The entire town was in a bustle today, but Rui didn't mind them as he made his way over to the exam center.
"Please follow us this way, sir," One of the staff members guided him to a seemingly special room.
Rui could instantly sense that his regular senses were quite halted when he directed them toward the room.
He wasn't surprised, he had already predicted this when he had applied for the exam. Martial Squires could gain information from their sense from great distances away from the source of that information.
He was no exception. Thus it made sense to inhabit these senses in order to prevent him from cheating.
What they didn't know was that these measures were ineffective at stopping Rui. While his regular senses were highly restricted, his Reimannian Echo was unperturbed. He didn't expect the institute to succeed in doing what not even the Shionel Dungeon as a whole could not achieve.
"This will be the exam center, sir," The staff bowed as she gestured inwards. "Special measures have been put in place to ensure that the test can be conducted beyond any reasonable doubts of the violations of the rules, we hope you don't mind."
"It is of no consequence," Rui replied as he nonchalantly entered, sitting at the sole table in the room.
He hadn't been informed of these measures even if he had predicted them. He could already figure that the reason this was the case was to test his reactions and see if he intended to cheat or not.
Soon enough, the exam began.
And soon enough, it ended.
Rui felt quite nostalgic as he wrote the exam. It had truly been a long time since he her ever experienced this feeling. He recalled the younger days of his previous life where he would spend quite a lot of time studying. Back then, he was determined to get into a good university for college.
And more than a lifetime later, he was back in the same position. It was a profound feeling that made him look back on the journey that he had undergone thus far.
It was a shame that he couldn't write down all the answers in superspeed, but unfortunately, the cognitive boosts provided by the Martial Path were only applicable in tasks that were centered around combat, or close to elements of it.
However, his evolved brain from the Squire evolution breakthrough allowed him to accomplish some truly mind-blowing stuff. Thus, the timeframe of the exam was adjusted to accommodate that.
Furthermore, his pen and paper were also non-standard, thus they were able to withstand his writing as fast as he could.
He was quickly done, even by Martial Squire standards.
He left the exam hall and headed towards the cafeteria, ignoring the eying gazes of the various students and professors at the college.
"How did it go?" Kane asked once Rui returned.
"Easy," Rui murmured. "I'll gain access to those libraries for sure, and I'll gain access to as much as possible.
Rui could hear waves of murmurs from the students in the cafeteria. He hadn't bothered lowering his voice, so those that were able to understand that international dialect could understand what he said.
There was an immense amount of skepticism from all the students, once more. This time, they were a lot more vitriolic.
He couldn't care less.
Days passed, and soon enough the result was out.
All results were publically displayed as per the day of the exam, ranked in ascending order of marks.
At the top? Squire Falken with two hundred and forty-nine marks out of two hundred and fifty marks.
The entire town broke in controversy to the news.
A Martial Squire had scored almost a full score after just studying for ten days!
"Congratulations!" Kane laughed as he patted on the shoulder. "I knew I could count on you."
Rui, on the other hand, was displeased. For some reason, his score really bothered him even though he had already accomplished everything that he wanted to accomplish.
('Where did I lose that one mark,') His eyes narrowed as he flashed through his Mind Palace to look at his answer sheet.
He wasn't able to find a single mistake he made. Which was really bizarre to him. If he did expect to lose marks, and then did lose them, he wouldn't be too surprised. But he could see not a single avenue where even a single answer would not yield him full marks.
Even though the exam was genuinely unimportant to him, he still felt a little challenged at anything less than perfection with his current capabilities and gifts.
"Oh cheer up!" Kane slapped him on his back, you utterly dominated the entirety of all other contests in the entire institute.
Rui glanced at the names below him. The second highest was behind by more than a hundred marks!
He had truly outshined every single participant whose results had been published. Furthermore, because he and the others had gone to the main notice board the second that the results were announced, he was actually standing among them.
He could feel their skepticism. How could a Martial Artist like him possibly be able to beat them in a field that they had spent years studying?
In fact, they weren't the only ones that had gathered to take a look at his score. A whole crowd had formed behind him, murmuring loudly as word of his score began spreading like wildfire. Furthermore, given that he had just appeared before them, they could not help but talk to him.
"Squire Falken! How did you get such a high score? Are you really a Martial Artist?!"
"If anything, where did you lose that one mark?"
"Did you obtain this score by using unsavory means? Do you have a powerful sensory technique that allowed you to bypass the sensory jamming features?"
He did, but he had no intention of revealing that.
"Shut up and move," Rui narrowed his eyes as he released a bit of hostility into his aura.
The crowd obliged.
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