Happy Water and Nerd Water-Who's Grading This Exam, Me or You?

Aside from one low-grade Transcendent Beast Gear, most of the products and potions in the box were Ordinary quality and not particularly valuable. But for low-level pet beasts and Beast Tamers, they were enough.

To Lin Yuan's surprise, he even found some Ordinary pet food inside—the kind sold in supermarkets, affordable to anyone.

Among them was a familiar pet drink called Happy Water.

Any pet beast that drank it would feel happier, whatever its species. After hard work or stress, that happiness doubled.

It contained sugar, nectar produced by an Ordinary plant pet beast, various natural herbs, and carbonation. It was wonderfully refreshing.

At their pet food shop, it had been their third-best seller, behind Purple Dew and Purple Star Vine.

Lin Yuan liked it too.

When he was little, his parents would scold him for sneaking Purple Dew. Then, seeing him in tears, they would give him a small bottle of Happy Water, and his face would immediately light up.

As he grew older, he rarely drank it anymore. Stealing food meant for pet beasts had always felt a little strange.

He usually bought Nerd Water instead, which humans drank more often.

Seeing the drink, Lin Yuan suddenly realized what this assessment was really testing.

He also realized that waiting until now to open the resource box meant he had gotten things wrong from the very start.

There was no fixing it now. He took out the Happy Water and gently twisted off the cap.

A fizzing sound rose as bubbles danced.

Lin Yuan patted Baishi, who was still sitting upright, then took a small bowl from his storage ring and poured some in.

"You worked hard, Baishi. Have something sweet to quench your thirst. The exam ends in a minute, so you can relax."

Only then did Baishi let go of the tension it had been holding. Its eyes shone as it gave a little cry, buried its head in the bowl, and lapped rapidly at the drink.

Delicious!

It wasn't as delicious as the Spirit Dew Zilan produced, but it had a flavor all its own.

It was like a victory feast. It seemed to have drunk something like this only in the first few days after it was born, and even then, it had only gotten what its siblings left behind.

My Beast Tamer is so good to me.

First came Spirit Dew, then cake. For the past two days, he had come back every day with piles of delicious things that glittered gold. And now there was this plain but invigorating water.

I've got to work even harder from now on, meow!

It saw that half the Happy Water was still on the table and pushed it toward Lin Yuan with a front paw, urging him to drink too and share its happiness.

It was quite insistent.

"Then cheers!" Lin Yuan couldn't refuse, so he smiled and drank it.

It still tastes just like I remember!

Back then, it had been comfort after a scolding. Now, it was something sweet shared with his pet beast after they had faced the pressure together.

It tastes even better now!

Zhu Neng, who was proctoring the exam, noticed the scene too. He smiled, a rare sight, then wrote something beside Lin Yuan's name in his notes.

Beside Zhu Neng, Zhao Liang had spent the entire three-hour exam sitting motionless, without taking out pen or paper.

But at the moment the exam ended, a flash of purple appeared in his eyes and swept over every student in the classroom.

It lingered a few seconds longer on those who now seemed to be in better shape and handling things with greater ease.

It lingered especially long on Lin Yuan.

Only then did Zhao Liang leisurely take out a sheet of paper and write down a score for each student.

"The exam is over," Chen Xuanbai said, checking the time. "You can return your pet beasts to your Beast-Taming Spaces."

"Leave everything in the resource boxes behind. You can rest for three hours, then come back to the classroom. We'll announce everyone's scores for each subject and hand out the rewards on the spot."

"Turn in your papers in exam-number order."

The top students of Senior Year 2, Class 1's Kindling Class probably hadn't expected the first class of the school year to teach them nothing, yet challenge both their bodies and their endurance so severely.

Not one of them complained. They obediently filed up to the lectern in order, handed in their papers, and left deep in thought.

Over those three hours, every one of them had learned a great deal.

They also understood that after contracting pet beasts, their remaining high school years would be nothing like their first year.

All the students had left the classroom. Only the four teachers remained.

Chen Xuanbai had just sorted the papers when Sun Xingtian and Zhao Liang handed him their score sheets.

"Thanks for the effort, Teacher Chen," Zhao Liang said, then left with a smile.

Sun Xingtian said nothing. He merely patted Chen Xuanbai on the shoulder and left as well.

Chen Xuanbai touched his shoulder and gave Zhu Neng a helpless smile, then called, "See you this afternoon," to the two teachers who had already gone.

Of their four subjects, his Beast Tamer Fundamentals probably involved the heaviest workload in some respects.

Preparing lessons was hard, research took time, and worst of all, he had papers to grade.

Zhu Neng's Beast Tamer Resources was no easy job either. Before and after every lesson and assessment, he had to prepare all kinds of materials, products, and Beast Gear. Those were school resources, and he was responsible for them.

Chen Xuanbai looked at the score sheets the other two teachers had handed him.

Sun Xingtian's at least contained plenty of notes and bonus points.

Zhao Liang's was bare-bones: exam numbers, names, and scores. Nothing more.

But when Chen Xuanbai saw who had placed first in both subjects, he couldn't help smiling. It was just as he had expected.

He soon turned his attention to grading.

Three hours, forty papers, all packed with answers. He had his work cut out for him.

Chen Xuanbai graded the papers question by question.

As expected, Lin Yuan had answered the first and second questions perfectly, with the highest marks in the class.

What was more, he had included his own understanding in the question on talents.

For the pet beast knowledge question, he had even listed some obscure evolutionary paths reported in recent news and research papers, much like the example Chen Xuanbai had given in class of a Little Black Cat mutating and evolving into a Sunshadow Spirit Cat.

Chen Xuanbai had known since Lin Yuan's first year that the boy's knowledge was exceptional, but this perfect paper still surprised him.

The questions in that first year had simply been far too easy for Lin Yuan.

He had kept getting full marks only because the papers offered no higher score.

The flawless answer to the second question alone told Chen Xuanbai that Lin Yuan's grasp of fundamental theory and breadth of knowledge surpassed even that of some graduating third-year students.

That delighted him and gave him a headache.

That was the trouble with students this extraordinarily gifted. The material he taught in ordinary lessons probably did little for them.

He would have to devise a teaching approach specifically for Lin Yuan, so the boy could at least learn something useful from him.

By the time Chen Xuanbai finished grading everyone's second question, Zhu Neng had cleared away the resource boxes.

He also handed Chen Xuanbai the final score sheet for his assessment.

Chen Xuanbai glanced at it curiously and found that no one in the class had scored very high—not even Lin Yuan.

He was used to it, though. Zhu Neng was one of the school's longest-serving and most experienced teachers. His questions and assessment criteria were notorious for being like a "ghost hand": students never knew where the blow would land.

Chen Xuanbai knew because, twenty years ago, he had been Zhu Neng's student.

"Thanks for the effort, Teacher Zhu."

"Xuanbai, don't overwork yourself. Want anything to eat? I'll bring it back for you." Zhu Neng showed none of his usual sternness with Chen Xuanbai. His face was all smiles.

"Then please bring me a pork belly rice bowl, Teacher Zhu, and a bottle of sugar-free Nerd Water."

Zhu Neng nodded, turned, and left.

Only Chen Xuanbai remained in the classroom, still grading papers.

The third question...

Chen Xuanbai hadn't originally wanted to include it. This kind of cross-disciplinary application question normally appeared only on the College Entrance Exam.

He simply wanted to see how perceptive and adaptable this year's students were.

After grading the answers from the class's first six seeded students, he nodded in satisfaction. Their analyses had gaps, but their proposed solutions were solid overall.

This certainly wouldn't be the weakest class he had ever taught.

Then he opened Lin Yuan's paper and turned to the third question on the back.

His eyebrow twitched for no apparent reason.

All this tiny writing... Is he writing a research paper?

He even drew an analysis chart?

And ranked the team compositions by score?

Who's the teacher here, me or you? Who's grading this exam, me or you?

They had all had the same three hours, but when it came to how much he had written, Lin Yuan had left everyone else in the dust...

But when Chen Xuanbai saw the team Lin Yuan had ranked first, his eyes lit up.

That combination hadn't occurred to him at all.