The Secret of the Grand Examination, the Collapse of an Era (6K)

(Correction: Fixed an issue where the effect of [Friend of XX] was not displayed properly in earlier chapters.)

"I know a little," Xie Yu said modestly.

Xie Yu had already noticed many clues.

Yize had not said how Xie Yu's name had leaked ahead of time, as though it had been inevitable. None of the people at the Education Bureau had ever questioned the authenticity of his score, nor had anyone asked how he had studied for his first sixteen years.

That did not mean they had no doubts. Their doubts took the form of concern.

They worried that Xie Yu was not capable enough, that there was nothing to support his perfect score, and that the Education Bureau's blind endorsement of him would have adverse consequences.

And at its core, concern was a kind of need, a kind of expectation.

They need me.

They expect me to be a genuine perfect-score candidate.

Xie Yu was now certain that his earlier assessment of the Education Bureau's position had been correct.

This was especially apparent in Mr. Yize.

Yize had used divination to have a Sealed Artifact temporarily transferred to him, and it certainly was not just to "keep Xie Yu alive." That was only an added benefit. If a Magister like him truly wanted to protect Xie Yu, he had ten thousand ways to do it instead of relying on a low-grade Sealed Artifact.

Sealed Artifact 3-2152 was here to prove that Xie Yu really possessed some kind of talent... In fact, Xie Yu even suspected that if he pretended to be useless and failed to tame the Sealed Artifact at all, Yize would still try to cover for him.

Under these circumstances, it was necessary to show some ability.

He would reveal a few unusual qualities and give Yize and the others something to work with, so they would not act at random and expend their efforts in directions that did him no good.

If he had not demonstrated his ability with Sealed Artifacts beforehand, Yize might have arranged a magic array or some strange magic domain for him instead, which would have benefited neither side.

"That sounds like more than knowing a little. You sound like an experienced teacher in the field of fire-element magic."

Fry saw through Xie Yu's modesty and looked back at Minister Yize. The two had clearly already begun considering how to draw out Xie Yu's abilities in this area.

Xie Yu spoke earnestly, offering the usual pleasantries:

"I hardly ever saw magic growing up. The few mages in town were always reluctant to use it. Of course, a place like Pinecone Town didn't give them much opportunity to show what they could do. So I fell in love with reading all kinds of books about magic. But the words in those books always seemed insubstantial, and reading them felt superficial. Take the Fireball Spell, for example. The books only had a few words about it, with a simple sketch at most. It was only after I saw you cast it with my own eyes that I understood it, and the knowledge in those books finally came together in my mind. Mr. Fry, you're the one who's my teacher."

Of course, this was not merely politeness. He also needed to provide an explanation for the origins of his abilities.

The young man spoke sincerely, and everything about his gaze and gestures conveyed respect for Fry. The middle-aged man was left in a daze, as though he had forgotten his fear and predicament when Xie Yu exposed the Brown Family last night. All he felt was that the young man's words were very pleasant to hear.

His command of language was a little immature, certainly no match for seasoned old hands.

But it was precisely that lack of polish that made Fry appreciate it all the more.

"You... if you learned that much just from reading, then you're a genius too."

The bitterness finally eased a little from Fry's face after a long night of exhaustion and fear.

Beside them, Magister Yize watched Xie Yu, feeling that the young man might really possess some kind of magic that could put Fry in a good mood after everything he had been through last night...

Yize felt that even he would have trouble accomplishing that. If he had to comfort Fry, he could only think of trying to solve his problems by finding him a safe position or giving him some money.

He was naturally worried about Fry too. The Education Bureau was conducting an internal investigation into every case similar to Fry's. No one could offer Fry any guarantees about his future at the moment, yet he still had to handle his work at the Education Bureau and in Black Pine City. That kind of pressure was not easy for an ordinary person to bear.

"Xie Yu, I've given it some thought. The situation in Northern Plains Province is a little complicated this year. I should tell you about it so you can be mentally prepared."

Yize spoke.

His words clearly took Fry, Duoha, Xiuno, and the others by surprise, going against what they had decided in their discussion that morning.

"Please go ahead." Xie Yu turned to Yize, his gaze passing over the headline of the newspaper report about him.

"The only perfect-score candidate in Northern Province..."

Yize spoke evenly, lowering his voice without a trace of emotion:

"The numbers for each score bracket in our province have been compiled this year. If the third verification finds no errors, they'll be reported to the capital to await publication. The current results show that more than ninety thousand candidates took the exam this year. There were 260 in the 80-point bracket, 29 in the 90-point bracket, and in the perfect-score bracket... one. You."

Just me?

Xie Yu was astonished. This seemed very different from his memories of the grand examinations in previous years. According to those memories, there had always been ten to twenty perfect scores, and at least three times as many high-scoring candidates as Yize had mentioned.

High-scoring candidates might have been rare in remote Black Pine City, but their numbers would not have been so low in more central cities with more mages.

"At the same time, we also obtained the scores from Southwest Gorge Administrative Province. More than 120,000 candidates took the exam there this year. Nearly four thousand were in the 80-point bracket, over a thousand in the 90-point bracket, and ninety-five received perfect scores... The exam questions were exactly the same."

Yize stated the figures calmly.

"Why is that?" Xie Yu felt the gap between the two was almost absurdly large.

"The reason we can state is that this year's questions favored Southwest Province. The first and second advanced questions gave candidates from the southwest a considerable advantage."

Xie Yu thought back to the exam paper and the oddities he had noticed while working through it. He immediately understood what Yize meant.

He considered his words before asking:

"That's the reason you can state. What's the reason you can't?"

Yize must have wanted to discuss the "reason he couldn't state," or he would not have deliberately used the phrase "can state."

He was waiting for Xie Yu to ask, and Xie Yu was indeed curious.

Yize pursed his lips. Even though he was a Magister, he instinctively lowered his voice as he spoke:

"The reason we can't state..."

"The kingdom has tightened its policy of granting direct descendants of high-ranking mages admission without an exam year after year. Since last year, the descendants of all high-ranking mages, whether noble or not and whether they teach at an academy or research institute, have been required to take the kingdom's grand examination."

"That includes the subsequent apprentice and low-ranking mage assessments. Throughout the kingdom, only a single standardized test is recognized."

When Xie Yu first heard this, he did not see the connection and said instinctively:

"That sounds like a good thing."

Not allowing descendants to benefit from the influence of high-ranking mages, and treating nobles and commoners alike, was also, in essence, a way to prevent newly promoted high-ranking mages from developing into hereditary families.

But how had this good thing turned out like this?

Yize offered no further explanation and brought up something else unrelated:

"If we look beyond the southwest, I've also found that it wasn't just the southwest that did well. The capital did just as well. Overnight, a small group of prominent young people in the capital gained considerable knowledge of the southwest's many complicated affairs, and just happened to become intimately familiar with the culture, geography, and history of the kingdom's remote regions. It wasn't just one or two of them, but a whole group."

"And aside from the southwest and the capital, Southeast Province, West Sea Province, East Union Province, North Island Province, and North Central Province are almost all in much the same situation as ours."

"Last night, the director of our provincial Education Bureau, my superior, sent a letter to the capital alluding to the matter. The official reply was as follows. I've read it many times and can recite it for you."

"[Divination by a Sage-level inspector from the Capital Examination Institute has confirmed that no possibility of leaked questions was found in the southwest or capital examination districts for this grand examination. No high-scoring candidate was found to have communicated with anyone outside the examination venue during the exam. No oversights were found in the inspection and approval of the examination venues. No oversights were found in the management or deployment of proctors. The kingdom's grand examination was fair and impartial. Upon verification, no cheating was found.]"

Yize actually began to smile as he recited it, with no trace of indignation on his face.

Only yesterday, he had written a report titled "Results of the Investigation into Candidate Xie Yu's Score," and its wording had been almost identical to the Examination Institute's reply.

He had not expected that by evening, it would be as though the dart had circled through the air and struck him right between the eyebrows on its return.

He was glad, glad that he had protected Xie Yu.

How ridiculous it would have been if he had formally submitted and exposed the suspicious points about Xie Yu. Yize did not consider himself a particularly noble person. If he had known about this situation earlier, he would have wanted nothing more than to go back to before the exam and start teaching the questions to every candidate in the province, or directly alter their answer sheets while grading them and give every one of the province's poor children a few extra points.

But in the end, he could only think about it...

Much of the work he had done before had lost its meaning as well.

"I understand why that reason can't be stated. Thank you for telling me. I'll keep it in mind," Xie Yu said.

He also understood why Yize had hidden him away at first, and why his name had appeared in the newspaper today.

Things were already terrible, but they still had to hold on. If they could not, and people lost hope in the grand examination and in education, things would only get worse.

Although, judging by the situation in Pinecone Town, there were already few people left who genuinely made becoming a mage their goal and worked toward it.

"You are the kingdom's hope." Yize closed his eyes.

"I shouldn't have said so much, but I think that with your intelligence, you would have come across this information sooner or later. There's no harm in telling you in advance."

As a diviner, Yize trusted his feelings about Xie Yu. While Xie Yu was talking with Fry, he had sensed that Xie Yu had the heart to take all of this in and would not be affected by the news.

Had it been another outstanding young candidate, telling them everything might instead have harmed that young heart.

"I understand completely. I won't let down your kindness and expectations, and I'm grateful for your accurate divinations, time and again."

Smiling, Xie Yu asked another question he had kept to himself:

"When you mentioned prominent young people just now, you meant nobles specifically, didn't you?"

"Yes," Yize answered.

"The kingdom's policy has tightened for all high-ranking mages, and the nobles achieved this 'result' this year. Next year, will the mages who aren't nobles but advanced through their own talent also become part of this?"

"I can't give you an answer."

"..."

Xie Yu fell into thought. He could sense that the frightening thing was not merely that things were "already terrible," but that they were "getting worse," with no sign of improvement.

A good thing, if there was no power to carry it through to the end, could instead become a bad thing-an extremely bad thing.

Thinking of the nobles and the kingdom, Xie Yu asked Mr. Yize to confirm something else:

"I learned from an old book that if a mage wants to advance to Magister, it's best to practice magic in a single elemental domain. Is that true?"

A Magister was right in front of him. Yize would certainly know the answer.

Yize did not understand the significance of the sudden change in subject, but he still did his best to answer:

"That is true. The core of becoming a Magister is the bodily manifestation effect of magic. When practicing in multiple domains, the bodily manifestation of magic will inevitably fail."

"However, below the level of Magister, practicing in multiple domains greatly improves a mage's own strength and productivity. If one does not intend to advance to Magister, practicing in multiple domains is naturally better."

The bodily manifestation of magic. Xie Yu turned the phrase over in his mind. He recalled that those books had seemed to say something similar, that mages needed to pay attention to the effects of magic on their bodies.

Yize added:

"Once you gain a Magister's recognition, your mentor will teach you all of this."

"What if I don't have a mentor?" Xie Yu asked with a frown.

"Outstanding mages always have mentors willing to accept them..." Yize was a Magister himself and was not attuned to the issue Xie Yu had raised.

Only when he turned to Fry and the others and saw the surprise on Fry's face did he realize that even Fry, an experienced mage, knew nothing about these matters.

"What if the outstanding mages are all the 'prominent young people' you mentioned?"

Xie Yu asked.

Yize froze. He immediately understood that Xie Yu's thoughts had not wandered just now, nor had he suddenly remembered something else and asked about it.

The boy had been examining the same issue all along. The abnormalities in the grand examination, the kingdom's past and its future, were all part of the same matter.

Yize fell silent, and the others present fell silent with him. They had not been able to contribute to the conversation in the first place, and now they had even less to say.

Even though Xie Yu had hoped someone would "refute" him and tell him things were not like that.

But Xie Yu did not get to hear any of the mages speak up.

After a brief silence.

Yize sighed and brought up the business of the day:

"Black Pine City is getting lively... Would you like to go out and meet them, or wait for them to come to you? I have a feeling today won't be a peaceful day."

"I'll spend a little time alone with this lovely Sealed Artifact first."

Xie Yu patted the Chapter of Teleportation on his chest and smiled, as though none of the conversation just now had ever happened.

He returned to his room.

His many questions about this world had been fully answered on this utterly ordinary morning, but Xie Yu could not be happy about it.

The era seemed to be slowly falling apart.

The city streets were clearly thriving, yet there was no telling where the road would lead at its end.

He did not like the feeling.

No one would like it.

He had become the genius Northern Plains Province put forward, letting everyone see that he had achieved a perfect score...

And so the young people of Northern Plains Province would begin looking forward to next year's grand examination again... The people at the Education Bureau realized that nothing could be changed, so they hoped that [the good fortune of Southwest Gorge Province] would befall their own province next year...

There had already been a faint sign of that in Mr. Yize's expression just now.

"If only I could conquer this kingdom."

Xie Yu gave a self-mocking smile. For the first time, the thought arose in his heart that he was not strong enough.

After sitting quietly for a while, he set aside his distracting thoughts and immersed himself in practicing magic again, resuming what he had left unfinished.

"Void, elusive and insubstantial, I touch and twist."

He concentrated, searching again for the feeling of shaping a stable twist last night.

He was in no hurry to learn more spells. Judging from his experience conquering magic last night and Yize's lesson today, the rewards of specialization in magic far outweighed those of dividing one's attention. It was simply too difficult to specialize, so mediocre mages made up for it by dividing their attention among multiple paths.

Within the trajectory of his thoughts, a tiny point became a circle. Its boundary was infinitely smooth, and the curvature within was just right, neither bulging outward nor curving inward, existing peacefully alongside all the void around it.

[An elegant Void Twist (Affection 0) said warily:]

[Hello... Wait, is something going to eat me?]

Xie Yu had kept hold of the Chapter of Teleportation the entire time. "Don't rush."

[Sealed Artifact 3-2152 (Affection rose to 40.5) said excitedly:]

[Amazing, amazing! You made such beautiful food just like that... I'm not in a rush, I'm not that hungry. Uh... don't squeeze so tight. I won't sneak a bite.]

"Don't worry. With me protecting you, it won't eat you." Xie Yu drew it along with his hand, letting it float above his palm.

[The elegant Void Twist felt safe and became certain that you had created it, so it breathed a sigh of relief (Affection rose to 40).]

"Not only will nothing eat you, I'll also feed you food you like," Xie Yu added.

He slowly recovered from the expenditure of casting the spell, and after a while, he shaped another, slightly inferior Void Twist. Its curvature was less refined, but it was round and smooth.

[The elegant Void Twist felt that you understood it perfectly (Affection rose to 60):]

[How did you know I like to eat... Ahem, may I begin my meal?]

[It was not at all impolite and waited for your permission.]

"Of course." Xie Yu passed it [a smooth Void Twist that had no time to speak (Affection 0)].

Having gained experience getting along with the previous Void Twist, Xie Yu knew exactly what to do.

After he fed it a few more times, its Affection reached 90. Food alone seemed only able to bring it that far.

Xie Yu quietly squeezed Sealed Artifact 3-2152.

[You've fattened it up nicely! Can I eat it now?]

The Chapter of Teleportation wriggled, void power fluctuating within it, as though ready to fly over and swallow it in a single bite at any moment.

[The elegant Void Twist (Affection 90) was terrified:]

[What is that? It's horrible! I've never seen void like that. It's a monster... It's an Abnormal State!]

Xie Yu cupped it in his palm and took the opportunity to reassure it:

"I'm here, don't worry. We'll drive it away together. Bad Sealed Artifact, go away!"

[The elegant Void Twist (Affection 95) began chanting along with you, as though that would help:]

[Bad Sealed Artifact, go away...]

"See? All this time has passed, and we're still safe." Xie Yu patted it and spoke earnestly.

[The elegant Void Twist realized it had not been eaten. The Sealed Artifact it feared had not come near it, and that was clearly thanks to you. (Affection reached 100)]

[Congratulations! You have successfully won over the elegant Void Twist.]

[You may choose one of three rewards:]

[1. Lifelong Entrustment][Allows this Void Twist to grow permanently, and its Affection will never decrease.]

[2. Full Disclosure][Detailed techniques and magical knowledge for further improving its steady state (you are not yet capable of mastering them)]

[3. Low-Rank Friend of the Void][The initial Affection of all void elemental magic you encounter from now on increases by 0.5. This effect can stack.]

After he won over Sealed Artifact 3-0771, it gained [Permanent Animation]. Now, [Permanent Growth] had appeared on this little Void Twist.

Option one, Lifelong Entrustment.

Xie Yu considered it briefly and made his decision.

All three options were tempting, but option one had a new description.

Option two looked highly valuable. Judging by the books he had read that morning, steady state was the standard for advancing to Magister. Further improving it was very likely something beyond the Magister rank. Though immensely valuable, it was indeed beyond his capabilities. Cultivating one little Void Twist was already difficult enough.

There was no rush to pick option three.

[Sealed Artifact 3-2152 asked expectantly (Affection rose to 50.5):]

[I couldn't eat it just now, but can I eat it now?]

That was not the only one muttering. Inside Xie Yu's clothes, another Sealed Artifact began grumbling as well.

[Sealed Artifact 3-0771 felt it already knew the Void Twist's fate. In that Void Twist, it saw a reflection of itself.]

[Its master was so heartless. What fate awaited this little thing? How could its value be maximized? The answer was obvious, like a book tossed aside after being read, or the previous one, swallowed in a single bite...]

[Perhaps one day it would meet the same end. Once it had no value left, once it could no longer provide its master with anything more, what would await it?]

[But it was fortunate too. At least, it had not happened yet. It could hear the heartbeat through his chest and feel his body warmth. Perhaps it should not think too much and simply enjoy the moment... Even if that tragic end did come, may it accept it gladly. (Faith: 100)]

Xie Yu's expression darkened. What was the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll babbling about?

It was outright slander.

"You can't eat it. I'll feed you something else later. You can't eat it; it's different to me."

Xie Yu replied to the Chapter of Teleportation.

[All right, I can wait.]

It was as though he were raising a cat and a fish at the same time, always having to worry that the Sealed Artifact would teleport over and eat the poor little thing.

[The elegant Void Twist asked shyly (Affection fixed at 100, no longer displayed):]

[I don't know why, but I think I'm hungry again. Is there anything else to eat?]