The Last King Of Darkness
Chapter 75 - 62 Grass

Chapter 75: Chapter 62 Grass

The arrival of exams made the entire academy bustling.

Due to the presence of patrolling tasks, the schedules of all students were inconsistent, forcing the teachers to divide the students into two groups for the examinations.

This doubled their workload.

For the first-year freshmen, all their exams were cultural courses.

The exam format was exactly the same as before, with each student receiving a paper and working on it independently.

This was all too familiar for Rod, for no one was better at taking exams than the residents of his household.

What’s simpler still, the examination hall was unsupervised. The academy used a large Mist Lock to engulf the hall in mist, separating the students.

This had no effect on Rod. As soon as he activated his Eye of the Soul, he could see everything, down to a single hair.

He could even tuck his hands in his sleeves and enter a Dream Realm on the spot to pose questions to the Book of Knowledge.

The Book of Knowledge, paging through itself, seemed to greatly despise Rod’s behavior, yet honestly responded to each of Rod’s inquiries, providing detailed perfect answers.

On the morning of the eleventh, "Holy Fire," "Mathematics and Combat Application"

On the evening of the eleventh, "Human’s Last Hope: Trolian Establishment and Continuation"

On the morning of the twelfth, "Common Monster Habits and Characteristics"

On the evening of the twelfth, "Extraordinary Soul"

In two days’ time, all the main courses were completed.

Rod fed the Book of Knowledge half a ton of Red Stone and had already secured the top rank in his year in advance.

As for the minor and elective courses, they would be examined at the end of the term, so there was no need to worry about them for now.

After the exams concluded, the entire academy breathed a sigh of relief, and the grounds once again filled with laughter and chatter under the shimmering lakes lit by firelight, with students pairing up for strolls.

The once quiet marketplace area became bustling again.

The dining area’s pubs, such as "Fairy’s Homeland," "Blues of Melancholy," and "Warm Big Stick" regained their liveliness.

The academy’s teachers also relaxed quite a bit. They had been the most tired during this period—not only due to their extensive teaching duties but also because they had to be present for the patrol tasks of all students except resident scholars, an extremely heavy responsibility. No one wanted these lovely seeds to perish in their growing phase.

With such heavy responsibilities, the teachers were almost sleepless when exams occurred again.

Now that the exam had smoothly concluded, everyone was put at ease.

The upcoming selection of the "Goldenworth Star" would be handled by Jinworth Academy and the Mechanical Research Institute, which they did not need to worry about.

For first-year freshmen, the selection content was very simple.

It involved comparing the test data at entry with the current data—the bigger the difference, the higher the score.

Plus one quarter from teacher evaluations and one quarter from exam scores constituted the student with the most progress.

Looking at it this way, Rod’s advantage was substantial, practically securing him the first-class medal.

The only thing that displeased Rod was that, during his Fire Spark test, the examiner messed with him again.

"Blue, green... elongated, pointed, what the heck are these? How come your Fire Spark is of types I’ve never seen?"

After flipping through a thick book for a long time, the examiner finally named Rod’s second Fire Spark.

[Grass]

Rod was not particularly concerned about this issue, but the translation was so outrageous that he found it hard to accept.

He argued vehemently, trying to restore the name of his Fire Spark to [Frost Blue].

As an expert in Ancient Language, the examiner was suddenly questioned about his translation skills and flew into a rage, refusing to correct the name and harshly criticizing Rod’s translation as nonsensical and completely ignorant of what constitutes faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance in translation.

Tragically, Rod’s primary focus was on Ancient Language, which is rarely used and relatively obscure, with only a few people studying it.

The Sequencing Crystal Ball uses ancient languages such as Majis, Niraka, Sasorania, and the majority of relics unearthed in the Royal City are inscribed in such languages.

This is indeed the mainstream ancient language that Rod, unfortunately, does not understand.

When the scholars who came to mediate the dispute learned the situation, they immediately issued a warning to Rod—if he disrupted the order of the venue again, his eligibility for selection would be revoked.

With no other choice, Rod acquiesced, thinking, ’so be it, as long as it doesn’t affect the selection.’

However, it unexpectedly did.

In the final round of the competition for the first-place medal, his competitor argued that his Fire Spark was too worthless, with undefined functions, and did not deserve such high scores.

The award from Jinworth Academy should go to the most promising student, not be wasted on trash.

Harsh as those words were, many of the scholars overseeing the selection started to waver.

Although Rod’s score was overwhelmingly higher than his competitors’, his Fire Spark truly was too inconspicuous.

In the final round of selection, almost everyone had very strong Soul Traits or Fire Spark abilities, except Rod, whose function was unclear, noted only as "black trash bin" and "grass".

This was embarrassingly scanty, making one doubt his prospects for the future.

"To foster the strongest with the best resources" had been a mainstream philosophy in the Royal City until the New King’s twenty years of rule, which slightly changed it, but it still was deeply rooted in people’s hearts.

Mina, a researcher from the Mechanical Research Institute and one of the judges, strongly opposed this view, believing that it undermined the rules and fairness of the "Goldenworth Star" competition.

"Rules and fairness are the foundation of our existence. The Holy Fire does not depend on one person, one family, or one group, but on the efforts of everyone. Unity is our greatest strength, without fairness, we lose the power to unite."

Her words won the support of many followers, and many scholars were swayed.

Her teacher, the venerable and highly respected Lord Amides had once used his wisdom to solve many problems for the Royal City and was one of the most respected grand scholars.

As his last disciple, Mina’s opinions were worthy of respect.

Finally, the chief judge decided on a simpler method—

to present a challenging problem to everyone. If Rod could solve it first, the first-place medal would be his.

If not, a re-evaluation would consider the potential of the students for additional points.

"I have two empty water jars here, with volumes of 5 quarts and 6 quarts. How can you fetch 3 quarts of water from a lake?"

All the competitors fell silent, only Rod smirked coldly.

Such a simple problem didn’t even require consulting the Book of Stupidity.

He explained succinctly:

"Fill the 6-quart jar, pour it into 5-quart jar, left with 1 quart."

"Empty the 5-quart jar, transfer the remaining 1 quart into it, fill the 6-quart jar again, pour into the 5-quart jar, left with 2 quarts."

"Empty the 5-quart jar, transfer the remaining 2 quarts into it, fill the 6-quart jar again, pour into the 5-quart jar, left with 3 quarts."

Clean and concise.

The scholars applauded; the problem was not difficult, but the clarity of thought and clear expression were.

However, the chief judge’s expression darkened.

"That problem doesn’t count, you probably already knew it. Here’s a new question,"

"There is a pool, filling it takes 4 clock hours and draining it takes 8 clock hours. If the manager simultaneously fills and drains it, how long until it is full?"

As the words fell, someone protested, "Isn’t this question a bit off-topic?"

Another shouted, "Wasting clean water resources, the manager must be investigated, he could be a Doomsday believer."

Rod almost laughed out loud, promptly answered, "8 clock hours."

The noisy voices instantly disappeared, and the chief judge sat down; he knew that things couldn’t go as he had promised Habulin.