The Road to Becoming an Academic Genius

"Your calculation was obviously wrong, Link. It should be like this..."

A string of calculus-related terms came from the mouth of an eight-year-old girl. Even though she had slowed down her explanation, Link still had to concentrate completely and interrupt her from time to time, thinking carefully before he could keep up with her pace.

The feeling was not pleasant, but it allowed him to build up his knowledge more quickly. After all, having someone explain things was far more efficient than grinding through books by himself.

There were no online courses in those days, and Link's family could not afford to hire a private tutor. So, deliberately currying favor with the girl in front of him and using her to speed up his studies was important.

Whenever Link thought about how much university-level knowledge he had acquired from Peggy lately, and how studying with her had made the effects of his intelligence increase even more obvious, he felt that enduring this humiliation was worthwhile.

Sometimes, Link wondered whether, once his intelligence kept increasing and his IQ surpassed 140, he would no longer suffer such an obvious intellectual crushing. Well, perhaps it would have to be even higher than that.

"...I feel like your learning progress is getting slower and slower. At this rate, perhaps you'll soon be completely unable to understand what I'm studying," Peggy concluded after the lesson ended.

"...Peggy, have I ever told you that you're very likely to lose friends this way?"

"Of course I remember you saying that. Other than you, I don't have any other friends willing to discuss these things with me. But I don't think you'll mind. After all, I'm smart and pretty. Mom said good girls like me are easily forgiven."

"...Yes, a good girl..." What could Link do when faced with such a brat? Although her IQ was high, and her emotional intelligence was better than that of ordinary children, she was still an eight-year-old girl. In particular, her high intelligence from a young age had filled her with the pride and arrogance common among geniuses. Naturally, she would not care about Link's pitiful self-esteem.

If he had been an ordinary teenager, he would have fallen out with her long ago. Fortunately, Link was an adult who had already taken society's beatings, so he could see the pros and cons more clearly.

Asking him to spend a considerable sum on a private tutor was obviously an impossible task at this stage.

As an adult who placed greater importance on practical benefits, so long as she could bring him advantages, Link would naturally choose to ignore the slight displeasure caused by her childish behavior. He would just treat it as humoring a child.

"So, are you getting ready to go home now? It's time for you to head back and rest," Link said, checking the clock as he prepared to send her away.

"It's still early. How about we play Go? Come to think of it, this board game from China that you recommended is quite interesting too. I've been studying it these past few days."

As she spoke, Peggy stood up directly from her seat, ran to the cabinet beside them, opened a drawer, and took out the Go board and stones inside.

She's really making herself at home. This brat seems to have started treating this place like her own house. Link could not help complaining inwardly.

But to keep this little experience-point generator happy, he still had to set up the board with Peggy, then play rock-paper-scissors with her to decide who took black and who took white...

"Link!"

"Yeah?"

"I heard you're planning to attend high school?"

"That's right. If nothing unexpected happens, I'll be attending Lola High School after this summer break."

"My mom is also planning to send me to middle school. But I believe that in a year, I'll be able to enter high school too. Then we can attend high school together."

"I don't think that's very likely."

"Why?"

"It's simple. Your mother will definitely find a way to send you to a better private school."

"...That's true. That means the gap between our academic levels will widen even faster. Perhaps I need to consider revising some of the parameters..."

"Peggy!"

"Yeah?"

"...It's your turn!"

"Fine, let me see... I won!" Peggy immediately declared the match over, then summarized, "You lost by one less point today. It seems hard work does help!"

"...I'm starting to be glad that my family doesn't have money. After we started saving up for my sister's university tuition, we couldn't afford to send me to private middle school."

After patiently seeing the nuisance off, Link continued studying until eleven before getting ready for bed.

That was part of his daily routine now. It was not that he did not want to study later, but considering his age, staying up any later would affect his condition the next day.

Over the next period of time, aside from steadily deepening his studies, Link spent his spare time preparing for the SSAT Exam. He did not have much time, and before he knew it, the day of the SSAT Exam had arrived.

After the alarm went off at seven, he got ready, ate oatmeal with milk for breakfast, and Lisa drove him to the test center.

The test center was actually at Link's own school. After all, there were only a few schools in the small town, while some private schools were somewhat farther away and usually required two or three hours of driving.

After asking the security guard, Link found his examination room and took his seat. Since it was the last examination room, the classroom was not full. There were only a dozen or so examinees in total, and the other desks did not have admission numbers posted on them.

A student sitting in front of him turned around. Link recognized him as a student from his school, though he had never paid attention to him and did not even know his name.

However, the moment the other student saw Link, his eyes clearly lit up. He lowered his voice and said, "Link, I'm your classmate. I know your grades are great. Can you give me the answers for the math section?"

Just as Link frowned slightly, he heard him continue, "Don't worry, I won't shortchange you. How about three hundred US Dollars? As long as I do well on the test, the money is yours."

The teacher had already entered the classroom. Link answered quietly, "Before I get the money, everything you say is bullshit. Afterward, you'll have ten thousand excuses not to pay me.

"So go fool some other student. I won't help you. If you dare turn around again or harass me, I'll tell that proctor in the hallway about your suggestion just now and make a cheating record follow you for the rest of your life."

"...Relax, man. I really will pay you."

When the other student kept talking, he saw Link's expression and seemed as though he had been seen through. Then he noticed Link looking toward the proctor in the hallway. With a guilty conscience, he immediately turned back and stopped bothering him.

Cheating or taking tests for others was not exactly unusual. Some students from poor families who were good at studying might earn a sum of money by taking exams for others.

Not to mention what he had heard about in this life, but in his previous life, Link had watched an American drama called Shameless, where the protagonist had repeatedly taken exams for others and was eventually discovered by a professor serving as a proctor.

Fortunately, that professor admired the protagonist's high intelligence and instead gave him an opportunity to attend the University of Chicago.

But in Link's view, that was entirely the result of the protagonist's luck exploding. In reality, any student who did such a thing was undoubtedly walking a tightrope and gambling with their future.

A country like the United States placed great importance on integrity. If someone was found to have a record of cheating, it meant they had a serious stain on their honesty and might even be expelled because of it.

No outstanding school would ever admit a student of poor character who had cheated. Even if they were accepted by a university, companies would not want them either. Link had personally seen such examples in this life, so there was no way he would take that kind of risk.

After confirming that Link was not easy to fool, the student in front of him truly did not disturb him again. Once the teacher briefly explained the examination rules and disciplinary requirements, another proctor began handing out the test papers.

Twenty-five minutes for the essay, thirty minutes for math, thirty minutes for reading, thirty minutes for vocabulary, and thirty-five minutes for math, for a total of four hours.

Other than the essay, everything was multiple choice. There was a ten-minute break between reading and vocabulary, as well as a five-minute break between the essay and math. In other words, once the morning exams were over, he could go home in the afternoon.

Having prepared excessively for this, Link finished the essay in just ten minutes. Only after confirming that there were no spelling or grammar errors did he close his eyes to rest.

When the proctor walked past Link, he was surprised by how quickly he had answered. He did not look at the content, but the handwriting was pleasant to look at. Smiling, he continued checking on the other students.

He had to wait until the next section began before he could continue answering. The next section was math, Link's strongest subject. He did not need scratch paper at all. Every calculation step was in his mind, and he easily filled in the answer sheet before once again waiting for the next section to begin.

It was not just the simple questions. Link also effortlessly solved those difficult questions specifically designed to trap students. Then came reading, which was even less challenging...

It was during an exam like this that Link finally felt the superiority of his intelligence, and a small sense of satisfaction rose in his heart. No matter what that brat said, no matter how much intellectual crushing he suffered, compared to ordinary students, he was still an academic ace.

And as time passed, he believed that he would continue drawing closer to becoming an academic genius.