Who the Hell Is Getting Full Marks on This Exam?
When Xie Yu first woke up and saw the words [Affection level] on his pillow, blanket, underwear, and the like, his first thought was that he had gone mad.
His head rested on [A soft, adorably naive pillow (affection level 100)], he was covered with [A quilt that loves snuggling (affection level 100)], and he wore [A pair of anxious, sensitive underwear (affection level 100)]. It was as though he were playing some bizarre galgame.
As he picked up his water cup and put on his clothes and shoes, affection labels seemed to light up on everything. As long as he focused his attention, even the floor tiles and dust displayed [Affection level].
The longer something had stayed close to him, the higher its affection level. Unfamiliar things he had just encountered started with lower affection levels, but he could raise them through conversation and actions.
The objects each had their own personality, and every one of them spoke to him.
Then his memories of dying suddenly surfaced, and Xie Yu wondered if his sudden death had somehow damaged his brain.
Being able to talk to objects and personifying everything... Perhaps it was a sign of severe mental illness, delusional disorder, or perhaps he was just unbearably thirsty... In any case, Xie Yu had initially thought he was sick.
But that clearly wasn't the case. The objects told him many things he hadn't known before. They clearly didn't exist solely in Xie Yu's mind.
When Xie Yu remembered that magic existed in this world, he also wondered whether this was some manifestation of magic. But the original Xie Yu's memories held no clues whatsoever, and the people around him couldn't perceive it at all. When he tentatively brought it up with his parents in this world, the couple agreed that he was hallucinating because he was too stressed about studying for the exam and urged him to relax.
This was something special that belonged to him alone.
But there was nothing of the sort above people's heads-not his parents, neighbors, or passersby. Or rather, anything alive, anything that showed signs of life, was excluded from this special ability.
Courting objects instead of people? That's too weird... Xie Yu was gradually adapting to the strangeness and was still exploring it.
His gaze returned to the exam paper.
Xie Yu picked up his pen and wrote "Sage" in the answer space for basic question twenty.
[The Petulant Test Paper (affection level 75) was so happy it wanted to stand up and applaud you:]
[Oh my heavens, you weren't bluffing. You've surpassed ninety percent of the examinees!]
[You avoided a whole series of wrong answers like "Grand Sage," "Royal Sage," "First Sage," and "Supreme Sage." That's so touching! This question comes up every year, and every year people get it wrong. Someone always writes down a newspaper slogan or some institution's boast!]
[The highest rank a mage can attain is Sage. All those other things with random words tacked onto Sage are just titles.]
The Petulant Test Paper really did know a lot!
Xie Yu himself hadn't known about so many random titles for Sages, much less things like how the question came up every year and people got it wrong every year. In his memories, it was just a fact to memorize.
"Have I got sixty points?" Xie Yu asked, as if he were cheating.
[The Petulant Test Paper (affection level 75) said warily:]
[Hey, you haven't finished filling me in yet! I'm not telling you how many points you have. Anyway, what you've written is more or less right. Guess for yourself.]
Xie Yu gently stroked the exam paper.
He spread his elbows and lay down over it as though he were going to sleep at his desk, pressing his cheek against the paper.
[The Petulant Test Paper (affection level 80):]
[All right, all right, get up! Don't do that. The other papers will see!]
[I'll tell you: you've already got sixty points. Everything you wrote before was correct. Now get up!]
Xie Yu smiled in satisfaction.
With that question answered, he had finished all the basic questions and earned sixty points on the paper.
Under the exam rules, he had already passed. Even if he didn't write another word, it wouldn't affect his guaranteed admission.
[The Petulant Test Paper (affection level 80):]
[Why have you stopped writing? There are more on the back.]
[You promised you'd fill me in! You're not going back on your word, are you?]
How can you take flirting seriously? Xie Yu pursed his lips.
According to his memories, the advanced questions that followed would cover the four most prominent fields for mages: sealed artifacts, magic tactics, magic arrays, and magic potions.
Although the original Xie Yu had made plenty of preparations, he lacked confidence. Apparently, under the combined influence of his various experiences in society and information about past exams, he felt there was no need to consider the questions on the back.
Still, under The Petulant Test Paper's urging, Xie Yu turned it over.
The moment he did, the entire paper showed a different face.
[Advanced Question 1. Sealed Artifact Domain. It is known that Kingdom Sealed Artifact 2-079 contains an Abnormal State in the dual domains of water and spirit elements, and was born during the "Melted Gold Battle" forty-seven years ago. Using what you have learned and the kingdom's history, do your best to (1) deduce the artifact's maintenance procedures and sealing precautions, and (2) explain your reasoning in detail. (10 points)]
Xie Yu laughed.
Sure enough, he couldn't answer it.
A bit of hearsay surfaced from his memories of this life. Two years ago, his father had heard that the advanced questions on the unified exam were devised by the kingdom to select top talent, but in practice had become a discreet shortcut for nobles to give their descendants a backdoor advantage.
Before this, Xie Yu hadn't understood how they could pull strings when the exam was fair for everyone. Leak the questions? The kingdom's diviners would surely detect that through their monitoring. The nobles had to have some concerns, at least...
Now, Xie Yu understood.
Imagine that Sealed Artifact 2-079 was kept at an advanced research institute in some administrative province, and that a group of examinees who had personally maintained it were sitting in the exam room answering questions alongside you.
Imagine that a descendant of a commander who had taken part in the Molten Gold Battle was sitting in an exam room with you, answering the same questions.
Xie Yu was a child from an ordinary family. He was completely in the dark and knew nothing.
He had never so much as touched even the lowest-grade sealed artifact.
This went far beyond anything in the books Xie Yu could afford to buy. He raised his pen, but in the end, he couldn't write anything.
His gaze moved down.
[Advanced question 2. Tactics and command. Three hostiles have illegally infiltrated a village on the western edge of the kingdom. Sage-level divination in the capital has established their known composition: a One-Star Mage leader with dual wind and lightning element domains (specializes in magic arrays), a light element One-Star Mage (specializes in magic potions), and a One-Star Mage with dual spirit and earth element domains (equipped with an unknown sealed artifact). They have also manipulated and bribed a number of civilians. The village's environment and terrain are typical of a "valley riverside." The objective is to eliminate all hostiles while minimizing the impact of the incident. Devise an appropriate tactical plan. (1) Recruitment plan: recruit no more than three One-Star Mages on the kingdom's behalf; direct strikes using nation-protecting calamity-class arrays may not be requested. (2) Assign responsibilities, taking into account targeted countermeasures, feasibility, and contingency plans. (3) Draw up a plan to reassure those affected afterward and a budget for distributing compensation. (10 points)]
This damn question...
Xie Yu had the illusion that he could write something for this one, or at least bullshit his way through it.
But that was precisely the greatest illusion this kind of question gave people.
It looked like an open-ended question, but nearly every step had a single standard answer.
Xie Yu didn't even know what a "typical valley riverside" meant. He knew nothing about the culture or economy of villages on the kingdom's western edge, much less how many gold coins it cost to hire mages for combat in the kingdom's west.
None of that was in the exam preparation books.
This question looked like it allowed him to write freely, but in reality, he couldn't put pen to paper at all.
[The Petulant Test Paper was disappointed in you (affection level decreased to 78):]
[As I thought, shouldn't I have gotten my hopes up? When you said you'd fill me in, I really believed you. I was already imagining the moment you filled me in, already imagining how I'd share that satisfying joy with you...]
[But in the end, is this where it all stops? You're not special. In the end, you're not the one I wanted...]
"Don't be impatient. These questions are interesting.
"Don't you think these questions give you a glimpse of how the whole kingdom operates? Just by reading them, I can see so many things."
Xie Yu stroked the paper, soothing it.
Ah, its affection level dropped...
Although Xie Yu was still figuring everything out and didn't know what good maxing out the paper's affection level would do, they had only met by chance in the exam room for a day. Why get genuinely attached?
But he simply wanted to get that number higher, so he instinctively began coaxing it.
He couldn't answer the questions, but coaxing the paper was easy enough.
[The Petulant Test Paper (affection level recovered to 80):]
[Oh? A glimpse of how the kingdom operates? What's that?]
"Be good, don't rush. Let me finish reading." Xie Yu twirled the pen in his hand.
[The gentle ink pen (affection level 100):]
[I'm dizzy, so dizzy. Xiao Yu, stop for a moment.]
Ah, a bad habit from my previous life! Xie Yu hurriedly stopped and held the pen gently, no longer tormenting it.
He continued reading the remaining questions.
[Advanced question 3. Magic arrays and media. The magic array Xiao Ming drew contains Universal Spirituality Extraction Type A-3, overlaid with five divination-domain M-276 structures and twenty water element W-1732 structures, as shown in the diagram below. There is a slight problem with the array. Can you help him solve it? (1) Grade the magic array and explain Xiao Ming's concept in detail. (2) Analyze why the magic array cannot function normally. (3) Use the appropriate spiritual material inks to complete the magic array and make it function normally. (10 points)]
Even though Xie Yu was relaxed now and had no hope of answering the questions, he still nearly laughed in anger.
This wasn't even testing knowledge anymore, nor was it testing wealth.
What am I supposed to complete here, a magic array? It's the examiner's family portrait with only one person in it!
Leaving aside the high price of inks containing spiritual materials, without the right connections, whether you could buy them all was a matter of luck. If you happened to be missing one or two materials that came up on the exam, bringing the rest would be as good as bringing nothing.
Worse still, he hadn't known at all that he needed to bring spiritual inks to this exam.
Yet that still wasn't the most outrageous part.
Xie Yu looked at the final question, which had the shortest prompt.
[Advanced question 4. Potion brewing and medicine. Having made it this far, you, the examinee, must surely have noticed a drop of medicinal liquid somewhere on the exam paper. Please take a light sniff of its scent. (1) List its ingredients and dilution ratio. (2) Describe its brewing process. (3) Describe its effects on the human body. (10 points)]
Who the hell is getting full marks on this exam?! Xie Yu really was incompetent in the field of magic, but that didn't stop him from getting angry.
Back on Earth, he had taken exams in his hometown, but he had never seen questions this outrageous.
The whole paper was worth a hundred points. The first sixty were like a handout, while the so-called advanced questions worth the remaining forty seemed to scream from every gap:
"Magic isn't for lowly commoners like you to learn. Be good, get lost to the worst school, and while away your days waiting to die."
The people who set these questions should all be dragged out and shot.