Chapter 247
Final Exam
Today was the final exam for Praying.
The final exams at the Royal Law University were not like the “exam weeks” Eivass had experienced in his past life – where all subjects were studied, and then exams were concentrated over a few days. Instead, they were flamboyant and varied.
Each instructor determined the format and grading criteria, as long as the Dean of the Faculty signed off on it.
Madam Maya was somewhat lazy and disliked trouble. Therefore, she directly created a paper filled with fill-in-the-blanks and short-answer questions, testing who to pray to and how to pray in various situations. She handed it out to Eivass and the others during their last class. She was responsible for invigilating.
The content on the paper was not extensive. If one wrote non-stop, it could probably be finished in less than half an hour.
There were no particularly tricky questions, nor any complex situations that would make one’s brain melt.
The content on the paper consisted entirely of situations that priests were highly likely to encounter in their actual work –
For example, if Xiao Shuai died at the age of thirty, murdered by stabbing, how should one pray for his funeral; how to pray for Xiao Mei’s second marriage; if after Xiao Shuai died, his father, Lao Shuai, also died of illness, and now his family is all gone, how should one pray for this funeral;
Or, if a priest wished to track someone through a prayer ritual, how should they do it; or if a priest wanted to remove someone’s petrified state through prayer, how should they do it; there was even a short-answer question about how to pray and to whom to pray if one wanted to restore the fertility of menopausal middle-aged women.
Eivass even saw some questions that bore the distinct personality of Madam Maya – for instance, the last major question was about a complex but critical mathematical calculation, such as a tax report. If one couldn’t do the math themselves, but the data was highly confidential and couldn’t be handed over to anyone, how should a priest use the Illuminate Spell to handle this problem?
—The answer was to respectfully summon a Disciple of the Path of Balance to help with the calculation.
This question was quite misleading.
While the name of the Path of Wisdom implied wisdom, it was actually closer to philosophy, logic, and strategy. Although the Path of Wisdom also included some theoretical mathematics fields… matters of applied fields like tax processing definitely belonged to the Path of Balance. A Disciple of the Path of Wisdom would certainly not bother with you.
One had to follow protocol, set up the ritual, place the offerings, explain the situation, and then put the form to be filled out. If the Disciple found it acceptable, they would casually fill in the numbers for you.
It was, in a way, a computing machine.
If there was no response, it meant that the Disciple was in a bad mood that day. Then, one would try again with someone else; just don’t summon the same Disciple.
After all, for high-level Extraordinarys, calculations of this magnitude were merely a glance.
Just like Eivass – he had arrived a few months late, so he originally didn’t expect to get a Seven-petal flower. According to his estimation, getting a Five-petal flower would have been enough.
However, after his Ascension last night, he felt a distinct enhancement in his thinking ability. Even the knowledge he had memorized before his Ascension was now clearly present in his mind. He basically didn’t stop writing, and finished the paper easily. After submitting it, he pushed his wheelchair to the entrance to bask in the sun and wait for Lily.
He was absolutely certain that he would get a perfect score.
At the Royal Law University, apart from the first two departments for Ordinary Persons, the exams in other departments were not calculated based on deviation values or proportions.
This was because they did not need to “screen talent”; they only needed to teach these students.
From this perspective, their final exams were more akin to obtaining a certificate.
The question setters did not intentionally create difficult questions to differentiate students’ abilities. All knowledge was within a reasonable scope. As long as the knowledge was genuinely mastered, regardless of how many people also mastered it, all of them could achieve high scores or even perfect scores.
Matters of Occult were binary: if you knew it, you knew it; if you didn’t, you didn’t. There was no concept of “I know it better than others.”
Even if in a class, one student came closest to mastering the Illuminate Spell or the Blessing Spell, as long as they hadn’t truly mastered it, no matter how close they were, they didn’t know it. Even if they knew nothing about the Illuminate Spell before, if they suddenly learned it one day, then they knew it.
Generally speaking, the school’s expectation was for students to reach the peak of the First Tier or the Second Tier by graduation.
If one started encountering Extraordinarys only after enrollment and reached the Second Tier before graduation, it meant that by the age of thirty, they would almost certainly reach the Third Tier. That would be considered a pillar of the nation.
After a while, Madam Maya strolled out herself.
“Do you know how you did on your exam?” Maya walked behind Eivass and asked smilingly.
Eivass did not answer, but rather retorted, “Don’t you know from looking?”
“The Spirit Guardian is inside invigilating. I’ve set a rule for it: ‘If you see anyone acting in a manner inconsistent with that of a candidate, knock them out.'”
Maya replied briskly, “This is also a way to solve problems using prayer.”
“Then, if I used prayer to fill out the entire paper, would that be considered cheating?”
“It would. But I would still give you full marks.”
Maya said smilingly, “But don’t tell anyone about this.”
With that, Maya took out a small book about the size of her palm.
That was considered Eivass’s student handbook and also his graduation certificate. He would receive it upon graduation.
At this moment, a Seven-petal flower was already inscribed next to “Praying” for the first year. And a Seven-petal flower was already inscribed next to Eivass’s “Modern History” and “Elven Language.”
“I’ve already graded your paper.”
Madam Maya sighed, “You’re not going to get a perfect score, are you?”
“No,” Eivass affirmed, “My Iris Language is still a bit lacking. Passing would be good enough.”
“What about Star Antimony Language?”
“Not a big problem.”
“That’s normal. Learning three languages in the first year is quite pressurizing, even for us. But for us, mastering Iris Language and Star Antimony Language to a similar degree is sufficient—basically enough to understand books with a dictionary, and enough for daily communication. But Elven Language still needs to be studied diligently.”
Maya said earnestly, “After these two semesters, Iris Language and Star Antimony Language will no longer be tested. But Elven Language will be taught until your graduation, and you might even need to continue studying it after graduation.
“Just like the book I plan to lend you… that’s also written in Elven Language. If your Elven Language proficiency isn’t deep enough, even if you obtain such a book later, it will be difficult to read.”
Eivass was her favorite student – not only because he became the bond that reconnected her with her brother Samuel, with whom she hadn’t communicated in years; not just because Eivass was recognized by the Holy Sword with the red hilt, or because he was handsome.
Of course, these reasons might have played a part. But none of them were entirely comprehensive.
If anything, it was because Eivass was exceptionally outstanding.
She had no biological children, and neither did Samuel. But the reasons were different – at least she herself didn’t want to get married, while Samuel’s situation was unknown.
But she did not dislike children; she had even adopted one. Or rather, few Extraordinarys of the Path of Devotion disliked children.
Because the process of raising children itself was part of the Path of Devotion – parents sacrificing their flesh and blood, time, energy, and money, devoting themselves to others.
And Eivass, as Professor James’s adopted son, had been without parents for a long time. This evoked sympathy in Madam Maya.
At the same time, Eivass, at the young age of eighteen, had already reached the Third Tier… As long as there were no unexpected events, no accidental death or soul damage along the way, it could be said that he was certain to reach the Fifth Tier.
—That would make him one of the most outstanding people in the world!
Although Madam Maya was not Eivass’s mentor, she felt proud as if he were her own child. Furthermore, he was well-behaved and sensible, handsome and cute, and exceptionally talented…
The only pity was that Eivass had a good relationship with Mina, which made it impolite for her to complain about her brother to Eivass.
When she had previously said that she would lend him her Grimoire after seeing her brother, she didn’t really care that much about Samuel’s situation. Otherwise, even if she didn’t like Mina, it wouldn’t have been much trouble to go take a look.
Maya actually just wanted an excuse to let Eivass see her book.
After her stroll, she went back to invigilate. When the final exam ended, she packed her un-graded papers into her bag and took Eivass home with her.
Home, in this case, was actually a dormitory.
Although Madam Maya was a Bishop, she was unlike Samuel; she had not been assigned her own church. She was a full-time professor—a Bishop who taught. However, given her noble status, she also lived on Ronin Street.
Eivass was at No. 14 Ronin Street, while Maya was at No. 38 Ronin Street.
From Eivass’s house, it was about a fifteen-minute walk west to Maya’s house.
As soon as he entered, Eivass was stunned—
His first thought was that he had arrived at Meg’s dorm.
“…Why are there so many alcoholic beverages and junk food!”
“Ahhh, I forgot to tidy up!”
Maya screamed like a groundhog, holding her head.
