Era of Mist

’No, no, calm down. I will absolutely not admit that I was stumped by an elementary school problem. Besides, no matter how hard an elementary school calculation is, it’s still just an elementary school calculation. So what if you’re fast at arithmetic? What’s the damn point? Is our Fengming First Middle School some kind of preschool for geniuses? Will they really put such a monstrously difficult calculation problem on the exam?’

Absolutely not!

’Why would I learn something that won’t even be on the test? Wouldn’t I be an idiot to waste time and energy on this?’

Besides, if you take a closer look, this Champion Scholar Stone hasn’t solved a single problem either, has he?

Looks like he was stumped too, and he’s given up and is just sleeping his head off here.

Heh! Can’t even solve elementary-level problems... He’s washed up. This guy is completely washed up. He’s no threat at all. I can put a big red X over ’Target Number One’ now!

In the blink of an eye, Gu Shaohuai tossed the fact that ’he couldn’t solve it either’ to the back of his mind, deciding that the Champion Scholar Stone was no threat at all. This target was completely taken care of. No need to waste any more time on him. He should hurry up and figure out how to deal with Shen Xingye. And so, with a self-satisfied, arrogant smile, Gu Shaohuai shot a look at the back of Shi Tiexin’s head as if he were looking at trash, and then scurried away.

From the moment Gu Shaohuai arrived to the moment he left, Shi Tiexin was completely oblivious. Shi Tiexin was the type of person who, when he decided to study, he studied, and when he decided to sleep, he slept. When he studied, he was incredibly focused. When he slept, a thunderstorm wouldn’t wake him. Besides, there was no danger here in the Heart Technique Sacred Land, so why would he need to be on guard? In this respect, Fengming First Middle School was truly a world apart from the Star Worker Union School.

For a full hour, Shi Tiexin slept without moving a muscle.

It wasn’t until half past ten at night, when someone got up to go to the bathroom and brushed past him, that he groggily lifted his head. Wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, he rubbed his arm, which was tingling from being used as a pillow. Shi Tiexin let out a long yawn and finally started to wake up a bit.

’Mm, I’ve rested for a bit. I feel a little better.’

However, Shi Tiexin frowned as he glanced at *Little Genius*, then put the workbook down again. Even with a short rest, he still wasn’t in top condition. He probably wasn’t up to the task of extreme math practice just yet.

’So what should I do now? Should I just go back and sleep, recharge my batteries, and leave everything for tomorrow?’

After a moment of consideration, a light bulb went off over Shi Tiexin’s head with a DING. That’s right! He couldn’t do extreme training, but he could do some simple studying. The Small County Exam required passing the Six Basic Heart Techniques, with Math and Rhetoric having the highest requirements: a Pass in the Second Level.

He wasn’t worried about Math anymore. With his current Profound-level mastery of the first level as a foundation, he felt that even if he went back to his old world right now to study the second level on his own, he would still make rapid progress. Once the fundamentals were solid, reaching a Pass in the next level would be a matter of course.

As for the other four, there was nothing he could do even if he worried. That kid Zhou Nan hadn’t brought the manuals yet, so he couldn’t practice even if he wanted to.

That left only one thing.

Basic Rhetoric, First Level. His eternal shame—he hadn’t even reached a ’Pass’! His Basic Math, First Level was at least a Pass, but his Rhetoric wasn’t even that. This was so damn embarrassing that even the thick skin of Old Tie couldn’t handle it.

’No way. Sleep? What sleep? I need to study! I’ll practice Rhetoric and get the first level to Excellent or above before anything else!’

Putting thought into action, Shi Tiexin didn’t dawdle. He immediately put away *Little Genius* and started rummaging through his school bag for the manual. Soon, a large stack of elementary school language arts textbooks was on the desk. A closer look revealed there were six of them as well, forming the complete secret manual for Basic Rhetoric, First Level.

[Secret Manual: Basic Rhetoric, First Level]

[Quality: Supreme]

[Attribute 1: Illustrated. This manual is rich with images and text, making it vivid and engaging. It effectively lowers the cultivation threshold, reducing the aptitude requirement by 20%.]

[Attribute 2: Detailed Annotations. This manual contains exhaustive annotations, clearly explaining all difficult and confusing points. Increases manual comprehension speed by 20%.]

Awesome.

Seriously awesome.

One for Math, one for Rhetoric, both supreme-quality manuals. Absolutely top-tier stuff. The "Illustrated" attribute didn’t seem as amazing as "Progressive Learning," but "Detailed Annotations" was way better than "Integrated Study and Practice." The title of "supreme-quality manual" was definitely well-deserved.

But the most awesome thing wasn’t the manuals, but this world.

That kid Zhou Nan went to get them, got caught by a teacher, and was back, all within a single class period. This meant that stuff like this was not rare at all in this world; you could get it easily.

In other words—supreme-quality manuals were a dime a dozen!

Every single student from Tumu Castle would probably cry themselves unconscious if they saw this! Including that legendary Young Master Shen. Have you ever seen supreme-quality manuals that were a dime a dozen?

’I have.’

’Oh, and that transcendent-grade supplementary manual. That was just terrifying! Have you ever seen a transcendent-grade supplementary manual?’

’I have!’

’And I just casually bought a whole school bag full of them.’

Seriously, the students in this world have it so good. I’m so jealous, so incredibly jealous, I almost want to cry!

But this wasn’t the time for tears. Shi Tiexin reined in his emotions, opened the manual, and began to read carefully. A manual comprehension progress bar appeared in his vision. Shi Tiexin, no longer surprised by such things, set it aside to grow on its own and focused all his attention on the book.

Basic Rhetoric, when you got down to it, was the art of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The higher one’s Rhetoric cultivation level, the more convincing their speech, and the more pleasing their writing. And the first level of Basic Rhetoric was simply recognizing and writing characters.

Think that’s simple? Who can’t recognize characters? Who can’t write them? Alright, maybe in this world where knowledge is widespread, these things really are simple. For a world that doesn’t mind, and even actively promotes, the spread of knowledge, these are indeed basic skills mastered in elementary school.

But in the other world, knowledge was power—real, tangible power. Shi Tiexin had no idea what the early Era of Mist was like a century ago. But in the present, a hundred years into the Mist, no one would teach you anything for free, because life was a cutthroat competition. So, to obtain this power, one had to pay a huge price.

Shi Tiexin couldn’t afford such a high price, which was why he had no cultivation manuals that were "illustrated" or had "detailed annotations." He didn’t even have the connections to find someone to guide him. That was why his Basic Rhetoric hadn’t even reached the Pass level.

But now, things were different.

Not only did he have a supreme-quality manual, but the crucial part was the Champion Scholar Stone in his head, constantly helping him level up!

[Manual Completely Comprehended!]

CRACKLE! POP! Fireworks exploded as the manual comprehension progress bar instantly transformed, becoming a Cultivation Realm progress bar. The two words ’Not Passed’ sat on the left side of the bar, and the one word ’Pass’ sat on the right. Shi Tiexin discovered that his original progress was around eighty percent, not actually that far from passing.