Chapter 31: Genius and Madman

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Mr. Lu’s hand jerked violently as he poured the water, and he nearly spilled tea all over his trousers.

“All right, I have to admit it—you are the student who gives me the most headaches.” He sighed helplessly as he picked up a rag.

It was enough to make him despair. Zhou Ke was excellent in both academics and athletics, yet his personality was simply—

If “nobody is perfect” was the truth, then whenever God closed one door for you, He would surely open a window.

Well, Zhou Ke used that window to throw excrement at God.

“I asked you here mainly to persuade you not to take the Magus Examination,” Mr. Lu said earnestly.

“You know that your aptitude as a magus is only at the first stage of the Power of Reason. Not only are you far behind Li Hua, you cannot even compare with Liu Xing. But don’t feel inferior because of that. Everyone has things they excel at and things they don’t.”

“Your academic performance is excellent. Just keep it up until the National College Entrance Examination, and you’ll easily get into a prestigious university. Even Central Capital University, the top-ranked university in the country, would probably court you. Why risk taking that ridiculous Magus Examination?”

“The Magus Examination can be life-threatening! What if something goes wrong and you injure your hands, your head, or your eyes? What will you do if you miss the National College Entrance Examination?”

Whenever he reached an important point, Mr. Lu habitually rapped his knuckles against the desk.

“And even if we take the worst-case scenario, suppose you actually achieve a good result in the Magus Examination. You’d still end up working as a magus. How dangerous would that be?”

“Yes, I know. You young people all have burning hearts. You dream of upholding justice, saving the world, and all that nonsense, but—”

“Teachers are always seeing reports in the news about another magus making the ultimate sacrifice, or another guild member becoming disabled and retiring. That can hardly be called a promising career path. There’s no need to force yourself into it, child.”

For the next half hour, Zhou Ke experienced the full force of a verbal bombardment.

By the time two kettles of tea had been brewed and consumed, Mr. Lu was still talking without pause. Zhou Ke gradually drifted off to sleep.

No, that was inaccurate. He had fallen asleep at the third word of the first sentence.

“Your teacher believes in you. You’re a clever child. Do well on the National College Entrance Examination, get into a prestigious university, and you can still make something of yourself. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

No one knew how much time had passed before Zhou Ke awoke from his haze, just in time to hear Mr. Lu delivering his conclusion.

Never mind what had actually been said. Zhou Ke nodded enthusiastically.

“I understand, Teacher. From now on, I’ll definitely make sure my head hits the ground!”

“What?”

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A question mark sprang above Mr. Lu’s head.

Had this boy not listened to a single word?!

“Sigh. It seems you really won’t listen to reason. I can’t interfere too much in your life, either.” Mr. Lu sighed repeatedly, blaming himself for failing to save such a promising student. “Just try to stay safe.”

“Mr. Lu, what’s with that document of yours? I saw Su Wumi’s name on it.”

Mr. Lu had intended to send Zhou Ke back to class as quickly as possible, but he had not expected Zhou Ke to strike up another conversation. Without thinking, he let himself be drawn into it.

“That’s Su Wumi’s graduation certificate.”

“Why is her graduation certificate being prepared already?” Zhou Ke blinked, his curiosity as immense as a cat’s.

“Fine, fine.” Seeing that he could not escape Zhou Ke’s searching gaze, Mr. Lu gave up and said, “You know that the main purpose of the Magus Examination is to select promising magi for admission to the Arcane Academy, where they can be trained into Stardust-level magi capable of protecting the nation.”

At this point, Mr. Lu glanced toward the door. Then he crept over, shut it, and returned with his voice lowered.

“Do you still remember my Truth?”

“Mm-hmm.” Zhou Ke nodded.

That was right. Mr. Lu was also a magus who had awakened a Truth. His aptitude was merely mediocre, and he disliked fighting, so he had never taken part in any dangerous magical incidents.

His Truth came from Master Guan Zhong’s work, *Ears Through the Wall*. It allowed him to create invisible ears within a certain range for eavesdropping.

The old sneak had used his Truth more than once during self-study periods to spy on the class. Whenever he heard someone slacking off, he would rush over and bellow:

“What’s all the noise? Do you think this classroom is a market? Your class is the noisiest in the entire grade!”

That was how he had earned his behind-the-scenes nickname: the Old Sneak.

Mr. Lu coughed awkwardly twice.

“Actually, the day before yesterday I happened to pass by the principal’s office. I wanted to find out how the selection for ‘Teacher of the Year’ was going, but I accidentally overheard the principal talking with the Whale-Eyed Examiner.”

“You certainly know how to eavesdrop. What were they talking about?”

Under Zhou Ke’s exaggerated winks, Mr. Lu’s aged face flushed.

“They said that Su Wumi had actually awakened her Truth before she turned fourteen.”

“Her family is an arcane dynasty. Not only did they teach her how to interpret Truths from childhood, they also had people from the guild escort her through the Gate.”

Zhou Ke raised his eyebrows when he heard this. Those were certainly new details.

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“They also said that with aptitude at the ninth stage of the Power of Reason, combined with the Truth *Theory of Universal Gravitation*, she is guaranteed to place first in the province. The examination is nothing more than a formality.”

Mr. Lu poured Zhou Ke another cup of tea and resumed his earnest persuasion.

“That’s why I say the Magus Examination is unfair. Su Wumi has talent, resources, and experience. You two aren’t even starting from the same line.”

Zhou Ke ignored the advice, his attention focused elsewhere.

“How interesting. Why would someone of such stature lower herself to attend school in a place this small?”

Mr. Lu was displeased.

“Hey! Watch your words! Our school is, at the very least, the number-one high school in Bright City for its admission rate to prestigious universities!”

“I mean, an arcane dynasty ought to be extremely wealthy, shouldn’t it? Why not hire a private tutor at home? She doesn’t even need to take the National College Entrance Examination.”

“Uh, that I don’t know. Anyway, I’ve said everything I needed to say. You must not tell anyone that I was eavesdropping.”

He nervously took a sip of tea and continued.

“The Arcane Academy recruits students nationwide, but only admits a few thousand scattered applicants each year. The competition is no easier than the National College Entrance Examination—in fact, it’s even more difficult.”

“Some of the candidates who fail to gain admission will be recruited by major guilds because of their outstanding performance. As for the rest—”

Zhou Ke could more or less guess what came next.

Unable to apply to the Arcane Academy and unwilling to recruit them, the guilds left them with no choice but to return to school and continue preparing for the National College Entrance Examination.

Perhaps that was why Mr. Lu had been relatively lenient about letting him take the Magus Examination. In his eyes, someone with only first-stage Power of Reason and no experience would certainly fail.

“It seems Mr. Lu isn’t the only one who thinks that. Interesting. In that case, I suppose I’ll just take first place for fun.”

Zhou Ke could not stop the corners of his mouth from curling upward. Imagining the looks of shock on everyone’s faces when they realized they had been toyed with filled him with motivation.

“What could possibly be more satisfying than crushing a heaven-blessed prodigy?”

After promising to keep Mr. Lu’s secret, Zhou Ke immediately gathered his things and went home.

He imagined turning the reversal in which an arrogant genius was defeated into a fairy tale—one sung every day and recited every night. His steps became so swaggering that passersby once again kept their distance.