100 Experience Points to Drive a Perfectionist Crazy

Lu Zhou had not expected that an idle thought of his would actually come true.

The day before Saturday's Mathematical Analysis exam, he received an acceptance email in his inbox.

He impatiently turned on his computer and logged into the website. With a racing heart, Lu Zhou entered his account and password, only to see that the submission status had indeed changed to [Completed-accept]!

In other words, the editor was highly satisfied with the author's manuscript and had decided to accept it.

Once this status appeared, barring any surprises, the paper would be published in one of the publisher's journals this month or next month. At the same time, it would be indexed in the SCI journal database for researchers throughout the global mathematics community to consult and cite.

His heart filled with excitement, Lu Zhou took a deep breath and silently repeated stay calm several times before finally settling down.

Generally speaking, only top experts in the technical world could skip the [Revise] stage entirely. Even veteran professors would occasionally have their manuscripts sent back for two or three rounds of revision over minor flaws or even the academic editor's almost neurotic demands.

Skipping that stage undoubtedly meant his paper was so impressive that the reviewers could not even find fault with it.

Of course, eighty percent of the credit still had to go to the system. If anyone could find flaws in the proof process personally supplied by System Daddy, then that reviewer would truly be godlike.

As for the paper's formatting and wording, Professor Tang had checked them, so there definitely would not be any problems. Not only had he published countless SCI papers, but he was also a reviewer for several renowned domestic mathematics journals. His experience in this area was beyond question.

Seeing his roommates beneath the bed diligently reviewing Mathematical Analysis, Lu Zhou set his laptop by the bedside, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and entered the system space hidden deep within his consciousness.

When he opened his eyes again, everything before him was pure white.

Lu Zhou made his way to the holographic panel with practiced ease and selected the task icon.

[Congratulations, host, on completing the task. Please keep up the good work.]

[Task completion details: Based on the academic value of the paper and the journal's influence, the paper value coefficient has been estimated... Final task evaluation: S (Points reward +100)]

[Task rewards: 400 Mathematics Experience Points, 100 Physics Experience Points, 200 Points, one lottery chance (95% trash, 5% sample)]

That had been close! So the journal's influence was also part of the evaluation criteria!

If he had chosen the notoriously disreputable AMC as his submission target, this evaluation probably would not have been nearly as high.

Lu Zhou silently thanked Professor Tang for his help. Without his advice and insistence, the paper would definitely have ended up at AMC, where acceptance was lightning-fast, only to be swallowed by the vast sea of publications.

An S rating was worth a full 100 Points!

"System, open my attribute panel!" Lu Zhou said impatiently.

Main Sciences:

A. Mathematics: LV0 (900/1000)

B. Physics: LV0 (100/1000)

C. Biochemistry: LV0 (0/1000)

D. Engineering: LV0 (0/1000)

E. Materials Science: LV0 (0/1000)

F. Energy Science: LV0 (0/1000)

G. Information Science: LV0 (100/1000)

Points: 335 (one lottery chance unused)

Tasks: Unclaimed

When Lu Zhou saw his Mathematics Experience Points, his brow twitched violently.

He had no idea how the system determined a paper's disciplinary leanings, but it had tossed 100 Experience Points into Physics, leaving him exactly 100 Mathematics Experience Points short of leveling up.

This was practically designed to drive a perfectionist insane!

Lu Zhou was on the verge of losing it.

"System, can you assign those 100 Physics Experience Points to Mathematics instead?"

The system ignored him.

Lu Zhou tried reasoning with it. "System! There's something wrong with your evaluation criteria. Where the hell did my entire paper involve any physics?"

But the system still did not want to acknowledge him.

Facing this utterly unresponsive system, Lu Zhou sighed and gave up completely.

Fine, fine. It was only 100 Experience Points. The next task would definitely be enough.

Still, having those 100 Experience Points thrown into Physics was incredibly irritating. It would have been better if they had gone into Information Science! Even Engineering would have been somewhat useful. Anything was better than this purely theoretical discipline!

Next came the tense and exciting lottery draw.

When he saw the pitiful 5% drop rate for [Sample], Lu Zhou sighed inwardly and instantly felt that it was not exciting at all.

There was no need to think about it. If this did not turn out to be [Trash], he would eat the system screen.

Last time, he had drawn a bottle of cola. What would it be this time?

Could it be Sprite?

Please no. Could he at least get a boxed meal? It would save him the cost of one meal, at least.

With that thought in mind, Lu Zhou pressed the lottery button and awaited fate's verdict.

[Congratulations, you have drawn a sample.]

Emmm...

Huh?

Holy shit!

Lu Zhou held his breath in excitement.

He had actually drawn the 5% chance!

This was black technology! And it was not a blueprint! This time, it surely was not another "proof problem answer," right?!

[Obtained: Nanobody Enhancement Injection (duration: 2 hours; enhances muscle cell mobility, coordination, and reflex nerve efficiency by 50% with no side effects)]

Lu Zhou: ???

Looking at the icon and description on the screen, Lu Zhou did not know what expression to make.

What was this thing even for?

Did he inject himself with it to stay awake when pulling all-nighters?

But what the hell was two hours good for? It would be better to just make a cup of tea.

Selling it to athletes might have been a decent option. A performance-enhancing drug supplied by System Daddy definitely could not be detected by mere urine or blood tests.

However, Lu Zhou felt that if this thing ever got out, it would probably bring him trouble.

Setting aside distant concerns like national defense and national security, what did this thing mean to the sports world? Some people might think it meant nothing more than turning the NBA into Kuroko's Basketball and making a young center from the China National Football Team play like Zhou Xingchi possessed him.

Well, that might have been a little exaggerated, but that was the general idea.

Two hours were already enough to alter the outcome of a match. And the outcome of a single match often involved more than one chain of interests—sports betting, for example, or sponsor profits. There would definitely be plenty of people who wanted this thing.

And they definitely would not be satisfied with obtaining just one injection.

Lu Zhou did not know how high a price they would be willing to pay for those benefits, but he knew one thing for certain: with his scrawny arms and legs, he definitely could not withstand that kind of trouble.

Besides, he did not have the connections. The highest-level athletes he could come into contact with were only at the university team level. And even if he did meet players from the China National Football Team, they would not believe him for no reason. Who knew what was in his syringe? Who knew whether he was sent by the opposing side to cause trouble?

"Though it isn't trash, it might as well be. I'm a man destined to become a top student—what use do I have for this thing... It would be better to give me a boxed meal from the future." Lu Zhou sighed. This time, he did not even have the energy to protest to the system.

What terrible luck!

Forget it. He would not worry about it.

Lu Zhou took a deep breath, silently recited may the luckiest emperor possess me, mysticism can change my fate ten times, then selected the task button.

Hopefully, the task that appeared this time would be at least a little more worthwhile.