Chapter 161

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Chapter 161

Out of the four people, only Luna passed (of course), (the twins thought it was because she loved world history so much), so they had a strategic discussion under the watchful eye of Spider Shirley.

"The questions must be fake," Swis determined, "I’ve seen several different versions of the questions… Miss Slote, you don’t have to attend every day if you have other things to do…"

Mrs. Slote was knitting a sweater, wearing a pair of reading glasses, and after listening, she looked at him and pouted.

Sylas said, "First, we need to figure out the questions from last semester. Does anyone remember?"

The three of them shook their heads together. After an exciting vacation, they couldn’t remember anything they learned, let alone the exam questions. And Sylas, with her amazing memory, had never seen the questions before.

"…It’s alright, anyway, Sauran may be annoying, but he’s still a fool…"

Everyone laughed together, there didn’t seem to be any direct cause and effect in this.

"Don’t laugh. Just because he’s a fool and refuses to use his brain, the questions can’t be his own creation. He must have a question bank, and the most likely source of that question bank is the past year’s exam questions, especially his… He didn’t start teaching world history this year, did he?"

Nobody knows, but Mrs. Slote happily replied, "Absolutely! After this year’s exams, the number of torn world history exercise books has significantly increased. Normally, people would only do this when they dislike a teacher."

"But, where can we find a question bank?"

The four people gathered around a table (the one Mrs. Slote newly acquired because it wasn’t level, with one corner propped up by a petrified turtle), lost in thoughts. Suddenly, Mrs. Slote said, "Last semester’s world history? Wait a moment!"

She clapped twice and plucked a hair from a spider’s back. She burned it, and smoke formed in the air, creating a staircase. A handle appeared on the ceiling, and Mrs. Slote, with her round figure, climbed up the thin steps. Each step sank slightly under her weight.

Everyone held their breath and watched her until she reached the entrance. She pushed it open, revealing what appeared to be an attic. After searching for a while, she popped her head out and said, "Ta-da! I found it!"

She descended step by step, and everyone watched her intently as she approached the table and spread out a piece of paper.

"Are you referring to this?"

Everyone crowded around, and Swis, as if having discovered something, held up the paper to the light. He exclaimed, "Oh my, it’s Morlick’s paper! Such fancy paper. Could it possibly be Sauran’s original manuscript?"

"Oh, maybe!" Mrs. Slote clapped her hands happily.

Swis looked at Slote differently now. "Oh my, you are truly a magical person! Can you think of a solution for the other questions?"

"Oh, but the little cuties still don’t plan on letting me attend the nightly strategy meetings." She sniffed and wiped her eyes.

Swis immediately said, "You can come! You can even stay here!"

She quickly held back her tears and clapped her hands. "Ah, I’ll ask my coworkers in the Autumn Hall tomorrow." The Autumn Hall is where the school prints exam papers. Swis felt like she was looking at a goddess based on her expression.

As expected, the next day she indeed brought the exam questions from the past twenty years, and upon comparison, she discovered that all of Sauran’s questions were chosen from them.

Sylas pointed out a question and said, "This one… and this one and this one, they have a very high repetition rate. Memorizing them all wouldn’t be wrong. At least, make sure to memorize the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank ones. Hmm…"

Swis eagerly interrupted, "If you get all the noun explanations and multiple-choice questions right, you will definitely pass. Just write something for the essay questions… What’s wrong?"

"Don’t we need to memorize the essay questions?"

"Oh! Little fairy! What do you think this is? It’s a makeup exam. Even if you get a perfect score, your transcript will only say ‘pass.’"

"And," Caroline emphasized, "the makeup exam questions will definitely be easier than the official exam, ah, ah, I must pass, I don’t want to see Sauran’s face for another year!"

Then, Caroline and Swis lowered their heads and studied hard, Luna lay on her water lord and read "World History," while Ms. Slote sat beside her knitting.

After about an hour, the clock (just bought today) rang, Sylas put away her notes, opened a book about witchcraft, hastily flipped through it once, and then closed it.

While knitting, Ms. Slote leaned over and asked, "Oh dear, is there anything bothering you, sweetheart?"

Sylas sighed and said, "This book is written so poorly, it’s supposed to be about witchcraft, but it reads like a joke. It’s too focused on describing trivial gossip about witchcraft and trying to create a sense of mystery. I don’t think it’s for ordinary villagers…"

She tried to find the right word, and Slote smiled and said, "Superstition, right?"

"Exactly! Even though there is superstition in it, and useless fluff on the outside, its essence is worth exploring."

"Very interesting idea, sweetheart. You know, every now and then, every two or three years, there is a big debate on the bulletin board about whether ‘witchcraft is real magic.’ It’s a real disaster for the school janitors."

"Are there people who think that witchcraft is a type of magic?"

"Yes, but getting less and less. Um, I’m just judging based on the cleaning schedule. You see, there haven’t been any big events like this in the past three years." She let go of her knitting needles and gestured as she spoke. "The people involved in the debate can roughly be divided into three groups. One group believes that witchcraft often harms people and should be completely abolished, at least driven out of schools. Another group, of course, believes that witchcraft is beneficial and useful, and that alchemy is derived from witchcraft. And there must be a middle group, who think that witchcraft should be reevaluated and useful aspects should be separated."

"It sounds like the approach of the middle group is correct."

Slote shrugged. "But now it is clear that the mainstream school of thought believes that witchcraft is not worth studying. Many research projects have been cancelled."

Sylas was not convinced. "Academia doesn’t have a mainstream."

"Oh, dear…" She looked at Sylas kindly. "Academia may not have a mainstream, but there is money. Money only goes to mainstream areas where returns can be seen. If a researcher wants to study this field, they are destined to not be able to secure funding. Over time, there will be no results."

"Oh…"

In the stories about Xerath on the bulletin board, it is pointed out that there are some disgusting and decaying rules at the top of the guild that restrict the career development of mages. But everyone’s idol, Xerath, is not bound by these things. When she was young, she only took on A-level and above tasks from various guilds and earned a huge amount of money. What’s even more dramatic is that one of her missions successfully prevented the major mithril-producing region of Sentland from falling into turmoil, causing the price of mithril to drop instead of rise. Everyone was long on mithril except her, she shorted it, and she suddenly became extremely wealthy (which made many people resentful). Since then, she has been able to buy as much precious experimental materials and equipment from the guild as she wants, and she can research whatever she wants without needing to apply for research funding. She has completely entered an ideal and free state.

So, the monument of achievements of Archmage Xerath was completely built with money as the foundation.

Sylas nodded with partial understanding and put aside her book "Witchcraft" to read "Introduction to Space" instead.

Along with the makeup exam, there was another thing that troubled her: Snowfall Yard. Because she explained the questions in advance, she passed the element theory exam with a failure rate of more than fifty percent. Every day, cute little girls would come to her dorm room to express their admiration. The table was filled with gifts and "love letters." Occasionally, in the common rest area, you could hear wonderful girls talking about Sylas’s teaching style. Sylas was extremely shy and could only quickly escape each time. Luna was afraid that she was not embarrassed enough, so she always had to go over and sincerely exclaim, "Yes! She’s really awesome!"

The girls usually excitedly nodded their heads with clenched fists.

Luna didn’t need to make up exams, so she wasn’t busy during the first week of the semester. When she had free time, she would open the letters Sylas received and occasionally exclaim, "Girls’ love letters are written much nicer! Oh, the paper is scented too. It’s Moroccan fragrance paper, such good taste. Are you considering writing her a letter back, Sylas? I have a feeling that after you graduate, you’ll definitely become the new idol, just like Xerath."

Sylas smiled and said, "No, Xerath is much more amazing. Didn’t she receive advanced qualifications at thirteen and the ‘Four-color Silk Thread’ at sixteen?"

After passing each Element Envoy Test, they get to embroider the corresponding color silk thread on their collar. Water is sky blue, wind is silver white, earth is golden, and fire is red. Some students who specialize in certain spells will also take an Element Envoy Test after the advanced entrance exam. Passing means "profound insights and the ability to freely manipulate a certain element." Of course, the exam includes practical and written parts.

"It’s different with Xerath. She doesn’t explain the questions to everyone, and I heard she’s a very distant person, not polite to others, unlike you."

"Maybe she’s good to her friends too. I can be distant towards ordinary people too, you know."

"No, no, no, you definitely haven’t seen a distant person. A truly distant person won’t smile and reject others, okay, my little fairy? A truly distant person won’t even bother with those who come to give love letters, unlike you who replies."

"Leunen replied, not me." Leunen once imitated her handwriting and wrote a batch of rejection letters, randomly writing phrases like "There is no possibility between us," "Academic achievements should be prioritized at this stage, I don’t want to be in a relationship," "I’m sorry, you’re a good person," "Please forget about me." They were randomly sealed in envelopes with people’s names on them and left in front of the bulletin board for people to pick up.

Leunen shrank into a water droplet and extended a tentacle that swayed back and forth.