Era of Mist

The principal’s office was silent. The soundproofed room was like a meditation chamber, isolating it from most noise. Principal Liu read quietly, exuding an air of confident control. This math exam was the first step in his new policy reforms, and also a way to show the entire school’s students and teachers that he meant business.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. Someone knocked and entered. It was the director of the academic affairs office. The Dean’s Office and the Academic Affairs Office were just one character apart in Chinese, but their duties were worlds apart. For this exam, Director Zhang of the academic affairs office was Principal Liu’s right-hand man.

"Principal, the exam is about to start. The proctors and hall monitors are all in position." Director Zhang looked at Principal Liu, a little hesitant. "Principal, the teachers still feel that this little quiz is a bit... informal. No assigned testing rooms, no restrictions on bathroom breaks... the risk of cheating is very high."

Principal Liu wasn’t angered by this. Instead, he stood up and poured Director Zhang a cup of tea. "Director Zhang, I’m not worried about cheating on this exam in the slightest. Whether they copy work or share answers, it’s all irrelevant to the bigger picture."

"Oh?" Director Zhang was a little surprised. "Is there some trick to the questions you’ve prepared, Principal?"

In truth, Director Zhang was also curious. Principal Liu had created the exam paper and questions himself. Whether he’d outsourced it to someone was unknown, but in any case, no one in the entire school, from top to bottom, knew the contents of the paper, other than the fact that it tested the four basic arithmetic operations. Moreover, the exam packets were sealed with an advanced method. Forget others; even Director Zhang himself had no idea what mysterious scheme Principal Liu was cooking up.

Principal Liu didn’t explain, instead asking a tangential question. "Director Zhang, how do you classify students’ performance levels?"

"Performance levels?" Director Zhang thought for a moment, then answered readily, "Broadly speaking, you have Unsatisfactory, Pass, Good, and Excellent."

"More or less," Principal Liu nodded. "Let’s take an example. A score below sixty is Unsatisfactory. Sixty to eighty-five is a Pass. Eighty-five to ninety-five is Good, and ninety-five to one hundred is Excellent."

Er... the standards were a bit strict, but not unreasonably so. Director Zhang nodded in agreement.

"However, even among those who score a hundred, not all hundreds are the same. Some people get a perfect score because that’s the limit of their ability, or perhaps they had a good day and got lucky, just barely scraping by with a hundred. But other people get a perfect score because that’s all the points the test has to offer. They are forced to settle for just one hundred points."

"These two types of perfect scores are fundamentally different."

"The top students in an ordinary school are the first type. But here at Fengming First Middle School, if you want to be a top student, you must be the second type. For too long, the fact that tests are capped at one hundred points has been unfair to this second group. It prevents them from showcasing their full abilities. As a result, logically speaking, the value of being that kind of student is constantly diminishing."

"They invest more time and endure greater pressure, yet their scores don’t look any different from the first group’s. The cost-benefit ratio seems far too low. So, over time, fewer and fewer people want to be the second type of student, and more and more people settle for being the first."

"I believe this is a very bad trend. It fundamentally discourages students who truly delve deep into their studies and hinders their development."

Director Zhang couldn’t help but nod. It was true. Although Fengming First Middle School’s college admission rates had been maintained over the past two years, when he compared the current three grade levels, he had to admit he felt that each new class was worse than the last.

Principal Liu continued, "Many people say there’s a problem with test-oriented education. I believe that test-oriented education is just a method, and there’s nothing wrong with the method itself. But the current state of education does have problems, such as university students who don’t seek deep understanding, who just coast by to get a diploma, do the bare minimum, and have extremely poor research skills. Where does this problem stem from? After much thought, I’ve realized it lies in the content of the exams."

"An exam is not just a standard. It is also a guide, and even more, it is a platform."

"Often, what gets tested is what students learn. If it’s not on the test, students won’t study it. Therefore, what we choose to test is of the utmost importance. If the tests are one-sided, then what the students learn will naturally be one-sided. A crucial part of our job as educators is to research what, exactly, should be on the test."

"And besides being a guide, an exam is a platform—a stage for students to showcase their strengths. If this platform is too narrow, too restrictive, too one-sided, it will cage our students’ talents, preventing their development and even causing us to lose gifted individuals. But if we build this platform to be large and broad enough, truly capable students will naturally be able to display their skills and distinguish themselves."

"If students feel a sense of satisfaction from a test, they will naturally enjoy testing more, and by extension, enjoy learning more."

Director Zhang nodded again. Principal Liu’s visionary lecture was truly excellent—but what about the actual method? After all was said and done, no matter how great the theory, how would it be implemented in practice? ’Being able to both talk the talk and walk the walk is what makes someone truly impressive,’ he thought. ’Just talking is all empty words.’

"Director Zhang, I don’t care about cheating on this exam, because the people who need to cheat to pass are not the people we need to care about." A tremendous confidence radiated from Principal Liu. "This exam is unlike any before it. The slackers might not even bother trying to coast through this one. And as for those who want to take it seriously, they won’t have a single moment to look left or right."

"There’s a reason we’re giving them three full hours."

In Class 28, Shi Tiexin’s eyes widened as he stared at his exam paper. It was very unusual—not a single sheet, but a rather thick booklet. The side was sealed with a paper strip that had to be torn to see the contents. Shi Tiexin hadn’t torn it yet, but perhaps because his attainments in the four basic arithmetic operations were already so high, he was able to immediately discern the quality of this secret manual.

[Quality: Top-Grade]

[Effect: Increases cultivation speed of Basic Mathematics, First Layer by 20%]

[Attribute 1: Clear Gradient. This secret record proceeds from easy to difficult in a clear, gradual progression. As the tiers advance, the difficulty increases step by step, maximally stimulating the user’s calculation potential. Cultivation speed increased by 20% across all stages.]

[Attribute 2: High Difficulty. Parts of this secret record possess the High Difficulty attribute. Description omitted.]

[Attribute 3: Obscure. Parts of this secret record possess the Obscure attribute. Description omitted.]

[Attribute 4: Profound. Parts of this supplementary secret record are extremely difficult. Cannot be used without reaching the Profound Realm in Basic Mathematics, First Layer. Attempting to use it before reaching the limit of one’s level will result in reduced usage speed. In correspondence, reaching the Profound Realm or higher grants a further 60% increase to cultivation speed.]

A Top-Grade Secret Record! Profound difficulty! With the Profound Realm, a total of 80% speed boost... that’s insanely powerful!

Shi Tiexin was stunned. ’Bookstores have nothing on the Holy Land,’ he thought instantly. ’They can just casually whip out a Top-Grade Secret Record for an "informal" little quiz!’

"The exam will be held from eight to eleven o’clock, for a total of three hours," Teacher Chu announced as a final instruction. "You may turn in your papers and leave thirty minutes after the exam begins."

BRRRING! The bell rang. The exam began.