Examination (Part One)

Legend had it that in the beginning, there was chaos. Before chaos, nothing could be seen, known, spoken of, or touched. Kaya was born from chaos, and from then on, things could be seen, known, spoken of, and touched.

He died the instant he was born. He was both beginning and end, creation and destruction, one and all.

After his death, his body became all things in the world, while his soul became the world's first gods, the Titan Gods. The last-born among the Titans, the Thirteenth Titan, was the essence of his soul. The gods called him Knoans, meaning the Born King.

The thirteen Titans established the order of all things. Favored by the world, they became its natural rulers and were called the Chief Gods by the gods born afterward. Knoans became the King of Gods.

They moved the mountain range formed from Kaya's skull into a realm beyond the sight and knowledge of all but gods—the outer layer of the world, the dwelling place of the gods.

Beneath the mountain range formed from the skull lay Kaya's evil and wicked thoughts. Freed from their suppression, those evil and wicked thoughts burst forth.

The gods worked together to drive them into the outer layer of the world. There, evil thoughts evolved into the Endless Abyss, while wicked thoughts evolved into the Nine Hells. Unable to separate, the Abyss and the Hells became entangled in an eternal blood war.

Yet the demons of the Abyss and the devils of the Hells both coveted the world. They used every possible method to break through the outer layer, causing enormous destruction.

To suppress the Abyss and the Hells, and to atone for his sins, Yegu, the first Titan God to be born, came to the junction of the Hells and the Abyss. He was the ruler of night and death. There, he carved out his kingdom, which evolved into the Underworld, sealing off the Abyss and the Hells. In the end, his strength ran dry, and he died, becoming the eternal Wall of Sighs.

As the Wall of Sighs endured the changes of the ages, Lamor, the new Master of Death and night, was born from it. God-King Knoans granted him special permission to rule in the Underworld, and the gods called him Pluto Lamor.

God-King Knoans took his own elder sister, Linus, the Goddess of Life and Creation, as his wife. The Goddess Queen imitated the forms of the gods and created humanity from clay. The world entered the age of mankind.

Like humans, the gods felt joy, anger, sorrow, and delight, and developed all kinds of emotions. Gods and humans mingled, giving birth to countless heroes. The heroes led the people to defeat monsters and establish innumerable city-states, ushering the entire continent into an age of civilization.

"Myth" more or less ended there, while "Epic" told the history of nearly a hundred thousand years of rise and fall after the birth of heroes. The final book, The Founding of Medimous, was a history of Medimuss written by royal historians. It could also be considered this world's version of an ideology class.

Ace looked at the three handwritten copies he had filled with notes. Marina had bound them together with needle and thread, her stitches fine and dense.

These three books had used up nearly all the parchment left in the house. However, Romon had said there was no need to worry; the family would soon no longer have to fret over money.

Ace guessed that he might have sold some family heirloom. He kept that gratitude in his heart. No matter what, Romon had fulfilled his responsibilities as a father.

Over nearly a hundred thousand years, amid the blood and tears of countless heroes and the rise and fall of city-states, ordinary people had almost always been nothing more than eternal background figures. Heroes were the protagonists.

The absolute suppression of supernatural power, along with natural and man-made disasters, frequently destroyed civilization. Every time, the gods chose heroes to lead the surviving humans in rebuilding civilization, keeping this world's civilization trapped in an endless cycle.

In a world like this, simply relying on industrial development offered no way forward. The supernatural could easily crush any budding development.

Moreover, at a more microscopic level, the laws of physics might be fundamentally different. Much of the technological tree would probably be useless.

Only by grounding himself in this world of Myth, maintaining an objective and neutral spirit of inquiry, and seeking the secrets of the supernatural could he find a way forward.

Morton learned that Ace had finished copying the three books.

"I have to praise your diligence once again. With this quality alone, you will obtain Citizenship sooner or later.

"The remaining lessons are memorization and comprehension. The examination scope of the Unified General Literacy Examination is these three books. They also cover nearly all commonly used written characters. The key lies in applying what you learn flexibly.

"If you have any questions, you may come ask me at any time. Once the other students catch up in their progress, I will explain these three books in detail.

"Next month is the annual examination. You can try your hand at it first. Do not fear failure. At the normal pace, these three books take nearly three years to study. I only passed after taking the examination three times."

"Respected Mr. Morton, thank you for your help. Other than these three books, may I borrow the other books in the library?" Ace's eyes sparkled, making him look exactly like an ordinary child thirsting for knowledge.

"Ace, only by taking one step at a time can you finish the road ahead. Right now, you need to study these three books over and over again. Once you pass the Unified General Literacy Examination and obtain an Excellence Badge, I will take you to meet Teacher Peter."

Morton smiled and rubbed Ace's head before continuing, "Teacher Peter will teach you more advanced and specialized knowledge, allowing you to take on lower- and middle-ranking public posts in the city-state once you come of age. By then, like the senior students in the library, you will be able to borrow Teacher Peter's collection whenever you wish."

"Understood, Mr. Morton. Thank you again for your help. I will work hard and strive to pass the Unified General Literacy Examination."

Ace seemed to have had his fighting spirit stirred. His eyes gleamed as he spoke.

"Good. I will wait for your good news."

Morton answered gently, while thinking, He is still only a half-grown child. Though he is smart and hardworking, he has never experienced the terror of an examination. He needs to be taught a lesson.

It seemed he needed to seize the examination next month. Teacher Peter had so many students that merely being known as smart and diligent would make it difficult to stand out.

Once he passed the examination, he would have to figure out how to rise above the many disciples as quickly as possible, so that he could use Peter to obtain more resources.

More than half a month passed in the blink of an eye. During this period, Ace continued living a routine of traveling between two places.

Every day, he asked Morton about the key points from the three books. The city-state currently had no past examination papers or mock papers for the Unified General Literacy Examination, which made Ace, accustomed to drowning in practice questions, somewhat uncomfortable.

Based on Morton's recollections of the question types from several examinations and his suggestions, Ace created similar practice questions for himself and kept practicing his handwriting.

The question types were roughly fill-in-the-blank questions, true-or-false questions, explanations of word meanings, paragraph recitation, reading comprehension, and long-form essays. As long as he mastered the types and formats of essays and made his handwriting neat and beautiful, he should have a strong chance in this examination.

At City Hall Plaza, the fiftieth Unified General Literacy Examination began in the one hundredth year of the Founding of Medimous Calendar.

Rhonamuth, the founder of the city, was an enlightened ruler in his governance of the city-state. He boldly adopted the examination system proposed by the second chief minister and promoted its use across many areas of city-state life. The Unified General Literacy Examination was one such application.

Romon and Marina waited at the edge of City Hall Plaza. The entire plaza had already been surrounded by the city-state militia. Nearly two hundred desks and chairs had been set up inside, where several hundred examinees were taking the examination nervously.