The Troubles of a Genius

At half past two in the afternoon.

Chen Shu arrived at Martial Cultivation Hall No. 2.

It was a huge indoor facility reinforced with runes and equipped with everything it needed. Clearly, a great deal had been invested in it—Martial Cultivation had once been one of Yujing University's flagship majors. But in recent years, the country had regulated Martial Cultivation even more strictly than Spiritual Cultivation, and many teachers had been transferred to military academies. Gradually, a facility this good had become more than the department needed.

These days, a civilian Martial Cultivation practitioner was simply a Martial Artist with a Spirit Sea.

Unless they found some other way to improve, they were only somewhat stronger than traditional Martial Artists—and not necessarily able to beat modern ones.

Quite a few people had gathered inside. The Ancient Cultivation Department's testing area was to the left of the entrance, where sixty or seventy people stood in a snaking line. Beside the frontmost desk sat an extremely crude handmade sign with a sheet of printer paper stuck to it. Six large black characters on the paper read "Traditional Cultivation College." On closer inspection, it actually said, "Limited Funding."

"Should've come twenty minutes later."

Chen Shu joined the back of the line at an unhurried pace, took out his phone, and started playing a game.

One match later, he had carried the team—and lost.

Chen Shu looked up. He had been shuffling along with the line while playing and had somehow reached the very front. He quickly put his phone away and craned his neck to look ahead.

The line fed into two testing stations.

Each station had a desk, two teachers, a computer, a testing machine about the size of a shoebox, a card reader, and a water dispenser.

When your turn came, you went to whichever station was free.

Students swiped their cards to confirm their information, then placed a hand on the testing machine. That started the test.

Once a teacher said it was done, they could leave.

The whole process took very little time.

It looked oddly like getting a nucleic acid swab.

The sight of this model of testing machine put Chen Shu a little more at ease.

He had thoroughly researched the cultivator-testing devices commonly used in different settings across the country. This machine was more advanced than the one used when he had first enrolled in school, and it could do more than the machine that tested only Spiritual Power Aptitude during the major exam. It performed an active test, measuring Spiritual Power Aptitude, spiritual power quality, total spiritual power, and other data at the same time. From those results, it calculated the Spirit Sea's tier and offered a basic recommendation on whether the person could take the Sea-Opening Potion.

But students could not see the results then. They appeared only on the teacher's computer before being entered into the system, where students could look them up later.

"Done. Next."

It was Chen Shu's turn. He walked to the station on the left and followed the procedure without being prompted.

He placed his hand on the machine. It beeped twice, and a powerful surge of spiritual power rushed into his body. It vanished in an instant, then reappeared from who knew where a few seconds later and returned to the machine.

Two more beeps. The test was complete.

"Haah..."

The female teacher yawned, looking sleepy. She glanced at the result, and a headache seemed to come over her.

"Ah..."

Then she picked up the testing machine.

Clunk! Clunk!

She knocked it against the desk twice.

Only then did she say to Chen Shu:

"Try again."

"..."

Chen Shu put his hand back on it.

"Beep, beep!"

Just as before, that strange spiritual power appeared out of nowhere. It was at least middle-tier, and he could neither resist it nor track it.

"Beep, beep!"

"Huh?"

The female teacher stared at the screen and scratched her head. She said to the teacher beside her, "I think there's something wrong with this machine. The data's turned really strange. Let's use yours for now."

Then she said to Chen Shu, "Go over there."

"Okay..."

Chen Shu obediently moved to the other station, patting his pocket as he went. He had forgotten to bring a mask. He really should have remembered.

The troubles of a genius were always hard for ordinary people to understand.

"Beep, beep!"

"Beep, beep!"

"Teacher Fu, come take a look."

The two teachers huddled together over the data. They both found it strange, but they kept their composure. They had weathered storms before.

Chen Shu had no other thoughts about it, really. He just felt awkward and thought this was a hassle. After hesitating and choosing his words, he said, "Is there any chance that I might be one of those, you know, rarer kinds of... um, genius?"

"Possible. Let's check.

"Next person, come up."

The male student behind him stepped forward and went through the procedure. Everything was normal.

"Good. You can go.

"Both of you can go."

"Thank you, teachers."

Chen Shu left at an unhurried pace.

By the time he returned to his dorm, his test results were already available. The efficiency was absurd.

Name: Chen Shu

Student ID:

College: Traditional Cultivation College

Major: Spell Principles Studies

Class: Class 1, Year 2020

Spiritual Power Aptitude: 1000/1000

Spiritual Power Quality: 3f

Total Spiritual Power: 3f

This world had the English alphabet, though it was called neither the English nor the Latin alphabet. Here, it was called the phonetic alphabet. The Sacred Ancestor had supposedly invented it and inscribed it on the Sacred Character Stele. Chen Shu was probably the only person in the world who knew where it had really come from.

There were two issues with these results—

The first was his Spiritual Power Aptitude:

The maximum was 1,000 points, a scale based on the aptitude of the Emperor of the Martial Ancestors two hundred years ago. It was more authoritative than the Spiritual Power Aptitude score from the major exam, with finer distinctions and, naturally, stricter standards.

As far as Chen Shu knew, very few people could earn a perfect score. Many famous heavyweights who had graduated from Yujing University had scored only in the nine hundreds on their entrance tests. Yet whether a student scored in the eight hundreds or nine hundreds here, their Spiritual Power Aptitude score on the major exam was very likely to have been perfect.

Some people scored full marks because they could.

Others scored full marks because the scale went no higher.

Chen Shu's score was still astonishing.

The second issue was the distorted data:

Both his spiritual power quality and total spiritual power were rated 3f. Calculating those two values was complicated, and this simple device could only give an approximate result.

The 3 meant he was a Third Tier cultivator.

The f meant he was at the lowest level within the Third Tier.

Plenty of cultivators who had just advanced to the Third Tier were rated 3e. It usually took someone with poorer aptitude to get a 3f.

What kind of outrageous stunt would leave a genius with perfect aptitude holding only 3f worth of spiritual power, in both quality and quantity, in his Spirit Sea?

Had he skipped a tier?

Impossible. At least, it was impossible in the lower tiers.

When people first opened their Spirit Seas, genius and mediocrity alike, the sizes could not differ by more than ten percent. The gap might widen with further cultivation. In theory, by the peak of the Seventh Tier, a super-genius could have a larger Spirit Sea than a mediocre cultivator who had just entered the Eighth Tier.

But that was only theory.

In practice, mediocre cultivators never reached the higher tiers.

A newly enrolled Third Tier student, on the other hand, was not so unusual.

This was Yujing University.

Chen Shu sighed. For a slacker like him, trouble of any kind was enough to make him feel exhausted.

He needed Qingqing to comfort him.

That evening.

Students trickled into the classroom.

Out of habit from his previous life, Chen Shu sat in the second-to-last row. He glanced around. The ratio of men to women was about two to one.

The two male students in front of him were fairly outgoing. In no time, they had introduced themselves, exchanged dorm areas, and started chatting with the easy curiosity of new classmates.

One tall, thin student asked, "When did you go for your test yesterday?"

"A little after two thirty."

"Then did you see the big shot who stunned the teachers?"

"No. What big shot?"

"I only heard about it... Apparently, someone in our college took the test three times. The teachers couldn't believe his score and thought the machine was broken."

"And?"

The other student looked interested too.

"It wasn't broken."

"Seriously?"

"Of course!"

"What did he look like? A guy or a girl? Was he tall? Could he be in our class?"

"A guy. I heard he was pretty handsome."

As the two were talking, the student behind them suddenly leaned forward, laying his upper body across the desk and poking his head between them. He asked eagerly:

"How handsome?"

"You know, handsome."

"Come on, give me details!"

"Uh..." The tall, thin student hesitated, then said, "I only heard about him."

"That's fine. Tell me what you heard!"

"I... I didn't hear anyone describe him."

"Imagine it! You can imagine it!"

"Well..."

The tall, thin student was baffled, at a complete loss.

The student beside him rescued him with a sigh of admiration. "Our college really is hiding dragons and crouching tigers..."

The tall, thin student nodded at once. "Exactly!"

"Boring..."

Chen Shu sat back in his seat.

The two students in front exchanged glances, then discreetly looked back at him. He was a little handsome, but not that handsome. A suspicion stirred in their minds—

Maybe this classmate liked men!

Best to keep their distance from him.

Then a young woman of average height came in. Wearing a shy smile, she asked everyone to quiet down, and the classroom promptly fell silent.

She was their class assistant.

Yujing University had no homeroom teachers or academic counselors, only class assistants hired from outside the university. They did not teach. Their main job was to handle miscellaneous matters, help students with personal or academic problems, and pass along notices. They had little authority.

The class assistant was named Xia Yunyun. She looked to be in her twenties.

Xia Yunyun turned on the wall projector and began introducing the university and what the students could expect from campus life and their studies over the next five years.

Chen Shu did not particularly want to listen. He took out his phone.

Chen Shu: Qingqing, are your entrance test results out?

Qingqing: Yes

Chen Shu: You can't reply with just one word

Qingqing: They are

Chen Shu: Tell me without making me ask

Qingqing: Perfect aptitude score

Chen Shu: Impressive

Qingqing: Are you having a class meeting?

Chen Shu: Right now

Qingqing: So are we

Chen Shu: Why aren't you listening carefully? /accusatory

Qingqing: Why aren't you listening carefully? /accusatory

Chen Shu: I bet you didn't even type that out. You just copied and pasted mine

Qingqing: Pressed and held to forward it

Chen Shu: I'm so bored

Qingqing: Me too

Chen Shu: Any guys in your class sneaking looks at you?

Qingqing: Haven't noticed

Chen Shu: Anyone more handsome than me?

Qingqing: Haven't looked

Chen Shu: Are you blind?

Qingqing: Don't care

Chen Shu: Come play chess. Get online.

Qingqing: Okay.

Xia Yunyun finished speaking. Next came the election for class president—just one class president, with no other positions.

The classroom fell quiet. No one went up to the front.

"Does no one want to be class president?"

It seemed to be Xia Yunyun's first time as a class assistant, and she looked a little lost.

At last, the tall, thin student in front of Chen Shu stood up, walked to the front, and bowed to everyone. "Hello, everyone. My name is Wang Weixin, and I'm from the Jade Capital.

"I know you're all here to study, not to be class president.

"I also know my grades are probably among the worst in the class. My father's in the military, and he earned a first-class merit award. The extra points I got for that were the only reason I made it into the Jade Capital. I can't match you in talent or grades. You're all going to become big shots someday, and I definitely won't. But I've always liked meeting people and keeping busy, so why not let me run errands and handle the odd jobs for everyone? If I'm elected, come to me whenever you need anything. And when you're all big shots someday, remember to look out for me."

Applause broke out.

Chen Shu clicked his tongue as he listened—

Just look at him. How was he so good with words? Meanwhile, that girlfriend of mine, who I hadn't even started dating yet, could make someone furious just by opening her mouth.

Qingqing: Where'd you go?

Qingqing: Can't beat me, so you're pretending you disconnected?

Chen Shu: Ahem—ptooey!