and went out to the street. He took out a few copper coins and bought a flatbread, washing it down with some water. At last, his hunger subsided.
By the time he returned to the school, Teacher Lu Hong and Lord Feng Yuan were already gone.
But... a scene he couldn't make sense of was unfolding before him—Huang Lu was surrounded by a crowd.
Huang Lu clutched two root-like things in his hand while the others fought over them.
"Heh, let me tell you, Chu Ming—Brother Chu—ate the Yellow Bright Root my dad sells. Not only did he recover from his illness, he even came first in the Academy Exam!"
"I've only got two. Highest bidder gets them."
"Hey, look, Brother Chu's back."
Chu Ming raised his brows and calmly walked outside.
The fresh air was better out there.
But he could still hear some of what was being said inside.
"I've got ten copper coins."
"Thirty."
"Fifty. I can't go any higher!"
"Brother Huang Lu, give me one. I'll take you to the Green Bamboo Pavilion tonight for a feast."
"All right, all right. Here, Brother Chi Lin, take it."
"I'll pay sixty. Anyone still trying to outbid me?"
Silence fell. Then Huang Lu's voice rang out: "Here you go, Brother Guan Chong."
Carrying medicinal ingredients around with him?
He couldn't understand it.
Huang Lu's little scheme of using the medicinal ingredients to drive up the price didn't last long. The quarter-hour soon passed, and the young men returned to their desks.
"Begin," Lu Hong said in a solemn voice. "You only have a quarter of an hour. Write down as much as you can."
At his words, the young men began writing furiously, afraid that every passing moment would make them lose a little more of what they'd memorized.
Most of them had written only a few short passages before they began racking their brains. The agony on their faces was plain to see, but their pens wouldn't touch the page.
Lu Xian wrote slowly and steadily. Lu Hong watched him and nodded inwardly.
Guan Chong and Chi Lin, who'd taken the enlightening herbs, were also writing quietly. Perhaps the herbs really had helped?
But Huang Lu, the seller, was staring blankly at his desk. Aside from his name, he'd written less than two lines.
Compared to Huang Lu's composure, Chu Ming seemed somewhat flustered.
He'd certainly memorized everything, but he hadn't practiced writing much, so he had no advantage in speed.
A quarter of an hour might not be enough to finish.
"When I get back, I'll have to grind away at writing practice. Maybe I can grind out a related skill..."
On the platform, Feng Yuan looked at Chu Ming's somewhat frantic expression, then at his stiff grip on the brush. Disappointment filled his eyes.
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