A Strange Ability

Inside the study on the mansion's second floor.

After pondering for a long while, Anna finally found a perfectly reasonable way to broach the subject.

"Young master, you've been away in the capital, Wellington, for so long that you might not know what's been happening at the town's secondary school. This year's entrance exams have become much harder."

Li Mo asked, "In what subject?"

"Mathematics," Anna replied. "According to a professor at the school, scholars at the Royal Academy of Sciences have advocated adding more advanced algebraic reasoning to the secondary school examinations."

Li Mo nodded. "Good, that puts my mind at ease."

Anna was briefly taken aback.

She didn't quite understand what he meant.

Why would a harder math exam put his mind at ease?

Suspecting that he hadn't understood how serious the situation was, she emphasized, "Young master, it really is very difficult this time. The school held a mock exam last month, and there was an algebra problem even I couldn't solve."

Li Mo glanced at her with mild curiosity.

Anna was more than just a maid.

She had been left on the streets as a young child and had survived only thanks to his father's kindness.

The two had grown up under the same roof and could be considered childhood friends.

To repay that kindness, she had stubbornly taken on all the work of a maid once she was a little older, and nothing Li En said could dissuade her.

But outside these doors, she was Li Mo's classmate at secondary school.

Anna was bright and had consistently ranked near the top of her grade. A problem even she couldn't solve was definitely beyond the syllabus for students of this era.

Li Mo grew interested. "Let me hear it."

"Of course, young master!"

Anna had been worried she wouldn't get a chance to show him. She immediately took a sheet of paper, wrote down a problem, and pushed it in front of Li Mo.

"The algebraic sum of three variables is the constant A, the sum of their squares is the constant B, and the sum of their cubes is the constant C. Find an expression for the product of the three variables."

Li Mo glanced at the problem.

It was far too simple for him.

He barely needed to think.

He gave the answer straight away.

"The result is one-sixth of A cubed, minus one-half of A times B, plus one-third of C."

Anna stood there, dumbfounded.

"Huh?"

Li Mo explained:

"Simply put, use a variant of the perfect cube formula and substitute for the expression as a whole. First, subtract B from A squared and divide the result by two to get the sum of the pairwise products of the three variables. Then substitute that result into the factorization formula for the sum of cubes, rearrange the terms, simplify, and combine like terms. That gives you the answer."

Anna: "???"

This time, she couldn't even manage a "huh." She could only express her surprise with wide eyes.

When she first heard the answer... she had suspected that the young master already knew it.

But not only had he explained the steps, his solution was different from the standard answer in the textbook.

The textbook's solution isolated the variables one by one and substituted them. Was the young master's method more ingenious? By substituting for the expression as a whole, he had reached the answer in just three steps.

Once Anna came to her senses, she suddenly felt as though a little part of her had quietly broken.

The young master had spent almost a year at the High Truth Academy in the capital, Wellington.

It was a place for studying mysticism, and it didn't offer ordinary secondary-school courses in mathematics or physics.

By rights, the young master, who had neglected his basic studies for a year, shouldn't have been able to solve such a difficult problem.

But now, she had paid close attention in class every day and studied for a whole year longer than he had, only to end up unable to match him?

Couldn't he spare her this?

Struggling to keep her composure, she asked, "Young master, how... how did you know how to solve that?"

Li Mo gave an offhand answer. "At the academy in the capital, I occasionally reviewed the basic courses in my head to pass the time. It seems I haven't fallen behind."

Anna felt dizzy.

Studying mysticism was said to be extremely tedious and complicated.

Yet the young master had still managed to find time to study on his own?

"Young master, you're truly... amazing," she murmured in praise without thinking.

As soon as she said it, Anna realized something was wrong.

Hadn't she come upstairs to make the young master give up by showing him how hard it would be?

Things had gone completely differently from what she expected. There was no chance of making him give up now, so how had she ended up boosting his confidence instead?

This was terrible! She had to go downstairs at once and work out a new plan with the master!

Anna immediately stood up and said:

"Young master, one problem isn't enough to assess your academic level thoroughly. I'll go and bring up the comprehensive test paper we did last week. Please try working through it first, so we can identify your current weaknesses and give you targeted lessons!"

"All right," Li Mo said with a nod.

Anna turned and left, looking somewhat as though she were fleeing.

Li Mo couldn't help chuckling.

Anna was clearly shaken yet still trying to act calm. It really was rather cute.

And solving just one algebra problem had surprised her so much.

Then, when he lit the first incandescent bulb in this world, and when he took great strides to lead this world into the electrical age, Anna's reaction would probably be quite something...

Remembering the incandescent bulb, Li Mo sighed softly again.

This world's technological foundation was far too weak.

It relied on kerosene lamps for lighting and steam engines for power.

Materials science, metallurgy, and chemical synthesis were all at a very rudimentary stage.

Under such circumstances, building a rocket and flying to the moon was absolutely impossible for one person to accomplish in a single lifetime.

So the most pressing task was to rapidly raise his social standing.

He had to keep producing groundbreaking achievements and accumulate renown and capital.

At the very least, he had to reach a point where, one day, when he publicly announced his intention to land on the moon, people would seriously assess the feasibility of his plan, and no one would dare show the slightest hint of ridicule...

Li Mo thought about the friends he had made during his year in the capital, Wellington.

Most came from prominent backgrounds and had considerable family resources behind them.

When the time was right, he could consider pooling all those resources.

At the same time, if this world's unique mystical powers could help with materials processing or propulsion, they too had to be incorporated into the research and development system. There was a long road ahead.

A moment later, Anna returned.

She placed the test paper on the desk and, after saying, "Please start working on it," immediately went downstairs to discuss a plan with his father, Li En.

Li Mo picked up the test paper and decided to take this opportunity to test the strange ability that had resurfaced along with the memories of his previous life.

He called it a strange ability

because activating it required a sequence of small, ritualistic actions.

First, take three deep breaths.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Breathe in, breathe out...

Then, naturally interlace both hands and place them in front of his lips.

Slowly close his eyes and take one final, long, deep breath.

Then silently recite one word in his heart:

Quiet.

In the next instant, the world would truly fall quiet, just as he wished.

The sounds of carriages and horses outside the window, the ticking of the clock in the room, and the breeze stirring the sheer curtains were all shut out by a mysterious force.

When Li Mo opened his eyes again, he entered a clear, exceptionally focused state.

In this state, he had an almost photographic memory.

His logical thinking and reasoning abilities were greatly enhanced.

Even his intuition and inspiration came in an endless stream, like bursting sparks.

He picked up his pen and looked at the first question.

He paused for less than a second.

He put pen to paper and wrote down the answer.

After that,

all the questions seemed to yield like ice and snow melting in a spring rain.

He worked smoothly, without the slightest hesitation or pause.

In less than five minutes,

he had finished the paper.

Li Mo blinked, left his focused state, and exhaled softly.

This paper should be enough to earn Anna and his father's approval and let him return to school without trouble.

Meanwhile, in the hall downstairs.

Anna was reporting to the master what had just happened in the study.

"Master, the young master's performance was completely beyond my expectations. He solved a complicated final algebra problem in his head, and his approach was even more concise than the textbook's standard answer. I don't think I can keep him in check academically at all!"

Li En shook his head. "Anna, that's unlikely. As you know, he's spent this past year studying mysticism. There's no way his grasp of mathematics and physics hasn't declined. Perhaps he happened to see the answer to that problem somewhere."

Anna hesitated. "But the steps he gave really were different from the standard answer..."

"Wellington is the capital, after all. The finest scholars in the country gather there. Perhaps he saw the problem at a salon in the capital, and the scholars there simply happened to have a more sophisticated solution than the ones in our town."

Anna thought carefully for a moment. "You're right, that's certainly possible. But the comprehensive test paper I just took upstairs will definitely rule that out! It was only recently prepared for an internal academy test, and the young master has been resting behind closed doors all this time. There's no way he could have seen it beforehand."

Li En said approvingly, "Then that paper will reveal his true level. But Anna, when you mark it later, be careful how you phrase things. Comfort him, and don't let his pride take too hard a blow."

"I understand, master. I'll be tactful..."

Just then, footsteps sounded at the stairs.

They both stopped talking and turned to look.

Li Mo was walking slowly down the stairs with the test paper in hand. He came up to the sofa and said:

"I'm finished. Anna, sorry for the trouble, but could you check it?"