Could Shen Nian Really Be a Genius

Leaving the office, Shen Nian immediately squeezed over to Xia Yanchun's side.

"Let me see."

"Hey, what's the rush?" Xia Yanchun started looking over the newly received midterm report card from top to bottom.

First place, unsurprisingly, was still herself. For a moderately difficult midterm exam, she scored 706. Her total was a bit lower than the monthly exam's, but it was nothing major; her ranking remained first in the class and first in the entire school.

Honestly, with Xia Yanchun's scores, it was already very hard to improve much further. As long as she could keep her grades stable within this range, she was winning big time.

Looking further down, Xia Yanchun was momentarily stunned. She glanced at Shen Nian, then looked back at the report card.

Second: Shen Nian, total score 688, school rank eighth.

Third: Li Shiyan, total score 670, school rank forty-seventh.

Seventh: Chen Dong, total score 648.

Twelfth: Chen Qiuyu, total score 626.

Twenty-first: Ma Mingfan, total score 560.

...

Last place was still Huang Chen, but there was some improvement, from 300 points in the monthly exam to 327 points now, though it could be due to guessing a few multiple-choice questions correctly.

"How come I can't see my rank? Can you check for me?" Shen Nian squinted.

"Stop pretending. Just 688 and you're already putting on airs." Xia Yanchun saw right through his little act and said, exasperated.

But Shen Nian scoring that high was really unexpected!

In previous parent-teacher meetings, she was always the student representative giving a speech on the podium. No wonder the homeroom teacher specifically called Shen Nian over this time.

In last semester's final exams, Shen Nian's score was only around 550. Now, after just half a semester, a full three months since school started, Shen Nian had already climbed to this height.

Gaining over 130 points in three months... If it were from 300 to 450, that would be somewhat normal. But Shen Nian's insane leap was within the 550 to 700 range, where the difficulty is on a completely different level.

God knows how he did it.

Could Shen Nian actually be a genius?

A three-month underdog transformation into a top student? That might happen in dreams, but now it was actually happening to Shen Nian.

Pursing her lips, Xia Yanchun felt her own efforts seemed somewhat cheap in comparison.

She had worked hard from start to finish, only to be nearly caught up by someone who only started putting in effort three months ago. Who could she even complain to?

Shen Nian's scores were evolving like crazy. Maybe by the next mock exam, she wouldn't even be able to hold onto her first place.

"Damn, 688 isn't high? Don't forget you sometimes don't even hit 700 either," Shen Nian retorted with a dramatic flourish.

"Fine, you're amazing."

Xia Yanchun could no longer use academic performance to put Shen Nian down. She had to admit defeat.

Good thing she never promised Shen Nian any rewards for good grades, or she'd be in trouble now.

After all the chattering and discussion, Shen Nian was already feeling elated. He wasn't a saint; scoring so high for the first time, he couldn't help but be thrilled.

Back in the classroom, during the long break, Xia Yanchun quickly projected the report card onto the multimedia screen, letting everyone compare their scores from the two exams. She encouraged those who improved to keep it up and told those who slipped to reflect, then returned to her seat.

As soon as the scores were out, the classroom immediately erupted into noise. Boys who were almost asleep suddenly weren't tired anymore.

"Haha, first place is still our class monitor. A true role model for us all."

"Second place is Shen Nian... Wait, is that the same Shen Nian who's online playing Naruto mobile at 2:30 AM?"

"No way!"

"Spread the word: playing Naruto mobile gets you high scores! The more you play, the more awesome you become!"

Shen Nian laughed. "Just kidding, I switched to the One Piece mobile game a while ago."

"You damn traitorous ninja!"

"The village is shamed to have someone like you! Where's your Will of Fire?!"

Amidst the noisy chaos, thankfully the class bell rang just in time. Otherwise, Shen Nian was really afraid these guys would grab him for an "Aluba" (prank).

Afraid of piercing the door plank, that's all. No other meaning, ha.

"How did you know I scored 688?" Shen Nian had to pat Ma Mingfan's shoulder; he wasn't done gloating yet.

Ma Mingfan was furious. "The whole class knows! You've been secretly grinding all this time, huh?"

"Can a student's pursuit of knowledge be called 'grinding'? What's wrong with wanting to improve? You should start studying too. Even though we're rivals, you're not half bad."

"Wake up, you're not as handsome as Minato."

"I almost helped a disabled girl in a wheelchair this morning."

"Not that ugly... Wait, what do you mean 'almost'?"

"I was about to help, but she just picked up her wheelchair and walked off."

"..."

What the hell, so you didn't actually help her? Why even bring it up then?

And what do you mean a girl in a wheelchair picked up her wheelchair and walked off?

Has this world been invaded by imposters?

The class bell rang, the class representative led the reading session, and the noise was gradually replaced by the sound of students reading aloud.

Shen Nian couldn't even be bothered to read during morning self-study, let alone this pre-class reading. He directly checked his system tasks.

The moment he saw his total score, the system notification had popped up, but he had set it aside. Now was the perfect leisure moment to check.

[Main Quest: Raise Your Sword Against a Stronger Foe! (Completed)

Reward: 10,000 gold coins.]

[Unlocked Main Quest: Promotion, Advanced Adventurer! Defeat advanced monsters ten times in total, 0/10

Reward: 10,000 gold coins, Title: Advanced Adventurer (Charm +3, Stamina +3, Agility +3)]

Good news: Ranked second in the class and eighth in the school for midterms. He was on a roll.

Better news: The main quest is completed. His bank card now holds a solid forty thousand yuan.

Fantastic news: A new main quest is out. Also, there are 10,000 gold coins, but the title's attributes are comprehensively enhanced, and it adds an Agility attribute.

My heart is filled with good news ♥

Shen Nian stroked his chin, pondering what the Agility attribute mentioned in the new title actually meant.

According to various game settings, Agility generally can be broken down into these three sub-attributes: it can allow dodging attacks, increase movement speed, casting speed, and so on.

Applied to reality, it should be roughly the same.

Speed, reaction, dexterity...

Hard to say for sure, since he hasn't gotten the title yet.

Still need to grind through ten sets of other schools' midterm exam papers. Such a repetitive task. Has the silly system run out of ideas?

Lunch break.

Shen Nian had lunch with Xia Yanchun today. It was the school's garlic fried pork, which left a strong aftertaste in his mouth.

Luckily, he had lots of snacks in his backpack and had bought two packs of Wrigley's gum earlier.

"Hey, have you written that speech yet?" Shen Nian tossed a piece of gum to Xia Yanchun, sitting on the desk himself, still thinking about the speech.

"Not yet."

"How do I write it?"

"Just write about your mindset and insights from working hard. If you don't know how, just talk about some positive, uplifting topics. Otherwise, go home and look it up online." Xia Yanchun said softly.

She was a seasoned speaker. Not only was she the student representative for parent-teacher meetings, but she had also given many Monday speeches in front of the whole school.

Since military training, their grade's student representative had always been Xia Yanchun.

"Wow, so I can just write anything?"

"You thought all those speeches I gave before were just scripts they handed me, that I just went up there and read them out, didn't you? You really thought I wrote them myself?"

"Yeah, yeah, you read one last semester about getting up at four in the morning to study. I almost believed that one."

"You even remember that." Xia Yanchun picked at her nails, her mouth smacking as she chewed gum. "So now you know how to write it, right?"

"Got it. I'll just write my own inspirational story about studying twenty hours a day, enduring hardship, sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall, turning the tables, my fate being in my own hands and not up to heaven."

"Who would believe that? The teacher would definitely fail it."

Yanxi reminds you: Due to Tomato's request for over 3 million+ daily visits causing excessive server pressure, it is now recommended you use sources from other big shots.